Friday, May 2, 2008

Extraordinary Form in the Diocese of Scranton


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
2nd Sun 12 pm
Pho (570) 454-0662
Diocese (Fr Louis Garbacik)

18416 - ELMHURST - St Gregory Academy Griffin Road
Sun call
Weekdays call
Pho (570) 842-8112
Diocese (Fr Thomas Longus FSSP)

18425 - GREELEY - Sacred Heart Mission Rt. 590
Sun 10 am
Pho (570) 832-4275
Diocese

18504 - SCRANTON - St Michael Church 1703 Jackson St
Sun 8 am & 10:15 am
Mon-Thu 7:45 am, Fri 6 pm, Sat 9 am
Pho (570) 961-1205
Diocese (Fr. Denis Bouchard FSSP)

18640 - YATESVILLE - St Joseph Seminary Route 315
Sun 10 am
Diocese

18702 - WILKES BARRE - Holy Rosary Church 363 Park Ave
Sun 8 am
Pho (570) 961-1205
Diocese (Fr Denis Bouchard FSSP)

18640 - PITTSTON - Child Jesus Chapel 62 Broad St
1st & 3rd Sun 4:30 pm, 4th & 5th 10 am
Pho (570) 825-7233
SSPX (Fr Grun)

Wuerl the Cowardly Bishop


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)

Chastity speaker abused -


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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Bishop Saves God!

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.

Catholics welcome Clinton


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.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

No excuse...


...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/

Happy Ascension Day!


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!