John XXIII, Instigator of Vatican II, on Latin in Sacred Worship April 11, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, episcopate, error, General Catholic, Holy suffering, Latin Mass, North Deanery, sadness, scandals.comments closed
Pope John XXIII was the man who called the 2nd Vatican Council into being. We Catholics with an attraction to Latin have been told by many fellow Catholics that the 2nd Vatican Council abolished Latin in the liturgy, or specified that it should only be used very sparingly, at most, as a sop to us saps. The cite a “but” in the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium#36, which states:
Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.
But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the Liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended.
That “but” is then taken to totally wipe out the preceding statement, so that the use of Latin is not only not preserved in the Latin rite (????), but mentioning the topic is sure to bring down the wrath of many 60-70 year old priests upon you.
It’s sort of like the way liberals treat the Second Amendment to the Constitution – a plain statement “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” is disfigured to mean something completely different from what it states. I guess the comma somehow trumps the phrase “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
But I digress.
I wrote sometime back about the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia released by Pope John XXIII shortly before VII. That Constitution was an exhortation by the Pontiff to all the Church to improve the practice of Latin, which had already begun to decline even before the Council. Whereas most priests understood Latin fluently in the first half of the 2oth century, somehow instruction collapsed (as it did in so many other areas), so that many priests by the early 60s didn’t really understand much of what they were saying in the Mass. And so, they clamored for the vernacular.
But simply because catechesis became lousy on all fronts doesn’t mean the law of the Church should be ignored. Fr. Tim Finigan has a picture which sums up John XXIII’s feeling on the matter:
Unfortunately, that Apostolic Constitution, released with great fanfare and promises of thorough implementation throughout the Church just prior to VII, was ignored and not enforced. John XXIII chose not to fight to have his own magnum opus put into effect – which explains so much of what came later. Just as the schemas for Vatican II, which planned a Council thoroughly and openly in line with Tradition, were also rejected and ignored once the Council began. Instead, the floodgates of new and radical thinking were opened. Just how comprehensive the changes were and are is made plain in Iota Unum – literally everything changed, and beliefs and practices which had sustained the Faith for centuries were suddenly jettisoned like worthless trinkets. But they weren’t.
The flanks collapsed. The center did not hold.
But the gates of hell shall not prevail.
St. Alphonsus on temptation April 11, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Holy suffering, Interior Life, North Deanery, priests, religious, Saints, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
The Moral Doctor is full of gold:
Certainly we should strive to avoid temptations; but if God wishes that we be tempted against faith, purity, or any other virtue, we should not give in to discouraging lamentations, but submit ourselves with resignation to God’s Holy Will. St. Paul asked to be freed from temptations to imurity and our Lord answered him, saying: “My Grace is sufficient for thee.” (2 Cor 12:9)
So should we act when we find ourselves victims of unrelenting temptations and God seemingly deaf to our prayers. Let us then say: “Lord, do with me, let happen to me what thou wilt; thy Grace is sufficient for me. Only never let me lose this grace.” Consent to temptation, not temptation of itself, can make us lose the Grace of God. Temptation resisted keeps us humble, brings us greater merit, makes us have frequent recourse to God, thus preserving us from offending Him and uniting use more closely to Him in the bonds of His Holy Love.
——————————–End Quote————————————–
I have asked God to take temptations, or weaknesses or attachments, away from me. He has sent me great aid at times through the intercession of the Saints, but at other times He has seen fit to keep me struggling, if you will. And there is great temptation to wonder why that is, and, for a person like me, to try to do more myself to try to overcome whatever the problem is. I must learn to simply offer these things to God and pray that He will at some point relieve me of them, if that be His Will. To try to overcome our faults by purely human means – especially our most profound problems – is a recipe for spiritual calamity.
It’s very easy to have recourse to pride, to think that because we go to Mass frequently or read and pray a great deal or meditate constantly to think we are somehow working our way to Heaven. God does want our works, he demands cooperation with Grace in order to achieve salvation, but even the ability to do those works are His Gift and ultimately we are totally dependent on Grace to achieve any kind of spiritual progress. God makes Grace available, and expects souls to cooperate with that Grace, but we can’t then think we’ve done something great – all we’ve done is our barest duty. But many souls fall into the trap of thinking if they just do a little bit more, they’ll be assured salvation.
And, in the meantime, they could be missing some great imperfection or even sin in their life, because they are so focused on what they are doing. It’s a danger for all those souls striving to please God and grow in the life of Grace.
Having temptations, or remaining imperfections, should not be a source of embarassment or, God forbid, resentment, but should serve to remind the soul that whatever progress they have made in the spiritual life is the work of God and not of themselves. The soul should then accept these difficulties as they are, and continue to pray that God’s Will may be done. Humble trust in God is the way forward for all souls striving to please Him. He Wills what is best for us – if we trust in that, we shall be as safe as Jesus in Mary’s arms.
So what will we do now? Mexican immigration falls to zero…. April 11, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, error, General Catholic, Immigration, sadness, scandals, Society.comments closed
….or so claim some ostensible experts. But I tend to respect Michael Barone and I agree with his assessment that the pressures that were causing the huge exodus of Mexicans into the US are disappearing fast – to whit, large excess population and lack of economic opportunity in Mexico. Mexico’s birth rate has plummeted to US levels and their economy has outperformed the US economy by a wide margin (damning with faint praise……) over the past few years. Bishops and democrats hardest hit:
Net illegal immigration from Mexico has fallen to zero, reports Amanda Peterson Beadle in a blogpost at the left-wing Think Progress. She cites Douglas Massey, founder of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton University, and Agustin Escobar, a demographer at a university in Guadalajara, Mexico. I don’t regard these findings as definitive, but I suspect they’re very much in the ballpark. Massey cites the Census Bureau estimate that the illegal immigrant population within the United States fell from 12 million to 11 million between 2008 and 2009 and then opines that there has been a zero net balance of illegal immigration from Mexico since then. Escobar is cited for the proposition that migrants, legal and illegal, leaving Mexico dropped from 1 million in 2005 to 368,000 in 2010.
It’s been apparent for some time that immigration from Mexico and Latin America fell off sharply during the 2007-09 recession and has not rebounded since. Illegals from Mexico are apparently continuing to self-deport (to use Mitt Romney’s term) and their numbers are not being replenished by illegals from that country. As I have frequently argued that we are probably at a turning point, and will never again see immigration from Mexico at the huge rates that prevailed from 1983 to 2007. Among the reasons: Mexico has been growing more prosperous, its birth rates declined sharply two decades ago and it now has a middle class majority (as former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda argues in his 2011 book Mañana Forever?). For some years I feared that Mexico could not achieve higher economic growth than the United States since our economies have been tied so tightly together by NAFTA since 1993. But in the past two years Mexico’s growth rate has been on the order of 5% to 7%. It’s looking like Mexico’s growth rate is tied not to that of the United States but to that of Texas, which has been a growth leader because of its intelligent public policies which have prevented public employee unions from plundering the private sector economy. [Wow – great analysis] Anyway, looking ahead, anyone seeking changes in our immigration laws should keep in mind that immigration in the future is not likely to look like immigration in the recent past.
I doubt the episcopacy will heed that message. Michael Voris, among others, has argued that it at least appears that the bishops endorse unlimited hispanic immigration (we don’t hear them talking about immigration for animists from Africa) because it helps cover the collapse in Church attendance and other disastrous statistics. That may be a somewhat harsh assessment, but the immigration rhetoric from some in the episcopacy has been at times just blatant pandering. I don’t think it implausible that there is some level of self-interest there. Definitely, the democrats had looked to a constantly exploding hispanic population as electoral insurance to help make up for the fact that much of the democrat base refuses to reproduce. Without that influx, they’ll have to rely even more on indoctrination through the schools and media to create new leftists – that could lead to increased pressure against homeschooling.
What all this could mean – strictly a hypothesis – is that in 50 years the electoral landscape in this country could look radically different. I have stated here on this blog that immigration from Latin America was going to fall off because those countries are not producing the excess population they used to. Mexico is at replacement rate, as is almost all of Latin America. So, they’re barely going to have enough people to sustain themselves, let alone export many to other countries. Many of those trends, predicting a virtual reconquista of the American Southwest, may have been rather exaggerated.
We’ll see.
h/t culturewarnotes
There’s alot of dark and twisted stuff going on, Mk. II April 11, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, Basics, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, Society.comments closed
I don’t often report on local-interest items from outside the Dallas area. I tend to focus on diocesan events or things that are of interest to Catholics here – that is, applicable to all Catholics, more or less. But a friend, Cori H., sent me a link about a bar in Maryland – that state that was originally founded as a refuge for Catholics persecuted in England, and is named for our Blessed Mother – that has made blasphemy against the Catholic Faith its cache. The bar is called “Ale Mary’s,” and they use sacred objects like chalices and ciboriums for serving food and drink, they use a monstrance as a decoration, and have regular nights where they have people dress up as priests and religious and get drunk and cavort about.
A bar in Fells Point, Maryland called Ale Mary’s is coming under fire for not only making a mockery of Catholicism, but for using actual church items such as chalices for serving beer, a monstrance for “decoration” and holy water dishes for candy.
The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the bar is owned by Tom and Mary Rivers who claim they were raised Catholic and say they mean no offense to Catholics. [“Raised” Catholics……..what are they now?] Even though the name of their bar is a play on the “Hail Mary,” they decorate with photos of nuns, post their draft list on a hymn board, serve items such as Father Luies Grilled Wings, and feature a “chalice” club where patrons can have their beer served in a chalice, they claim it’s all in fun.
Even more disturbing is the fact that the religious items used on the premises were donated by their own customers. [Perhaps some items were. But some evidence in the article makes me think that’s not entirely true – the bar was decorated with religious artifacts before customers began making these “donations,” if they ever have. Even if they are donated, so what? That doesn’t mean you have to make matters worse by using them.]
“It‘s all in fun and it’s not like we’re out picking these things up. Our customers are bringing these things to us,” Tom Rivers told The Blaze. “It’s great publicity. I wish I would have thought of this myself.”
He claims that his wife and sister in law are named Mary, and that they were all brought up in Catholic homes. “(I)t just seemed to fit,” he said. “It was cool.” [Thus, the state of catechesis today. An apparently former Catholic thinks it is fun to blaspheme and use sacred objects for profane uses. Such is against Church law, actually.]
Not everyone agrees that mocking a religion is “cool.” A group known as “500,000 Against Ale Mary’s” has started a Facebook campaign meant to encourage people to protest the bar and the blasphemy it’s promoting. [You might consider joining that Facebook group if you are opposed to such casual disregard for the Faith]
“This group has been formed to protest, and make known, the deeply offensive and blasphemous use of sacred objects used in the Catholic Church in Her most profound rituals and liturgies by the bar Ale Mary,” organizers say on their Facebook page.
………Referring to the protestors as “nut balls,” Tom Rivers says he can’t believe anyone could have a problem with what he’s doing.
Which just goes to show how far Mr. Rivers is from understanding the Faith, or the importance it does and should hold in people’s lives. But such is the nature of many in this country and around the world today, that they can’t even fathom how religion could have any meaning in anyone’s life, except, perhaps, as an occasional Sunday accessory. And so, he can’t imagine how schleping beer in a chalice that once contained Our Lord’s Blood, the Blood He shed for the forgiveness of our sins, could be offensive.
I pray for his conversion, and that catechesis will be radically reformed in this country and around the world to instill the Faith in all Catholics, so that foolishness like this will be unthinkable.
BTW, if you go to the Facebook group, you can see photos of people drinking from the chalices dressed like priests and nuns, and people apparently getting drunk in what looks like a confessional, etc. The entire layout of the place is meant to belittle and lampoon the Faith.
There’s alot of dark and twisted stuff going on, Mk. I April 11, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, asshatery, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sickness, Society, unadulterated evil.comments closed
I don’t know about you, but I find a “Clergy for Choice” holding a 40 days for death “choice” vigil in…….I’ve got to laugh……..Humboldt County, California (Humboldt County being known for it’s very potent pot the world over) pretty dark and twisted:
A local Planned Parenthood abortion business in California is copycatting the 40 Days for Life campaign, which recently resulted in saving the lives of more than 700 unborn children from abortion. The abortion business has set up its own 40 Days of Prayer for the local abortion center
“We trust you to decide about your sexuality, having your children, and planning your family,” says a flierpromoting the Humbolt County Clergy for Choice event. “We are religious leaders who value all human life. We accept that religions differ about when life begins. We are here to help.”
“We believe that human life is holy. That’s why we believe in your right to choose to be a parent or not,” the pro-abortion religious leaders continue. “It can be helpful to talk with friends you trust, with licensed counselors, and with whatever religious person you choose. Humboldt County Clergy are available to talk with you about the spiritual aspects of choice. Find out more by calling Six Rivers Planned Parenthood.”
……….The flyer promotes specific prayers for abortion for each day:
* “Day 1: Today we pray for women for whom pregnancy is not good news, that they know they have choices.”
* “Day 34: Today we give thanks for abortion escorts who guide women safely through hostile gauntlets of protestors.” [Please. “Hostile gauntlets,” that is total BS. The only hostility I’ve experienced outside mills is being spat on, having a milkshake thrown at us, and the crazy, deranged, satanic mill workers who speed down the alley at Routh Street, weaving side to side trying to hit pro-lifers. One side in this terrible issue practices far, far more violence than the other, in spite of all the media-inspired rhetoric to the contrary – the pro-aborts murder thousands daily.]
*”Day 36 Today we pray for the families we’ve chosen, May they know the blessing of choice [Do they have any idea how satanic this “prayer” is? Think about it: “Today, we pray for the children we’ve let live. We pray they too may kill their offspring. We pray for a day when parents will be able to murder their children at any point, when they become annoying, difficult, or inconvenient.” Good grief. Satan is alive and well and living in a condo in Eureka]
Well, what can I say. It’s offensive, satanic, stupid, and doomed to failure. This won’t catch on like 40 Days for Life, because pro-aborts are not motivated by faith, they’re motivated by self-interest, and the vast majority of pro-aborts are secular paganists. But for these clergy, this is what Luther wrought. The LifeNews article states that the clergy are from, in part: “Temple Beth El in Eureka [‘reform’ temple, no doubt], Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bayside [no shock, a pro-abort Unitarian, they hardly believe in God], St. Francis in Fortuna [I’m shocked, an episcopal in the mix!] Old Town Gazebo in Eureka [????????], and Arcata United Methodist [again, I’m shocked].”
Luther established the principle of “private revelation” of Scripture and made it widespread, along with the concommitant rejection of authority (that is, one Church authority to determine what constitutes dogma). The fifty-thousand some odd protestant denominations are the result. I know there are many good protestants, many have a faith that puts most Catholics to shame, and what a scandal that is, but, with no authority and Scripture left open to any crazy interpretation one cares to “divine” from it, it’s hardly surprising that you’re going to have “churches” that abandon any remote attachment to Christian morality and being to make up morality for themselves. And thus, pro-abort sects abound.
The insanity of a Christian supporting abortion is beyond my comprehension. One of the earliest distinguishing characteristics of the Christian religion was its total opposition to the abortion and even a form of “post-birth abortion” practiced widely in the Roman Empire. It’s one of the reasons they were hated by the pagans, because the Christians inveighed against the pagan’s conscience about the evil of that widespread act. It’s so funny, how people just don’t change.
I must also add, that the Jewish religion prior to the Incarnation of God on earth also reviled abortion and felt it a hideous sin, even though the Jews frequently fell into the practice because it was so widespread among their pagan neighbors. Moloch will never be appeased – there is never enough human blood spilt for his pleasure. The Jews were thus chastised by God most severely for this practice of human sacrifice. I fear our own chastisement is already underway.
I pray for all involved in this atrocity.
Here’s the flyer for this disaster:
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