Overheard in the Sacristy

Papal visit: The Vatican puts its foot down. The Pope will celebrate the main part of ALL the Masses in Latin, says Marini

Monsignor Guido Marini, Papal Master of Ceremonies, confirms in an interview with Scotland’s Herald newspaper today that during his visit to Britain Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate the Prefaces and Canons of all his Masses in Latin, “to emphasise the universality of the faith and the continuity of the Church”.

The Canon (Eucharistic Prayer) is the heart of the Mass, during which the priest consecrates and elevates the Host. There can be little doubt that Marini has put his foot down. Having already stopped liturgical philistines from subjecting the Pope to various musical horrors, he is now sending a clear – and, one suspects, deeply unwelcome – message to English, Welsh and Scottish bishops who actively discourage the celebration of Mass in Latin.

There’s particular fury among the diehard modernisers of Scotland, I gather, who have waged a sneaky battle to banish traditional worship from the Bellahouston Mass. They are now reduced to quibbling about the number of candles on the Glasgow altar, protesting at the Pope’s wish for six or seven on the grounds that… actually, I don’t know. Too Popish, perhaps?

And it seems I was spot on about the call for lay people to distribute Communion at Bellahouston, which will not please Rome at all since the use of non-ordained ministers is unnecessary in the presence of 400 priests. This message just reached me from a respected Scottish priest:

I am in no way surprised about the candles at the Papal Mass as the man in charge of the liturgy taught me liturgy at Scotus Seminary and was against anything Catholic. Indeed we were told we could put nothing on the altar and to have two free standing candles was the most.

I was also sitting at the back of a neighbouring parish last weekend … and the PP who is also a VG came on to make the announcements, one of which was to ask for “Eucharistic Ministers” [sic] to assist in giving out communion at the Mass in Bellahouston – so I would say that rumour is also true!

Maybe I shouldn’t be drawing attention to divisions at this late stage in the proceedings, but the utter disregard for the wishes of Pope Benedict shown by various organisers in England and Scotland has been quite shameful.

Just as the Government had to step in to save the public events of the visit from organisational chaos, the Pope’s Master of Ceremonies has had to intervene to ensure that the worship in Glasgow and Birmingham is suitably dignified. Rome is not impressed.

“From today’s crisis, a Church will emerge tomorrow that will have lost a great deal. She will be small and, to a large extent, will have to start from the beginning. She will no longer be able to fill many of the buildings created in her period of great splendor. Because of the smaller number of her followers, she will lose many of her privileges in society.” – Father Joseph Ratzinger | 1969

Pray for me that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. — Benedict XVI | April 24, 2005

(I ask the same, for there are wolves without and within the Church.)

Just in time for INDEPENDENCE Day

“Traditional Christianity identifies greed, sloth and pride as three deadly sins — sins that manifest themselves in BP’s disaster.” — Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, on The Washington Post’s On Faith blog

“Let’s pray to God to stick his finger in that plug.” – Audie Crochet, Louisiana security guard and real estate agent, The Washington Post

Attention to Christ helps priests to avoid burnout, explains Cardinal Maradiaga

Vatican City, May 28, 2010 / 08:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- “The dignity of their ministry doesn’t exempt priests from difficulty, from temptations and from weaknesses that sometimes shake and put their path towards holiness to the test,” said Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga on Friday. To avoid “burnout,” he said, pastors must center their attention on Christ, but also remain conscious of their own human and psychological needs.

The Honduran cardinal and head of Caritas Internationalis was speaking in Rome at the release of the book, “Ease and hardship in the pastoral service and the mission of the Church. Recognizing and curing ‘burnout’ in devotion to others.”

Reflecting on the content and theme of the new book, the prelate said that priests, overwhelmed by the many challenges, excessive requests and possible difficulties arising within their ministry can become tired, experience psychological harm and eventually suffer from “pastoral burnout.”

As their ministry goes beyond just “things to do,” requiring their full attention and participation in relations with people of all ages and conditions, explained Cardinal Maradiaga, “if it is not balanced with a healthy interior life, it can cause a sense of uncertainty and inadequacy emerge, or also the fear of failing or feeling judged, thus (making them) lose sight of the very meaning of their work.”

To combat the possibility “denaturing” their sense of altruism in loving others, he said, they must “nourish a constant attention to themselves, to their own human and psychological needs. But also a constant attention to He who they are called to serve, Jesus the Good Shepherd …”

Offering insight, Pope Benedict XVI was spot on during a press conference aboard the airplane, Tuesday, May 11, 2010, on the way to Lisbon for his four day visit to Portugal.

“Attacks on the pope and the church come not only from outside the church, but the suffering of the church comes from inside the church, from sin that exists inside the church,”

“This we have always known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way, that the greatest persecution of the church does not come from the enemies outside but is born from the sin in the church.”

The following appears in an upcoming bulletin of a mid-western parish:

Dear Parishioners,

Happy Pentecost! The Easter Season comes to a final crescendo with this glorious feast! The Holy Spirit is the Person of the Holy Trinity which we seem to neglect.  But still, the age we live in since the Ascension is the AGE of the Spirit. It was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Vatican Council II happened. History making and world shaking, the Church came up to date under the Spirit’s guidance. The history of the Church since those moments is the successful or unsuccessful implementation of that wonderful coming together of the Church. Those who have resisted the Council have resisted the Spirit. It is sad that the implementation did not take place in many places and that has led to a great decline in true membership in the church and the increase of the powers of divergence from the Kingdom of God. In the United States, however, for the most part the implementation took root and has made the U.S. Catholic Church very vital and a shining example of true Christianity. The recent efforts of faithless and hypocritical people to make the church go backward are ill conceived and will fail. What a mistake it was for the Pope (who had the best of intentions) to lift a ban on those reactionary groups who want a dead church of Latin language and a rejection of Vatican II. One of the Bishops of one group even publicly takes a stand saying that the Holocaust is a myth. These people who may appear very pious (as the Pharisees did!) are really whitewashed sepulchers (to use the words of Jesus).  The Holy Spirit always leads us into the future, not into the past. [As we celebrate this faith-moment honoring God, the Holy Spirit let us be aware that trust as well as faith is needed…trust in the leadership of the Holy Spirit, trust in the Spirit’s healing powers as well as creativity under the Spirit’s egis.

It is the Spirit who guards the church from the powers of hell. [Jesus tells us: fear not, the Father will send you the Spirit… The great and powerful God the Spirit blows throughout the universe seeking souls open to the new creation, seeking hearts open to its promptings, seeking to uphold those whose knees are weak and confirming those who seek God. And it is not just the Catholic Church that is gifted with the Holy Spirit.  Every good inspiration, every good act, every humble prayer has as its source the one and same Spirit. All religions ancient and new are impacted by the Spirit and are made ready for advancement toward truth, unity and peace.

Please allow me to comment, quoting (with liberties) from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

“He sank more and more into uneasy delirium. At times he shuddered, turned his eyes from side to side, recognised everyone for a minute, but at once sank into delirium again. His breathing was hoarse and difficult, there was a sort of rattle in his throat.”

This is the death rattle of the “Spirit of Vatican II” types.

!

Thanks Caveman for the vid

English seminarians who follow Benedict are keeping their heads down

This isn’t news to English seminarians, but perhaps other Catholics are not aware of a situation I find rather shaming.

If you’re a seminarian or prospective seminarian who wishes to implement the liturgical renewal inspired by Pope Benedict XVI, it’s best to keep fairly quiet about it. Things aren’t as bad as they were a few years ago, when any seminarian caught reading Ratzinger would be tested for “psychological immaturity” by a feminist. The worship in certain seminaries has moved on from the 1960s to the 1980s (hence the discreet shoulder pads sewn into those zip-up albs) and staff have reluctantly accepted that tomorrow’s priests will be more conservative than they are (not difficult, in truth). But it’s still not safe to express too much enthusiasm for the Extraordinary Form, lest you identify yourself with fringe Catholics like, um, the Pope.

Oh, and don’t be caught reading this blog. [Ditto. fr lwg]

A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.     Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

Let us have faith in the Lord to calm the storm assaulting the Barque of Peter.

Laziness has become the chief characteristic of journalism, displacing incompetence.

– Kingsley Amis

Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children?

Do you reject the glamour of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?

Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?

This is so 80’s!

Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, Anaheim, CA  Closing “Liturgy” March 21, 2010

Archdiocese of Los Angeles, CA,  Diocese of Orange, CA

If you are ministering to the people of God, please leave your ego in your Toyota. You may need it as an airbag someday.