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The blessing of the new abbot of Clear Creek (Our Lady of the Annunciation Abbey of Clear Creek) will take place on April 10, 2010, in the crypt of the monastic church. Please pray for the new abbot and his community.
Oh, by the way...if you have missed hearing the bell ring as the call to mass it is only because the rope is frayed and needs replacing. Larry Bethel still rings it at consecration but by a different rope which (if I have this straight) operates a hammer instead of swinging the bell, which the rope that is frayed, does.
Oh, by the way...if you have missed hearing the bell ring as the call to mass it is only because the rope is frayed and needs replacing. Larry Bethel still rings it at consecration but by a different rope which (if I have this straight) operates a hammer instead of swinging the bell, which the rope that is frayed, does.
...and now the Necessaries
Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is one of two local churchs 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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Promise of Spring
In the middle of a patch of sandy soil at my house, a patch where even weeds don't grow, from under a thick layer of leaves from last fall, comes an early sign of spring. These little yellow flowers caught my eye...bright and cheerful in the midday sun, with a little bee buzzing in and out collecting pollen (his back end visible in the flower to the right). I'd like to think that these early flowers are a visible sign of the coming news, the news we have been longing for in our dark and cold season of repentance....the promise of spring and the promise of continuing and eternal life in the risen Christ.
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Vietnam Government Blows Up Crucifix
Parish Under Siege — Catholics Persecuted
by John Vennari
http://www.cfnews.org/vietnam.htm
Blogger's note: St Anthony parish, Wichita, has many Vietnamese parishioners which is why this story is pertinent to this blog. Please pray for our fellow Catholics in this troubled part of our world.
On January 6 Vietnamese officials dynamited a crucifix in a cemetery belonging to the Dong Chiem Parish Church, 40 miles from Hanoi. Parishioners who tried to prevent the destruction were beaten by police. Since then, Catholic priests and faithful have been assaulted by uniformed and plainclothes police, and Catholics who try to visit the parish are harassed and beaten; one journalist pummeled to unconsciousness. The latest outrage is a February 24 attack on a group of nuns visiting various parishes in the area.
The demolition of crucifix began at 3:00 a.m. with the use of explosives. “On hearing the explosions, parishioners rushed to the site to protect their crucifix but they were stopped by police who tried to drive them back, “said Father Nguyen Van Huu, pastor of Dong Chiem parish.
The Archdiocese of Hanoi immediately issued a press release denouncing the government’s actions: “Police attacked the parish today, in the early morning, when both its pastor and the pastor’s assistant were at the annual retreat in the Archbishop’s Office. An estimated 500 heavily armed and well-entrenched police officers and a large number of trained dogs were deployed in the area to protect an army engineering unit that destroyed a large crucifix erected on a boulder inside the parish cemetery.”
Parishioners recounted being shot at close range with tear gas canisters, even as they were kneeling in prayer, asking the police to stop the devastation. Other parishioners were beaten with batons.
“At least a dozen people have been badly beaten,” said Father Le Trong Cung, Vice Chancellor of the Hanoi Archdiocese. “Two of them were seriously injured and taken to a clinic in Te Tie, where, however, they did not receive treatment. Later, the priest and faithful found them and they took them to Viet Duc hospital, where doctors intervened.”
Agence France Presse reported police used “electric prods, tear gas and stones against the crowd.”
The government tried to justify its actions, claiming the crucifix was “illegally built” on the top of mount Che “which lies on the public land area under the direct management of the An Phu Communist People’s Committee.”
Father John le Trong Cung responded this was not true, since the crucifix was on Church property. “The hill has always been on parish grounds since its inception, more than one hundred years ago,” he said.
Parish priest Father Nyuyen Van Huu likewise confirmed the cross was built on Church land. The hill became a parish cemetery in the “Time of the Great Hunger” when two million people died between October 1944 and May 1945. The crucifix has been on the parish’s hill “for years,” he said.
From March to November 2009, the government had told Catholics to take down the cross. The parish refused since the cross was on Church property. In response, the government took the matter into its own hands on January 6 and blew up the crucifix.
The Archdiocese of Hanoi publicly denounced the demolition of the crucifix as a “sacrilege”.
Hundreds of Catholics have since defied the government’s brutality, climbed the hill and planted clusters of bamboo crosses where the original crucifix was destroyed. The government has sealed off the roads on the way to Dong Chiem, but the faithful still manage to get through.
More Bloody Beatings
A few days after the crucifix was demolished, a Catholic journalist visiting the area was attacked and beaten by government strongmen.
On the evening of January 11, Father Ngyuen Van Lien, parish priest of Dong Dhiem, and journalist J.B. Ngyuyen Huu Vinh were taking a motorcycle ride around the area. The priest said, “I was trying to get around a big pile of dirt placed on the bridge of the Nang — placed there to prevent access to the area — when a group of uniformed and plainclothes police attacked us.”
Father Van Lien continued, “Seeing that the journalist had a camera around his neck, a dozen policemen jumped on him, trying to snatch it. I left the bike and rushed to his defense, but the agents used sticks to threaten me and make me turn back. Then, once they had the camera, they ran away, leaving the victim in the street unconscious, and with his face bloodied.”
“If he had not had a helmet, he would be dead,” said the nurse who treated the journalist after the attack.
Around the same time, police also attacked two disabled Catholic war veterans on bikes heading toward Don Chiem.
The assault on the priest and journalist sparked strong response. Thousands of Catholics took to the streets of Dong Hai in a protest march. The protesters also demanded the release of five Catholic prisoners taken on the day the crucifix was demolished. The government had summoned five poverty-stricken Catholics to the service center of the government on the pretext of filling out forms for food aid. At the day’s end, loudspeakers blared that the five had “bowed their heads, pleading guilty” to having built a bamboo cross on the spot where the crucifix had been destroyed.
The priests of Dong Chiem have also been accused by police of stirring up anti-government sentiments, when the priests’ only “crime” has been resisting the anti-Catholic harassment coming from the Vietnamese government.
The faithful throughout North Vietnam continued to respond to these outrages with pilgrimages to Dong Chiem. Despite threats of violence, the pilgrims succeeded in planting crosses on the hill where the original crucifix was demolished. “We will make this hill a mountain of the crosses, like the one the Catholics created in Lithuania in Communist times,” said a student from Hanoi whose team planted dozens of crosses on the hill. The group of students accomplished this by passing checkpoints and other police measures aimed at blocking the faithful’s access to the cemetery. Asia News reports “hundreds of crosses” are now on the hill.
Not all the Vietnamese Catholics who depart for Dong Chiem manage to skirt the government’s obstacles.
Father Joseph Pham Minh Trieu, who was leading a group of a thousand people to the hill, said he had to cancel the trip: “The police confiscated the licenses of all our bus drivers." Nonetheless, hundreds of parishioners at Ham Long used motorcycles to penetrate through police obstacles. Among them was the group of Hanoi students, who reached the summit of Nui Tho, which is now called “the mountain of prayer" where they enacted the Way of the Cross.
“Other faithful managed to arrive by boat,” reported Asia News.
As news spread around the world of this persecution of Catholics, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam denied any repression of Catholics in Dong Chiem. “Vietnam asserts ‘no suppression’ of parishioners at Hanoi’s outlying district”, headlined the state-run Vietnamese News Agency.
It was here the government asserted the cross was built illegally on public land. The report also claimed the government simply “dismantled” the cross, and was careful not to mention they destroyed the crucifix with explosives.
The story was an obvious falsehood, particularly since an Agence France Presse reporter had already been denied access to the area. The January 8 Manilla News reported that a journalist had been blocked from entering the Dong Chiem parish area. “This is by special order” said a plainclothes policeman as the journalist tried to enter the one road leading to the Dong Chiem parish. At the only other access, said the Manilla News, “several other policemen also refused to let the reporter pass.”
By mid-January, police had poured reinforcements and set up roadblocks to stop pilgrims from going to the hill at Dong Chiem parish. The violence against Catholics continued.
On January 20, a Vietnamese Catholic monk was beaten and seriously injured as he tried to reach the parish church. Agence France Presse reported, “About 20 uniformed and plainclothes officers on Wednesday [January 20] stopped Brother Nguyen Van Tang and several other Catholics from entering the Dong Chiem parish.”
The police seized the Brother’s camera and mobile phone. When he was making his way back, he was “attacked by unknown assailants and left with serious head injuries.” He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
By the beginning of February, the parish was still under siege; the police would threaten and attack anyone who approached it. Three students from Saint Anthony of Padua parish were attacked by police for just that reason. One was arrested.
The three students had gone to Dong Chiem to attend a Eucharistic adoration. On their way home, says Father John Luu Ngoc Quynh, “a group of police agents stopped them and savagely attacked them.”
One of the students “tried to run in a field but was chased and beaten,” continues Father Luu Ngoc Quynh. The next day, “at 11:30 p.m., police brought him to his dormitory and after searching the premises, took away two other students who shared his room.”
The priest denounced these actions as “continued violation of the law against Vietnamese citizens and against Catholics. Calling for the release of the students, for an end to the siege of the Dong Chiem parish, and for the right of Catholics to move freely, Father Luu Ngoc Quynh urged the Vietnamese government “to investigate the latest attack in order to bring the culprits to justice.”
The government continues its brutal harassment, the latest being an attack on nuns visiting the area.
On February 24, a group of nuns from the Lovers of the Holy Cross, who went to Ho Chi Minh City with dozens of lay Catholics to visit parishioners of the area, were attacked and beaten by plainclothes officers at the town’s entrance. Asia News reported the sisters were not seriously injured, “but the Hanoi volunteer who was their guide had to be admitted to the Viet Duc hospital in serious condition.”
Church Targeted
It is obvious the Church is being deliberately provoked. Redemptorist Superior Vincent Pham Trung said in late February, “The government is trying its best to lure the Archbishop of Hanoi and Thai ha Redemptorists into a trap in which the tiniest mistake [on their part] would give the government the excuse for open persecution, or at least an excuse to launch accusations against them.”
It is also obvious that Catholics alone are the targets of this brutality since those who visit the famous Huong Pagoda, in the vicinity as Dong Chiem, are warmly welcome and protected by agents who belong to the same department as those persecuting the Church.
The clash between the Church and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an ongoing conflict. In 2009, the government demolished a large statue of the Blessed Mother that had been erected by the poor parishioners of Bau Sen.
On the day of the statue’s destruction, government police with batons and dogs kept the parishioners back from the demolition site, and the faithful could only watch helplessly. This past January the government compounded the sacrilege by demanding the parishioners pay the $15,000 the government spent on the statue’s destruction.
Whoever believes the Consecration of Russia as requested by Our Lady of Fatima is accomplished need look no further than today’s Vietnam. The atrocities of the Vietnamese government bear all the hallmarks of Communist harassment of the Church throughout the Twentieth Century. The “period of peace” has yet to be granted to the world.
Despite what a highly placed churchman has said about Fatima’s prophecies belonging to the past, the “tragic human lust for power and evil” has not come to an end.
Let us pray for our fellow Catholics who daily face this brutal persecution, and let us learn from their fortitude as they publicly defy Vietnam’s anti-Catholic campaign.
Pope Benedict XVI has set up a special commission to weigh the authenticity of the reported apparitions by the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, according to Italian media reports.
The commission will reportedly be chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the retired vicar of Rome, who has been a trusted ally of the Pope. The investigation would be carried out under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Bishop Ratko Peric of the Mostar diocese in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Medjugorje is located, has strongly discouraged pilgrimages and warned the faithful against accepting the reality of the reported apparitions. Bishop Peric was openly dismayed when Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schoënborn made a "private" New Year's visit to Medjugorje and made statements that were widely interpreted as encouraging belief in the apparitions. The conflict between the two prelates revived calls for a definitive Vatican pronouncement on "the Medjugorje phenomenon."
The demolition of crucifix began at 3:00 a.m. with the use of explosives. “On hearing the explosions, parishioners rushed to the site to protect their crucifix but they were stopped by police who tried to drive them back, “said Father Nguyen Van Huu, pastor of Dong Chiem parish.
The Archdiocese of Hanoi immediately issued a press release denouncing the government’s actions: “Police attacked the parish today, in the early morning, when both its pastor and the pastor’s assistant were at the annual retreat in the Archbishop’s Office. An estimated 500 heavily armed and well-entrenched police officers and a large number of trained dogs were deployed in the area to protect an army engineering unit that destroyed a large crucifix erected on a boulder inside the parish cemetery.”
Parishioners recounted being shot at close range with tear gas canisters, even as they were kneeling in prayer, asking the police to stop the devastation. Other parishioners were beaten with batons.
“At least a dozen people have been badly beaten,” said Father Le Trong Cung, Vice Chancellor of the Hanoi Archdiocese. “Two of them were seriously injured and taken to a clinic in Te Tie, where, however, they did not receive treatment. Later, the priest and faithful found them and they took them to Viet Duc hospital, where doctors intervened.”
Agence France Presse reported police used “electric prods, tear gas and stones against the crowd.”
The government tried to justify its actions, claiming the crucifix was “illegally built” on the top of mount Che “which lies on the public land area under the direct management of the An Phu Communist People’s Committee.”
Father John le Trong Cung responded this was not true, since the crucifix was on Church property. “The hill has always been on parish grounds since its inception, more than one hundred years ago,” he said.
Parish priest Father Nyuyen Van Huu likewise confirmed the cross was built on Church land. The hill became a parish cemetery in the “Time of the Great Hunger” when two million people died between October 1944 and May 1945. The crucifix has been on the parish’s hill “for years,” he said.
From March to November 2009, the government had told Catholics to take down the cross. The parish refused since the cross was on Church property. In response, the government took the matter into its own hands on January 6 and blew up the crucifix.
The Archdiocese of Hanoi publicly denounced the demolition of the crucifix as a “sacrilege”.
Hundreds of Catholics have since defied the government’s brutality, climbed the hill and planted clusters of bamboo crosses where the original crucifix was destroyed. The government has sealed off the roads on the way to Dong Chiem, but the faithful still manage to get through.
More Bloody Beatings
A few days after the crucifix was demolished, a Catholic journalist visiting the area was attacked and beaten by government strongmen.
On the evening of January 11, Father Ngyuen Van Lien, parish priest of Dong Dhiem, and journalist J.B. Ngyuyen Huu Vinh were taking a motorcycle ride around the area. The priest said, “I was trying to get around a big pile of dirt placed on the bridge of the Nang — placed there to prevent access to the area — when a group of uniformed and plainclothes police attacked us.”
Father Van Lien continued, “Seeing that the journalist had a camera around his neck, a dozen policemen jumped on him, trying to snatch it. I left the bike and rushed to his defense, but the agents used sticks to threaten me and make me turn back. Then, once they had the camera, they ran away, leaving the victim in the street unconscious, and with his face bloodied.”
“If he had not had a helmet, he would be dead,” said the nurse who treated the journalist after the attack.
Around the same time, police also attacked two disabled Catholic war veterans on bikes heading toward Don Chiem.
The assault on the priest and journalist sparked strong response. Thousands of Catholics took to the streets of Dong Hai in a protest march. The protesters also demanded the release of five Catholic prisoners taken on the day the crucifix was demolished. The government had summoned five poverty-stricken Catholics to the service center of the government on the pretext of filling out forms for food aid. At the day’s end, loudspeakers blared that the five had “bowed their heads, pleading guilty” to having built a bamboo cross on the spot where the crucifix had been destroyed.
The priests of Dong Chiem have also been accused by police of stirring up anti-government sentiments, when the priests’ only “crime” has been resisting the anti-Catholic harassment coming from the Vietnamese government.
The faithful throughout North Vietnam continued to respond to these outrages with pilgrimages to Dong Chiem. Despite threats of violence, the pilgrims succeeded in planting crosses on the hill where the original crucifix was demolished. “We will make this hill a mountain of the crosses, like the one the Catholics created in Lithuania in Communist times,” said a student from Hanoi whose team planted dozens of crosses on the hill. The group of students accomplished this by passing checkpoints and other police measures aimed at blocking the faithful’s access to the cemetery. Asia News reports “hundreds of crosses” are now on the hill.
Not all the Vietnamese Catholics who depart for Dong Chiem manage to skirt the government’s obstacles.
Father Joseph Pham Minh Trieu, who was leading a group of a thousand people to the hill, said he had to cancel the trip: “The police confiscated the licenses of all our bus drivers." Nonetheless, hundreds of parishioners at Ham Long used motorcycles to penetrate through police obstacles. Among them was the group of Hanoi students, who reached the summit of Nui Tho, which is now called “the mountain of prayer" where they enacted the Way of the Cross.
“Other faithful managed to arrive by boat,” reported Asia News.
As news spread around the world of this persecution of Catholics, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam denied any repression of Catholics in Dong Chiem. “Vietnam asserts ‘no suppression’ of parishioners at Hanoi’s outlying district”, headlined the state-run Vietnamese News Agency.
It was here the government asserted the cross was built illegally on public land. The report also claimed the government simply “dismantled” the cross, and was careful not to mention they destroyed the crucifix with explosives.
The story was an obvious falsehood, particularly since an Agence France Presse reporter had already been denied access to the area. The January 8 Manilla News reported that a journalist had been blocked from entering the Dong Chiem parish area. “This is by special order” said a plainclothes policeman as the journalist tried to enter the one road leading to the Dong Chiem parish. At the only other access, said the Manilla News, “several other policemen also refused to let the reporter pass.”
By mid-January, police had poured reinforcements and set up roadblocks to stop pilgrims from going to the hill at Dong Chiem parish. The violence against Catholics continued.
On January 20, a Vietnamese Catholic monk was beaten and seriously injured as he tried to reach the parish church. Agence France Presse reported, “About 20 uniformed and plainclothes officers on Wednesday [January 20] stopped Brother Nguyen Van Tang and several other Catholics from entering the Dong Chiem parish.”
The police seized the Brother’s camera and mobile phone. When he was making his way back, he was “attacked by unknown assailants and left with serious head injuries.” He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
By the beginning of February, the parish was still under siege; the police would threaten and attack anyone who approached it. Three students from Saint Anthony of Padua parish were attacked by police for just that reason. One was arrested.
The three students had gone to Dong Chiem to attend a Eucharistic adoration. On their way home, says Father John Luu Ngoc Quynh, “a group of police agents stopped them and savagely attacked them.”
One of the students “tried to run in a field but was chased and beaten,” continues Father Luu Ngoc Quynh. The next day, “at 11:30 p.m., police brought him to his dormitory and after searching the premises, took away two other students who shared his room.”
The priest denounced these actions as “continued violation of the law against Vietnamese citizens and against Catholics. Calling for the release of the students, for an end to the siege of the Dong Chiem parish, and for the right of Catholics to move freely, Father Luu Ngoc Quynh urged the Vietnamese government “to investigate the latest attack in order to bring the culprits to justice.”
The government continues its brutal harassment, the latest being an attack on nuns visiting the area.
On February 24, a group of nuns from the Lovers of the Holy Cross, who went to Ho Chi Minh City with dozens of lay Catholics to visit parishioners of the area, were attacked and beaten by plainclothes officers at the town’s entrance. Asia News reported the sisters were not seriously injured, “but the Hanoi volunteer who was their guide had to be admitted to the Viet Duc hospital in serious condition.”
Church Targeted
It is obvious the Church is being deliberately provoked. Redemptorist Superior Vincent Pham Trung said in late February, “The government is trying its best to lure the Archbishop of Hanoi and Thai ha Redemptorists into a trap in which the tiniest mistake [on their part] would give the government the excuse for open persecution, or at least an excuse to launch accusations against them.”
It is also obvious that Catholics alone are the targets of this brutality since those who visit the famous Huong Pagoda, in the vicinity as Dong Chiem, are warmly welcome and protected by agents who belong to the same department as those persecuting the Church.
The clash between the Church and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an ongoing conflict. In 2009, the government demolished a large statue of the Blessed Mother that had been erected by the poor parishioners of Bau Sen.
On the day of the statue’s destruction, government police with batons and dogs kept the parishioners back from the demolition site, and the faithful could only watch helplessly. This past January the government compounded the sacrilege by demanding the parishioners pay the $15,000 the government spent on the statue’s destruction.
Whoever believes the Consecration of Russia as requested by Our Lady of Fatima is accomplished need look no further than today’s Vietnam. The atrocities of the Vietnamese government bear all the hallmarks of Communist harassment of the Church throughout the Twentieth Century. The “period of peace” has yet to be granted to the world.
Despite what a highly placed churchman has said about Fatima’s prophecies belonging to the past, the “tragic human lust for power and evil” has not come to an end.
Let us pray for our fellow Catholics who daily face this brutal persecution, and let us learn from their fortitude as they publicly defy Vietnam’s anti-Catholic campaign.
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Vatican Commission to Probe Medjugorje?
Catholic World News
March 05, 2010
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=5639
Vatican Commission to Probe Medjugorje?
Catholic World News
March 05, 2010
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=5639
Pope Benedict XVI has set up a special commission to weigh the authenticity of the reported apparitions by the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, according to Italian media reports.
The commission will reportedly be chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the retired vicar of Rome, who has been a trusted ally of the Pope. The investigation would be carried out under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Bishop Ratko Peric of the Mostar diocese in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Medjugorje is located, has strongly discouraged pilgrimages and warned the faithful against accepting the reality of the reported apparitions. Bishop Peric was openly dismayed when Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schoënborn made a "private" New Year's visit to Medjugorje and made statements that were widely interpreted as encouraging belief in the apparitions. The conflict between the two prelates revived calls for a definitive Vatican pronouncement on "the Medjugorje phenomenon."
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From Father Hoisington's blog:
Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3749161611233837640&postID=276470417122874173
Quinquagesima Sunday
On the Love of God and the Illumination of the Blind Man
St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor
(PL 39, 1539-32.) — modernized English
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Figure Skating Queen Brings Catholics Pride
UCA News
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/03/02/figure-skating-queen-a-pride-for-catholics/
Posted By editor On March 2, 2010 (6:01 pm) In Asian News, Countries, Daily Service, Korea
From Father Hoisington's blog:
Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3749161611233837640&postID=276470417122874173
Quinquagesima Sunday
On the Love of God and the Illumination of the Blind Man
St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor
(PL 39, 1539-32.) — modernized English
Love God. You will not find anything more worthy of love. You love silver, because it is more precious than iron or bronze. You love gold still more, because it is more precious than silver. Still more precious stones, for they are prized above gold. Last, you love this light; which all who dread death fear to leave. You love light, I say, as he loved it, with deep longing, who cried to Jesus: Son of David, have mercy on me.
The blind man cries out, as Jesus was passing by. He heard He might pass by, and not heal him. And how earnestly he cried? Though the crowd rebuked him, he would not be silent. He overcame his rebukers, and held our Saviour. While the crowd clamoured against him, and forbade him cry out, Jesus stands, and called him, and said: What wilt thou that I do to thee? Lord, he said, that I may see. Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Love Christ: Seek the light that is Christ. If he longed for the light of the body, how much the more ought you to long for the light of the soul? Let us cry out to Him, not with words, but with virtuous living. Let us live in virtue, and esteem not the world: all that is transitory to us is nothing. They will rebuke us should we live as worthy men, and lovers of ourselves, and lovers of the earth, delighting in the games, drawing nothing from heaven, unbridled in heart, and testing all delights: they will, and without any doubt, rebuke us; and should they see us despise what is human, what is earthly, they will say: why do you wish to suffer? Why are you foolish?
The crowd clamors, that the blind man shall not cry out. There are not a few Christians who seek to hinder us from living as Christians: like the crowd that walked with Christ, and hindered the man crying out to Christ, and hungering for light from the kindness of Christ. There are such Christians: but let us overcome them, and live in virtue: and our life shall be the voice of our cry to Christ. He will stand; because He stands.
For here is a great mystery. He was passing by when this man began to cry out: when He healed him He stood still. Let Christ’s passing by make us prepared to cry out. What is Christ’s passing by? Whatsoever He has endured for us here is His passing by. He was born, He passed by: for is He yet being born? He grew up, He passed by; is He yet growing up? He was suckled: is He yet suckled? When weary He slept: does He yet sleep? He ate and He drank: does He yet do this? At the last He was seized, He was bound with ropes, He was beaten, He was crowned with thorns, He was struck by blows, He was defiled with spittle, He was hung on a Cross, He was put to death, He was pierced by a lance, He was buried, He rose again. Till then He passes by.
He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father: He stands still. Cry out all you can: now He will give thee light. For that in Him the Word was with God, He has of a surety stood still; since He was not changed. And the Word was God: and the Word was made Flesh. The Flesh has wrought many things through passing by, and suffered many. The Word has stood still. By this Word the soul is enlightened; as by this Word the flesh which He took on is adorned. Take away the Word, what then of the flesh? It is as yours. That the flesh of Christ be honored, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us. Let us live virtuously, and so cry out to Him.
The blind man cries out, as Jesus was passing by. He heard He might pass by, and not heal him. And how earnestly he cried? Though the crowd rebuked him, he would not be silent. He overcame his rebukers, and held our Saviour. While the crowd clamoured against him, and forbade him cry out, Jesus stands, and called him, and said: What wilt thou that I do to thee? Lord, he said, that I may see. Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Love Christ: Seek the light that is Christ. If he longed for the light of the body, how much the more ought you to long for the light of the soul? Let us cry out to Him, not with words, but with virtuous living. Let us live in virtue, and esteem not the world: all that is transitory to us is nothing. They will rebuke us should we live as worthy men, and lovers of ourselves, and lovers of the earth, delighting in the games, drawing nothing from heaven, unbridled in heart, and testing all delights: they will, and without any doubt, rebuke us; and should they see us despise what is human, what is earthly, they will say: why do you wish to suffer? Why are you foolish?
The crowd clamors, that the blind man shall not cry out. There are not a few Christians who seek to hinder us from living as Christians: like the crowd that walked with Christ, and hindered the man crying out to Christ, and hungering for light from the kindness of Christ. There are such Christians: but let us overcome them, and live in virtue: and our life shall be the voice of our cry to Christ. He will stand; because He stands.
For here is a great mystery. He was passing by when this man began to cry out: when He healed him He stood still. Let Christ’s passing by make us prepared to cry out. What is Christ’s passing by? Whatsoever He has endured for us here is His passing by. He was born, He passed by: for is He yet being born? He grew up, He passed by; is He yet growing up? He was suckled: is He yet suckled? When weary He slept: does He yet sleep? He ate and He drank: does He yet do this? At the last He was seized, He was bound with ropes, He was beaten, He was crowned with thorns, He was struck by blows, He was defiled with spittle, He was hung on a Cross, He was put to death, He was pierced by a lance, He was buried, He rose again. Till then He passes by.
He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father: He stands still. Cry out all you can: now He will give thee light. For that in Him the Word was with God, He has of a surety stood still; since He was not changed. And the Word was God: and the Word was made Flesh. The Flesh has wrought many things through passing by, and suffered many. The Word has stood still. By this Word the soul is enlightened; as by this Word the flesh which He took on is adorned. Take away the Word, what then of the flesh? It is as yours. That the flesh of Christ be honored, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us. Let us live virtuously, and so cry out to Him.
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Figure Skating Queen Brings Catholics Pride
UCA News
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/
Posted By editor On March 2, 2010 (6:01 pm) In Asian News, Countries, Daily Service, Korea
SEOUL (UCAN) — Catholics in Korea were overjoyed to see Stella Kim Yu-na make the sign of the cross during her performance at the Olympic figure skating competition on Feb. 23.
The 19-year-old went on to make a new world record and became South Korea’s first Olympic figure skating champion, winning numerous fans.
“Her crossing herself made me also make the sign of the cross as I watched her performance on TV,” Monica Lee Ji-yun told UCA News. “Her faith in God and her ceaseless training finally paid off,” she added. “As a Catholic, I’m very proud of her.”
Soon after her victory, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul sent her a congratulatory message.
“Stella Kim touched and gave happiness to all Koreans by … overcoming various difficulties and doing her best,” he said in his message, expressing the hope that “lots of young people will gain confidence and hope through Kim’s achievement.”
The cardinal also sent a congratulatory message to Lydia Park Seung-hi, who won two bronze medals.
At the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games held Feb. 12-28 in Canada, South Korea won six gold medals, six silver medals and two bronze medals, ranking seventh in the medal tally.
But the greatest star of them all was Kim who had won numerous figure skating competitions, becoming a national “icon.”
Many youths thought her rosary ring was an engagement ring and media had to explain its usage and meaning.
Kim was baptized in May 2008, along with her mother. Since then, she has always worn a rosary ring and made the sign of the cross when competing.
Kim’s father and older sister do not practice any religion.
Father Ignatius Kim Min-soo told UCA News on March 2, “Big stars like Kim making the sign of the cross in public can help the Church’s evangelization activities indirectly.”
“Her public display of her Catholic identity fills local Catholics with pride and influences non-Catholics too,” said the secretary of the Korean bishops’ Committee for Social Communications.
Matthew Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia , killed by a sword wound.
The 19-year-old went on to make a new world record and became South Korea’s first Olympic figure skating champion, winning numerous fans.
“Her crossing herself made me also make the sign of the cross as I watched her performance on TV,” Monica Lee Ji-yun told UCA News. “Her faith in God and her ceaseless training finally paid off,” she added. “As a Catholic, I’m very proud of her.”
Soon after her victory, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul sent her a congratulatory message.
“Stella Kim touched and gave happiness to all Koreans by … overcoming various difficulties and doing her best,” he said in his message, expressing the hope that “lots of young people will gain confidence and hope through Kim’s achievement.”
The cardinal also sent a congratulatory message to Lydia Park Seung-hi, who won two bronze medals.
At the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games held Feb. 12-28 in Canada, South Korea won six gold medals, six silver medals and two bronze medals, ranking seventh in the medal tally.
But the greatest star of them all was Kim who had won numerous figure skating competitions, becoming a national “icon.”
Many youths thought her rosary ring was an engagement ring and media had to explain its usage and meaning.
Kim was baptized in May 2008, along with her mother. Since then, she has always worn a rosary ring and made the sign of the cross when competing.
Kim’s father and older sister do not practice any religion.
Father Ignatius Kim Min-soo told UCA News on March 2, “Big stars like Kim making the sign of the cross in public can help the Church’s evangelization activities indirectly.”
“Her public display of her Catholic identity fills local Catholics with pride and influences non-Catholics too,” said the secretary of the Korean bishops’ Committee for Social Communications.
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Do You Know How the Apostles Died?
Tip 0' the Hat to Bob Walterscheid
Tip 0' the Hat to Bob Walterscheid
Matthew Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia , killed by a sword wound.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Lest I be accused of scrupulosity in my words below, let me be clear that there should be a distinction made between true scrupulosity which is related to "obsessive, compulsive disorders" and what many would simply call a legitimate concern for certain matters, especially those of faith. For example, I wash my hands a few times a day, after using the restroom, before celebrating Mass, after touching something unclean, out of a concern for germs and hygiene and for the well being of others with whom I interact. A scrupulous person washing his hands constantly and for no other reason then a scrupulous fear of germs and other psychological issues is a completely different matter. (Do I hear "Purell," anyone?) So with that written, let's go head long into the topic at hand.
One of the things mine eyes has seen since celebrating the EF Mass for over two years now is the rubrical mandate that the particles of the Most Holy Eucharist that could become detached from the consecrated Host in no way be "desecrated" in any intentional or unintentional way; all precautions must be taken even liturgically. Therefore, prior to the consecration, the hands are placed on the altar outside of the corporal cloth which is carefully managed by proper folding and unfolding, using a burse,proper cleaning, etc.
After consecrating the host, the fingers and thumbs that touched the host are joined together so that not even the smallest particle of a particle could be unintentionally "desecrated." When touching the altar, the priest does so on the corporal cloth.The priest even holds the chalice for consecration by having his index finger and thumb joined prior to taking the chalice. Prior to the priest receiving the Precious Blood, he takes the patten and scrapes the corporal cloth of any particles that could have fallen and then places these in the chalice. At the purification of the the chalice, (the priest's fingers and thumbs still joined) the server first places wine in the chalice, so that any droplets of the Precious Blood can be reverently consumed. Then wine and water are poured into the chalice over the priest's fingers and thumbs that may have attached to them particles of the host. The priest drys his fingers, drinks the ablutions and dries the chalice. This is "built in" piety and reverence of the EF Mass that was stripped from the OF Mass. This institutional "care," in the EF Mass is borne of the concern for avoiding "desecration" of the Sacred Species even unintentional,and contributes to the overall respect due our Lord in the Eucharistic Species. It cannot be classified as OCD or personal scrupulosity.
Let's fast forward to today to what many have disparagingly called the "theology of the crumbs" since the reforms of the Mass. I can remember as a teenager and very young adult seeing older priests celebrating the OF Mass using the same rubrics they were taught for the EF Mass as it concerned "crumbs, fingers, thumbs, etc." These priests were accused of scrupulosity by others. I believed this accusation of scrupulosity to be true, because I didn't know these priests had been trained in this custom of reverence by their celebration of the Tridentine Mass and the institutionalized piety, reverence and concern for not desecrating the Eucharistic Species of this Mass. In other words I was mistaken concerning the "rubrics" these older priests employed--it was not their scrupulosity, but their piety instilled by the EF Mass. "Lex Orandi, Lex credendi," the law of prayer is the law of belief.
During the wild time of experimentation with the New Order of the Mass, certainly after it was promulgated,(the 1970's) many "progressive priests, seminaries and parishes" experimented with what was euphemistically called "real bread" as opposed to the unleavened, traditional hosts of Pre-Vatican II. (Anyone recall the sarcastic remark that it was harder to believe that these traditional hosts were real bread, let alone the real Body and Blood of our Savior?)
In my seminary we used bread that had honey in the recipe and salt that in fact acted as a leaven. And in fact, when receiving these "hosts" at Holy Communion, significant crumbs remained on the palm of one's hand. (More about that below)!
As a 23 year old seminarian, I attended the first Mass of a Jesuit priest in 1978 where he used small French Bread loaves with its very crispy crust for the Eucharist. At the Breaking of the Bread at the altar, these loaves were ceremoniously broken by a variety of lay people at the altar and then these were distributed to the laity. I know for a fact, because I saw it with mine eyes, that after Mass, there were crumbs of Consecrated Eucharist, all over the altar and on the carpet where Holy Communion had been distributed! A seminarian friend of mine and myself tried in vain to gather the larger particles from the carpet, but were derided by others who castigated us for the "theology of crumbs!" Do ya think there was an ideology there promoting French Bread Eucharist as well as Holy Communion in the hand? If you believe that our Lord is truly present in all particles of the Eucharistic Bread, then one would be reluctant to use bread that is crumbly, flaky or to receive this type of "Bread" in the hand. So the minimization or ridicule of the Church's faith reality was necessary in order to promote a liturgical innovation and agenda. This trendy agenda at the time lamented what was seen as Liturgical scrupulosity that would motivate "scrupulous" traditional Catholics to have an abhorrence for Eucharistic crumbs on the floor and on one's hands. So undermining one's actual faith in the real Presence of Christ in every speck, crumb, particle and morsel of Holy Communion was necessary for this type of so-called liturgical renewal agenda to go forward, but forward it did go.
This same "theology of crumbs" which is a disparaging description of those whose reverence and belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist includes every particle that is attached to every host, is also carried forward now to the Precious Blood, since there is now wide-spread distribution of the Eucharist under the form of consecrated Wine, from a common chalice or cup.
Many people of an older and more institutionalize piety are concerned that there is a possibility of spilling the Precious Blood by distributing Holy Communion under both forms. Those who promote this custom, both of Holy Communion in the hand and from the chalice say that if particles do fall or the Precious Blood is spilled, God will take care of Himself. I think most of us believe that the all powerful and Almighty God is quite capable of taking care of Himself as well as us. But that's not the point! The point is the reverence we creatures owe to the Almighty God! We actually believe that we must rely upon the Almighty to save us as we cannot do this work of salvation by ourselves. By our worthy reception of Holy Communion, God, Who does not become a part of us in this act, but rather makes us a part of Him is the essence of Superiority in relation to His creatures who receive Him. Should not such an awesome means to accomplish this work of salvation by Almighty God not have the utmost and yes "scrupulous" respect from us, God's creatures?
I have seen with mine own eyes the following--an extra chalice on the altar knocked over by a Communion Minister, thus spilling the Precious Blood everywhere! I have seen children spit the host that was in their mouth into the chalice they were given to drink from. I have seen chewing gum in a chalice because the person receiving accidentally allowed it to fall from her mouth.I have seen the Precious Blood on ties, shirts and blouses, not to mention the floor! I have seen people "self-intinct." I have had extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion tell me that some people consume the entire chalice once it is handed to them. I have had Eucharistic ministers tell me that they have a hard time drinking the "dregs" of the Chalice at the end of some 30 people having drunk from the chalice because they fear there is more "backwash of saliva" than Precious Blood remaining. I believe this to be true by the way, because I've had to consume these "dregs!" I don't mind being a martyr for the Holy Mass and the Sacred Species, but I do mind being made to do something that is not necessary in the first place, having 30 to 40 people drink from the same chalice and then cleaning up after that.
Now a conundrum that many will resent me for bringing forward:Intinction! This form of distributing Holy Communion by dipping the Consecrated Host into the Precious Blood with a Paten under the chin of the communicant is permitted in the GIRM of the 2002 Roman Missal. In fact the American bishops in their adaptations of the GIRM state that this is the "second" option available to priests if the priest chooses to follow their bishop's approval for Holy Communion under both kinds, the option of which, of course, is at the discretion of the priest, to allow both Species in his parish or not. He just has to follow the bishop's approval for this permission or exception to allow the chalice for the congregation in the first place. (Have you ever heard people disparagingly call the venerable tradition and ancient one at that, of intinction as "dunking donuts?" Talk about irreverence!You know there is an agenda or ideology at work when you hear that, meaning only the common chalice is legitimate!)(Mine own ears have heard this and mine own tongue has spoken this in the past, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!--dunking donuts, yikes!)
The objection to intinction is that it removes from the communicant the "right" to receive Holy Communion on the palm of the hand. In fact, this is not true, as one could still receive the Host in the hand but not intincted. Then the objection comes that one is removing the "right" of the communicant to receive the Precious Blood if one wants to receive in the hand. Yes--but it is not a liturgical or canonical right to receive the Precious Blood from the Chalice. One receives the Body and Blood of Christ completely under either form. (The only complaints I have received from people since my bishop mandated not allowing the chalice to the people because of H1N1 contagion concerns is that these people felt they were only partially receiving Holy Communion! (More about contagion in a future blog!)
Now, if we buy into the "theology of the Crumbs" in its disparaging way as encouraging us not to be worried about the "crumbs" as scrupulous people are, then we are not concerned that to this very day when people receive even the traditional consecrated host in their hands, that it is possible for small and even larger particles to adhere to their palm,finger and thumb. I have seen with my mine own eyes, children and adults dust off their hands after receiving the host or wipe them on their clothes, or simply ignore any particles of the Sacred Species that might adhere to the palm, thumb or finger of one's hand.
So my question of logic: if we don't worry about these sorts of things anymore,(the theology of crumbs) why not place an "intincted" host onto the palm of the communicant? There really isn't that much Consecrated Wine on the Host. And if the palm gets wet from the Precious Blood, why not rub your hands together to dry it, wipe them on your clothes or simply ignore it? Concern about this is the "theology of scrupulosity" after all, isn't it? My point is, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I think we should be concerned about both forms of possible intentional or unintentional desecration of the Sacred Species! But that implies returning to the exclusive distribution of Holy Communion on the tongue and to a pre-Vatican II, now post Vatican II with the EF Mass, institutionalized "scrupulosity" but what preferably should be called awe, wonder, respect and reverence for the Sacred Species and fear concerning either intentional or unintentional desecration of the Same.
In a later post I will rant about "germs, viruses, H1N1, the common chalice and the Precious Blood and if one can get sick from drinking the Precious Blood." A clue, no the Precious Blood will not make you sick if your receive or Lord worthily. However, if I drop a bit of arsenic into it you could get sick or even die, no matter how strong your faith in the Real Presence. In other words, germs, viruses and poisons intentionally or unintentionally placed into the Precious Blood after or before the wine is consecrated can make you sick. These poisons, germs and viruses do not become the Precious Blood, but remain independent of the Precious Blood. Thus a deadly poison even in a very small amount can kill you if you drink the Precious Blood. And if you drink the Precious Blood, although poisoned, and in a state of grace, well, what a way to go!
* By Tim Carpenter
* Posted Sunday, January 29, 1995
A KU graduate connects a scholarly fight at KU more than 15 years ago with today's focus on political correctness.
Years of reflection convinced Robert Carlson that an academic skirmish at Kansas University in the 1970s was a preview of current discord about liberal education.
He felt so strongly that he wrote a book, "Truth on Trial: Liberal Education Be Hanged," to connect controversy generated then by KU's Integrated Humanities Program and debate now regarding political correctness and multiculturalism.
"It was a harbinger of what is happening now," said Carlson, professor at Casper College and University of Wyoming in Casper, Wyo. "We saw it in its embryonic form at KU. Now it dominates the country."
Carlson charted the birth in 1970 and death nine years later of the experimental humanities program, which allowed freshmen and sophomore students to read great books, memorize poems, ponder Latin or rhetoric and study abroad.
KU professors Dennis Quinn, Frank Nelick and John Senior taught the courses to as many as 360 undergraduate students in the two-year program. Carlson taught Latin in the program while working on a doctorate degree.
"It was integrated in the sense we attempted to integrate the humanities. The books we read were classics, especially in history, poetry, literature and philosophy," said Quinn, the only one still teaching at KU.
The three professors convened class twice a week to conduct a lecture-by-conversation at the front of class.
"It was extraordinary. The students were extremely enthusiastic," Quinn said.
The non-traditional approach extended outside the classroom. Students in the program organized an annual waltz, for example.
"We were going against the grain in everything," Quinn said.
Carlson said the program generated anxiety among KU faculty. Some were jealous of attention the program received. Others didn't care for the three professors' philosophical approach to the humanities.
In addition, the trio was accused of brainwashing students into joining the Catholic church.
"What really got attention was that some students entered a French monastery after graduation. Six or eight became monks. A few parents of the kids in the monastery ... raised hell about it," Quinn said.
Before long, critics prompted academic reviews, budgets were cut and the program eventually died.
Lawrence attorney Scott Bloch was among the last KU students to participate in the courses. He enrolled in 1977-79.
"It was a great classics program," he said. "I don't think today's students have programs like this to draw upon."
Bloch said he was helping organize a reunion Aug. 4-6 in Lawrence for students who were in the program.
Carlson said he lamented the continuation of intellectual fragmentation of teaching and learning at liberal arts colleges.
"The concern today is the same as it was then -- no order, no integration or unity," he said. "We have a cafeteria-style approach to liberal education. Students take a course here and there, and after they finish their degree they don't understand that there is an order."
(Special to The Remnant)
Posted 03/5/10 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) ROME—The old Mass can now be heard in at least seven of Rome’s places of worship, five of which offer it on Sundays, including three where it is said daily. This is besides St Peter’s itself where it is being said publicly on an increasing number of special occasions.
Significantly, one Roman church is now dedicated to the entire Latin liturgy. It was on 23 March 2008 that Cardinal Ruini, at the behest of Benedict XVI, created this personal parish in the ancient pilgrims’ church which displays Reni’s magnificent painting of the Trinity (1625) above the high altar. Starting there, the seven Mass-centres are as follows:
Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini has Mass every evening at 6:30 with two additional Masses on Sundays: 9:00 and 10:30. From the start, the parish priest has been Fr Joseph Kramer from Melbourne who has been in Rome since 1977. Seminarians at the American College provide deacons, sub-deacons and servers at High Mass.
The number of Father Kramer’s parishioners has reached 300, two-thirds of whom stay in Rome for Sunday worship. I saw for myself that a weekday Mass can draw as many as 30 faithful, mostly Italians but also some tourists. The first twelvemonth saw several Baptisms as well as four Confirmations and two Marriages, all in the old rite.
Do not mistake Trinità dei Monti at the top of the Spanish Steps for this church. To get to the right one, find the Tiber and cross the Ponte Sisto (Sistine Bridge) eastwards from the Trastevere side, where the Vatican is, to Rome proper. Continue straight on – through a small square and along the connecting lane, Via dei Pettinari, for five minutes until you see a Carabinieri police-station in the square named after the church.
Do not overshoot into Via Arco di Monte as far as another square where stands the small S Barbara church, though this is a useful landmark from the other direction, as it faces via Giubbonari, linking the better-known squares of Campo dei Fiori and Largo Piazza Cairoli. If coming this way, alight at nearby Largo Argentino from buses 40 or 64 running between Termini and the Vatican, and negotiate the side streets.
Gesù e Maria is where old Masses are said at 10:00 on Sundays/Holy Days as well as at 7:00 pm on first Fridays and when requested by the faithful. This Augustinian church is located where the namesake street meets Via del Corso 45. It is opposite a hospital near the north end of a long thoroughfare (not to be confused with Corso Vittorio Emmanuele) served by buses 117 and 119.
San Gregorio dei Muratori offers Mass on Sundays/Holy Days at 9:00 am; 10:30 (sung); 6:30 (after vespers) as well as at 7:00am and 6:30pm on all other days. The address is Via Leccosa 75, a cul-de-sac between the Borghese palace and the bridge named after Cavour. Buses 70, 87, 492 turn south along the connecting Via di Ripetta. Masses are said by priests from the Society of St. Peter, to which Fr. Kramer is also attached.
Santa Maria Maggiore, a towering edifice on its namesake square, has the old Mass on first Saturdays at 11:00am in the Cesi chapel. As at Gesù e Maria, celebrants come from the Institute of Christ the King. (Mass with Latin on Sundays is actually Novus Ordo.) The basilica is only 400 yards from Termini station, and on eight bus routes from there, with the 16 and 714 continuing past the following place of worship with daily Mass.
Rettoria San Antonio at Via Merulana 124 provides the old Mass at 5:00am on Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It starts at 10:00 on the other days, but always in the left-hand nave.
San Giuseppe is in Via Capo delle Case with Masses said on Sundays/Holy Days at 11:00 by the Uruguayan president of Human Life International. The location is halfway between the underground (Metro) stations of Barberini and Spagna, with the latter leading to Piazza Mignanelli dominated by the Spanish Steps. Continue parallel past them and then past Keats House into the wide Via due Macelli or the narrow Via di Propaganda. Linking them is the short street with the church.
Santa Catarina di Sienna has Masses on Sundays/Holy Days at 11:00; Thursdays and first Fridays at 6:30pm (but check for July/August). This is the Society of Pius X’s chapel, located at Via Urbana 85 just south of Maria Maggiore; the same 75 and 84 buses from Termini for here continue along the parallel Via Cavour.
Almost as important as Tridentine availability in Rome is a poll by the Doxa Institute. It concludes that two-thirds of practising Catholics in Italy know of the motu proprio and that, of these, seven out of ten would accept both rites in their parish; four out of ten would like the old Mass each Sunday; and some others would attend occasionally.
Small steps, perhaps, but significant steps—and certainly steps in the right direction. Deo Gratias!
What Mine Eyes Have Seen!
By Fr Allan McDonald
Southern Orders
http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-mine-eyes-have-seen.html
By Fr Allan McDonald
Southern Orders
http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-mine-eyes-have-seen.html
Lest I be accused of scrupulosity in my words below, let me be clear that there should be a distinction made between true scrupulosity which is related to "obsessive, compulsive disorders" and what many would simply call a legitimate concern for certain matters, especially those of faith. For example, I wash my hands a few times a day, after using the restroom, before celebrating Mass, after touching something unclean, out of a concern for germs and hygiene and for the well being of others with whom I interact. A scrupulous person washing his hands constantly and for no other reason then a scrupulous fear of germs and other psychological issues is a completely different matter. (Do I hear "Purell," anyone?) So with that written, let's go head long into the topic at hand.
One of the things mine eyes has seen since celebrating the EF Mass for over two years now is the rubrical mandate that the particles of the Most Holy Eucharist that could become detached from the consecrated Host in no way be "desecrated" in any intentional or unintentional way; all precautions must be taken even liturgically. Therefore, prior to the consecration, the hands are placed on the altar outside of the corporal cloth which is carefully managed by proper folding and unfolding, using a burse,proper cleaning, etc.
After consecrating the host, the fingers and thumbs that touched the host are joined together so that not even the smallest particle of a particle could be unintentionally "desecrated." When touching the altar, the priest does so on the corporal cloth.The priest even holds the chalice for consecration by having his index finger and thumb joined prior to taking the chalice. Prior to the priest receiving the Precious Blood, he takes the patten and scrapes the corporal cloth of any particles that could have fallen and then places these in the chalice. At the purification of the the chalice, (the priest's fingers and thumbs still joined) the server first places wine in the chalice, so that any droplets of the Precious Blood can be reverently consumed. Then wine and water are poured into the chalice over the priest's fingers and thumbs that may have attached to them particles of the host. The priest drys his fingers, drinks the ablutions and dries the chalice. This is "built in" piety and reverence of the EF Mass that was stripped from the OF Mass. This institutional "care," in the EF Mass is borne of the concern for avoiding "desecration" of the Sacred Species even unintentional,and contributes to the overall respect due our Lord in the Eucharistic Species. It cannot be classified as OCD or personal scrupulosity.
Let's fast forward to today to what many have disparagingly called the "theology of the crumbs" since the reforms of the Mass. I can remember as a teenager and very young adult seeing older priests celebrating the OF Mass using the same rubrics they were taught for the EF Mass as it concerned "crumbs, fingers, thumbs, etc." These priests were accused of scrupulosity by others. I believed this accusation of scrupulosity to be true, because I didn't know these priests had been trained in this custom of reverence by their celebration of the Tridentine Mass and the institutionalized piety, reverence and concern for not desecrating the Eucharistic Species of this Mass. In other words I was mistaken concerning the "rubrics" these older priests employed--it was not their scrupulosity, but their piety instilled by the EF Mass. "Lex Orandi, Lex credendi," the law of prayer is the law of belief.
During the wild time of experimentation with the New Order of the Mass, certainly after it was promulgated,(the 1970's) many "progressive priests, seminaries and parishes" experimented with what was euphemistically called "real bread" as opposed to the unleavened, traditional hosts of Pre-Vatican II. (Anyone recall the sarcastic remark that it was harder to believe that these traditional hosts were real bread, let alone the real Body and Blood of our Savior?)
In my seminary we used bread that had honey in the recipe and salt that in fact acted as a leaven. And in fact, when receiving these "hosts" at Holy Communion, significant crumbs remained on the palm of one's hand. (More about that below)!
As a 23 year old seminarian, I attended the first Mass of a Jesuit priest in 1978 where he used small French Bread loaves with its very crispy crust for the Eucharist. At the Breaking of the Bread at the altar, these loaves were ceremoniously broken by a variety of lay people at the altar and then these were distributed to the laity. I know for a fact, because I saw it with mine eyes, that after Mass, there were crumbs of Consecrated Eucharist, all over the altar and on the carpet where Holy Communion had been distributed! A seminarian friend of mine and myself tried in vain to gather the larger particles from the carpet, but were derided by others who castigated us for the "theology of crumbs!" Do ya think there was an ideology there promoting French Bread Eucharist as well as Holy Communion in the hand? If you believe that our Lord is truly present in all particles of the Eucharistic Bread, then one would be reluctant to use bread that is crumbly, flaky or to receive this type of "Bread" in the hand. So the minimization or ridicule of the Church's faith reality was necessary in order to promote a liturgical innovation and agenda. This trendy agenda at the time lamented what was seen as Liturgical scrupulosity that would motivate "scrupulous" traditional Catholics to have an abhorrence for Eucharistic crumbs on the floor and on one's hands. So undermining one's actual faith in the real Presence of Christ in every speck, crumb, particle and morsel of Holy Communion was necessary for this type of so-called liturgical renewal agenda to go forward, but forward it did go.
This same "theology of crumbs" which is a disparaging description of those whose reverence and belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist includes every particle that is attached to every host, is also carried forward now to the Precious Blood, since there is now wide-spread distribution of the Eucharist under the form of consecrated Wine, from a common chalice or cup.
Many people of an older and more institutionalize piety are concerned that there is a possibility of spilling the Precious Blood by distributing Holy Communion under both forms. Those who promote this custom, both of Holy Communion in the hand and from the chalice say that if particles do fall or the Precious Blood is spilled, God will take care of Himself. I think most of us believe that the all powerful and Almighty God is quite capable of taking care of Himself as well as us. But that's not the point! The point is the reverence we creatures owe to the Almighty God! We actually believe that we must rely upon the Almighty to save us as we cannot do this work of salvation by ourselves. By our worthy reception of Holy Communion, God, Who does not become a part of us in this act, but rather makes us a part of Him is the essence of Superiority in relation to His creatures who receive Him. Should not such an awesome means to accomplish this work of salvation by Almighty God not have the utmost and yes "scrupulous" respect from us, God's creatures?
I have seen with mine own eyes the following--an extra chalice on the altar knocked over by a Communion Minister, thus spilling the Precious Blood everywhere! I have seen children spit the host that was in their mouth into the chalice they were given to drink from. I have seen chewing gum in a chalice because the person receiving accidentally allowed it to fall from her mouth.I have seen the Precious Blood on ties, shirts and blouses, not to mention the floor! I have seen people "self-intinct." I have had extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion tell me that some people consume the entire chalice once it is handed to them. I have had Eucharistic ministers tell me that they have a hard time drinking the "dregs" of the Chalice at the end of some 30 people having drunk from the chalice because they fear there is more "backwash of saliva" than Precious Blood remaining. I believe this to be true by the way, because I've had to consume these "dregs!" I don't mind being a martyr for the Holy Mass and the Sacred Species, but I do mind being made to do something that is not necessary in the first place, having 30 to 40 people drink from the same chalice and then cleaning up after that.
Now a conundrum that many will resent me for bringing forward:Intinction! This form of distributing Holy Communion by dipping the Consecrated Host into the Precious Blood with a Paten under the chin of the communicant is permitted in the GIRM of the 2002 Roman Missal. In fact the American bishops in their adaptations of the GIRM state that this is the "second" option available to priests if the priest chooses to follow their bishop's approval for Holy Communion under both kinds, the option of which, of course, is at the discretion of the priest, to allow both Species in his parish or not. He just has to follow the bishop's approval for this permission or exception to allow the chalice for the congregation in the first place. (Have you ever heard people disparagingly call the venerable tradition and ancient one at that, of intinction as "dunking donuts?" Talk about irreverence!You know there is an agenda or ideology at work when you hear that, meaning only the common chalice is legitimate!)(Mine own ears have heard this and mine own tongue has spoken this in the past, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!--dunking donuts, yikes!)
The objection to intinction is that it removes from the communicant the "right" to receive Holy Communion on the palm of the hand. In fact, this is not true, as one could still receive the Host in the hand but not intincted. Then the objection comes that one is removing the "right" of the communicant to receive the Precious Blood if one wants to receive in the hand. Yes--but it is not a liturgical or canonical right to receive the Precious Blood from the Chalice. One receives the Body and Blood of Christ completely under either form. (The only complaints I have received from people since my bishop mandated not allowing the chalice to the people because of H1N1 contagion concerns is that these people felt they were only partially receiving Holy Communion! (More about contagion in a future blog!)
Now, if we buy into the "theology of the Crumbs" in its disparaging way as encouraging us not to be worried about the "crumbs" as scrupulous people are, then we are not concerned that to this very day when people receive even the traditional consecrated host in their hands, that it is possible for small and even larger particles to adhere to their palm,finger and thumb. I have seen with my mine own eyes, children and adults dust off their hands after receiving the host or wipe them on their clothes, or simply ignore any particles of the Sacred Species that might adhere to the palm, thumb or finger of one's hand.
So my question of logic: if we don't worry about these sorts of things anymore,(the theology of crumbs) why not place an "intincted" host onto the palm of the communicant? There really isn't that much Consecrated Wine on the Host. And if the palm gets wet from the Precious Blood, why not rub your hands together to dry it, wipe them on your clothes or simply ignore it? Concern about this is the "theology of scrupulosity" after all, isn't it? My point is, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I think we should be concerned about both forms of possible intentional or unintentional desecration of the Sacred Species! But that implies returning to the exclusive distribution of Holy Communion on the tongue and to a pre-Vatican II, now post Vatican II with the EF Mass, institutionalized "scrupulosity" but what preferably should be called awe, wonder, respect and reverence for the Sacred Species and fear concerning either intentional or unintentional desecration of the Same.
In a later post I will rant about "germs, viruses, H1N1, the common chalice and the Precious Blood and if one can get sick from drinking the Precious Blood." A clue, no the Precious Blood will not make you sick if your receive or Lord worthily. However, if I drop a bit of arsenic into it you could get sick or even die, no matter how strong your faith in the Real Presence. In other words, germs, viruses and poisons intentionally or unintentionally placed into the Precious Blood after or before the wine is consecrated can make you sick. These poisons, germs and viruses do not become the Precious Blood, but remain independent of the Precious Blood. Thus a deadly poison even in a very small amount can kill you if you drink the Precious Blood. And if you drink the Precious Blood, although poisoned, and in a state of grace, well, what a way to go!
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Article About the Kansas Professors Whose Students Founded the Monastery
Book Recalls Demise of Controversial Humanities Class
LJ World.com
http://mobile.ljworld.com/news/1995/jan/29/book_recalls_demise_of/
LJ World.com
http://mobile.ljworld.com/news/1995/jan/29/book_recalls_demise_of/
* By Tim Carpenter
* Posted Sunday, January 29, 1995
A KU graduate connects a scholarly fight at KU more than 15 years ago with today's focus on political correctness.
Years of reflection convinced Robert Carlson that an academic skirmish at Kansas University in the 1970s was a preview of current discord about liberal education.
He felt so strongly that he wrote a book, "Truth on Trial: Liberal Education Be Hanged," to connect controversy generated then by KU's Integrated Humanities Program and debate now regarding political correctness and multiculturalism.
"It was a harbinger of what is happening now," said Carlson, professor at Casper College and University of Wyoming in Casper, Wyo. "We saw it in its embryonic form at KU. Now it dominates the country."
Carlson charted the birth in 1970 and death nine years later of the experimental humanities program, which allowed freshmen and sophomore students to read great books, memorize poems, ponder Latin or rhetoric and study abroad.
KU professors Dennis Quinn, Frank Nelick and John Senior taught the courses to as many as 360 undergraduate students in the two-year program. Carlson taught Latin in the program while working on a doctorate degree.
"It was integrated in the sense we attempted to integrate the humanities. The books we read were classics, especially in history, poetry, literature and philosophy," said Quinn, the only one still teaching at KU.
The three professors convened class twice a week to conduct a lecture-by-conversation at the front of class.
"It was extraordinary. The students were extremely enthusiastic," Quinn said.
The non-traditional approach extended outside the classroom. Students in the program organized an annual waltz, for example.
"We were going against the grain in everything," Quinn said.
Carlson said the program generated anxiety among KU faculty. Some were jealous of attention the program received. Others didn't care for the three professors' philosophical approach to the humanities.
In addition, the trio was accused of brainwashing students into joining the Catholic church.
"What really got attention was that some students entered a French monastery after graduation. Six or eight became monks. A few parents of the kids in the monastery ... raised hell about it," Quinn said.
Before long, critics prompted academic reviews, budgets were cut and the program eventually died.
Lawrence attorney Scott Bloch was among the last KU students to participate in the courses. He enrolled in 1977-79.
"It was a great classics program," he said. "I don't think today's students have programs like this to draw upon."
Bloch said he was helping organize a reunion Aug. 4-6 in Lawrence for students who were in the program.
Carlson said he lamented the continuation of intellectual fragmentation of teaching and learning at liberal arts colleges.
"The concern today is the same as it was then -- no order, no integration or unity," he said. "We have a cafeteria-style approach to liberal education. Students take a course here and there, and after they finish their degree they don't understand that there is an order."
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The Mass of All Time in the Eternal City
Traditional Mass not difficult to find in Rome
by John Burke
The Remnant
http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2010-0228-burke-trad-mass-in-rome.htm
GUEST COLUMNIST, London
Traditional Mass not difficult to find in Rome
by John Burke
The Remnant
http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2010-0228-burke-trad-mass-in-rome.htm
GUEST COLUMNIST, London
(Special to The Remnant)
Posted 03/5/10 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) ROME—The old Mass can now be heard in at least seven of Rome’s places of worship, five of which offer it on Sundays, including three where it is said daily. This is besides St Peter’s itself where it is being said publicly on an increasing number of special occasions.
Significantly, one Roman church is now dedicated to the entire Latin liturgy. It was on 23 March 2008 that Cardinal Ruini, at the behest of Benedict XVI, created this personal parish in the ancient pilgrims’ church which displays Reni’s magnificent painting of the Trinity (1625) above the high altar. Starting there, the seven Mass-centres are as follows:
Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini has Mass every evening at 6:30 with two additional Masses on Sundays: 9:00 and 10:30. From the start, the parish priest has been Fr Joseph Kramer from Melbourne who has been in Rome since 1977. Seminarians at the American College provide deacons, sub-deacons and servers at High Mass.
The number of Father Kramer’s parishioners has reached 300, two-thirds of whom stay in Rome for Sunday worship. I saw for myself that a weekday Mass can draw as many as 30 faithful, mostly Italians but also some tourists. The first twelvemonth saw several Baptisms as well as four Confirmations and two Marriages, all in the old rite.
Do not mistake Trinità dei Monti at the top of the Spanish Steps for this church. To get to the right one, find the Tiber and cross the Ponte Sisto (Sistine Bridge) eastwards from the Trastevere side, where the Vatican is, to Rome proper. Continue straight on – through a small square and along the connecting lane, Via dei Pettinari, for five minutes until you see a Carabinieri police-station in the square named after the church.
Do not overshoot into Via Arco di Monte as far as another square where stands the small S Barbara church, though this is a useful landmark from the other direction, as it faces via Giubbonari, linking the better-known squares of Campo dei Fiori and Largo Piazza Cairoli. If coming this way, alight at nearby Largo Argentino from buses 40 or 64 running between Termini and the Vatican, and negotiate the side streets.
Gesù e Maria is where old Masses are said at 10:00 on Sundays/Holy Days as well as at 7:00 pm on first Fridays and when requested by the faithful. This Augustinian church is located where the namesake street meets Via del Corso 45. It is opposite a hospital near the north end of a long thoroughfare (not to be confused with Corso Vittorio Emmanuele) served by buses 117 and 119.
San Gregorio dei Muratori offers Mass on Sundays/Holy Days at 9:00 am; 10:30 (sung); 6:30 (after vespers) as well as at 7:00am and 6:30pm on all other days. The address is Via Leccosa 75, a cul-de-sac between the Borghese palace and the bridge named after Cavour. Buses 70, 87, 492 turn south along the connecting Via di Ripetta. Masses are said by priests from the Society of St. Peter, to which Fr. Kramer is also attached.
Santa Maria Maggiore, a towering edifice on its namesake square, has the old Mass on first Saturdays at 11:00am in the Cesi chapel. As at Gesù e Maria, celebrants come from the Institute of Christ the King. (Mass with Latin on Sundays is actually Novus Ordo.) The basilica is only 400 yards from Termini station, and on eight bus routes from there, with the 16 and 714 continuing past the following place of worship with daily Mass.
Rettoria San Antonio at Via Merulana 124 provides the old Mass at 5:00am on Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It starts at 10:00 on the other days, but always in the left-hand nave.
San Giuseppe is in Via Capo delle Case with Masses said on Sundays/Holy Days at 11:00 by the Uruguayan president of Human Life International. The location is halfway between the underground (Metro) stations of Barberini and Spagna, with the latter leading to Piazza Mignanelli dominated by the Spanish Steps. Continue parallel past them and then past Keats House into the wide Via due Macelli or the narrow Via di Propaganda. Linking them is the short street with the church.
Santa Catarina di Sienna has Masses on Sundays/Holy Days at 11:00; Thursdays and first Fridays at 6:30pm (but check for July/August). This is the Society of Pius X’s chapel, located at Via Urbana 85 just south of Maria Maggiore; the same 75 and 84 buses from Termini for here continue along the parallel Via Cavour.
Almost as important as Tridentine availability in Rome is a poll by the Doxa Institute. It concludes that two-thirds of practising Catholics in Italy know of the motu proprio and that, of these, seven out of ten would accept both rites in their parish; four out of ten would like the old Mass each Sunday; and some others would attend occasionally.
Small steps, perhaps, but significant steps—and certainly steps in the right direction. Deo Gratias!
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