Vol6 Special Priests Issue

Page 1

1 | Page


On Catholics Dying of Spiritual Starvation

We have created this Special Edition of Regina Magazine for Catholic priests for three reasons. First, because the 4000 laypeople who subscribe to our new e-mag want to give their beloved priests and seminarians this special gift for Christmas this year. Second, because it is our hope that these stories of courage and integrity will find their way to every priest and seminarian possible, along with our wishes that the ‘Peace that passeth all understanding’ be made present in your lives this Christmas. Third, because it is our great Catholic priests who can bring Christ’s saving grace to a Catholic world that is literally dying of spiritual starvation. Now more than ever, we of the laity owe our priests our greatest respect, support, and fealty. Only when we know and understand our place as the bulwark behind our priests can they do what God has raised them up to do. May you abide with great joy under the protective mantle of Our Lady this Christmas, 2013. And may God bless and keep you in the New Year. In Christ, Beverly De Soto Editor, Regina Magazine

REGINA Editor Beverly De Soto Writers Photography Credits: Beverly De Soto Dom Benedict Andersen OSB Michael Durnan Stuart Chessman Suzanne Duque-Salvo Domincan Friars Fr. Richard G. Cipolla Allison Girone Teresa Limjoco Harry Stevens Christopher Gillibrand, MA Lucy Mc Vicker Roseanne T. Sullivan Phil Roussin Ed Masters Roseanne T. Sullivan Nina Jurewicz Jay Balza Barbara Monzon-Puleo Webmaster Layout/Graphic Designer Jim Bryant Phil Roussin

REGINA Magazine is a quarterly Catholic review published electronically on www.reginamag.com. REGINA draws together extraordinary Catholic writers with a vibrant faith, and wide-ranging interests. We’re interested in everything under the Catholic sun — from work and family to religious and eternal life. We seek the Good, the Beautiful and the True – in our Tradition and with our God-given Reason. We really do believe in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. We are joyfully loyal to the Magisterium. We proudly celebrate our literary and artistic heritage and seek to live and teach the authentic Faith.

Today we place REGINA under the patronage of Our Lady, Mary Most Holy. We pray that she lays our humble work at the feet of her Son, and that His Will be done.

ON THE COVER: “The Elevation of the Sacred Host” by Dom Benedict Andersen OSB was taken at St John Cantius Church in Chicago, Illinois.

2 | Page

There is no charge for REGINA. Inquiries should be directed to “Regina Magazine” on Facebook or the Editor at editor.regina@gmail.com.


Table of Contents The Orders

Christmas in Carmel The Brothers The Fast Growing Friars How I Got to Saint Louis A Passion for England A Visit to Clear Creek Monastery

The Parishes How We Got Here He Didn’t Need to Learn How to Veil a Chalice A Return in Reverence in Missouri Bringing the ‘Catholic’ Back to a California Parish The Wonder of ‘Weird’ Portland Prayer, Prudence, and Courage East Side, West Side, All Around Town

The Mass ‘MC’ Hammer New Liturgical Institute in San Francisco UPDATE: The Latin Mass in America Today Shades of Evelyn Waugh Why the Latin Mass? May God Give Us Strength One Mans Perspective

The Laity Merry Christmas, Catholic Girl How Joan Came Home My First Time

The Saints The Real Santa Claus The Saints of England’s Holy Island A Story of Catholic Valour

3 | Page


4 | Page


the Orders

5 | Page


Christmas in Carmel

They are monastic superstars for a growing following of devotees of their Mystic Monk Coffee — an innovative small business that sustains the monks and their dream of building a monastery in the wilds of America’s Wyoming. by Donna Sue Berry But they are also cloistered Carmelites, who observe strict contemplative rules. In this fascinating look behind the scenes, REGINA Magazine’s Donna Sue Berry takes you on a privileged visit to Christmas in Carmel, with the Mystic Monks. Q. Father Prior, what do the words ‘Christmas in Carmel,’ mean to you? The Carmelite life is a hidden life of loving intercession for the church and for the world. In Carmel, Advent is a time of even greater recollection as the monks spend yet more time in silence and solitude to prepare for the great mystery of Christmas. As such, Christmas arrives in Carmel after much preparation and anticipation. The joy a contemplative knows in his cloister at the birth of the Lord is difficult to clearly articulate as his entire vocation is one of waiting upon the Lord that the monk might “open when the Lord knocks” on his heart. Christmas in Carmel is a blessed time of tremendous joy and peace. The Order of Carmel has its roots in the Old Testament when our hermit fathers, the sons of the prophets, spent centuries waiting for the coming Messiah prior to Christ. In some way, Carmelites today share in that waiting for Christ whether it be in the days of Advent leading to the celebration of Christmas, the Carmelite day where we wait to receive Jesus again the Blessed Sacrament at Holy Mass, or especially in our own lives where all is ordered towards attaining to mystical union with God and through prayer and penance assisting countless other souls towards this same union. Q. Families have traditions during Advent leading up to the great celebration of our Lord’s birth. Can you tell me what traditions are

6 | Page

observed by you and the Monks at the Monastery? In Carmel, dating from the time of our holy Mother St Teresa of Avila, the Carmelites observe what we affectionately call “the child Jesus days of recollection.” This great and noble tradition has the entire community process in white mantles holding candles, with the prior carrying the child Jesus in a little manger, to a monk’s hermitage each evening that the father or brother may spend the next twenty-four hours in solitude and more intense prayer. This time of retreat is so special as the monk, together with the Virgin Mary, contemplates how meek and humble our God truly is as manifested in his nativity.

The Carmelites observe what we affectionately call “the child Jesus days of recollection.” Another great tradition of our Carmel is that each evening, following mental prayer and before the evening collation (or small meal), the community gathers in the refectory for the chanting of the Veni, Veni Emmanuel around the burning Advent wreath. Oh how great is our expectation and our desire to prepare ourselves to receive our divine King on Christmas night! Q. On an individual basis, can you each have certain devotions or “traditions” from your past life that you may keep while in the Monastery? As Carmelite monks in the great tradition of the discalced reform, we enter the monastery to imitate particularly the Blessed Mother, but all the great Carmelites down through the ages. We do not seek to do anything new, or discover our own path to holiness; rather we joyfully embrace the glorious


tradition of Carmel and its deep wellsprings of Marian spirituality and devotion. That being said, we recognize in the order of Carmel, manifested through our many saints and blesseds, that there is a myriad of Carmelite devotions, each reflecting an aspect of our Lady’s spirituality.

Prior concludes this celebration in the middle of the night by intoning the psalm, Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes (O praise the lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.)

When we are clothed as novices, we take new names in religion such as “Fr Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified.” The second part of our religious name might be thought of as a window into each monk’s individual devotion. Q. As out in the world there is always the exchange of gifts between loved ones, do you exchange gifts among each other in Carmel?

In Carmel we do not exchange gifts, as we are but poor religious. What we exchange at Christmas is our love for one another that manifests

On Christmas day, the monks again share a delightful meal and joyful conversation in the recreation room, rejoicing in the divine infant born for the salvation of men. Q. Tell me a little about the Mystic Monk Coffee we so love. What’s in store for Christmas? Throughout the great tradition of monasticism, monks have always done monastic industry to be as self-supporting as possible. Some monks have baked breads, others have brewed beer. As monks who keep vigil in the middle of the night, we know a great deal about a good cup of coffee to keep us awake for our times of prayer. itself so beautifully when on Christmas Eve day, after the solemn chanting of the martyrology at prime announcing the birth of Christ on Christmas day, the monks warmly embrace one another wishing each other a truly Blessed and Merry Christmas. Christmas and the following three days are known as recreation days when the silence is lifted in the monastery and the monks spend these days in beautiful liturgy and fraternal charity. Q. What is Christmas Eve like in the Monastery?

Moved by other coffee companies that openly supported the pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-death, atheistic agenda of our modern day, Mystic Monk coffee was born as a pro-life coffee company to support the building of our monastery here in the rocky mountains of Wyoming. Roasted by our monks during our times of daily work, Mystic Monk coffee is a true monastic industry. For Christmas, we annually hand-craft our own signature Christmas blend that is a delightful holiday roast for those cold winter days of December.

Christmas Eve we like to call the “Day of the bells” as the day begins with merry procession throughout the monastery with rustic instruments. After solemn prime, the monastery’s bells toll out announcing as it were to the whole world that Christ is to be born on Christmas night. The rest of the day is spent in beautiful chanted liturgy and the final preparations of the crèche and Christmas tree. As monks, we enter into the joy of Christmas most intimately by means of the sacred liturgy as we prepare through our hours of contemplation to welcome Christ into our hearts. The beautiful and solemn three Masses of Christmas day, beginning with midnight mass, and continuing with the Mass of dawn and the conventual Mass, invite the monk to enter into Christmas with exuberant joy. Indeed, praised be Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.

Q. Your web site says ‘The Carmelite monks of Wyoming seek to perpetuate the charism of the Blessed Virgin Mary by living the Marian life as prescribed by the primitive Carmelite Rule and the ancient monastic observance of Carmelite men.’ Can you tell us what that means?

After midnight Mass, the community gathers before the Christmas crib singing carols to our divine Savior.

R.

In a lovely Carmelite tradition, there is a procession throughout our monastery even going into the monk’s cells, to the turn, to the parlors, and all the other monastic rooms where the prior carries Our Lady and the subprior carries St Joseph. The monk kneels to kiss these holy images when they are brought into his cell and placed on his straw mattress. In this way, the monk’s very hermitage becomes a new Bethlehem where Christ is welcomed in obscurity but with great love and adoration. Our holy mother St Teresa loved this custom and insisted upon its practice, being moved by her tremendous love for God that grieved her so deeply when she considered those who turned the Holy Virgin and good St Joseph away as there was no room in the inn. Q. And then on Christmas Day? Does it begin with Midnight Mass? More Masses said during the day? Is there a Feast…a dinner celebration?

In Carmel there is an ancient saying, “Carmelus totus Marianus est” (‘Carmel is totally Marian’). As above, there is indeed a delightful time of celebration following midnight Mass where the community gathers before the Christmas crib singing carols to our divine savior. As the sleep comes into the monks’ eyes, the Father

7 | Page

In Carmel there is an ancient saying, “Carmelus totus Marianus est” (‘Carmel is totally Marian’). Carmel has been hailed by the popes as the “preeminent order of Mary.” We are true Marian souls who seek to “perpetuate the charism” of holy Mary through our union with Christ, hidden here in the enclosure, where our obedience, chastity, and poverty are modeled after the Blessed Virgin and allow us to be transformed into spiritual fathers of countless souls.


The Brothers

Beyond their individual histories and charisms, all of these growing men’s Orders in America have some common elements. They wear habits. They follow their Rule strictly. And they are orthodox in their views, quite loyal to the Magisterium.

An American Renaissance Ten years ago, no one would have believed what we are witnessing today. Back in 2002-2003, horrendous headlines blared across America and Catholics cringed. After wave upon wave of sex scandals cut a debilitating swath through the ranks of our priests and brothers, the US Catholic Church made more then $3.4 billion in payments to a few law firms. Most allegations were never proven, as most cases never came to trial. Pundits predicted the imminent demise of the Church. Not many Catholics dared to disagree. No one, it seemed, would want to associate themselves with such perfidy.

A Surprising Trend But the Barque of Peter is ever-buoyant. It may come as a surprise to the nay-sayers and the secular media, but the traditional male Catholic religious Orders in America are experiencing a renaissance. This is occurring regardless of the Form of the Mass celebrated by the Order. From the Benedictines at Clear Creek, Oklahoma who celebrate the Extraordinary Form to the Dominicans of the Eastern Province who celebrate a reverent Novus Ordo Mass, American young men are stepping forward to take vows in Religious Orders.

Some Common Elements Beyond their individual histories and charisms, all of these growing Orders in America have some common elements. They wear habits. They follow their Rule strictly. And they are orthodox in their views, quite loyal to the Magisterium.

8 | Page


9 | Page


The Fast-Growing Friars The Eastern Province of the Dominicans Q. Rumor has it that there are many new candidates joining the Eastern Province of the Dominicans. Is this true? Our province covers the Northeastern part of the USA, as far South as Virginia, and as far West as Kentucky and Ohio. We have had a steady stream of novices from this region in recent years (see chart). In 2013, we had 18 men enter as novices.

A ‘novice’ is in the initial stage of entering religious life, lasting one year. After his first, simple vows, he becomes a student brother . Only after the friar has professed solemn vows (that is: “usque ad mortem” - until death), is he ordained a deacon and then a year later, a priest. Our formation is 7 years counting the novitiate year, and that is only after the man comes with a 4 year degree (which he would have before he comes to us, unless he wishes to be a cooperator brother it would be shortened). A number of men come also with graduate or advanced degrees and have had significant work experience.

I would add that in 2009, our province added a significant extension to the Dominican House of Studies since we needed more room; this was being done even as other religious communities are closing/relocating and selling their houses around the vicinity of the Catholic University of America.

In 2009, our province added a significant extension to the Dominican House of Studies since we needed more room; this was being done even as other religious communities are closing/relocating and selling their houses around the vicinity of the Catholic University of America.

If a young man thinking of a vocation comes to visit us, well it is impressive to see the sea of white in our chapel when our 80+ friars gather for prayer four times a day at the Dominican House of Studies. 10 | Page


Q. Could you sum up the key elements of the order’s strategy and the appeal to candidates? Well, we don’t have much of a strategy. We generally try to be faithful to our charism and way of life; I think we do a relatively good job of it - but all of us are “a work in progress.” I think that despite our limitations, the Lord is sending us intelligent men to preach the Gospel in the way of St. Dominic. Even back when I entered in 1992 we were doing well with vocations. I was one of 8 men who entered our province. Four of us persevered and were ordained to the priesthood. We also have a strong formation program for our student friars in our novitiate house and our House of Studies in Washington, DC. This formation includes intellectual, pastoral and spiritual elements that are part of traditional religious formation given by the Church and other elements that are unique to the Order of Preachers. Our formation is guided by our Dominican constitutions. I think the draw for men to the Dominicans is pretty simple. Dominicans have a strong intellectual tradition, with the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas (our “all-star”) and men know they will need this strong, systematic approach to understand the world and the human person in order to preach the Gospel effectively today.

This corporate witness that goes out to the world, is attractive for young men today. When they see us trying to follow Christ in the way envisioned by St. Dominic, they want to be a part of it. It seems that a number of men are coming to visit us because they have heard we are having a “vocations boom” and they want to see what is happening. We do have a certain momentum going. If a young man thinking of a vocation comes to visit us, well it is impressive to see the sea of white in our chapel when our 85 friars gather for prayer four times a day at the Dominican House of Studies. Most young men who come to us very much want to be faithful to the Church and they are looking for a religious community that is “with” the Church and not working against the Church. I think the media brutalizes the Church today. But the Dominicans live something that goes beyond the whim of the day or the politically correct agenda of Hollywood. The guys who come to us know this and they are ready to be counter-cultural to follow Christ. The men who come to us are not about to forego the good of wife and children for the sake of the Gospel only to join a community of men who subscribe to a version of Catholicism that fails to bear witness. The men who come to us today also know we are entering into what might be called a cultural battle. I have no doubt the Dominicans will be on the forefront of that battle in presenting the Truth in a convincing way. Our medieval dialectic way of engaging people and the ways that we preach, manage to take other perspectives into consideration and constantly search for the Truth who ultimately is Christ - this is attractive today to just about everyone.

When a young man comes to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, he meets normal guys, who are pious, masculine, and faithful to the Church who are happy and ready to follow Christ, no matter the cost. I think it is true that young men take a look at us not only because of our intellectual approach, but also our orthodoxy or fidelity to the teachings of Jesus Christ found within the Church. This is not a strategy though, it simply is who we are - Dominicans have a long tradition in helping people see the Truth of Jesus Christ. I think the draw for men to the Dominicans is pretty simple. Dominicans have a strong intellectual tradition, with the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas (our “all-star”) and men know they will need this strong, systematic approach to understand the world and the human person in order to preach the Gospel effectively today. As one of our friars noted a few years back, it seems that many young men who come to us have had the experience of arriving to the edge of an abyss in our culture with which there is no compromise if they are to follow Christ. This is not to say they are running from the culture, but it seems it has radicalized them before they come to us. If they are going to follow Christ in today’s environment something more rigorous is needed - something like a living tradition of 800 years of a life founded by St. Dominic that has produced many saints. Anyone who reads the history of the Church knows Dominicans have played significant roles both intellectual and evangelical. We are made to evangelize and to engage the culture - we do this as a community of friars (brothers). Many young men who come to us have had the experience of arriving to the edge of an abyss in our culture with which there is no compromise if they are to follow Christ. This is not to say they are running from the culture, but it seems it has radicalized them before they come to us. If they are going to follow Christ in today’s environment something more rigorous is needed - something like a living tradition of 800 years of a life founded by St. Dominic that has produced many saints.

11 | Page

If we have a strategy, it certainly includes the new media. We have various projects in which our friars are engaged: on-line video (Kindly Light Media) now changed to Blackfriar films), radio, websites, blogs, use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) just to get the word out of what our friars are doing. We just started a new website that carries many stories of what is happening in our province: OPEast.org. And of course, our friars are doing the typical things Dominicans do as well: writing books (Philosophy and Theology), writing articles for scholarly journals, speaking and most importantly, PREACHING! Some are even involved in the sciences, like our friars that teach at Providence College. Most of our friars are not about to broadcast all the good they do each day - so this makes my job difficult. When a young man comes to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, he meets normal guys who are pious, masculine, and faithful to the Church-- and who are happy and ready to follow Christ, no matter the cost. Q. What is the demographic description of new candidates -- what is the age range, occupations, etc. Here you will see our current novices and their bios and ages. The ages of the men are right out of college (22) all the way up to their early 30’s. Q. What is the turnover -- what percentage of people leave the order after joining?


The men who come to us are not about to forego the good of wife and children for the sake of the Gospel only to join a community of men who subscribe to a version of Catholicism that fails to bear witness. The men who come to us today also know we are entering into what might be called a cultural battle. I have no doubt the Dominicans will be on the forefront of that battle in presenting the Truth in a convincing way.

In years past our attrition rate for those going all the way to solemn vows or priesthood was about 50% which is actually pretty good for men’s religious orders in the US. What is notable now though, is that we have more men entering and we have lower attrition - in other words, more men are staying. Why is that? Well, I think our screening process is perhaps more rigorous and careful. The majority of young men who enter our way of life are flourishing. Right now our Province has 70 men in formation for the priesthood and cooperator brotherhood. The majority of young men who enter our way of life are flourishing. Right now our Province has 70 men in formation for the priesthood and cooperator brotherhood. Q. Dominicans talk about the importance of a clear identity and vibrant community to attract new candidates -- such as the wearing of habits. Could you address that issue? Does it make a difference in recruitment? I would say we don’t talk about the “wearing of habits” very often. We, in fact, do wear the habit and it serves what we call the “common life” showing forth our brotherhood and the poverty we attempt to live in following Christ. But again, there is no grand “plan” to wear the habit and get vocations. We perhaps do wear the habit more than other men’s religious communities, but I am not sure about that. For example if I am traveling to preach somewhere in the car I will wear it - even en route. But it is not rocket science, if we did not wear the habit, no one would know we are Dominicans, unless we had a conversation with them. Occasionally our friars will also wear the clerical collar. There is a desire among the young to recover a sense of the sacredness of liturgy and to give a public witness to their faith. This is a response in part to what they perceive as a kind of watering down of the splendors of the Catholic tradition in recent decades. So the visibility of the habit matters to them, and the integrity of life it is meant to suggest (no “time off from the vocation”). As I said, it is a sign of poverty and a kind of visible witness to the importance of the religious liturgical element of culture to which our current age seems largely oblivious. The habit is part of our common life and the wearing of it unifies us and does give us an identity to the world. We have a saying, “the habit does not make the monk.” And this is true, the witness of religious consecration to

12 | Page

Christ must not simply be expressed in what we wear, but what is internal as well. I think for all of us, the habit simply says we are a work in progress. “The habit does not make the monk” but it sure helps! There is a desire among the young to recover a sense of the sacredness of liturgy and to give a public witness to their faith. This is a response in part to what they perceive as a kind of watering down of the splendors of the Catholic tradition in recent decades. So the visibility of the habit matters to them. Q. Do economic hard times give candidates more space to think about joining the friars? In boom times would they not even consider such a choice? People have asked me about this before. There might be some connection to the economy. I believe though something as serious as a vocation to the Dominicans might be distracted by the economy, but ultimately a man is not going to forego the good of wife and family simply because of the economy. That decision will most certainly come with a divine calling and a desire to follow Christ more radically in our world.

Donate Online

R.

FROM THE FRIARS OF THE EASTERN PROVINCE: The world is in desperate need of a Word that opens our eyes, and gives faith, hope, and charity. It needs the Word Himself, Jesus Christ. It also needs preachers who will proclaim the Word fully, faithfully, and effectively. God has blessed us with many vocations already, and many more are on the way! Thank you for your incredible generosity, and may the Lord bless you and your family abundantly. PHOTO CREDIT: www.DominicanFriars.org


13 | Page


How I Got to Saint Louis An Interview with Canon Raphael Ueda He is a Japanese convert to the Faith. Canon Raphael Ueda, Vicar of Saint Francis de Sales Oratory, in a recent interview with REGINA Magazine discussed his background as a Catholic priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the work that is being done at the Oratory. See ‘Cathedral of South Saint Louis’. Q. Tell us a little bit about your background; when were you ordained, and how did you become a priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest? What have some of your other assignments been? A. I was not born a Catholic. Divine Providence guided me to an encounter with the Catholic faith. For those who are in the Catholic Church the veracity of the Church is very evident, but for me who is not Catholic by birth, especially born in Japan (in the far east where Catholicism is in its entirety not known) it was not so easy. But as always Divine Providence guides those who are sincerely looking for the truth in a very mysterious way.

Then in 2012 I was assigned to Saint Francis de Sales Oratory here in Saint Louis as Vicar. I am very grateful to serve the faithful of the city Saint Louis, which is called Rome of the West because of its longstanding Catholic culture tradition, which is both dynamic and diverse. The faithful are great. They are generous and sincerely looking for the love of God. They love the Catholic Church.

I was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1968; I studied as a medical student to become a doctor in Kyoto, the ancient imperial capital of the country for more than one thousand years. However God had another plan for me. An Italian missionary baptized me when I was 27 years old in Kobe. Q. What are some of the greatest challenges you encounter as a priest? How have they affected your priesthood? A. I was baptized as a Catholic but that does not mean I cease to be Japanese. I left Japan in 1995. Since then I have had several occasions to return. Living previously in Quebec, Italy, and now the U.S., it is always a challenge for me to grow as Catholic in a harmonious way without losing my identity as Japanese. Jesus was called as Jesus of Nazareth.

I was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1968; I studied as a medical student to become a doctor in Kyoto, the ancient imperial capital of the country for more than one thousand years. However God had another plan for me. An Italian missionary baptized me when I was 27 years old in Kobe. That same year I left for Quebec, Canada where I would learn the French language (in the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, French is the common language.)

Even though the Catholic faith is universal, when we live our faith in a concrete way, we need to take flesh in the place where we are put by Divine Providence. This is really a challenge for me. Preserving identity while remaining open is a process that will continue to entail much pain and confusion. It is a process likely to be carried along on the tide of risk taking and withdrawal, expansion and contraction, exhilaration and disappointment, consolation and desolation, integration and disintegration.

At this time I did not know that one day I would join the Institute, but providentially this stay in Quebec allowed me to. In 2001 I joined Saint Phillip Neri Seminary (the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest) in Florence, Italy. After 8 years of prayer, study, and hard work His Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke ordained me a priest in Florence, Italy. It was a long journey to become a priest. After my ordination, I stayed for a year in Europe, and in 2010 I was assigned to the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, Illinois. There I served as Vicar for two years. It was an exciting experience to stay in this windy and dynamic city.

I was baptized as a Catholic but that does not mean I cease to be Japanese. I left Japan in 1995.

ORDINATION: Canon Ueda is ordained a priest forever by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke at the Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano in Florence, Italy on July 2nd 2009.

14 | Page

Q. What do you hope to achieve in Saint Louis? A. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is an international community. The members come from all over the world. As of now, I am the only Japanese priest but the diversity of origin of all the Institutes members has helped me. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest has received the mission from the Church to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite in its integrity. This venerable Liturgy which fostered the souls of Catholics for thousands of years has help me to understand the transcendence of God. Since my ordination by Cardinal Raymond Burke in 2009, I have been celebrating this Liturgy every day. Our superiors say: “Service of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is the leading goal of our existence. Every member of the Institute wants to belong fully to the Lord through His Eternal Priesthood and His Supernatural Kingship. Under the protection of His Immaculate Mother, we try to conform our will to the Divine Will in every moment of our lives. We wish to be modeled into faithful servants of His Kingship, who receive all their strength from Divine Grace flowing from the Holy Mysteries of the Liturgy. The center of our spiritual life is the Altar and the Divine Office.” This is true. I can realize this truth more and more every day. Our Archbishop, Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson wrote the preface for the Oratory’s booklet in which he says “We are proud of the contributions the Catholic Church has made to the rich traditions and history of all our community and our state.” This is true. People and Clergy in Saint Louis


have a genuine love of God. It is a blessing for me to exercise my ministry in Saint Louis as a part of local and universal Church. Q. Tell us about the homeschool co-op at the Oratory; what it is, how it’s organized, and what have been the greatest challenges and rewards of teaching. A. In the spirit of the Apostolic Constitution Sacrae Disciplinae Legis (Pope John Paul II, 1983), Catholic parents are specifically graced by Christ to exercise the charism of teaching their children in accord with the magisterium of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. To that aim, the Saint Francis de Sales Homeschool Co-op was established as an aid to parents in providing this education to their children in matters of faith, academics, social direction, and to provide an environment of support for the parents to their home schooling endeavor, all of which is to give greater glory to God. The Co-op is an organization under the leadership of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, and the day-to-day affairs of the Co-op are managed by a volunteer committee. Indeed the children are the future of the Church and our society; they need a very solid formation to be able to carry the responsibility of life. The homeschool co-op at Saint Francis de Sales began fall of 2007 with approximately 22 families. There were around 60 children in K-8th grade at the beginning. We were given access to half of the 3rd floor of the 1888 building (the former grade school of Saint Francis de Sales Parish, built in 1888), which was full of debris. We had to clean it and do many repairs. We offered Latin, Catechism, art, music, drama, science, and physical education. By the grace of God and the tireless efforts of both mothers and teachers, the homeschool co-op at Saint Francis de Sales has grown into the 28 families and almost 100 students!

By the grace of God and the tireless efforts of both mothers and teachers, the homeschool co-op at Saint Francis de Sales has grown into the 28 families and almost 100 students! Jesus said that ‘you are in this world but not of this world.’ In this secularized world the desire of parents to keep their children apart from the world might be very great. Nevertheless Jesus says that you should be in this world. So our objective is to educate our children so they can be strong enough to resist against the temptation of this world. Our goals reach much further than just the education of the children, who are the future to edify the Church and convert the world. This is a real challenge, especially in our days when government has become too strong and wants to dictate everything, but our mothers are very courageous. They will begin this year putting together a group for our young people, grades 7-12, to socialize and contribute to the Oratory. This will offer opportunities for the children to volunteer at the Oratory by cleaning, babysitting, fundraising, and just being available to the parish needs, as well as opportunities to volunteer outside the Oratory with prolife work and visiting the elderly. Also, the mothers like the thought of the young people having the chance to spend time with like-minded people and have fun. Children have still very tender hearts. They can sense the truth and the good. And they are very eager to learn and grow up. So it is the greatest reward of teaching for me to see that they absorb and assimilate our teachings and grow up in the love and the truth of God.

This is a real challenge, especially in our days when government has become too strong and wants dictate everything, but our mothers are very courageous. Q. I know you are very active in Sursum Corda. Tell us about this organization and any upcoming events. A. Sursum Corda is a national young adults group, ages 18 to 35, under the direction of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The goal of the Institute is to extend the reign of Christ in society. To this end the Sursum Corda group is formed to foster the necessary harmony between spiritual, social and cultural life of the youth. This is done through group prayer, faith discussion, fun activities, and charity work as a means of building up

15 | Page

Catholic identity. In our age we can get almost everything in a very fast and convenient way. Social networking often fuels and informs our personal lives, but we also need personal contact to share our joys, dreams, and concerns with other young people so that all of us can be encouraged to continue our lives in the love of God. Pope Francis encourages us to build up the culture of encounter and dialogue. Of course e-mail is a wonderful way to communicate, but to see our friends face to face, talk and share a time together is indispensable in our lives. I would like to cite a text, which one of our group members wrote about our last gathering. You can feel their joy. “Last weekend saw another enjoyable Sursum Corda get-together at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory. This one was made more special by the addition of some of the young adults from the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago! A few enthusiastic Saint Louis Sursum Cordians were on hand to greet them on Friday night but the majority of the record attendance (41!!) came on Saturday, which began with eight ‘o clock Mass. After a breakfast in the hall, everyone piled into vehicles for the hour and a half drive to Onandoga Cave in Leesburg, MO. In spite of being very cold and clammy, the cave tour was most impressive and instructive. Everyone had a chance to discuss the cave at a picnic lunch outside of the visitor’s center before enjoying some barbecue and volleyball! “We were also treated to a spiritual conference by Canon Ueda on Pope Francis’ new encyclical Lumen Fidei, a powerful reminder of the importance of faith in our lives. The gathering broke up after ten ‘o clock Mass, followed by brunch on Sunday to end one of the most enjoyable weekends of my life. Things at the convent were never quiet as the girls discussed everything from old movies, to the Civil War, to family Christmas traditions!” On Saturday, 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and sixth anniversary of the implementation of Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio “Summorum P o n t i f i c u m ”, Sursum Corda visited the Shrine of Saint Joseph, located just north of downtown Saint Louis. Founded in 1843 by the Jesuits, the Shrine is a beautiful example of Romanesque SURSUM CORDA visits the Shrine of Saint Joseph in Saint Louis, MO R e v i v a l for High Mass. architecture, and is the location of the only Vatican-authenticated miracle in the Midwest. Although we have visited the Shrine in the past, this time we were able to have a High Mass, with a choir formed from our own members. The Mass was open to the public and I am grateful to Divine Providence for this timely grace.

St. Francis de Sales, ora pro nobis

R.


16 | Page


A Passion for England The Astonishing Story of the Passionists by Christopher Gillibrand, MA

‘From their commencement of their existence as a body, Passionists have been sighing to shed their blood for England.’

— Passionist Father Ignatius Spencer,

O

f all the amazing stories surrounding England and Christianity, the story of the Congregation of the Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (‘Passionists’) stands out. What can one say about a group of Italian idealists – monks and priests – who consecrated their lives to the conversion of England, just when all seemed darkest for the Catholic cause?

For it was almost 200 years after Henry broke from Rome, in the waning days of 1720, that Saint Paul of the Cross recorded his thoughts and prayers in a diary kept during a Forty Day retreat whilst writing the Rule of his Passionist order. On the Feast of Saint Stephen, December 26, he tells us, ‘On Thursday I experienced a particular spiritual uplift, especially during Holy Communion. I longed to go and die as a martyr in some place where the adorable mystery of the most Blessed Sacrament is denied. The Infinite Goodness has given me this desire for some time, but today I felt it in a special way. I desired the conversion of heretics, especially in England and the neighbouring kingdoms, and I offered a special prayer for this intention during Holy Communion.’

rooted in the mind of our Holy Founder. Barberi had long shared the devotion of his Founder towards England. In 1831, he wrote the Lamentation for England, modelled on the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, Ah yes! England was once that island, that was with reason called the island of saints; ah it was that land that abounded with soothing milk for its children, with the honey of sweetness and the fruits of holiness. Oh England whither has thy beauty fled, how has thy loveliness disappeared? Ah this was the abode of all beauty, that rejoiced the whole earth! oh how it is now left destitute! her people groan, her children beg their bread, but they can find no one who gives them any thing but poisoned food. Alas! alas! unhappy England, all thy beauty is departed from thee. The deeply emotional Barberi pulled no punches when allocating the blame for the unhappy state of the spiritual desert that was England, Our temples, those venerable churches which were built by our ancestors and dedicated to thy divine majesty which, in the happy days of old England when we were thy elect people, we used to assemble before thee, have been seized and polluted by strangers, by the followers of Calvin and Cranmer, and innumerable other heretics, who impiously blaspheme thee in their infamous conventicles. Alas my God! alas divine Jesus! alas for these holy churches erected in ancient times by the hands of thy holy saints, where thy everlasting gospel was daily announced to us! alas for these churches, in which an innumerable company of thy servants each day and each hour of the day lifted up their suppliant hands to thy divine majesty!

Three days later, on the Feast of that most faithful of all English martyrs, Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Paul wrote ‘I had a particular inspiration to pray for the conversion of England, especially since I wanted the standard of the faith to be raised there so that the devotion, reverence, homage, love and frequent adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament …would be increased.’ For the fifty years of his life that followed, Paul was unable to pray without pleading for the conversion of England, such was the height and breadth of his devotion and love. He said indeed, ‘As soon as I pray, England comes before my eyes.’ He was often heard to murmur during the day, ‘Ah! England, England: let us pray for England!’ Often during Mass, he would fall into ecstasy, ‘Where was I just now? I was in spirit in England considering the great martyrs of times past and praying God for that Kingdom.’ He even had a mystical vision shortly before he died, after which he was full of tears, crying ‘Oh, what I have seen, my children in England!’ Paul’s spiritual sons, the Passionists would no more forget England than Jeremiah would forget Jerusalem — as the prophet attests in Jeremiah 51.50: Remember the Lord from afar, And let Jerusalem come to your mind. Generations of Passionists worked and prayed for the fulfilment of Saint Paul’s desire to send missionaries to England. Indeed, it wasn’t until 120 years later that it began to bear fruit in an extraordinary series of conversions. The Italian Peasant Dominic Barberi couldn’t have come from a more different milieu than learned and aristocratic Oxford. His parents were peasant farmers outside Viterbo, Italy who died while Dominic was still a small boy. He was employed to take care of sheep, and when he grew older he did farm work. He was taught his letters by a Capuchin priest, and learned to read from a country lad of his own age; although he read all the books he could obtain, he had no regular education until he entered the Passionists. In 1844, Barberi wrote to the Passionist Superior General, Father Anthony Testa, declaring England is our portion, our vineyard, more than any other place in the world, That thought was always dear beyond words, and deep-

17 | Page

A Fascinating Connection Today, the extraordinary work of these 19th century missionaries has been re-interpreted in some circles with unfortunate results. Identifying Fathers Barberi or Spencer (who founded the Prayer Crusade for the Conversion of England) as prototypes of modern ecumenism is misleading. Indeed, it tends to distract from the real-life conversation and connection amongst these Victorian-era divines, which is fascinating. Spencer did desire Christian unity and even once visited John Henry Newman, while the latter was still an Anglican, to invite him to join the Catholic Church. Newman sent Spencer away but he was later put in touch with Dominic Barberi by an earlier convert from Anglicanism, the remarkable, John Dobree Dalgairns, a product of Exeter College, Oxford and later himself an Oratorian. In fact, it was Dalgairns’ letter to the French Catholic newspaper, L’Univers, while he was still an Anglican (he converted in 1844) which prompted the second great piece of writing from the pen of Dominic Barberi, the heartfelt Letter to the Professors of the University of Oxford. Dalgairns had maintained, against the clearest meaning of the text and all reason, that the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Book of Common Prayer could be interpreted as being consistent with the Decrees of the Ecumenical


Council of Trent. This theory Barberi methodically and lovingly takes apart, prefacing his remarks in the most emotional of terms: Although I have never seen you with the eyes of the flesh, I have always kept you in my heart; and on, how often and how fervently in the bitterness of that same heart have I besought the Lord for you! How long, O Lord, wilt Thou be forgetful of us? When will the heart of the Father be turned towards His children? How long am I to wait in expectation? When shall there be one fold and one shepherd? Wilt Thou be angry with us even for ever? Wilt thou forget us in the length of days? Thee, O Lord, do the islands expect, and thy name will they honour: but how long are they to wait?

met with laughter from his congregation. But the community increased in numbers and as the people of Aston grew to know Dominic they began to love him – the Passionists soon began to receive a steady stream of converts.

And further Not only does the Church militant here on earth, but the Church triumphant in heaven pray for you. Beautiful hope, which can be founded on the faith of the Church in the communion of saints, and on her belief in the intercession of the saints in paradise. The saints pray, especially SS Gregory, Augustine, Anselm, Thomas; they pray for England, as they always have done, I hope, even after the separation. Barberi chose his words – and his saints – carefully, intending that the stories of these ancient connections with Rome would stir some response in his learned readers’ hearts. He was also alluding to the close connections across time and space between England and Rome, tied intimately to the Passionists’ own history. Centuries before, it had been Pope Saint Gregory the Great who had sent Saint Augustine of Canterbury to England, who then converted the people by first converting the King. (This was not dissimilar to the way that Barberi hoped first to convert the nation’s intellectual and social elite of Oxford.) Saint Augustine had been sent from the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Andrew’s on the Caelian Hill which, by providence, is adjacent to the even more ancient Basilica of Saint Paul and Saint John, of which the Passionists took possession in December 1773. In May 1832, Ignatius Spencer had been ordained in the Church of Saint Gregory, which is attached to Saint Andrew’s, on the Feast Day of Saint Augustine of Canterbury itself. Father Spencer waited another fifteen years before seeking admission into the Passionists, but in his person and on this day united the special place in which England is held by the Benedictine and Passionist orders. Every Saturday, the English Benedictines are meant to say a Salve Regina for the conversion of England, following a promise made to Father Spencer by the Rector of the English Benedictine College at Douai in 1854. Aristocrats and Intellectuals Dominic Barberi’s first meeting with an Englishman was when he instructed the widowed Sir Harry Trelawney, 5th Baronet, on how to say Mass. The seventy year old convert, about to be priested, was accompanied by his daughter, who had herself been the first to convert. Trelawney was a living connection with history, as the 1st Baronet had distinguished himself in the service of King Charles I. After finally arriving in England and establishing a religious house in Aston, Dominic Barberi’s greatest convert, however, was undoubtedly John Henry Cardinal Newman. The historical importance of this conversion should not be underestimated- Masses of thanksgiving were said and Te Deums sung throughout the continent when they heard the story of England’s greatest theologian kneeling before the astonished Italian peasant priest: ‘What a spectacle it was for me to see Newman at my feet! All that I have suffered since I have left Italy has been well compensated by that great event and I hope that the effects of such a conversion may be great.’ Barberi could not have known what a bounty he would help to harvest. Indeed in the nineteenth century the list of converts from the English aristocracy and the gentry filled no less than 106 pages, headed by a duke, two marquises, ten earls, twenty-two lords, twenty-seven baronets or knights, seventeen honourables and forty squires. Barberi In England

“The second spring did not begin when Newman converted nor when the hierarchy was restored. It began on a bleak October day of 1841, when a little Italian priest in comical attire shuffled down a ship’s gangway at Folkestone.” In February, 1842, after twenty-eight years of effort, Dominic Barberi established the Passionists at Aston Hall in Staffordshire. His reception was less than welcoming, as local Catholics feared these newcomers would cause renewed persecutions. His attempts to read prayers in English were

18 | Page

In neighboring Stone where Dominic would say Mass and preach to the local populace, youths would throw rocks at him. (Two such converted to Catholicism when they saw Dominic kiss each rock that hit him and place it in his pocket.) Local Protestant ministers often held anti – Catholic lectures and sermons. One followed Dominic along a street shouting out various arguments against transubstantiation. The priest was silent, but as the man was about to turn off, Dominic suddenly retorted: “Jesus Christ said over the consecrated elements, “This is my body” you say “No. It is not his body!” Who then am I to believe? I prefer to believe Jesus Christ.” Converts increased at Stone, so much so that a new church had to be built. It was at Aston however that in June 1844 that the first Corpus Christi procession since the Reformation was held in the British Isles, an event which attracted thousands of Catholics and Protestants alike.Dominic then began to visit other parishes and religious communities in order to preach. His ‘missions’ frequently took place in the industrial cities of northern England, such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham – just as John Henry Newman (see article, this issue) had requested as a sign of the ‘true’ Church.

R.

IT REALLY IS OKAY (You can reprint Regina articles for your parish bulletin!)


Pilgrimage

iN the Footsteps oF st. beNedict By Syversen Touring

September 17-26, 2014

Norcia

Join Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B. and the Monks of Norcia for a pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Benedict!

TOUR DETAILS Approximate Cost: $3695.00, includes: • Round Trip non-stop airfare from NY JFK • Land travel by luxury coach • 3 and 4 star hotel accommodations w/private bath (Cost is based on double room occupancy) • Breakfast & dinner daily • All entrance fees where needed For additional information, please contact:

19 | Page

assisi

subiaco

moNtecassiNo

rome

hIghLIghTS • The Monastery of San Benedetto, Norcia; birthplace of SS Benedict & Scholastica • Joining the Monks of Norcia for Vespers & Compline • Monasteries of Subiaco & Monte Cassino, founded by St. Benedict • Assisi, birthplace of SS Francis & Clare • Rome, the Eternal City • Papal Audience with Our Holy Father, Pope Francis

SyverSen Touring:

email

info@syversentouring.com

or

email

development@osbnorcia.org

The monkS of norcia:

1-800-334-5425 (toll free)/ 1-845-868-1597 Tel (812) 686-6102 Tel


by Nina Jurewicz

A Visit To Clear Creek Monastery

‘Ora et Labora’ in Oklahoma

S

aint Benedict of Nursia was a fifth century mystic, whose famous Rule ended up underpinning a Catholic Order which literally saved Western Civilization after the fall of the Roman Empire. His Rule, balancing a life of ‘ora et labora’ (‘work and prayer’), is a masterpiece of wisdom about the possibilities and realities of human nature. Benedict himself is today called the Father of Western Monasticism by the Church. Today, Benedict’s spiritual sons still walk in his footsteps in Benedictine Abbeys all over the world. In this intimate look at the life of the monks of Clear Creek Monastery in rural Oklahoma, Nina Jurewicz conducts us on a exclusive tour of this ancient way of life that is drawing so many young Catholic men into Benedict’s Order once again.

20 | Page

WORKING TOWARDS SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The Benedictines of Clear Creek may use modern tools, but their life is still very much governed by the ancient Rule of Saint Benedict.


(top left) CLEAR CREEK’S BENEDICTINES work hard and pray hard. (middle left)FATHER ABBOT ANDERSON leads a monastery procession. The Abbot learned about the great traditions of Catholicism whilst studying under the late Professor John Senior at the University of Kansas. (middle right)THE RULE OF SAINT BENEDICT provides for a time for work, a time for prayer and a time for recreation.

21 | Page VINCIT! Clear Creek’s monks process for Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form. CHRISTUS

R.


22 | Page


the Parishes

23 | Page


How We Got Here A First Christmas for the Latin Mass in a Thoroughly Modern Parish

F

or the past two years, Father Philip Clement has been one of the parochial vicars of Incarnation parish, near St. Petersburg, Florida. Father Clements studied philosophy at Christendom College and then attended St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was ordained in 2008 and said his first Traditional Latin Mass on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.

On February 20, 2012, I had dinner with the pastor, and at some point in the course of the conversation the fact that I had been saying the Traditional Latin Mass since the previous November came up, and he offered me the Sunday afternoon timeslot in which to offer the Latin Mass in our parish. Needless to say I was stunned, as that was not the purpose of our conversation, but he offered it anyway. I took it to prayer, and two days later I informed him that I would love the opportunity. By that point I was proficient in saying the Low Mass and had learned much about the history of the Mass in general. Since the Traditional Latin Mass was relatively new to me, I assumed it would be for our parishioners as well, except for the few who might have remembered it from their childhood. Since my first Mass on November 27th, I’ve been hooked.

In this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, Father Clement recounts the story of how Incarnation Parish has become a beloved locale for the Latin Mass. The story of this parish shows us yet again how a thriving parish community with a strong future can grow, even against all expectations in a modern church, with an aging population. Q. Tell us about Incarnation Parish. Incarnation parish is located in the Town N Country area of Tampa, Florida, which is centrally located in the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It was created in 1962 and has roughly 3,200 families. The pastor is the Very Rev. Michael Suszynski, and he has been pastor of Incarnation parish for four years. Q. How did you become involved with the TLM? Early in 2011 I was asked by one of the three priests in our diocese who said the Latin Mass at that time if I could fill in for him while he was away on vacation. I did not know how to say the Latin Mass but had a deep interest in learning. This priest friend of mine instructed me on how to say the Mass, and with lots of study and practice, I was able to cover his parish’s Latin Mass while he was out of town.

Thereafter, I made opportunities in my schedule to make the 35 minute drive to his parish to continue helping him with his Latin Masses. Since my first Mass on November 27th, I’ve been hooked. Q. When did you introduce the TLM? Prior to 2012, Incarnation Parish did not have a Traditional Latin Mass. We also had a very unique situation, as our parish did not have a Sunday evening Mass on the schedule.

24 | Page

Q. How did you get parishioners interested? I decided to offer the parishioners a three-part seminar on the Traditional Latin Mass, which covered preparation for Mass, the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful. It was a great success and was attended by over 200 people. Each part of the seminar was given in successive weeks and ended on the fourth week with our inaugural Mass, the very first Traditional Latin Mass offered in our fifty year old parish on May 6, 2012. Our three- part parish seminar on the Latin Mass was a great success and was attended by over 200 people. Q. So, the Mass just took from there? Not really. Immediately after May 6th, administrative problems prevented us from continuing with the Latin Mass for a period of six months. By November 4, 2012, we were able to add the Traditional Latin Mass to the regular Mass schedule. At that time it was only me saying the Latin Mass in our parish, and my schedule would only allow me to offer the Mass twice per month, and I was content in moving forward as such. However, the following month I met a Jesuit priest at the local Jesuit High School in Tampa who knew how to say not only the Low Mass but the


High Mass and the Solemn High Mass, and this offered our Traditional Latin Mass community a huge opportunity. Fr. Patrick Hough, S.J. came aboard January 20, 2013 and said his first Latin Mass at Incarnation. Now that Fr. Hough was available to assist with the Latin Mass, we were able to start offering the Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday, and we have been doing so since January of this year. In addition to being able to offer the Latin Mass every Sunday, we were now able to start offering the High Mass and the Solemn High Mass as well. Incarnation had its first High Mass on February 24th of this year and our first Solemn High Mass on Pentecost Sunday, May 19th. Q. That is a lot of work! What is the current situation?

we invited Fr. Samuel Weber, O.S.B. an expert in Sacred Music to give us a seminar on sacred cantilation. He shared with us his love for sacred music and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Since beginning grade school in 1953, Fr. Weber has been studying and singing Gregorian chant. In April 2008, he became the founder and first director of The Institute of Sacred Music in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The Institute of Sacred Music was established by Archbishop Raymond E. Burke to promote the sacred liturgy and Gregorian Chant. In this seminar, Fr. Weber spoke about sacred cantilation and the primacy of place sacred music has in the liturgy. He also gave two sessions to train our schola and our altar servers, both of which were open to registrants who wished to sit in and learn more about how Gregorian Chant is sung and why the altar servers do what they do. We were very blessed to have Fr. Weber visit and instruct us, and the results of that instruction can certainly be seen and heard in the voices of Incarnation’s schola. The Institute of Sacred Music was established by Archbishop Raymond E. Burke to promote the sacred liturgy and Gregorian Chant.

Since that time I have been able to learn the High Mass and the priest and sub-deacon’s parts for the Solemn High Mass, which allows us to have a very full Sunday schedule each month. Currently, the first Sunday of the month is a Low Mass, followed by two High Masses on the second and third Sundays, and a Solemn High Mass on the fourth Sunday. All in all, I believe we have come a long way in just one year. This should encourage any parish considering starting the Traditional Latin Mass to follow the Spirit’s lead, bring it to the people, and have confidence that there is much support for the Ancient Mass of the Saints. We have come a long way in just one year. This should encourage any parish considering starting the Traditional Latin Mass to follow the Spirit’s lead, bring it to the people, and have confidence that there is much support for the Ancient Mass of the Saints. Q. How has sacred music played a part in the transformation of your parish? Yes. Before we could offer the High Mass or Solemn High Mass in our parish, we first needed to explore the opportunity of starting a sacred music program. In the beginning, we invited a chant schola from a neighboring parish to come to sing the Mass parts for our first High Mass. We also invited them to continue singing motets and hymns at our Low Masses, and interest continued to develop. Soon thereafter we were able to start our sacred music program, as we had just hired a new Director of Music in the parish who had experience playing and conducting chant choirs, as a well as a young man who volunteered to direct our schola. They have been working very hard to build the program and have done a wonderful job. Fr. Hough also is an accomplished musician and has a lot of experience directing sacred music. His influence and direction has been a tremendous benefit to the process, and we are happy to have him assist in our parish. In addition to Fr. Hough’s direction for the schola, in February of this year,

25 | Page

Q. Have you introduced any other changes — more frequent confessions, First Friday devotions, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament or any others? Only recently were we able to start our new monthly Mass schedule, where we are able to offer a Low Mass, two High Masses and one Solemn High Mass per month. Much of my time has been spent tending to the necessary details and to training our altar boys. Therefore, not many other changes have been implemented at this time. We are working towards being able to offer Confession before every Mass and occasional Forty Hour Devotions during the year, but that is only in the planning stages at this time. Our parish has had First Friday devotions, including Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, for years so no major changes have to take place regarding those devotions. However, we are planning to offer more hours of Exposition and Adoration in the near future. Q. How are your CCD and RCIA programs? Well-attended? What catechetical materials do you use? Our CCD and RCIA programs are very well attended. Even though the population growth rate has been stable in recent years due to the aging of the area, we are consistently welcoming new families into the parish and into the Faith through the sacraments of initiation. This year our CCD program switched resources, and we are now using the Faith and Life series from Ignatius Press. Even though the population growth rate has been stable in recent years due to the aging of the area, we are consistently welcoming new families into the parish and into the Faith through the sacraments of initiation. Q. How does the Latin Mass work in your modern church building? Our current church building is of typical modern design, complete with a resurrected Jesus behind the square, wooden, detached altar.


As is common with many churches today, there isn’t much within it to build upon for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. Even though the church is modern architecture, we were able to come up with a way to beautifully modify the current altar to make it acceptable for the Latin Mass.

In order to foster continued growth in the community and build relationships between the Latin Mass parishioners, we have periodic potluck dinners after our Solemn High Masses. God has truly blessed our parish.

Q. This will be your first year offering the TLM at Christmas. How do you think parishioners will react to this? What plans are you making, both to help people keep a holy Advent and Christmastide?

Q. How have these changes been received in your parish? Incarnation Parish has been in existence for fifty-one years, and for forty-six of those years, our parishioners have been used to the Novus Ordo. While our parishioners are wonderful, the modern influence has had an effect on some of them as well. When the Latin Mass was first introduced in our parish, we received the typical type of resistance, and I learned that people either love the Latin Mass or they despise it. With that knowledge, my prayer to the Lord was that if He wanted the Latin Mass in our parish, then would He please provide the funding from the people rather than having to fund the Latin Mass from the general parish funds and risk more ridicule. He obviously heard this prayer, and in less than four weeks, we raised over $20,000 to outfit the altar and to purchase all the other necessaries. The people who are appreciative of the Mass have not ceased to be more than generous in their support, whether it be monetary, spiritual or both.

Our community is slowly stabilizing, we’ve been able to include all of the Holy Days of Obligation in our schedule, and in order to help the parishioners prepare for a holy Advent and Christmastide, we are attempting to implement regular Confessions before Mass by the beginning of Advent. Plans are also in development for a Forty Hours devotion.

Q. How can people find your parish? We welcome everyone! Our website is www.sacrificiumsanctum.org and we can be found on our Facebook page “Sacrificium Sanctum.”

My prayer to the Lord was that if He wanted the Latin Mass in our parish, then would He please provide the funding from the people rather than having to fund the Latin Mass from the general parish funds and risk more ridicule. He obviously heard this prayer, and in less than four weeks, we raised over $20,000. Q. Are you attracting people to your parish? Homeschoolers? Do you find that many people are getting more involved in parish life? Altar servers? Yes. Our congregation has steadily grown to the point that we average 150 – 200 people per Mass. Ages range from infancy to the early 90’s. We

have done baptisms and Masses for the dead, but we have not yet had a wedding. Many of the families are young with young children and are homeschooling families. In my opinion, this has added to the supply of our fifteen-plus altar boys. These young men are eager to learn and excited to serve, and we already have one young man discerning entering the seminary.

26 | Page

R.


27 | Page


He Didn’t Need To Learn How To Veil a Chalice Reverend Leonard R. Klein is the pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Wilmington, Delaware. He’s been hard at work restoring beauty there — both in the liturgy and in the church’s architecture. 28 | Page

photos by Allison Girone


Q. What has been your experience of Latin? A. I have long loved the Latin language, which plays an important role in Lutheran tradition and theology. I grew up with a hymnal that had the Latin names for the Sundays of Lent clearly printed. I also have a deep love for serious church music and considerable choral experience and have sung the occasional solo. I also was from the “high church” movement in Lutheranism and so much of the ceremonial and even the rationale of the older form of the Mass were familiar and comfortable to me. I did not need to learn how to veil a chalice. So I like to joke that my Lutheran background prepared me well for the Latin Mass, and I have developed a deep affection for celebrating it.

So I like to joke that my Lutheran background prepared me well for the Latin Mass, and I have developed a deep affection for celebrating it. Q. How did you train for the TLM? A. I had the advantage of a strong Latin background; I can read the rubrics without much difficulty. The previous pastor, knowing something of my background, had provided me with an instructional DVD. I have availed myself of materials from St. John Cantius in Chicago and keep Fr. Schmitz’ “Mastering the Rubrics of the 1962 Missal” on my desk.

who are not registered in the parish. Our homeschoolers are deeply concerned about Catholic identity and integrity and they find that in the EF Mass. Because they are concerned with classical education, they value the use of the Latin language. Some are musically sophisticated and find the situation in too many local parishes unsustainable. The EF Mass also helps them sustain their community.

Homeschoolers are deeply concerned about Catholic identity and integrity. Q. We understand that that the local Regina Coeli Society has kept the Latin Mass alive in Delaware. A. Like many such groups, the Society formed in reaction to the clumsy introduction of the Novus Ordo and the devastation of sanctity and sacred music that came with it. One of our widows says that they began attending years ago when her husband turned to her and said he was tired of the ‘comedy hour.’ Such attitudes could, I suppose, be called reactionary. But people were reacting in fact to things that are indefensible. I remember well as a Lutheran shaking my head with fellow clergy about what the Catholics were doing to themselves, even as we were following a comparable but more prudent path of liturgical renewal.

Because of my liturgical and Latin background I was able to celebrate my first Low Mass about six weeks after arriving in the parish. The assistance of Steve Girone and Fr. Michael Darcy was invaluable, as has been the occasional tip from a parishioner.

I have availed myself of materials from St. John Cantius in Chicago and keep Fr. Schmitz’ “Mastering the Rubrics of the 1962 Missal” on my desk. Q. We understand that you have undertaken quite a renovation scheme at St. Patrick’s? A. Yes, early on my arrival I organized a building committee, and we came up with a plan. We chipped away at a few things. We shortened the old wrought iron pulpit, which was too high for the small building. The bathrooms, which were in horrible condition, were repaired. A year or so ago we replaced the ugly plywood doors to the sacristy. My predecessor had begun the repainting of statues; I moved on to St. Joseph, but we needed to replace that statue, which we did. I replaced the over-sized free-standing altar with something more suitable to the building. We painted the front walls a classy yellow and people were thrilled with the improvement. After receiving the enthusiastic support of the Parish Council and permission from the diocese, we then really moved ahead. The ceiling was replaced with something more attractive; a wood laminate floor was installed; the pews were reoriented to face forwards and the old platform demolished. An altar rail will be installed tomorrow. The whole interior is repainted; the remaining two statues are being painted by a skilled young artist who has also gilded the marble arches on the face of the altars, and the sound system is being updated. Repairs are also being made to the organ. The project will take about a quarter of the parish’s reserves but our portion of the Capital Appeal will restore a decent percentage of that. My goal is to restore the beauty of St. Patrick’s and to ready it for future service to the diocese.

Q. Tell us about your parish and your homeschooling community. A. St. Patrick’s counts about 170 households over all. Perhaps a quarter of those are regular Latin Mass families. There are also a number of regular worshipers

The liturgy at my Lutheran parish in York, PA, would serve well as a good example of reverent and serious Novus Ordo Mass. The Regina Coeli Society have hung in there and given each other wonderful support. I should also add that their presence has been essential to maintaining this church and its downtown mission over the last eighteen years that they have been here.

R.


A Return to Reverence in Missouri |One Priest’s Story A Q&A with Father Jeffery Jambon Q. Father Jeffery Jambon, tell us a bit about your background.

A.

I was born in 1971 in New Orleans, and graduated from Archbishop Shaw High School, an all-boys high school run by the Salesians of St Don Bosco. Two weeks after graduation in 1989, I joined the Legionaries of Christ in Cheshire, Connecticut. After many years of study, I was ordained a priest on December 22, 2001 in St Mary Major, Rome by Cardinal Severino Polletto, the Archbishop of Turin, Italy. Up until 2010, I studied and had assignments around the world — in Dublin, Ireland; Salamanca, Spain; Gdansk, Poland; Germany; Santiago, Chile; Sacramento, California; Edgerton, Wisconsin and Quitana Roo, Mexico. When Pope Benedict XVI asked that the Order be refounded, I decided to discern an exclaustration period and served for a time in my home diocese of New Orleans.

In 2012, I became the full time chaplain of the Benedictines of Mary in Gower, Missouri, in the diocese of Kansas City / St Joseph run by Bishop Finn. The Benedictines of Mary are a Latin Mass community of nuns faithful to the spirit of St Benedict. In late June 2013 — while remaining full time chaplain—I became pastor of St Patrick’s Catholic Church in St Joseph, Mo. St Patrick’s is a trilingual parish, with Mass in Latin, English and Spanish. The Benedictines of Mary are a Latin Mass community of nuns faithful to the spirit of St Benedict. In late June 2013 — while remaining full time chaplain—I became pastor of St Patrick’s Catholic Church in St Joseph, Mo. Q. Tell us about the history of St Patrick’s Parish in St Joseph.

A.

St Patrick’s parish was founded by Irish settlers in 1869. It was the 3rd Parish built in St Joseph, Mo at the time. The growth of St Patrick’s is the story of the prosperity of the Golden age of the Catholic Church. Nuns were present (from St Mary’s of Lockport, New York). They staffed a school and a vibrant parish. This was the reality of St Patrick’s back in the 1950s. The fifth pastor of St Patrick’s was an Irishman, Msgr. John O’Neil, who served from 1935 until 1956. He installed the present high altar and the side altars of the sanctuary, made of three different marbles from Italy: Carrera marble, Trani marble and

30 | Page


Algerian onyx. These altars were ordered before World War II but the war interrupted service. However, immediately following the war they were finally shipped to St Patrick’s.

if I had competition for the Latin Mass, I would get less but even as I have a total monopoly over it in St Joseph I only get about 10 to 15 people at best.

The Faith was strong, and many children attended the parochial school. Education was free in those days, thanks to Msgr O’Neil and the strong local Catholic Culture. The Faith was strong, and many children attended the parochial school. Education was free in those days, thanks to Monsignor O’Neil and the strong local Catholic Culture. Q. Sounds great! What about the recent history of the parish?

A.

After the Second Vatican Council many changes occurred in St Patrick’s. The communion rail was ripped out, the nuns disappeared and many other disturbing things of this nature. I cannot here indicate which changes were for the worse or the best; I will just use the phrase from our Lord, “Judge a tree by its fruits.” After much struggle, the school has been closed down for eight years now and Catholic marriages in the church are at an all-time low in St Patrick’s. We only have about six or seven kids in CCD class for First Communion. That is it — no other grades and no children for Confirmation. The school has been closed down for eight years now and Catholic marriages in the church are at an all-time low in St Patrick’s. We only have about six or seven kids in CCD class for First Communion. Q. This is very sad, Father. What are you doing there today?

A.

We have about 320 families registered, though not all attend Mass every week. We have three communities: Latin Mass Community, American Novus Ordo and the Hispanic Novus Ordo and we serve them in multiple ways: • Confessions 30 minutes before each Mass and 3pm-3:50pm on Saturdays • 7am Monday English Mass on the High Altar • 7am Tuesday Latin Mass on the High Altar • 8am Wednesday English Mass on the Novus Ordo Table facing the people • 8am Thursday Mass on the Novus Ordo Table facing the people • 8am Friday Mass on the Novus Ordo Table facing the people followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on the high altar and Benediction after 20 minutes of silence.

Q. Do you have active participation of parishioners?

A.

Annual events like the parish fair are very well attended; it’s called the Mexican Fiesta. It is classified as the 5th biggest event in St Joseph, Mo. It consists in folklore dances, food and family atmosphere whose income for the parish is enhanced largely due to the yearly success.

• 4pm Saturday Vigil English Mass facing the people on Altar Table

Q. What are your goals for the parish?

• 8am Sunday Latin Sung High Mass on high altar

A.

• 10:30am Sunday English Mass facing the people on altar table • 12:30pm Sunday Spanish Mass facing the people on altar table • 8pm Sunday English Deanery Mass facing the people on altar table On First Saturdays, we offer 9:30 am Confessions followed by 10am English Mass on the high altar. Then, 10:40 Exposition of the blessed sacrament on the high altar after which the priest directs 15 minute meditation on a mystery or mysteries of the Rosary. At 10:55, there is a Recitation of the Rosary while priest confesses more and at 11:15 Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Q. Do you have any young people or young families?

A.

These are very few. Most are very small families. I am surprised that since I am the only parish in St Joseph, MO with the Latin Mass offered twice a week, I get very few people attending. I can see

My goal is to lead the flock to Christ through reverence for the Sacred Liturgy. I am working to convince everyone of the need to go to Confession once a month or more, to protect Catholic identity, to protect Catholic education and to rediscover the beauty of the Latin Mass. • I also would like to help people see the importance of keeping silence in the church building and to visit the Blessed Sacrament with love and devotion frequently outside of Mass. • I would also like to have people love the Blessed Virgin Mary. I am working to promote vocations little by little; using altar boys exclusively. • I am working to arrange the sanctuary as much as possible so that it reminds us of the Sacred. So it is paramount to remove pianos, drums (which I have already done) and to restore statues and so forth.

R. 31 | Page


32 | Page


Bringing the ‘Catholic’ Back to a California Parish Pundits are fond of pointing out that ‘California leads the nation’ when it comes to trends. Here’s one such an example, in a priest who has been quietly laboring in the Lord’s vineyard in Newark, California.

Can you tell us the story of your parish, as you found it? St. Edward Catholic Church is located in Newark, CA, in the southern end of the Diocese of Oakland. On my arrival here in 2004, the liturgy was exclusively contemporary music, generally from contemporary Christian music sources. The Gloria and the Memorial acclamations used were unapproved texts and there was an active liturgical dance troupe that performed at the main liturgies. Here I heard one of our “best” catechists tell the students they could decide for themselves who Jesus was for them. After a year of struggle I was able to fire the music director and hire a new one in September, 2005. I am still struggling with the Catechetical program although there have been some improvements in the First Communion program.

The Gloria and the Memorial acclamations used were unapproved texts and there was an active liturgical dance troupe that performed at the main liturgies. Was this because of the ‘spirit’ of Vatican II? Vatican II never told us to stop using Latin. Vatican II never told us to turn our altars around and Vatican II never told us to take out the altar rails. It was the introduction of the Latin that got most of the reaction. I was pegged as a traditionalist and accused of taking us backward. It really did not help to cite chapter and verse, but it was clear that no one had read the documents of Vatican II.

Father Keyes, what is your background and training? I entered the seminary in 1971. In four years I learned how to play guitar and got a degree in Thomistic Philosophy. I left the seminary in 1976 and worked in a hot dog stand and an insurance company before re-entering another seminary in 1977. The ‘70s did horrific damage to the church and I was criticized for associating priesthood too closely to the sacraments and worship and not enough to social justice. They did not want a “musical priest.” I was also told to throw away that old Thomistic stuff. Disgusted and hurt, I went back to selling hotdogs and making music in a liberal Catholic church on Sunday evenings. I also spent summers in the mid-West working on Graduate Degree in Liturgy and music. When I first got to that Midwest College, all my professors in music were priests, Precious Blood Priests. I am especially grateful to Fr. Bob Onofrey and Fr. Larry Heiman for encouraging me to be both musician and priest. After all, if they could do it, why could I not do it? Fr. Heiman would become my mentor in Gregorian Chant for more than 30 years until his death at the age of 92. I joined the Precious Blood community in 1988. I was professed in 1990 and ordained to the priesthood, October 26, 1991. In my early days as a new priest I served as Vocation Director and as Lay Associate Director and then was made pastor of St. Barnabas, Alameda in 1994. In 2001 I went to Chicago as Director of Formation and then became Pastor of St. Edward in August 2004.

The ‘70s did horrific damage to the church and I was criticized for associating priesthood too closely to the sacraments and worship and not enough to social justice.

33 | Page

With ‘Alleluia’ and ‘Amen,’ the people respond with Hebrew and Aramaic without thinking, and even an ‘80s Rock groups sings “Kyrie Eleison” because the words sound “powerful.” But some people avoid Latin like it is the plague because they do not understand it. Any adult Catholic who does not know what “Agnus Dei” means is simply not trying. The following was posted to the parish Facebook page in February 2013: “I will only attend the mass here as long as it’s not Fr. Keys. I don’t know how he turned this church into like a singing contest. He sings from the beginning to the end. He also sometimes do it in Latin. Who understand latin in USA? Not me. Most of the parishioners that used to attend the mass here are now attending in Holy Spirit or St. Anne. Fr. Keys, please bring the old St. Edwards tradition back 20-30 years ago. Fr. Jim is the only one doing an excellent job.”


But some people avoid Latin like it is the plague because they do not understand it. Any adult Catholic who does not know what “Agnus Dei” means is simply not trying. This was my response: • The center here is Jesus, Not Fr. Keyes or Fr. Jim. It is not about the priest. The priest is supposed to disappear. • Singing contest? Who are the contestants? • Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church and a unifying element in a congregation that speaks 30 languages. Beware that your anti-Latin tirade may be implicitly racist. • Vatican II placed Gregorian chant in first place. It does not have first place at St. Edward, but now it has a place. • Liberal traditions of the past are gone. Now we try to do what the Church asks. The 70’s are over. • St. Edward ‘traditions’ of 20-30 years ago were not Catholic traditions. This is a Roman Catholic Parish. • Father’s name is spelled “Keyes” • St. Anne and Holy Spirit are fine parishes and people are free to go where they want. But treating parishes like a commercial operation where you go where you like the music or the preacher is a Protestant tradition. What liturgical changes did you make when you arrived? Now in our liturgy the music is from a variety of eras and cultures and there is a Missa Cantata each Sunday. There has been a progressive introduction of the Roman propers and ordinary at the Missa Cantata. The General Instruction on the Roman Missal is observed in varying degrees over the nine Masses, but progress is being made. In September, 2012, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite returned to St. Edward after an absence of 50 years. Additionally, a cry room which also served as a meeting room has been transformed into an adoration chapel. Morning and Evening prayer from the Liturgy of Hours is now sung every day. What is your liturgy like today? At our parish, there are adult Catholics who speak French, Spanish, Portuguese and Farsi who now sing “Pater Noster” by heart; they know what they are saying and they don’t hold hands because they are praying to their Father, and they don’t lift their hands to the heavens because the real presence of our God is on the Altar in front of us. The following was posted on Yelp: Have you ever wanted to visit the Vatican and experience a liturgy there but couldn’t afford it? Well.. If you have ever been to Rome or desire to go to Rome but for some reason haven’t been able to make it to Italy, come to St. Edwards!! It’s been one of the fewest (or only?) places in the tri-city that has liturgy celebrated like they do at the Vatican. The 10am mass is very beautiful with some of the prayers sung in latin, but not to worry, the readings and the homily are in English. The choir is truly amazing that it truly feels like you’re surrounded by angels singing a heavenly hymn to God. Although I know most people prefer the upbeat music where you clap your hands and hear drumbeats. This is truly a treat and a find, and even if you could come and participate in this mass once a month (and attend mass somewhere else the rest of the weeks), you will leave truly spiritually uplifted. Hey you never know, you may start coming here every week.

“The 10am mass is very beautiful with some of the prayers sung in latin, but not to worry, the readings and the homily are in English. The choir is truly amazing that it truly feels like you’re surrounded by angels singing a heavenly hymn to God.” You either love it or you hate it. Yes, we lost several parishioners who now go to other nearby liberal parishes. Many former choir members now sing in a Presbyterian Church. But we also have many people who travel all the way from Hayward or Livermore for what they call their “Roman fix.”

34 | Page

We began with the introduction of real lectionaries, replacing the fake loose-leaf binder that had been the focus of the Word of God prior. The fake plastic green trees were removed and statues were put in their place. The fake oil candles on the altar were replaced with new floor length candle stands with tall, real 51% beeswax candles. The Advent wreath was a tall wooden stand with four blue and pink plastic candles with oil inserts. They had used them for years and the candles never burned down completely erasing some of the imagery and symbolism associated with that practice. A new wooden stand was fashioned in 2009, placing the wreath no longer in the center of the sanctuary but to the side in front of the Ambo. A Crucifix was added to the Sanctuary in 2006. That year we also refashioned the baptismal font. The old one was corroded and could have been restored, but the delight of this new font is that it looks like it belongs here, and was actually designed by someone who celebrates the sacrament. Other additions were an ambry, kneelers, and credence tables, floor altar candles and a New Easter Candle and stand. In 2013 the carpet in the Sanctuary was replaced with wood laminate and the old asbestos tile in the main body of the Church was covered with new VCT tile. In January The Church received a new coat of paint with some new colors, inside and out. In February the fiberglass Risen Jesus statue was removed from the Sanctuary, a new cross was fashioned out of Blood Wood from South Africa, and a new hand carved, hand painted Lindenwood Corpus was installed. The previous Easter Candle was an old plastic one with a small candle insert. We had a new Paschal candle stand fashioned and ordered a 40lb candle for the first Easter Vigil in 2005. (That was also the first time we did not do two Easter Vigils, one Vigil in Spanish and one in English. Now we do one Easter Vigil utilizing Latin as well as Spanish and English. We also combine the choirs. ) A Filthy, Ugly Altar Something had to be done about that altar. It was filthy and the altar clothes were ugly and in bad repair. It took two days to clean all the paste and glue from the altar. There had been many years of pasting paper banners to the front for school liturgies and first communions. There was this ugly cloth banner that was fashioned each year PARISHIONERS RECONSTRUCT THE BEAUTY out of the handprints of the OF THE ORIGINAL from a 1970s photo of St second graders that was pasted Edward’s original altar rail. to the front of the altar for first communion. All of these programs were halted and the altar became a sacred place again. We purchased new altar cloths and a Jacobean frontal, and new linen corporals. We also placed relics into the altar.

It took two days to clean all the paste and glue from the altar. There had been many years of pasting paper banners to the front for school liturgies and first communions. Relics Are Placed The altar had a stone but nothing was in it. I had a few relics collected over the years, and a few relics were given to me for this event in 2008. Our altar now has first class relics of St. Maria Goretti, St. Gaspar del Bufalo, St. Maria de Mattias, St. James the Apostle, St. Martin de Porres, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Pius X. It was in May of 2008 with the whole school present and seven school children assisting that we placed the relics in the altar and placed the stone in the altar.


TRANSFORMATION: Before (2004, top) and after (2013, bottom) photos illustrate the beautiful transformation of the interior of St Edwards Catholic Church in Newark, California.

35 | Page

R.


36 | Page


37 | Page


38 | Page


The Wonder of ‘Weird’ Portland How Holy Rosary Parish Thrives It should have been the death of an urban parish.

We are told it is the faithfulness to the Divine Liturgy, orthodox doctrinal preaching, the availability of confessions, sound catechesis, and the spirit of prayer that draw people from so far afield. Q. Confession is a big part of most successful parishes. How would you characterize the numbers of people who come to Confession at Holy Rosary? We have thought about keeping count of the number of confessions at Holy Rosary, but that would be most difficult! It is our belief that if you preach about confessions and make them available, many people will come to seek out the Sacrament of God’s Mercy. Indeed with apostolic preaching, ensuring the availability of confessions was one of the main goals of the first Friars who came to Portland. On an average week we have at least six and half hours of scheduled confessions, but very frequently we run over the time allotted. As people also walk in or make special appointments so that time increases. The beginning of each month, with first Fridays and first Saturdays, there a great increase in the numbers of penitents and we provide extra confessors and hours. On first Sundays confessions are also heard before the morning Masses.

In 1980, Holy Rosary Church and Priory in northeast Portland, Oregon was an island in a vast sea of debris. What had been a classic American working class Catholic neighborhood had been utterly destroyed. Sixties-era government ‘urban renewal’ programs had driven out families and small businesses. Land prices plummeted, and Motel 6, car washes, parking areas, and gas stations took their place.

On an average week we have at least six and half hours of scheduled confessions, but very frequently we run over the time allotted. On the “first weeks” of the month we hear about 12 hours of confessions.

In short order, the parish community evaporated. There were no more than a dozen families who came to Mass at the Dominican church on Sundays. The church was surrounded by vacant lots, choked with litter. Today, Holy Rosary has over 900 families on the parish rolls, who faithfully fill the pews for six Masses every weekend. What’s more, many Catholics drive from the areas around Portland for Mass, socializing, catechism, Bible classes and book groups. How did this miracle happen, in Portland, Oregon - a town known for its militant atheism and West Coast liberalism? Father Vincent Kelber, OP, Holy Rosary’s hard-working pastor, tells us in this exclusive REGINA Magazine interview: Q. How would you characterize your parish and Mass attendance? Holy Rosary Parish was founded in 1894 to, as one Archbishop stated it, “labor to build up and increase the worship of the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus.” This is what Holy Rosary has continued to do for almost 120 years, administered by the Western Dominican Province. The church itself is the chapel of the Rosary Confraternity whose western offices are across the street.

Q. Any vocations from the parish?

Father Paul Duffner, O.P., 98 years old and still assigned to the Priory community of Friars, founded KBVM as a radio Rosary apostolate to broadcast the recitation of the Holy Rosary and provide catechesis, even before the founding of EWTN. Although a territorial parish, Holy Rosary has ever served the wider Portland Metropolitan area. A great number of parishioners travel 45 minutes or more each Sunday to attend Mass at the parish.

Thankfully, there are also many young people currently in the parish discerning such a vocation. It should be added, that there are many married men and women who have found strength and inspiration for their vocation from the parish as well.

We are told it is the faithfulness to the sacred liturgy, orthodox doctrinal preaching, the availability of confessions, sound catechesis, and the spirit of prayer that draw people from so far afield. Holy Rosary Church has also long celebrated the ancient Dominican Rite on a regular basis. Holy Rosary gladly serves two kinds of “parishioners:” those who are registered here and attend frequently and the many visitors who do so occasionally to augment their spiritual life.

39 | Page

Holy Rosary Parish has been the source of many vocations to the priesthood and religious life. While an official count needs to be taken, we would say that upwards of 30 men and women attribute at least part of their discernment to time spent at the church.

While an official count needs to be taken, we would say that upwards of 30 men and women attribute at least part of their discernment to time spent at the church. Thankfully, there are also many young people currently in the parish discerning such a vocation. Q. How actively are your parishioners participating in the life of HR? Given that Holy Rosary Parish is very much a “commuter parish,” the extent of the participation in parish life is remarkable. Parishioners are active in supporting the liturgy, assistance of the poor, ministry to the ill, catechesis, street evangelization, maintenance and labor support, homeschool activities, hospitality, Third Order Dominicans, Knights of Columbus, reading


groups, participation in homeschool activities, apostolates of prayer, social events, youth groups, etc... Truly the people of Holy Rosary Parish remind us that this church is not only a sanctuary of prayer, but is also active as a leaven in our local community. Parishioners are active in supporting the liturgy, ministry to the poor and ill, catechesis, street evangelization, maintenance and labor support, homeschool activities, hospitality, Third Order Dominicans, Knights of Columbus, reading groups, participation in homeschool activities, apostolates of prayer, social events, youth groups, etc... Q. What impact has music had on your parish? As a parish dedicated to the preservation of the sacred liturgy and contributing to the ongoing new liturgical movement, music has been an essential component. Gregorian chant and the rich repository of sacred polyphony graces the 11 o’clock Sunday Mass, while the preceding 9 o’clock Mass with organ and cantor fosters the very best of congregational participation through traditional hymns and sung responses accompanied by the parish’s impressive pipe organ. Latin Polyphonic Masses for Feast Days and other liturgical observances throughout the year are sung by Cantores in Ecclesia, an extraordinary choir long associated with the parish. Its Director, Blake Applegate, is the principal Cantor for Holy Rosary, and its founder is the long-standing Parish Director of Music, Oxford-trained Dean Applegate. As a parish dedicated to the preservation of the sacred liturgy and contributing to the ongoing new liturgical movement, music has been an essential component. Gregorian chant and the rich repository of sacred polyphony graces the 11 o’clock Sunday Mass. Q. What have been your greatest challenges? Your greatest joys?

One challenge and opportunity for the parish is to continue to grow in a manner that not only teaches and sanctifies those with worship here, but continues to give to the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. So to preserve the traditions of the parish and the parish community is essential as is the continued building up of the parish as a regional resource of prayer and catechesis. In many ways Holy Rosary is not unlike a shine which as the USCCB states, “is dedicated to promoting the faith of the pilgrims by centering on a mystery of the Catholic faith, a devotion based on authentic Church tradition, revelations recognized by the Church, or the lives of those in the Church’s calendar of saints.” My greatest joy is to see how the lives of Catholics are changed by the encounter with Christ that happens at Holy Rosary, as well at the potential for even greater heights of ministry. Holy Rosary is not unlike a shrine which as the USCCB states, “is dedicated to promoting the faith of the pilgrims by centering on a mystery of the Catholic faith, a devotion based on authentic Church tradition, revelations recognized by the Church, or the lives of those in the Church’s calendar of saints.”

The Parish: Supporting Catholic Homeschooling For 30 Years

I

f you’re among the growing ranks of American Catholics looking to support homeschooling through your parish, Holy Rosary is an excellent model. Begun by pioneer homeschoolers in the 1980s, Holy Rosary Homeschool Group today is a Catholic support group with over 120 families. “We are obedient to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and believe that parents are the first educators of their children,” says Dorothy Gill, the group’s experienced leader. “Although based at Holy Rosary , our membership includes parishioners from many other Catholic churches in the Portland/Vancouver metro area. If you’re among the growing ranks of American Catholics looking to support homeschooling through your parish, Holy Rosary is an excellent model. “Our members enjoy monthly support meetings, field trips for both elementary and high school students, Little Flowers, and a high school commencement ceremony. We also arrange weekly enrichment classes which include ballet, piano, violin, iconography, and more.” Holy Rosary’s homeschool group offers weekly summer park days, feast day parties, service projects and an annual talent show. Their monthly newsletter, The Torchbearer, keeps members informed while the e-mails lists allow us to stay connected with prayer requests, sharing and advice. We are obedient to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and believe that parents are the first educators of their children. We support our homeschooling families with weekly enrichment classes which have included ballet, piano, violin, Latin and iconography. That’s not to mention weekly summer park days, feast day parties, service projects and an annual talent show!

40 | Page


41 | Page

PHOTOS: top His Grace, Archbishop Alexander Sample with Fr. Stephen Maria and Fr. Vincent after Confirmation. middle left Young parishioners (lr) Susie Scheese, Davey Scheese, Michael Ludwikoski and Larry Scheese packing food for the needy of the parish for the annual Thanksgiving Baskets. middle right Fr. Vincent talks with parishioners after Mass. bottom left Oldest Dominican in the Western Dominican Province on the 70th Anniversary of his ordination. Fr. Paul Aquinas Duffner. 12/2010 R.


Prayer, Prudence, and Courage Father Markey, how long has St. Mary’s offered the Latin Mass?
 We started in Advent 2007, a few months after the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. We began with a Missa Cantata, and now we have a Solemn High Mass every Sunday. We have been offering the Solemn High Mass every Sunday and every Holy Day, for about seven years. We also do the entire Holy Week services exclusively in the Extraordinary Form (EF). I put the EF Mass right at the center of the Sunday schedule, at 9:30 A.M., to show that this Mass is not a fringe element, but an essential part of our parish life. We offer the EF three times a week now. Pope Benedict XVI has asked for the “mutual enrichment” of the two forms and the EF has influenced our Ordinary Form (OF) Mass in various ways. For example, all of our OF Masses are now oriented. How would you characterize your parish and Mass attendance?
 We have a wide demographic for the EF. To begin with, our parish has about 30 nationalities represented, and we offer the OF in both English and Spanish. On any given Sunday you can see people at the EF with Latin Missals in their hands that are Latin/English, Latin/Spanish, Latin/ Portuguese, Latin/German, and and Latin/ Lithuanian. There are well educated professionals and also first generation immigrants who simply love the reverence. We have many young large families. As is common here in the United States with the EF, homeschoolers are also well represented. We have locals who come from the town, but also families that come as far as an hour away every Sunday. It is inspiring to see the commitment of some of these young families who fill their minivans every Sunday and drive such a distance. 
 
The OF Spanish Mass is our largest Mass on Sunday and the Solemn EF is the second largest. Clearly, the EF Mass has the largest collection. How would you characterize the growth in your parish? 
 I have now been here for almost 10 years and in the beginning I was implementing many changes in the OF that prepared the way for the EF - more Latin, altar boys only, rarely using extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, and of course following closely the General Introduction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) and Redemptionis Sacramentum, the two keys rubrical documents for the OF. Change is always hard so I held classes, wrote articles in the bulletin, taught from the pulpit. A key element was investing parish finances in a much more developed sacred music program. For the first few years there was a lot shuffling around - some people leaving and many more coming. This period was not without conflict and I can only hope I was prudent in my decisions. People who normally attend the EF do not often understand how important and challenging these types of changes are in the OF. The vast majority of Catholics only know the OF. If mainstream Catholics are to discover the EF as the timeless spiritual treasure that sanctified our forefathers, then exposing them to reverent OF Masses with more traditional elements becomes an important bridge. Pastors are going to encounter obstacles in trying to implement these changes. Some who prefer the EF can become impatient but we must remember that the bottom line is the salvation of souls. We cannot make the same mistake they made in the late 1960’s of implementing rapid liturgical changes with little catechesis. Many faithful Catholics had their faith terribly damaged during that period because of abuses, and it happened so sudden. Again, souls are at stake. A shepherd

42 | Page

has to lead his flock through the transition with great care. Once the pastor is intellectually convinced that a holy liturgy is the most effective means of sanctifying souls, it is then a matter of the will. The key elements become prayer, prudence, and courage. Despite the difficulties I sometimes encountered with these changes, there was ultimately dramatic growth during that period. Once we started the EF, it was like opening a watering hole in the desert. Committed faithful Catholics flocked from far distances to be part of it. Overall we doubled our Sunday collection. After the first five or six years of dramatic change and growth, I have to say the parish is now making only modest gains. The EF is averaging 225 people on any given Sunday. There is great commitment on the part of many faithful and the parish slowly grows. I think the Lord is saying that the key now is to keep the course, winning souls and families one at a time. Confession is a big part of most successful parishes. How would you characterize the numbers of people who come to Confession at St. Mary’s?
 About 4.5 hours of Confessions are scheduled every week, spread out over six days. To be honest, it is not enough. There are always lines and my pastoral responsibilities often don’t allow me to complete the people on line. Once a priest starts preaching Confession, and offering hours in the Confessional, people come from all over. I need to work harder at getting in the Confessional even more. Any vocations from the parish? 
 We have one man who was ordained so far from the parish and three men who are currently in seminary. One young lady has entered the convent, and there are numerous more who are seriously discerning the call to religious life. Beyond finances and census numbers, vocations to the priesthood and religious life is the true measure of the health of the parish. I am praying that God will bless our parish with more vocations. It should be said that, as Cardinal Dolan has pointed out, the true vocation crisis is really about the crisis in the family. Vocations come from holy families. The parish is simply the support system for the family. Make strong marriages and families and we will have plenty of good vocations. How actively are your parishioners participating in the life of St. Mary’s?
 Like most parishes, there are plenty of groups to which one can belong. The CCD program is a huge part of parish life, with many devoted teachers, and families that need help. Intellectual formation is an essential part of Religious Education, but you really have to get involved in people’s lives to make a difference. This is always a challenge finding the time and energy to address all the needs of troubled families who lack formation. We also have women’s Bible Study, Spanish Bible Study, Teen Catechism, Youth groups, various devotions. We have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament all day on Friday and I would like to increase the number of hours. The homeschoolers are present, adding a lot of life to the parish, but they can be more difficult to organize because they are by nature quite independent. There is an independent lay-run school nearby associated with NAPSIS, but there is no official connection with the parish. They do good work in forming families as well. What impact has music had on your parish?


“People who normally attend the EF do not often understand how important and challenging these types of changes are in the OF. The vast majority of Catholics only know the OF. If mainstream Catholics are to discover the EF as the timeless spiritual treasure that sanctified our forefathers, then exposing them to reverent OF Masses with more traditional elements becomes an important bridge.” The parish budget for the sacred music program has more than quadrupled during my time here. This has been a priority. The music program run by our choirmaster, David Hughes, who is not only a gifted organist and singer, but he has the uncanny capacity for teaching people of varied backgrounds how to appreciate and sing sacred music. We have three adult choirs - a professional schola doing renaissance polyphony every Sunday, a volunteer adult choir, and a Spanish adult choir. David’s great passion is working with children, teaching them Gregorian chant and polyphony. We have a student schola of nearly 100 students that meets twice a week to rehearse from September to June. The student schola is quite accomplished and sang at the English Masses for World Youth Day in Madrid. What have been your three greatest challenges?
 First, I think it is the same challenge of Dom Proper Gueranger, the Father of the Liturgical Movement: exposing people to the reality that we have been given an inexhaustible treasure in the Traditional Latin Mass. There is a richness in this Mass that never stops giving at a profound level of one’s being, if only people would take a little more time to work at it. This is the hard work, one soul at a time, one family at a time. Many of the faithful who attend the OF have trouble appreciating the EF, or see it as a threat. There are some of the OF faithful who can appreciate the EF the minute they first experience it. This is a special grace. For most others, it takes time. I regularly say that it takes 5 times before you can start to appreciate the EF. The Liturgical Movement inspired by Gueranger morphed in the 1950’s away from this hard work of teaching people about our liturgical traditions and instead opted for the easier root of reforming the liturgy, making the ritual less complicated, hoping that people would then be drawn to Mass even more. Hence we have the OF. While the intentions may have been good, it is my opinion that something quite valuable was lost. Second, being a pastor to those who already love the EF but who have not allowed it to transform their interior life. There can be a thinly veiled combination of Gnosticism and Protestantism in those who love the EF that manifests its disingenuous nature by a lack of charity. The Church is alway in need of purification, but those who love the EF can fall into the trap of attacking the boat of Peter in a way that is unhelpful, placing themselves above the Church itself. Some of this bitterness is a self-inflicted wound. Certain Church authorities falsely suppressed the EF after the Council, arguing that EF had been abrogated, attempting to make those who love the Traditional Latin Mass feel as if they were doing something wrong. Pope Benedict XVI courageously corrected this error with Summorum Pontificum. However, the bitterness remains. No doubt many faithful who loved the Traditional Latin Mass after the Council were forced underground or to the fringes. For those who have been wronged it is good to focus on the Spiritual Act of Mercy, bearing wrongs patiently. At the same time it must be said that those who love the EF must recognize that they have received an unmerited grace. It is a gift, not to be held over

43 | Page

others who do not understand it, but as something to be shared. One beggar showing another beggar where he can find a piece of bread. Those who love the EF must have a passion for unity within the Church, making sure that this Mass does not become a source of division within the Body of Christ, and following the example of the saints, practicing obedience to Church authority. Third, personal holiness. The only way this whole liturgical question is going to be resolved is by saints. Rephrasing a story about Chesterton, when asked what is the greatest problem with the Liturgical Movement today, I have to say that I am. If I had done a better job with what the Lord had entrusted to me here, there would be more far reaching results. And your three greatest joys?
 First, watching people’s lives being transformed by the liturgy. Some people have truly grasped all that we are trying to do. It is beautiful to watch them go beyond what I have said and to truly encounter the Lord Himself in the liturgy. I am not trying to draw people to myself, but to Our Lord’s True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady. Once I see them connected to the Source, there is great satisfaction. Watching the altar boys who are drawn to this Mass is beautiful as well. They take pride in serving the Mass, starting at a young age and continuing through college years. How this happens is a mysterious working of grace. Second, the miraculous renovation of our beautiful church of St. Mary’s. We have been renovating it for about four years and we just about to complete this final phase. The most impressive part of the renovation with the central reredos, an altarpiece over the high altar. It is an original painting by Leonard Porter of the Assumption. It is a great joy to offer Mass in this church. Third, Solemn High Extraordinary Form Mass every Sunday. I love to offer the Solemn High Mass. My vocation is fulfilled when I am offering that Mass and great mysteries are communicated to my soul. The text speaks to me, the prayers speak to me, and the music transforms the moment into an eternal mystery. Even when I do not have the Mass, I enjoy sitting in choir, admiring the beauty the Church, praying the liturgy with the priest, watching the parishioners in their own prayers, and listening to the sacred music. I imagine heaven will be like this. What do you see in the next three years on the horizon for St. Mary’s?
 Once again, I think once our church renovation is completed, I think it is simply the hard work of keeping the boat on course, exposing more and more people to this great gift that God has given to us so that people’s lives can be transformed by the Eucharist and Our Lady. This is the hard work begun by Dom Gueranger over 100 years ago, and we continue it today.

R.


44 | Page


45 | Page


46 | Page


East Side, West Side, All Around the Town The Latin Mass in New York City by Barbara Monzon-Puleo It was a determined but hopeful crowd which gathered at the Church of St Agnes in mid-town Manhattan one evening in 1989. Cardinal O’Connor had asked the pastor to establish a weekly Sunday Tridentine Mass. The gathering included such pioneers as the late Dr. William Marra.

“We have the traditional Midnight Mass at midnight on Christmas Eve. It is always very well attended. A professional choir was hired for this Mass. We have the Midnight Mass every year and (for the past two years) we have also sung the Anno a creation mundi and had a blessing of the Manger before the start of the Mass,” Mr. Toribio stated proudly. The Brooklyn Story Bishop Mugavero appointed Monsignor James Asip to coordinate the weekly Latin Mass in Brooklyn. Msgr. Asip, a popular diocesan priest, soon gathered a group of a loyal parishioners who moved with the Mass to various locations, beginning with the Most Precious Blood Monastery to its present home at Our Lady of Peace Church in downtown Brooklyn.

HOLY INNOCENTS CHURCH on West 37th Street in the now-gentrifying heart of Manhattan’s famous Garment Center, is experiencing a renaissance.

M

onsignor Eugene Clark fielded questions from a nervous audience still suffering from feelings of abandonment by the Church since the Second Vatican Council. This author recalls when an older woman, seated somewhere in the back of the church suddenly interrupted Monsignor’s explanation about the planning of the Latin Mass. “You will need to re-consecrate the altar!” She shouted. “Everything will be taken care of, “ Monsignor replied in his controlled way. A year before, Ecclesia Dei had opened citywide not only weekly Masses according to the 1962 missal but conferences, Catechism classes, devotions and the sacraments. Today, twenty-four years later, the reassurance that the Mass of the Ages would be available to the faithful has been a commitment carried out by the Archbishops of New York and the Bishops of Brooklyn. But Latin Mass devotees are diffused throughout the city and must travel to take advantage of all these offerings. A Renaissance in NYC’s Garment Center After the 2007 promulgation of the Motu Propio, another NYC parish which answered the call was Holy Innocents Church. Located on West 37th Street in the now-gentrifying heart of Manhattan’s famous Garment Center, the parish is experiencing a renaissance. “When the then-Pastor expressed his openness to having a daily Mass, the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart and some male lay servers were very instrumental in assisting him to get in touch with possible priests and servers who would help say and serve the Mass,” explains their master of ceremonies Eddy Jose Toribio. “They were also very instrumental in helping the priests and servers to become familiar with the ceremonies of the Mass, in providing for the music, and for the vestments and other things that were necessary for the traditional Mass.” Since then, the Church has also hosted Pontifical and Christmas Masses, First Saturday devotions and Holy Days.

47 | Page

Monsignor Asip pioneered marrying couples, performing baptisms and administering First Holy Communions in the Extraordinary Form. He also recruited priests in the city who he knew could tackle Latin. These included two Jesuits from Fordham University in the Bronx and some retired chaplains -- and from the Vatican Mission to the United Nations, most recently, Monsignor Mauro Cionini.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION In the Extraordinary Form, Brooklyn Style

A Fordham priest is currently in charge of the Mass at Our Lady of Peace, which a loyal group of 50-60 parishioners attend each Sunday. The parish gets together once a year after Mass for a Communion breakfast. Teaching Saturdays To this group, one must add the several dozen Catholics who come from far and wide around New York and its suburbs to attend the parish’s new monthly Saturday Teaching. These sessions, conducted by various priests from the NYC metropolitan area, teach the theology of the Latin Mass. “Quite a few people come back each time,” says David Adam Smith, one of the organizers. “And there are always new people arriving. The teaching begins at 12:00 noon, with a Solemn Mass or a Missa Cantata offered at 1:00 p.m. The schola is quite good, and provides an excellent example of what Catholic music should be.”

Our Lady of Peace offers monthly Saturday Teaching sessions which instruct a growing crowd of Catholics about the theology of the Latin Mass. The TLM in a Cemetery Chapel and the Future Because many parishioners travel many hours from other boroughs or New York suburbs, the Diocese of Brooklyn gave permission for a Latin Mass at the chapel of St. John’s Cemetery in Queens, celebrated by Father John Wilson. This Mass is quite crowded, attended weekly by about 100 people. Many of these are young families who are clearly hoping for a parish of their own in the near future. Today, across New York City, the faithful enjoy Masses, processions, devotions and sacraments in the traditional rite. But what of the future? A parishioner at Brooklyn’s Our Lady of Peace, Robert Maresca, offers a pithy prognostication. “Of course, the Traditional Mass is available in several churches today, but it’s my belief that it will grow only to the extent that the Church hierarchy promotes that growth.”

R.


48 | Page


C at holic Heritage Curricul a 8 0 0 -49 0 -7713 • w w w.chcweb.com

TU I T I O N - F R E E C A T H O L I C E D U C A T I O N IN THE

HEART

OF THE

HOME

Grade-level Interactive Guides— Take a book-by-book tour of each grade level to familiarize yourself with the curricula, print sample pages, determine grade level, and so much more! Staff Consultant Answers to Your Homeschooling Questions— Hundreds of questions with detailed, supportive answers by our support team and certied teachers! All Q&A are organized alphabetically by topic so you can easily look up any issue that arises throughout the year.

49 | Page


the Mass

50 | Page


Everybody hoped these things would be experimental, and we’d get back to normal. It wasn’t to be, however. Eddy Jose: I was born in 1983 in Nicaragua. My brother and I used to go to 7 am Mass every Sunday with my grandmother because we “had to.” I would fall asleep for big chunks of the Mass because it was too early for me. Being in a Latin American country, solemn processions and outside religious customs were popular. I always liked these things, and missed them after we moved to the US in 1997.

‘MC’ HAMMER These Guys Get Liturgy Done

They are a generation apart, born on three different continents. But they have one highly unusual thing in common: they are all Masters of Ceremonies (MCs) for the traditional Latin Mass.

H

ow did three men from such disparate backgrounds decide to devote their time and talents to tending the Mass, as it has begun to take root again in the highly secularized soil of the 21st century?

Miguel: In 1992, when we were being prepared in Parochial school in the Philippines for our 1st Holy Communion, the teacher told us that “before the Mass was said completely in Latin, with the priest’s back to the people.” She expounded on this by saying that, to quote, “now, the priest is facing the people, and the prayers are in the local language or even dialect of the people, but all that has changed is the language.” As the day of my first Holy Communion drew near, 7 December 1992, my maternal grandmother gave me her old missal, which I only read years later, on a Christmas break. I quickly saw that, contrary to what we were taught in school, it was not only the language that was changed in the Novus Ordo Mass. Everything was changed.

Even as a lad, the transformation struck me. A few days before, I had received our Lord in Holy Communion on the hand while standing, in a rowdy Mass from a wooden plate. Now, I held in my hands a missal where Mass was characterized by silence.

In this exclusive Regina Magazine interview, Manila, Philippines MC I then started ‘playing’ the Traditional Latin Mass, without any regard Miguel Madarang, Connecticut MC Bill Riccio and Manhattan MC for any rubric I admit, save for the rule that this Mass was to be said in Eddy Jose Toribio talk about the Mass and the role of the MC today. a low voice. Unlike when I ‘played’ the Novus Ordo Mass and my voice could be heard outside the room because I wanted to imitate the priests Tell us about where you grew up and your early experiences of Mass. I saw; now I was whispering every single word on that missal. Bill: I was born in 1953 and grew up in St. Anthony’s parish in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a liturgical parish, with processions, Holy It was an experience which left me longing for an ‘actual Traditional Week, and Forty Hours devotions — all done with great solemnity Mass.’ My first actual experience of the Traditional Latin Mass came 13 and practice. Every First Friday there was an 8 o’clock sung Mass with long years later, at the Most Holy Redeemer Parish. solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and a noon Solemn Mass When did you get involved with the Latin Mass? Why? before the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for the school kids. This all lasted until about 1966. Bill: I held onto the hope that the Old Mass — the REAL THING — would reappear. I was certain that nothing that good and that By the time I was in 6th grade, things changed. We were told something substantial could disappear at the whim of a committee. By the time so ancient was now passe and what was to happen would be better — the first indult appeared in 1984, I had seen a poster for the St. Gregory that everything that happened before was wrong. Society, looking for support to start an indult Mass in the New Haven Serving Mass, we were all confused — changing the book, where to area. I jumped on board. stand. Even the priests were confused. Fr. Remegio Piggato, once the By that time I had returned to St. Anthony’s because a priest who at rector of the Scalabrini seminary in Staten Island, got flustered one least tolerated tradition was trying to bring back some of the practices. Sunday morning and burst out in his thick Italian accent, “Ladies and I became an organist and the Master of Ceremonies during Holy Week. gentlemen, we are now saying the Mass backwards.” We brought back the repository for the Blessed and re-instituted the grand processions.

51 | Page


Determined to experience the traditional Mass, I found the Church of St. Anne in NYC. I went to this Mass so that I could see with my own eyes what had been given up in the 1960s. From the moment I entered, the beauty of the church struck me. It was well-preserved, with most of its traditional elements — real candles, big beautiful statues, flowers decorating shrines and altars, beautiful marble altar and communion By January 12, 1986 we started a monthly sung mass at Sacred Heart rail, etc. Church, New Haven. Ironically, the church is two blocks from St. Anthony’s. It really was like riding a bicycle. Things just came back to I began to go as many Saturdays as I could, then to serve this Mass; soon I found the Church of St. Agnes which offered the traditional Mass me. From there, I got a reputation as “the MC from New Haven.” on Sundays. I read about the Mass, the history of the Church, and the Miguel: At university, a very holy Spanish Dominican priest, Fr. Lucio immemorial ceremonies of the Catholic Church. I began slowly because Gutierrez, told me “the Mass need not always be grand for the people, without a job I couldn’t afford many books. But as I began working, I but it must always be grand for God” (sic). discovered looks on the Liturgy at inexpensive prices online. I began a small collection of books on the ceremonies of the Mass. To some this may be like a lot of externals, but to me it was a manifestation of what we said we believed as Catholics. During this time I got a call from Britt Wheeler of the St. Gregory Society, and he asked if I was interested in becoming the MC. I studied the liturgy, read my Adrian Fortescue and re-learned the liturgy.

I also got involved with “The First Friday Friars,” a small group of men who met for Mass on first Fridays to practice the devotion to the Sacred Heart. This group was somewhat private; only men attended this Mass. Soon after, we opened the Mass to everybody who wanted to fulfill these first Friday devotions according to tradition, and I invited servers from the other churches. Soon enough, we had more of everything — more people, more servers, a larger choir and more Sung Masses. I became aware of the traditional Mass first through mere curiosity. After I attended my first traditional Mass, I thought it was unjust for the entire Church to give up something that had been Hers for so many centuries and to replace it with something that was not as ancient or as reverent. I always feel very moved and inspired by the traditional ceremonies of the Church. What, exactly, is the job of a Master of Ceremonies in a Latin Mass? Rev. Fr. Michell Joe Zerrudo - chaplain and spiritual director of Una Voce Philippines offers Missa Defunctorum with Absolution over the Catafalque last 2 November 2013 at Holy Family Parish, Roxas District, Philippines.

In 2007, I became a regular Traditional Latin Mass attendee, under the auspices and fatherly care of the very same priest who offered the Mass I attended in 2005 – Fr. Michell Zerrudo. I owe much to the many priests, and lay people, who led me (back) to the Mass of all ages, but I owe Fr. Zerrudo the most, and I dare say that the Traditional Latin Mass movement in the Philippines owes almost all, if not everything, to this holy, humble and dedicated priest.

Eddy Jose: According to Pio Martinucci, the Papal Master of Ceremonies under Bl. Pius IX, there are three main tasks: 1) to direct the servers and Sacred Ministers, 2) to ensure that the ceremonies/ functions are carried out properly, and 3) to be well-versed in the ceremonies of the Mass. All of these things are needed in order for the M.C. to avoid and prevent confusion, accidents and undue delays.

Today, in Manila, a scan of the congregation at a TLM will reveal a good number of young professionals. A quick look at the choir loft will reveal to you a schola completely composed of young bankers, chemists, physicists, and engineers. We also have students, mainly from the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas and the State University of the Philippines. A good number of our attendees travel through four cities just to attend the weekly Sunday Traditional Latin Mass, yet you will find them in Church an hour before Mass starts. Now that is dedication!

In 1921, the American Ecclesiastical Review specified “… in the matter Since the Traditional Latin Mass began in Holy Family Parish in Manila of obeying the Master of Ceremonies, there is a question of public order in 2012, the average number of attendees is 130 to 150. We are now and edification…” In order for the Sacred Minister and the servers to trust the MC, he must have a very solid knowledge of the ceremonies aiming to increase that number by a strong information drive. of the Mass. Eddy Jose: In 2001, I began to read about the history of the Church; a website, Vademecum, led me to the traditional Mass. I was curious Many books and articles on the Rubrics of the Mass talk about the about the changes to the Mass, and the consequences those changes had M.C. and his duties, how much he must know, how he should direct or among the faithful, priests, vocations, and Catholic identity in general. correct — when absolutely needed — inaccuracies, and how he should

52 | Page


After I attended my first traditional Mass, I thought it was unjust for the entire Church to give up something that had been Hers for so many centuries and to replace it with something that was not as ancient or as reverent. I always feel very moved and inspired by the traditional ceremonies of the Church.

Pontifical Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation Preceded by Confirmations - Church of the Holy Innocents (NYC)

behave while the ceremonies are taking place. All of this is aimed at local Ecclesiastical houses of studies, we rely heavily on the wealth of knowledge of the Traditional Institutes and Fraternities of Apostolic keeping order and reverence in the Sanctuary. Life which are in union with the Holy See, the decrees of the local The MC must ensure that everything for the celebration of Mass is Bishop’s Conference before the Liturgical reform – such as the Acta ready and in its proper place. With the help and cooperation of the et Decreta Primi Concilii Plenarii Insularum Philippinarum, and of other servers, the MC also ensures that a reverent silence is maintained course, on Fr. Zerrudo. We cling to him like a man in a ravine, clinging in the Sacristy and in the Sanctuary, and that everything is in order for to a strong rope for dear life. the Sacred Ministers and for the graceful carrying out of the ceremonies In a nutshell, the Master of Ceremonies is a of the Mass. servant of the Liturgy, a page boy in the Mass. Miguel: In my humble opinion, being just one of I was profoundly moved Are there more challenges today for Latin Mass three Masters of Ceremonies, the exact job is to by the liturgy and MCs? be the least of the servants in the liturgy. This role couldn’t understand the calls for a service of love to the Mass. However, to be a servant, one must know how to properly do changes. They weren’t Eddy Jose: On a practical and relevant level, today it is often common for the MC to be one’s ‘chores’. better. In fact, the trans- more familiar with the Mass than Sacred Ministers are. More priests now want to learn The current Ceremoniale Episcoporum is clear. lations were like talking the traditional Mass and need help doing so, We “should be well-versed in the history and nature of the liturgy and its laws and precepts… to God in the parlance but they don’t have much free time to devote to learning. with a thorough knowledge of the rite he will of the supermarket. oversee, must know liturgical and ecclesiastical So, it is more important for the M.C. to be protocol, and must also be of even temperament – very important in case of emergencies. He does not have to have a well-versed in the Rubrics now than it may have been in the past, when priests were already familiar with the Latin Mass. degree in liturgy, although it is desirable.” Furthermore, “the certificate of competency granted by reputable There is another challenge for MCs today. After all the changes to the institutions is a guarantee that the lay Master of Ceremonies knows his altars and architecture of churches that took place in the 1960s, 70s, stuff. However, one who has been tutored by a competent liturgist can and 80s, we must allow time to understand what the current space of the also be a Master of Ceremonies as long as he knows what he is doing.” church will permit. Very often, modifications to functions, ceremonies and sitting arrangements have to be made because of the very different Since the Mass is now simply taught but no longer experienced in configuration of churches in comparison to when the books on the

53 | Page


54 | Page


rubrics of the Mass were written. Therefore, with this in view, today’s Bill: There is no formal class for becoming an MC. It’s really a matter of giving guidance to those men who want to a) learn more about the MC needs to be more flexible than an MC in the past. traditional liturgy and b) desire to take it further by learning the various For example, at the first Pontifical (Requiem) Mass at the Church of the roles within the Solemn Mass or Missa Cantata. Holy Innocents in NYC in November 2009, we were not allowed to move the New Order Altar. This meant that the center of the Sanctuary Over the years — yikes, more than 27! — I’ve tried to cultivate those was not going to be as spacious as it would have been in the past. This guys who have an eye for the liturgy and see it as a means to contribute affected the lineup of the servers and sacred ministers, so we had to their talents and increase their faith (not in that order). adjust. At the risk of making it sound like I’m tooting my own horn, I’ve done dozens of tutorials for priests and servers since we started back in 1986. In a sense, Eddy Jose is a product of a tutorial I did at St. Agnes Church at the request of Monsignor Clark back in 1989. On that day we had a day-long tutorial for priests and servers, and some of the guys who were involved became MCs and have taught others. That’s really how it’s done. Eddy Jose: Based on my experience in New York City and New Jersey, today there is great interest in serving the traditional Mass in general, especially among younger men. There is also a tremendous interest in passing down the technical and the practical knowledge about how to serve the traditional Mass in all the roles needed. I am not aware of an officially organized attempt (of large groups or classes), but I know that there have been some training sessions in the past for servers as well as priests, though they did not focus exclusively on the role of the Master of Ceremonies. So, how is this intricate knowledge passed on? How important is the MC’s role? Eddy Jose: The MC’s role has always been considered very important. It is still officially required for Pontifical Ceremonies, according to the rubrics for the Latin Mass. It would also seem very strange to have a traditional Solemn Mass without an MC, and it is very common to see an MC at Sung Masses. While the role is critical, it is essential that any individual MC not allow himself to become irreplaceable or completely indispensable, because there are many circumstances which might prevent him from being available to serve — such as commitments to work, family, school, health. There always needs to be somebody else who can take his place without too much difficulty.

Eddy Jose: It is not simple to become an MC so quickly, after a class or two. This is because, besides the technical knowledge needed in order to know the ceremonies of the Mass for all the roles and functions, there is the experiential knowledge that comes from serving in many different places, dealing with different Sacred Ministers and different servers, as well as the different special ceremonies throughout the year. There is also a level of commitment and dedication needed to learn how to become an MC, which might exclude some servers because of their work or school hours or their family responsibilities.

At the Church of the Holy Innocents in NYC, we have at least three or four servers who can MC for Sung and Solemn Masses, in case the main MC is not available. These were chosen based on their level of commitment and dedication to serving the Mass. We typically alternate the roles, so that everyone can perform the different roles for a Low, Miguel: How important is this role? Can you say that a coffee stirrer Sung, and Solemn Mass. is important? To a certain extent, yes. A coffee stirrer’s role is to be used to stir coffee, after which it is to be set aside. The importance of the role of a Master of Ceremonies lies on the service he renders to make the liturgy solemn, not solely by his own actions, but by those around him. Do you see much interest on the part of other men to learn to be a Master of Ceremonies? Miguel: In Manila, the past year has seen a deluge of young men who have shown interest to serve at the altar of the Lord. However, they are to be assessed by the Masters of Ceremonies to see if they truly wish to be servants at the altar, or just want to be “seen”. The Mass is not a show, but an act of worship. In short, they shall be measured by their fruits. In the coming months, we plan to double the catechisms, talks, and trainings we organized this past year. This was in fact pointed out to us by one of our affiliate-priests; “This movement is for The late Archbishop Francois Gayot of Haiti celebrated the traditional Pontifical Mass at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste the salvation of souls! Go and preach!” in NYC.


What is the role of priests in all of this – growing the Mass and identifying MCs to help? Eddy Jose: In my experience, priests are integral. Here’s a case in point: in 2007, the Saturday Mass moved to the Church of the Holy Innocents. Fr. Thomas Kallumady, the new Pastor there, had already contemplated the idea, as several people had suggested this to him. For the first anniversary of the motu proprio we asked permission to have a Sung Mass. He agreed, and we had a beautiful Sung Mass with solemn veneration of a Relic of the True Cross. Soon, our Confraternity of the Sacred Heart started having first Friday Masses there. The Mass expanded from Saturdays-only to Mondays through Fridays, until finally we were also able to have the Mass on Sundays. I served all or most of these Masses and was in charge of recruiting and training new servers and of helping new priests become familiar with the ceremonies of the traditional Mass. Very soon, we had a good rotation of servers. When we started having the Mass daily, we were able to get a good rotation of Priests. We helped those who needed to learn the traditional ceremonies for Low, Sung, and Solemn Masses. Bill: Many times, priests will point out guys they want to learn to be MCs, and I will do tutorials with them privately. Bill: I have given tutorials at Holy Cross, Boston, the Diocese of Springfield, MA, the Diocese of Bridgeport, etc. In the process of tutoring or consulting with those who want to begin the Traditional Mass, I have attempted to single out one or two people who want to take it further into becoming a master of ceremonies.

One of the graces of the last few years has been teaching clergy the rite. At first it seemed a bit topsy-turvy — a layman teaching a cleric — but the MC is probably the best suited to do it, because he has to know the Rite cold.

Another great MC is Jeffrey Collins, whose book on liturgical ceremonies has been cited by some very high-ranking clergymen in the movement. I know because they’ve told me. His knowledge is just beginning to be appreciated.

liturgy. It made them understand what the Church believes and teaches.

Each tutorial has been a way of not only getting the priests and deacons At St. Mary’s in Norwalk, Ct, one of my students from St. John’s to learn the Rite, but getting them to understand that the ceremonial is Stamford, John Pia, became an excellent MC. In fact, he’s surpassed the an integral part of what goes on: it is a manifestation in sight and sound teacher in his knowledge of the rubrics and ceremonial and has made of what they are doing at the altar. that church a mecca of doing things properly. There are three MCs at If done well, the Liturgy brings people to God. I know of many converts St. Mary’s (including myself ) plus another three in training. who’ve come over to the Church, specifically because of the traditional As I get older and face my own mortality, I’m hopeful that when I come before the Judge of all, what little part I’ve been able to play in the restoration of the ancient rites of the Church will weigh in my favor against, as the Offertory prayer says, “my many sins, negligence and offenses.”

R.

56 | Page


57 | Page


58 | Page


New Liturgicalby Institute in San Francisco Roseanne T. Sullivan

I

t’s exciting news, though San Francisco Bay Area Catholics hoping-againsthope for better-trained priests could easily have missed it. Buried way down in an April 2013 article on the achievements of Salvatore Cordileone during his first year as Archbishop of San Francisco was this encouraging nugget: Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB, a famous Gregorian chant expert and composer of chant had been recruited to help set up a Liturgical Institute at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park. Fr. Weber was the original founder and director of the Institute of Sacred Music in St. Louis, which was established in 2008 at the direction of Cardinal Raymond Burke. According to Jeffrey Tucker at the online The Chant Café, “Fr. Weber is truly one of the greatest and most inspired Catholic music scholars, composers, and practitioners of chant in the English-speaking world.” “Fr. Weber is truly one of the greatest and most inspired Catholic music scholars, composers, and practitioners of chant in the English-speaking world.”

• Assistance to parishes which wish to develop a schola cantorum for the singing of Gregorian Chant • Programs for the full implementation of the English translation of the Roman Missal in the archdiocese

“There will be workshops on reciting liturgies and chanting,” anticipates Father Raymund Reyes, Pastor of St. Anne of the Sunset Church in San Francisco. “I just sense that the liturgy is important for him, creating a culture of prayer and worship. Maybe he believes that through that effort of creating a culture of prayer, they can change the structure of everything else in the lives of the faithful in the Archdiocese.”

What The Future May Hold Although specific details about the goals of the new Liturgical Institute are not available at this time, it won’t be long. Archbishop Cordileone has decided to allow interviews about the Institute after January 1. The following list of services provided by the St. Louis Institute of Sacred Music might be a good indication of what the San Francisco seminary has in store: • Programs of education in Sacred Music, especially Gregorian Chant, for parish musicians, other archdiocesan institutions and interested individuals • Assistance to parishes with the singing of the Mass in English—for example, the Entrance Antiphon, the Responsorial Psalm, and the Communion Antiphon • Assistance with the singing of the Liturgy of the Hours

59 | Page

Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB - PHOTO COURTESY OF Jeffrey Tucker at The New Liturgical Movement (newliturgicalmovement.com)


and training in chant and Latin was provided. Latin hymns and chants were sung at English Masses. “For all who wish, complete training is available in the EF for celebrating Mass, Vespers and the Sacraments, and for learning how to serve. Latin is taught every semester. … The Latin texts of the both the OF and EF are explained and practiced as part of the course. … A course in Gregorian chant is available as an elective, usually once a year. Fostering Gregorian chant, the Latin liturgy and the study of liturgical and patristic Latin is one of the important responsibilities of the Institute of Sacred Music established by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke.“

Why Focus on the Liturgy?

Fr. Mark Mazza, Pastor of Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco, celebrating his 33rd Anniversary of his Priestly Ordination on October 2, 2013 – Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels – with a Solemn High Mass in the presence of His Excellency, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.

“Maybe he believes that through that effort of creating a culture of prayer, they can change the structure of everything else in the lives of the faithful in the Archdiocese.”

2009: Total Noncompliance

For the many who cynically refer to San Francisco as ‘Sodom and Gomorrah by the Bay,’ liturgical change would seem to be the least of the challenges facing Archbishop Cordileone.

People who are close to the archbishop, however, explain why he is focusing on liturgy in spite of the enormity of other pressing issues. According to those who know him well, Cordileone is a man of prayer, who understands not only that prayer and personal holiness are important for everyone — priests and laity — but also that “a major source for their spiritual formation is the Mass.”

Some have feared that the impetus that Pope Benedict XVI gave to improvements in both forms of Catholic liturgy with Summorum Pontificum might be stalled now that he has retired. It is heartening to learn that improvement to liturgy is still a priority for a number of stellar Church leaders, including Cardinal Burke and Archbishop Cordileone, Father Z published this report of total noncompliance from the San and to see that they show no signs of flagging in their dedication. Francisco seminary: “I am a seminarian at St. Patrick’s Seminary Cordileone is a man of prayer, who understands not and University in Menlo Park, California, which is staffed by only that prayer and personal holiness are important for the Sulpicians. There is currently no training offered in either the EF or in everyone, priests and laity, but also that “a major source the OF with Latin. Latin is not even offered as a course anymore (before for their spiritual formation is the Mass.” this year it was always an elective.) Last year the Dean of Students (who is R. now the Rector) told a seminarian friend of mine that there are no plans to introduce training in the EF.” In November 2009, more than two years after Summorum Pontificum, online blogger Fr. John Zuhlsdorf asked seminarians to report about training for and availability of the Traditional Latin Mass and the Latin language in their local seminaries.

In contrast, a seminarian from the Archdiocese of St. Louis reported much better news. Latin Masses in the EF and OF form were celebrated regularly by the Rector and by four priests who also taught in the seminary,

60 | Page


61 | Page


Update: The Latin Mass in America Today A Candid Interview with Byron Smith

H

e’s the secretary of Una Voce America, which today sup ports the training of diocesan priests in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, otherwise known as the Latin Mass. In the this wide-ranging, exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, Byron Smith tells the astounding story of the many people -- some famous, some obscure -- who have labored long and hard for more than fifty years to bring this Mass to Catholics in North America. Q. Where were the earliest Latin Masses after Vatican II, in America? Perhaps the best-known of the surviving authorized Masses on this continent was in Ottawa, Canada, which eventually became the St Clement’s Latin Community. It became an inspiration to those holding similar aspirations in the States.

Q. What is the background on Una Voce America? Una Voce in the United States was founded in September 1967. Its first Chairman was eminent philosopher, anti-Nazi and religious writer, Dietrich von Hildebrand. He led the association until his death in 1977, hosting several national meetings in Manhattan, near his academic home at Fordham University. Before coming to the United States, Dr. von Hildebrand had written Liturgy and Personality (Salzburg, 1933) that had focused on the healing power of formal prayer as exemplified in the ancient Latin Mass. During his chairmanship, he wrote several books that concerned both the liturgy and the changes in the Church after Vatican II: • Trojan Horse in the City of God (1967) • The Devastated Vineyard (1973) • Jaws of Death: Gate of Heaven (1976)

PILGRIMAGE AT CHARTRES: Traditional Catholics in France have become a role model for other countries, including the United States and Canada.

62 | Page


Following Dr. von Hildebrand’s death, W. Robert Opelle of California assumed the leadership of Una Voce in this country. Mr. Opelle had worked with the late Fr. Harry Marchosky to win diocesan approval for the traditional Mass at Serra Chapel of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, one of the first Mass locations approved after promulgation of the 1984 indult, Quattuor Abhinc Annos. It is still being offered there today. During his tenure (1978-1995), Mr. Opelle increased the visibility of Una Voce with a widely-read newsletter, “Our Catholic Tradition.” He initiated a national petition for a traditional Ordinariate that gathered nearly 50,000 names and was placed directly into the hands of Pope John Paul II in 1994 by Bob himself.

Through a long process of petitioning sympathetic members of the Curia, Pope John Paul II granted permission for the traditional Mass in his 1984 indult. With that, a few weekly Mass sites were established in the U.S., in the dioceses of San Diego, Corpus Christi, and Orange. (In the latter was the famous mission of San Juan Capistrano.) A number of “experimental” and less-frequent Latin Masses were offered elsewhere, but the restrictions of this indult still made it difficult to obtain permissions from bishops.

When British author Michael Davies indicated his desire in 1995 to merge all the traditional Mass organizations in North America into an umbrella Federation called Una Voce America, Mr. Opelle was named to its first board of directors.

In America, Una Voce’s main activity since 2007 has been to financially and logistically support the training of diocesan priests in the Latin Mass. Q. How big is Una Voce today? Una Voce America currently consists of over 65 chapters and 10 affiliates across the United States and eastern Canada, all working to increase the visibility and support the ministry of what Pope Benedict XVI pronounced, in Summorum Pontificum (2007), the Extraordinary Use of the Roman Rite. Its Chairman today is R. Michael Dunnigan, JCL, and its main activity since 2007 has been to financially and logistically support the training of diocesan priests in the Latin Mass. There are a variety of resources on the website of Una Voce America and you can also subscribe to its publication entitled “Una Voce America NOTA.”

Just about every Latin Mass community draws a disproportionate number of college-age young adults. Q. There has been considerable growth in the TLM in the last 10 years in America. Can you give us a sense of how much growth there was before the Motu Proprio? After?

EARLY SITE FOR THE LATIN MASS: In the 1980s, the chapel at famous California Mission San Juan Capistrano was one of the tiny number of locations where the Mass was allowed.

In the late 1970s, there were, perhaps, a dozen elderly priests in America who were permitted to offer the Mass privately. Those were the “dark ages” for the traditional liturgy. Q. Where is the newest TLM in America? One of the most recent began in April, 2013, in Salisbury, North Carolina (diocese of Charlotte). Another began May 26 in San Francisco, California. At this writing, there may be others. Q. Can you characterize the Latin Mass movement in terms of any demographics at all? I ask because I have the sense that early aficionados were intellectuals and artists. Is this true or am I way off base?

Along with the increasing number of Sunday Masses, daily Mass is offered in 60 locations in the U.S. also. Approximately 1,000 priests have completed a formal training program for the traditional Latin Mass and a few seminaries in the U.S. are training their men in offering the Extraordinary Form. (Statistics courtesy of UVA affiliate, Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei) Q. What were the ‘worst of times’ for the TLM in America?

LITTLE ANGELS: Independent lay-run Catholic academies have sprung up beside the celebration of the Latin Mass in communities around America.

Until 1975, Archbishop Lefebvre’s still-unsuppressed Society of St. Pius X established several chapels in the U.S. that, while never accepted by local bishops, were not technically “unauthorized.” By the late 1970s, however, authorized Sunday celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass disappeared entirely. There were, perhaps, a dozen elderly priests who were permitted to offer the Mass privately. Those were the “dark ages” for the traditional liturgy.

As for intellectuals and artists, yes, we can begin with Dietrich von Hildebrand who was an internationally renowned scholar. Joining him on his board of directors were Dr. Thomas Molnar, Catholic philosopher and author of over 40 books; political theorist Russell Kirk, whose writings gave shape to the post-World War II conservative movement; Major
General Thomas A. Lane, columnist, lecturer and author and H. Lyman Stebbins, founder of Catholics United for the Faith, among others.

63 | Page


We draw talented musicians and composers and there are new schools of Catholic art arising in university life, inspired by the traditional Latin liturgy. Along with that, one of the most important segments in our demographic is college and university students. We have at least two Una Voce chapters founded on university campuses and just about every Latin Mass community draws a disproportionate number of college-age young adults. This is an indication of how the Latin Mass answers the spiritual search that young people pursue, as well as its power to appeal to the intellect. For our own organization, we are grateful and blessed to have Michael Dunnigan, who is an internationally known canonist and scholar as chairman of UVA. So, you’re not off-base at all. Q. Where have there been the most friendly bishops? Has there been progress in this area? Perhaps one of the friendliest bishops in 1990 was the late Joseph T. O’Keefe, under whose auspices many regular Sunday Masses (including Sacraments and Requiems) were approved in the Archdiocese of New York and the diocese of Syracuse. Bishop James Timlin of Scranton invited the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter to establish a seminary and school in Scranton.

After the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum, the number of Sunday Masses in the US almost doubled from 220 in 2006 to 420 today.

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska strongly encouraged the work of the FSSP and permitted them to build a permanent seminary in his diocese.. (Bishop Bruskewitz retired recently and it seems that his successor, Bishop Conley will continue his legacy.) In a sense, any bishop who responds positively to the needs of his faithful can be said to be friendly -- and there are have been many of these.

R.

We draw talented musicians and composers and there are new schools of Catholic art arising in university life, inspired by the traditional Latin liturgy.

64 | Page

To date, approximately 1,000 priests have completed a formal training program for the traditional Latin Mass in North America.


65 | Page


Shades of Evelyn Waugh Update on the Latin Mass in England and Wales

‘SINCE the Second Vatican Council in 1962, the Roman Catholic church has striven to adapt to the modern world. But in the West—where many hoped a contemporary message would go down best—believers have left in droves. Sunday mass attendance in England and Wales has fallen by half from the 1.8m recorded in 1960; the average age of parishioners has risen from 37 in 1980 to 52 now. In America attendance has declined by over a third since 1960. Less than 5% of French Catholics attend regularly, and only 15% in Italy. Yet as the mainstream wanes, traditionalists wax.’ Joseph Shaw is the 42 year old Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. An Oxford don, he teaches Philosophy at St Benet’s Hall, the Benedictine house of studies in Oxford University. In this exclusive Regina Magazine interview, Dr. Shaw discusses the Society, its history and the amazing success the Extraordinary Form has met with in recent years. Q. Tell us about the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. When was it founded, and by whom? Three people are principally responsible for the founding of the Society, in 1965: Evelyn Waugh, the foremost Catholic writer of his day (“Brideshead Revisited”), Sir Arnold Lunn, controversialist and skiing pioneer, and Hugh Ross Williamson, media personality and historian. Evelyn Waugh’s concerns about Vatican II and the liturgical reform are recorded in his diaries and letters, and in a famous Spectator article at the onset of the Council. Much of this material, and responses to his letters from Cardinal Heenan, has been turned into a book, ‘A Most Bitter Trial’ (ed Scott Reid). Waugh didn’t live to see the 1970 Missal, but he was deeply concerned about the 1955 Holy Week Reform, the Dialogue Mass, and Mass in English. He wrote in the Spectator article: ‘Participation’ in the Mass does not mean hearing our own voices. It means God hearing our voices. Only He knows who is ‘participating’ at Mass. I believe, to compare small things with great, that I ‘participate’ in a work of art when I study it and love it silently. No need to shout. …If the Germans want to be noisy, let them. But why should they disturb our devotions?’

a pamphlet arguing that it was invalid. He saw a strong parallel with the liturgical changes made by Cranmer in the course of the English Reformation. Arnold Lunn was a great apologist, as well the inventor of slalom ski racing; as an agnostic he had a debate with Monsignor Ronald Knox which was turned into a book, ‘Difficulties’, and although many thought he’d done rather well in the debate, two years later he became a Catholic. Even as an agnostic he had been a fierce opponent of scientific materialism, and was very interested in the roots of the decline in religious belief. He researched the way religion was being taught in the great Anglican public schools and published a book, ‘Public School Religion’, about it. Basically it wasn’t being taught at all because the chaplains in those places no longer had any confidence in their religion – this was in the 1930s. The great contrast, he discovered, was with the Catholic schools, where it was still being taken very seriously. He could see where things were going; like many in the early 20th Century the Catholic Church looked like the last bastion of reason and civilisation, let alone religion. And then the Catholic Church started to incorporate many of the same ideas and reforms which had hollowed out the Anglicans. The attitude of these three was not unusual: one of the great early successes of the LMS was organising a petition to ask Pope Paul VI that the Traditional Mass be preserved. This led to the ‘English Indult’ of 1971. The petitioners were all intellectual and cultural figures, mostly non-Catholic; the included Yehudi Menuhin, Agatha Christi, Grwham Greene and Sir Colin Davis. You can see more about that here and here

That is a key idea: the responses, the English, the jumping up and down, shaking hands and so on ‘disturbs our devotions’: the serious business of engaging prayerfully in the Mass. Hugh Ross-Williamson was an Anglican clergyman who converted. He had been brought up in a non-conformist (Presbyterian) family, had become a High Anglican, and was finally received into the Catholic Church when the Anglicans recognized the orders of a group of Methodist clergy in India in 1955. He wrote a book about the Roman Canon, ‘The Great Prayer’, as well as plays, history, and journalism; he was on the ‘Brains Trust’ TV programme until his conversion. (His complaint ‘This is 1955, not 1555!’ fell on deaf ears: a Catholic was not acceptable on the programme.) PHOTOS TOP: Annual Requiem 2012, Celebrated by Bishop John Arnold, in Westminster Cathedral. Williamson was very disturbed by the theology of the New Mass and later wrote

66 | Page

ABOVE: Pilgrimage to Walsingham 2012


Q. Given that England was the first nation to obtain an indult for the Latin Mass, what progress do you see being made, say, since the Motu Proprio of 2007? We have records for the number of publicly advertised Masses taking place, as we publish lists every quarter, and have done so for decades. A few months ago we put these figures together for The Economist • In 2007, there were regular Masses in the Extraordinary Form being celebrated in 26 locations. • In 2012, the figure is 157. A typical Holyday of Obligation: All Saints, 1 November: • In 2007 there were 10 Masses in the Extraordinary Form celebrated on All Saints Day. • In 2012, the figure is 60 and counting. Q. Extraordinary! Are there many more priests learning the Mass? Since 2007, we have run eight residential training conferences for priests and 200 places have been taken up at these. Many have attended more than one conference, so that represents around 120 individual priests. Of these, we understand that about 100 have gone on to celebrate the old rite at least occasionally, but usually at least monthly, in public. In addition, the LMS is aware of some 50 or so priests who celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in public at least occasionally. These are priests who taught themselves privately, or who are older priests who were taught at seminary when they were younger. There is an unknown number of priests (mainly retired now) who celebrate the Extraordinary Form privately. Recently, we did an exercise identifying priests who say the TLM and I think the total is certainly in the region of 200. Before the Motu Proprio we reckon there were about 50 priests. Q. This is great news. Does this mean that the Mass is now available regularly on Sundays all over England and Wales? The availability of EF Sunday Masses in stable venues (ie a Mass every week) is still limited, at 33 in England and Wales, plus a handful of ‘rotating venue’ situations (one in Kent, one in Arundel and Brighton diocese, for example.) Even this represents a big increase on the number before the Motu Proprio. Q. So, in your experience, how does the Mass gain a foothold? What typically happens? First, you have groups of the Faithful asking for the Extraordinary Form. This was the usual case until the Motu Proprio, but it was very hard work. A group like this kept the TLM going at the Brompton Oratory, for example, where it was said in the Little Oratory for years – not the main church – and wasn’t advertised. A group of laity in the Reading area managed in the end to get the FSSP to come to serve them. A group in Oxford had a succession of priests who were retired to say Mass for them in private houses; eventually this was taken over by the Oratory here. The community in Chesham persuaded a local priest to say the EF and, following his recent death, has been proactive in getting priests in week by week to keep it going.

67 | Page

Second, you get individual priests who fall in love with the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. This has now become quite common. There are quite a few priests who do a weekday or Saturday Mass and the occasional ‘big’ thing they manage to arrange; others have taken it a step further and introduced it into their parishes on a Sunday. For example Fr Bede Rowe, assigned to a remote parish in Clifton Diocese, started a Sunday evening EF Mass and a congregation for this gradually established itself. Fr John Saward in Oxford (the translator, in fact, of Pope Benedict’s ‘Spirit of the Liturgy’) says the EF in his parish of SS Gregory and Augustine twice a week on weekdays and once a month has a sung TLM on a Sunday: it is really entirely his own initiative, though of course he is also mindful of pastoral needs. Another local example is Fr John Osman, in St Birinus, Dorchester on Thames. Fr Osman waxes quite lyrical about how he fell in love with it, and how important it has been for his spiritual life. A good example of how this happens is Fr Timothy Finigan of Blackfen in London, who was asked some years ago to say a TLM for a funeral. He said: ‘yes why not?’ and had to learn it from scratch. It made such an impression on him that he gradually learned more and introduced it to his parish on a Sunday. Another important factor is priests influencing each other. We find little ‘hot spots’ of priests learning the Mass because they all know a particular priest who loves it, and spreads the word. Q. You have publicly discussed the Inclusivity of the TLM; what did you mean? I’ve certainly noticed that in a big parish with different Masses the congregations tend to separate into different groups according to liturgical preference; this also happens between parishes. This separation can very easily gain a class character – in England, where class is never very far away! The universal appeal of the TLM is very evident from talking to members of the congregation. You really do have all sorts of people. Some engage with the liturgy primarily in an intellectual way. Others engage primarily in an aesthetic or emotional way. The intellectual and the other aspects of the TLM are not in competition with each other -- you can take out of it whatever you need. There is an excellent book about this by a Dominican (now ex-Dominican) sociologist Anthony Archer, ‘The Two Catholic Churches.’ Archer says the working classes engaged with the liturgy in a particular way, in relation to what they saw as ‘ritual efficacy’: what was going on at the Altar was real, objective, it made a difference, it made something happen. They focused on that and were absorbed by it. The things which are supposed to help participation in the New Mass are more appealing to the middle class: they require social confidence, being articulate. There is a class distinction also about what sort of community people are comfortable with -- little cliquey groups (middle class) and larger numbers (working class). All the stuff about sharing your experiences at a charismatic prayer meeting or cosy little house Masses is middle class and off-putting to everyone else. That is Archer’s thesis, and it fits with my own observations.


Q. In many countries, there seems to be no crisis of priestly vocations in circles have lapsed were it not for the TLM. A good female friend converted from Judaism where the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is supported. Have you noticed this to in the context of the EF. be the case in England and Wales? The aesthetics and emotionality of many Novus Ordo celebrations can be exquisitely This is certainly true. We have now 10 young men from England and Wales in painful, particularly to young men. When they find the TLM, they can fall in love traditional seminaries, mostly the FSSP; two more are joining them in September. with it instantly – that happened to me, in a Low Mass. That’s not aestheticism, That is totally disproportionate to the size of the EF-going community in England even if we agree we are using the term in a non-pejorative sense: it is glimpsing and Wales, compared to vocations coming out of the Novus Ordo congregations. Christ made present in the liturgy. What is more, a great many seminarians in ordinary seminaries have had contact ‘Beauty’ is perhaps a misleading term here. No doubt some people will go to a with the EF and like it, and it has played a part in their spiritual development and Mozart Mass because of the Mozart, but such Masses are actually quite rare. The vocation. They will be wanting to learn it as soon as they can. music and the vestments vary from the ‘decent’ to the ‘not very good’ in a lot of places, and there are a lot of Low Masses going on. In fact, the only new priest for East Anglia this year said a TLM a day or two after his ordination; he was at the Priest Training Conference the LMS had this year in They can be very attractive, nevertheless, because of the contemplative quality, the Leicester. This is increasingly common. peace, the reverence, the invitation to pray and be quiet with God. A better term than ‘beauty’ here would be ‘spirituality’: they are attracted by the spirituality of Q. Many Catholics today no longer see the need for Confession, or Reconciliation, the TLM. R. though this does not seem to be the case for those who attend the TLM. Why do you think this is? Yes certainly EF-goers seem to go to confession more than the average Catholic (who, I suppose, goes pretty infrequently). This is an indication of a wider truth, that the TLM brings with it traditional spirituality, theology, preaching, and so on. The priests encourage it and make it available, the people read the good old books which encourage it, and the Mass itself fosters a sense of sin and a sense of the reality of grace and of sacramental efficacy. The communities which grow up around the TLM quickly become characterized by traditional attitudes and devotions, a strong pro-life stance, large families, modest clothing, mantillas, all that stuff. This alarms some people, but these are countercultural communities giving each other mutual support. Q. Anecdotally, I have heard many people say that they were converted to Catholicism through the beauty of their experience of the Extraordinary Form. Do you find this to be true? I can’t say I know many atheists, but a good non-Catholic friend of mine certainly finds the EF more attractive than the OF (he also for a time went to the Orthodox). I know a number of young men who lapsed and came back for the TLM, or could

68 | Page


69 | Page


Why the Latin Mass? by Father Richard G. Cipolla

“This rite is not convenient, for it demands that you allow yourself to be swept up into the re-presentation of Calvary; that you use silence, holy silence, to go where words cannot go.� 70 | Page


O

ne of my students came into my office last week, having just seen an impressive film in his European history class about Martin Luther. He is intelligent, moral, and takes Latin (the latter nearly equal to being moral!). He proceeded, on the basis of the film, which had its biases, to rip apart the Catholic Church, corruption, bad popes who had children, priests living in sin, failure to preach the Gospel, and much more. We have all heard this view of history, which despite the biases, has some basis in reality.

agreed on one thing: to be immemor, to be forgetful of one’s obligations to In response, I tried to explain the sigone’s friends, was a terrible sin. To forget on purpose the bond that joins two nificance of the Tu es Petrus saying in the Gospel of Matthew; but he would friends who have agreed to enter into this relationship: that is the unforgivable have none of it, because to him it was obvious—that is, someone had told sin. The sin of being immemor is taken to tragic and lofty heights by Vergil in him—that Jesus was not referring to Peter but to the rock which is the Church the Aeneid. When Aeneas forgets on purpose who he is, that is to say, what he in some idealistic sense. So all I could do was to tell him how and when I unmust do, what his destiny is, he is recalled in a terrifying way to do what he must derstood this passage. I was in Rome for the first time in my life in the summer do. And thus, for the Western hero, for the pre-Christian hero, to forget in a deafter my first year at the Yale Divinity School. I shall not tell you, for it has liberate way who one is by forgetting what one must do—this is sin. Adam and nothing to do with a Christian sermon, about my discovery on that occasion Eve forgot deliberately who they were and what that meant. And they sinned. of my Italian heritage. Nor shall I tell you about the beginning of my love affair When Israel forgot who she was, the chosen people of with the baroque in the church of St. Andrea al Quirinale. she sinned. And then comes that moment in which But I shall tell you what I told this young man, for it has to ‘A true reformer… God, the sin of being immemor is made forgivable by a gesture, do with my discovery of the Catholic faith. I went into St. by a word: “Do this in memory of me.” Memory and its recalls forma, recalls Peter’s and stood under the dome and read those words: Tu by sin is purified by the breaking of bread and es Petrus et super hanc petram. And I looked to the confesbeauty, recalls the pollution the drinking of a cup of wine by God in the flesh: anamsio where lie the bones of St. Peter, and I looked again at nesis makes memory the vehicle of God, the calling forth forma Ecclesiae– the words in the dome, and I understood, and from that God: the bell rings, the host is held on high, the people understanding I have never turned back. back to who she is of sigh, and God is with his people. Past becomes present: the And neither did Gregory the Great. If I were to be elected — the bride of Christ, unreality of the future is guaranteed and made real by this Pope, I have no doubt as to what name I would choose: the locus of salvation, presence, the presence of God. Gregory. For two of my greatest heroes of the Church both One of my favorite pieces of literature is the Narnia the meeting of bear the name Gregory: Gregory the Great and Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. In the third book, Prince Casheaven and earth. ’ pian, the prince is fighting a battle against the evil forces Gregory the VII. And they are my heroes because they led by his wicked uncle, and the prince’s troops are losing. both understood what the words Tu es Petrus mean in the In desperation the prince blows on a magical horn that is able to summon the most existential yet in the most objective way. heroes of the past to come to the rescue of those in the present. The Prince Let us not quibble about understandings about jurisdiction, decretals, or Gresounds the horn and the kings and queens of the past come back and with great gorian chant. Both of these men knew who they were and what they must do. courage and fortitude lead the charge and win the battle. But here and really. They both knew the terribly earthen vessels they were, and yet pressed on with Not nostalgia, not memory. But anamnesis. The horn sounds not to summon their reforms, for they were both reformers in the truest sense, not puritans or imaginary heroes from the past to fight battles of the present. The horn sounds, reactionaries but true reformers. What is a true reformer? And its attendant the bell sounds, the silence sounds, to summon the power and person of God question: what is a true reformation? We all think we know what reformer and himself to be present in and defend and make fruitful the Church, his Body, et reformation mean, but if we look deep into the roots of these words we see portae inferi contra eam non praevalebunt. something that surprises us. What is a true reformer: he is the one who recalls forma, he is the one who recalls beauty, he is the one who recalls the forma Twenty years is a long time and a very short time. The Saint Gregory Society Ecclesiae, who recalls the Ecclesia Formosa—whose beauty is a reflection of exists not to wallow in nostalgia. Not to exult in some sort of gorgeous Wagthe beauty of God in Jesus Christ—back to who she is, the bride of Christ, the nerian glorification of the past and therefore the present. Not to preserve Grelocus of salvation, the meeting of heaven and earth. For the Christian, beauty gorian chant and Lassus as a wonderful and beautiful art form, which both are. finds its source in the beauty of God, whose love is the source of beauty. It is the Not to wall its members off from the crass and vulgar and chillingly secular and Christian who looks upon the crucifix and sees sheer and utter beauty. And it anti-religious aspects of contemporary society. But rather, with the explicit supis in this sense that Dostoyevsky’s Idiot is absolutely right: beauty will save the port of Pope Benedict XVI, to refuse to be immemor, to refuse to pretend that the post-Vatican II liturgy, despite its validity and source of grace, is continuous world. with the traditional Roman rite, to refuse to reduce anamnesis to the memory And it is the Mass that is the recollection of beauty, of the beauty of God. Recof the present community: but more importantly to take on the task which is ollection is a strange English word. To gather together again, to bring together the task of the Cross: to bear the burden of Christ whose yoke is easy and whose in the mind, to remember. And yet much more than this. But to not remember, burden is light; to continue to offer the Holy Sacrifice with dignity, reverence to refuse to remember: this is sin in the deepest sense. Forgive my classical alluand faith, and to witness to the Church and to the world, by the beauty of the sions today, but I know many of you share my love of the classics. I teach both Mass and the holiness of its members, the reality of the truth, goodness, and Catullus and Cicero. Catullus and Cicero were certainly, although contempobeauty of God. raries, quite different men. Yet both took friendship ultimately seriously. Both

71 | Page


‘This rite is not convenient, for it demands that you allow yourself to be swept up into the re-presentation of Calvary; that you use silence, holy silence, to go where words cannot go.’ You who come here for the first time and experience the depth of Catholic worship which unites us beyond time and space with the dead and with the saints in heaven; you who come here occasionally when your schedule permits. Go home and consider whether what we do here and in my own parish of St. Mary in Stamford in the offering of the traditional Mass is important for the Church and important for you as Catholics. If what we do is important then it deserves the
active support of those who understand what is at stake—not merely time and financial support but bodily support, being present here to worship God in this timeless rite. It is certainly easier to pop into one’s parish church and sit through the Novus Ordo Mass and, knowing that that frail garment is a source of grace, to receive Holy Communion and go home and suppress the feeling that there is something missing, something wrong. We are a people whose lives are based on convenience. And not only is this Mass not convenient to come to: the odd hour, the sketchy neighborhood, the peeling paint of the church: this rite itself is not convenient, for it demands that you give yourself, you lose yourself, you allow yourself to be swept up into the re-presentation of Calvary; it demands that you use silence, holy silence, to go where words cannot go; it demands that you participate deeply in the act, participatio actuosa, rather than persisting with the kind of “active participation” which belongs at a school assembly. To come here requires sacrifice, but that’s what it is all about anyway. Today we ask for the intercession of Saint Gregory the Great, that he may give us the courage, strength, hope and joy to recall the Church to liturgical reform—not to bring something back from the past, but to recall the Church to its essence in the beauty of Christ as seen and experienced in the traditional Roman rite.

NO DIVINE INTERVENTION NEEDED (You can reprint Regina articles for your parish bulletin!)

Sancte Gregori, ora pro nobis. Find a Latin Mass: http://web2.iadfw.net/carlsch/MaterDei/churches.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Father Richard Cipolla is Chair of the Classics Department at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, CT and parochial vicar at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in nearby Norwalk. The parish, located in a suburb of New York City, is a vibrant, growing one, with a strong tradition of celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. This article is taken from a homily he preached at the 20th anniversary mass of the Saint Gregory Society on November 12, 2006. The Society can be found at http://www.saint-gregory.org Photos: Stuart Chessman, http://sthughofcluny.org/ and “Dome of Saint Peters” by Damien Dempsey is licensed under CC BY 2.0

R.

72 | Page

www.reginamag.com


73 | Page


May God Give Us Strength To Do What Needs to Be Done by Rev. Richard G. Cipolla He is a convert from the Episcopal Church, a priest who learned the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) only reluctantly -- and at the behest of his bishop. Herewith the story of Father Richard Cipolla, a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut and a Latin scholar who came to love and celebrate the TLM. (Reprinted from New Liturgical Movement)

T

o say that discovering and learning the traditional Roman Mass (I shall avoid the problematic term “Extraordinary Form”) saved my priesthood may be too dramatic to begin this personal account of the importance of the Traditional Mass in my life as a Catholic priest. Although I cannot say with any certainty what would have become of my priesthood had I not encountered the Traditional Mass, I can certainly say that that encounter had such a radical effect on me as a priest that I cannot imagine my priesthood without the real presence of the Traditional Mass in my life.

When the post-Vatican II liturgical changes came in the late 1960’s, we in the Episcopal Church adopted most of the changes including the free standing altar and facing the people. I remember so well when facing the people my feeling of being “ultra-cool” and dismissing the protests of the parishioners against the changes with “Father knows best” because “Roma locuta est, causa finita est.” I am a convert from the Episcopal Church, having functioned as an Episcopal minister for nearly eleven years before deciding to enter the Catholic Church. I was always associated with the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Episcopal Church, so the Mass was always at the center of my faith, and I always understood the role of beauty in the celebration of Mass. When the post-Vatican II liturgical changes came in the late 1960’s, we adopted most of the changes including the free standing altar and facing the people. I remember so well when facing the people my feeling of being “ultra-cool” and dismissing the protests of the parishioners against the changes with “Father knows best” because “Roma locuta est, causa finita est.”

74 | Page

My First Days as a Catholic Priest The proximate reason why I left the Episcopal Church was because of developments within that body that departed from the Catholic understanding of the Church. But the deeper reason was that, after much study, learning and prayer, I saw, like Newman, that the Catholic Church is the Church that Christ founded and that once one understood this, one had the moral obligation to become part of that Church. The impetus for becoming Catholic was Blessed John Paul’s formation of the Pastoral Provision in the 1980’s that made possible for former Episcopal priests who were married to be considered for the Catholic priesthood. I was received into the Church in 1982 and ordained priest in 1984.

The deeper reason why I left the Episcopal Church was that, after much study, learning and prayer, I saw, like Newman, that the Catholic Church is the Church that Christ founded. I became a Catholic at a time during which there was continuing liturgical abuse, when Catholic music seemed to no longer exist in parishes and in its place saccharine sacro-pop prevailed, a time when Mass seemed more like a high school assembly than the awesome Sacrifice, a time when it seemed as if there was a deliberate forgetting, a mass amnesia, of the Tradition of the Mass. As a Pastoral Provision priest I had the option of being an Anglican Use priest, but I decided against this quite vehemently, for I wanted to be an ordinary Catholic priest at this particular time in the Church’s history. No nostalgia for me, no hankering after the good old days—the Novus Ordo defined the Mass in this present time, and I knew that I must submit to this and do my best to celebrate what the Church had given to me.

I became a Catholic at a time during which there was continuing liturgical abuse, when Catholic music seemed to no longer exist in parishes and in its place saccharine sacro-pop prevailed. How I Came to Learn the Traditional Latin Mass This background is necessary to understand the profound effect that learning and celebrating the Traditional Mass had on me. The first ten years of my priesthood were not easy but were a source of grace. But I always felt an incompleteness, that there was something missing, something I should have known but did not. And this sense of incompleteness was always associated with the celebration of Mass. It was at this time that my bishop asked if I would learn the Traditional Mass, because one of the priests who celebrated the two

Indult Masses in the diocese had died. I was asked because of my strong background in Latin. I initially refused. My refusal was based on my fear that this would be seen by my fellow priests as a reversion to my old “highchurch” (a damnable term) days as an Anglican.

I wanted to be an ordinary Catholic priest at this particular time in the Church’s history. No nostalgia for me, no hankering after the good old days. Then my bishop asked if I would learn the Traditional Mass, because one of the priests who celebrated the two Indult Masses in the diocese had died. I was asked because of my strong background in Latin. I initially refused.


Easter Sunday at St. Mary, Norwalk, VA But the bishop prevailed. I learned the Mass at the hands of one of the great mentors of so many priests who have learned the Traditional Mass, Mr. William Riccio of New Haven. He, quite rightly, taught me Solemn Mass first, rather than Low Mass. I remember, more than my ordination, my first Solemn Mass at Sacred Heart Church in New Haven under the sponsorship of the St. Gregory Society, which in the dark days of the Indult, supported the Traditional Mass in an important and heroic way. What Happened at My First Traditional Latin Mass As I walked up the aisle at my first Mass, I was terrified, frightened that I would forget what I was supposed to be doing. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the thought of remembering all the gestures, the order of things. But I knew Bill was by my side as the MC and that gave me comfort. I got through the Mass through the Offertory without any disasters.

Today, Beauty and Depth Overflowing I am blessed with being a priest in a parish where the main Sunday Mass is the Traditional Roman rite Solemn Mass. This Mass has been a great blessing to our priests and to our parishioners, for its beauty and its depth overflows to the celebrations of the Novus Ordo Mass in both English and Spanish. I am convinced that the presence of the Traditional Mass in every Catholic parish in the world would be a key to that re-evangelization of the Western world that must happen before we can evangelize the world. Hoc est opus nostrum, hoc est labor. May God give us the strength to do what needs to be done.

And so I started the Canon. I cannot write this except with great emotion, for the moment is so etched into my memory. I came to the consecration and said those words that are at the very heart of Catholic faith and worship. It was then, during the Unde et memores, that suddenly, while saying the words silently, that I realized in a flash of insight, that this was what was missing, this is what I was meant to do as a Catholic priest, this is what joined me to the Tradition of the Church. That was a moment of healing, a moment of graceful surprise, surprised by joy, and the joy of that moment changed me as a priest, and in the very real trials of being a priest in the Church at this time in history this moment of joy has never left me.

And so I started the Canon. I cannot write this except with great emotion, for the moment is so etched into my memory. I came to the consecration and said those words that are at the very heart of Catholic faith and worship. It was then, during the Unde et memores, that suddenly, while saying the words silently, that I realized in a flash of insight, that this was what was missing, this is what I was meant to do as a Catholic priest, this is what joined me to the Tradition of the Church.

75 | Page

Published with permission from Father Cipolla, first printed at The New Liturgical Movement, photos by Stuart Chessman with permission.

R.


One Man’s Perspective After 30 years of working to support the Latin Mass in America, Stuart Chessman has a point of view PHOTOS BY: STUART CHESSMAN

Q. How many years have you been involved with the Latin Mass? In what capacities? I’ve been involved with the Latin Mass in America for at least 30 years --as a member of the congregation, as an organizer of Latin Masses (both traditional and Novus Ordo), as a server and as a reporter/photographer. Q. What progress do you see being made, say, since the Motu Proprio of 2007? Traditional Mass communities have arisen with more depth and stability. The TLM has been celebrated at many more locations. The ceremony and music in many places are of a very high order. There is great involvement of the young - especially large families. Solemn Masses and even pontifical solemn masses are nowadays no rarity - that is an improvement even over the pre-conciliar situation. OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL, Bronx, New York

Q. Are there many more priests learning the Mass? How does the Mass gain a foothold? What typically happens? Yes there is quite a demand for this training. For the Mass to gain a foothold, it requires dedication of the priest. It requires men who will support him with the necessary resources for the ceremony and music. And it requires dedication and perseverance. It cannot be done on the side as an afterthought in hopes it will catch on. The liturgical sense of the Catholic population has been too dulled for that approach. It must be one of the “core missions” of the parish, and there must be the will to persevere if at first the numbers are not as great as had been hoped. Q. In many countries, there seems to be no crisis of priestly vocations in circles where the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is supported. Have you noticed this to be the case in your experience? What I have actually seen? Parishes in New York and here (in Norwalk, Connecticut) where the TLM is celebrated generate vocations disproportionately. BELOW: LIGHTING THE EASTER FIRE for the Solemn Vigil of Easter in Connecticut. ABOVE: CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION and Eucharistic Adoration in Connecticut.

Q. Many Catholics today no longer see the need for Confession, or Reconciliation, though this does not seem to be the case for those who attend the TLM. Why do you think this is? One of the most striking things I have noticed here in Norwalk is that there is a much greater demand for Confession. Q. Anecdotally, I have heard many people say that they were converted to Catholicism through the beauty of their experience of the Extraordinary Form. Do you find this to be true? I can’t speak directly to that as I was brought up Catholic, but I have seen several conversions at our parish and I am pretty sure the TLM played some role there.

76 | Page

R.


the Laity

77 | Page


disappeared, right?” said my best friend Jan. Which is about right, I suppose. After all those years of marriage to a raging alcoholic, I was just about finished, myself. That was four years ago. Today, my basement is dry. Our house is repaired. We own a sensible, un-sexy car. After 18 months without health insurance, with great relief I began work as a bank manager. I continue to moonlight on weekends as an SAT tutor. I have a very Catholic housekeeper. She cleans and cooks, and makes sure the kids are taken care of, closely guarded. Nancy is in a Catholic girls’ high school. David is in a small Catholic grammar school. My nightmare, hard to shake off, is that he will kidnap them. I work seven days a week to maintain this life. After a year on Paxil, I now control my stress and anxiety with exercise. I sleep soundly at night; we have two dogs who bark at the least provocation, and they have slept quietly by our sides for about two years now. Nancy has been accepted at a very good university for next year. David is a happy-go-lucky 11 year old. I have righted the ship. My best ally in all of this has been my Catholicism. This may seem surprising to some; our parish was the center of a national scandal when our priest and his boyfriend the wedding planner were arrested for stealing $1.4 million. Many people lost their faith in the wake of that scandal, among others.

This is my fourth Christmas as a divorcee.

F

our Christmases ago, my socalled husband left me with a broken-down house, a five year old Chevy van, a basement full of water and an utterly empty bank account. Plus a frightened seven year old, and a very angry teenaged girl.

in front of him. His warm brown eyes were sympathetic. “Then our hands are tied. Because you let him in. You understand my meaning?”

I swallowed the tears welling up in my eyes, hating my weakness. Yes, I nodded soundlessly. I understood. Despite the fact that I was a highly educated professional, I understood. My husband, an alcoholic, a When he threatened us, I made vain actor and a cowardly sociopath, was several trips to the police station to beg for help. Finally, one cop took pity a man. He could hurt me, even rape me. I on my terror. He solemnly advised me understood that. to change our locks and to keep the Officer Donzella looked concerned, and outside lights on. handed me his card. “You call us if he shows up again, okay? We’ll be watching the house.” Also, never, ever, to let my ex back in the I didn’t have to, thank the Lord. My ex house. disappeared as soon as the divorce was final. “If he, ah, does something you don’t like once “He just dove into the bottle and he’s inside,” he told me, burly arms crossed

78 | Page

I did not. My faith was not dependent on our suburban parish; in fact, I had years before started to attend a Latin Mass in a small chapel at a nearby nunnery. It was the Gregorian chant that attracted me. But it was the sound Catholic orthodoxy of the brilliant priest that kept me returning, week after week. There, my kids learned to sit still during Mass. Soon, they learned the thrill of the Sacred. And finally, safe in the arms of Mother Church, I could let down my hair and cry for hours in the little chapel. The Sisters understood. Occasionally, I would be aware of the rustle of their habits as they genuflected in the chapel to visit their Lord. So you can imagine my surprise last week when Officer Donzella – sans police uniform – knelt in the pew opposite us yesterday, on the first Sunday in Advent. Of course my kids had no idea who he was, but afterwards at the coffee and doughnut hour, I approached him. “Hello!” I began, all smiles. I wondered if he would know me. He stood drinking coffee in his pressed


khakis, looked at me blankly for a moment, then blinked suddenly in recognition. “Well, hello!” he said, smiling back. David – now an altar boy — was distracted by the doughnuts and his Sunday playmates. Nancy was swallowed up in a group of laughing, homeschooled teenagers. “I’m surprised to find you here!” Officer Donzella blurted out, then looked abashed.

“He’s a cop,” she intoned. “They are all nuts.” “Oh come on, he goes to the Latin Mass.” “Great. So he’s a religious nut,” she said. “Even better.”

“That’s Trevor’s dad,” he stage-whispered as we walked away. “Trevor Donzella, in my class.”

I resisted.

My heart constricted.

“I like him. He’s the first guy I have liked in years.”

“Yeah?” I replied, crestfallen. The Christmas lights around me suddenly seemed garish, and I shivered in the cold.

I laughed merrily.

“Yeah? So what’s his story? Does he have kids?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, ah, you didn’t seem like the Catholic type to me,” he said, truthful, but reddening.

“Okay, listen, just be careful,” she said. “Go have yourself a little fun.”

“No?”

“I don’t want to have a little fun,” I said, somewhat piqued. “I want to get married.”

“Well, maybe ‘Catholic.’ But not actually Catholic, if you know what I mean. What’s it I couldn’t believe I actually said it. called? ‘Catholic In Name Only’?” Jan eyed me uneasily. I let out a peal of laughter. “Really? After all you’ve been through? “I’m pretty Catholic,” I replied wryly. Why?” We both laughed.

to sound nonchalant. David tugged on my arm, and I turned to go.

“Yeah,” echoed David, “Gotta go!” He patted me solicitously on the arm, and took off to join his friends at the base of the tree. “Um, listen, would you like to have coffee or something afterwards?” I sighed, and turned around. Officer Donzella was standing behind me. “Listen, I’m not sure.” His face fell. When he spoke, his voice was hurt. “Oh sure, I understand. It’s okay.”

“Yeah?” he said, and I noticed his eyes were twinkling.

“I don’t actually know, except that it has something to do with the way a life ought to be lived.”

“Yeah,” I said straightforwardly. “Actually. So what are you doing here?”

“Ought to be lived? Sounds awfully judgmental to me.”

“No, I don’t. But I also don’t know anything about you.”

“I live here. Always have,” he said, and then said grimly, “But I had enough of that business at the parish…”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what I am,” I countered, chuckling. “Call me ‘judgmental.’”

His face softened, and he grinned.

“No kidding,” I agreed, and waited. “Somebody told me the nuns have Mass here,” he said. “About the music…” “The chant?” I supplied. “Beautiful,” he shook his head, a little dazed. “Outta this world.”

I surveyed myself critically in the mirror before leaving the house tonight. I am still slender, and somewhat stylish, in a muted kind of way. My shoulder-length brown hair is attractively cut. My face is unlined, except for the deep furrow the stress of recent years has worn across my forehead.

“Yes, it is,” I ventured. There was a short silence.

I sighed and wrapped a warm red shawl around over my ankle-length black woolen coat. It would be cold tonight at the lighting of the town’s Christmas Tree.

“So, no more trouble from your ex?” he asked tentatively. “I mean, it was a few years ago…”

As David and I walked by the police cars stationed at the edge of the crowd, I suddenly heard a voice call out.

“No more trouble,” I said, and knocked on the wooden table next to me. He chuckled again. I noticed that his eyes wrinkled, and wondered how old he was. Somewhere around my age, I decided. Early 40s.

“Hey!”

“These your kids?” he asked, indicating Nancy and David, now bearing down on us, dressed to leave. The after-Mass crowd had dispersed. “Yes,” I said shortly, suddenly shy. Then I recovered myself, quickly shook his hand, and turned to go. He did not try to stop me. Jan was unimpressed.

79 | Page

Donzella detached himself from his fellow cops. He was imposing in his policeman’s winter coat, his weapon on his belt. As I looked up at him, our breath fogged the frosty air. “Will you be at Mass at the convent on Sunday?” “Uh, yes. Yes, we will.” “Me, too.” We eyed each other awkwardly. “Okay, so we’ll see you there!” I said, trying

“I’m not sure you do understand.” “Y-you have plans. It’s okay.”

“I’m a cop. A Catholic cop.” “Right,” I smiled in spite of myself, then shook my head. “But that’s not what I mean.” His face grew hard. “You don’t date cops?” He said. The words fell like stones between us. “No,” I returned, with some annoyance. “I don’t date married men.” “Married? What makes you think I’m married?” “My son goes to school with your son.” “Okay, I’m divorced. Like you, right?” “I’m divorced, yes. But I wasn’t married in the Church.” He nodded. “Does all this really matter to you? I mean, I just asked you for coffee.” I sighed. “You asked me if I was Catholic. The answer is yes. It matters to me.” “Okay, so I was married in the Church. We had one child. She left me for another guy. Now we’re divorced. It’s a mess, like everybody’s life is, these days.”


“Right. And you are going to Mass?”

He took a deep breath.

“Yeah, I felt like Trevor needed to go to Mass. So when I don’t have him, I go anyway.”

“You’re a professional woman. Professional women don’t believe in the Church’s rules about, well, stuff.”

“Why?”

Before I could answer, he added in a flat tone, “and they don’t date cops.”

“Why?” he echoed, puzzled. “Because it’s the right thing to do.” “Because Mass is where you’ll find a nice girl?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, but he didn’t flinch. Instead, he held my eyes steadily. “Yes,” he said quietly. “That’s what I want. Though that is not my main reason for going to Mass.” I nodded. To my intense annoyance, my heart was beating wildly. “What did you mean when you asked me if I was Catholic?” He chuckled. “I didn’t think someone like yourself, uh, would be. I mean, with following the rules and everything.” I didn’t understand. “Following what rules?”

He snickered, then, without humor and turned to look at the multicolored lights of the Tree. “What are you talking about, the rules?” I was incredulous. “You mean the rules about sex before marriage? Well, you’re wrong. That’s exactly how Catholic I am. I don’t date married men, and I don’t have sex before marriage.” I was way louder than I meant to be. People were looking at us as they passed. His face was unreadable, but I thought I detected a glint of humor in his eyes.

“OKAY, then! So you will have coffee with me after Mass at the convent?” I smiled broadly. “Yes, but only at the convent…” “Until I have an annulment?” “Yes.” “Even if it takes months and months?” “Yes.” Pure joy lit his face. Or maybe it was the tears in my eyes that made it seem so. In any case, we stood there on the pavement under the Christmas lights, grinning at each other like fools. “Merry Christmas, Catholic girl,” he whispered, gazing down seriously into my eyes. “Merry Christmas,” I replied, and turned to intercept David. “See you at Holy Mass.”

“Would you date a cop with an annulment? I wrapped my red shawl tighter around Without having sex before marriage?” me, and together with my son, headed for There was another silence. Then I lifted my home. ”That’s exactly how Catholic I am. chin and smiled gently up at him. I don’t date married men, and I don’t have “I would be honored to date a cop. With an sex before marriage.” annulment. Under the usual conditions.” The grin spread across his honest face, lighting up his eyes as it went.

Available Now from Regina Press®

Every woman treasures Christmas in her heart of hearts...

A Collection of Christmas Poems and Short Stories download today!

80 | Page

R.


81 | Page


How Joan Came Home W The Story of a Soul

by Roseanne T. Sullivan

of San Jose had accepted the offer of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, which is dedicated to the traditional Latin Liturgy of 1962 for the Mass and the other sacraments, to provide a priest canon to serve as rector to the oratory. Because the Oratory would be permitted to offer traditional Latin Masses on Sundays, weekdays, feast days, and holydays, with all the sacraments available love. She was filled with “a great gratitude to in the traditional rite, this new arrangement God for all He has given me, with no way to was to be a big improvement. (Previously, express it.” Masses were only allowed by the bishop once That feeling of gratitude ‘with no satisfactory a month on First Saturday evenings.) way to express it’ stayed with Joan for many years, until she learned that the Mass that she once known and loved was back.

hat brings people back to church, after many years – in some cases an entire lifetime – of estrangement? This story of a California woman’s ‘reversion’ may shed some light on the mystery that so many priests encounter. In 2006, Joan Raphael was a thoroughly modern woman. A nurse who had led a widely-traveled, adventurous life, Joan had been away from the Catholic Church for over 40 years. While she’d grown up with the Latin Mass, there hadn’t been any traumatic break; she’d simply been raised by relatives who didn’t practice their faith.

One Sunday back in 1969, however, Joan decided she wanted to go to Mass. She didn’t In 2006, Joan’s interest was piqued by news even make it through the church door, however; the radical changes that greeted her of a Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Santa Clara, CA. were so appalling. But when she arrived, she was told that “It was gutted!” she recalls. The sound of the Bishop had just moved the Mass to the guitar music and singing shocked her. “They’d Oratory of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, brought the 60s into the church!” also in Santa Clara. Repelled, she’d turned on her heel and never returned. Many years later, however, she’d had a spiritual experience walking along the boardwalk in California.

“What’s the address?” she’d asked, all the while wondering what an Oratory actually was. (Editor’s Note: An oratory is a place of prayer other than a parish that is set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and celebration of the Mass.)

“It was a spectacular day…..sky and sea azure — perfect like an artist’s idealized rendition of the seaside.” She realized in all of her being In anticipation of the Motu Proprio of 2007, that day that she was surrounded by God’s Bishop Patrick McGrath of the Diocese

82 | Page

Joan attended her first Mass in decades on January 1, 2007. By chance, it was the first day that the Diocese recognized the chapel as an oratory. “I sat in the last pew and was in tears during most of the Mass,” she remembers. “My soul recognized that the Mass is the highest


form of worship on earth, full of beauty, reverence and full attention on God.” “I sat in the last pew and was in tears during most of the Mass,” she remembers. She remembered that as a child, she’d been awed by the beautiful statues in Catholic churches, the incense, and the solemnity. The choir music uplifted her, and the powerful sound of the organ resonated in her body and her soul. The grandeur of the surroundings made her feel diminutive, and she knew that was the right way for her to feel in God’s house. No one spoke above a whisper. “It was clear that God was worshiped in that beautiful place.” Soon after her experience of the TLM, Joan went to Confession for the first time in decades. “The priest was overjoyed,” she recalls. He told her the saints in heaven were rejoicing too. “I cried like a child. It was a wonderful experience–to unburden my soul of my sins and to feel accepted back into the real Church. I attended all the Masses offered during the next week and the next. It was a glorious time.” Soon after her experience of the TLM, Joan went to Confession for the first time in decades.“The priest was overjoyed,” she recalls. He told her the saints in heaven were rejoicing too. More than six years later, Joan hasn’t left yet. Some friends at the parish joke that she is at the Oratory so often for Masses, devotions, social activities, rehearsing and singing with the choir, buying and arranging the altar flowers, and helping out in many other ways, that she practically lives there.

But that is okay with Joan. At the Tridentine Mass she feels God’s presence, just as she did on that glorious day on the beach. But at this Mass she could feel Him even more intensely present, while He was “accepting the sacrifice of His Son.” Here at last Joan could worship God as He deserved. The Oratory of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, in Santa Clara, California, is run Friends joke that Joan is at the Oratory so often for by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Masses, devotions, social activities, rehearsing and singing with the choir, buying and arranging the altar R. flowers, and helping out in many other ways, that she practically lives there.

THE ANSWER IS YES

(You can reprint Regina articles for your parish bulletin!) 83 | Page


84 | Page


My First Time Discovering the Latin Mass in West Virginia

by Teresa Limjoco I did it. I finally took myself in hand, determined to find a Sunday Latin Mass in rural West Virginia.

manner. His soothing tenor gave a nice cadence and smoothness to the Latin text.

True to form, the Mass was held at an unusual time (2 pm), in an inconvenient place. Holy Trinity Church is a 70’s building in a depressed residential area with a tiny minority of Catholics, in Nitro – a town named for the nitroglycerine industry which was once its economic mainstay.

Just before the homily, Father related a fascinating story of how the statues were found. It turns out that they actually came from the original church that stood next door, which was demolished to make way for this new one in 1979. An older parishioner saw the statues in someone’s barn, immediately recognized them, and bought them for 25 dollars! Father planned to send the statues to Pennsylvania for restoration. He also intended to restore the tabernacle to its rightful place in the centre of the sanctuary.

I arrived an hour early to be sure I was on time for the Mass, and found a young couple quietly contemplating the illuminated sanctuary atop three shallow steps, against a plain back wall. The makeshift altar was covered with a green-and-gold cloth – with six tall candlesticks and a covered chalice. Off to the side were two small chapels with votive candles, dedicated to Our Lady. It was very quiet. Dark wooden pews (with kneelers, thankfully), squeaked scandalously with every move I made. The echoey hall magnified the tiniest of rustling sounds. ‘Because I prayed for it’ A half-hour before Mass, K arrived and propped open the church’s double doors. I told her I was taking pictures of the church, and she said she’d turn on the lights for me. We stood before the sanctuary, admiring the altar. She said she was doing all she could to get the word out about the Traditional Latin Mass. I was glad to hear that. Why, I asked, did the TLM come to this particular town? She replied dryly, ‘Because I prayed for it.’ Then more seriously, ‘Oh, how I prayed so hard for this to come here!’ I understood, and chuckled. I liked K at once. K used to be a Baptist and converted some twenty years ago when she fell in love with Catholic masses she saw depicted in the movies. ‘This,’ she said, nodding at the candlestick-laden altar, ‘was why I converted.’ She was dismayed to discover that the Novus Ordo Mass was the dominant form in the real-life Catholic Church, but then decided to pray fervently for a change. She pointed out the life-like crucifix on the centre back wall. ‘That’s new. It came from South America. It’s very interesting because it looks so real. The blood looks like it’s dripping down from Jesus’ head.’ Some people didn’t like it, she said. However, Father J, the TLM priest, had bought it for the church; it replaced the Risen Christ figure typical of the post-Vatican II novelties. Two old statues of St Anthony of Padua and Thérèse of Lisieux flanked the crucifix. Their countenances were angelic and calm; they looked antique, but I couldn’t tell their exact age. The paint was faded, and white spots and chips bore witness to their neglect. K told me mysteriously that someone had bought these at ‘some sale.’ A Latin Mass in a Spartan Place The Mass was about to start. I took my seat, armed with my 1962 Missal. There were just ten of us there, nine adults and one teen – the usual number, I was later told. Father J conducted the Latin Mass in an unfussy, solemn

85 | Page

Father also happily announced that his Capuchin order of a hundred priests is looking at fifty – yes, fifty! - young men currently discerning a vocation. (I couldn’t help contrasting this to the diocese’s own ‘harvest’ of seven potential priests now at seminary.) The homily proper began. In the secular culture today, proclaiming the Truth of the Catholic Church was simply not enough, Father said. Taking his cue from a recent issue of Latin Mass magazine, he believed that showing the world the Beauty inherent in our Catholic music, liturgy, and culture was going to be a more effective tack to take. I found myself nodding and smiling at everything he said. Fr. J worked at a disadvantage. With no altar servers, a middle-aged fellow up front took charge of ringing the bells. There was no incense burning. The church had no altar rail, so we all trooped to the front pews and knelt there to receive Holy Communion. A Conversation with Father After Mass, about half of us gathered around Father -- a neatly dressed older couple, a fortyish woman with seven children, and K. I was pleased to learn that older couple belonged to my parish. Everyone was here purposefully, and serious about their liturgy. Father was gracious. He said he’d been a Capuchin priest for 27 years, and was now 47 years old. He was a missionary working in a Southwest Pacific island before coming back to the States. It was upon his return Stateside that he first experienced a Traditional Latin Mass. It was, you might say, love at first sight, and hearing. He would soon receive training in the TLM with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The Bishop then assigned him to this small, three-church parish two years ago to celebrate both the TLM and Novus Ordo Masses. But why here, of all places? Well, some time back, about a hundred parishioners each in two nearby cities petitioned the Bishop for a TLM in their respective parishes. Father J says that the decision was taken to choose this town and the admittedly odd times for the Mass (weekdays at 7 am) in order to avoid conflicts with the Novus Ordo Masses in the older, established parishes. It was for diplomatic reasons, and this sounded reasonable to me. Referring to his homily on Beauty, Father brought up a

recent video featuring a motley trio of young men on a TV talent show. They ‘brought down the house’ with their performance, he said, singing an excerpt from a Catholic Requiem hymn - the ‘Pie Jesu’! Yes, Father thought that an excellent example of evangelizing more persuasively by simply sharing the moving artistry and elegance found in, in this case, our liturgical music. It was very likely that no-one in that studio even knew the Catholic origins of that ‘song’. Father then spoke about the tabernacle. Having it right there in the centre of the sanctuary, he said, would remind people that Christ was, indeed, present inside this church, and deserved due reverence. He related sadly that some parishioners failed to genuflect upon entering the church. I shook his hand gratefully, confessing that his homilies were the very kind I had sought at Mass. The future of his TLM parish also looked bright. Father hoped to one day celebrate a High Mass here... and then he sighed, saying he wished he could just say Mass in a place that ‘looked like a real church’. I could sympathize. This forlorn 70’s structure was built at a time when modernist churches stripped of any complex religious art or architecture were all the rage. Father intended to make a ‘real church’ of this Spartan place, and I thought that was no idle threat. Strange and Wonderful My ears then pricked up when Father let slip that a solemn High TLM might soon be coming to my local parish. ‘Twas another reason to smile, I thought -- oh, what a sweet, smart, gentle, and dedicated priest Fr. J is! This was in stark contrast to my local parish priest, in my opinion. He was ordained in the early Eighties, and spent a decade as a military chaplain before serving for a few years at a parish further north. To be honest, I was a bit put off by his endless joketelling, even in homilies. Like many priests of his generation who learned to say the Novus Ordo Mass versus populum, I thought perhaps he felt a need to entertain the crowd. To his credit, I conceded that he’d kept liturgical abuse out of his Masses, and performed his priestly duties with gusto. Before taking my leave, I shook Fr. J’s hand once more, thanking him profusely. He smiled and gave me his blessing; I find that TLM priests have generally been much warmer folks. I’ll be including Fr. J in my daily prayers henceforth – and my local parish priest, too. We’re repeatedly told to pray for all priests, but today I just learned something amazing. To my utter shock, it turns out that my own parish priest has been taking lessons in saying the TLM from Fr. J himself – unbeknownst to all of us, for some time now! How strange and wonderful are the ways of God.

R.


the Saints

86 | Page


87 | Page


If your name is Nick or Nicole, there are a few things you should know.

by Ed Masters

The Real Santa Claus Muscular and Generous, A Saint For Our Time

St. Nicholas threw bags of gold through the man’s window — or placed gold coins in their shoes, depending on the source — thereby saving his daughters from a lifetime of sexual bondage.

As a young man, Nicholas made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; like many young men of was orphaned while still a young child. irst, your name means “Victory of the times, he longed to escape the rampant the people” from the Greek Nike Even then, he showed signs that his future corruption around him and decided to spend (victory) and Laos (people). Second, was one that was to be filled with holiness the rest of his life in solitude as a hermit. But you’re in good company. There have been and sanctity. He was said to have had little God had other ideas. He inspired Nicholas to interaction with his peers, preferring to many saints with this illustrious name: go to Myra, where the bishops had gathered dedicate himself to learning and holiness. Nicholas of Flue, Nicholas of Tolentino, to elect a successor to the recently deceased From the beginning, he disdained worldly bishop. In a vision, God revealed to one bishop Nicholas Owen and Pope Saint Nicholas pleasures, preferring to use his inherited wealth that they should choose the first man who the Great to name a few. Finally, you’re to help the less fortunate, the innocent and the would enter the church the next morning, named for Santa Claus — St. Nicholas oppressed. whose name would be Nicholas.

F

of Myra and Bari – and your Saint’s feast The legends that have come down through the day is December 6, kept by both the ages about Nicholas reveal how he became Catholic and Orthodox Churches. This is quite a distinction. The real St. Nicholas was a legendary figure – a muscular and generous Christian bishop — in his own time. He saved girls from sexual slavery, raised people from the dead, was thrown into prison for his Christianity, and even punched a famous heretic at a church council. His deeds and miracles put him head and shoulders above any red-suited jolly old elf with a sleigh full of toys and flying reindeer – though of course the red-and-white suit derive from the traditional colors of a Christian bishop’s robes. The real St. Nicholas was a legendary figure – a muscular and generous Christian bishop — in his own time. He saved girls from sexual slavery, raised people from the dead, was thrown into prison for his Christianity, and even punched a famous heretic at a church council.

Early Years Nicholas was born to wealthy parents in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) around the year 260 A.D. His parents had long been childless and their prayers for a child were finally answered. Tragically, they were not to enjoy the company of their son for long, as Nicholas

88 | Page

Nicholas, knowing nothing of this, entered the church. When asked his name, he was known as the Patron Saint of children, sailors, led into the assembly of bishops and it was brides, bankers, and the poor. related to him all that had happened. In spite of his protestations, the bishops consecrated Nicholas’s deeds and miracles place him. This turned out to be a great choice – an him head and shoulders above any exemplary bishop, Nicholas visited the poor, red-suited jolly old elf with a sleigh full prisoners, the sick, and all the churches of his of toys and flying reindeer – though diocese. He stoutly encouraged his people to of course Santa’s red-and-white suit remain faithful in spite of the terrible antiderive from the traditional colors of a Christian persecutions they had to endure Christian bishop’s robes. under Licinius and Diocletian.

Nicholas Stories

Murder, corruption and decadence characterized the times in which Nicholas lived. One grisly story that comes down to us was of three young men murdered and their bodies thrown into a barrel of brine. This occurred not long after Nicholas was ordained a priest, and the legends say that he raised the young men to life. Another story says that a poor Christian widower with three daughters had no dowry to offer any prospective husbands, thereby all but guaranteeing they would be sold into slavery. St. Nicholas threw bags of gold through the man’s window — or placed gold coins in their shoes,depending on the source — thereby saving his daughters from a lifetime of sexual bondage.

Nicholas and the Emperor For his pains, Nicholas was thrown into a dungeon. After many years, he was released when Constantine became Emperor and legalized Christianity. When the new Emperor ordered the demolition of pagan temples and idols, Nicholas assisted with great zeal and didn’t rest until all pagan temples and idols were eradicated from his Diocese. But he was no sycophant of the powerful Emperor – and he apparently had the same power of bilocation and soul-reading attributed to St. Padre Pio in the 20th Century. In 325 A.D, when Constantine was set to execute three soldiers on false charges, the hapless prisoners beseeched God to send Nicholas to help them. The Saint – who was attending the Council of Nicea at the time


— appeared before Constantine and threatened him with Divine vengeance if the sentences were not overturned. Apparently, Nicholas also appeared before the lying accuser, who immediately recanted. The prisoners were set free, and the Emperor sent many rich gifts to Nicholas.

his death. Nicholas prepared himself and after a short, intense bout of fever, died in the year 342 A.D. But death would not be the end of his miracles. Yet another story tells of his intervention on behalf of a couple’s only child, who had been captured by pirates and sold into slavery as the cup-bearer of an Arab ruler. After the boy’s parents sought the intercession of St. Nicholas, the boy was taken from his captors in the blink of an eye and restored to his parents. In the year 1087 A.D., after Myra had been conquered by Muslims, Italian sailors rescued the Saint’s remains to preserve them from being desecrated. His relics are in the church of San Niccolo in Bari and to this day an oil flows with many healing properties, the ‘manna of St. Nicholas’ (‘Manna di San Niccolo’). At one time St. Nicholas was the most popular Saint in Europe, and his fame stretched from England to Russia, Germany to Greece, and Italy to the Netherlands. More churches were built and named after St. Nicholas at one time than any other saint; there were three hundred in Belgium, thirty-four in Rome, twenty-three in the Netherlands and more than four hundred in England. For some Catholics –especially in the Eastern Catholic Churches – December 6 is the day when many give gifts, including gold chocolate coins which are given to children, who place their shoes in front of a fireplace or outside to be filled that morning. A spicy Dutch cookie called a Speculaas cookie is made and eaten this day and shaped into coins, mitres, ships, moneybags and balls — all painted with colorful icing.

For all of us, it’s also a good idea to display a holy card with St. Nicholas’ image on his Feast Day. (Or to share his image and this story on Facebook!) NICHOLAS STAYS THE EXECUTION OF CONSTANTINE’S SOLDIERS by Ilya Repin, Ukrainian-born Russian Realist Painter, 1844-1930

In fact, another story tells us that at the same Council (the origin of the ‘Nicene Creed’ that Catholics recite at Mass) Nicholas became so irate at the heresy of Arius that he punched Arius in the presence of the Emperor Constantine and all assembled. In punishment, Nicholas was stripped of his bishop’s garments, chained, and thrown into prison. Jesus and Mary were said to have appeared to him in prison and given him the Book of the Gospels and omophorion (Editor’s Note: In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic liturgical tradition, the omophor is the distinguishing vestment of a bishop and the symbol of his spiritual and ecclesiastical authority.)

At the Council of Nicea -the origin of the ‘Nicene Creed’ that Catholics recite at Mass- Nicholas became so irate at the heresy of Arius that he punched him in the presence of the Emperor Constantine and all assembled.

When the prison guard checked on Nicholas in the morning, the Saint was free of chains, dressed as a bishop and reading the Gospels. When Constantine was told of this, Nicholas was released immediately. During that same Council, sailors who were on their way to the Holy Land encountered a storm and were in danger of being shipwrecked. They called upon St. Nicholas to help them — as stories about his miracles spread even during his lifetime. Nicholas appeared to the sailors and guided their ship to land. When they gave thanks to him, he told them, “My children, give honor to God. I am but a poor sinner.” He then told them of the numerous sins they committed which had been the cause of the near-disaster they experienced and urged them to repent. It is especially interesting that these remarkable legends should be so persistent, as we’re told that throughout his life Nicholas did most of his good deeds in private, trying his best follow the command of Christ to “do not do your justice before men” and “let your right hand not know what your left hand is doing.”

The Death of a Saint – and More Miracles As a special boon, God revealed to St. Nicholas the day and hour of

89 | Page

R.


The Saints of England’s Holy Island The Ancient Legend of Lindisfarne by Michael Durnan

L

indisfarne is a cold, wild and lonely island, isolated from the rest of England by twice-daily tides. But its misty shores have witnessed strange and marvellous things. The story of Lindisfarne reaches far back into the mists of time, to another island, Iona. It was here that the Irish began to save civilization when St. Columba, or Columcille, arrived from Ireland in the year 576 AD with twelve companions. From here, Columba and his monks took the Gospel to the Pictish Tribes of Scotland – and founded another monastic community on Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne was to become as influential and significant as Iona in the development of Christianity in Britain, especially England. Our story begins in 634 AD when Oswald became King of Northumbria. A recent convert, he wished to evangelise his subjects, so he sent to Iona for missionary monks. The Abbot of Iona, Segenius, dispatched Corman, an austere monk, who, on finding the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria to be both barbarous and obstinate, promptly returned to Scotland. Fortunately, the Abbot’s next recruit, Aidan, turned out to be a better choice. It was Aidan who selected Lindisfarne as a secluded and peaceful place, ideal for the monastic life – yet close enough to the Northumbrian capital, present day Bamburgh. From Lindisfarne, Aidan preached the Gospel throughout the Kingdom of Northumbria, sometimes with the assistance of King Oswald who acted as interpreter. Aidan’s mission flourished; people donated land and money to establish churches and monasteries throughout the kingdom. Parents sent their children to be educated by the Celtic monks and four brothers who arrived there, Cynebil, Caelin, Cedd and Chad were ordained priests. As we learn from the chronicles of St Bede the Venerable, St. Aidan earned a reputation for his pious charity and devotion to those less fortunate, such as his assistance to orphans and paying to free slaves. He insisted on travelling on foot, rather than horseback. The monastic community he founded quickly grew, as did its reputation as a place of scholarship and learning. Aidan died on 31st August, 651 AD, and his body was interred beneath Lindisfarne abbey. St. Aidan has been proposed as a patron saint for the entire United Kingdom because of his Irish origins, his Scottish monasticism and his mission to the Anglo-Saxons of northern England. On the night St. Aidan died, a young man named Cuthbert was tending his sheep in the Lammermuir Hills in southern Scotland, near Melrose Abbey. According to the Venerable Bede, he saw a vision of Aidan’s soul being taken up by a Heavenly Host. When Cuthbert learned that Aidan had died at the exact time of his vision, he immediately entered the monastery. Whilst tending his sheep, Cuthbert saw a vision of Aidan’s soul being taken up by a Heavenly Host. When he learned that Aidan had died at the exact time of his vision, Cuthbert immediately entered the monastery. Ten years later, Cuthbert became Prior of Lindisfarne, where he often spent time alone on a rocky outcrop, today known as Cuthbert’s Island. Later he went into greater isolation, retreating to the Inner Farne Island and building himself a cell and oratory. Cuthbert’s solitude would be broken by visitors seeking counsel from this wise and pious man, but when he was alone legends have it that he would mortify himself by standing in the sea up to his waist for the entire night, and sea otters would dry his feet and warm his frozen legs. He had a great love

90 | Page

of wildlife and he is particularly associated with the Eider Duck, known locally as Cuddy’s Duck. In 687 AD, Cuthbert’s body was buried on Lindisfarne. More than 100 years later, Vikings attacked the island, and in 875 AD Cuthbert’s loyal monks took up his body and fled. In one of the most astounding stories of Christian monasticism, these monks wandered for generations, safeguarding the incorrupt body of Cuthbert, until eventually founding a church in Durham. When the Norman French built Durham Cathedral almost 300 years later, they re-interred Cuthbert behind the altar, where he rests today. The ancient Saint Aidan has been proposed as a patron saint for the entire United Kingdom because of his Irish origins, his Scottish monasticism and his mission to the Anglo-Saxons of northern England. St. Wilfrid, the son of a nobleman, left Lindisfarne for Rome -- the first known pilgrimage by an Anglo-saxon to the Eternal City. There, he learned the Roman method for calculating Easter. Wilfrid returned to Northumbria and became


involved in the historic dispute between the Celtic and Roman calendars. The dispute came to a head when King Oswiu of Northumbria, who followed the Celtic date for Easter, married Eanflaed, who followed the Roman date for Easter. To resolve the issue, the famous Synod was held at Whitby in 664 AD, chaired by the Abbess of Whitby, St. Hilda. St. Wilfrid supported the Roman method whilst the Celtic method was supported by Cedd and Colman of Lindisfarne along with King Oswiu and Hilda of Whitby. Wilfrid’s arguments in support of the Roman practice won the day and the Kingdom of Northumbria from then on adopted the Roman practice. Wilfrid also introduced the Rule of St. Benedict at the many monastic houses he founded; some say he was the first to introduce the Benedictine Rule into England and not St. Augustine of Canterbury.

as is St. Cuthbert Gospel, a pocket gospel written in Latin in the 7th C. and placed inside St. Cuthbert’s coffin. The nine saints of Lindisfarne are St. Aidan, St. Finan, St. Colman, St. Tuda, St. Eata, St. Cuthbert, St. Eadberht, St. Eadfrith and St. Ethelwald. The lonely ruins of Lindisfarne still stand today, mute testimony to the light of the Gospel carried by St. Aidan, which illuminated Anglo-Saxon England.

After the Viking raids, Lindisfarne remained uninhabited for over 200 years, when Benedictine Monks re-established the monastic life there. They renamed Lindisfarne ‘Holy Island,’ to commemorate the holy blood shed during the Viking raids. The Benedictine Monks were on Holy Island for about 450 years until the In one of the most astounding stories of Christian monasticism, these monks Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1533 under Henry VIII. The ruins of Lindesfarne still stand today, mute testimony to the light of the Gospel carried by St. Aidan, wandered for generations, safeguarding the incorrupt body of Saint Cuthbert. which illuminated Anglo-Saxon England. Besides producing nine saints and evangelizing large parts of England, Lindisfarne’s monks produced one of the greatest treasures of Anglo-Saxon England, The Lindisfarne Gospels. This priceless illuminated manuscript is one of the finest R. surviving examples of Celtic Art. The Gospels are now kept in the British Library

PRAYER OF ST. CUTHBERT

91 | Page

Bless, O Lord, this island, This Holy Island. Make it a place of peace and love. Make it a place of joy and light. Make it a place of hospitality. Make it a place of grace and goodness And begin with me.


A Story of Catholic Valour When Jesuits Were Hunted in England by Suzanne Duque-Salvo

T

here is a sculpture in St. Peter’s Basilica which flanks Bernini’s Monument to Pope Alexander VII, strategically and metaphorically set over an exit door from the Basilica. The Allegory of Truth by Lazzaro Morelli and Giulio Carteri is a gigantic marble figure of a woman with one toe on a thorn symbolizing Protestantism, set atop England.

From the point of view of England’s Crown, the Jesuits could very well be a thorn in England’s side; they created obstacles to Protestant uniformity by ministering to the spiritual needs of English Catholics and fueled zeal to defy acquiescence to the Church of England. To the Protestant, “‘Jesuit’… meant conspiracy…Their founder was Spanish and they were sworn to another allegiance than the Queen’s…The Jesuits were the vanguard of Spanish invasion; their business was to murder the Queen and Council… The news that disguised Jesuits were now at large in the English countryside caused indignation and alarm.”1 This took place against a background where humanism sanctioned a shift in focus from a theocentric to an anthropocentric view of the world, and intellectual skepticism normalized a historical-critical reading of the Bible. At the same time, the Society of Jesuits was establishing its ministry as educators and soldiers for Catholic orthodoxy. This Jesuit engagement with the world marked the period when the myth of the ‘evil Jesuit’ began. This article looks at the effects of Jesuit involvement in the preservation of Catholicism in England during the first century of the Anglican Church. It is important to note that the English Catholics from Oxford who went to Douai and Rheims were the same men who returned as Jesuit missionaries in the English Mission. With the exodus to the continent of Catholic Oxford

92 | Page

Chairs and Fellows who refused to take the Oath of Submission, Douai in the Spanish Netherlands and Rheims in France caught England’s most valuable cultural resource: the erudite Catholic. One could certainly say that without the ‘Oxfordizing’ of the universities in Douai and Rheims, there might not have been higher education for England’s Catholic youth and the Jesuits might not have stepped in to administer

and to counter the zealous and violent erasure of everything Catholic from England. A.O. Meyer described these priests as “worthy representatives of the spunk of the English national character.”2 They had to adapt to a strange way of life; in public, the priest wore a disguise; in hiding spaces he was priest. His life was spent “laid low in the attic room which contained a bed, a table and an altar, and was told to walk along the beams so that the floor would not creak and to be careful about opening windows and showing lights; he was not allowed to go about the house, might only slip out after dark, and must not come back until the servants were at supper or in bed. In an otherwise bustling household he might spend weeks or months alone, seeing only those who came to mass, the maid who brought his dinner, and with luck after meals one of the children, or their mother looking in to apologize for not having been able to pay him a visit sooner.”3 Life in a Priest’s Hole: “he lay low in the attic room which contained a bed, a table and an altar, and was told to walk along the beams so that the floor would not creak and to be careful about opening windows and showing lights.”

seminaries to accommodate the rise in priestly vocations among English Catholic men -- not to mention a spike in English scholarly priests choosing to be Jesuits. Without Douay and Rheims, there might not have been a regrouping of English Catholics. These English exiles prayed together and worked to implement various daring strategies to abort the total protestantizing of England’s religious heritage

Naturally, men who worked under such conditions were perceived as major threats. An elite corps formed under military standards who vowed obedience to the Pope, these former Oxford Catholics had a vested interest in preventing the total eclipsing of England’s Catholic heritage. Jesuits were an entirely different breed of priests from the type English Catholics were used to: “men of new light equipped in every continental art, armed against every frailty, bringing a new kind of intellect, new knowledge, new holiness.”4


Even before the first Jesuit missionaries were sent to England, secular priests from Douai were already being deployed. They were ordered not to engage in disputation but to simply focus on the pastoral care of English Catholics. Their movements were limited to covert activity, under the radar to avoid apprehension and execution. Regulations for Jesuits were different in that they were expected to be “responsible for adjustments”5 and to adapt to time, persons and places. This suggests that the Jesuits were expected to execute pastoral agility. As first hand witnesses to the plight of English Catholics, it would have been so against the grain to expect a Jesuit disciplined by Ignatian Spirituality and experienced in Oxfordian confrontational discourse to remain passive and quiet. One Oxford refugee with influential friends in the Continent, Fr. Robert Parsons SJ, felt that the English mission need not just be a march to the gallows by a ‘growing martyr cult.’6 Parsons believed it was his sacred duty to be a missionary in a situation that had “taken on the importance and urgency of a holy war.”7 According to his memoirs and letters, Parsons planned to accomplish several missions akin to a spy thriller. Besides establishing connections with the Recusants, they solidified and systematized the underground network by securing a network of gentryowned country houses -- including rented ones in London -- to serve as safe houses for priests. In these houses, Jesuit Brother Nicholas Owen built priest holes in case these houses were searched. And for a sense of community among the missionaries, the Jesuits established semi-annual meetings for all mission operatives, secular priests included, to pray and hold “discussions to prevent concessions to secular life from eroding religious fervor and identity.”8 To disseminate rebuttals to Protestant propaganda, a clandestine printing press was set up. Moreover, the Jesuits laid down an ecclesiastical structure to enable fielding priests, including secular ones, to specific locations. There was a network of communications to enable contact with church authorities in Rome. And of course, they instituted a way of transferring funds out of the country. Their success came at a price, however. Secular priests felt threatened by Jesuit domination. People became paranoid and suspicious that some foreign power backed their activities, which included a plot to assassinate the Queen. “Opponents saw Jesuits as overly-Hispanized zealots whose high-profile antics only goaded the Government’s more extreme measures.”9

Edward Campion was hung, drawn and quartered, but the truth of the English Mission did not die with him. Several other English Jesuit martyrs who became saints, including Alexander Briant, a pupil of Campion’s in Oxford; Henry Walpole, who while watching the execution of Campion was sprinkled with his blood, prompting him to abandon his law practice, leave England and convert at Rheims; and Henry Morse, another convert at Douai, to name only a few. Such valour does not die, or tarnish with the ages. I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was when a Google search on the keywords ‘English Mission’ retrieved an entry from the America’s Central Intelligence Agency. “Clandestine methods of the Jesuits in Elizabethan England as illustrated in an operative’s own classic account” is based on the Latin text of Fr. Gerard SJ where he described “the 18 years’ undercover duty in England.” The CIA entry opined that while “Gerard’s book is not in any modern sense a tradecraft manual, it is possible to derive from it a confident sense of how he and his Superior made expert use of the standard paraphernalia of covert action-- cover, aliases, safe houses, secret printing presses, invisible ink.” America’s Central Intelligence Agency is interested in “Clandestine methods of the Jesuits in Elizabethan England as illustrated in an operative’s own classic account.” The community of Catholics in Douay and Rheims were hopeful that the protestantizing of England was only temporary. All England needed was a Catholic monarch and Catholicism would be restored. But what they hoped never came to be. The Anglican Church stabilized, a female monarch showed the world what she could do with power, and the will of the secular aristocracy held strong. By the time of Elizabeth’s death, successor James I was no longer Catholic enough to effect any major changes. But the small group of faithful English Catholics was able to preserve traditional Catholic rituals and a mode of spirituality to enable English Catholics to thrive at the margin of English culture, even down to today. R.

But then there was Edmund Campion. He was serving as a missionary in Poland when he was recalled to be part of the English Mission. For one thing, it meant certain execution, for simply being priests. The anticipation of martyrdom transformed men so that “they came with gaiety among a people where hope was dead. The past only held regret and the future, apprehension; they brought with them, besides their priestly dignity and the ancient and indestructible creed, an entirely new spirit of which Campion is the type; the chivalry of Lepanto and the poetry of La Mancha, light, tender, generous and ardent.”10 Sensing it was only a matter of time that he would be apprehended and executed, Campion decided to take advantage of the print media to say what should not be left unsaid. Campion wrote two final documents; the first was his letter to the Privy Council informing them who he was and that his mission in England was strictly for religious rather than political reasons. His final piece, Decem Rationes or Ten Reasons why the Roman Catholic Church is the True Church, was written in the recognizably Campion rhetorical style that would have been familiar to upper reaches of English society. Campion had once been referred to by the Queen’s top adviser as the ‘diamond of England.’ What could have been more irksome than the diamond of England defecting to the Catholic side, and becoming a Jesuit priest? Henry Walpole watched the execution of Edward Campion and was inadvertently sprinkled with his blood, prompting him to abandon his law practice, leave England and convert at Rheims. He, too, became a Jesuit priest and martyr.

93 | Page

1. Waugh, Evelyn. Edmund Campion. (San Francisco: Oxford Press, 2005), 128-129. 2. Carrafiello, Michael L. “English Catholicism and the Jesuit Mission of 1580-81.” The Historical Journal, 37:4 (1994), 762. 3. Bossy, John. The English Catholic Community 1570-1850, (New York: Oxford Press, 1976), 255. 4. Waugh, p.130. 5. Coupeau SJ, J. Carlos. “Five Personae of Ignatius of Loyola.” Worcester, Thomas, Ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits, (New York: Cambridge Press, 2008), 45. 6. Carrafiello, p. 762. 7. Ibid, p. 768. 8. McCoog, SJ, Thomas. “The Society of Jesus in Three Kingdoms.” Worcester, Thomas Ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits, (New York: Cambridge, 2008), 90. 9. Ibid, p.91-92. 10. Waugh, 114.


FROM YOUR HEART TO A WOMAN YOU LOVE

94 | Page


95 | Page


R.

96 | Page

www.reginamag.com


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.