On a more positive note, I love Archbishop Raymond Burke January 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, General Catholic, Latin Mass.comments closed
Why? Look here
Latin Mass and Ad Orientem……I love it! Look at all the incense hanging in the air!
He’s not celebrating Mass with his back to the people (what a self-centered criticism), but with his face towards God!
I think I’m going to be sick January 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, foolishness, Society.comments closed
….another hat tip to Patrick Madrid, who presents a link to a woman who discusses her experience having two abortions in order to preserve her career options. She does say that she never stopped thinking about the baby she killed in her first abortion, but that didn’t stop her getting pregnant again and having another abortion. She fully knows she was killing her own child. She did it solely for career purposes, with perhaps a measure of peer pressure. She does seem to have a measure of regret, but not that much.
Why am I sick? Because of the enormous, narcissistic banality of it all. Because her mother, how own MOTHER, repeatedly urged her, forcefully, to kill her own grandchild. Why? So mom could have a daughter with a career to be proud of. To break more glass ceilings, to offer another sacrifice on the altar of self, of greed, and of Moloch. This woman was encouraged by others to murder her own child, TWICE, so that she could have the career she wanted. She knew what she was doing was wrong, to the very core of her being, but went ahead and had a late term abortion, anyway. Not a single thought of adoption. In fact, in so far as this blog goes, she barely even thinks about the tiny, beautiful little baby growing inside her.
It’s sickening to read of a woman killing her own child for convenience. There was no severe money problem, no health issues, nothing…….it just wasn’t a “good time.” She seems to know the banality of her reasoning, as she proffers advice to other women that “there is never a good time to have a child,” and reminds them it is possible to have a career and a child at the same time. It’s a very sad commentary on contemporary American culture that not only is this woman’s story not unique, it’s not even unusual. It’s very common. And there is essentially no societal penalty for her action. Sure, there are people like me who castigate her actions, but we’re written off as kooks and religious extremists by the self-appointed elites of our culture (of whom this Penelope woman is one).
What a twisted world we live in. Things like this make it easy to want to die to the world. They also make me incredibly glad for the amazing woman I am married to, and her family. Without their witness to being open to God’s gift of life, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, my dearest.
UPDATE: More on Ms. Trunk. This woman is truly a piece of work, she was glad she miscarried her sixth! child (two abortions, one live birth, one miscarriage, one live birth, one miscarriage) so she didn’t have to get another abortion. This caused some uproar, as her tweet announcing her miscarriage on Twitter read: “I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a fucked-up three-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin. She talks about this in an article in the UK newspaper The Guardian. Here, she says of the two children she hasn’t yet killed, “….they make me feel full and important.” She was disconsolate after her first miscarriage, because she wanted that child. It seems rather like it’s all about what Ms. Trunk wants, and anything else be damned. Is that what comes from being raised by a radical feminist mother? I pray she converts and soon, and does penance for the rest of her life. I would not want to have to meet those children I had killed and explain it to my Lord at the Judgement that I had done so for such purile reasons.
I do not know what to say.
A priest speaks hard truths January 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Dallas Diocese, General Catholic.comments closed
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve questioned some practice at a local parish, only to be told that my suggestion would ‘drive people away’ or ‘wouldn’t be popular.’ I cannot tell you how many times I’ve encouraged, cajoled, and pleaded with pastors to strengthen their homilies, to go deep into Catholic moral teaching to exhort the faithful to live by that teaching, only to be told ‘if I did that I’d be run out of town,’ or ‘collections are low enough, I don’t need to make people mad.’ I cannot tell you how many times I’ve tried to speak with pastors about how to make the Church more faithful, to live a more vibrant faith, only to be told ‘we just can’t do that, it’s too extreme.’ Or, ‘it wouldn’t be pastoral to challenge people to give up contraception, stop divorcing at the drop of a hat, etc…..’ As if you can be too Catholic, too close to Christ!
A priest has noticed these same things. There are too many priests out there today who are afraid to speak the truth of the faith, who are afraid to offend, who are afraid they will get in trouble or run people off if they speak clearly the truth of the Church. These priests are afraid, or mired in false sentimentality masquerading as charity, or perhaps just don’t agree with certain tenents of our Faith. Many have been reduced to attempting to sell the Catholic faith as a commodity. When people talk about McChurch, or Amchurch, they are talking about parishes where such views are prevalent, where the foremost concern of the pastor is to keep donations steady by not rocking the boat.
This is hugely problematic, on so many levels. By not telling the people, regularly and forcefully, the truth of the Faith, they are setting them up for a horrendous fall. They are hurting them in this life, and risking their status in the next. And, the pastors are placing themselves in grave jeopardy by not constantly doing their very utmost to insure the faithful understand that faith and the requirements to be pleasing to God within it. “Oh, no……I can’t talk about contraception, so many people would get mad at me.” “Oh, no…..I can’t talk about looking at porn or masturbating…..so many people would get mad at me. They might walk out of church.” Such cowardice, such indifference, reduces the Church, and poses grave threats to the souls of many. Priests cannot assume Catholics know their faith….in a Church where less than one quarter of Catholics EVER go to confession, where only 1/3 of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, no priest can assume his faithful know the Church’s teaching on issues like pornography, masturbation, divorce, contraception, or any other ‘hot-button’ topic. It is their duty to instruct the faithful, clearly and repeatedly, until those poll numbers show that virtually all Catholics understand that teaching. Failing to do so out of a fear of being controversial, for fear of getting into trouble, is an abdication of the role they have sworn to God they would perform to the best of their ability. And if we have a Church, especially in the US, where a pastor truly could be fired, or shuffled off to some inconsequential role, for speaking the Truth, then we have a badly broken Church, and it will be up to the faithful to fix it to the best of their ability.
There is no place in this world for a Catholic “McChurch.” The ridiculous, coffee/movie house/rock band/light show “megachurches” do a good enough job of that already. I pray that any priest that reads this may reflect on this post not as an attack, but as a challenge. Are you doing all you can to help bring the truth of the Faith to the laity (and your brother priests, deacons, etc.) with as much frequency and as much force as possible? I can say from personal experience, there are not many priests who at present can answer in the affirmative. That is an immensely tragic loss for all of us.
Mater Dei, ora pro nobis!
Why Latin Mass? – Cardinal Canizares Explains January 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Latin Mass.comments closed
I’ve blogged a little about having an interest in Latin Mass. I’m not trying to say that all Masses should be wholly in Latin, only that Latin Mass should be widely available to those who find its richness, and its connection to our historical Catholic identity to be important. Novus Ordo or TLM (Extraordinary Form) is OK by me, but the important thing is to make Latin Mass more widely available, as was the intent of the Second Vatican Council. Don’t believe me…..read the words of the current head of the Congregation for the Doctrince of the Faith, Cardinal Antonio Canizares.
Cardinal Canizares is very scholarly and knows infinitely more about the theology behind Latin Mass than I do, but I strongly favor celebrating Mass, either Novus Ordo or Extraordinary Form, in Latin because it does several things. First, it manifestly makes our liturgical celebrations distinctively Catholic. Secondly, participating in Latin, even in the Novus Ordo, offers more opportunities for interior reflection and preparation, that we may receive the Host more worthily. Thirdly, it was always intended, even in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, that Latin would remain prevalent in Mass, even those Masses that have elements in the vernacular. That Latin was almost completley expunged from usage in the Church after Vatican II has been an ongoing scandal in the Church. Fourth, by celebrating Mass in Latin, we are raising our voices in unity with dozens of generations of Catholics before us, including so many great Saints and martyrs. Finally, our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, has encouraged the faithful to celebrate Mass in Latin, to sing the antiphons and to return to the use of Gregorian Chant, for the reasons cited above and many more.
Go check out New Theological Movement for a great deal of information as to why these forms of celebrating Mass are so important.
No Joyce Rupp – A Better Retreat Feb. 20!!! January 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Dallas Diocese, North Deanery.comments closed
I’ve told you about Fr. Cargo’s women’s retreat on Jan. 29th at St. Francis Assisi Parish in Frisco. Fr. Cargo is an awesome, orthodox, very perceptive young priest and I encourage all women to attend.
Even better, on Feb. 20th, there is another women’s retreat that is also impeccably orthodox and it’s at the same time as Sr. Rupp’s conference! This is the Magnificat conference being held at 9 am on Feb. 20 at the Hilton Garden Inn at 785 SH121 in Lewisville. The speaker is Anne Costa, a motivational speaker and founder of the New York based Veronica Ministries.
Tickets are $18 (less than half the cost of the Rupp retreat – woot!) and can be pruchased by calling Nanci Ferri at (817) 498-7980.
Steve K. at culturewarnotes has vouched for all the ladies involved in these Magnificat retreats, so you know they’re very strong. Please try to attend, it would be great to have many good orthodox women at a conference of their own!
What happened at St. James Church in NY? January 26, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in foolishness, General Catholic, scandals.comments closed
culturewarnotes picked up on this first, but probably the best all-around article is at Catholic Vote Action, Thomas Peters’ site.
I know this has nothing to do with the Dallas Diocese, but it’s shocking to see a Catholic Church used as a venue for a beer-swilling, pot-smoking, acid-tripping rock concert. They had beer cans on the altar of GOD! The santuary was a mess after the concert. The altar will have to be re-consecrated after such a desecration. I have no idea what the pastor was thinking……this is tragic, beyond bad. It’s the equivalent of some drunken Roman soldier striking, beating, and spitting on our Lord.
I hope Archbishop Dolan takes some strong action regarding this, and I pray for the pastor’s conversion.
UPDATE: Thomas Peters has another update on this sacrilege at St. James Church. It appears that the Pastor was badly misled as to the nature of the event at the Church – he had no knowledge it was going to be a beer-swilling rock concert on the altar. I have to say, this is pretty poor oversight and facilities management on the part of the Pastor and parish staff, but he is going to hold a Mass of Reparation for the scandal that has been caused and the offense caused to God. It appears these little rock bands, and little, little men they truly are, have a history of performing illegally at venues in New York, or at the very least without clear permission and through misrepresentation. Much of their coverage on local NYC websites highlights this transgressive behavior, their seeming relish for mocking authority and conducing illegal concerts. I pray for their conversion, and that these people grow up and stop acting like the petulant children they are.
UPDATE 2!!: Steve Kellmeyer at culturewarnotes give his thoughts. I tend to agree with Steve – I’m glad the pastor has remorse, but this indicates a serious lapse in judgement and there is much still unexplained.
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