Tradition at World Youth Day

Did you know that the Mass Of All Times was celebrated at World Youth Day?

No?

Well it was.

Usually one finds at WYD abundant hugging, rock messes, birkenstocks, communion in the hand, and any number of liturgical abuses.

Times, they are a-changing.

Pray

I have it on good authority that something long awaited for shall soon be coming from Rome. Perhaps it shall come about in mid-September. Be prayerful and watch.

Massive Attack

Here is another video from our friend Michael Voris on the Old Mass and our Holy Father's attempt to re-establish it across the Church. I too have been told that the Novus Ordo will not be around in 50 years. How lucky for me that I was chosen to be one of the faithful to suffer the slings and arrows of years of liberal theology and bad liturgy, and that I fought the good fight to restore what never should have been denied to me and my Catholic brethren.

The quote that hit home for me from the video was "Many of them (Bishops) have since thrown up roadblocks and made things difficult for priests that began offering the Mass. Nothing official mind you, that's not how this group works. Never official, never out in the open. But nonetheless always working behind the scenes in loud and powerful whispers."

Reminds me of a specific time when something was arranged at a Wilkes-Barre parish and a certain nameless and not yet named Bishop went out of his way to ensure our plans fell through. What this Pope was thinking when he made this person our Bishop is beyond me. But it is our duty as Catholics to pray for his soul and pray that he and our Diocese stay loyal to the Pope and follow his wishes.

Latin Mass Seminar!

What are you doing February 19th? Nothing yet? Good. Cuz you're gonna want to be sure you are at Saint Michael's on Jackson Street in Scranton from 10-3.

Why? The super fellows from the Knights of Columbus Council 14s29 are sponsoring a seminar on the Latin Mass, which includes several presentations on the Mass, a Missa Cantata, and lunch.

So if you've had questions about the Traditional form of the Mass, this would be a great start for you. I'll have more as the date approaches, but be sure to mark your calendars now!

No Altar Girls!

I got this excellent news from over at the excellent Rorate Caeli

For a while now, a German Canonical Commentary on Summorum Pontificum by the German latinist and canon lawyer Fr. Gero P. Weishaupt has been available online. This commentary has now been published as a book, and the preface to this book was written by H.E. Archbishop Raimond L. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. The full text of the preface is available at the German website Summorum Pontificum. Here is an NLM translation of a passage of the preface which doubtlessly will raise great interest:

In the second chapter of his commentary, Weishaupt answers a number of practical issues that arise regarding the implementation of Summorum Pontificum and result from recent changes to the discipline of the celebration of the sacraments, such as e.g. those regarding female altar servers or lay people who perform the ministry of lectors or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. To answer these questions , the commentary correctly applies two general canonical principles.

The first principle requires that liturgical norms, which were in force in 1962, are to be diligently observed for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, for these norms protect the integrity of the Roman rite as contained in the Missal of Blessed John XXIII. The second principle states that the subsequent liturgical discipline is only to be introduced in the Extraordinary Form, if this discipline affects a right of the faithful, which follows directly from the sacrament of baptism and serves the eternal salvation of their souls.

The application of these two principles to the cases mentioned leads to the conclusion that neither the service at the altar by persons of the female sex nor the exercise of the lay ministries of lector or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion belong to the basic rights of the baptized. Therefore, these recent developments, out of respect for the integrity of the liturgical discipline as contained in the Missale Romanum of 1962, are not to be introduced into the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite. The commentary presents here in an impressive manner that the mutual enrichment of both forms of the Roman rite is only possible if discipline peculiar to each of the two forms is accordingly carefully observed.

That means no altar girls, no chyx with pyx, and no lectors need apply at celebrations of the Old Mass.

I betcha someone's pantsuits are gonna be in a bunch about this one...

It is a blessing to see some parts of the Church acknowledging our traditions.

A Chicken In Every Pot

And the Latin Mass in every parish!

Pope wants traditional Masses in every parish, says Vatican cardinal
Anna Arco
20 June 2008

The Pope wants the traditional Latin Mass offered in every Catholic parish in the world, a Vatican cardinal has said.

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also told journalists in London that seminarians everywhere should be trained to say Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, also called the Tridentine rite.

Cardinal Castrillon made the comments last Saturday, shortly before he became the first cardinal to celebrate the older High Mass in Westminster Cathedral for 39 years.

When asked by The Catholic Herald if the Pope wanted to see many ordinary parishes making provision for the traditional form, the cardinal said: "All the parishes. Not many - all the parishes, because this is a gift of God. He [the Pope] offers these riches, and it is very important for new generations to know the past of the Church. This kind of worship is so noble, so beautiful - the deepest theologians' way to express our faith.

more...

So it is over two years now since the Popes wishes have been made public. How about it Bishop Bambera? You want to be the first to take the bold step and fulfill Pope Benedict's wishes?

Maybe you can start by increasing the availability of the Mass throughout the Diocese.

Not everyone can get to Scranton. Or Hazleton. Or Shohola.

We are truly blessed in this Diocese to have the Old Mass at all, and those in attendance know that. We thank God everyday. But now it is not enough for us to simply have access to it. Now is the time that the Mass be made available to EVERYONE. Not just the Traditionalists in the pews. Summorum Pontificum was not just an attempt to sway trads away from the SSPX or to shut them up, it was attempt to revitalize the Church.

Pray for Bishop Bambera that God will open his eyes, that he will see the beauty of this Mass of all times. This is the Mass that Saint Pio prayed everyday. This is the Mass Saint Therese attended everyday. This is the Mass responsible for a large portion of the Saints we honor today.

Pray that Bishop Bambera will provide for his flock as he is ordered to by Almighty God. The Old Mass is coming back throughout the church, and this Pope is at the head of the Renaissance within Her. Don't be a hindrance, your Excellence.

Open the door and welcome the Pope and the Old Mass.

Don't be a dissenter and slam the door in his and God's face.

Weapons Of MASS Destruction

Kudos To Father Burke!

I have been informed that this past Sunday a person attempted to disrupt the celebration of the Old Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Philadelphia.

An eye witness tells me a man attending the TLM went up to the Communion rail and instead of accepting the Host on the tongue as is the norm (and the rubrically correct way) he put his hands into the "receiving position" and ignored Father Burke's attempts to offer Communion. Father Burke then moved on to the next communicant.

This fellow got up and followed Father Burke shoving his hands over the heads of the kneeling communicants at Father Burke, who cooly ignored the man and continued to distribute to those properly disposed communicants.

The Novus Ordo plant then gave up and marched out of the church.

The man in question obviously had a point of some sort to make, but Father Burke was quick to protect our Lord from defilement. And make no mistake, the priest did not deny the man communion, the man rejected communion according to the traditional norms.

But I am certain good ole' Cardinal Rigali will not approve of this.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Tired of Altar Girls?

Have you had it with 7 Eucharistic Ministers tossing Jesus at you?

Sick of the bad music you must endure at church?

Are you looking for a more reverent, more fulfilling spiritual experience this Sunday?

Then have I got something for you! Head on down to Hazleton's Queen of Heaven Parish at Our Lady of Grace Church, at 12:15 p.m. for the most beautiful Mass this side of Heaven.

The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter provides the priest, Father Joseph Howard, who will say the Mass according to the 1962 Missal.

All are welcome to attend, and once you go, you'll be back!

Don't Forget!

Catholics! Do not forget to head to Hazleton's Our Lady Of Grace Church this Sunday for the first celebration of the Extraordinary Form at 12:15! The address is 12th and Vine Streets, Hazleton.

Hope to see you there!

Our Church Belongs To Us!

Here is a great article written by John Zmirak of Inside Catholic. Be sure to go and read the rest.

All Your Church Are Belong To Us
By John Zmirak

"Why do you people care so much about externals?" my non-Trad friends sometimes ask me. And they deserve an answer. A few weeks back, my delightfully contentious colleague here, Mark Shea, waded into the conflict between those who describe themselves simply as "orthodox" Catholics, and those who consider themselves "traditionalists." (Just to save space in the comments box, I mean by this term people who favor the traditional liturgy -- not those who associate with organizations under ecclesiastical suspension.)This line has begun to blur more and more in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum, which we Trads greeted as a kind of Emancipation Proclamation -- even as many of our bishops answered it with liturgical Jim Crow.

Still, the division is palpable. It was lying right there on the table, for any who cared to palpate it, last week when I went to dinner with a Trad-minded colleague and a visiting author who'd come to speak at our college on G. K. Chesterton. (The presentation was riveting, and I highly recommend Dale Ahlquist's talks and books.) Like the good Mr. Shea, our speaker is a convert, and he shared with Mark a puzzlement at the apparent fixation traditionalists have on restoring former elements of the liturgy and other Catholic practices that are not essential, and resisting innovations that are not inherently evil. Having come from churches that didn't have the Eucharist, and remaining through God's grace flush with gratitude for the sacraments, many converts really don't understand what the rest of us are nattering on about. We who grew up privileged may seem like sulky, spoiled kids. We owe these good people an explanation.

Sometimes they think we just care about aesthetics. One visit to a Sunday Latin Low Mass without music, recited soundlessly into a marble altar, should put that idea to flight. Compared to a Novus Ordo liturgy in the vernacular, and from a purely human point of view, attending Low Mass can be dull. You feel like you are eavesdropping. If you follow along in the missal, you can feel that you are watching a very solemn foreign film without any subtitles, except that you have the screenplay. There's a reason the old rubrics relegated Low Mass to weekdays, and called (though they were rarely answered) for sung Solemn Mass on Sundays and holy days. Pope Pius X wasn't kidding when he asked for parishes to revive Gregorian chant and teach it to the laity. Nor is there any good reason why Latin Mass congregations don't give the responses along with the servers -- except perhaps the fear that this is somehow the first step down a long road that leads to clown Mass. Get over it, fratres.

Other people think that we are a band of Latin scholars, desperate to put our dusty declensions to practical use. Again, one conversation with the congregants at the coffee hour will dash that infant theory against the rocks. Most of us studied Latin, if at all, as part of vocabulary practice for the SATs, and follow the English side of the missal. I don't know a single Traditionalist who wouldn't prefer the old Mass, facing the altar, said in English, to the Novus Ordo chanted in Latin facing the people. While the universal language of the Church is still to be revered for all the reasons that Vatican II prescribed in Sacrosanctum Concilium, it isn't Why We Fight.

Continue

A Major Victory!

This should give the modernists at the chancery a fit or two! The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei has clarified some important points concerning Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. Pay close attention to the bold areas of 2 and 3.

Thanks to the New Liturgical Movement

1. If there is no other possibility, because for instance in all churches of a diocese the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum are already being celebrated in the Ordinary Form, the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum may, in the same church in which they are already celebrated in the Ordinary Form, be additionally celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, if the local ordinary allows.

2. A Mass in the usus antiquior may replace a regularly scheduled Mass in the Ordinary Form. The question contextualizes that in many churches Sunday Masses are more or less scheduled continually, leaving free only very incovenient mid afternoon slots, but this is merely context, the question posed being general. The answer leaves the matter to the prudent judgement of the parish priest, and emphasises the right of a stable group to assist at Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

3. A parish priest may schedule a public Mass in the Extraordinary Form on his own accord (i.e. without the request of a group of faithful) for the benefit of the faithful including those unfamiliar with the usus antiquior. The response of the Commission here is identical to no. 2.

4. The calendar, readings or prefaces of the 1970 Missale Romanum may not be substituted for those of the 1962 Missale Romanum in Masses in the Extraordinary Form.

5. While the liturgical readings (Epistle and Gospel) themselves have to be read by
the priest (or deacon/subdeacon) as foreseen by the rubrics, a translation to the vernacular may afterwards be read also by a layman.

Priests! Get out there and exercise your God given right to celebrate the Extraordinary Form on a regular basis! And if any modernist Monsignors give you any guff, you let the Traddy know!

I'm absolutely serious! You guys go get trained, and I can help you with that, then start your Mass and I will be there, plus a bunch of other people. Tradition isn't going away, and while this "Anti-Diocese" as I call it is trying with all its might to resist the storm Papa Benny is blowing, they cant hope to hold out!

The Holy Spirit moves the Church, and eventually the Scranton Diocese. Not the Bambera Spirit. Tradition will win.

Why Monsignor Bambera?

There is some good news coming out of Washington: On April 24, at our National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception there will be a Pontifical Mass in the EXTRAORDINARY FORM celebrated by his Eminence Dario Cardinal Castrillion Hoyos, former President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

While you wouldn't catch anyone at the Scranton chancery office actually celebrating the Extraordinary Form at our OWN Cathedral, here we see the Cardinal coming to America's Cathedral to help celebrate His Holiness' 5th year as the Successor to Peter.

They are looking for donations to help EWTN broadcast this Mass, which I'm sure the Diocese would rather pre-empt in favor of some riveting Dan Gallagher commentary, but anyway, please donate here to help defray some costs.

In other news, Edward Cardinal Egan will also celebrate a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form (see a pattern here?) on March 25 at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan. This same church is where our retired Bishop with a love of Tradition, James Timlin, also celebrated a Pontifical Mass at the request of the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.

He just can't celebrate one when asked by a similar local society in his own Diocese, it would seem. Right, Monsignor Bambera?

Andrea Tornielli ran a post where he states that worldwide since Pope Benedict's Summorum Pontificum took effect roughly 138 Bishops or Cardinals have celebrated Masses according to the liturgical books of 1962. We can't even get the Scranton Diocese to recognize the authority of the priest to say the Old Mass without Monsignor Bambera coming down with a case of apoplexy.

Just about two years ago there were several locations where the Extraordinary Form was available in this Diocese namely Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Plains, Nanticoke, and Hazleton.

Now only Scranton and Hazleton is left. What about Tioga county? Bradford? Wayne or Pike? Susquehanna? Monroe?

Guessing the agenda of the chancery office is not a difficult task. While the Extraordinary Form is on the rise throughout the Church, here in the backwards Diocese of Scranton it is the opposite. The Old Mass is disappearing, and those few priests who dare to offer it get harassed and eventually are sent away. Punished. For doing what it is their right to do.

Because, as Pope Benedict clearly wrote in his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum "...each Catholic priest of the Latin rite, whether secular or regular, may use the Roman Missal published by Bl. Pope John XXIII in 1962, or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and may do so on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum. For such celebrations, with either one Missal or the other, the priest has no need for permission from the Apostolic See or from his Ordinary."

You read that correctly Monsignor Bambera. A priest doesn't need permission from his Ordinary. So says the Pope. And you aren't the Ordinary, (in case you didn't know). So where does that power come from that you wield so mercilessly over the cowering priests of this Diocese?

"But Traddy!" you say. "Didn't the chancery just start a new Latin Mass?"

Well, if you meant to say "didn't the chancery just wipe some crumbs off their table for the traditionalists?" Then yeah. I would agree.

Plans were afoot as I reported here to get a priest trained so say the Old Mass, and to have a Mass said regularly in Wilkes-Barre to replace the one we lost last year. But when Bambera and his gang got wind of the news they did everything they could to obstruct our plans, they bullied the priests involved and inserted themselves fully into the plans and disrupted everything.

But I am quite convinced that if some priest wanted to have an ecumenical love-in with the local Protestants at his parish where they would be performing some pseudo catholic-like mass thingy complete with guitars, tambourines, and grape juice, that would have been greeted with joyful weeping and confetti strewn into the air from those at the chancery.

Oh wait! That's called the "Neocatechumenal Way" and they've already been welcomed into the Diocese. If I'm not mistaken, they've actually held their little "revival meeting" type clown masses at the Cathedral.

But when Tradition is touted it is a thing to be regulated. Watched closely. Discouraged. Stopped.

Why is that Monsignor Bambera? Why do you bully priests with a sense of Tradition for veiling the chalice? For wearing black vestments? For wearing traditional roman vestments? For doing things that the Church has always done? Why is tradition scorned and innovation praised?

I almost forgot to mention the other place to attend the Extraordinary Form in the Anti-Diocese of Scranton.

The Society of Saint Pius X has a chapel in Pittston. Many may start to go there if chancery officials don't get a sense of the shifting wind, get with the program, and allow priests to use the Extraordinary Form without intimidation and threats.

But Monsignor Bambera wouldn't know anything about that, right?

A New Old Mass!

Well, it seems that the chancery has thrown a bone to the traditionalists.

The Diocese has decided that there will be a Mass in the Extraordinary Form this and every Sunday at 12:15 PM at Our Lady of Grace Church, 12th and Vine Streets, Hazleton.

Never mind that a majority of the folks who attended the Old Mass in Wilkes-Barre were elderly and can't get to Hazleton. They don't give that much money that we have to worry about seeing to their spiritual needs.

In the meantime, please plan to support the St. John Neumann Latin Mass Community as they prepare to celebrate the return of the Old Mass to the Hazleton area. God be praised!

Latin Mass News

There is news concerning the St. John Neumann Latin Mass Community and the southern most border of the Diocese. Stay tuned, true believers.

To the right is a photo of the UNDECAYED remains of St. John Neumann and our own Cardinal Rigali as they redressed him in some proper Roman Vestments a few years ago. The Saint died in 1860.

An Update On Our Situation

There is precious little news to report on our sizable Latin Mass community as we await news from Scranton.

I would ask all of you to pray and do penance in the hopes that soon there will be happy news to report.

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/

The Development Of The Roman Rite

Michael Davies was a giant in the Traditional movement for over 30 years until he died in 2004. He left us some remarkable writing, and I wanted to bring to you what he wrote about the development of the Mass in it's entirety. I will present it in sections, beginning with his introduction:

The Development Of The Roman Rite
By Michael Davies

The Universe is the Catholic newspaper with the largest circulation in Britain. On 18 May 1979 its principal feature article was by one Hugh Lindsay, Bishop of Hexam and Newcastle. The Bishop's article was entitled "What Can the Church Change?" It was a petulant, petty, and singularly ill-informed attack upon Archbishop Lefebvre and Catholic traditionalists in general. It is not hard to understand why the Archbishop is far from popular with the English hierarchy, and with most hierarchies in the world for that matter. The Archbishop is behaving as a true shepherd, defending the flock from who would destroy it. He is a living reproach to the thousands of bishops who have behaved as hirelings since Vatican II. They not only allow enemies to enter the sheepfold but enjoy nothing more than a "meaningful dialogue" with them. The English Bishops are typical of hierarchies throughout the world. They allow catechetical programs in their schools which leave Catholic children ignorant of the basis of their faith or even teach a distorted version of that faith. When parents complain the Bishops spring to the defense of the heterodox catechists responsible for undermining the faith of the children. The English Bishops remain indifferent to liturgical abuse providing that it is initiated by Liberals. Pope Paul VI appealed to hierarchies throughout the world to uphold the practice of Communion on the tongue. Liberal clerics in England defied the Holy See and the reaction of the Bishops was to legalize the practice. The same process is now taking place with the practice of distributing Communion under both kinds at Sunday Masses. There are no stern words from Bishop Lindsay for priests who do this. Two English bishops are signatories to the three notorious Agreed Statements in which Catholic teaching on the Eucharist, the Priesthood, and the Papacy has been betrayed. But Bishop Lindsay is not concerned with censuring those who betray the faith, only those who uphold it. The situation is by no means unique in English history. The same thing happened in the sixteenth century when St. John Fisher upheld the faith in the face of apostacy by his fellow bishops. He was a living reproach to them just as Archbishop Lefebvre is a living reproach to so many bishops today.

Bishop Lindsay's article poses a serious problem. He is either extremely ignorant or extremely dishonest. His article is so at variance with the truth that no other alternative exists. It is, of course, part of the traditional faith that we put the best possible interpretation upon the actions of those with whom we disagree and so I will conclude that the Bishop is an ignorant man making a fool of himself in public, rather than a wicked man deliberately trying to deceive the Catholic people. It is one of the spiritual works of mercy to instruct the ignorant and so I shall duly instruct the said Hugh Lindsay. As he made his ignorance public I shall make his lesson public. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that there can be occasions upon which the public rebuke of a prelate is a duty. Well this is not even a rebuke, it is a lesson, an open lesson.

The Bishop begins his article with a rather labored attempt at irony:

The people who call themselves "traditionalists" say the Church can change nothing. When we introduce lawful change they call us enemies of the Church . . . The Archbishop [Lefebvre] and his followers are often named "Tridentinists" after the Council of Trent but Trent is against them. In 1563 (Session XXI, Chap. 2) the Council declared that the Church always has power to make changes in the sacraments, including the Holy Eucharist, providing that their substance is safe-guarded.

Session XXI took place on 16 July 1562, but let that pass. What matters is that the Bishop's irony is not simply labored but unjustified. No responsible traditionalist has ever claimed that the Church has no right to modify any of the sacramental rites, which is presumably what Bishop Lindsay means by his sloppy phrase "to make changes in the sacraments." What traditionalists have done is to make specific criticisms of specific changes—a very different matter. No one with experience of the traditionalist movement would deny that there are some ill-informed traditionalists who sometimes exaggerate. This is understandable; unlike bishops, laymen and the ordinary clergy are not presumed to have expert knowledge of theology. Bishops are presumed to have such knowledge which makes Bishop Lindsay's ignorance somewhat culpable. It is even conceivable that some indignant layman, outraged by the latest liturgical abomination, has written to the Bishop claiming that "the Church can change nothing." Somehow I doubt it. However, Bishop Lindsay makes his accusation general—he does not say that one traditionalist has made this accusation, or even some, many or most. He makes his charge against all traditionalists which makes him appear ridiculous. If he cares to consult Appendix I to my book on the new ordination rite, The Order of Melchisedech, he will find that it is entitled "The Substance of a Sacrament" and deals in some detail with the right of the Church to make changes in sacramental rites.

Having attempted to ridicule and misrepresent traditionalists by accusing them of something they do not maintain, Bishop Lindsay continues the task of making himself appear ridiculous with a series of statements which it is hard to believe can be explained by ignorance alone. However, this is the interpretation which we will put upon his words even though it requires a conscious effort to do so. Three of these statements will be considered here.

1. Pope St. Pius V used the Church's power to make the changes in the Mass requested by the Council of Trent and to issue a revised Roman Missal in 1570. In exactly the same way Pope Paul VI made the changes requested by the Second Vatican Council and issues a revised Roman Missal in 1970.

2. So the "traditionalists" who don't like the revised Mass rite must themselves seek the guidance of the Church and make sure they are truly informed.

3. There have been some changes in the way Mass is celebrated but not in the Mass itself. The priest usually faces the people now and prays in English not in Latin. Some features have been restored, like a greater choice of readings, the homily, bidding prayers, and the offertory procession.

Archbishop Lefebvre and others talk as though the revised rite were an un-Catholic prayer service. However, the essentials are mentioned even more often than they were in the older Missal.

I will deal with the three statements in sequence.

1. Pope St. Pius V and Pope Paul VI revised the Missal in exactly the same way. Yes, I repeat, Bishop Lindsay really did make this claim. I have the relevant copy of The Universe open before me, I have consulted it again, and that is what he has written. The major part of this article will be devoted to examining the development of the Mass of the Roman Rite up to the reform of St. Pius V. This will make it clear that the reform of Pope Paul VI is totally without precedent in the history of the Church. Its closest parallel is with the reform of Thomas Cranmer. Note that I do not claim these two reforms are identical—I claim that close parallels exist. I have demonstrated this in great detail in my book Cranmer's Godly Order (which was banned in all the Catholic bookshops in Britain). As I will show, the reform of St. Pius V left the Mass virtually unchanged. He did little more than codify the existing liturgy. This great pope did not invite observers from heretical sects to advise him on the reform, he did not remove from the rite of Mass almost every prayer to which a Protestant could take exception. St. Pius V did not allow the Latin heritage of the liturgy to be cast aside or Communion to be distributed by laymen, in the hand, to standing communicants, and under both kinds. St. Pius V did not authorize the celebrant to improvise at certain stages in the Mass; he did not authorize a new canon (Canon II) which Protestants have stated they can use in good conscience.¹ Let it be noted that Vatican II did not mandate any of these changes. It ordered that changes must not be made "unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them." Did the good of the Church genuinely and certainly require the changes I have just listed? Has there been a marked increase in Eucharistic piety? Has Mass attendance increased?

2. Those who do not like the revised Mass rite must seek the guidance of the Church and make sure they are truly informed. Obviously, the Bishop means that we must obtain the guidance of bishops like himself. The guidance he and his ilk are likely to provide has been made clear to those who have consulted them in such matters as defective catechetical instruction, sex-education, the support of Catholic organizations for movements calculated to advance Marxism, and even deviations from the new rite of Mass itself. The equation "Guidance of the Church=Guidance of the Bishops" does not always apply. It did not apply during the Arian heresy, it did not apply in England during the reign of Henry VIII. In order to become "truly informed" the faithful may have to weigh the guidance of certain bishops in the light of tradition. The question to be answered with regard to the liturgical reform authorized by Pope Paul VI is whether this reform can, in fact, be reconciled with Catholic tradition. The answer is that it cannot; it is unprecedented in two thousand years of Church history, as this article will demonstrate.

3. The changes in the Mass consist of the vernacular, Mass facing the people, etc. etc. As I have already shown the reform of Pope Paul VI does go somewhat beyond these peripheral matters. The most astonishing claim in this section of the Bishop's article is that the essentials of the Mass "are mentioned more often than they were in the older Missal." I would suggest a simple experiment to the Bishop Lindsay. Perhaps in some murky recess of his cathedral there may still remain a copy of the older Missal which has not been destroyed or thrown upon the trash heap by zealots of the "Conciliar Church." If he does not have a copy I would be happy to lend him one. The essence of the Mass lies in the fact that it is a propitiatory sacrifice offered to the Blessed Trinity by an ordained priest for the living and the dead. Let the Bishop go through the Order of Mass in the older Missal and the new Missal and see how many times sacrifice is referred to in each. Should he find it mentioned more often in the older Missal perhaps he would print a retraction in The Universe apologizing for misleading its readers. On the other hand perhaps he would not, similar errors have been pointed out to Bishop Lindsay before but there have been no retractions. He is better at denouncing than retracting. I have already provided a detailed analysis of the reform of Pope Paul VI in my pamphlet The Roman Rite Destroyed. This pamphlet provides a total and fully documented refutation of Bishop Lindsay's ludicrous assertions. In this article I propose to provide sufficient information on liturgical development within the Roman Rite to prove that the reform of Pope Paul VI constitutes a break with tradition.

To Be Continued...

More Dots To Connect

It seems Nidal Malik Hasan has been linked to a Mosque frequented by the 9/11 murderers. Fox News has the details. Also, these guys, before they go on their terror missions like to either hang out in strip clubs or get prostitutes, and Hasan hung out three times at a strip club 8 minutes from Fort Hood in the weeks leading up to his attack.

For the Fort Hood victims (from the introit of the Missa de defunctis):

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn becomes you, O God in Zion, and to you shall a vow be repaid in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer, to you shall all flesh come. Eternal rest grant upon them, O lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Missa Pro Defunctis

Did anyone know that our own Bishop Emeritus James Timlin held a Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass?

Yes he did.

And certain people in the chancery are probably having fits.

Right Monsignor Bambera?

Anyway, this past Monday Bishop Timlin celebrated the first Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass in about 40 years. That's pretty big news.

It's too bad that Bishop Timlin had to travel to New York to do this. It's too bad that Bishop Timlin, a certified traditionalist, hasn't offered the Old Mass here in his home diocese.

I wonder why that is?

Could it be that in this diocese, which has been stuck in the 1980's liturgically, that now since there is no Bishop, the anti-trads see an opportunity?

You know, the whole cat being away thing.
Because it seems that there are those here in our diocese who are using this time to intimidate and bully priests.

Be careful Bishop Timlin! Someone might bitch about your black vestments and send ya to the principal's office.

But what I would like to see is a brave priest in our diocese offer Bishop Timlin a place to do something similar.

Since our cathedral cannot be used for traditional liturgy without some creative redecorating, we need someone with a proper church building to loan it to us for a night. I'd be willing to facilitate this, but we need a building. Any takers?

Thanks to the Society of St Hugh of Cluny for the pictures.