It has been quite a week. During this last week I’ve felt a real malaise, a spiritual smog.
Many have written asking for my comments on highly visible disasters. Firstly, my insights lead me to the brilliant conclusion that, “Yup, that’s a disaster all right!” Nextly, my legendary insights leave me with the stunner that, “We must do penance for these people and make acts of reparation. Pray the Rosary. GO TO CONFESSION and make sure your own house is in order.”
There.
Seriously, the less I say about what happened at St. Patrick’s the better. Those deeply sick people want the outrage, they live for it, it’s why they do what they do. The less, the better. For what they did at St. Patrick’s I think they belong in some sort of institution with bars on the windows, but that’s not going to happen especially in NYC where people do any thing they want and walk free the same day. Lastly, there was a statement released from St. Patrick’s.
“They had no idea”. Okay. That could be the case. It stretches my credulity that they didn’t know something bad was afoot when people started to show up.
I won’t post images from that sacrilegious, intellectually offensive disaster.
Apart from who might be blamable, let this be a lesson to every priest everywhere. BE ALERT.
The Bishop of Austin – provided with cover from Rome – cancelled from what all reports say was a well-established, well-attended Traditional Latin Mass at the Cathedral. Why? Because the Cathedral is a parish. Can’t have that.
A commentator wanted me to parse the letter of the Rector with my usual emphases and comments.
The letter.
I put these two items together because they put “the signs of the times” in the spotlight.
Firstly, I don’t think that Rome should have been asked anything. The bishop himself could have found a solution that wouldn’t have required Rome’s skirts to hide behind (one way or another, truth be told).
Next, he says that they will have the Novus Ordo in Latin, ad orientem, with Gregorian Chant. Fine. They should be having that at the Cathedral ANYWAY, since it is what Vatican II commanded.
The problem is the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Ordo are not just “aesthetic moments”.
People who want the Vetus Ordo don’t want it primarily because it’s ad orientem, chant is used, and it is in Latin. Sure, they want those things too. They want the Vetus Ordo because of the content of the prayers, the whole vector of the Rite itself, which is quite different from that of the Novus Ordo. To reduce the attendees’ desires for the TLM to those externals is deeply insulting. I don’t think they intended it to be insulting, but it is. The problem is that the people making these decisions don’t know anything about the Vetus Ordo. Every bishop should be required to learn it and use it for a couple of years before making any decisions about it.
Even more insulting – again, I don’t think purposely – calling on these people who are so deeply hurt by this move to feel “faith and trust” and experience “deepened unity with the whole Church and a greater awareness of the liturgical richness of the ordinary form of the Roman Liturgy”. Then comes the assurance of “pastoral care”.
Oh yeah?
At LifeSites coverage of this debacle I read:
The indult Latin Masses that will continue to be offered in the Diocese of Austin are a 1:30 p.m. Mass at the St. Dymphna Center of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Dripping Springs, 25 miles from Austin; a 4 p.m. Mass in Brenham, 90 miles from Austin; and an 11:30 a.m. Mass in Waco, 100 miles from Austin.
I’m sure the faithful of Austin will be “deepened” by their driving experience. More Rosaries, I suppose.
Remember: The powers-that-be working to suppress the Traditional Latin Mass do indeed hate the Rite itself, because of the content. They fear it. It makes them feel anxiety. However, it isn’t mainly their hatred and fear of the Rite that drives them. They don’t like the people who want the Vetus Ordo. It’s about the people.
Faithful Catholics who desire the Traditional Latin Mass are the single most marginalized group in the Church today. The irony is thick. Meanwhile, true sacrilege and perverse blasphemy goes in NYC and no one does anything to stop it. [NB: Since I wrote that I have to say that I don’t know what was done. But the disaster DID TAKE PLACE.]
These are “signs of the times” my dear readers.
Sure the staff at St. Pat’s didn’t know ahead what was going to happen. Okay. But they didn’t fall off a turnip truck and then gain leadership at NYC’s Cathedral. They sure knew when it was about to start and they let it happen. [NB ALL: Read the comments, below, also.] Sure the people in Austin read TC. They could have found another way. They could helped the people who would be hurt by this. The people in Austin who have lost the TLM and have been blown hot air and lollipops didn’t fall off a turnip truck either.
No one is fooling anybody.
These are “signs of the times.”
How about coffee in between meals on Ash Wednesday?
Drinks such as coffee and tea do not break the Lenten fast even if they have a little milk added, or a bit of sugar, or fruit juice, which in the case of tea might be lemon.
