Reminder: SSPX in Waltham July 30th

Here's a link from the Boston Globe event calendar.

If anyone in the Boston area attends, let me know what you think of the event!

I Was Robbed

On the near-first anniversary of my blog I wanted to publish this document again. I published it in July of last year but in 5 pieces because it's very long. I finally discovered a way to store it all in one piece so that you could read it/link to it all in one piece. It is called "I Was Robbed" and it was written by a Gen-Xer (not me!). Read it. It will resonate with many of us, baby boomers, gen-xers, etc. It should resonate, we were robbed.

Here's an excerpt (but read the whole thing);

I was robbed.

I am a "Generation X" Catholic, raised and catechized in the tumultuous aftermath of Vatican II. I was a victim of "renewal" and experimentation gone awry, and so were my peers. With great regret and without exaggeration, I contend that the results have been catastrophic for my generation. It is my firm belief that the overwhelming majority of young Catholics don't have even an elemental understanding of their Faith. As a direct result of that ignorance, young Catholics are leaving the Church in a steady stream (or, dare I say, tidal wave?).

It's not entirely accurate to say that I left the Catholic Church (though I considered it), but it's clear to me now that for most of my young adulthood, I was not in the Catholic Church. Let me give you an overview of my upbringing, which will sound familiar to countless young Catholics. I was born in the late 1960s into a believing and practicing Catholic family, and my sister and I were taught by our parents to love our Faith. Barring illness, we attended Sunday Mass and holy days of obligation without exception. We attended public schools, but we were enrolled in weekly CCD classes at our parish every year.

By the time I began religious education, memorizing the Baltimore Catechism was out, and feeling the "experience of Christ" was in. My parish priest, I believe, could not have known how the new, more "enlightened" philosophy of catechism would affect the moral development of those in his charge; at the time, he was simply caught up in the so-called "spirit of Vatican II," and was being obedient to what were considered Vatican II "mandates." Meanwhile, my parents, like the other parents, trusted that religious education classes would teach us the Faith. Sadly, that never happened.

In general, the volunteer CCD teachers were good-hearted parishioners who probably tried their best with the vacuous material they were given. Looking back, I can see that a couple of them must have been alarmed at the "new and improved" methods, and wanted to teach us the fundamentals of our Faith; for example, one year a teacher made us memorize the Ten Commandments; another year (9th or 10th grade, I believe) I heard the word transubstantiation for the first and last time. Aside from these rare moments, I assure you that precious little substantive information was imparted to us youngsters; the countless hours I spent in religious education were missed opportunities.

I can tell you in three phrases the content of a decade of catechesis: God is good, Jesus loves you, and love your neighbor. (All very good and true, don't get me wrong, but if you read your Bible you'll see that that's only half the Gospel. And sometimes half of the truth is more treacherous than an outright lie.) We were shown a lot of cartoon slide shows depicting Jesus and his parables, and I have nice images of multiplying loaves, the Good Samaritan, and Jesus' empty tomb. I don't remember anything particularly Catholic about the presentations, aside from a foray into the sacraments when it was time for First Communion or Confirmation. (But if you'd have asked me to explain what a sacrament was, I couldn't have told you.)

We weren't taught any Catholic prayers, although we all knew the Our Father from Mass attendance, and in my case from nightly prayers. I learned the Hail Mary along the way, but for many years I knew only the first half. We never discussed the lives of the saints, or even mentioned their names for that matter. (Sitting at Mass, I could never figure out who this "Paul" fellow was who wrote so many letters!)

I am thankful at least that I was born before the last vestiges of Catholic tradition could be stamped out, and in the 1970s some of the more pious and beautiful hymns were still often included in the Mass. Songs like The Church's One Foundation, Immaculate Mary, and At That First Eucharist were powerful to a child, and they have stuck with me to this day. The dramatic, colorful Bible story books I read at home also presented an unshakable image of a just and mighty God and his glorious and majestic Son. These haunting melodies and images, combined with my parents' faith and the common themes of my religious education did instill some important truths in my heart: I never wavered in my belief in God Almighty and in the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection of His Son. Just who or what the Holy Spirit was or did was anybody's guess, although I did recognize that the Holy Spirit was one of the Persons of the Trinity -- whatever that meant. (I believe this particular bit of knowledge came from the repetition of another traditional hymn, which spoke of "God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity." Since traditional hymns are no longer sung on a regular basis, I can only surmise that young Catholics today are learning less than I did!)

Just fixed yesterday's post (America's First right to life organization)

Don't know why it didn't post correctly yesterday but that's what I get for posting from work...

FSSP Sermons (podcasts)

I drive an hour each way to work 4 days a week so I'm always looking for quality podcasts to listen to.

Father Tim Finigan of The Hermeneutic of Continuity posted a link last week to www.audiosancto.com . I subscribed to their feed via iTunes so I'll have good listening for many weeks/months to come. I've listened to several of them already and these priests are excellent!

America's First Right to Life Organization

On July 24, 1870:

Horatio Robinson Storer was a third-generation Boston physician & specialist in obstetrics & gynecology. He became concerned about the booming abortion trade prior to the War between the States & immediately sought ways to utilize his family's influence to halt the slaughter. Due to his tireless, zealous labor, the American Medical Association ultimately appointed him on this day (July 24th) as the chairman of a select committee to oppose child killing procedures altogether....thus was born America's 1st right to life organization

Summorum Pontificum Contact Database (update)

This database (that I mentioned last week) now has over 1300 contacts. So far as I can tell, California is leading with 118 people registered but Massachusetts seems to be in second place (woo hoo) with 59 people. Texas is a close third with 58 and Pennsylvania is right behind them with 56. Illinois has 52 but several of them are priests will to train others. Thanks Fathers!

Keep spreading the word.

Upcoming Events

Summer is flying by so I thought I'd give a quick head's up to two interesting projects coming up in October. One is for October 5, 2007, the Fifth Annual Children's Holy Hour and the second one is October 13th, the TFP Public Square Rosary Campaign.

On First Friday, October 5 ~ 2007, with an
“Apostolic Blessing” from Pope Benedict XVI and in honor of the 90th Anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, ‘Children of the Eucharist,’ an International children’s program of the World Apostolate of Fatima, will be sponsoring the next fifth annual

Worldwide Children’s Holy Program.

Most Reverend Bishop R.William Finn of

Kansas City, Saint Joseph, will lead the Holy Hour LIVE from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

EWTN will broadcast the event to 140 nations throughout the world, spiritually uniting the prayers of our children and youth around the globe for the families of the world.

On October 13th, join the Public Square Rosary Campaign

Imagine one thousand or more rallies across America in public places. Faithful Catholics carry banners mentioning Our Lady of Fatima and her message. They gather together young and old to pray the rosary. They offer public witness to a message so often ignored.Approaching the 90^th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, is it not time to look for supernatural solutions to our nation’s problems? Is it not time for the Fatima message to be proclaimed far and wide? Is it not time for Americans to pray publicly for the future of the nation?

After all, Fatima was directed to a huge public. Fatima’s Miracle of the Sun was one of the most extraordinary and spectacular public miracles in history.
Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917 with a message not just for individual Catholics but for the world. She outlined the grave consequences in world events if men did not convert, pray, and do penance: Russia would spread its errors worldwide, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. Many would be martyred, the Holy Father would suffer, and a chastisement would annihilate several nations.

To commemorate the 90^th anniversary of Fatima, America Needs Fatima will be promoting “public square” rosary rallies across the nation. The rallies are now starting and will culminate with a thousand or more such events on October 13, the 90^th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun.

What does it take to become part of this massive effort? To organize a Public Square Rosary, all that is needed is a few friends, a Rosary, and confidence in the Blessed Mother. Any public square, busy intersection or community park will serve as a place. America Needs Fatima has set up a special center to assist you in all your needs.

I really like this bumper sticker

Would it be rude to put that on my car?

(from A Thorn in the Pew)

What to do if your priest or bishop won't implement the Traditional Mass

I'm in the Archdiocese of Boston who I fear is going to fight this Motu Proprio tooth and nail. So, via Salve Regina, who read it at the Catholic Answers forum, here's what to do. Also, if you can, copy it to disk or burn it to a CD or email it to friends.

There has been a request made to not make any additions or edits to the document if you plan to forward it along. Here it is:

Suggestions and sample letter for requesting the "extraordinary form" of the Mass (also called the Mass of Blessed John XXIII, the Tridentine Mass, and the Traditional Latin Mass) following the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

- I suggest you read the document first, especially the twelve points. See www.vatican.va .
- Your first letter should be to your pastor, not to your bishop.
- Write to the pastor of the parish where you are registered. If you are not registered at a parish, I suggest you register at the parish in whose territory you live, before writing to him. - - Registering at a parish does not obligate you to attend there every week.
- I think at this initial stage, the more letters the better, so each person should write his own letter. In other words, husbands and wives can write separately, as can children. Since 8 year olds are considered capable of being the lector at Mass (as happens frequently), they are certainly old enough to write to their pastor.
- Be polite, even if your requests were turned down in the past.
- Be brief; stick to the request. One paragraph should be plenty; one page is too long. Do not include complaints or other matters.
- Request the "extraordinary form of the Mass," or the "Mass of Blessed John XXIII."
- Request the Mass for both Sundays and weekdays. This does not obligate you attend every day or every week or every month. Anyone who likes the Traditional Mass can write a request. - You do not need to mention how often you plan to attend.
- Mention that your request is according to "Summorum Pontificum, articles 5.1, 5.2 & 7."
- If you know of a priest who is willing and able to offer the Mass, mention that. Your pastor may not know of a priest who can do so.
- Wait a month for a response. If you have not heard back in a month, write to the pastor again, the same letter. If he does not respond within another month, write to the bishop (see below).
- Keep copies of the letter, and the pastor's response, if any.
- It is worthwhile for one person in the parish to have a copy of everyone's letters. This may be
helpful if the matter is taken to the next step.
- It is also helpful for those who are interested to form a group within the parish, in order to promote the Mass (for example, "Blessed John XXIII Society of St. Christopher Parish").
- If there is a chapter of Una Voce in your area, be sure to join. See www.unavoce.org. Another source for contacting those in your area is http://www.lumengentleman.com/motucontacts.asp.

SAMPLE LETTER TO PASTOR

July 15, 2007

Rev. Gregory Goodguy
Pastor, St. Christopher Parish
111 1st Street
Illinois City, Illinois 11111

Dear Father Goodguy,

In keeping with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's recent document Summorum Ponitficum, articles 5.1, 5.2 and 7, I am writing to request that you have the Mass of Blessed John XXIII offered at St. Christopher Parish. I request that this extraordinary form of the Mass be offered on Sundays, feast days, and week days. I know of a priest, Fr. Fred Fortitude, who has said he is willing and able to offer this form of the Mass. If you are not able, maybe he could come to our parish to do so.

Thank you for your consideration
Yours in Christ,
Mike Medieval

- If you have written two letters to the pastor in two months and have received a negative reply, or have received no reply at all, the next step is to write to the bishop.
- At this level, it becomes even more important to form a group, since the Motu Proprio mentions a group within a parish writing to the bishop. Do not make this more work than necessary; you do not need to have meetings. Come up with a name for the group; get a list of names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of those who might be interested; and you have a group.
- Write individual letters, mentioning that you are a member of the group. If you haven't formed a group, but you know that others in your area have requested the Mass, politely mention that.
- Mention the letter(s) you have written to your pastor, when you wrote them, and his reply.
- If you have unsuccessfully requested the Tridentine Mass from the bishop in the past, you might politely mention your previous requests.
- In addition to asking for the Mass at your parish, request that the bishop appoint a chaplain or establish a particular parish for the extraordinary form of the Mass. This was not included in the letter to the pastor, because only the bishop has this authority.
- Again, keep copies of the letter, and the bishop's response, if any.
- Again, have one person keep a copy of everyone's letters.
- Follow the same procedure as you did before: wait a month for a response. If you have not heard back in a month, write to the bishop again, the same letter. If he does not respond within another month, write to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (see below).

SAMPLE LETTER TO BISHOP

September 15, 2007

Most Rev. Evan Easychair
Bishop of the Diocese of Illinois City
222 2nd Street
Illinois City, Illinois 22222

Your Excellency,

I am a member of the Blessed John XXIII Society of St. Christopher Parish. In keeping with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's recent document Summorum Ponitficum, articles 5.1, 5.2, 7 and 10, I am writing to request that you have the Mass of Blessed John XXIII offered at St. Christopher Parish, or at a nearby parish. I have written to my pastor, Fr. Goodguy, twice in the past two months, but have received no reply. [OR I have written to my pastor, Fr. Goodguy, but he has declined to provide this Mass for us.]
I request that this extraordinary form of the Mass be offered on Sundays, feast days, and week days. I would also like to request that you establish a personal parish or appoint a chaplain for the extraordinary form of the Mass. I know of a priest, Fr. Fred Fortitude, who has said he is willing and able to offer this form of the Mass.
I realize that I have written to you 3 times in the past several years with this request, but in light of the recent motu proprio, I thought it appropriate to write again.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours in Christ,
Mike Medieval

- If you have written two letters to the bishop in two months and have received a negative reply, or have received no reply at all, the next step is to write to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
- At this level, it is extremely important to be part of a group.
- Each person in the group should write a letter to Ecclesia Dei.
- Name your parish, your diocese, and the group to which you belong.
- Mention that you have already written twice to your pastor and twice to your bishop, and their replies (if any). If you made request for the Mass in previous years, mention that.
- Ask that your group be given a chaplain or a particular parish.
- Attach to this letter a copy of your letter to the bishop.
- Do not send these individually. Rather, have one person write a cover letter, and include all the individual letters (with copy of the letter to the bishop attached to each) in one mailing.
- If you have been given one Sunday Mass, but you have a group that would like a daily Mass,
request a chaplain or a personal parish.

SAMPLE INDIVIDUAL LETTER TO THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION ECCLESIA DEI

November 15, 2007

Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei,
His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos,
President, Piazza del Sant' Uffizio 11,
00120 Vatican City, Italy

Your Eminence:

I am a member of St. Christopher Parish, in the diocese of Illinois City, in the United States of
America. I am also a member of the Blessed John XIII Society of the Diocese of Illinois City.
I respectfully request your assistance in having Mass offered in my parish, or in a nearby parish, following the Missal of Blessed John XXIII. I have written repeated requests to my pastor, Rev. Greg Goodguy, and to my bishop, Most. Rev. Evan Easychair, but have not received a positive response from them. [OR Our pastor, Rev. Gregory Goodguy, has kindly provided us with the extraordinary form of the Mass once each Sunday, but we would like to have that form of the Mass offered daily.] [OR Our Bishop, Most Rev. Evan Easychair, has kindly provided the extraordinary form of the Mass once each Sunday in another parish, but we would like to have that form of the Mass offered daily.] Would Your Excellency see fit to provide our group with a chaplain, or to establish for us a personal parish? That
would greatly assist us in having not only the extraordinary form of the Mass offered daily, but also weddings, funerals and the other Sacraments regularly provided according to the earlier ritual. There is a priest in our diocese [OR there is a priest in the Central City diocese], Rev. Fred Fortitude, who is willing and able to be a chaplain for us.

Wishing you God's grace and blessings,
Yours in Christ,
Mike Medieval

FOR THE COVER LETTER:

Your Eminence:

I am a member of St. Christopher Parish, in the diocese of Illinois City, in the United States of America. I am also a member of the Blessed John XIII Society of the Diocese of Illinois City.
Enclosed are letters from the members of our group, in which we respectfully request your assistance in having Mass offered following the Missal of Blessed John XXIII. We have written repeated requests to our pastor(s) and to our bishop…

CONTINUE AS IN THE SAMPLE INDIVIDUAL LETTER ABOVE.

Ballad of the Pews

Seen at the Cafeteria is Closed blog...

Ballad of the Pews

Here in this pew I sit and I wonder
Where all the reverence of worship has gone?
The people around me all chatter like bluejays
Heretical "Sing a New Church" is the opening song.

Why have our hymns been replaced with bad show-tunes?
Why come to church just to sing about 'me'?
Why don't we sing hymns both lovely and pious
(Why do 53-times we sing "God" and not "He")?

Here in this pew I hear banal lyrics
Of the sort that the Muppets might sing on TV
I request something reverent, hope for the glori'os
But all the director will say is "we'll see…"

Why must we sing this Haugen-Haas garbage
Why must we suffer this dumb song again?
Over two thousand years of awesome tradition
Flushed down the commode by the previous gen!

Here in this pew I suffer in silence
Surely this song must soon come to an end
But another will come and a worse one will follow
Dear Lord, Let us please sing chant once again!

- shana

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/geraldaugustinus/3353438418894617892/#331427

Bringing the TLM to your neck of the woods

Now that Pope Benedict XVI has freed the TLM, it's up to us (the laity) to do our part. Some enterprising techie has created a database which we can register in to find others in our cities or states who are also interested in the TLM.

Please register here so that you can then see and be seen. No personal information is displayed when the database is queried.
Here's a sample display of the Massachusetts contacts so far.

ContactID City State Postal
757 Abington MA 02351
325 Andover MA 01810
609 Auburn MA 01501
85 Boston MA 02116
64 Boston MA 02108
41 Brockton MA 02302
374 Cambridge MA 02138
112 Cambridge MA 02138
126 Cambridge MA 02138
603 Cambridge MA 02140
602 Cambridge MA 02140
290 Concord MA 01742
880 Dennis MA 02638

This is not all the folks from Massachusetts. The formatting wasn't working so I had to reduce the number of contacts...

If you are still concerned about privacy, get a new email address just for this purpose. No excuses!

Nota Bene: Two priests have bravely signed up too. I left their towns off the the list. One is west of Boston. The other is north of Boston.

Letter to the Editor

of the Boston Pilot (the Archdiocese of Boston's "newspaper")...

I guess it's not surprising that you've ignored the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which has freed the TLM. It's also not surprising that I refuse to subscribe to (thereby support) a "Catholic" publication which does that.

That's wasn't really fair of me though... They didn't ignore it. Here's their article (I refuse to link to it and give them the traffic),

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Before Pope Benedict XVI took off for his summer vacation in the Italian Alps, he engaged in a time-honored Vatican tradition: clearing his desk. That resulted in a flurry of decisions and documents, some long-awaited and some complete surprises. Their common denominator, apparently, was that no one wanted to deal with them again when they returned to their offices in September. Topping the list was the pope's July 7 apostolic letter on wider use of the Tridentine Mass. The document had been floating around so long that the Latin term "motu proprio," which refers to the form of the text, actually was making it into mainstream news reports. The pope began consulting on the Tridentine question in late 2005, and in early 2006 he discussed a draft text with members of the Roman Curia and the world's cardinals. The document then went into hibernation, and some people are still wondering why. After all, very few changes were made in the course of its preparation, according to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a strong supporter of the pope's decree.

It's one of those insignificant little news briefs from CNS in an insignificant newspaper.

The Massachusetts Legislature is at it again

Within the last year, several states including Virginia and Texas looked at requiring the HPV vaccine. Texas was especially undemocratic in that Governor Perry, a Republican (well, he has an R after his name) signed an executive order mandating that sixth grade girls get the vaccine. The Texas legislature passed a bill overriding his executive order. The other HPV bill in Virginia went down to defeat too.

So, you would think that the MA legislature would have learned from the other states' experiences. Guess not.

Among the concerns:

* There is strong feeling the drug has NOT been inadequately tested. It's unknown what long-term side effects might be.
* There are dozens of strains of HPV, but this only protects against four of them and not the others.
* What are the emotional and psychological effects on giving an 11-year-old girl a "vaccine" for a sexually transmitted disease?
* Boys can also be carriers of HPV - what about them?

This bill is being pushed in Massachusetts and other states across the country by the drug giant Merck, the only company making a vaccine for HPV. Merck appears to be spending enormous amounts of money in lobbying efforts across the country, and sales of the drug could reach $4 billion according to some estimates.

Here is some background on the issue from various sources

Three girls have died and several others hospitalized after being vaccinated.

MassResistance (a parents' rights watchgroup here in Massachusetts) reported on it after a hearing was held at the Statehouse last week

Another Catholic mom and blogger (who is also a doctor) is in favor of the vaccine but not for making it mandatory.

Overturn RP65 is a blog started by a Texan to track the progress of the effort to overturn Governor Perry's executive order.

The Senator who has sponsered the bill is Richard Moore, in case you want to contact him with questions. I know I do.

Another "Catholic" Heretic's Head Catches Fire

From Tony, at Catholic Pillow Fight via Thoughts of a Regular Guy...

It seems that Sister Joan Chittister wasn't too happy about the Motu Proprio

His last line is "Remember that next time you propose that the Church might need lay "oversight"."

Yup. Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it...

Reposting my attempt at a motivational poster

From back in early May...

 

Create your own!

The SSPX has wasted no time in Boston!

The Public are warmly invited to a Conference on the topic of the Crisis in the Catholic Church today:
Its Causes
Its Remedy
The return of the Immortal Latin Mass and the Papal Motu Proprio of July 2007

THIS TALK WILL BE GIVEN BY THE REV. FR KEVIN J. ROBINSON OF THE SOCIETY OF ST. PIUS X
FR. ROBINSON IS A MISSIONARY PRIEST FROM AUSTRALIA
THERE WILL BE OPPORTUNITY FOR QUESTIONS ON RELATED TOPICS
PLACE: Best Western Hotel, 380 Winter St, Waltham, MA 02451
TIME :__7 to 9 PM
DATE :__July 30th
COST: FREE
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED

NB: THE SSPX IS A CONGREGATION APPROVED BY ROME IN 1971 TO RETAIN CATHOLIC TRADITION.
FIND OUT MORE ON THE MONDAY NIGHT. CF

WWW.SSPX.ORG

I am truly disappointed that due to a prior commitment, I won't be able to attend the meeting that night.

The Motu Proprio is here!

Now the hard work begins...

Sorry about the lack of posts lately

Between revamping the parish library (more on that later) and organizing my daughter's Sweet 16 birthday party, my evenings are full!

Overheard on the Catholic Answers forums

"Hopefully the Tridentine Mass becomes as ordinary in the Latin Rite as the extra-ordinary ministers are in the ordinary rite."

From someone's lips to God's ears!