Please Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Jim Middleton [UPDATED] September 18, 2019
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Basics, Dallas Diocese, fightback, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
[UPDATE]: See the bottom of the post for an addendum from my dad. I very briefly glossed over Jim’s career at Arco and he beefed it up a bit, for all of those interested. Yes, both of you]
Longtime readers may recall that I was once on a broadcast radio show with Jim and Vicki Middleton. The show ended in 2012 when Vicki unfortunately passed away rather suddenly. I think that was a grace of God, I don’t think she could stand to see what this country is becoming today. She was right about so very much, including the endlessly voracious appetite of the Left for tyranny. Equally sadly, Jim Middleton, her spouse of many years, passed away this past September 12. Jim was a very strong and patriotic American, a rock-solid conservative, and a devout Catholic convert. He was also a gifted engineer and high-level oil executive and played a vital role in opening up the North Slope of Alaska to large scale oil production and later served as President of Arco Oil and Gas. My dad worked with Jim for 25 years and knew him quite well.
The funeral was held at the Carmelite Monastery in Dallas, the same monastery that served host as the site of the diocesan Mater Dei Traditional Latin Mass community for many years prior to Mater Dei getting its own parish (one of the few good acts of the previous bishop of this Diocese, now Cardinal Kevin Farrell. “allowing” Mater Dei to have its own church – such generosity). Jim and Vicki gave extremely generously to the Carmelite Monastery over the years, and were extremely close with, and helpful towards, the Carmelite nuns. As such, by a special bequest, the mortal remains of both Jim and Vicki will now repose on the grounds of the monastery.
I was fortunate to be able to attend the Novus Ordo funeral Mass yesterday. Father Paul Weinberger, who has received a good deal of attention on this blog recently, and who was very close to the Middleton’s and played a great role in their becoming stalwart Catholics from episcopal converts, offered the Mass. So, yes, it was a Novus Ordo, but it was offered with as much reverence and dignity as is possible with this creation of “modern” man. The sermon was very solid as usual, as Father Weinberger devoted about half of the 15 minutes to ably destroy a number of protestant talking points against the Faith, such as, we do not worship images, works done in concert with Grace are necessary for salvation, the communion of saints and the existence of purgatory, and so forth. Since the attendance was at least 50% protestant, that was no small act, but was conducted with such charity and finesse that rather than rankle his sermon elicited a number of laughs and smiles.
Vicki and Jim were good souls and gave tremendously of their time, talent, and treasure for the good of the Church and souls. They deserve a prayer or two, or many. I pray I never forget them in my prayers for the souls of the deceased.
A few poor photos from the Mass. I thank the good Carmelite sisters for again opening their chapel, as they regularly do. I with them well and they may be assured of my prayers, too!
[Addendum]:
When the north slope was being developed, it was still a part of NAPD (North American Producing Division). Billy Jack Lancaster headed NAPD. Middleton was in charge of a special engineering group whose job was to fabricate the production modules and barge them from Ingleside to Point Barrow, and then offload them onto gravel causeways and roll them onto the slope. Billy Jack smoked himself to death and died of lung cancer. Bill Keeler head of Engineering for NAPD replaced Billy Jack. Keeler’s 16 year old son killed Bill and his wife. Ken Dickerson and Jim Coffee (lawyers) quickly popped the kid into Timberlawn and he never served a day in jail for the murders. Dallas had no more men in the line of succession. NAPD had always operated independently of Corporate (which was in LA), primarily because they generated 125% of the Corporations income. Not no more. This opening gave LA a chance to put their own man in charge. Then picked Glen Simpson who managed the Alaska operations – – he was a former Sinclair hand and followed orders well. He was a rigid disaster.
Meanwhile, Middleton was placed in charge of Anaconda (a mining operation that was, unbeknownst to ARCO, badly losing money at the time they bought it), and he stopped it from hemorrhaging cash. By that time NAPD had become Arco Oil and Gas, along with Arco Exploration and Arco Alaska. When Simpson was forced out, Jim became President of AOGC. He did a hell of a good job, and always backed me to the hilt.
I add, it was after Jim retired in 1994 that ARCO quickly went downhill, and its management sold out to BP in a panic in 2000. The only remnant of ARCO today is its chain of gas stations on the West Coast and in Arizona.
Please Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Gregory Latz June 17, 2019
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Interior Life, reading, SSPX, thanksgiving, Tradition, true leadership.comments closed
I have asked for prayers for this man for some time. He fought a long battle with cancer and I learned to my sadness some weeks ago that Mr. Latz had died.
Please, if you would, also pray for my brother-in-law Brian Haeglin, who suffered a severe stroke about 2 weeks ago and is still hospitalized, and likely will be for weeks. Thank you and God bless you and your family.
They don’t call this a vale of tears for nothing.
I would also like to thank longtime reader Tim T for his continued support, and for his surprising gift in the mail this morning of some good and very interesting Catholic books. I haven’t read them yet, obviously, but I look forward to doing so, especially the biography of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. This is the one by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais. Interesting timing, I had been strongly considering ordering Michael Davies’ Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre. Do any of you familiar with both have any thoughts on these two books or preferences between them, as I believe they are generally regarded as the best studies of Archbishop Lefebvre. ?
Whatever one thinks of the SSPX, and I am personally well-disposed towards them and thankful for their existence (as they, at the very least, saved the public practice of the TLM, in my opinion), Marcel Lefebvre has had a huge influence on the Church in the past 60-70 years and more and deserves careful study. Plus, history has always been my favorite subject.
So thank you again Mr. T! I pity the fool!
No relation, I just felt like throwing a pic in this post.
Extraordinary Talk on Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus by Fr. Isaac Mary Relyea April 2, 2019
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, catachesis, Christendom, fightback, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Latin Mass, manhood, priests, religious, sanctity, Society, Spiritual Warfare, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
I really like Father Isaac Mary Relyea, and here he delivers an exceedingly entertaining and watchable 80 minute talk on perhaps the most neglected, misunderstood, and deliberately ignored doctrine in modern Church life, Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (EENS), or there is no salvation outside the Church. Father approaches the topic from its innumerable and unprecedentedly strong supports in the history of dogmatic theology, but also from a profoundly practical and pastoral -in the true sense of the word – standpoint.
Many faithful Catholics today have family members who are outside visible communion with Holy Mother Church. The doctrine of EENS causes those of us with most or all of our family outside the Church grave concern. But there are reasons to hope, and Father elucidates those. However, this is not the false hope of the modernists and indifferentists, who pretend that it makes no difference to God whether one exists inside the sole ark of salvation He instituted for men’s salvation. It is hope in the goodness and love of God, which is infinite, and in the power of prayer and pen ance, which exist and work outside of our narrow conceptions of time.
I pray you find this sermon as enjoyable and edifying as I did. Please pray for Father Isaac Mary Relyea and all good, faithful priests, they are under the most extreme attack and need our prayers and support.
There were other talks from The Fatima Center conference held in Houston last month that I hope to post later, including some from Father Michael Rodriguez. My esteem for The Fatima Center only continues to grow as I see the excellent work they are doing for the good of souls and the restoration of our Holy Mother the Church.
Please Pray For – and possibly support – the Ramirez Family May 7, 2018
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, Domestic Church, family, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Interior Life, North Deanery, sadness, thanksgiving, Virtue.comments closed
We don’t know this family – I think my wife might know the mom as a friend of a friend sort of thing – but given what we went through just a year ago with our son suddenly having a seizure and then being diagnosed with a brain tumor, it didn’t take a lot of imagination on our part to know what this family was going through as the e-mails and text messages imploring prayers started flying around Saturday afternoon and evening.
This situation involves a local family and their 10 year old daughter. Via their Youcaring site:
“Maggie was running around with her siblings just this Friday. She woke up with a bad headache Saturday (the day she was to make her First Communion) and is now on life support with a rapidly growing (inoperable) brain tumor. They’ve been told there is basically nothing doctors can do and they are still clinging to hope that God will grant them a miracle.”
That was Saturday. Then yesterday:
Yesterday at 7:31 PM we said goodbye to our beautiful Magdalene Therese. Please forgive me if this is how you are hearing the news. I called everyone I could think of but we are exhausted of mind and body. I rushed Magdalene to the hospital Saturday afternoon where we were promptly careflighted to Dallas Childrens. My darling girl had a brain tumor that was taking up much of one side of the brain. The doctors and ICU team fought for her but the tumor was growing too fast to stop. We had almost no time to prepare for her passing. This was so, so sudden.
Please know that while we are heartbroken we are not in despair. My beautiful girl was and is a testimony of the amazing love of Jesus Christ. She was not afraid to die at any point in her life and often talked about what it would be like for her. She loves Jesus with all her heart. She is now in the fullness of His presence and we completely trust and rest in the resurrection.
Our beautiful Maggie passed away surrounded by family and close friends. We sang her favorite song “How I Need You” by Matt Maher and I held her close.
Please pray for us. We so miss our darling girl. She was and is an amazing sister and friend. I’m so glad that I often told her how happy I am to be her mom and how very special she is to me.
Funeral arrangements will be posted once we have them. This is the last picture I have that she took on my phone. She is so amazing. I miss her so much already.
ETA: Official time was 7:41. I had my hand on her chest the whole time and 7:31 is when I felt her heart stop.
Oh sweet Jesus my heart aches for this family. My God we are blessed having a son diagnosed with a brain tumor after a sudden set of seizures but our outcome has so far been so very much different. God’s will be done, but that doesn’t make it easier to understand.
You might consider helping this family by prayer and any material means you have at your disposal. Obviously this was a sudden loss and there are substantial expenses that were totally unexpected. The crowdfunding site is here, and I am happy to see that it is being very generously supported. A picture of what one prays and assumes will be another Saint glorifying God forever.
May God have mercy on her soul and assuage the loss of her parents and siblings. Requiescat in Pace.
Please Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Jeff Dunnam February 7, 2018
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, blogfoolery, firearms, Four Last Things, sadness, suicide.comments closed
Jeff Dunnam was a coworker of mine for the past 2 years at Commscope. The first 7-8 months I didn’t get to know him as he was on leave recovering from cancer. Then he went out again for cancer treatment over the past 2 months or so. But in between, I got to know Jeff quite well. Jeff was not Catholic but was a believing Christian. He was in many respects a good guy. We had many conversations when he drug me out to have a smoke in the afternoon heat. He grew up in Collin County, like me, and we used to talk about the sounds and smells of summer – the Bois D’Arc trees and rotting horseapples, the smell of ragweed 10 feet tall, the katydids and locusts buzzing all day, the things we’d get up to as kids, before Collin County got built up and paved over. I enjoyed the time I spent with him.
Even though he had been suffering from cancer, he died suddenly and unexpectedly this past Saturday Feb 3. Amazingly, another coworker of mine ran into Jeff buying a handgun earlier that same day, and reported he looked agitated and distracted but physically well.
Obviously there is much cause for prayer. The visitation/memorial is tonight, the funeral and burial tomorrow at 2pm. Both are in Allen, near Jeff’s hometown of McKinney. Location at the link. Yes these are of course protestant services.
REQUIEM aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace. Amen.
Cremation is Implicitly a Negation of the Faith and Always Disordered November 9, 2017
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, catachesis, cultural marxism, error, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Interior Life, Revolution, scandals, secularism, the struggle for the Church, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
So says Father Albert of the traditional Dominicans of Belgium in the question and answer video below from The Fatima Center.
The question as originally asked is a bit on the silly side, asking if God can bodily resurrect those bodies that have been reduced to ashes through cremation. Goodness. God is the Lord and Creator of the universe, of all that is, was, and ever shall be – if one decided to ride a Mk 17 20 MT nuclear bomb down to initiation a la Colonel Kong in Dr. Strangelove so that not even components of atoms remained after death, God could still resurrect that body. God’s power is infinitely greater than our puny human acts, and nothing we could possibly do could ever interrupt His Will.
Having said that, on a philosophical, moral, and theological level, there are severe problems with the entire concept of cremation, which is why the Church opposed the practice for centuries. Indeed, from a standpoint of historical etymology, cremation was first advanced by several anti-Catholic sects during the long history of the Church as a way to deny core Catholic Doctrines, such as the Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension and His role as our unique Savior.
Father expounds at some length on the dual nature of the human person, that of the soul united to the body, and the unique role each plays in man’s natural and supernatural existence. In this present life, the supernatural is more confined to the soul, and initially after death we shall be disembodied souls, but after the general Resurrection, both shall be united and we shall be complete, in a sense, again. This is the promise revealed to us by divinely inspired and inerrant Scripture, and the constant belief and practice of the Faith. But even more, from a standpoint of logic, man was created by God out of matter to have a physical body, and shall not be complete after death until body and soul are reunited. Thus, man’s ultimate end cannot be achieved until this Resurrection has taken place.
Note that the increased permission for cremation was tied into the general collapse of moral, theological, and ecclesiastical standards that were ushered in under John XXIII, even before the disastrous Council of the 1960s. It can never be stated enough, Vatican II was not orchestrated in a vacuum, while much sleight of hand, subterfuge, and even immoral methods may have been used to produce the various approved documents, approved they were, and almost unanimously by thousands of bishops who should have, must have, known better. Wheels were flying off all over the place even before the first session met. But of course Vatican II advanced this process immensely, solidified it, and left us with a human element of the Church as broken as it has ever been.
Ranting to the choir, I am. However, while there were hugely impacting individual elements of the 1960s conciliar revolution, much of the damage to the faith of millions came from a sort of death of a thousand cuts. Cremation may, taken entirely by itself, not have a huge impact on the belief and practice of many Catholics (at the same time, however, it may well) who opt for it, but as part of a general process of disbelief, rejection of Tradition, and acceptance of cultural mores, it just becomes one more injury to the foundation of faith. And in the present context, where tens of millions of self-described practicing Catholics are, in actuality, practicing heretics if not outright apostates, this practice can be a warning sign of seriously deranged belief.
I think Father Albert sums it up quite well when he says cremation is implicitly a negation of faith in the bodily resurrection and a dangerous, disordered practice.
So sayeth the shepherd, so sayeth the flock.
All Day Masses Tomorrow on All Soul’s Day November 2, 2017
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness, Basics, Christendom, Dallas Diocese, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Latin Mass, priests, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
There are Masses all day tomorrow at Mater Dei Latin Mass parish in Irving, TX. So let not lack of convenient times be an issue to prevent anyone from earning indulgences for the poor holy souls in Purgatory!
Times below:
6:30am – Three consecutive Low Masses
9:30am – Three consecutive Low Masses
12:10pm Low Mass; 1pm Low Mass & 2pm Low Mass
7:00pm – Sung Mass followed by two Low Masses
Please remember, according to Canon Law you may only
receive Holy Communion twice in one day.
I assume readers already know the requirements to earn a plenary indulgence for the souls in Purgatory. But if you need a reminder, go here.
Thank you all for your continuing prayers. I have missed a great deal in recent weeks but really wanted to encourage folks to take advantage of the wonderful spiritual work of mercy offered by the traditional priests of Mater Dei in making Mass, and the plenary indulgences, so convenient for all on this so very important day. Most all of us, if we are so blessed, will be in great need of such prayers one day, and our generosity now will certainly be repaid by the intercession of the Saints released from Purgatory through our prayers tomorrow!
If you know of other parishes, local or otherwise, with special Masses for tomorrow, you might be doing someone a great favor by posting that info in the comments. Thank you for your generosity.
Traditional Catholic Mother Leaves Behind Amazing Legacy October 19, 2017
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Dallas Diocese, Domestic Church, family, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Latin Mass, priests, Restoration, sanctity, Spiritual Warfare, the struggle for the Church, Tradition, true leadership, Victory, Virtue.comments closed
I would like to thank my wife and reader skeinster for sharing this with me.
The mother of Fr. Joseph Portzer, FSSP, Teresa Mary Portzer (nee passed to her eternal reward recently. She was a sister of 11, 3 of whom were nuns, mother of 14, grandmother of 71, and great-grandmother of 39 (she outdid my father-in-law, who is “merely” grandfather of 66 and about 24 or 5 great grandchildren).
Even more than an eminently pious and apparently holy life well led, being the mother of a priest, she was also a participant in this most holy tradition, of which I was heretofore unaware:
“The cloth (manutergium) in which the hands of the priest is bound is traditionally kept by the priest and is given to the priest’s mother. And the tradition is, then, when the mother of the priest dies that linen cloth, in which her son’s hands were bound when he was ordained a priest, is placed in her coffin. So that when she stands before Almighty God on her judgment day, she will have that cloth in her hands, so that she may say to Jesus Christ, that “Whatever sins I may have committed in my frailty, and whatever evil I have done, I gave the Church a priest.” And that gift of her son to the priesthood will be to her eternal glory in heaven.
In addition, the father of the priest receives the stole from the first Confession, for similar reasons.
A bit about the life of Mrs. Portzer:
Teresa Mary Portzer, 84, died in her home on Saturday, October 14, 2017 after a long illness.
She was one of the founding member of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish, Vienna, Ohio, where her Requiem Mass will be held.
She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Arthur and by her children, Stephen, Paula Meluch, Joan Lipka, Elaine Borneman, Marie Price, Charles, Christine Easterday, Annette Prox, Edward, Gregory, Father Joseph Portzer, FSSP, Regina Aronica, Barbara Criste and Ronald; 71 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren; sisters, Elizabeth, Sister Mary, CDP, Sister Mary Providence, CDP and her brother, Bernard.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Joseph Kriley and Catherine Josepha (Kuhn) Kriley; grandchildren, Andrew and Francisco Meluch and Christopher Michael Aronica; her sisters, Margaret, Cecilia Geibel and Sister Sylvester, CDP and by her brothers, Anthony, Charles, Francis and Wendelin.
The Requiem was held this morning. Father Portzer, formerly parochial vicar at Mater Dei FSSP parish in Irving, TX, offered the Mass at Queen of the Holy Rosary FSSP parish in Vienna, OH.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Teresa Mary Portzer. Families like hers are the rocks upon which the human element of the Church is built.
Recent Data Reveals Government Policy Plays Huge Role in Advance of Culture of Death August 14, 2017
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, contraception, Domestic Church, family, fightback, Four Last Things, General Catholic, paganism, Revolution, scandals, secularism, sexual depravity, Society.comments closed
I know, hardly a surprise to readers of this blog or anyone who has been paying attention over the past several decades, but good, confirmatory data nonetheless. Something to file away in your back pocket for potential future reference.
Two different cases emerged recently (h/t reader D for both) concerning two different but vital aspects of the culture of death/sexular pagan religious rites, sexual license and the deliberate murder of the sick and the elderly. From the UK we learn that recent curbs in government sponsored indoctrination in sexual license (aka “sex education”) have led to a massive decrease in illegitimacy in pregnancy, and from the continent the opposite, government support for euthanasia has exploded into what could very well be described as a government sponsored killing spree.
First the UK report, via good ol’ Life Site News:
A new study indicates that teen pregnancy rates drop when liberal sex-ed funding is cut, the UK’s Catholic Herald reported.
The Effect of Spending Cuts on Teen Pregnancy” analyzed data in England before and after contraceptive-based sex-ed expenditures were slashed — cuts that were criticized by liberals and praised by Christians………
……..England has been forced to make severe cuts in recent years to its budget, including tax funds for sex-ed in schools and free birth control. [What government wants more of, it subsidizes. What it wants less of, it taxes. Governments the world over, but especially in the former Christendom, have been extravagantly subsidizing contraception and indoctrination in the sexular pagan ethos for decades, thus encouraging more of these disastrous situations and helping to hasten the decline and seemingly inevitable coming collapse of Western civilization. When funding is cut, wonder of wonders, one major indicator of public morals, the rate of teen illegitimacy, suddenly falls sharply. But few if any in power will learn the proper lesson from this, they are wedded to the sexular pagan revolutionary spirit.]
The study sought to “examine the impact of reductions in local expenditure on one particular public health target: reducing rates of teen pregnancy.”
The Paton and Wright research team used statistics from 149 municipalities between 2009 and 2014 and found that after sex-ed budgets were cut, teen pregnancy rates fell by 42.6 percent. [And massively so. I am certain there has already been launched a massive PR campaign against the authors of this study, so contrary to the false doctrines of the high priests of the sexular pagan orthodoxy/media sexual industrial complex. Data like this must be discredited, or the entire rotten house of cards could come falling down.]
The researchers discovered that taking away tax funding for contraceptive-focused sex education in schools actually reduced teen pregnancy. [So liberals have argued that “abstinency only” programs don’t work, and can cite a number of studies in support of their claim. Perhaps. Or perhaps “abstinence” taught in a framework of still immersing children in filth, ripping away their innocence and constantly extolling the unheard of joys of sex (which “joys” many kids find to be less wondrous in actual experience) – that is, indoctrinating them in a libertine sexual ideology – is simply asking too much? Preaching abstinence to kids you’ve deliberately invoked to a sexual fury is a pretty thin screen to stand against such pressures. Perhaps abstinence works best when children are preserved in their innocence, not exposed to all manner of filth (which process starts at home), and taught that relations between a man and a woman are sacred, require tremendous intimacy, and are always oriented towards the procreation of children within the glorious God-given structure of Holy Matrimony].
So, some happy news for a change. On the contrary, the cult of government-supported, even -ordered, murder of the sick and aged continues to grow at an alarming rate:
About 1 in 30 people in the Netherlands (3.3%) now choose to die through euthanasia. The rate has roughly tripled since 2002, when euthanasia was legalised. The other report came from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, where euthanasia also became legal in 2002. Between 2007 and 2013, the prevalence of euthanasia there has risen from 1.9% to 4.6% of all deaths – nearly 1 in every 20 deaths. The Flemish authors attempt to explain this enormous change in social mores. First, they argue that “values of autonomy and self-determination” have become more important for the Flemish. And public approval of euthanasia continues to rise, perhaps with the help of very positive reporting in the media……..
………As one Dutch ethics professor has said, ‘The risk now is that people no longer search for a way to endure their suffering.’ In other words, are the Netherlands and Belgium turning to physicians to solve with euthanasia what are essentially psychosocial issues?
Indeed, the article notes that half of all Dutchmen seeking government-sponsored and -funded suicide list loneliness as a significant factor contributing to their desire to die. I wonder how many of these aged Dutch are childless or have no grandkids to enliven their old age?
As I noted above, government is creating more demand for euthanasia by subsidizing it. An eager media seems happy to see thousands of people a year killed with government approval. And governments in nations with taxpayer funded single payer health insurance schemes have a positive incentive to see old and sick people die as quickly and efficiently as possible – to reduce costs on the system and reserve more funding for the bureaucrats.
Brave New World, indeed. Huxley meant it as a warning, but more and more the cultural movers and shakers seem to view it as a blueprint to their eternal socialist paradise hell. In Brave New World, no one got sick, but everyone was killed at 60. Except the World Leader, of course. He got to live as long as he wanted or could.
Funny how it’s generally us plebes who wind up bearing the burdens and consequences of the policies our “betters” have determined to inflict on us.
Novus Ordo Anointing of the Sick Not a Sacrament – Not “Equivalent” to Extreme Unction? May 31, 2017
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, catachesis, different religion, disaster, error, Four Last Things, General Catholic, horror, priests, religious, scandals, secularism, sickness, Society, Spiritual Warfare, the struggle for the Church, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
A very interesting little bit of catechesis below from The Fatima Center. The traditional Dominican priest who answers these questions (since Fr. Gruner’s demise, RIP), Father Albert, claims that not only is the modern, post-conciliar sacrament “Anointing of the Sick” deficient compared to the Sacrament of Extreme Unction in its practical application, the way “anointing of the sick” is done in most parishes is so bastardized in its minimalist reductio ad absurdam that it no longer even constitutes a Sacrament:
“There is an essential difference between “anointing of the sick” and the traditional Extreme Unction.” “Often, the anointing of the sick that is given in the Novus Ordo is not a sacrament at all.”
I was always gravely disturbed by the monthly “anointing of the sick” ceremonies that occurred in some local NO parishes. Literally everyone lined up to receive an entirely perfunctory blessing, irrespective of their general health. I mean 25 year old marathon runners were getting blessed. There was no examination of conscience, no contrition expressed, only the most minimal of anointings, and, I long ago concluded, little grace conferred. I have long wondered if such a truncated service could indeed be considered a Sacrament. According to Father Albert, most of the time, it is not.
So, Extreme Unction, properly received, removes temporal debt due to sin. It is a Sacrament ordered almost entirely towards aiding those in serious threat of death or with serious health problems in attaining Heaven at their particular judgment. It is not a “sacrament of healing” as “anointing of the sick” is generally called now in the Novus Ordo world. It was never a Sacrament intended to be received over and over again on a monthly basis in a totally perfunctory way. And what is even more sad, is that I have seen the mentality of this bowdlerized group blessing translate into the hospital and sick bed, where only the most dilatory of blessings are conveyed on those who truly are gravely ill instead of the thorough preparation for death and blessing for the passage of the soul from the body which has traditionally been given in the Church.
As with so much in the Novus Ordo, and as Father Albert notes, the accidental aspect of the Sacrament has assumed the primacy, whereas its primary role has been reduced to distinctly secondary place. In this case, the accidental healing qualities of Extreme Unction have become the focus in the “sacrament of healing” – and note once again the humanistic nature of the change, with most all the focus on bodily healing in this life rather than the preparation of the soul for its real life, that is the next life, which shall be eternal.
I had long felt there were grave deficiencies with the anointing of the sick as it is practiced in most all Novus Ordo parishes but had never managed to put the concerns so precisely and succinctly. Thanks to The Fatima Center for these helpful catechetical videos.
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