Mark, Buddy, You Got Real Pals and Siblings in Christ Who Get You and Have Seen the Truth

Hello Everyone, but specifically, Mark Shea,

The Church has been a trying time for many of us, especially with the Francis Papacy. Every off the cuff statement and interview he does with reporters can lead to a new fiasco, and another round of Satan's bile being thrown at the Holy Father by Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalists of all people.

Sadly, even the more centralist "orthodox" people, are committing slander and calumny and sin, all in the name of religious purity and in being the Church's self-appointed liturgical and moral police officers. In reality, these "I'm with Stupid" (I.W.S.) Catholics, to coin the phrase, from blogger David Wanat at "If I Might Interject," are committing the same sins and violation of the 2nd Commandment, like their Radical Traditionalist brethen, despite not being Latin Mass afficionados. Their "sacred cow"/idols might not be the Latin Mass/liturgy, but it could be something like abortion, euthanasia, homosexual issues, women's issues, etc. They defend the issue in a manner so zealously with the writings of the Church, they become modern day Pharisees, often involving the slagging and contempt of Pope Francis. Their language is passive-aggressive, and the underlying meaning of it is truly hatred and disgust for the Holy Father.

However, the Holy Father is not the only target of their moral and/or liturgical purism. They target anyone who attacks their rigorist standards of what they think the Church "teaches" as its authority and final words on matters. I myself have been attacked online and in person, and even stalked at a parish, for daring to fight against these people's demands and desires.

Unfortunately, their actions have consequences, spiritually and mentally, on their audiences, such as despair, inordinate anger, etc. and they are accessories to the sins of their affected audience. One good veteran and Catholic family man has been afflicted, and he needs our support.

A good blogger I have admired throughout the years since I've entered the fray, Mark Shea of Catholic Patheos web portal, a convert to the Church, has written numerous books, and produced numerous articles and work for North America's leading Catholic apologetics apostolate, Catholic Answers. In his spare time, he blogs at "Catholic and Enjoying It!", though he did recently break from the blog for personal reasons. Now he's back in action, though someone, a good friend, decided to employ proper fraternal correction of him, as it seems Mark, to this friend, has gone past his usual defining snarkiness that makes Mark a fun Catholic blogger to read.

Personally, I haven't met Mark in Person. I do hope he comes to Canada again, to my Archdiocese of Toronto, where one day I will meet him. However, I have had some correspondence with him, being in a similar "blogger's circle" as it were (kinda like the analogy of cliques in high school lunch rooms) and despite the low popularity and power that my Servimus Blog yields, Mark has been kind and gracious enough to link to my blog a couple of times for when I've poured out my soul and stated things of importance.

The post where this happened, and Mark's reply, is here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markshea/2016/07/an-honest-and-heartfelt-exchange-with-a-friend-who-feels-that-ive-changed.html.

Mark decides to open up about this heart to heart discussion, revealing what has happened to him spiritually over the years. One of the biggest things spiritually that has happened is some despair, laced with disillusionment into thinking that the readers he was once evangelizing to, have revealed their true and darkest sides to him. Some of this also revolves around the Francis Papacy and this current 2016 election in the United States of America, with Catholics, surprisingly, defending narcissist :

"The past 15 years have been one long slow disillusionment which went into high gear with the election of Francis and the poisonous reaction of that whole subculture against him ... I’ve watched for *years* while the people who once were eager to hear the gospel have morphed into a people eager to battle the Church every time she says something they don’t like, who use the lamest sophistries to do it, and who consistently use the unborn as human shields and fig leaves for that project.... Times this by literally thousands of encounters. It grinds you down. You lose patience and you lose hope. These are the people you took to be the faithful remnant of the Church and it turns out they are consistently fighting the Church and regard the Magisterium as a threat–especially Francis. Meanwhile, I regard him as a gift and am heartsick at the warfare–open and naked, as well as subterranean and passive (like a tree burning at the roots)–that comes from one sector of the Church and one only: the people I trusted as “faithful Catholics”..."

Heartbreaking indeed! This is exactly like the betrayal of Judas Iscariot at the Passion of Jesus Christ, who turned his back on the Lord and turned him over to be crucified. Mark here is like Mary, sadly watching his Son be mocked, tortured, hurt, and rejected and abandoned by the people who were once his closest friends and allies. Surely, haven't you had a moment in your life, even in your childhood, when a friend you once had, dumped you because he say, found someone else they thought was better, or joined a clique and embraced their "lifestyle" to the point it had to exclude you cause you are against their new "friends?" That here, is exactly what Mark Shea is experiencing.

The hypocrisy and sins of the I.W.S. crowds and their self-serving need for hearing they are the Holy Remnant of Jesus' "TRUE" Church, and not the modernist one passing for it today, is the high source of frustration for Mark's writing and correspondence in the hopes at evangelizing, and counselling the (willfully) ignorant:

" ...  I find myself in the bizarre position of meeting Lefties who are genuinely interested in hearing what the Church has to say, all while having to explain to Righties that this does not make me ritually unclean for consorting with them in order to evangelize them .... They now seek a Fortress in which to remain safe from a world they fear while Francis has left the Fortress, flung open the door and is proclaim the joy of the gospel to the very people the subculture would pour boiling oil on before they let them into the Church.  It’s not merely that they think he evangelizes badly.  It that they want him to stop evangelizing lest riff raff get in and make life complicated .... I no longer felt as though I had an audience who wanted to hear the Church’s teaching in fullness. They wanted to hear me tell them they are awesome and righteous and the Remnant of the Faithful and they wanted to hear me tell them liberals and CINOs are the enemy, including Francis. "

And because Mark Shea refused to fall off the narrow path on the right side of the road to the gate of heaven, the very people who enjoyed his blog, have become his worst enemies, just like the Jewish people from Palm Sunday, whom by Good Friday were now his hecklers and detractors.

The prideful and wicked RMTs and I.W.S., rarely admit to their sins and when they do, still do it in a prideful manner with the utmost unrepentance and mockery of their opponents. Mark, in a humble, true, mea culpa, has admitted that he has allowed such worries of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, affect him spiritually and in his writing, as correctly pointed out by the concerned friend:

"It has affected my writing, I know. I have felt more and more blocked and frustrated. More and more aware of how profoundly out of step I am with my peers. And no small part of that is due to the fact that there are deep mental and social “structures of sin”, as the Church calls them, that most on the right are completely unaware of. That’s why they see Francis as a threat and it is excruciatingly difficult for them to understand what he means on even the simplest points .... None of this is to try to justify my sins of anger. They are real and I keep going back to the sacrament for them (just went again today). It’s more to say, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” I don’t *like* myself very much these days. I wish I was a better man, but I’m just not. I keep praying for daylight and trusting that it will come. I think I got a piece of it yesterday and so will explore in that direction.

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If there is anything I can say, it's that Mark deserves our prayers and support. People who are more devout in their faith, should not be dividing their Brother and Sisters of Christ to ruin and sin. They should not be hurting and re-crucifying our Lord, yet they do. Even the best of our apologists and defenders, like Mark, are being hurt and wounded by these new allies and actors of the Devil's works. AND THEY TRULY DON'T DESERVE IT. NO ONE DESERVED TO BE HATED IN THIS WAY. 

Friends, I am happy that Mark does his service. I empathize with him. Despite his recent slump, he is truly one of the best faces out there for our Faith, warts and all, who is genuinely acting out his Faith.

Mark, let it be known that there still a few genuine "Orthodox," Traditionalist, even Latin Mass loving (ok, maybe just ONE or Two of us), Catholics who know you are practicing the truth of Jesus and have not fallen to the demons of your accusers. We care, and support you, and will continue to do so. You DO have online friends, and you can count me as one of them.

Friends, and true Catholics, please Give Mark your support and a shout, and your prayers.

Deo Gratias, and Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

Report: High Latin Mass/Missa Cantata at Mary Lake Shrine of the Augustinian Fathers in King City, ON, Saturday June 11, 2016

Source: http://villavallelonga.com/canada/MarylakeShrine/Images/Gallery/pages/

shrine004.htm

Hello Everyone,

I'll admit in light of my married life, as well as focusing on my major work whereby I had to call out a professor of OLSWA for his attack on Jean Vanier, (Part I, and Part II) this is long overdue, and I haven't had a chance to do this until now.

A month and a half ago, the Mary Lake Shrine in King City, Ontario, one of the parishes blessed with being a site of the Doors of Mercy of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year, held a beautiful and reverent Missa Cantata. The celebrant was none other than our Archdiocese's Latin Mass Chaplain, Fr. Steven Szakaczki, currently residing at St. Lawrence the Martyr Scarborough. I refer you to this link, that I had for promoting the Mass for some brief information about the Shrine and the Fathers' charism, but how blessed was the Archdiocese that these fine brothers would allow a Latin Mass. It turns out that this is their 2nd or 3rd year in a row that they have done an annual offering at the shrine of the Latin Mass, and for a yearly offering, they are happy to oblige.

I personally was going to attend with my best friend in faith, as this Mass was entirely independent of any specific organization, and being celebrated by Fr. Steven at a magnificent place. Initially, I had also inquired about serving. At that time, numbers seemed ok, but I was asked to be on "standby" later, in case of increasing the level to a Cantata with incense.

It turns out that, we were part of the Lord's plan, as a last minute change of plans necessitated me robing up and serving. We also had another young man join us who had served some other Latin Masses in the Archdiocese that my friend knew, and an old ally from our last St. Patrick's offering, just happened to show up, who was originally going to be in the pews. Thankfully, we had an extra cassock on hand and I lent my spare, cotton surplice, to him that I keep with me. With four servers, we had enough for incense and elevation to a Missa Cantata! Since none of us had the experience to do the Master of Ceremonies role, we went with two acolytes, a thurifer, and a crucifer.

Overall, we were able to give each other quick rundowns for our roles and I had crammed a little thurifer reading on the Missa Cantata just in case. For the most part, the serving went well, although without an MC, it was a bit challenging to know cuing of parts and such. The four of us are not part of an established Latin Mass program/parish so there's where the challenged lay. I also had a relative lengthy distance for the midpoint to walk for a coal exchange for the thurible, as the sacristy was near the main altar, and to get to that, you had to exit the back of the chapel, out to behind the main altar. Thank goodness Fr. Steven is a master of the Latin Mass! He led us fantastically in the Mass, and we were able to carry out a beautiful Missa Cantata.

However, a Mass isn't just priest and servers alone. I also give mention to the choir and the crowd. The choir was a small size schola, a combination of some of the Augustinian Fathers including the pastor/"prior" of the parish, as well as a couple of laypeople with an interest in Gregorian Chant and singing. Considering this Mass is held annually, the schola possessed considerable talent! They had clearly prepared well for this Mass and it showed. As for the laity, I was impressed! The Eucharistic chapel of Mary Lake, I'd estimate, could seat about 150-180 people in the pews. For this offering of the Latin Mass, the chapel was full! Of those in attendance, I saw a mix of people of varying age, but also a number of young people too. Even a couple of old friends of mine from Aurora showed up, and two people from my current Novus Ordo parish I never expected! All in all, it was a great showing that we could pack the chapel full, with standing room only!

As per my usual reporting, here are photos of the altar set up to celebrate the Extraordinary Form:

The chapel of the Mary Lake Shrine, which is usually open for perpetual adoration. The tabernacle ... is to the right of the altar. Yeah, it's construction is "modern." 

This is the altar close up, before the Mass began, and before a couple more items were added. 

The credence table for the Mass. 

These are two of the altar cards that are in the sacristy after Mass, that were on the altar. Interestingly, these are the altar cards of the Mary Lake Shrine!!! I, nor Fr. Steven, had to supply the cards this time around! See the picture above for the center altar card. 

Also, traditionally in my reports, I recapitulate the homily from the Latin Mass, as a "snippet" of interest. Unfortunately, because of my thurifer duties, and the length of time that has passed since the Mass in June, I have forgotten most of it. What I can remember is the following, with my own embellishment to explain the points made by Fr. Steven:

• The central topics/themes of the Homily were: The forgotten other half of Mercy, which is justice; The Blessed Virgin Mary; Humility and how the B.V.M. exhibits this humility; the Devil and how he has a total lack of humility. 

• On Mercy and justice, Fr. opened up his homily with the theme of Mercy. He likely started with this because this was a Doors of Mercy parish with a Holy Door in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. He commented on how there are two parts to the Lord's Mercy, and that the virtue of justice is its second component, going hand in hand with Mercy.

• Unfortunately, there is a current trend in our society that is rapidly rising both in our world and in our Church. Father than began to explain how both mercy and virtue must be balanced, and the errors/sins we make when we pursue each too far in their extremes. 

• With mercy, it is good and well to forgive those of their faults and transgressions, but we err and overemphasize mercy to the point that we allow the person to not correct their mistakes or work at turning away from their sins, and we actually harm them, giving them license to remain stagnant in their personal and spiritual development.

• Father Steven also commented on the other part of the combination of mercy/justice, that we as humans, err in also overemphasizing justice to the point where we lack mercy. When something or someone wrongs us, our instincts are to lash out and punish the source of offence and injustice. Part of that is a desire of revenge or to serve "justice," though it also reflects the good part of nature to correct the injustice. Unfortunately, the manner in which we do so, can be to the point it is merciless, or malicious in intention, making the virtue inordinate. [Editortial note: I would not be surprised if Father was thinking about the Pharisaical "armchair theologians" that are rising in number on the Internet.]

• ... at this point, I had to go out and change the thurible coals, so I missed a good chunk of the homily. When I came back ....

• Father then was explaining the virtue of humility. While I do not remember the beginning part of the explanation, he did illustrate the example. He wanted us to think of the famous WWE wrestler, Hulk Hogan, a muscular strong opponent. If a little girl were to be his opponent, this would be awful and not humble at all, embarrassing, and cruel, on the part of the Hulkster. If you, as a grown adult tried to fight with all your strength, with honesty and sportsmanship, you would obviously lose, but would lose the challenge with humility at fighting an opponent such as the Hulkster. 

• With humility explained, Fr. Steven entered into speaking about Satan and how he exhibited a total lack of humility in his rebellion against God. In heaven, then Lucifer, meaning "bearer of light," had witnessed the creation of the world, especially that of humanity. Looking at that, he could not bear it. How could God create something so inferior and to show his desire and love them. They are mortal beings! We angels are superior and deserve that privilege simply by right that we are pure spiritual beings! 

• Were Satan humble, he would have exhibited obedience to his creator, God, and accepted humanity as part of His Divine Plan, and that he created free willed human beings out of the totality of His Love, in being the Divine Creator. Instead, Satan, as an angel with a pure will, made an irreversible decision to rebel against God along with 1/3 of the angels in Heaven [editor comment: which one can logically speculate to include angels of other choirs, like powers, thrones, dominions ... they didn't all just come from one choir.]

• The Devil, was even more furious after the fact, when He decided to make Mary, a virgin, Blessed, in bearing the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. He chose a human flesh woman, to bear through the family and natural childbirth, our Saviour, to take the form of the World of God made flesh. What a travesty to Satan!!! God, purposely decided to have a human nature, of those fleshlings that Satan so hated with all his being, and further, used a human woman to do so. 

•  As for Mary, she was the counter to the example of the Devil, the women who would crush the Devil's head, as foretold by God after the Fall of Adam and Eve. Unlike Satan, her "fiat" to willingly accept what God wanted after being told by Gabriel, was accepted in total humility, despite not knowing the totality of it, the risks involved, etc. Being faithful to the Lord in practice of her Jewish Faith, as well as a deep devoted level of the virtue of Faith, she was the example of humility, an example which we should emulate in our lives with the Lord. 

When the Mass was over, we were overjoyed, and we all celebrated with refreshments after the Mass in the courtyard space next to the main body of the Church. 

Once again, we must thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the mercy and the loving hearts of the Augustinian Fathers, as another parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto, under the merciful and loving pastor ship of His Eminence, Cardinal Thomas Collins, allowed the Extraordinary Form/Latin Mass to occur. 

Even though it would be great if a parish like Mary Lake or any of the other Vaughan/Woodbridge parishes would offer a frequent Latin Mass offering for the northern regions of the Archdiocese of Toronto, it is a blessing even a yearly offering occurs at a parish! May we thank the Lord for these offerings, and may we pray steadfast to him for the growth and proliferation of offerings in the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Church, under positive leadership that practices the Joy of the Gospel. 

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian