Philadelphia Chapter

Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine’s
The Church’s Year

INTROIT For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night came was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word, O Lord, down from heaven, from Thy royal throne (Wis. 18:14-15). The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself (Ps. 92:1). Glory be to the Father.

COLLECT Almighty and everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure; that in the name of Thy beloved Son we may deserve to abound in good works. Through our Lord.

EPISTLE (Gal. 4:1-7). Brethren, as long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all: but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father: so we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law: that he might redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father. Therefore now he is not a servant, but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God.

EXPLANATION St. Paul desired to instruct the Galatians, many of whom still clung to the Mosaic law, that this was no longer necessary, because Christ had freed them from its hard bondage, which contained merely the rudiments, so to speak, of the one only saving faith, and had made them children and heirs of God, for which they should rejoice.

Ours is a far greater happiness than that which the Jews received, because we, through our ancestors, were converted by apostolic messengers of the faith from heathenism to the true, saving Catholic faith, and by this holy religion were changed from vassals of Satan, into children and heirs of God. What a great advantage is this! Must it not be dearer to us than all the kingdoms of the world? Let us thank the Lord for it, and be careful not to lose this prerogative of being a child of God, an heir to heaven, let us not by sin give ourselves anew, as voluntary slaves to Satan.

GOSPEL (Lk. 2:33-40). At that time, Joseph and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold, this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted: and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. Now she at the same hour coming in, confessed to the Lord; and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom: and the grace of God was in him.

Why did Mary and Joseph wonder at the things which were spoken of the child Jesus?

They wondered, not because that which was said of the child Jesus by Simeon was new to them, for they already knew why He was sent from God, but because of the marvellous ways in which God revealed the mysteries of the new-born Savior to Simeon, the shepherds, and to other pious people.

How is Christ set for the fall of many?

Christ is set for the fall, that is, for the eternal damnation, of all those who either reject His doctrine, or live not according to its teachings. They themselves, not Christ, are the cause of their damnation on account of their perversity and hard-heartedness. “If I had not come and spoken to them,” says Christ, “they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin” (Jn. 15:22).

For whom is Christ the resurrection?

For those who believe in Him, and live in accordance with the teachings of His doctrine. These, if they persevere will at the Last Day rise to eternal life.

Why is Christ a sign that shall be contradicted?

Because, by His birth from a virgin, by His life and death, and especially by His heavenly doctrine, which is entirely opposed to the carnal spirit of this world, Christ became an object of mockery and blasphemy. Even now, according to the saying of St. Bernard, Christ is a sign of contradiction for many Christians who contradict His humility by their pride, His poverty by their avarice, His fasting by their gluttony, His purity by their impurity, His zeal by their indolence, etc., thus denying by their actions that which they confess with their lips, proving thereby that they are Christians but in name, of whom it is written: “Thou hast the name of being alive, but thou art dead” (Apoc. 3:1).

What is meant by these words: Thy own soul a sword shall pierce?

It means that the greatest grief should cut like a sword through the inmost parts of the soul, which came to pass, when Mary heard the calumnies and blasphemies of the Jews against her Son, and when she saw Him die on the cross between two thieves. Meditating on this grief of the most loving mother Mary, St. Bonaventure exclaims: “Never was there grief so great, for never was there a Son so loved!”

What else do we learn from this gospel?

The widows should learn from Anna, who spent nearly all her life in the temple, to serve God by prayer and fasting; for a widow who prays not, but lives in pleasures, is dead, while she is living (I Tim. 5:6). Parents should learn from it, to be careful that their children not only increase in knowledge, but that they by a pious life advance in grace before God and man.

ASPIRATION O Jesus, Thou new-born Savior, do Thou move our hearts to the fulfillment of Thy precepts that Thou mayst be set for our fall; for it would be much better for us, not to have known the ways of righteousness, than having known them, to have departed from them.

INSTRUCTION ON BLESSING

And Simeon blessed them “(Lk. 2: 34).

What is meant by a blessing?

A blessing on the part of God, means the giving to man some spiritual or temporal grace; a blessing on the part of an angel or a man, means the expression in prayer of a wish or desire that God would give to some particular person a corporal or spiritual grace. In the proper sense of the word, only God can give a blessing, because all spiritual and temporal good comes from Him; angels and men can only wish and ask of God that He would bestow His gifts.

Have we examples of blessing in the Bible?

Yes, for the angels blessed Jacob (Gen. 32:26), and Jacob blessed his sons and grandsons (Gen. 48:15), Melchisedech blessed Abraham (Gen. 14:19), and Rebecca was blessed by her brothers (Gen. 24:60).

Is it well for parents to bless their children?

Yes, for God frequently ratifies the blessings wished by the parents, as in the case of Isaac who blessed Jacob, and Jacob who blessed his own sons (Gen. 49). And, on the contrary, God permits the curses of parents to be fulfilled on their children as history shows. “The father’s blessing establisheth the houses of the children; but the mother’s curse rooteth up the foundation” (Ecclus. 3:11).

What power has the priest’s blessing?

A very great one, because it is given by the priest, the vicar of Christ on earth, in the name of Jesus, and of the Church founded by Him, in which He has deposited the plenitude of His blessings. The Church expresses this, when the bishop, anointing the hands of the newly ordained, makes the sign of the cross over them. “All that they bless, is blessed; that they consecrate, is consecrated and sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The blessing of the priest is to be prized therefore, and an obstacle not set to it by a sinful life. Parents should ask his blessing for their children when he happens to visit them. Children were brought to Christ that He might lay His hands on them and bless them (Mt. 19:13).

See INSTRUCTION ON BENEDICTIONS, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (sorry, not on line yet).

What is the effect of God’s blessing?

In spiritual life it gives great joy and strength to practice virtue; and in physical life it gives fruitful prosperity in our occupations and undertakings. Therefore, all is contained in the blessing of God, and he who receives it, is richer than if he possessed the whole world. We should endeavor by a pious life to secure this blessing, for it rests only on the head of the just (Prov. 10:6).

Please click on the link on the right to see the schedule of Masses for Christmas at Mater Ecclesiae, Berlin New Jersey.

by Peter Kwasniewski

How many times do lovers of the classical Roman Rite hear the objection: “The new Mass is better than the old one because it allows for more active participation of the faithful,” or “The old Mass just had to be reformed eventually, because the priest was the only one doing anything, and the people were all mute spectators.” My aim in this article is to refute such claims and to demonstrate that, if anything, the opposite is true.

Active/Actual Participation
People who take the time to sit down and study Sacrosanctum Concilium are often struck by how much of this document is unknown, ignored, or contradicted by contemporary Catholic practice. Often, there are phrases that are so rich, and yet the manner in which they have been turned into slogans has undermined their original nuance and depth.

The most notorious victim of this process of journalistic simplification has been the notion of “active participation” or participatio actuosa—which, in fact, is better translated “actual participation,” where actual has the philosophical sense of really entering into possession of something, rather than having an unrealized capacity for it. In contemporary English, “active” is the contrary of passive or receptive, whereas “actual” is the contrary of potential. Thus, I can be actually receptive to the Word of God; I can be fully actualizing my ability to be acted upon at Mass by the chants, prayers, and ceremonies, without my doing much of anything that would be styled “active” in contemporary English. As St. John Paul II explained in an address to U.S. bishops in 1998:

Active participation certainly means that, in gesture, word, song and service, all the members of the community take part in an act of worship, which is anything but inert or passive. Yet active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it. Worshippers are not passive, for instance, when listening to the readings or the homily, or following the prayers of the celebrant, and the chants and music of the liturgy. These are experiences of silence and stillness, but they are in their own way profoundly active. In a culture which neither favors nor fosters meditative quiet, the art of interior listening is learned only with difficulty. Here we see how the liturgy, though it must always be properly inculturated, must also be counter-cultural. [link]

If your choir or schola sings Proper chants or motets at Mass, or if you’d like to see this happen someday, make sure you have this text from John Paul II ready for the person who objects: “But the people need to be singing everything!” Dom Alcuin Reid explained the Council’s intention very succinctly in an interview last December:

The Council called for participatio actuosa, which is primarily our internal connection with the liturgical action—with what Jesus Christ is doing in his Church in the liturgical rites. This participation is about where my mind and heart are. Our external actions in the liturgy serve and facilitate this. But participatio actuosa is not first and foremost external activity, or performing a particular liturgical ministry. That, unfortunately, has been a common misconception of the Council’s desire. [link]

Now, even with the common misunderstanding of “actual” cleared out of the way, it is an extremely curious fact that the full expression from Sacrosanctum Concilium 14 is rarely quoted: “Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy” (in the original: “Valde cupit Mater Ecclesia ut fideles universi ad plenam illam, consciam atque actuosam liturgicarum celebrationum participationem ducantur, quae ab ipsius Liturgiae natura postulatur”). Whatever happened to “full” and “conscious”?

Conscious Participation
Let’s probe this matter further. After several decades of attending Mass in both the OF and the EF (both celebrated “by the books”), I’ve become convinced that there is paradoxically a far greater possibility of not consciously paying attention to the Mass in the vernacular, precisely because of its familiarity: it becomes like a reflex action, the words can go in and out while the mind is far away. The vernacular is our everyday comfort zone, and so it doesn’t grab our attention. This is why when we are in a busy place where lots of people are speaking, we tend not to notice that they are even talking—whereas when we hear a foreign language, something other than our mother tongue, suddenly our attention is caught by it.

Of course, this lack of attentiveness can happen in the sphere of any language: as someone once put it, I can be doing finances inside my head while chanting the Credo in Latin—if I have been chanting it every week for years. But it nevertheless seems evident that this danger is significantly less present with the usus antiquior, for two reasons:

First, its very foreignness demands of the worshiper some effort to enter into it; indeed, it demands of the worshiper a decision about whether he really wants to enter into it or not. It is almost pointless to sit there unless you are ready to do something to engage the Mass or at very least to begin to pray. The use of a daily missal, widespread in traditional communities, is a powerful means of assimilating the mind and heart of the Church at prayer—and for me personally, following the prayers in my missal has amounted to a decades-long formation of my own mind and heart, giving me a savor for things spiritual, exemplars of holiness, ascetical rules, aspirations and resolutions. When I attend the EF, I am always much more actively engaged in the Mass, because there is more to do (I’ll come back to this point) and it seems more natural to use a missal to help me do it.

Second, the traditional Latin Mass is so obviously focused on God, directed to the adoration of Him, that one who is mentally present to what is happening is ineluctably drawn into the sacred mysteries, even if only at the simplest and most fundamental level of acknowledging the reality of God and adoring our Blessed Lord in the most Holy Sacrament. I am afraid to say that it is not clear at all that most Catholics attending most vernacular OF liturgies are ever confronted unequivocally and irresistibly with the reality of God and the demand for adoration. Or, to put it differently, the old liturgy forms these attitudes in the soul, whereas the new liturgy presupposes them. If you don’t have the right understanding and frame of mind, the Novus Ordo will do very little to give it to you, whereas the EF is either going to give it to you or drive you away. When you attend the EF, you are either subtly attracted by something in it, or you are put off by the demands it makes. Either way, lukewarmness is not an option.

Full Participation
So much for “conscious.” What about “full” participation? Again, as surprising as it may seem in the wake of tendentious criticisms, the traditional Latin Mass allows the faithful a fuller participation in worship because there are more kinds of experience to participate in, verbal and non-verbal, spiritual and sensuous—indeed, there is far more bodily involvement, if one follows the customary practices. This last point deserves attention.

At a Low or High Mass, depending on the feast, one might make the sign of the Cross 8 times:

In nomine Patris…
Adjutorium nostrum…
Indulgentiam…
Cum Sancto Spiritu (end of the Gloria)
Et vitam venturi (end of the Credo)
Benedictus (in the Sanctus)
if the Confiteor is repeated at communion;
At the final blessing.

To this, some add the sign of the cross at the elevation of the Host and of the Chalice. And of course, the triple sign of the cross is made twice—once at the Gospel, and once at the Last Gospel.

Moreover, one will end up striking the breast up to 15 times (!)

3x at the “mea culpa” of the servers’ Confiteor;
3x at the Agnus Dei;
3x at the second Confiteor;
3x at the Domine, non sum dignus;
3x at the Salve Regina (O clemens, O dulcis, O pia).

Traditionally-minded Catholics have learned to bow their head slightly at the name of Jesus, and to bow at other times during the liturgy, such as when the priest is passing by or when the thurifer is incensing the people. We go one step further and genuflect at the “Et incarnatus est” of the Creed—every time it is said, not just on Christmas and Annunciation, as in the Novus Ordo. We genuflect as well at the final blessing and at the words “Et verbum caro factum est.” (There are also other special times during the liturgical year when everyone is called upon to genuflect.)

While the postures of the faithful at certain times in the Mass are not as regimented as in the Novus Ordo, a Low Mass will typically have the faithful kneeling for a long time (from the start all the way to the Gospel, and from the Sanctus all the way through the last Gospel), which is a demanding discipline and really keeps one’s mind aware that one is in a special sacred place, taking part in a sacrifice. At a Sunday High Mass, there will be quite a lot of standing, bowing, genuflecting, kneeling, and sitting, which, together with the signs of the cross, the beating of the breast, the bowing of the head, and the chanting of the responses, amounts to what educators call a TPR environment—Total Physical Response. You are thrown into the worship body and soul, and, at almost every moment, something is happening that puts your mind back on what you are doing. The OF has tended to drop a lot of these “muscular” elements in favor of merely aural comprehension and verbal response, which, by themselves, constitute a fairly impoverished form of participation, and surely not a full one.

Most distinctive of all, perhaps, is the immensely peaceful reservoir of silence at the very center of the traditional Latin Mass. When the priest isn’t reading the Eucharistic Prayer “at” you, as it were, but instead is offering the Canon silently to God, always ad orientem, it becomes much easier to pray the words of the Canon oneself in union with the ministerial priest, or, if one prefers, to give oneself up a wordless union with the sacrifice. This makes the Canon of the Mass a time of more intensely full, conscious, and actual participation than is facilitated by the constant stream of aural stimulation in the Novus Ordo.

A Culture of Prayer
An observation at the blog Sensible Bond fits in very well with the foregoing analysis:

One can still hold the new rite to be integrally Catholic, and yet consider that the culture of the extraordinary form, where the people are supposedly passive, tends to teach people to pray independently, while the culture of the ordinary form often tends to create a dynamic in which people just chat to each other in church unless they are being actively animated by a minister.

What we have seen, therefore, is a conclusion that flies completely in the face of the conventional wisdom. “Active participation,” in the manner in which it is usually understood and implemented in the Novus Ordo sphere, actually fosters passivity, while the Catholic who receives in a seeming passivity all that the traditional Mass has to give is actualizing his potential for worship to a greater extent. Consequently, if you are looking to fulfill the Council’s call for full, conscious, and actual participation, look no further than your local traditional Latin Mass and you will find, with due time and effort, a richness of participation more comprehensive than the reformed liturgy allows.

As posted on the Eponymous Flower today

(Brussels) At the invitation of the Italian MEP Mario Borghezio (Lega Nord) and the initiative of the Civitas Institute, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, visited the European Parliament in Brussels, and blessed a nativity scene there.

The large crib is located in one of the central, public halls of the parliamentary representation of the European Union in Brussels. MEPs from France, Great Britain, Greece, Portugal and Italy, parliamentary staff and EU officials gathered to be blessed. In his speech Alain Escada, president of the French Civitas Institute suggested that the baby Jesus in the manger should rule over all nations, since all power comes from God. For this purpose, he quoted the Pope St. Pius X, as the 100th anniversary of his death was commemorated in 2014: “The civilization must not be contrived, for it was, it is and it has been a Christian civilization, it is the Catholic society. To restore it merely requires the unceasing renewal of its natural and divine principles. ”
Bishop Bernard Fellay said in his speech: “There in the mange is where it all started. So it is quite normal that Europe’s guides, God the helmsman give Him glory, who came among man to save him, He, the King of Kings. Let us remember what Cardinal Pie said, ‘When the moment for the lordship of Jesus Christ did not come, then the time has not come for governments to continue’. By the blessing of this crib, the Church is a connection between this place and the grace of God’s love. This little place is a Sacramental for the benefit of all who come here to gather inside.”
Bishop Fellay was accompanied by the District Superior of Society of St. Pius X for Belgium and the Netherlands, Father Thierry Legrand is in the seat of the European Parliament. He stressed the importance of the initiative, because of the increasing attempt to prevent the establishment of nativity scenes in France in public spaces and Advent and attempts to replace and reinterpret Christmas Traditions with “Winter events” and “Year End initiatives.”

I’m forwarding to you excerpts from a letter written by John Rotondi of Mater Ecclesiae parish in Berlin, NJ, who plans to form a men’s schola to teach the basics of chant and to sing parts of the Divine Office. Please share this e-mail with others who are interested in the Traditional Latin Liturgy. Thank you.

— Michael J. Miller

Gentlemen:

We have a wonderful music program at Mater, and the liturgical life is second to none anywhere I’ve been. Unfortunately, past efforts to introduce public Divine Office services have not been successful.

After discussing this with Father Pasley and Nick Beck, the music director, and getting their approval, I would like to propose a new initiative to form an auxiliary or supplemental men’s schola. We will have our first meeting on Saturday, December 6, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. at Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, NJ.

The purpose of this new schola would be as follows:

1. To train men and older boys how to sing Gregorian chant by regular practice in the rudiments so as to be able to sight read the notes over time. Instruction would also include training in the movements for a liturgical choir within Divine Office services. In other words, a “schola” in the truest sense of the word.

2. After sufficient training, to form a liturgical choir of preferably 5-10 men to chant Vespers and other Offices at Mater Ecclesiae.

3. To chant the Propers and Ordinary of weekday sung Masses on more important liturgical days besides the ones already on the roster of choral Masses, e.g. Easter Wednesday, Rogation Days.

This schola would be entirely made up of volunteers. Membership is open to any Catholic male from the local area age 14 and up with a desire to learn chant, though we would be primarily at the service of Mater Ecclesiae. Ideally, we would meet once a week to practice, but no less than bi-weekly. What we chant at the first meeting will depend on the feedback I get from this letter.

Assuming that regular meetings later on would be in the evening, we would end each practice by singing Compline together (which both reinforces the training and gets us into the habit of chanting the Office communally).

Thank you for your consideration. The new liturgical year is a great time for new beginnings. Please forward this e-mail to anyone who may be interested.

Sincerely in Christ,

John Rotondi

On Saturday, December 13, at 6:00 AM at St. Peter’s Church. 43 W Maple Ave, Merchantville NJ,, Fr Anthony Manuppella will celebrate a sung TLM to continue the unique European tradition of the Rorate Mass. The church will be illuminated only with candlelight. The anticipation of the approaching dawn with its light is a powerful symbol of the coming of Christ. If you can, please attend this most beautiful Advent Mass. It’s something you won’t soon forget.

Thanks and Best Regards.

Chuck Marino

From the Rev. Father Kulczynski

It is fitting that our celebration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary coincides with the Season of Advent, as it is celebrated exactly nine months before the feast of her Birth on September 8th. For She, who is the Immaculate Conception, is the model of what we hope to become during this Holy Season. She is for us a model of silent listening and contemplation. . . Of emptying ourselves before the Lord . . . and waiting in openness for the arrival of Him who will fill us with His Holy Spirit.

This season calls us to Make Room in our Hearts for Him. The very instruction implies that there may be something in the way, something that clutters our spirit, clearly it is Sin.

And so we do well to turn our gaze on this Solemnity to the Most Pure and Most Holy Virgin Mary. For being Conceived without sin was Prepared from all eternity by the will of God so that at the appointed time there would be ROOM for the Lord in the very being of His Faithful Servant. For we know that when he would visit He would not find A ROOM in the world which He had created. For we are told that at his coming — There was no ROOM for Him in the place where travelers stayed. Yet in fact it is rather in the hearts of his disciples that He desires to dwell.

The Gospel of the second Sunday of Advent presented to us the figure of John the Baptist, who in the midst of the desert of Judea called people to Conversion of heart that they would be prepared at the imminent coming of the Messiah.

St. Gregory the Great said that the Baptist “preaches RIGHT FAITH — AND GOOD WORKS so that the power of grace might penetrate, that the roads to God be cleared that He might come without delay.

In the time of Advent, we are called to listen to God’s voice which resounds in the desert of this world through the sacred Scriptures.

Our Faith is strengthened — and we may more easily walk its path when it is illuminated by the Divine Word. The Virgin Mary is for us the model of listening. We may contemplate in the Mother of God a life totally shaped by the Word as we come to realize that we too are called to enter into the mystery of faith by which Christ comes to dwell in our lives.

St. Ambrose reminds us: “Every Christian believer in some way interiorly conceives and gives birth to the Word of God” The Savior came by the FREE WILL of God and so the decision of Faith consists in FREELY WELCOMING him who already draws near to us.

The Redeemer comes in our joys and our anxieties, in our clarity, and in our perplexities and temptations, in everything that constitutes the nature of our life.

During these Holy Days let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to sustain us on this Spiritual Journey, to teach us to empty ourselves in order to provide a place where He can dwell, and so welcome Him at his coming with great Faith and with deep Love.
May we all know deep peace and great joy during this holy season,

Dear Members and Friends of the LLA:

In order to remain a member in good standing in the LLA and to receive the Quarterly National Newsletter, please contact the National Treasurer, below and request an Application Form which also has all the rates for the various types of memberships: individual, lifetime, etc.

Thank you for giving your attention to this matter. Dues must be received before January 1, 2015.

Allison Smith, Treasurer
Latin Liturgy Association
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First Friday, December 5, A.D. 2014, Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will be offered by Fr. Gerald Carey, Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church, at the Rectory Chapel of St. Albert The Great Parish, 212 Welsh Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, (T) 215-947-3500, at 7 p.m. preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m. This TLM will be a Ferial Mass of Advent with Commemoration of St. Sabbas, Abbot, offered in Reparation to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Purple/Violet vestments.

First Saturday, December 6, A.D. 2014 Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will also be offered by Fr. Gerald Carey, at the Rectory Chapel of St. Albert The Great Parish, at 9 a.m., preceded by Confessions at 8:30 a.m. This TLM will be the Mass of St. Nicholas, Wonderworker and Archbishop of Myra, offered in Reparation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. White vestments.

The St. Albert The Great Rectory, also known as the Parish Center, is behind the Church, which fronts on Welsh Road.

As you know, the well-documented holiness and generosity of St. Nicholas, Patron of: children, bakers, and the country of Russia, is the origin of what our sin-sick world has unfortunately degenerated and corrupted into with its current commercial-carnival of Santa Claus and Operation Wretched Excess.

THIS First Saturday Traditional Latin Mass, in particular, is an exceptional opportunity for you to not only make loving and generous reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for which it is ALWAYS intended, but also to strike a powerful spiritual blow against the secular consumer-cancer of “Jingle Bells”, “Happy Holidays” (from what should be HOLY DAYS), “Black Friday” shopping brawls (they really are BLACK in more ways than one), “Cyber Monday”, credit-card debt, and everything else that attempts to kick CHRIST out of the preparatory and penitential season of ADVENT leading up to CHRIST’s MASS (Christmas).

As you know, these are the only continuously-scheduled, canonically-regular, First Friday-First Saturday, Traditional Latin Masses in the entire Archdiocese of Philadelphia. There are no others.

Mark Matthews

A Low Mass will be offered on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Friday December 12, 2014 at 7:00PM at Nativity BVM Church in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.