Thank you, Shawn Tribe

For all your great work at The New Liturgical Movement! We are sure CMAA and Jeffrey Tucker, as well as Gregory DiPippo, will do wonderful things at NLM. And we ask our Blessed Lord and His Immaculate Mother to bless you, yours, and all your future projects following your retirement from NLM.

Love never says "Enough"

Josquin des Prez

Veni Sancte Spiritus

__________________________

God ordained in the old law that fire should be kept continually burning upon his altar: "The fire on the altar shall always burn." (Lev. vi, 12). St. Gregory says that the altars of God are our hearts, in which he desires that the fire of his love should always burn. And hence the Eternal Father, not satisfied with having given us his Son Jesus Christ, to save us by his death, would also give us the Holy Ghost, to dwell in our hearts, and keep them continually inflamed with his love. And Jesus himself declared, that it was in order to influence our hearts with this holy love that he came into the world, and that he desired nothing more than to see it kindled: "I am come to send fire upon the earth: and what will I but that it be kindled?" (St. Luke, xii. 49). Hence, forgetting the injuries and ingratitude he received from men in this world, when he had ascended into heaven, he sent down upon us the Holy Ghost.

O most loving Redemer, dost thou then love us not only in thy sufferings and ignominies but also in thy heavenly glory? Hence it was that the Holy Ghost chose to appear in the form of fiery tongues: And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire (Cf. Acts, ii. 3). And hence the Church instructs us to pray: "May the Holy Ghost, we beseech thee, O Lord, inflame us with that fire which our Lord Jesus Christ came to cast upon the earth, and which he ardently desired should be enkindled." This was the holy fire which has inspired the saints to do such great things for God, to love their enemies, to desire contempt, to renounce all worldly goods, and to embrace with cheerfulness, even torments and death.

Love cannot remain idle, and never says: "It is enough." The soul that loves God, the more she does for her beloved, desires the more to do for him, in order to please him the more, and to draw down his love all the more. This holy love is enkindled in mental prayer: "In my meditation a fire shall flame out." (Ps. xxxviii, 4). If therefore we desire to be on fire with the love of God, we must delight in prayer; this is the blessed furnace in which this divine ardor is enkindled.

Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Paris-Chartres Pilgrimage 2013

One of the best ways to follow the events of the Pentecost Pilgrimages (particularly the Paris-Chartres "Notre-Dame de Chrétienté" pilgrimage) in France this weekend is the NDChrétienté official Twitter account, already filled with links to photo albums and videos.

And, of course, also follow us @RorateCaeli. 

On the ongoing revision of the penal law of the Church

Bishop Arrieta, February 11, 2012, at Wigratzbad. Source. 

All emphases are Rorate's - Augustinus.

Vatican Legal: Church teaching doesn't change, but church laws can

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta has a special briefcase he uses exclusively to carry documentation for a project that would completely revise an entire section of the Catholic Church's basic law.

The black case contains a 40-page draft text for a new "Book VI: Sanctions in the Church" section of the Code of Canon Law, as well as the 800-page synthesis of recommended amendments and objections to the proposed changes.

Bishop Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, delves into the briefcase at work in his office overlooking St. Peter's Square and at home in the evening.

Like any society, the Catholic Church has laws, Bishop Arrieta said, and while the tenets of its faith do not change, its laws do need to be adapted to the changing situations in which its members try to live out their faith.

While the pontifical council is looking at small adjustments to several sections of the Code of Canon Law, promulgated in 1983, and ways to speed up the process for evaluating the validity of marriages, the section concerning offenses and penalties was judged to be in need of more than a touch up.

The current code was drafted in the 1970s, Bishop Arrieta said, "a period that was a bit naive" in regard to the need for a detailed description of offenses, procedures for investigating them and penalties to impose on the guilty. It reflected a feeling that "we are all good," he said, and that "penalties should be applied rarely."

"The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when Pope Benedict was prefect, was obliged to act as a consequence of the fact that the (church's) penal law was not working," he said.

The naivete of the law became clear with the sexual abuse crisis, Bishop Arrieta said. In addition, the sanctions section of the 1983 code was written with such an emphasis on the role of the individual bishop in his local diocese that each bishop bore the full weight of deciding when and how to intervene and what sort of sanction or punishment to impose on the guilty.

The law ended up being too vague, and church sanctions were being applied so haphazardly, that the church appeared to be divided, he said.

The project to revise the section began in 2008. The draft was completed in 2011 and sent to bishops' conferences and pontifical faculties of canon law, which had a year to respond. The suggestions were organized and synthesized, and now council officials and consultants -- mostly professors of canon law -- meet for an afternoon every two weeks to go through them, line by line.

Bishop Arrieta said it will be at least two years before a new draft is ready to present to Pope Francis. As the church's chief legislator, it is the pope who decides whether or not to promulgate it and order that it replace the current law.

The proposed draft incorporates the Vatican's 2010 updated definition of "delicta graviora" -- Latin for "graver offenses," including clerical sexual abuse of minors, the "attempted ordination of women" and acts committed by priests against the sanctity of the Eucharist and against the sacrament of penance.

The two chief concerns in the new section, as in all church law, he said, are "to safeguard the truth and protect the dignity of persons."

At the same time, the rules are more stringent -- "if someone does this, he must be punished," the bishop said. While it withdraws the discretionary power of the bishop in certain cases, he said, "it is for the good of the bishop."

Another set of modifications to the Code of Canon Law are already on Pope Francis' desk, awaiting his judgment. They deal with areas in which the code for the Latin-rite Catholic majority differs from the Code of Canons of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Bishop Arrieta said that in most cases they are rules for situations that the Latin-rite code never envisioned, but that the Eastern code, published in 1990, did. With the large number of Eastern Christians -- Catholic and Orthodox -- who have migrated to predominantly Latin territories in the last 25 years, Latin-rite pastors need guidance, he said.

For example, Eastern Catholics who do not have access to a priest or parish of their rite are free to receive the sacraments in a Latin-rite parish, including baptism and matrimony. The proposed revisions for the code specify that in such situations the parish's sacramental register must include a notation that the people involved belonged to an Eastern Catholic church, he said. In addition, Latin-rite pastors must know that while a Latin-rite marriage is valid in the presence of a deacon, in the Eastern-rite churches a priest must preside.

Many Catholics think canon law is something they need to be concerned about only if their marriage breaks down and they want an annulment.

The annulment process is another area currently under study and scrutiny by the pontifical council, the bishop said. The church's law must uphold church teaching, but do so responding to the concrete situations of the faithful.

"Church law follows the theological reality of things," he said. "It isn't canon law that forbids divorce, the faith does. Canon law then transforms that into juridical language."

So while the council is not trying to find ways to facilitate annulments, "we are trying to identify the bottlenecks that delay" judgments in the annulment process and identify improved procedures, he said.

END

The Springtime of the Church: a statistical reckoning

Following on from my earlier post on Rorate Caeli about the strange, and optimistic, statistical comparisons being made on the internet about the number of ordinations to the priesthood in England and Wales, I and a number of Latin Mass Society volunteers have spent a lot of time among dusty tomes extracting statistics on a whole range of things which have appeared in the Catholic Directory over the years. Various articles have appeared on statistical measures of Catholic life in England and Wales over the years and it is clear that the researchers didn't have these numbers. They have lain uncollected in successive volumes of the Catholic Directory, and very few places have a complete set of old Directories.

Readers in England will see a good-sized article on our research in the print edition of the Catholic Herald out today, on p3.

So we now have numbers for Catholic baptisms, marriages, and conversions, as well as ordinations, numbers of priests, and numbers of places of worship. Some of the series go back to 1912 or 1913; others go back into the 19th century. Here I am going to talk about marriages; I've written on conversions on my own blog; you can download the raw data here, and see the press release here.

We all know the numbers of pretty well everything good in the Catholic world went south in the 1960s and 1970s. Here's a typical graph, recording the number of marriages in the Church in England and Wales, 1913 to 2010 (the latest date for which numbers are available).

Yes, you read that right: fewer Catholic weddings took place in 2011, in England and Wales, than in 1912. Since the population of the whole country has increased hugely in the meantime, the numbers per 1,000 Catholic makes for an even more dramatic graph.

For the record: the full text of the prayer consecrating the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima

Cardinal Policarpio, Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrating the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima. May 13, 2013. Source. 

The bishops of Portugal and this multitude of pilgrims are at your feet, on the 96th anniversary of your apparition to the little shepherds in Cova de Iria, to fulfill Pope Francis’ clearly expressed wish, that we consecrate to you, Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome and universal shepherd. 

Thus we consecrate to you, Lady, who are Mother of the Church, the ministry of the new Pope. Fill his heart with the tenderness of God, which you felt like no one else, so that he will be able to embrace all the men and women of this time with the love of your Son Jesus Christ. Contemporary humanity needs to feel that it is loved by God and by the Church. Only by feeling loved will it overcome the temptation to violence, materialism, forgetfulness of God, the loss of its way. And it will be led by you to a new world where love will reign. 

Give him the gift of discernment, to be able to identify the paths for the renewal of the Church. Give him the courage not to hesitate in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit. Shelter him in the harsh hours of suffering, to overcome in charity the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring. Be always by his side, saying with him those words you know well: “I am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to Thy word.”

The paths of the renewal of the Church lead us to discover the timeliness of the message that you gave the little shepherds: the exigency of conversion to God who has been offended, because He is so forgotten. Conversion is always a return to the love of God. God forgives because He loves us. This is why His love is called mercy. The Church, protected by your maternal solicitude and guided by this shepherd, must assert herself increasingly as the place of conversion and forgiveness, because in her, truth is always expressed in charity.

You indicated prayer as the decisive path of conversion. Teach the Church of which you are a member and model, so that we will be increasingly a people at prayer, in communion with the Holy Father, the first of this people who prays, and also in silent communion with the previous Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, who chose the path of the silent man of prayer, taking the Church more profoundly into the paths of prayer. 

In your message to the little shepherds, here in Cova de Iria, you highlighted the Pope’s ministry, “the man dressed in white.” Three of the last Popes were pilgrims to your shrine. Only you, Lady, in your maternal love for the whole Church, can put in Pope Francis’ heart the desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine. It is not something we can ask him for other reasons. Only the silent collaboration between you and him will attract him to this pilgrimage, in the certainty that he will be supported by millions of believers, willing to hear your message again. 

Here at this altar of the world, he will be able to bless humanity, to make today’s world feel that God loves all men and women of our time, that the Church loves them and that you, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them with tenderness on the paths of salvation. 

+JOSE, cardinal patriarch

Source: ZENIT

Prince, or politician?

If the cardinal wasn't located in New York, this would be a case of classic Washington, D.C. politics: say something vague that seems strong at first blush, then send your spokesman to correct the record with the reporter, creating confusion among the voters. Only here, it's the Faithful that are rightly confused (and scandalized), and not just voters:

From the New York Daily News:

ALBANY — New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan warned Gov. Cuomo to be ready for a holy battle if he tries to strengthen state abortion-rights laws.

In an interview on an Albany radio station Tuesday, Dolan said Catholic bishops would be “as vociferous and rigorous as possible in our opposition” to the governor’s efforts.

Although Cuomo has yet to release an abortion bill, he’s announced plans to write into New York law protections now provided by federal court decisions like Roe vs. Wade.

The governor’s efforts are aimed at keeping abortion safe and legal in New York even if Roe vs. Wade is overturned or weakened.

Archbishop Dolan said the conviction Monday of Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell on murder charges calls for laws that go the other way instead.

“I am in a bit of consternation as to why in a time when there seems to be kind of a sobering up about these horrors of the unfettered access to abortion, why in New York we are talking about even expanding it further,” Dolan said.

When asked how Cuomo could still consider himself a Catholic in good standing while also promoting abortion legislation, Dolan responded: “That’s something that I talk turkey with him about.”

Dolan spokesman Joseph Zwilling later said the cardinal did not mean to suggest that Cuomo would not be a Catholic in good standing if he went forward with the bill.

For the record - Cardinal O'Brien to leave Scotland

From Vatican Information Service:

PRESS RELEASE REGARDING CARDINAL O'BRIEN 

Vatican City, 15 May 2013 (VIS) – This afternoon, the Holy See Press Office issued the following press release: “His Eminence Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, archbishop emeritus of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, for the same reasons he decided not to participate in the last Conclave, and in agreement with the Holy Father, will be leaving Scotland for several months for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer, and penance. Any decision regarding future arrangements for His Eminence shall be agreed with the Holy See."

Religious "tolerance" in Germany ... and the United States

Update: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family. Read the latest here. And if you are homeschooling, become members of HSLDA. Don't think our government won't coming knocking on your door one day.

Previous post:

If you haven't followed this story and you home school your children -- or value others' right to home school -- you should start paying attention now.

From the Home School Legal Defense Association:

Yesterday, surrounded by friends and supporters, the Romeike family sat silent in the courtroom before the three-judge panel that will decide whether or not the family can remain in the United States to homeschool their children. The six wooden benches in the small courtroom quickly filled up with homeschooling families—some with children finishing their schoolwork for the day—and several more stood in the back during the 38-minute hearing.

HSLDA Chairman Mike Farris opened the hearing and was quickly peppered by questions by the panel. The judges seemed skeptical as to whether Germany specifically targets homeschoolers. At one point, a judge asked whether Germany persecutes homeschoolers if it permits parents to teach their children at the end of the day, after the child has attended a government school.

In reply, Farris quoted published decisions from German courts, which explained that the ban on homeschooling exists to prevent the development and spread of religious or philosophically-motivated “parallel societies,” and which concluded that it was dangerous for a child to be taught by their mother. 

When asked about parallel societies, Justice Department attorney Walter Buchinni admitted he did not know what the term meant, but claimed HSLDA was taking the point out of context. Buchinni also admitted that, even if the Justice Department wins the case, he did not know whether the family would be forcibly deported or whether they would be allowed to remain in the United States.

During the final rebuttal, Farris was told that there is no clear anti-Christian bias and that one reason for Germany’s strict public education laws is to teach tolerance. “If that’s tolerance,” Farris replied, “it’s a tolerance unknown in a free society.”

After the case ended, the Romeikes and their supporters filed out of the courtroom and gathered outside the building. Farris cautioned the supporters that there was no accurate way to predict the judges’ decisions solely based on the questions they asked. “I remember arguing a case before a California court in 2008 and being convinced that we had lost,” he said. “We ended up winning unanimously. So I know God can intervene.” ...

He also said that HSLDA will continue to intervene for the Romeikes if the panel returns an unfavorable decision, including a potential appeal to the United States Supreme Court. 

For more information and how you can help, click here.

TLM for Souls in a home chapel

Below, please find the seventy-first posting of enrolled Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. 

The photo above is of a Traditional Latin Mass being said for the Poor Souls enrolled in the Society by one of the 29 priests saying regular Masses for the souls -- Fr. Kevin Cusick, who writes often here and here. This Mass is being said in a home chapel recently constructed from scratch by family friends of Fr. Cusick. 

Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society."

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. And please try to follow this formatting strictly. 

"Go home now," Cardinal Roger

Patrick Brennan reports some troubling news, as if it could get any more bizarre:

The Los Angeles Times expresses confusion, as we all should, about what the heck is going on in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  Three months ago, Archbishop Gomez relieved his predecessor, Roger Cardinal Mahony, of "public duties" in the Archdiocese, including, according to a spokesman for the Archdiocese at the time of Archbishop Gomez's announcement, celebrating the sacrament of confirmation.  At the moment, however, the Cardinal is traveling around the Archdiocese celebrating that sacrament "every week" (his own words) and telling those who question him about it to "go home now" (his words). Meanwhile, Archbishop Gomez refuses to comment.

Cardinal Mahony's mishandling of his clergy's abuse of children boggles the mind and saddens the heart.  A decade after Cardinal Law was pressured into resigning for his own mishandling of such abuse, Mahony continued the mishandling right up until he submitted his resignation as required at the age of 75, and his successor, who surely knew much or all of what Mahony had done to hide the abuse, distanced himself and the Archdiocese from Mahony only when files Mahony had endlessly litigated to keep secret became public. Two years Archbishop Gomez waited, and when at last he relieved Mahony of his "public duties," he did so only for purposes of a phony publicity stunt, it would now seem.  

Only the Pope can discipline a Cardinal, but Archbishop Gomez has jurisdiction over the confirmation schedule in his own Archdiocese.  We can hope that Pope Francis will ground Cardinal Mahony and turn off his self-serving blog.  We can also hope that Archbishop Gomez will do right by the faithful of his Archdiocese and *in fact* relieve Cardinal Mahony of his public duties in the Archdiocese.  Members of the hierarchy need to stop scandalizing the faithful.  Enough already.  It is Cardinal Mahony who should "go home now."  If Pope Francis seeks to "rebuild" the Church, Cardinal Mahony's public presence is only impeding that all-important work.  Public penance for the Cardinal would be a help to that work on which turns, after all, the salvation of souls.  Archbishop Gomez's integrity is on the line here as well, and the jury -- including in the form of the LA Times -- is observing the evidence as it pours in. 

Francis' pontificate consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima

Via Catholic News Service:

FATIMA, Portugal (CNS) — Entrusting Pope Francis’ pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon, Portugal, asked Mary to give the pope courage and strength, particularly as he moves to renew and reform the Catholic Church.

“Give him the gift of discernment to know how to identify the ways of renewal of the church; give him the courage not to hesitate to follow the ways suggested by the Holy Spirit; support him in the hard hours of suffering to overcome with the charity the trials that the renewal of the church will bring,” the cardinal prayed May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

“We consecrate to you, Our Lady, mother of the church, the ministry of the new pope,” he prayed. “Fill his heart with the tenderness of God that you experienced so that he can embrace all the men and women of our age with the love of your son Jesus Christ.”

Cardinal Policarpo recited the prayer, which he wrote himself, at the end of a Mass concluding a major international pilgrimage to Fatima for the feast day marking the 96th anniversary of the apparition of Mary to three children.

The Portuguese cardinal, who participated in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, said the new pope had asked him twice to consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima. He also asked Mary to give Pope Francis “the desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine.”

But Pope Francis was not the only object of a special consecration during the mid-May pilgrimage; at a Mass May 12 at the Fatima shrine, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro entrusted to Mary all the young people who are preparing to attend World Youth Day in Rio with Pope Francis in July.

“Reparation”: the Great Forgotten

Translation via Rorate's Italian contributor Francesca Romana:

May editorial from  “Radicati nella Fede”

There has been a great deal of talk about Fatima over the past years  since Pope John Paul II revealed [as he desired] what was presented as the Third Secret. There was a great deal of talk about Fatima in the polemics that followed the revelation of the Third Secret, which many believe is [still] incomplete.  We all remember the Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone on national television, presenting the notes written by Lucia and the envelopes which contained them, so as to disprove those who sustained that the Third Secret had been only partly revealed. We all remember the well-documented book by Antonio Socci “The Fourth Secret of Fatima”, and the lively debate that followed.

Well then, there has been a great deal of talk about Fatima, but what has become of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?

Certainly it is very much alive in some restricted circles, but is it still preached and practiced in the actual fabric of our parishes?  To us it would appear not.

The practice of the first 5 Saturdays has practically disappeared, almost as if it were for ‘little souls’ which no longer corresponds to the way the Church nowadays intends devotion to Our Lady. Of course, nobody will publically deny that one can be devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but they will present this devotion as a question of personal piety and more effort than it is worth.  But this is not the case!

Faced with the disaster of the world becoming more and more atheistic, God Himself intervened at Fatima, indicating the way out of the destruction of humanity: devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

On the 13th July 1917 Our Lady spoke thus:

“The war [World War I] is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.

If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”

Two years before, in 1915, the Angel of the apparitions invited the children to pray prostrated with him in reparation for the offenses to God by sinners,  with especially these words: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the sacrileges, outrages and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners."

Pope Francis: Unborn are "uno di noi" ...

From the Vatican, original translation via Rorate's Italian contributor, Francesca Romana:

I greet all the participants on “The March for Life” which took place this morning in Rome and invite everyone to maintain keen attention on this theme of such importance with respect to human life from the moment of conception. With regard to this, I would mention also the gathering of signatures that today took place in many Italian parishes with  the aim of sustaining the European initiative “Uno di noi” (One of Us) to guarantee juridical protection of the embryo, safeguarding every human being from the first instant of existence. A special moment for those who hold in their hearts the defense of the sacredness of human life will be “Giornata dell’Evangelium Vitae” (Day of E.V.) which will take place here in the Vatican, in  the context  of The Year of Faith, on the 15^th and 16^th of June of this year.

With affection I greet all the parish groups.

Franciscus

Regina Caeli
May 12, 2013

Holy Martyrs of Otranto, pray for us!

Regina Martyrum, ora pro nobis!

On the day of the canonization of Antonio Primaldo and companions, the 813 Holy Martyrs of Otranto (1480).

Today the Church proposes for our worship a host of martyrs, who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel in 1480. About eight hundred people, [who], having survived the siege and invasion of Otranto, were beheaded near that city. They refused to renounce their faith and died confessing the risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to remain faithful? Precisely in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate “the heavens opened” – as St. Stephen said – and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father. Dear friends, let us conserve the faith [that] we have received and that is our true treasure, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstandings; God will never allow us to want [for] strength and serenity. As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.

Franciscus

Mass following Canonization - Homily

May 12, 2013

Buenos Aires Winter, or Sorry, but that is absolutely not true

Astor Piazzolla

Invierno Porteño [Buenos Aires Winter]

It seems unwise to go back, two months after the papal election, to what used to happen liturgically in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires up to early March 2013. But, for some reason, ACI Prensa director and EWTN Spanish news editor Alejandro Bermúdez, wanted to revisit the matter which, in our opinion, should just have been left alone. It seems that the then-Archbishop was a kind of liturgical hardliner, going to the extreme of forbidding priests who apparently wanted to consecrate sweet potato from doing so.

Anyway, moving on from the novus ordo to our concern, the Traditional Mass, this is what Mr. Bermúdez had to say:

"Following Summorum Pontificum, he made the traditional Mass readily available. In fact, Buenos Aires is probably the Latin-American city with the largest number of Masses celebrated in the extraordinary form."

This assertion is absolutely unbelievable. Not only does he insist on a matter we already showed to be mistaken, repeatedly, but he ups the ante by affirming that, "Buenos Aires is probably the Latin-American city with the largest number of Masses celebrated in the extraordinary form". (!!!!)

Assuming the situation at this moment is still as it was on March 13, 2013, and considering only diocesan ("Summorum Pontificum") Masses, the truth is exactly the opposite of what is affirmed by Bermúdez: Buenos Aires, that is, the city of Buenos Aires (the Federal Capital of Argentina, or Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, whose area exactly coincides with that of the Archdiocese, and that should not be confused with the surrounding Province of Buenos Aires, and corresponding surrounding dioceses) has NO diocesan Traditional Mass. None. Zilch. Nada. There are Traditional Masses in the city, but they are celebrated by the Society of Saint Pius X...

That makes the city of Buenos Aires certainly the most relevant city in the region with no current diocesan TLM. It also probably is the largest city proper with no diocesan TLM in the region: the largest cities proper in the region are Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Lima, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago de Chile, and every single one of them has at least one diocesan TLM. (We are using "city proper" as a reference here because, as we explained in that same post, there are indeed two diocesan TLMs in the huge urban sprawl of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, the third largest in the region, but both are in neighboring municipalities in the surrounding Province -- partidos --, in dioceses outside the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.)

As for the city with the largest number of Traditional Masses in Latin America? Almost certainly that distinction goes to Campos dos Goytacazes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, seat of the Apostolic Administration St. John Mary Vianney, dedicated exclusively to the Traditional Roman Rite - several TLMs daily. Excluding this unique situation, the position is probably held by Sao Paulo, also in Brazil (apparently, and as also seems to be confirmed by those contributing information to WikiMissa).

We sincerely hope we do not have to repeat this in the future.

The Abortion-friendly Taoiseach comes, the Super-Cardinal leaves

"Hmmm... Should I trust this smile?..."

BOSTON COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT STATEMENT

Cardinal Sean

May 10, 2013

Because the Gospel of Life is the centerpiece of the Church’s social doctrine and because we consider abortion a crime against humanity, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have asked that Catholic institutions not honor government officials or politicians who promote abortion with their laws and policies.

Recently I learned that the Prime Minister of Ireland, the Hon. Mr. Enda Kenny was slated to receive an honorary degree at Boston College’s graduation this year. I am sure that the invitation was made in good faith, long before it came to the attention of the leadership of Boston College that Mr. Kenny is aggressively promoting abortion legislation. The Irish Bishops have responded to that development by affirming the Church’s teaching that “the deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of life is always morally wrong” and expressed serious concern that the proposed legislation “represents a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law.”

Since the university has not withdrawn the invitation and because the Taoiseach has not seen fit to decline, I shall not attend the graduation. It is my ardent hope that Boston College will work to redress the confusion, disappointment and harm caused by not adhering to the Bishops’ directives. Although I shall not be present to impart the final benediction, I assure the graduates that they are in my prayers on this important day in their lives, and I pray that their studies will prepare them to be heralds of the Church’s Social Gospel and “men and women for others,” especially for the most vulnerable in our midst.

Abortion-happy Enda is a stain on the whole history of Ireland. After being advised by the Church, this is what he said:

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion here but as explained to the Cardinal and members of the church my book is the constitution and the constitution is determined by the people. That’s the people’s book. We live in a Republic and I have a duty and responsibility as head of Government to legislate in respect of what the people’s wishes are.”

But Ireland is not just any Republic; it is founded upon this, a constitution determined by a people recognizing the superior position of Almighty God: "In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, we, the people of Éire, humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial ... ." (Constitution, Preamble). If the Republic is not to be a Commonwealth founded on Catholic mores, what on earth did the Irish fight for? The euro?

Zielinski on art and the liturgy

Fr. Michael John Zielinski, O.S.B.Oliv., a great friend of the Roman liturgical tradition, speaks to the USCCB Catholic News Service on his job as bureau chief at the Congregation for Divine Worship following its recent reorganization.

[Source and tip: CNS]

Restoration will not come from the old, the clergy or the episcopate ... but from the young

From JUVENTUTEM MICHIGAN:

Pentecost Pilgrimage:

Young adult Catholics to walk and pray for Christian Culture

On Pentecost Sunday and Pentecost Monday, May 19^th and 20^th, Catholic young adults from across the state will walk from Lowell (in the Diocese of Grand Rapids) to Westphalia (in the Diocese of Lansing), camping in Ionia along the way.

A map of the 33 mile route can be found on the pilgrimage website and on the Facebook page.

A pilgrimage is a journey made to a holy place or shrine for the sanctification of the pilgrim; with the purpose of venerating a saint or martyr associated with the site; to pray to God; to ask for supernatural aid; to give thanks for favors received; or to discharge a religious obligation. The arduous journey, offered joyfully to God, represents our spiritual pilgrimage to the Heavenly City.

The focus of this pilgrimage is Christian Culture – pilgrims will both make concrete efforts towards Christian Culture in our liturgies and celebrations en route and will pray that God would inspire each of them as to how he or she might best win the culture for Christ when the pilgrimage has been completed.

Building the Church of E.T.

An ongoing exhibit in Rome (running from May 2 to June 2) is presenting 21 project proposals for the construction of three new parish complexes in Italy. These proposals had been submitted as part of a national competition organized and announced by the Italian Episcopal Conference in 2011, in line with the Italian hierarchy's goal of  "promoting the quality of sacred architecture". 

The 21 project proposals relate to the construction of three churches, one each in the north (St. James the Apostle, Ferrara), center (St. Ignatius of Laconi, Olbia) and south (St. Maria Goretti, Mormanno) of Italy, or 7 proposals per church. 

And the winners of the competition  are:

For the Parish of St. James the Apostle in Ferrara: 

For the Parish of St. Ignatius of Laconi in Olbia:

For the Parish of St. Maria Goretti in Mormanno:

H/t to Francesco Colafemmina of Fides et Forma for the links and pictures.

Unfortunately, as the brave little blog Fides et Forma has demonstrated in the past several years in numerous posts, these church designs are but the latest manifestations of the craze for ultra-modern "sacred art and architecture" being promoted by the Church in Italy. 

Aviz and LCWR: Reporting on rift over sisters "precise"

From NCR:

VATICAN CITY --A cardinal has dismissed claims from the Vatican that remarks he made to NCRabout a controversial 2012 criticism of U.S. Catholic sisters were misinterpreted, saying he backs NCR's report as "very precise."

Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious, said Sunday he had no knowledge of the April 2012 criticism of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) that the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made.

Francis, once again, clarifies there's no following Jesus without fidelity to the Magisterium, Peter

From VIS:

“The men and women of the Church who are careerists and social climbers, who 'use' people, the Church, their brothers and sisters—whom they should be serving—as a springboard for their own personal interests and ambitions … are doing great harm to the Church.” This is what Pope Francis asserted in his address to the participants in the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) whom he received in audience this morning. ...

“Your vocation is a fundamental charism for the Church's journey and it isn't possible that a consecrated woman or man might 'feel' themselves not to be with the Church. A 'feeling' with the Church that has generated us in Baptism; a 'feeling' with the Church that finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in communion with the Bishops and the Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a visible sign of that unity,” the pontiff added, citing Paul VI: “It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Jesus but without the Church, of following Jesus outside of the Church, of loving Jesus without loving the Church. Feel the responsibility that you have of caring for the formation of your Institutes in sound Church doctrine, in love of the Church, and in an ecclesial spirit.”

Update, and request for assistance

New Catholic continues to be with his mother in her time of need. He reports that she had been recovering wonderfully, and there was even talk that she might leave the hospital in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, she has taken another turn for the worse in the past two days.

Please continue to keep her, and New Catholic, in your prayers and even say Masses for her, dear fathers, if you can spare them.

If you're like me, and have benefitted as I have for years from NC's constant feeding of this blog, please show your gratitude by storming Heaven on his mother's behalf.

Something not lost on Rorate readers over the years ...

The mass exodus of Christians from the Muslim world

A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway.  Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other. 

We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world, much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian, came into being.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.”  In our lifetime alone “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.”

Ongoing reports from the Islamic world certainly support this conclusion:  Iraq was the earliest indicator of the fate awaiting Christians once Islamic forces are liberated from the grip of dictators.  

Read more

CDF corrects Cardinal on LCWR, diplomatically

Well, someone has been asked to hold his tongue (previous post on the matter)

Joint Communiqué of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life [Source]

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life have for some time been collaborating on a renewed theological vision of Religious Life in the Church. The concern of the Holy See, expressed partially in the Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States, is motivated by a desire to support the noble and beautiful vocation of Religious so that the eloquent witness of Religious Life may prosper in the Church to the benefit of future generations.

The initiatives of the Holy See in this area are concerned primarily with the faith of the Church and its expression in Religious Life. The Church’s faith—in the loving plan of the Father who sent his Son to be our Savior, in the inspiration of Sacred Scripture, in the gift of grace through the Sacraments, in the nature of the Church guided by the Holy Spirit—this faith is at the heart of the Evangelical Counsels. It motivates the passion for justice shared by so many Religious women and men, and it seeks ever to be expressed in active charity towards those most in need.

Recent media commentary on remarks made on Sunday May the 5th during the General Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, has suggested a divergence between the CDF and the Congregation for Religious in their approach to the renewal of Religious Life. Such an interpretation of the Cardinal’s remarks is not justified. The Prefects of these two Congregations work closely together according to their specific responsibilities and have collaborated throughout the process of the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR. Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Braz de Aviz met yesterday and reaffirmed their common commitment to the renewal of Religious Life, and particularly to the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR and the program of reform it requires, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father.

You report: Traditional Nuptial Mass in Guanajuato, Mexico

From our reader Edgar Fernández:

I wanted to share with you and Rorate's readers the photographs of a wedding celebrated with the TLM last Saturday, May 4, in the city of Guanajuato (Guanajuato state), Archdiocese of León, in Mexico. The nuptial mass was in the beautiful church of San Cayetano. The wedding of Mario R. Rincón Díaz and Liz Rivera Trejo was celebrated by Fr. Jonathan Romanoski, FSSP.

Fisichella: The Pope and Charismatic Renewal in Argentina

From Zenit:

On Saturday, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, celebrated the Eucharist that ended the second day of the Rimini Fair of the 36th National Assembly of Catholic Charismatic Renewal. After the sign of the cross, Archbishop Fisichella gave an unexpected message, which was received with joy by the 15,000 present: an affectionate greeting from Pope Francis.

“Before beginning this celebration, I bring you a greeting. Before I left this morning, I was with Pope Francis, and I told him: “Holy Father, I have to leave soon. I’m going to Rimini where there are thousands upon thousands of faithful of the Charismatic Renewal: men, women and young people.” With a great smile, the Pope said: “Tell them that I love them very much!” Upon leaving the Holy Father, Archbishop Fisichella recounted, the Holy Father added: “Look, tell them that I love them very much because I was responsible for Charismatic Renewal in Argentina, and that’s why I love them very much.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Cardinal Aviz on LCWR: "Daaaad, they were so mean to me, they didn't tell me anything!"

From NCR:

The Vatican decision last year to place the main representative group of U.S. Catholic sisters under the control of bishops was made without consultation or knowledge of the Vatican office that normally deals with matters of religious life, the office's leader said Sunday.

That lack of discussion over whether to criticize the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), said Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, caused him "much pain."

"We have to change this way of doing things," said Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious.

"We have to improve these relationships," he continued, referring to the April 2012 order regarding LCWR from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- approved by Pope Benedict XVI -- that ordered the U.S. sisters' group to revise.

"Cardinals can't be mistrustful of each other," Braz de Aviz said. "This is not the way the church should function."

Of course Cardinals should be mistrustful of some other Cardinals. Cardinal Aviz, in particular, was probably the most mysterious name ever chosen by Benedict XVI to head a dicastery. He is just so out of his league in his position, so beneath the seriousness and overall preparedness required of the job, that one simply cannot understand what he is doing there - it would be humorous, were it not tragic. The rumor at the time of his nomination was that Pope Ratzinger asked for a token representative of the largest episcopate in the world following the departure of Cardinal Hummes, and that Avis was the name picked by some of the brightest minds of the local episcopal conference, and Benedict accepted it. Who can forget that Aviz even took part in shouting contests during the conclave?... He thought he was being tough on a Bertone already humbled by the circumstances of the papal resignation, and most Cardinals certainly do not forget that. 

Now, who would wish to submit the decision on matters of the protection of the integrity of the doctrine of the faith, violated every single day by the rebel nuns of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, to the head of dicastery who himself had tried to derail the appropriate investigation started in his own Congregation by his worthy predecessor, Cardinal Rodé? Of course he was kept in the dark - as well he should have, and once again his new "revelation", done out of spite, reveals precisely why he was kept in the dark: his diplomatic skills, indispensable in any kind of "collegial" structure that "Progressives" like him advocate so hard, are clearly as lacking as his managerial competence.

Pope Benedict XVI decided the CDF intervention on the LCWR. Pope Francis, in his first decision on matters of the Doctrine of the Faith, fully confirmed all details decided by his predecessor. Should not this have been enough for Aviz? Or does he think the new Pope's style means who shouts the loudest in the kindergarten wins?

For the record: Abp. Cordileone and new San Francisco TLM

From California Catholic Daily (Apr. 30):

From the Archdiocesan intranet: At the request of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite will begin to be celebrated at Star of the Sea Parish, 4420 Geary Boulevard (at 8th Avenue) in San Francisco on May 26th, Trin­ity Sunday, at 11:00 A.M. and will continue each Sunday and Holy Day on a regular basis. There is ample park­ing behind the church with entrance through the gates on 8th Avenue.

...

To learn more about the Extraordinary Form Latin Mass you are invited to Star of the Sea School Auditorium for meetings on Tuesdays, May 7th, May 14th, and May 21st at 7:00 P.M. For further information please contact the pastor of Star of the Sea Parish, Father Mark G. Mazza, at 415-751-0450, extension 16.

Let us pray for Syria

In particular for that most ancient Christian community, caught in the crossfire between powers (including religiously motivated powers) that could not care less about their continued existence.

"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)