Abbey-Roads2

So once upon a time…

In 1972, when I returned to the Church, and for several years afterwards, I was warned consistently to stay away from Latin Mass people - even those who celebrated the Novus Ordo in Latin.  Yes, “Stay away from St. Agnes and the Wanderer types.”  Indeed, even in the monastery, Latin was no longer important, except for a few hymns and antiphons on special feast days. 

I am not kidding - it was considered pre-Vatican II and therefore evil.  Yes, I was taught as much.

Today, the SSPX is close to reconciling, the Alpine Redemptorists have been regularized by Rome, and Anglicans, who frequently use the Latin rite, are expected to return to communion with Rome. 

So.  Which pope deserves the title “Great”?

Just a thought.

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Paul Furey.

Paul is shown here with his dog, Jake.  Paul is dying.  He has struggled with cancer for a long time and death appears to be imminent.  Please pray for him.  I understand he said goodbye to his dog last night.

“Eternal Father, we offer you the most Precious Body and Blood of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”

“For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

“Blood and water flowing forth from the side of Christ as a font of mercy for us, I trust in you.”

“Arise O Lord and let your enemies be scattered, and let those that hate you flee before your most Holy Face.”

“O Mary, Comforter of the afflicted, pray for us.”

“St. Joseph, patron of the dying, prayer for us.”

UPDATE:  3 July.  At 5:59 PM I received notice that Paul has died.  Thank you, everyone, for your prayers.

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Priests.

Two days ago, Father James Robichaud, a 56 year old Maine priest was found in his rectory, dead from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head.  The day before he had received notice from his bishop that he would be suspended from priestly duties while an investigation into abuse allegations was conducted.  The alleged sexual abuse took place 30 years ago in Lowell, Massachusetts.  The day the priest was informed of his suspension, an ad placed in the secular newspaper by the diocese ran, asking that anyone who may have been abused by clergy in the past to come forward now.  The diocese said it had been an unfortunate coincidence the ad ran on the same day Fr. Robichaud was suspended.

I have no idea if Robichaud was guilty, we can’t really know these things when someone commits suicide - unless one admits to guilt before one pulls the trigger.  Locally, another priest hanged himself after he had been accused of murdering two men, one of whom purportedly was going to tell the police the priest was abusing young boys.  In fact, since the sex abuse scandal  broke, quite a few priests  have killed themselves, or, in some cases were found murdered.  That said - the recent suicides appear to be more desperate - almost as if the priest felt he was presumed guilty right off the bat, while it was up to him alone to prove his innocence.  Of course, this position is the complete opposite of our legal “presumption of innocence” accorded those accused of crime.

“Within the Catholic Church, the relationship between bishop and priest, is essentially feudal.”

Fr. Blake, of St. Mary Magdalen’s, UK  posted an interesting reflection last week concerning priests accused of crimes:

“One of the areas where priests suffer is the whole area of unsubstantiated sexual abuse, a single allegation and you are in the desert, possibly, forever. It is obviously important to protect children and the vulnerable but priests too have rights, and still there must, even in 21st century draconian England, and most especially within the Church, that just society, a presumption of innocence. 

Bishops can send priests who they simply don’t like, to distant, sometimes difficult parishes. A friend of mind in rather vulnerable spiritual and emotional state was sent to a difficult chaplaincy, to replace a priest who had just been arrested for abusing children. He wondered why people were avoiding him; it took him a couple of months to find out why, the bishop hadn’t bothered. His next appointment was to a parish his diocese wanted to close, again as a punishment, he tripled the congregation, eventually he left the diocese and ended up by joining a religious community.

The point I am making is that clergy and religious live on the whim of their superior. A priest, a religious, can appeal to Rome on a particular issue and although one might win a case, one has to live with the bishop or superior.

The Church’s presumption is that all superiors are the epitome of charity and justice, but what if he or she is a tyrant or mad or simply bad? There is no recourse; one simply has to live with the consequences. Some religious congregations have a mechanism for deposing superiors, but these are cumbersome. I have only heard of one bishop being deposed, and he really was mad. - Fr. Blake

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St. Paul’s Outside The Walls.  First Vespers.

The New Liturgical Movement  has more photos.

Father Zuhlsdorf  has details on the Holy Year indulgence.

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Today! 

“First it was artificial contraception, then abortion, then partial-birth abortion, then infanticide (all of which have been supported by many liberal politicians at one time or another, even some running for president) not to mention euthanasia, and outright killing of the disabled and sick. Actually, it’s even worse. Terri Schiavo wasn’t sick. She didn’t die from an illness. They killed her by starvation, a very cruel way to die.

Now it’s same sex marriage (no transmission of life, no fruit of natural love) and we call it inclusive and just. It is yet another nail in the coffin of a society that is clearly dying.

“All that evil requires to prosper is that good men remain silent.” The hour is late. We have had years to change course. Instead, we have obstinately refused and gone from bad to worse. May God have mercy on us, and grant us the courage and strength to act in accordance with that truth.” - Fr. Corapi, June 27, 2008

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Fasting, preparation, reception, and thanksgiving.

The photo shows Carthusian monk-priests making their thanksgiving after Communion.  Theirs is an ancient tradition that emulates St. John leaning back upon Jesus’ chest at the last supper, although this position is anything but comfortable, as I found out when I was with the Carthusians.  Nevertheless, it illustrates the beauty of taking time to make a prayerful thanksgiving after  Communion.  St. Teresa of Avila recommended fifteen minutes of thanksgiving would be appropriate for her nuns, and encouraged it as a proper exercise by which to learn mental prayer.  Of course, for most busy people, such a lengthy thanksgiving is not practicable, although a few minutes of deep recollection might be.   (I’m not telling anyone how to pray here, just merely suggesting a wonderful practice.)

Times are changing however.

A commenter or two have suggested that certain dissident attitudes, or practices, or even the state of mortal sin, while being an impediment to the worthy reception of Communion, if observed, would mean there would be fewer people receiving Holy Communion.  I responded that would not be a bad thing at all.

Penance.

Growing up, frequent, even daily Communion was encouraged and practiced, but the rules were clear, one must be in the state of grace to receive.  Hence the lines for confession on Saturdays were very long, and even in small parishes, at least 2 priests were available to hear them.  People understood the necessary dispositions for receiving Communion.  On Sundays, less than half the congregation approached the Communion rail.  You see, the people attended Mass, but they were not obligated to receive Communion.

Fasting.

Preparation also included a lengthy Eucharistic fast.  Pius XII lessened the fast from midnight to whenever one was able to receive that day, to 3 hours before Mass.  Since Paul VI, we are required to fast only one hour before the reception of the sacrament.  Today Fr. Z has a post asking what people think of restoring the 3 hour fast.  (Don’t get upset, he is just “asking”.)  I personally think it is a good idea - but it isn’t my call - although privately, I’m free to fast as long as I want.  I’m also free to not approach the sacrament if I feel I am not properly disposed.  (I think it is chiefly self-love and undue regard for human respect that causes people to feel ashamed if they remain in their pew while everyone else approaches the sacrament.)

Kneeling.

News today is that the Holy Father will distribute Communion on the tongue and to those people who kneel.    I personally prefer that.  These matters have been under much discussion for years in this country - at one point a California bishop said it was a sin to kneel.  Crazy people, huh?  Thank God for Pope Benedict.  

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Who knew homosexuals objected to the word “lifestyle”?

I found it out on a blog - here is the deal: 

“For a start, I know of no LGBT individual who talks about celebrating their “lifestyle.” The gift of their sexuality, maybe. Their orientation. Their relational capacity. But not their “lifestyle.”

As LGBT persons, we’re well aware that “lifestyle,” as Paula Ruddy points out, has become a “pejorative word used to denigrate gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender persons. It’s a propaganda word, meant to segregate a group by its sexual practices and to exclude them from social acceptance.” - Wild Reed

.

Then I read this BRILLIANT piece in an email I received:

. It is with some bemusement that I find a gay activist chastising a Church official for using the term “lifestyle” for a package of immoral attitudes, actions, and relationships which the Church opposes.

The term arose with psychologist Alfred Adler (1870-1937), who used “style of life” to include factors external to one’s “personality”: “The style of life of a tree is the individuality of a tree expressing itself and molding itself in an environment. We recognize a style when we see it against a background of an environment different from what we expect, for then we realize that every tree has a life pattern and is not merely a mechanical reaction to the environment” (source).

Interestingly, he opposed Freud’s mechanistic-deterministic theory and proposed to that personal motivation (free will) toward a goal was at the center of each life style, although apparently he understood most of these future-states to convenient fictions rather than certain realities.

Back to the etymology, the term “lifestyle” broadened in 1961 to mean “the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture” (Merriam-Webster).  I suspect that it came into vogue especially in reference to the “hippie lifestyle”. And hippies certainly used the term freely (pardon the pun), precisely because it was opposed to a state of life (established institutions bad!) and vocation (I’m free to be me!).- Mr. GS  (H/T Ray)

Isn’t that interesting?  I actually know the man who wrote the email section of this post with the etymology of the word ’lifestyle’  - the man is so brilliant I could weep.  (Although why did he feel it necessary to denigrate ‘hippies’?  LOL!)

[Photo credit: “Breeder Talk” - Some Have Hats.]

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And being mindful of little things. 

As I was leaving the house yesterday afternoon to go to adoration, I almost stepped upon a dead sparrow.  I assumed he probably died protecting his nest in the bird box hanging in the tree branch above.  My discovery seemed especially providential in as much as Sunday’s Gospel included this verse from Matthew:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.”  (Some translations offer, “consent“.) - Matthew 10:29

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This seems pretty clear to me:

“To be in the state of grace you must embrace what the Church embraces, you have to embrace the faith of the Church, and you’re not free to receive the Eucharist if you don’t embrace the faith of the Church. This is St. Paul, this is St. Justin, this is the whole history of the Church.” - One must believe what the Church teaches to receive Holy Communion

[I expect this includes every teaching of the Church; such as the teaching on divorce and remarriage outside the Church, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, and so on.]

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