Topics: St Catherine of Alexandria: Statue at St Anthony Church...St. Anthony Parishioner: Meet Bob Walterscheid...Even Demons Believe and Tremble: A Eucharistic Story...How To Market Catholicism?: The New Liturgical Movement... Latin Mass in the Movies: Robert DeNiro Movie Intro...Should We Be Ashamed of the Crusades?: By Jerrilyn Szelle Holladay...Requiescant in Pace: The Reverend Father Dom Francois de Feydeau de Saint-Christophe
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As we find the liturgical calender winding down and the Holidays (both in the religious and the secular) quickly approaching we are filled with urgent, anticipatory feelings and emotions.
Rejoicing in God we are filled with love, joy and, God willing, grace. For some however, even Catholics, the holidays may be filled with dread, nervousness and feelings of loneliness even in extended families. What a perfect time to share our faith with those who are in pain and hurting from loss, spiritually and materially.
In my immediate world view I will pray for the young couple who lost their six week old baby. I will pray for my fellow Knight of Columbus who just lost his mother, the homeless guy I rudely chased away as he sat down next to me in the restaurant (invading my personal space and eliciting a surprisingly nasty response from me), the kid in my Algebra class who wants to be a carpenter, a race car driver or a golfer, and for all who suffer from alcohol and addiction.
Today, Sunday November 22nd, the eight o clock mass intention will be for my deceased mother, Mariana Llamas, born 1923, passed October 16th, 2008. May I ask that you, good readers, remember her name to Our Blessed Mother?
Thank you.
...and now the Necessaries
Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is the only local church celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) in the Wichita area. Though this blog is loosely centered around this parish and it's members, Venite Missa Est! is by no means, in any way an official voice of, or for, St. Anthony Parish or the Diocese of Wichita. Venite Missa Est is strictly a private layman's endeavor.
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St Catherine of Alexandria
By Larry Bethel
St. Catherine is also the patron for young maidens (especially those looking for a worthy husband) and of female students. Regarding her learnedness and martyrdom New Advent has this to say; "Of noble birth and learned in the science, when only eighteen years old, Catherine presented herself to the Emperor Maxentius who was violently persecuting the Christians, upbraided him for his cruelty and endeavoured to prove how iniquitous was the worship of false gods. Astounded at the young girl's audacity, but incompetent to vie with her in point of learning the tyrant detained her in his palace and summoned numerous scholars whom he commanded to use all their skill in specious reasoning that thereby Catherine might be led to apostasize. But she emerged from the debates victorious. Several of her adversaries, conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians and were at once put to death. Furious at being baffled, Maxentius had Catherine scourged and then imprisoned. Meanwhile the empress, eager to see so extraordinary a young woman, went with Porphyry, the head of the troops, to visit her in her dungeon, when they in turn yielded to Catherine's exhortations, believed, were baptized, and immediately won the marytr's crown. Soon afterwards the saint, who far from forsaking her Faith, effected so many conversions, was condemned to die on the wheel, but, at her touch, this instrument of torture was miraculouslydestroyed. The emperor, enraged beyond control, then had her beheaded and angels carried her body to Mt Sinai where later a church and monastery were built in her honour."
St Catherine's feast day is November 25th and is still celebrated in many European countries including Estonia, Germany and France and is also seen as the beginning of winter in the Baltic countries. Here is the collect from her feast day mass;
O God, Who on the top of Mount Sinai didst give the Law to Moses, and didst, by means of Thy holy Angels, wondrously convey thither the body of blessed Catherine, Thy Virgin and Martyr; grant we beseech Thee, that, through her merits and intercession, we may be able to reach that mountain which is Christ: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth.
Icon of Saint Catherine of Alexandria,
with scenes from her martyrdom.
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Venite Misaa Est! rerun from Post #39, 2008
St. Anthony Parishioner
Meet Bob Walterscheid
Every Sunday morning around 7:20, when the birds are barely flittering and eyes are still bleary, Bob Walterscheid strolls into church. Most everyone knows Bob, he is the kindly gentleman handing out missalettes for Latin Mass. St. Anthony, the building proper, has known Bob, his parents and his grandparents since 1904….you see Bob’s grandfather help build the church!
Mr. Robert (
Bob) Walterscheid was born in
Along with his current duties Bob has served, off and on, with the Parish Council since the late 80's, and was at various times, president. He was also involved with the restoration of the church.
His interests have included coaching little league baseball (15 or more years) and brewing mead, which is a honey wine made famous by the Vikings. His immediate family includes “A lovely wife of nearly 57 years, 8 grown children, 11 grandchildren, 12 great grand children and 1 great, great on the way. Kids are gone and the dog is dead, we've got it made!”
I asked Bob about the water color paintings depicting the stained glass windows of the church .
“My daughter in law is presently doing water colors of the seven windows in the Church. There are two t
o go. They are available for sale and once the seven are complete, we will have greeting cards made for sale. They are outstanding pieces of art.” Indeed they are.
Did you know that one of the stained glass windows bears the Walterscheid family name? When facing the altar, it is the second one from the back on the left side. “When a kid, I always thought of the Blessed Mother sliding into home. Now I still can't get that out of my head!” said Bob.
I asked Bob if he prefers the Traditional Latin
So now we all are acquainted with Mr. Bob Walterscheid. Stop, shake his hand, say hello, share a cup of coffee and I’m sure he has many stories to tell of life in and out of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.
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Even Demons Believe and Tremble
A Eucharistic Story
By: Msgr. Charles Pope
Msgr Pope At St Mary's
It was almost 15 years ago. I was At Old St. Mary’s here in D.C. celebrating Mass in the Latin (Extraordinary Form). It was a solemn high Mass. I don’t suppose I thought it any different than most Sunday’s but something quite amazing was about to happen.
As you may know the ancient Latin Mass is celebrated ”ad orientem” (towards the Liturgical East). Priest and people all face one direction. What this means practically for the celebrant is that the people are behind him. It was time for the consecration. The priest is directed to bow low, his forearms on the altar table the host between his fingers. As directed I said the venerable words of Consecration in a low but distinct voice, Hoc est enim Corpus meum (For this is my Body). The bells rang as I genuflected, but behind me a disturbance of some sort, a shaking or rustling in the front pews behind me to my right. And then a moaning or grumbling. What was that? It did not really sound human, more like the grumbling of a large animal such as a boar or a bear, along with a plaintive moan that did not seem human. I elevated the host and wondered, “What was that?” Then silence. I could not turn to look easily for that is awkward for the celebrant in the ancient Latin Mass. But still I thought, What was that?
But it was time for the consecration of the Chalice. Again, bowing low and pronouncing clearly and distinctly but in a low voice: Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei, novi et æterni testamenti; mysterium fidei; qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem pecatorum. Haec quotiescumque feceritis in mei memoriam facietis (for this is the cup of my Blood, of the new and eternal covenant; the mystery of faith; which will for the many be shed unto the remission of sins. When so ever you do this, you do it in my memory). But then, I heard another sound this time an undeniable moan and then a shriek as some one cried out: “Leave me alone Jesus! Why do you torture me!” Suddenly a scuffling as some one ran out with the groaning sound of having been injured. The back doors swung open, then closed. Then silence.
I could not turn to look for I was raising the Chalice high over my head. But I knew in an instance that some poor demon-tormented soul had encountered Christ in the Eucharistic and could not endure his real presence displayed for all to see. And the words of Scripture occurred to me: Even Demons believe and tremble (James 2:19).
But just as James used those words to rebuke the weak faith of his flock I too had to repent. Way was a demon-troubled man more aware of the true presence and astonished by it than me? He was moved in the negative sense to run. Why was I not more moved in a positive and comparable way? What of the other believers in the pews? I don’t doubt that any of us believed intellectually in the true presence. But there is something very different and far more wonderful in being moved to the depth of your soul! It is so easy for us to be sleepy in the presence of the Divine, forgetful of the miraculous and awesome Presence available to us.
But let the record show that one day, almost 15 years ago, it was made quite plain to me that I held in my hands the Lord of Glory, the King of heaven and earth, the just Judge and Ruler of the kings of the earth. Is the Lord truly present in the Eucharist? You’d better beleive it, even demons believe that!
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Traditional Latin Mass in the Movies
I happened to run across this movie on T.V. a few months back True Confessions starring Robert Deniro ("yoo talkin to me?"...whoops different movie). I had never seen this movie and if I remember correctly was not impressed. BUT (and everyone has a big but...), the opening scene was nice.
Anyway, here it is just for kicks....
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How Should Catholics Market Catholicism?
By Jeffery Tucker
From the "Mighty" New Liturgical Movement
Some thirty years ago, evangelical Christianity threw itself heavily into the business of marketing itself with a series of hip slogans such as "I Found It" (a stranger is supposed to ask what this means, thereby opening an opportunity to share the Gospel). Along the same lines, there was the Good News Bible with a newspaper-theme cover. More recently there has been the WWJD campaign. Dozens of other kitschy campaigns have come and gone.
Part this new sensibility, even a core part, was the cultivation of a specific youth sector within the church. The idea is born of the baby boom: there is some kind of generation gap that makes it difficult for young people to comprehend things in the same way that older people do. Thus must we concoct special sales pitches to show the youth that Christianity is for them. Of course we need youth ministers too (an aging guy who wears jeans) and a host of programs to show off that Christianity is not just for stodgy fuddy-duddies.
This effort almost always means adapting the shape and form of existing secular youth culture -- which itself is a modern invention -- and baptizing it with Christian themes and messages. The rationale is that if we do not create a Christianized copy of the prevailing youth culture, we risk losing the youth entirely.
If the kids are going to attend rock concerts, better that they be Christian rock concerts. If they are going to go to rallies and parties and scream their heads off about crazy stuff, better that they be Christian rallies, parties, and scream fests. Better to get high on Jesus than methamphetamines. That's the rationale.
The "youth retreat" was born at some point in this process, and by "retreat," I don't mean a time of quiet contemplation, spiritual reflection, and careful discernment. The retreat almost always involves the display of a series of would-be teen idols who sing and speak and tell jokes, and eventually get around to presenting an emotional story of their own conversion. These eventually morphed into huge national conventions with massive commercial sectors within them, with teens encouraged by parents to travel hundreds of miles to experience the spiritual high that comes with huge religious gatherings.
The heady mixture of presence of Christian rock-stars, encountered in the context of a thorough mixing of boys and girls on out-of-town trips, can lead to strikingly emotional experiences. Kids return telling of their new-found commitment to religion and also of the intense new friendships they have developed with others on the trip. Parents feel a sense of relief that at least these kids are hanging around with other Christian kids and not fraternizing with the seedy sectors of life.
Catholics were late to this approach to "selling" their faith to the youth but with Mass attendance dramatically down from decades ago, more and more people are getting in on the act. In the digital age, this involves heavy use of film and video shorts that promote bacchanalian scenes of fun, laughter, loud music, and inspiration of some sort or another.
And it does all make difference. The kids return home with a new countenance, and a new love of God and a new love of their neighbor, though the young can be rather confused about how to sort it all out.
They report on their changed lives. And this effect lasts for about six months on average, at least that's my strong impression. In its wake follows some degree of disillusionment, failed romances, and the status quo ante.
In the worst case, the effects of an event like this can actually backfire. By comparison to the massive youth rallies, the home parish seems rather staid and dull. Where are the rock bands, the great speakers, the beautiful boys and girls aching for new relationships, the inspiration that the rally dump on us by the buckets? Clearly there is nothing in my hometown parish that can compare to that.
The eye begins to wander to other sects that can provide or at least attempt to provide that unrelenting stimulation that comes with youth rallies. They do a much better job of it than Catholics. It may not last there either and it might be just as superficial but at least they make a go of it. On this front, the Catholics can't compete. And if the basis of your spirituality is the longing for media stimulation and artificially inflated spiritual highs, Catholicism is going to be marginalized at some point in their quest.
For Catholics, this is a very serious matter. To be Catholic in today's world requires a great deal of social sacrifice. It nearly always has in the modern age. We don't have the right friends in the right circles. Our parishes don't have commercial venders selling lattes and we don't have health clubs. What's more, the Roman Rite doesn't lend itself to the unleashing of loud guitars and would-be rock star improvisations. There are no personality cults in the Roman Rite. The entire structure actually does the opposite. It buries the personality and directs attention toward eternity.
From a marketing angle, I wouldn't think that Catholics are going to fare very well in the long run with these attempts to forge a media-pumped youth culture. It might lead to instant profits for a handful of organizations, but I doubt that it will do much in the long run, simply because the form emphasizes experience over substance. The kids attending them do not return with a serious sense of liturgical decorum, for example. They have no chants they can hum. It is unclear what (or who) precisely they have fallen in love with. They aren't being given the truth about the glorious truth of what we Catholicism has to offer.
And what is that which we have to offer? The Catholic Church offers a sanctuary of beauty in world that can be very ugly. It offers a chance for quiet, for prayer, for intense seriousness, for reflection on topics that the world doesn't want us to think about, topics like death and salvation and sacrifice and spiritual discipline. It offers immense joy but a joy disciplined by rationality and truth. Rather than severe links with the past, Catholicism draws attention to them through the lives of the saints, the music of the first millennium, and an organized and orderly sense of prayer that strives to be a representation of the orderliness of creation.
The contrast is striking. As Benedict XVI puts it, at the culture of the youth rally in which rock music is central, people are "released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe. The music of the Holy Spirit’s sober inebriation seems to have little chance when self has become a prison, the mind is a shackle, and breaking out from both appears as a true promise of redemption that can be tasted at least for a few moments." In contrast, "the encounter with the beautiful can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the heart and in this way opens our eyes, so that later, from this experience, we take the criteria for judgment and can correctly evaluate...."
Benedict further contrasts the spirit of Apollo vs. Dionysis.
"The Church’s Tradition has this in mind when it talks about the sober inebriation caused in us by the Holy Spirit. There is always an ultimate sobriety, a deeper rationality, resisting any decline into irrationality and immoderation. We can see what this means in practice if we look at the history of music. The writings of Plato and Aristotle on music show that the Greek world in their time was faced with a choice between two kinds of worship, two different images of God and man. Now what this choice came down to concretely was a choice between two fundamental types of music. On the one hand, there is the music that Plato ascribes, in line with mythology, to Apollo, the god of light and reason. This is the music that draws senses into spirit and so brings man to wholeness. It does not abolish the senses, but inserts them into the unity of this creature that is man. It elevates the spirit precisely by wedding it to the senses, and it elevates the senses by uniting them with the spirit. Thus this kind of music is an expression of man’s special place in the general structure of being. But then there is the music that Plato ascribes to Marsyas, which we might describe, in terms of cultic history, as “Dionysian”. It drags man into the intoxication of the senses, crushes rationality, and subjects the spirit to the senses. The way Plato (and more moderately, Aristotle) allots instruments and keys to one or other of these two kinds of music is now obsolete and may in many respects surprise us. But the Apollonian/Dionysian alternative runs through the whole history of religion and confronts us again today."
Thus does it pain me to see Catholic youth conferences promote themselves in the Dionysian spirit. It does damage, I believe, to the true spirit of Catholicism. Older people with real and sometimes painful experience with the difficulties of life are offended, and rightly so, by the pitch. I don't see how any serious priest can endorse these videos. Nor are these promotions or conferences really telling the truth about the faith. This is why I don't believe it amounts to much whether these youth conferences are attended by 500 or 20,000 people. The question is whether these people are going to leave with a temporary high or a new appreciation of the profound mysteries of the faith that they can understand with their minds and highest aspirations of their hearts.
Finally, we might ask what it is that leads the organizers of these huge events to believe that they are doing the right thing, and I have no doubt that they are sincere. Fundamentally, the motivation is fear: fear that they will otherwise lose the youth, fear that the doctrinal and aesthetic truths of Catholicism are not sufficiently compelling, fear that the world will beat the faith unless we adopt the worlds' forms, methods, and approaches and adapt the faith to fit them. In other words, for all the hopped-up propaganda, what's really behind this is a lack of faith. And this is a disservice to the youth and to the future of Catholicism.
The true "youth culture" of the Catholic Church is a culture that aspires to the same thing that the "adult culture" and the "children's culture" aspires to: to know the truth and to live it. That requires no marketing gimmickry and mass organizing. It requires a confident presentation of the doctrine, music, prayer, and art that is native to the Catholic faith. This is the best path to inspiring people of any age to live in truth.
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Venite Missa Est! rerun from Post #54, 2008
Should We Be Ashamed of the Crusades?
By Jerrilyn Szelle Holladay
Catholic Online
Submitted by Larry Bethel with a special thanks to Jerrilyn Holladay
for allowing us to link to this article.
Jeri Holladay writes from Wichita, Kansas, where she has been Director of Adult Education at the Spiritual Life Center of the Diocese of Wichita, Associate Professor of Theology, Chairman of the Theology Department and founding Director of the Bishop Eugene Gerber Institute of Catholic Studies at Newman University. She teaches moral theology and church history.This is the first in a series she will offer to the readers of Catholic Online.
Using the Crusades as a club to bludgeon the West into guilty silence is a modern practice that has more to do with twentieth century events like the First and Second World Wars and the strains of passivism these engendered, than with the reality of the 12th and 13th centuries.
In fact, the Muslims were proud of the Crusades. After all, they won. And the Europeans? The Crusades were the first stirring of coordinated defense against centuries of attack by Muslim forces. Until the 20th century the Crusades were viewed as honorable wars, by all sides.
So, be ready when someone flips you the Crusades trump card. The historical context is the key to this puzzle, not 20th century sensibilities. The events leading up to and following the Crusades place them where they belong in the flow of history.......follow this link to web article
In fact, the Muslims were proud of the Crusades. After all, they won. And the Europeans? The Crusades were the first stirring of coordinated defense against centuries of attack by Muslim forces. Until the 20th century the Crusades were viewed as honorable wars, by all sides.
So, be ready when someone flips you the Crusades trump card. The historical context is the key to this puzzle, not 20th century sensibilities. The events leading up to and following the Crusades place them where they belong in the flow of history.......follow this link to web article
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Requiescant in Pace
The Reverend Father Dom Francois de Feydeau de Saint-Christophe
November 17, 2009
submitted by Larry Bethel
Bloggers note: Announcement & eulogy for Fr de Feydeau who passed last Sunday, November 14th, Clear Creek Monastery, Oklahoma.
Anno Domini MMIX, die 15 mensis Novembris
Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ Sacramentis munitus, pie decessit
in Prioratu Beatæ Mariæ Virginis Clari Rivi
in diœcesi Tulsensi in America septentrionali
REVERENDUS PATER DOMNUS
FRANCISCUS de FEYDEAU DE SAINT-CHRISTOPHE
Presbyter et monachus
Abbatiæ Beatæ Mariæ Virginis Fontis Gombaudi
Congregationis Solesmensis Ordinis Sancti Benedicti,
Ætatis suæ anno LVII, Professionis XXXIII, Sacerdotii XXVII.
Pro cujus anima vestras orationes et sacrificiorum suffragia
de caritate precamur et orabimus pro vestris.
Requiescat in pace.
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On November 15, 2009,
strengthened by the sacraments of our Holy Mother Church,
Reverend Father Dom
François de FEYDEAU DE SAINT-CHRISTOPHE
A Priest and monk of Our Lady of Fontgombault Abbey,
of the Congregation of Solesmes, of the Order of Saint Benedict,
rendered his soul to God in Our Lady of Clear Creek Priory.
He was in the 57th year of his age, the 33rd of his monastic profession,
and the 27th of his priesthood.
May his soul and those of all the faithful departed, through the
mercy of God and the intercession of Our Lady, rest in peace.
PRIOR ET CONVENTUS
Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Monastery
5804 W. Monastery Road
HULBERT, OK 74441 - USA
ABBAS ET CONVENTUS
Abbaye Notre-Dame
F - 36220 FONTGOMBAULT
FRANCE
+ Requiem Mass
The Reverend Father Dom Francois de Feydeau de Saint-Christophe
November 17, 2009
For unto thy faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away: and the abode of this earthly sojourn being dissolved, an eternal dwelling is prepared in heaven (Preface of the Dead)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ;
My very dear Brother Monks,
The words just quoted from the Preface for the Requiem Mass express the Faith of the Church that shines in the face of the darkest trial that assails the human heart—that is to say the sad reality of death. Rooted in the Most Precious Blood and water that poured forth from the side of the Savior on Calvary, the Faith comes to our aid in this moment of sorrow, reminding us of Christ’s eternal victory over sin, the world and the “enemy death that shall be destroyed last, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet”. (I Cor. 15:26)
Sharing in this same Faith and making it “earn interest” like the good servant of the parable, that great Theologian of the Little Way, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus of Lisieux gives us her particular insight into the reality of bodily death. As she neared her own end at the age of twenty-four this young Doctor of the Church made the boldest of affirmations: “I die not; I enter into life.” When a man or a woman--in particular a religious--comes to that crucial moment of the great passage to the other side of things, the truth comes forth without pretention. Saint Therese affirms her belief in eternal life, not in order simply to comfort us, but rather because it is the truth.
Of course, the Saint of Lisieux did not mean to dismiss the possibility of Hell or Purgatory, but having made her great discovery concerning the Merciful Love of God, to which she consecrated herself as a victim of Divine Mercy, she simply was beyond doubting that the Judge of Heaven and Earth would forgive her every fault if she only remained small--very small--with the trust of a little child. And lest we be tempted to think that it was on her merits as a Carmelite nun that she felt so bold in presenting herself to the just Judge, she affirms categorically that she will appear before Him with “empty hands”, that is to say without the merits any good works to speak of--save her childlike confidence itself.
Saint Therese liked to quote the line from that other great doctor of Carmel, Saint John of the Cross, who said that “on the evening of this life it is on love that we will be judged”. Although she felt quite incapable of performing the feats of asceticism that we so admire in the great Saints, she knew for a fact that there was immense love in her heart—better yet, she knew that her vocation was to be the love in the heart of her mother the Church.
As we prepare to commit the mortal remains of a beloved monk to the earth, to that very earth from which the first man was taken, we do well not to forget the luminous path traced by so many saints—from Our Blessed Father Saint Benedict to Saint Therese of Lisieux--that have illumined the world and transfigured the experience of death. Above all we must not forget what Our Lord said about the need for the grain of wheat to die, in order that it not remain sterile but produce much fruit. If we cannot help feeling the bitter grief of seeing a father and brother stolen away from the visible plane of our existence, we must not act like the pagans of yesterday and today, who live without real love in this world and without hope for the next.
May Our Lady of a Happy Dying, Notre-Dame du Bien Mourir, so venerated at Fontgombault Abbey, our mother-house in France, who manifestly helped our brother through the narrow passage of his last days, obtain for us all to die so well. Thus having followed the path of our monastic spirituality, in imitation of the Ecce, Fiat of the Virgin of Nazareth, may we all come to take our places in the eternal liturgical celebrations of Heaven in the presence of God and of the Lamb. Amen.
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