Why Catholic blogs are necessary...

Because the "institutional" news sources are filled with lies. We usually are quite restrained in our views (believe us, we are restrained!), and we must admit we would prefer if blogs by Catholics on Catholic matters, even if advisable or meritorious, were not exactly necessary. But they become necessary because of things like this - when presenting a Greenpeace-style call to "Save the Altar Girls", America, a self-described "Jesuit Magazine" and a "National Catholic Weekly" (only two of which words are true), says this:

Inevitably the issue of women’s roles in the church raises the question of women’s ordination to the priesthood. Recently a cardinal in Lisbon and some bishops in Brazil, among others, also raised the question; but since Pope Benedict XVI, despite continued agitation, has reaffirmed the policy of John Paul II to allow no discussion of the topic, the matter of altar servers must be considered a separate and independent issue.

It is the typical lying-reinforcement technique: if you call it a "policy" often enough and long enough, it will be seen as a "policy", and not as the perennial, constant, and absolutely irreformable doctrine that it is, that "requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium," and that "is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith." (Interestingly enough - and perhaps unwittingly? - they reveal the whole problem of altar girls: yes, it does raise "the question of women's ordination to the priesthood"; is it appropriate that a mere liturgical allowance for one form of one of the rites of the Church will daily undermine the reasoning of the Magisterium, or is that just par for the course for the New Liturgy?)

[Image source.]

In session

30 members of the Society of Saint Pius X started their retreat and discussion meeting today, Feast of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Albano, near Rome - in the image below, the Superior General of that Fraternity, Bp. B. Fellay, celebrates Mass this morning in Albano.

Those present include the Superior and his two assistants, the rectors of the seminaries, and the superiors of the districts and autonomous houses - the main topics, of course, are the doctrinal preamble and the canonical draft handed by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Levada, on Sep. 14. (Information and image: SSPX German District)

Rorate suggests to its readers not to expect any bombastic announcements in the immediate aftermath of this meeting - this is not how the process has been developing in the past few years, and there is no reason, based on these past events, to expect sudden movements - especially since, as the first Assistant-general of the Fraternity, Fr. N. Pfluger, said, "the document allows for corrections from our side", and since the text delivered is, according to 'Ecclesia Dei' authorities themselves, "a temporary text".

Point - Counterpoint

Point:

The Rev. Michael Rodriguez was transferred to a new parish because his stance on morality and the upcoming recall election "raised serious issues regarding whether his participation could be attributed to the Diocese of El Paso" and his parish, El Paso Catholic Bishop Armando X. Ochoa said.

...

Quo vadis, Domine ?

A guest-post by Côme Prévigny

On September 14, the Apostolic See presented to the authorities of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX) a doctrinal preamble and the draft of a canonical structure. The first general-assistant, Father Niklaus Pfluger, has confirmed that the text - kept inside a safe in Rome - is amendable. What will be the response of Bishop Fellay? Nobody knows. It should probably not be known in the next few weeks, as a sound journalist indicates. The rejection by Rome of going back to the tactless method of the ultimatum, as well as the subsequent exotic journey of the Superior General of the Society, seem to indicate, moreover, that a reasonable time should be spent with turning towards God and considering things in a supernatural way, for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. Is there more to gain in continuing to protect the souls that Providence has placed on the path of the priests of the Society or in destroying the barriers that will allow new souls to benefit from the services that she dispenses and from the effect in favor of Tradition to be accomplished throughout the Church? Only God knows it. May Bishop Fellay respond in the best way to His holy will.

The fact remains that the Society will either accept that the Holy See will regularize its situation, or prefer to keep the status quo of a situation that will remain, whatever else it may be, extraordinary, if its superiors consider that the mutual confidence is still not confirmed on a level that could allow the foundation of Abp. Lefebvre to continue into the future. The dividing line on which it stands will suddenly become razor-thin, and two obstacles may arise, whatever may be the response given.

If the Society refuses what many call - probably on purpose - the last chance, weariness could invade some spirits, as it did in the past. It is a classic: history does not repeat itself, they will say in a diplomatic way. Others believed in the past that the FSSPX would negotiate away what is essential, and would suffer the most dreadful schism, with dramatic overtones. It did not happen. Moreover, experience shows that history can repeat itself by finding always new subjects, worn out by a demanding struggle and hardened by bitter experience. On the other hand, if the Superior considered that a regularization would bring more to the Society than it would detract from her, other characters, believing themselves invested of a divine mission, could be the victims of a spirit of disunion and, despoiled of their grace of state, invited to increase the obstacles and minimize the efforts already accomplished, insisting on grievous tired arguments.

True, the Society of Saint Pius X is not the Church, but, if its authorities confirm that they are not negotiating the faith and their profession of it, prudence invites us to follow them, either by keeping patience towards that for which they may have invited us, or by working in the new fields of apostolate that they will have shown us. The hand of God has acted so much through the work founded by Abp. Lefebvre that all seems to indicate that He wishes to continue to grant it a fundamental role in the life of the Church. It suffices to consider its impact on the Catholic world in proportion to what it represents in actual numbers in order to understand that the common good demands us to support it ardently, not as an end in itself, but as a means at the service of the Church.

Those who have a burning love for Rome will show it increasingly to her, and those who have at heart the desire to maintain the demands of a Tradition under persecution will continue to direct towards her this doctrinal rigorousness, not in competition but in complete coherence. Abp. Lefebvre, through his missionary pragmatism as well as through his adherence to principles, did not lead us to any other way. Before his seminarians, he warned those who, when "doubt spreads everywhere, when spirits are troubled, when circumstances demand that, those in the frontline, being in a certain way in a frontal assault, become snipers, and will believe they have a special mission. But it is dangerous to assume being a sniper. One may not only not fulfill the will of God, not fulfill the will of his superiors, but may also involuntarily destroy, without a doubt, the work that the Good God asks us to fulfill." This reflection applies both to the clergy and to the faithful.

Let us thus entrust ourselves more than ever to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary!

Doctrinal Preamble "temporary"; will be published in case of final agreement

From La Croix, the semi-official daily of the French Church:

"If an agreement with the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) is found, the Holy See intends to publish the Doctrinal Preamble upon which this agreement on the return to full communion with Rome of the Integrist [sic] fraternity, separated since 1988, would take place. This is what authorized sources indicated to Roman agency I.Media on Thursday, October 6.

...

" 'We have nothing to hide,' sources close to the matter affirm in the Vatican, before adding, 'It is clear that, once the text is conclusive, we will publish it.' At the Pontifical Commission 'Eccesia Dei', in charge of the dialogue with the Lefebvrists [sic], it is also mentioned that the door is open for 'clarifications', if necessary, and it is added that it was therefore 'a temporary text' that was delivered to Bp. Bernard Fellay, superior of the FSSPX, and his collaborators at the time of their visit to the Vatican on September 14."

Communiqué of the General House of the Society of St. Pius X

October 6, 2010

During this month of the Rosary and, in particular, on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, on October 7th when the superiors of the Society of St. Pius X will meet to study the recent proposals from Rome, Bishop Bernard Fellay asks all priests and faithful to intensify their generous participation in the Rosary Crusade that began on Easter of 2011 and ends on Pentecost of 2012.

On September 29th, in an interview given in Stuttgart, Germany, Fr. Niklaus Pfluger, First Assistant of the Society, recalled, “We are not that concerned about any advantage of our own. We want to make the treasure that Archbishop Lefebvre entrusted to our safekeeping available again for the whole Church.. . . We are concerned [instead] about the Catholic Church. Together with the Archbishop we too would like to say [the words of St. Paul; cf. I Corinthians 11:23], “Tradidi quod et accepi”―We hand on what we ourselves have received.”

During the conference he gave on October 1st at Villepreux, France, Bishop Fellay stated, “Sr. Lucy confided to Fr. Fuentes  that the Blessed Virgin has put in this prayer [the Rosary] a particular efficacy, such that it is able to solve all problems. Sr. Lucy said it at Fatima—all problems. Listen well: All! You must believe it. . . .”

“Our Lord said : ‘if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove (Matt. 17:19).’ Ask for this faith, the faith of a grain of mustard seed.”

“In addition, we are counting on you to escalate this Rosary Crusade. There should be absolutely no doubt that the prayer of any part of the Church that comes together to ask for great graces, is pleasing to the Good Lord, honors Him and honors the Blessed Virgin.”

“So, let us go forth ! Let us carry on this Crusade with faith and confidence in the Good Lord.”

Menzingen, October 6, 2011

[Image: Italian District House of the Fraternity in Albano Laziale, Rome Province, Latium - source: Orbis Catholicus]

"There cannot be a pre-Conciliar Church and a post-Conciliar Church"

Yours will probably be the first generation that will correctly interpret the Second Vatican Council, not according to the "spirit" of the Council, which has brought so much disorientation to the Church, but according to what the Conciliar Event really said, in its texts to the Church and to the world.

There is no Vatican II different from the one that produced the texts we have in our possession today! It is in those texts that we find that will of God for his Church and it is to them that we must refer, accompanied by two thousand years of Tradition and Christian life.

Renewal is always necessary for the Church, because the conversion of her members, poor sinners, is always necessary! But there cannot be, nor could there be, a pre-Conciliar Church and a post-Conciliar Church! Were it thus, the second one - ours - would be historically and theologically illegitimate!

There is only one Church of Christ, of which you are part, that goes from Our Lord to the Apostles, from the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, from Romanesque to Gothic to Baroque, and thus until our days, uninterruptedly, without any solution of continuity, ever!

And all that because the Church is the Body of Christ, it is the unity of His Person that is given unto us, her members!

You, most dear Seminarians, will be priests in the same Church of Saint Augustine, of Saint Ambrose, of Saint Thomas Aquinas, of Saint Charles Borromeo, of Saint John Mary Vianney, of Saint John Bosco, of Saint Pius X, up to Saint Padre Pio, Saint Josemaría Escrivá and Blessed John Paul II. You will be priests of the same Church that has been made up of so many holy Priests who, throughout the centuries, have rendered the face of Christ, Lord of the world, luminous, beautiful, radiant, and, therefore, easily recognizable.

These were the main words of the powerful address delivered by Cardinal Piacenza, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, to seminarians in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on October 4 - the address is available in Italian and in Spanish in the Congregation's website (if there is a link to an English version, please add it to the comments)

The Propers of the Mass, then and now

And the misleading words of the document that introduced the new mass, in 1969, regarding the Graduale.

Conference delivered by Dom Mark Kirby, O.S.B., at the International Symposium: Council and Continuity, held this week in the Diocese of Phoenix and which we mentioned here in August. (Reproduction of entire text authorized by author - also available at Vultus Christi).

______________________________

Introduction

Until the approval of The New Roman Missal by Pope Paul VI on 3 April 1969, there had existed for four hundred years a substantial unity between the texts of the Proper of the Mass contained in the Graduale Romanum and those given in the Roman Missal. The Missal, in effect, reproduced the complete texts of those sung parts of the Mass that in the Graduale Romanum are fully notated.

The Missal takes the text of the Chants of the Proper of the Mass from the Graduale Romanum, and not the Graduale Romanum from the Missal. The Missal, in fact, contains the very same texts found in the Graduale, but in the Missal they are printed without the musical notation that allows them to be brought to life in song and, in a certain sense, interprets them in the context of the liturgy. The melodic vesture of the texts functions as a liturgical hermeneutic, allowing them to be sung, heard, and received in the light of the mysteries of Christ and of the Church.

Remembering Syria

Confusing times, in which a future persecution of Christians in Syria is thwarted by the vetoes of Russia and the People's Republic of China; those two countries certainly had their own reasons for voting against the adoption of a draft resolution proposed by the United States and European members of the United Nations Security Council, but at least the wholesale persecution of Christians in Syria (as in neighboring Iraq and in Egypt) is postponed for the moment. Meanwhile, another Copt building (a church dedicated to Saint George) was burned down by Muslims yesterday in Aswan Province, Egypt.

______________________________

As we had asked before, in this time of upheaval and uncertainty, please, be mindful of Christians in Syria - the land that gave us so many conversions, saints, martyrs and confessors, since the earliest days of our Church, the land that gave us, through its ancient Petrine See of Antioch (now located in southern Turkey), some of the major rites of the East, including that of Constantinople.

"Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which now has God for its shepherd, instead of me." 

(Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Romans)

SSPX prayer request

We happily join this prayer request put forward by the United States District of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX):

10-4-2011 As announced by DICI, the Superior General, Bishop Fellay, has called all of the SSPX's superiors to a special meeting at the Society's house in Albano, near Rome. This meeting is important for the future of the entire Church, and because its main session will take place on October 7th (the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary), the United States District Superior, Fr. Rostand, is requesting special prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary on this day through recitation of all 15 decades of the Rosary. As this day will also happen to be the First Friday for October, Fr. Rostand encourages all who can to spiritually assist the SSPX by fulfilling that day's devotions to the Sacred Heart—attendance at the votive Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Così fan tutte [le Conferenze]

In another chapter in the never-ending saga of the Ordinary Form ("the Unsalvageable Form"?), Chiesa reports on this day of the Patrono d'Italia that the great majority of the Italian Bishops voted against the translation of "for many" ("pro multis") as "for many" ("per molti"), instead preferring to maintain the "per tutti" loved "da tutti" - if they can get their way. They also have great difficulties with the general idea of the "et ne nos inducas in tentationem".

Good luck with your new translations, Eccellenze!  As is well known, the new English translation of the Ordinary Missal is being phased in around the world, and we are sure that it will do wonders. This is our position on this controversial matter (it is always good to have something to fall back on):

Una Voce news

The International Federation Una Voce announces the admission of four new members. The Federation president recalls words first said by Dr. Eric de Saventhem 40 years ago:

The first President of the International Federation Una Voce, Dr Eric de Saventhem, speaking in New York in June 1970, said that the suppression of the traditional Mass had been achieved de facto only and not de jure. It would be unthinkable, he said, for the older form of Mass to be forbidden as one would have to argue that it had been wrong or bad - either doctrinally or pastorally. He thought it perfectly legitimate to ask that the new Ordo Missae should be offered as an additional, alternative way, of celebrating Mass. This was an argument that all the leaders of the International Federation have used regularly when in Rome. The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum has confirmed what Dr de Saventhem said nearly forty years earlier. In his talk he also said:

"A renaissance will come: asceticism and adoration as the mainspring of direct total dedication to Christ will return. Confraternities of priests, vowed to celibacy and to an intense life of prayer and meditation will be formed. Religious will regroup themselves into houses of "strict observance." A new form of "Liturgical Movement" will come into being, led by young priests and attracting mainly young people, in protest against the flat, prosaic, philistine or delirious liturgies which will soon overgrow and finally smother even the recently revised rites.

It is vitally important that these new priests and religious, these new young people with ardent hearts, should find -- if only in a corner of the rambling mansion of the Church -- the treasure of a truly sacred liturgy still glowing softly in the night. And it is our task - since we have been given the grace to appreciate the value of this heritage -- to preserve it from spoliation, from becoming buried out of sight, despised and therefore lost forever. It is our duty to keep it alive: by our own loving attachment, by our support for the priests who make it shine in our churches, by our apostolate at all levels of persuasion."

Everything that Dr de Saventhem prophesied has come to pass. The revised rite of 1970 has indeed been overgrown and smothered by flat and delirious liturgies. For forty years the members of the International Federation have worked unceasingly to keep alive "the truly sacred liturgy" and to prevent it being "buried out of sight, despised, and therefore lost forever". The enquiries being received by the Federation are coming mainly from young people who are not attracted or inspired by these "flat, prosaic, philistine or delirious liturgies" and are welcoming and embracing the venerable usus antiquior of their forefathers. The International Federation Una Voce will continue unceasingly in its work to attract new members and help restore and spread the usus antiquior and the venerable and ancient liturgy of our forbears to our altars.

[Image source: Hands at Mass, 1951 - at Cérémoniaire]

A Vatican II moment: just another Ordinary Sunday in Ordinary Time

Finally, the hierarchy entrusts to the laity certain functions which are more closely connected with pastoral duties, such as the teaching of Christian doctrine, certain liturgical actions, and the care of souls. By virtue of this mission, the laity are fully subject to higher ecclesiastical control in the performance of this work. (Apostolicam actuositatem, 24)

On Sep. 25, one week before a Hindu dancer performed in honor of Gandhi after a new mass in a Cathedral by the Adriatic, a Bishop paid a visit to an ancient parish somewhere near the mighty Mississippi.

The parish church of Saints Peter and Paul, in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, is filled with reminders of its Catholic past. The liturgy currently celebrated in it (as described and depicted by Snup's View from the Back - tip: St. Louis Catholic) is not one of those. Whatever this is, it does not seem to be in continuity with anything. But one must never lose hope: perhaps the "new translation" might fix things there!...

Divinum Officium update Ayúdenos a crear una versión en español Aidez-nous à faire la version française

An update from the Rorate Cæli Purgatorial Society chaplain and Divinum Officium webmaster:

I would just like to take a few moments to thank everyone who has volunteered to help with Divinum Officium upon the untimely passing of Laszlo Kiss.  You have all been remembered at a Traditional Mass celebrated for those who are involved in any way with this website.

We have had a couple more people who have volunteered via email to assist us with the Perl coding on the website.  We are taking things slowly, and our intent is to leave Laszlo's work alone as much as possible, except where there are verifiable errors.

A rumor has surfaced on some Internet fora that we are not interested in preserving the pre-1960 versions of the site.  We would like to reassure everybody that this is completely false.  To the contrary, we have been in contact with people who are experts in the pre-1960 codices of rubrics, and we are more than happy to welcome anybody else aboard who is willing to offer corrections for such versions of the site.  Some of the problems we have encountered are a lack of consistency with accents and ligatures in the Latin text as well as a significant number of typos and other imperfections in the texts.  We are using Subversion to track changes made to the site, so that all of us who are doing the work of editing can see what variations are made and by whom.  We also have established an open-source backup on Google Code in case anything unforeseen should happen to the website.

We have remained in contact with Laszlo's widow and his son, who are both very pleased at the work that is being done on the site.

We would like to ask the Rorate Cæli readership if there is anyone who is willing to collaborate with us on the project of translating files.  Any and all assistance would be most appreciated.  We have had several emails from people inquiring about Spanish and French translations, and certainly, there is a need for translations in all major European languages (including the definition of the best freely available Psalter translation in each language).  There are approximately 3500 text files which would need to be translated in the Divinum Officium site alone, not counting the Sancta Missa site.  If anybody is willing to contribute to this very important task, please contact us!

The Divinum Officium Project

http://www.divinumofficium.com

canon DOT missae AT gmail DOT com

Trying to make sense of things?... - Part II

Trying to make sense of things in the talks between the Holy See and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), and of what may happen in the near future? And also of various matters related to the Traditional Roman Liturgy ("Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite")?

The Secretary of the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei', Monsignor Guido Pozzo, spoke to GloriaTV on all these matters in a substantial interview:

This is the full transcript of the interview, provided by GloriaTV:

Monsignor, you have participated in the dialogue with the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X. What is your personal impression of these meetings? Where do we stand right now? Do you believe we will soon reach a reconciliation?

Pope explains why he is going to Assisi-III

In April, we mentioned a letter that Pope Benedict XVI sent to his friend, Lutheran minister and professor Dr. Peter Beyerhaus, as a response to a missive sent by the latter on the risks involved in the new Assisi gathering (October 27, 2011).

In a conference promoted by traditional-minded Catholics that took place last Saturday in Rome on the meaning of the Assisi gathering (Cardinal Burke was one of the speakers at the conference), the relevant passage of the Pope's private letter to Beyerhaus was revealed:

"I understand quite well - Benedict XVI wrote on March 4, 2011 - your concern regarding the participation at the Assisi meeting. However, this commemoration would have to have been celebrated in some way and, all things considered, it seemed to me that the best thing would be for me to personally go there being thus able to determine the direction of it all. I will nevertheless do everything in order that a syncretistic or relativistic interpretation of the event will be impossible and so that what will remain is that I will always believe and confess that which I had called to the attention of the Church with [the Declaration] 'Dominus Iesus'."

_____________________________________

The Declaration "Dominus Iesus" brings good memories to many Catholics, including many converts. One hopes that its presence will be felt in Assisi, which on these days celebrates the transito of its greatest son.

Well, this happened in the sanctuary, but at least it was after mass, right?

After a New Mass, of course. Our friend Francesco Colafemmina, of Fides et Forma, went to a mass in the Ordinary Form this Sunday in the Cathedral of Bari (Apulia, Italy). And, as soon as the "celebrazione eucaristica" was over, a special event was announced: in honor of the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a dance was going to be performed. And it was, indeed:

Perhaps this is what the Council Fathers had in mind when they recalled that the people of the Vedas "seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust" (Nostra Aetate)? Poor Francesco: he still does not know if the worst part of the evening was this performance or the unbearably sugary homily he had heard a few minutes earlier.

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (forty-fifth posting of souls)

Below, please find the forty-fifth posting of poor souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society.

It is hard to believe but this month marks the Society's one-year anniversary!

I have no hard tally, but I think it's safe to say we have enrolled about 20,000 individual souls, and countless families, orders, parishes, etc. And we are up to 15 holy priests saying monthly/weekly TLMs for the souls.

I'd love to know, from our dear readers, how we can improve this site, or whether we should leave it alone. So I will leave the combox open this week. One thing I would personally cherish is if someone could build us some sort of program that would allow people to upload names and have them automatically enrolled. If anyone has any solid ideas on this or can do this for us, please email me at the address below.

Thank you for making this apostolate thrive in the first year beyond anything I could have ever imagined. And don't forget to turn to the souls who are now members of the Church Triumphant, and those Church Suffering who are still enrolled, and ask them for their intercessions and prayers. They are grateful for what we are doing more than we can imagine.

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country." If you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email: "The Jones family, Ohio, USA". Individual names are preferred. Be greedy -- send in as many as you wish and forward this posting to friends as well. PLEASE follow this format strictly, as any deviation creates a lot of extra work.

Please consider forwarding this Society to your family and friends, announcing from the pulpit during Holy Mass or listing in your church bulletin. We need to spread the word and relieve more suffering souls.

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

Traditional Parish established in Indiana

America is fast becoming the nation of Personal Parishes for the Traditional Roman Mass and Sacraments. This Sunday, the creation a new Personal Parish, to be established by the Ordinary of Fort Wayne-South Bend, was announced - a decision of Bishop Kevin Rhoades, as foreseen by Summorum Pontificum, art. 10. As reported by D. Werling, the existing Sacred Heart parish will cease being a territorial parish and is to become a personal parish for those attached to the "Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite" in Fort Wayne, Indiana (with its former territory attached to that of another territorial parish).

Congratulations to Bishop Rhoades, to Father G. Gabet, FSSP, and to the traditional community in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend!

[Relevant update] Trying to make sense of things...

...in the Rome-SSPX talks and of what may happen in the near future? Some interesting points provided by the Superior of the District of the United States of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), Fr. Arnaud Rostand:

[1530 GMT, UPDATE:] The SSPX news agency, DICI, makes public today an interview with Fr. Niklaus Pfluger, First Assistant of the Fraternity, and one of its three representatives present at the September 14 meeting:

During his visit to Stuttgart, the First Assistant of the Society of St. Pius X, Rev. Fr. Niklaus Pfluger, despite his very busy schedule, found time to answer a few questions for [the website of the German District].

The doctrinal preamble is of great interest to all concerned. Both sides agreed on confidentiality, and so we cannot expect you to speak about its contents. Allow me nevertheless to ask: What do you think of the document?

The document allows for corrections from our side. That is necessary also, if only to exclude clearly and definitively even the appearance of ambiguities and misunderstandings. So now it is our duty to send Rome an answer that reflects our position and unambiguously represents the concerns of Tradition. We owe it to our mission of fidelity to Catholic Tradition not to make any compromises. The faithful, and the priests even more, understand very well that in the past Rome’s offers to the various conservative communities were unacceptable. If Rome now makes an offer to the Society, then it must be made unambiguously and unmistakably clear that it is for the welfare of the Church and hastens a return to Tradition. We think and feel with the Catholic Church. She has a worldwide missionary task, and it was always the most ardent desire of our founder that Tradition should flourish again throughout the world. A canonical recognition of the Society of St. Pius X could accomplish just that.

Critics say that Rome is trying to set a trap for the Society with this preamble and to take advantage of it. Once it was canonically integrated, the Society might perhaps introduce its “charism of Tradition” into the modern Church, but it would also have to accept conciliar thinking and other ways of doing things for the sake of “pluralism”.

This criticism is altogether justified and should be taken seriously. For how can we avoid giving the impression that this amounts after all to a tacit acceptance, so to speak, that would in fact lead to this parallel diversity and relativize the one truth; that is indeed precisely the basis of Modernism.

Assisi III and even more the unfortunate beatification of John Paul II but also many other examples make it clear that the leadership of the Church now as before is not ready to give up the false principles of Vatican II and their consequences. Therefore any “offer” made to Tradition must guarantee us the freedom to be able to continue our work and our critique of “modernist Rome”. And to be honest, this seems to be very, very difficult. Again, any false or dangerous compromise must be ruled out.

It is pointless to compare the present situation with the talks in 1988. At that time Rome wanted to prevent any sort of autonomy for the Society; the bishop that they maybe were and maybe were not going to grant would in any case have to be subject to Rome. That was simply too uncertain for Archbishop Lefebvre. If Marcel Lefebvre had given in, Rome could in fact have hoped that a Society without its “own” bishops would someday come round to the conciliar way. Today the situation is completely different. We have four bishops and meanwhile 550 priests worldwide. And the structures of the official Church are breaking down faster and faster. Rome can no longer confront the Society as it did more than twenty years ago.

What do you think are the chances for a positive answer? Will the Society of St. Pius X agree to the preamble?

Here diplomacy plays an important role. Rome wants to save face in public. The pope has already been accused too often of lifting the “excommunication” of our bishops without preconditions. If it had been up to the majority of the German bishops, then the Society would have to sign a blank check recognizing the whole Council first. Incidentally, they are demanding that now as before. Pope Benedict has not done that. Moreover free access to the Catholic Sacrifice of the Mass [i.e. Tridentine Mass] was the second condition required by the Society. Therefore Rome complied twice with the Society’s wishes. It is clear that now they are demanding a document that can be presented to the public. The question is, whether one can sign the document. In one week the superiors of the Society of St. Pius X will meet in [Albano Laziale, a suburb of] Rome to discuss this together. Of course it has to be clear to Cardinal Levada and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith too that they cannot insist on a document that the Society cannot justify in turn to its members and faithful.

One last question: Who gained the greater advantage from the theological talks: Rome or the Society of St. Pius X?

That is a very important point, and so I will say it again: We are not that concerned about any advantage of our own. We want to make the treasure that Archbishop Lefebvre entrusted to our safekeeping available again for the whole Church. To that extent, canonical recognition would be a gain for the Church. In that way a conservative bishop, for example, could ask Society priests to work in his diocesan seminary. Of course the regularization of relations would also mean that Catholics who were perhaps kept away from the Society by the label “suspended” will now venture to take that step. But that is not what this is about. For forty-one years the Society has grown steadily, even in spite of being beaten with the “excommunication” stick. We are concerned instead about the Catholic Church. Together with the Archbishop we too would like to say [the words of St. Paul cf. I Corinthians 11:23], “Tradidi quod et accepi” – We hand on what we ourselves have received.

A most important historical document: the 1969 Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (the original GIRM)

7. Cena dominica sive Missa est sacra synaxis seu congregatio populi Dei in unum convenientis, sacerdote praeside, ad memoriale Domini celebrandum. Quare de sanctae Ecclesiae locali congregatione eminenter valet promissio Christi: "Ubi sunt duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo, ibi sum in medio eorum" (Mt. 18, 20).

"7. The Lord's Supper, or Mass, is the sacred meeting or congregation of the people of God assembled, the priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. For this reason, Christ's promise applies eminently to such a local gathering of the Church: 'Where two or three come together in my name, there am I in their midst' (Mt. 18:20)."

This is the original complete definition of the Mass according to the 1969 Novus Ordo Missae: they were arguably the most influential liturgical words written in the 20th century and signaled a watershed moment - in a sense, closing the book written since late antiquity and the chapter begun in Sessions XIII and XXII of the Council of Trent. 

Number 7 of the first edition of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (the General Instruction of the Roman Missal - GIRM) is the end moment of the original liturgical movement. Its writers also thought they would have the final say in the history of the Traditional Mass - within a few months, the storm started by these words on the edge of acceptability would spark the Brief Critical Study of the New Order of the Mass, presented to the Pope and to the Catholic world under the auspices of Cardinals Ottaviani, first Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Bacci. 

The waves set by that text have not subsided. That famous number 7 and other highly problematic words of the original 1969 IGMR (in which Trent is not mentioned a single time) and Ordo Missae would be amended in 1970, 1975, and 2002. While much was vindicated by the swift and significant corrections of 1970 - and, ultimately, by the proclamation by Pope Benedict XVI that the traditional Roman Missal was "never abrogated -, can it be denied that the spirit of the 1969 IGMR lives on in the New Mass, or "Ordinary Form"?

While the texts of the 1970, 1975, and 2002 IGMR are widely available, it had been impossible up to now to find online the original source of the controversy. Thanks to the generous effort of a priestly source, RORATE can now present to our readers the original 1969 Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani. (Note: this is the entire IGMR, but only the first pages of the original complete publication of the 1969 Ordo Missae, promulgated on April 3, 1969, by the Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum, of Pope Paul VI.)

Who exactly is the "institutional" Church?...

We have no idea, but why are two supposedly Catholic (all right, Jesuit: Fordham and Fairfield) "institutions" criticizing the "institutional Church"? Is it self-hate?

More Than a Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church is an unprecedented collaboration — 2 Roman Catholic universities and 2 non-denominational divinity schools are coming together to change the conversation about sexual diversity and the Catholic Church.

For too long, the conversation on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in the Roman Catholic Church has been only a monologue — the sole voice being heard is that of the institutional Catholic Church. [Source]

Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, the Pontifical (you read that right) Catholic University of Paraná, in Brazil, a Marist university, promotes the X Theology Conference of the Pontifical Catholic University ("Theology, Gender, and Expressions: Where are we going?"), taking place from October 3-5. The conferences in this congress make the ones above seem tame and mild - one is magically transported back to the sauvage days of the 1970s. These are some of the conferences of this absolutely institutional university:

Panel: Gender and Education

- Sexuality and Religion
- Myth and space in the representation of gender.
- Masculinities and Femininities: Contemporary representations of Gender in the educational context.


Panel: Ethics and Gender relations
– Gender and diversities
[Prof. Dr. Glauco Soares de Lima. Primate Bishop (Presidente of the Anglican Church of Sao Paulo)] - Questions related to Hetero- and Homoaffective (?) relations.
- Genderification (?), science, and ethics in contexts of the reproductive experience today.


Panel: Pastoral and Spirituality
- Pastoral and Spirituality, and gender issues in the perspective of Jürgen Moltmann.
– Liturgy and spirituality: gender relations and social commitment.


Panel: Gender and Family
- Family, gender, and the difficult comprehension of the transvestite.


Panel: Gender and subjectivity
– Bioidentities, gender, and theology.
– Transexuality and the social construction of gender identity. [Fratres in Unum was our source for this.]

Still in the Southern Hemisphere, but across the world, in Eureka Street, the very institutional media website of the Society of Jesus in Victoria, Australia, the main feature is:

Why I support gay marriage

So, let us be clear: THEY, the "dissenters", they are the institutional power. From America to Brazil to Australia, they are the parasites living off the sweat and sacrifices of the Catholics of old. Those  promoting the monologue of immorality, they are the ones with symbols bearing the tiara and the keys, with banners bearing the institutional IHS monogram. The very least they could do is stop with this sickening self-victimization, since they, like Judas (see St. John xii, 6), carry the purse, and since "they seize upon chairs in the seminaries and universities, and gradually make of them chairs of pestilence" (Pascendi, 43). We have got free forums and blogs...

Keep on doing what you are doing, Cardinal Vallini! It's working!

When a group of priests whine publicly that their superior is being "authoritarian", we must admit that our immediate reaction is to defend the superior; and when the "climate of fear" decried by these priests is a "climate" of "internal police" related to, shall we say, "homosexual matters" - well, then we are absolutely certain that the superior is correct and that whatever he is doing is certainly in the right direction.

Here is our support to Cardinal Vicar-General Vallini: we do not know what you are doing, Your Eminence, but you are doing it right.

[Source: Il Messaggero; Tip: Papa Ratzinger blog]

Letter of Roman priests against [Cardinal Vicar-General] Vallini - "Impressive authoritarianism"

by Franca Giansoldati

ROME - The gossip-letter writer has acted once again - but this time, the letter that arrived four days ago for all heads of offices across the Tiber [in the Roman Curia] is not anonymous, but signed by "The priests of Rome". Even Pope Ratzinger has received it on his desk, himself being the first addressee ("Your Holiness, this is an open letter, and not one of those that go around in the Curia in these weeks.")

...

The letter is composed of two computer-written pages, in eight paragraphs from which transpire suffering, delusion, and, in certain parts, exasperation for a sad climate of "impressive authoritarianism".

The cardinal - former prefect of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, chosen by the Pontiff to replace Camillo Ruini in 2008 - is accused of displaying "attitudes worthy of an officer of the carabinieri, not of a bishop". The discontent moves through the diocesan clergy and perhaps, considering the initiative, [it does] not [date] from yesterday. In the curia, this is all that is being discussed. The authors of the letter regret being unable to have serene conversations with their own superior due to a "climate of suspicion regarding everything and everyone" which has been created with time. In sum: the Lateran palace [seat of the Diocesan administration] is depicted as a place not of dialogue, but as an "unhappy place where no one is trusted and one is bound to silence."

...

[From the letter:] "Another painful chapter is the relationship with us, priests. We hoped - it is written - to have a day of the week at our disposal to be received without appointment. We now even fear approaching that office. We are looked upon with suspicion, judged and criticized without being able to defend ourselves and blackmailed with the possibility of being left without stipend."

But why has so much hostility been piling up against the Cardinal-Vicar, a man trusted by Pope Ratzinger, from the Roman priests, to the point of writing an open letter to the Bishop of Rome? Vallini has been blamed for an excessive firmness in moving forward with an action of internal police in order to expel from the diocese the rotten apples, gay priests [sic]. The toughness with which he has moved with no regard for anyone would have aggravated many minds? Priests would have been deposed suddently and without many explanations, without real reaons. [From the letter:] "He [Vallini] is obsessed about the suspicion of homosexuality, as if rare cases which happened in the diocese should compromise the integrity of the entire presbyterate."

"Rare cases"?... There have been magazine reports and books dedicated to just a few of them! Auguri, Eminenza! Il mondo cattolico è con voi!

Events: Pontifical TLM in D.C. Area / New regular TLM in Manitowoc, Wisconsin / Traditional week taking place in Lexington, KY till Friday.

1. "All this week through Saturday (Oct. 1), His Excellency Bishop Peter Elliott, Auxiliary of Melbourne, Australia, will be celebrating the Low Traditional Latin Mass at 10:00a.m. at Old St. John the Evangelist in Silver Spring. There is no sermon."

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2. At the request of his Excellency, Bishop David L. Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest will offer a Traditional Mass beginning this Sunday, October 2nd, 2011, the External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, at St. Boniface Church, Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Holy Mass will be offered by priests of the Institute on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th (when occurring) Sunday of each month at 1:30PM. Confessions will be heard beginning at 1:00PM.

St. Boniface is located at 1001 Marshall St. (corner of Marshall St. and 10th St.) in Manitowoc.

_________________________________

3. A Traditional Mission is taking place this week (Monday 9-26-11 through Friday 9-30-2011) at the FSSP Church in Lexington, KY. It begins at 7:00PM each night, with the Rosary said before it starts (beginning at around 6:35PM). There is confession one hour before, and then for as long as necessary after it ends. The Mission is being held at St. Peter's Church, located at 153 Barr Street Lexington, KY.

The following is a link to the website: http://reginapacis.catholicweb.com/

This is a link to the Bulletin with information about the Mission: http://home.catholicweb.com/reginapacis/files/Bulletins/Bulletin20110925.pdf

Not in an ivory tower

"What to do regarding current authorities? Lock ourselves in our resistance as if in an ivory tower? Or, rather, try to convince the Roman authorities? I have not taken the line of breaking off the dialogue with Rome." [Abp. Marcel Lefebvre, "Thought for the Day" of the SSPX French District.]

Crisis? What crisis? The beast was slain

Dum proeliaretur [Roman Breviary, II Antiphon of I & II Vespers and Lauds of Michaelmas]
Fernando de las Infantas

_________________________________________

"I saw that the beast was slain, and the body thereof was destroyed, and given to the fire to be burnt." (Roman Breviary, Matins of Michaelmas, First Lesson of the First Nocturn.) 

Thine, O sweet Jesus, are the magnificent Archangels, in whom the benignity of Thy great condescension chiefly works; for, glorious satraps of Thy palace, Thou disdainest not to dispatch them down to this poor world to support and help our lowliness, creatures of clay that we are, and close allied to dust and ashes.

Through them, by Thy command, the chiefest interests of our salvation are administered, and the profoundest secrets of Thy supreme purpose are conveyed to us by them; by them come sicknesses and health to the generations of mankind; by them the kingdoms and the empires of the world subsist.

And, chief amongst them do we own Thy Michael, the stalwart standard-bearer and the citizen of heaven, who stands in advance of the army of the living God, and brandishing his champion’s blade thunders.

Saint Anselm

Meditationes

Communion handling: the gravest problem

Translation problems? Mass celebrated towards the people? Altar girls? Postures?

No, the greatest and gravest problem of the liturgy of the Latin Church - that is, of the "Ordinary form", or Mass of Paul VI - is one that transcends all this, even it is related to all of them: it is the way the Body of Christ is treated. That must be the very first issued tackled by an eventual true "reform of the reform", one that is set not by fleeting example, but by hard law.

_______________________

(1) Any human being who has ever had any experience with any edible object based on a milled product knows that crumbling is a natural part of the process of consuming it: loaves, wafers, cookies, biscuits, crackers, tortillas, nachos - it does not matter, fragmentation takes place. 

(2) Catholics believe that the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ are truly present in each of the Consecrated Species, and completely in every single and minute fragment of it.

Because of (1) and (2), the Church was traditionally extremely careful regarding the distribution of Holy Communion. That meant reducing to the minimal imaginable level the possibility that any Fragment of the Body of Christ, even the smallest one, might be profaned or lost - which meant only the celebrant himself touched the Body of Christ, that all Fragments could be held under control on the Altar, and that all gestures in the distribution of Holy Communion by the Priest (or Deacon) to the servers and faithful would mean that no Fragment could ever go unaccounted. (And that same process also took place with the distribution under both Species in the East, in a slightly different evolution, but with the same end result: consecrated hands distributing Holy Communion in such a way to make any loss or spillage unlikely and under strict control.)

What the liturgical innovations following the Council did was to inculcate Catholics with the notion that the Fragments of the Body of Christ do not matter - and it would be absurd to limit that only to the abhorrent practice of Communion in the hand; no, it is not just a matter of respect, but of Belief that God Himself is entirely present in each single Fragment of the Consecrated species; and Communion in the hand is only one aspect of this. In fact, all those allowances for distribution by people other than those with consecrated hands that are not purified before and after the Distribution of Holy Communion, the use of all kinds of "vessels", and all related matters - happening thousands upon thousands of times every single day around the world - also necessarily lead to abuse. Or, rather, they ARE the abuse. 

All other problems with the New Mass are intimately related with this gravest of problems. If the Sacred Liturgy is the "summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed" (SC, 10), the handling of the Body of Christ by the non-ordained is the pit from which all and every single liturgical abuse ontologically flows. Because if God present in the Most Holy Sacrament is treated as "crumbs" and "dust", then reality vanishes and all that remains, in appearance, are empty and ridiculous symbolisms - and no wonder people do not respect these, change them at will, and expect them to adapt to one's own preferences.

Motu Proprio "Quaerit semper", transferring competences on the discipline of the Sacraments from the CDW to the Rota. / Reform of the Reform: CDW now dedicated essentially to Sacred Liturgy

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

LITTERAE APOSTOLICAE

MOTU PROPRIO DATAE

QUAERIT SEMPER

Quibus Constitutio apostolica Pastor bonus immutatur atque quaedam competentiae aCongregatione de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum ad novum Officium de processibus dispensationis super matrimonio rato et non consummato ac causis nullitatis sacrae Ordinationis, apud Tribunal Rotae Romanae constitutum, transferuntur

Quaerit semper Apostolica Sedes sua moderaminis instituta pastoralibus necessitatibus accommodare, quae annorum decursu in Ecclesiae vita identidem exstiterunt, structuram ideo immutans et competentias Dicasteriorum Curiae Romanae. [Full Latin text.] [Update: English translation at the end of this post.]

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Explaining this motu proprio: as we had reported in February 2011, and as the Supreme Authority himself explains in his text, when Pope John Paul II reunified the competences of the Congregation for the Sacraments and of the Congregation for Divine Worship in the general reorganization of the Roman Curia (Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, of 1988 - it was the second unification of the Congregation in less than two decades), matters related to the discipline of certain aspects of the sacraments of marriage and orders remained with the Congregation. They were those points mentioned in articles 67 and 68 of the Constitution "Pastor Bonus", now abrogated by the motu proprio Quaerit Semper, of August 30, 2011, which enters into force on Saturday, October 1, 2011.

The matters removed from the competence of the Congregation, including those related to the "non-consummation in a marriage and the existence of a just cause for granting a dispensation", as well as to "cases concerning the nullity of sacred ordination" are to be examined by a new office established within the greater structure of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota.

The main purpose for this, according to Quaerit Semper, is the following:

"In these circumstances, it appeared adequate that the work of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments be dedicated essentially [potissimum] to a resumption of the Sacred Liturgy in the Church, according to the renewal that the Second Vatican Council desired, beginning with the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium."

So, then: is the "Reform of the Reform", in law, about to get started, as it seems, with this new impulse planned by the Holy Father?

_________________________________

[English translation provided by Vatican Information Service - it is apparently a translation of the Italian version.]

"Reform of the Reform" Apparently Put on Hold - Part drei

After giving Communion in the hand to a standing (sort of) Queen Sofia of Spain last fall, it appears there may be a different standard for politicians, who seem to get a pass on the so-called "reform of the reform."

The video below, unfortunately, shows the President of the German Parliament, Norbert Lammert, receiving Holy Communion in the hand from the Holy Father. 

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

Our ecumenical effort: ...sein Ausgang eilet aus der Höhe in euer Mutter Haus

J.S.Bach

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 140)

It was quite compelling to learn in early September that this Cantata, based on a hymn familiar to many converts from Protestantism, has also particularly touched the Holy Father. (For those who wondered the origin of the title of this post, by the way, it can be found in the second Aria of the Cantata, at 20:15.)

The two proposals - and how the SSPX Superior General views them

Yesterday, at Ruffec (Indre Department, Centre, France), Bishop Fellay [the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X - FSSPX / SSPX] received the first vows of a religious woman of the Society [the Sisters of Saint Pius X]. In the end of his sermon, he addressed the ongoing discussions with Rome.

...

If nothing, or close to nothing, has been said, it is because things are more complex than they may appear.

Rome has presented two proposals to the Fraternity of Saint Pius X: one doctrinal, the other canonical. Neither one, nor the other are clear. These two texts are modifiable, they can be rewritten, their essence being preserved. The problem is to find out what the essence is. There are lots of questions, but not many answers.

Rome moves one step towards the Fraternity. The latter must examine it seriously. The texts will be the object of a very attentive study. The Fraternity will not sign a text that is not clear. It will not do anything that may diminish its Faith or the spirit of its Faith. And it will not make a move if it is not certain of the good intentions regarding it. And, according to each different curial prelate that is questioned, a different response may be obtained.

It is a decisive phase, which, whatever its outcome, will not be without consequences. [Source: Fecit-Forum, author: Austremoine]