Who knew? We traddies are just fashion hounds. February 17, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disconcerting, episcopate, error, General Catholic, Latin Mass, Liturgy, manhood, Papa, persecution, pr stunts, Sacraments, sadness, scandals, secularism, Society, the return.comments closed
This is a few days old, so perhaps I’ve missed the boat, but I returned to the internet this morning, after my usual weekend respite, to find that the Holy Father Pope Francis has proclaimed that preference for the Traditional Mass is simply a matter of fashion, like Nehru jackets and leisure suits. Mind you, this is coming second hand, from a Czech bishop who swears he heard the Pope say this, but it’s been two-plus days now and no retraction or clarification from the Vatican, so…….
[Abp. Jan Graubner speaks:] When we were discussing those who are fond of the ancient liturgy and wish to return to it, it was evident that the Pope speaks with great affection, attention, and sensitivity for all in order not to hurt anyone. However, he made a quite strong statement when he said that he understands when the old generation returns to what it experienced, but that he cannot understand the younger generation wishing to return to it. “When I search more thoroughly – the Pope said – I find that it is rather a kind of fashion [in Czech: ‘móda’, Italian ‘moda’]. And if it is a fashion, therefore it is a matter that does not need that much attention. It is just necessary to show some patience and kindness to people who are addicted to a certain fashion. But I consider greatly important to go deep into things, because if we do not go deep, no liturgical form, this or that one, can save us.”
I would say, in the greatest charity to the Holy Father, that if he wants Catholics who go “deep into things,” he ought to spend more time with Catholics attracted to the Traditional Mass.
Reaction to this description has been swift and highly critical. The very reasonable Pat Archbold at CMR was rather incensed:
Besides being completely wrong, that the Pope is so disrespectful of the reasonable desires of so many good and faithful Catholics it is staggering in its coarseness and dismissiveness.
Not to mention, such an attitude is diametrically opposed to the attitudes and pronouncement of his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
P Blosser had a post on the subject and quoted Louis Verricchio:
The devotion of the younger generation to the traditional Mass has nothing whatsoever to do with fashion; it has to do with a deep seated desire for authentic Catholic worship, unencumbered by anthropocentrism, protestantism and modernism.
As a matter of fact, Pope Francis has it exactly backwards.
The less-than-fifty year old rite invented by the Consilium and mercilessly inflicted upon the Church by Pope Paul VI, that is merely a fashion, and a passing one at that.
If the witness of the last eleven months tells us anything at all about this pope, it’s that he has no interest whatsoever in taking on the “smell of traditional Catholic sheep.”
Pat Archbold and a few others seem most concerned at the perceived huge shift between Benedict XVI’s appreciation of the TLM, and Francis’ apparently disregard for it. That perception may or may not be completely valid, as Codgitator notes, but I also don’t think it matters very much.
As for Pope Francis’ comment – look, does he have to put up a billboard? He’s been very clear in his feelings on those attached to the TLM. So, I dont’ get too surprised when I see something like this. I think his description of the attachment to the TLM as being an adolescent fashion says far more about the Pope than it does about anything else. It says he doesn’t know us, and isn’t particularly interested in getting to know us.
OK, duly noted. Let’s move along sharing the great benefits of the TLM and Tradition with others, and strive not to get too bogged down in these little slights. Yes, it might hurt coming from the pope, but we’re going to have to get used to it. Francis is the first pope of the post-conciliar generation, and that generation lasted at least 20 years. We’ll probably have another pope or two of almost the exact same mindset, unless we are extraordinarily blessed. So just pray for him, go about your business, and do your best not to get upset about these little digs and slights. They are meaningless.
Just pray none of the truly important things are affected or messed around with. Doctrinal things. Like this upcoming Synod. Or the revisions to canon law.
Meanwhile, 15 new subdeacons were ordained by the FSSP. Long live the revolution!
If this is the state of the Church in Ireland…. February 17, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, catachesis, disaster, episcopate, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society, Voris.comments closed
……then we have reached the 9th level of post-conciliar hell. Two young lads from Ireland tell Michael Voris how his apostolate saved and re-converted them back to the Faith. A Faith they had rejected because they had never, in spite of years of Catholic schooling, been taught the slightest thing about it.
One was even in seminary. There he heard things like “oh, priests don’t evangelize,” and “you have too much zeal.”
Are you blankety blankety blank blank blank blank blank kidding me?!? Priests don’t evangelize? Too much zeal?
Quite. We wouldn’t want too much zeal. And the Church since Vatican II is the Body in need of conversion and repentance, desperate for the world to teach us its one true faith many satanic narcissisms.
These men say they can’t find formation and true leadership anywhere in Ireland like they see on ChurchMilitant.TV. They need to find a Fraternity parish and relocate immediately. Unfortunately, there are none in Ireland, which means Irish bishops haven’t been very pressing in requesting a Fraternity apostolate, I would guess. There is one in Edinburgh and one in England.
These guys note that the Faith in Ireland had survived all manner of vicious English persecutions, protestant slights, having priests denied to them, even a massive famine. It survived all these massive sufferings, but it has not been able to withstand something quite different – great material comfort. Modern materialist comfort I think plays a huge role in this ongoing collapse of Faith – you can observe how the Faith died in countries in Europe, for instance, as the post-WWII economic boom advanced and they all reached high levels of prosperity at different times. There are a handfuls of exceptions to this, but not many.
But then again, the Faith has also collapsed in much of Central and South America where poverty remains widespread and dire. So materialism is nothing but an external factor, coinciding and perhaps exacerbating the collapse of faith from within, caused by a abusive Masses, awful catechesis, grave scandals, etc., etc.
We few, we happy few? As P Blosser says:
For my part, I make no secret of what I see around me. We have no divine promise that the Church in America will survive, or, for that matter, that the Church in the West will survive, or that geographical Rome as the official headquarters of the Catholic Church will survive. We have entered a new Dark Ages, the darker because Enlightened western man thinks he already knows what the Gospel is, and has seen through its empty promises by the light of reason. The truth, however, as G. K. Chesterton put it, is that “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” And the more ignorant post-Christian western man becomes of the actual content of the Faith, the more adamantly he sets his face against it.
See to it that every member of your family knows The Faith (not his faith, whatever that may happen to be, but THE Faith). Their spiritual survival in the darkness ahead will depend on it.
St. Alphonsus on humility February 17, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, episcopate, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, manhood, Saints, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
The great St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori on humility, from his book Preparation for Death, Ascetical Works Vol. 1. You will probably find this reading hard. The practice of true humility requires a tremendous degree of self-abnegation. But it is perhaps a good spiritual meditation for this season of Septuagesima in preparation for Lent.
No one can please God without being humble, for he cannot bear the proud. He has promised to hear those who pray to him; but if a proud man prays to him, the Lord hears him not; to the humble, on the contrary, He dispenses His Graces: God resisteth the proud, and giveth Grace to 
the humble (Jm IV:6). Humility is of two kinds: humility of affection, and humility of will. The former consists in the conviction we have of our own wretchedness, so that we can neither know nor do anything but what is evil. All that we have and do that is good comes from God. Let us come now to the practice of humility. With regard, then, to the humility of the affections, first, we must put no confidence in our own strength, nor in our own resolutions; but we must be always diffident and fearful of ourselves. With fear and trembling work out your salvation (Phil II:12). St. Phillip Neri said: “He who fears not is sure to fail.”
Secondly, we must not glory in things that belong to us, as in our natural abilities, in our actions, in our birth, in our relatives and the like. It is therefore never well to speak of our actions, except to point out where we have been wrong. And it is better not to speak of ourselves at all, either, for good or bad; because even when we blame ourselves, it is often an occasion of vain-glory by making us think that we shall be praised, or, at least be considered humble, and thus humility becomes pride. Thirdly, let us not be angry with ourselves after we have failed. That would not be humility, but pride; and it is even a device of the devil to take away all our confidence, and make us leave off following a good life. When we see that we have fallen, we should say with St. Catherine of Genoa: “Lord, these are the fruits of my own garden.” Then let us humble ourselves, and rise up immediately from the fault we have committed by an act of love and contrition, resolving not to fall into the same fault again, and trusting in the help of God. And if we unhappily do fall again, we must always do the same. Fourthly, when we see others fall, we are not to wonder; rather let us compassionate them; and let us thank God, praying Him to keep His Hand over us; otherwise, the Lord will punish us by permitting us to fall into the same sins, and perhaps worse [One quick note: there is a huge difference between someone striving to be pious and failing, and those huge masses of people who deliberately, consciously reject aspects of the Faith. Those who publicly proclaim error must be rebuked.] Fifthly, we must always consider ourselves as the greatest sinners in the world; even when we know that others have sinned more than we; because our sins having been committed after we had received so many graces, will be more displeasing to God than the faults of others, though they may be more numerous. St. Teresa writes that we must not think we have made any progress in the way of perfection if we do not esteem ourselves worse than every one else, and desire to be considered the last of all. [Teresian-Carmelite spirituality is hard. St. Therese of Lisieux viewed it somewhat differently, with a more child-like trust in God while maintaining a proper sense of unworthiness.]
The humility of the will consists in being pleased when we are despised by others. Anyone who has deserved hell, deserves to be trodden under foot by the devils, forever. Jesus Christ desires that we should learn of Him to be meek and humble of heart (Matt XI:29). Many are humble in word, but not in heart. They say: “I am worse than all: I deserve a thousand hells.” But when anyone reproves them, or says a word that displeases them, they immediately take umbrage. [This is completely natural, especially in our culture with its permissiveness and prominent idea that no one should ever have to feel bad, ever. So it’s easy to fall into this trap, to bristle when corrected. I fall into it. Try to accept the criticism, even if you think it wrong, in an open, loving way, without getting angry at the accuser/correcter] They are like hedgehogs, which put out their bristles as soon as they are touched. But how is it – you say you are worse than all, and yet you cannot bear a word? “He who is truly humble,” says St. Bernard, ” esteems himself good for nothing, and desires to be considered good for nothing by others as well.”
In the first place, then, if you wish to be truly humble, when you receive an admonition, receive 
it in a good heart, and thank the person who admonishes you. St. Chrysostom says, “When the just man is corrected, he is sorry for the error he has committed; but the proud man is sorry that the error should be known.” The Saints, when they are accused, even wrongfully, do not justify themselves, except when to defend themselves is necessary to avoid giving scandal; otherwise, they are silent and offer all to God.
In the second place, when you receive any affront, suffer it patiently, and increase in love towards the person who has ill-treated you. [This is also contrary to nature, and very difficult.] This is the touchstone by which you may know whether a person is humble and holy. If he resents an injury, even though he may work miracles, you may say that he is an empty reed. Father Balthazar Alvarez said that the time of humiliation is the time to gain treasures and merits. You will gain more by peaceably suffering contempt, than you could do by fasting ten days on bread and water. Humiliations which we inflict on ourselves are good; but those which we accept from the hands of others are worth much more, because in these last there is less of self and more of God; therefore, when we know how to bear them the merit is greater. But what can a Christian pretend to do if he cannot bear to be despised for the sake of God? How much contempt did Jesus suffer for us! Ah, if we loved Jesus Christ, not only should we not show resentment for injuries, but we should rejoice at seeing ourselves despised as Jesus Christ was despised.
———-End Quote———–
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m far from certain blogging is conducive to humility. I need to be very, very careful, more careful than I have been for the past year or so. I need to accept criticism better. I also need to be more careful in what I say.
None of the above is easy stuff. True practice of humility generally comes at a pretty advanced stage in the interior life. There are many who claim to be humble, who are not. As St. Alphonsus highlights above, it is virtually an oxymoron for someone to proclaim their own humility. Such types are generally very lost in pride, which consideration perhaps ought to give us pause and direct our prayers to a very, very important person in the Church.
I have had a sudden flurry of readings and sermons I’ve been exposed to that lead me to believe they are not coincidental, but providential. I believe Our Blessed Lord is telling me to work on my humility, which has been lacking.
Pray for me!
Great news! HB 2 is working! February 17, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, awesomeness, Basics, contraception, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, scandals, secularism, sexual depravity, Society, Victory.comments closed
HB 2 was the bill passed in special session in the Texas Legislature last summer that imposed several significant limits on abortion. These include a ban on abortion after 20 weeks and a requirement that abortionists have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where he is murdering children, in case of complications for the mother.
In an early success for the bill, a Houston area abortionist who had failed to attain these privileges, but who continued on performing child murder, has now lost his medical license, as has the facility where he performed abortions:
Breaking news: The Texas Medical Board has revoked the license of Houston physician Theodore M. Herring, Jr., M.D. for performing 268 abortions from Nov. 2013 through Feb. 2014 without holding admitting privileges at a local hospital, as required under HB 2.
The Department of State Health Services has also revoked the license of the abortion facility because they did not have a doctor with local admitting privileges.
HB 2 is working.
This is not a suspension, it is a revocation. I don’t know what kind of recourse to appeal the abortionist has, but hopefully, this revocation will be permanent.
There is also the possibility that a Dallas area doctor is similarly performing abortions without these privileges. I can’t say which one, but it’s been reported and is being investigated. This doctor’s cited privileges do not appear to exist, in fact.
It seems some abortionists thought they would try to see if the state would really enforce the law. Another possibility is that they just don’t care, these are the utter bottom of the barrel in the medical profession, and if they can’t get privileges they figure they may as well make a few more tens of thousands of dollars performing abortions while hoping they don’t get caught. If they do, it’s no big loss to them because these guys couldn’t get any other kind of job as a doctor with their typically sordid histories.
It will be interesting to see how this all develops.
Participate in Septuagesima! February 17, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Christendom, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Liturgical Year, Liturgy, manhood, mortification, priests, sanctity, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
In the traditional practice of the Faith, associated with the Traditional Mass, we are now in a time of the liturgical year called Septuagesima. This time started yesterday with Septuagesima Sunday. It will last for 2 1/2 weeks. It will end with Ash Wednesday on March 5, starting the formal period of the Lenten fast and abstinence. Ash Wednesday begins the 6 1/2 week period – 46 days – of that Lenten fast. But because we do not fast or abstain on Sundays, the Church, many, many centuries ago, moved the beginning of the fast to the Wednesday of the week of Quinquagesima (Ash Wednesday) to make the number of Lenten fast days – 40 – equal to those suffered by our Blessed Lord in the desert immediately prior to the beginning of his 3 year public mission.
What is Septuagesima? It is a Lenten warm up period. It is a voluntary period of fasting, abstinence, and/or other mortifications designed to get us ready and focused for the major annual fast/mortification of Lent. Instead of just waking up Ash Wednesday morning trying to figure out what you are going to give up for Lent, seeing if you have fish in the freezer and hoping you can make it through the day with less than 2 full meals, via Septuagesima, you start practicing your fasting and abstinence well before Lent gets going so you are really ready to roll once Ash Wednesday comes around.
I recall that in some past years, before I had the benefit of the voluntary period of preparation that is Septuagesima, I would often flounder around at the beginning of Lent, not being really focused enough to adhere well to even the almost trivial fasting and abstinence required by Church Law today (since Paul VI’s “reforms,” there are only two required days of fasting and abstinence in the entire year, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday). I would often have no idea what I was going to give up for Lent.
But since I have been assisting at the traditional Mass and have had the truly wise and glorious benefit of Septuagesima, I find myself much better prepared for Lent. I must reiterate that this is a voluntary season of penance and self-denial, but it is one that the faithful had a very strong attachment to in centuries past.
Septuagesima Sunday starts this season, followed by Sexagesima and then Quinquagesima. During Septuagesima, the Church in Her great wisdom aids the faithful in this voluntary practice of mortification by adopting certain penitential practices in the Liturgy. This includes the deletion of the Gloria, the wearing of violet vestments, the deletion of the Alleluia, and a shift in the content of the Proper prayers towards a sense of our sinfulness, need for mortification for conversion, and our paramount need for Our Lord’s Grace to enable us to attain salvation.
You can learn all the above, and much, much more regarding this season in the video below.
Sadly, the season of Septuagesima was deleted by the liturgical “reformers” after Vatican II. There reasons for doing so were so specious as to be laughable – Bugnini claimed they feared that Septuagesima somehow took focus away from Lent – by preparing one for it!
If that’s true, why didn’t they delete both Advent and Lent, as Advent prepares us for Christmas and Lent for Easter? Don’t they then “take away” from those glorious celebratory seasons?
The idea that a season of preparation pointing at the following season somehow takes away from it deserves the derision with which it has been treated. It is nothing but a naked excuse to delete a season the reformers hated, due to its focus on mortification and its stressing our desperate need for God’s Grace.
A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics 