*The floodgates are starting to break open. Statement of the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, John Hepworth.
*Cardinal Koch calls for a re-approaching of the Second Vatican Council. How many ways can it be approached, Your Eminence?
*"Birth or Not" website a hoax. Just a couple of weird pro-choicers.
*Domenico Cardinal Bartolucci to offer TLM on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Rome.
*The SSPX's statement concerning the pope's remarks about condoms.
*Pope's imprudent comments about condoms have given ammunition to those promoting pro-death legislation in the Philippines. Clarifications so far are not forthcoming from the pope.
*Three years of Summorum Pontificum; an interview with Msgr. Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (original in German). Disturbingly he makes mention of tinkering yet more with the traditional missal. When will this generation be through with tinkering, and when will Christ's Church be free of their banality?
No offense to Summorum Pontificum, or to the Missal of 1962, but I believe the St. Andrew Missal is far superior, and I think the tinkering needs to stop. (I do love the 1962 Missal, however).
ReplyDeleteThe Holy Father might just have to man up and tell it like it is, instead of trying to please everybody. I'd have more respect for him if he did.
I agree, Bob. I lament the changes to the missal that took place toward the end of Pope Pius XII's reign under the perverted, Masonic machinations of Bugnini.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm an incrementalist. The 1962 missal is recognized as the Extraordinary Form, and that was crucial first step toward a more thorough reformation of the Traditional Latin Mass. Granted, the complete restoration of the Traditional Latin Mass probably will not happen in my life time, but still, Summorum Pontificum was a positive step forward in the fight against the vandals of the 20th Century Liturgical Movement.
Even now, though, the wolves are baying, attempting to get in and rip the Traditional Latin Mass apart by further tinkering with the 1962 missal. We have to stay vigilant in prayer and fasting for the restoration of Tradition.
I also agree with your assessment of the present pope. I'm afraid that Pope Benedict XVI isn't so much "the pope Christian unity" as he is the pope of the big tent mentality. I hope that his idea of "shared faith" isn't the same old watered down Catholic-lite of his generation.
Can Benedict XVI escape the defining pessimism and liberalism of his generation, the post-WWII generation? There's still much about this pope that sees the evils of that defining 20th century event, the atrocities of Nazi Germany and WWII in general, as caused by the perceived "failures" of the Church. Christ's Bride has had to suffer such calumny at the hands of this generation, being labeled a sinner no less. Can you imagine Sts. Pius X or Cathrine of Seine going so far as to ask forgiveness for the "sins of the Church"?! The Bride of Christ, whom Catholics have always believed to be spotless, our Holy Mother Church, has committed sins? Such a thing was unheard of until the post-WWII generation came of age and took leadership positions in the institutional Church. Pope Benedict XVI often reflects these generational attitudes, and that has limited what could be a very effective pontificate.
And I certainly agree with you, David. I'm not sure what to make of the Holy Father, or maybe I do, and I'm afraid to admit it, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI cannot trust the idea of "big tent," "here comes everybody" Catholicism of Greeley, et al. To me, that's not Catholicism, but Unitarian Universalism.
Sometimes I wonder if the Holy Father himself is speaking out of both ends of his mouth, trying to placate Traditional Catholics, and trying to "gather us in." I hope I NEVER hear that little ditty again, by the way.
Recently I read something a in a current liturgical newsletter that repeated the overused argument of people before the 2nd Vatican Council "not being engaged with the Mass properly," or some such rot.
My recent, and ongoing, experience of Mass in the OF is that people are engaged more with each other than with the Mass. I know that I should attend to my own dispositions in attending Mass, and I am sure I am guilty of at least one sin here in saying this. But it's kind of like trying to attend to the 4 ends of the Mass with people screaming, "look at me!"
Once when I was little, I was at Benediction with my aunt, and I was getting restless. She put her arm around me and said, "Look at Jesus on the Altar." I calmed down straightaway. I hope I never forget her words to me, and her example.