This little directory of the availability of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass here in our little Diocese is courtesy WikkiMissa.

Diocese of Scranton

18201 - HAZLETON - St Stanislaus Church 8th And Carson Street

18416 - ELMHURST - St Gregory Academy Griffin Road

18425 - GREELEY - Sacred Heart Mission Rt. 590

18504 - SCRANTON - St Michael Church 1703 Jackson St

18640 - YATESVILLE - St Joseph Seminary Route 315

18702 - WILKES BARRE - Holy Rosary Church 363 Park Ave

18640 - PITTSTON - Child Jesus Chapel 62 Broad St

Washington, May. 2, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, has responded to criticisms about allowing pro-abortion politicians to receive Communion.

In a column that appears in the Catholic Standard (http://www.cathstan.org/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=79&ArticleID=1684&TM=74621.99), the archdiocesan newspaper, the archbishop argues that any decision to bar prominent Catholics from receiving the Eucharist should be made by the bishop in their local dioceses.

Archbishop Wuerl indicated that he would not bar a politician from receiving Communion unless the bishop of that politician's diocese had taken that step. He explained that he has "always respected the role of the local Church and the ministry of the individual bishop as shepherd of the Church entrusted to his care."

The archbishop was clearly responding to public protests that arose from pro-life Catholics after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senators Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Chris Dodd received Communion during a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI ... None of those individuals is enrolled in the Washington archdiocese. Pelosi is from California; Kennedy and Kerry are from Massachusetts; Dodd is from Connecticut. In his column the archbishop did not indicate how he would respond to a pro-abortion Catholic politician who resided in Washington.

The column by Archbishop Wuerl appeared soon after New York's Cardinal Edward Egan had released a public statement criticizing former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for receiving Communion at a papal Mass in New York. Cardinal Egan said that Giuliani should not have received Communion because of his public support for legal abortion. [See the CWR analysis of Cardinal Egan's statement (http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=58113).]

In his Catholic Standard column Archbishop Wuerl cited the policy approved by the US bishops' conference in 2004, leaving the question to the discretion of individual bishops, to be decided on a diocese-by-diocese basis. (that's the problem with the USCCB, they've set themselves up in their own little Vatican there in Washington) That approach drew some criticism during the papal trip from Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who indicated his uneasiness about what he called "territorial morality."

The archbishop's column put some demands on other bishops to admonish politicians who flout Church teachings. "A decision regarding the refusal of Holy Communion to an individual is one that should be made only after clear efforts to persuade and convince the person that their actions are wrong and bear moral consequences," Archbishop Wuerl wrote in the Standard. "Presumably this is done in the home diocese where the bishops and priests, the pastors of souls, engage the members of their flock in this type of discussion." (so the good archbishop doesn't see the need to protect the Blessed Sacrament from defilement. That's someone else's job. Nice)

By "Catholic" school kids!

LONDON, Ontario May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com ) - Dawn Eden, the US author and chastity campaigner, relates the story of her lecture tour in the Catholic high schools in Ontario where the girls "competed to wear the shortest skirts" (kind of like the girls at Holy Cross, right across the street from Bishop Martino's residence) and students defiantly told her that they "loved sex."

Eden described Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in Strathroy, as her "toughest crowd" from which some students after the talk wrote threatening and abusive messages on her weblog.

Eden wrote of her shock at encountering the atmosphere in the publicly funded Ontario Catholic school system: "One school where I spoke yesterday, likewise Catholic and state-funded, had a display table on testicular cancer just inside the front door. Now, I realize it's important for young men to learn about such things-but it was disconcerting to walk into a Catholic school and be greeted with a sign shouting, 'MY LEFT NUT.'"

Sponsored in part by the London Area Right to Life Association, Eden, who normally addresses audiences of young adults, was giving talks to high schools for the first time. Eden is a former rock music industry journalist and more recently, the author of "The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfilment While Keeping Your Clothes On". She gives lectures around the US and participates in panels and discussions on helping young people recapture chastity as a way of life.

She expressed her sympathy for young people under pressure to go along with the crowd. "Seeing the way the Ontario girls competed to wear the shortest skirts reminded me of how the social pressure to conform could be unbearable," she wrote.

But the real surprise came after the lecture at Holy Cross when students left messages on Eden's website so abusive that the Religious Life coordinator for the London Ontario school board later apologized.

One student wrote, "You are a SLUT!! You're not a virgin! Face reality. PS- Just because we wear short skirts does not make us whores! Many of us are still virgins and wear short skirts! ALSO, a lot of us LOVE SEX!!!! So what?! You're just making us want to have sex more. So just shutup cuz no one cares about your life."

Another specifically cited the doctrine of cultural relativism to justify her sexual activity. [Note: all grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors were in the original.]

"I'm a catholic and i absolutely love having sex... does it mean im a bad person? No, i think that chastity should be up to the person, I believe in making my own decisions on my lifestyle, based on what i feel is right its called cultural relativism." (thank you, Vatican II)

But two notes from the student calling himself "Jay" were most alarming, both threatening violence. "HCC [Holy Cross Catholic] has had GREAT assemblies, you ruined that streak, even the teachers say so, Sorry to be harsh, but you need a good smack in the face." And, "And I know many girls from HCC who where their skirts short, and i mean short, and their all virgins, you dont know us, lay on your death bed and think about it."

Eden noted the general absence of a Catholic religious nature at some of the Ontario Catholic high schools she visited. She learned that in the Catholic schools, being state funded, as many as 25 per cent of the student body are non-Catholics. She was also told that of the Catholic students, "only a minority" attend Mass. "As a vice principal told me, they have a (well deserved) reputation for wearing the shortest skirts."

She also said, however, that despite the well-documented movement in Ontario's public Catholic schools away from the traditional Catholic devotional practices once normal in Catholic schools, some of the students themselves "had a strong devotional sense that was deeply touching," and that "surprised" even the school's staff. Eden's small supply of wooden cross necklaces and prayer cards were snapped up by the students.

She wrote, "The kids hear about sex all day from their peers who are putting forth the idea that everybody's doing it-a message that their schools' staff do not always attempt to dispel." She described as "exhilarating" that the work of "getting the students to see that not everybody was in fact doing it".

Eden concludes, "How short were the skirts? Don't get me started."

"I can't say what it's like at Catholic schools in the States, but the state-funded schools here do not appear to police the uniforms...Honestly, these girls were walking around (and sitting on the floor) in hemlines that would make a Ziegfeld girl blush."

"It amazed me that the boys in the audience could pay any attention to me at all with the epidermis buffet going on all around them."

Ontario's Catholic teachers are all forced to belong to a union that has for many years strongly opposed the Church's moral teachings. The union intervened in a legal action on behalf of a student that successfully forced his Catholic school to allow him to bring his homosexual lover to the school prom. (sounds like something SDACT would do)

The province's bishops have not taken strong actions to bring the union in line. The main school religion programs, approved by the bishops, have received much criticism for their weak presentation of Catholic teaching and excessive emphasis on "social justice" issues.

Despite these negative factors, some Ontario Catholic schools, thanks to faithful School Boards, teachers, principles and parents, as well as some bishops who have accepted there are serious problems in the schools they must personally address, do manage to give authentic Catholic moral and spiritual formation to their students.

Read more:
Dawn Eden - Driven to Pro-Life and Faith by Rebellion - LifeSiteNews Interview
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07041904.html

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Last Friday I was at the Funeral Mass for Father Joseph Gilbert at Saint Peter's Cathedral. Bishop Martino was the main celebrant.

Ahead of me in the communion line was an odd looking woman with big dark glasses, kinda like Liz Taylor. She took communion (in the hand, of course) closed her grimy hand around Our Lord, turned, and proceeded to walk to the grieving family.

Well, Bishop Martino, ( I call him eagle eyes now) lurched forward and snatched the woman's arm, telling her she had to consume the host right then. The woman, without missing a beat, didn't even look at the Bishop, put the host in her mouth and continued to console the family.

The Bishop returned to the faithful to finish distributing, visibly peeved for a moment.

And this is a moment that is played over and over every day in our churches. Attempted sacrilege of the Lord is not something that can be ignored or downplayed, it must be stopped. Early Catholics struggled with this question, the profanation of the Lord's body, and again and again the practice has been banned. But somehow it keeps making a comeback. I've posted on this topic before. Give it a read.

So here we have the abortion loving Chelsea Clinton campaigning for her momma at Our Lady of Providence elderly home, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

It is unfathomable to me that any Catholic institution would host a democrat campaigning for office, considering their pro death stance. Just another example of the poor moral sense among "Catholics" today.

...to not offer the Extraordinary Form! Our friends at the FSSP have introduced a 2 dvd set to teach you how to celebrate the Mass!

This 2-DVD disc set has been produced by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in collaboration with the EWTN Global Television Network to teach priests how to say Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The video includes an introduction by Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. A comprehensive step-by-step explanation and walk-through of the entire ceremony of Low Mass. A real-time demonstration of the Mass filmed from four simultaneous camera angles with the ability to switch the viewing angle at any time! Instruction in the basic principles of gesture and movement as well as all the variable elements commonly encountered when offering Mass. A talk on the fundamental principles of the Extraordinary Form by Fr. Calvin Goodwin, FSSP, and a spiritual commentary on the liturgy. English, Spanish, & Italian audio tracks available. Over three hours of footage on two DVDs!

And best of all it is FREE to priests! What have you got to lose except bad liturgy?

http://www.fsspdvd.com/

Remember Catholics, it's Ascension Day. That means you have to go to Church. So get going!

Alleluia, alleluia. V. Ascendit Deus in jubilatione, et Dominus in voce tubae. Alleluia. V. Dominus in Sina in sancto, ascendens in altum, captivam duxit captivitatem. Alleluia.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. God ascends his throne amid shouts of joy, the Lord is taken up with the sound of trumpets. Alleluia! V. The Lord is in Sinai, in the holy place; ascending on high, he has led captivity captive. Alleluia!

No. I don't want your money.

I want your referral.

If you happen by this page, and are from the Scranton Diocese in particular, send my link to someone else you know in the diocese.

What this blog was meant to be is a place where catholics living in the Scranton Diocese can come together to discuss, piss, moan, and generally learn about and shape what goes on in our diocese.

So keep a Traddy blogging and get those referrals in. I'll see about getting you a plenary indulgence if you do!

Congratulations and prayers are in order for two parishoners of a local Scranton Diocese church. Kathryn Keifer and Lauren Gillenkirk of St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church in Scranton are both off to the nunnery! St. Michaels is run by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter and exclusively offers the Mass and sacraments according to the 1962 Missal.

Hope they like soccer, obviously they play alot of it.

How many of you, in the Scranton diocese or not, that attend a Novus Ordo church, have ever seen the announcement in your bulletin that not one, but TWO people were entering the convent?

No, me neither. I have never seen an announcement that a young man has entered the seminary either. Although I can count two personal friends that have dropped out. Does that count? I mean, they must have announced it in their bulletin that my two friends were entering seminary. Did they announce when they left too?

As long as we have the relativist attitude that pervades our clergy and churches today, this trend will continue. The diocesan system countrywide is devoid of young men and women discerning their vocation, while the traditionalist orders are turning people away. Perhaps by the time I go to see God, there will be more traddy priests and sisters, and the diocesan realtivists will be in the minority, leaving us with tradition riding high in the churches!

And there will be much rejoicing.

There seems to be some outcry that certain heretics received communion during the Papal Masses. This is at least, a good step.

New York, Apr 28, 2008 / 04:23 pm (CNA).- During Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.S. just over a week ago, some pro-abortion politicians, including Rudy Giuliani and John Kerry, received Communion at the papal Mass. Today Cardinal Edward Egan, the Archbishop of New York, released a statement expressing his displeasure with Giuliani for receiving the Eucharist.

Cardinal Egan began by repeating the Church’s position on abortion and his defense of that position. “The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God. Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind,” he said.

According to Cardinal Egan, he had established “an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani”, that dated back to when he first became “the Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York”.

The understanding was, “that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion,” the cardinal said.

The head of the Church in New York expressed his deep regret that “Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York” and added that he “will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding.”

Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, responded to the cardinal's statement by saying that Giuliani is willing to meet with the cardinal but added that his faith "is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential." (Not when a "catholic" makes a public show of defiance. He didn't take the Eucharist confidentially in a dark room locked away from our eyes, he did it at a Papal Mass. That was a public act. Giuliani just doesn't like being chastised publicly.)

Sydney, Apr 22, 2008 / 03:30 am (CNA).- According to the government of New South Wales, the Catholic Church will pay a “significant amount” of the bill for World Youth Day in Sydney, News.com.au reports.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma on Monday said that taxpayers in the Australian state would contribute $86 million towards staging the July event, which will include a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict at Randwick Racecourse.

Iemma’s figure did not include a $42 million compensation package to the racing industry for using the racecourse.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic Church said the Church was paying $150 million for the event, raising some of the money through pilgrim registration fees.

Organizers say the event will attract about 225,000 Catholics from around the world. World Youth Day 2008 will be the biggest event hosted by Sydney since the 2000 Olympics.

"The Catholic church is paying for a significant amount of the costs," Iemma said. "What we are doing with policing and transport, these are the arrangements that have to be put in place for massive events."

Iemma said the event would showcase the city to a global audience and generate $150 million in revenue. He said the event would bring many benefits to Sydney, and said the revenue estimate did not include the impact on the tourism industry.

Green Party members said the Catholic Church should pay most of the bill.

"The Catholic church is the organization that will gain the biggest benefit from this event, not the people of New South Wales," Greens New South Wales MP Lee Rhiannon said on ABC radio, according to news.com.au.

"It's a clear promotional event and, therefore, they should be footing the main part of the bill,” Rhiannon continued.

Sydney Chamber of Commerce executive director Patricia Forsythe said hosting the event would generate $231 million for New South Wales and globally promote economic and tourist interest in Sydney.

"It's critical that we measure World Youth Day not in terms of public expenditure, but in terms of the economic activity which it generates," Forsythe said.

Yonkers, NY, Apr 26, 2008 / 03:45 am (CNA).- St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, New York, has received dozens of applications following Pope Benedict’s visit, the New York Daily News reports.

"It's been like a tsunami, a good tsunami of interest," said Father Luke Sweeney, the Archdiocese of New York's vocations director. “I've been meeting people all week and have a lot of e-mails I haven't had the chance yet to respond to. It has been incredible.”

For the first time in 108 years, the seminary had been preparing for a year with no students. Only 23 seminarians are expected to be ordained for New York City over the next four years. A study carried out by Catholic World Report claims the archdiocese’s ratio of priests to congregation members is among the worst in the country.

Currently there are only 648 diocesan priests for the Archdiocese of New York, which has 2.5 million Catholics.

“We are facing a severe shortage,” Father Sweeney said. The vocations director recently launched a recruitment campaign that uses the slogans “The World Needs Heroes” and “You Have To Be a Real Man If You Want to Become a Priest.”

“We were hoping the Pope would convince many who were considering the priesthood to make the next step. It looks like he did,” he said.

The Pope spoke to a rally of 25,000 young people on the seminary’s grounds last Saturday, April 19.

Father Sweeney described how the Pope’s words affected one new applicant.

“One said he came, saw the crowd, heard what the Pope said and then called us," the priest said. "He said his questions and concerns were answered when he heard him speak.”

SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, Italy — The body of Padre Pio, a hugely popular 20th century Italian saint, went on public display Thursday in a southern Italian town where thousands gathered to pray.

Padre Pio, who died in 1968 at age 81, was a mystic monk who many Catholic faithful believe bore "stigmata," or wounds like those Jesus suffered at his crucifixion, on his hands and feet. He was made a saint in 2002.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's sainthood office, lead an open-air Mass for thousands of faithful before the unveiling of the saint's body in a church in San Giovanni Rotondo, where the saint had lived.

"Today, we venerate his body, opening a particularly intense period of pilgrimage," Saraiva Martins said. "This body is here, but Padre Pio is not only a corpse. Looking at his remains we remember all the good that he has made."

Saraiva Martins and other church officials later descended into the church's crypt for a private viewing of the body. State-run broadcaster RAI showed the body in a casket enclosed in crystal, wearing a monk's hooded dark robe.

The officials gathered solemnly around the crypt, and prayed. The faithful, who will be able to file past the body later Thursday, followed the ceremony through maxi TV screens outside.

The Capuchin monk, whose original name was Francesco Forgione, had an enormous following in Italy and abroad. He lived for decades with inexplicable bleeding wounds on his hands and feet.

Church officials exhumed the body so the faithful could pray before it, since this year marks the 40th anniversary of his death. They also wanted to take measures to ensure it was being well preserved.

Since the unearthing in March, the body has been prepared for public viewing in the crypt of the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in San Giovanni Rotondo, a town near the Adriatic in southern Puglia.

Church officials have said there was no sign of the so-called stigmata on his limbs after an initial examination, and that the body was in good condition.

Organizers say they expect 15,000 people to pay their respects to Padre Pio on the first day of the viewing. It is not yet known when the body will be reburied.

Padre Pio had a huge public following in life, as in death, and his beatification and canonization ceremonies drew hundreds of thousands of people to the Vatican.

For decades, though, many in the Vatican were uneasy about his popularity and scorned him, doubting that his wounds were real and that mystical virtues attributed to him were authentic. He was barred for years from saying Mass in public, even as his following grew immensely.

I have a suggestion for Nancy and Kevin, the morning talk radio hosts at WILK.

Come in at 6, record a 30 second opinion, go home and relax. Then just have the engineer play it all morning.

Because that's all they seem to do live. Not being encumbered with callers, the two hapless hosts must endlessly rehash the same things all morning.

Today they were bashing John McCain over the equal pay bill currently in the senate. Apparently McCain believes that ALL people should receive pay commensurate with their experience and ability to do the job. Not on what they have between their legs.

But the Democrats think that the government should be this huge monster that intrudes itself into every aspect of our lives, and that includes deciding how much money you make. Isn't that nice?