Traditionis Custodes Part 1: Analysis and commentary of Paragraphs 1-4 Including sub-paragraphs

Hello everyone,

As promised I will comment on the new restrictive Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes, issued by Pope Francis regarding the Latin Mass in the Church, immediately acting. 

My first post, part 1. will be a literal dissection, covering simply the act itself of the first half of the document, paragraphs 1 to 4 of the 8 articles and their sub-articles.

There is a lot of ground to cover here, 8 articles in all, but I’ll look at each one and offer general Church commentary at the end.

 

“ Art. 1. The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite. “

Pope Francis is reiterating that the current liturgy of the Roman Rite 3rd edition post Vatican II IS the regular form of the Mass for the Roman Rite, the dominant rite in the Church and in the World. This was always so even with Summorum Pontificum. Sadly he has to state this again because some people think that the Novus Ordo/Ordinary Form is a “bastard rite.” Notice he didn’t say that the EF was abrogated and/or are banned. 

“ Art. 2. It belongs to the diocesan bishop, as moderator, promoter, and guardian of the whole liturgical life of the particular Church entrusted to him, [5] to regulate the liturgical celebrations of his diocese. [6] Therefore, it is his exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese, according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See.”  

Now here is where the start of the new laws took place. This is NOT out of thin air. The footnotes are key here. However, one who understands hierarchy in the Church, would NOT be surprised. The Pope, as per Pastor Aeternus aka Vatican I, in chapter 3 paragraph 2 states: “ 2. Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world. “ Discipline clearly extends to the Liturgy of the Mass. He alone is the prime governor of all major matters in the Church. 

Also Pope Pius XII in Mediator Dei says …. “ 44. Since, therefore, it is the priest chiefly who performs the sacred liturgy in the name of the Church, its organization, regulation and details cannot but be subject to Church authority... 57. The Church has further used her right of control over liturgical observance to protect the purity of divine worship against abuse from dangerous and imprudent innovations introduced by private individuals and particular churches... 58. It follows from this that the Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys the right to recognize and establish any practice touching the worship of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify those he judges to require modification.[50] Bishops, for their part, have the right and duty carefully to watch over the exact observance of the prescriptions of the sacred canons respecting divine worship.[51] Private individuals, therefore, even though they be clerics, may not be left to decide for themselves in these holy and venerable matters, involving as they do the religious life of Christian society along with the exercise of the priesthood of Jesus Christ and worship of God; ….  no private person has any authority to regulate external practices of this kind, which are intimately bound up with Church discipline and with the order, unity and concord of the Mystical Body and frequently even with the integrity of Catholic faith itself.“

Dare I say it, these prior documents of importance in the Church of the Vatican I council AND prior to Vatican II makes it abundantly clear: the Pope is the final say on matters liturgical and even to protect the liturgy from abuse from ANY and ALL individuals who dare abuse it as a weapon or an instrument of corruption which sadly both priests and laity have done. Whether it’s via the Internet or actual liturgy on the ground, layperson or clergy, it’s clear that what Pope Francis has done IS within his power and acting as Head of the Church on earth as per these pre-Vatican II documents. 

As for the Bishops, they are the ordinary judges, and actors, and even “officers” of a diocese that are responsible not only in upholding the Teachings of the Church but also govern Liturgical matters. As our government cannot uphold civil and criminal laws without judges and ordinary police officers to enforce it, that is an analogue to what the bishops are. They are the Pope’s “middle managers” as it is who are to carry out said instructions in ecclesiastical law, including liturgy. 

But …. This is the start of now granting direct control to the bishops …. which is a “mixed bag” of sorts. On the one hand, lazy bishops MUST now control the distribution of the EF in the diocese. As this is such a divisive issue in the Church it now MUST be addressed. They cannot sit back and let it just happen. In a positive way they can now root/weed out the vile and rebellious clergy and lay leaders who have poisoned the Latin Mass and led to T.C. being promulgated. HOWEVER … not all dioceses are blessed with a laissez-faire bishop. Sadly and truly, especially in the USA, numerous dioceses have now had notices to their priests/parishes and while I am awaiting names, after this past Sunday (cause with COVID parishes are booking mass slots) those EF masses are stopped …. Gone …. hence liberal or EF hating bishops are able to abuse their power to kill the Latin Mass, and are doing so. 

And unfortunately Francis’ mindset is geared on only the few bad apples spoiling the bunch while the regular good souls are to suffer and clericalist bishops are allowed to be cruel to those good souls attach to the EF. This is the expression “using a sledgehammer to swat a fly” when a fly swatter would have been reasonable. 

“ Art. 3. The bishop of the diocese in which until now there exist one or more groups that celebrate according to the Missal antecedent to the reform of 1970:

§ 1. is to determine that these groups do not deny the validity and the legitimacy of the liturgical reform, dictated by Vatican Council II and the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs;”

Now this is where I say good show Francis! Too many clergy and lay leaders exist, despite being more of a minority, who are poisoning from other laity and clergy, especially youth under 40, with radical Traditonalist garbage! Even Pope Benedict Emeritus XVI made it clear to respect both the EF and OF in Article 1 of SP. If these groups or at the very least the leaders (both clergy and laymen down to little Timmy the torchbearer, though little Timmy is just parroting what his parents, friends, older adults and priests are teaching him,) are becoming weapons of schism, that Latin Mass is truly a weapon against the Church, the Holy Father, and the eternal salvation of the souls within. 

Even sadder, this has morphed into a hideous monster with former President Donald Trump applauding now disgraced (in terms of credibility) Archbishop Vigano in the USA, prior to the 2020 election, adding right wing political extremism to the radical Traditonalism of Latin Massers who idolized Vigano. 

In short thank God the Church via Francis has given bishops greater ability to protect younger lay faithful from these evil leaders. 

However …. That being said, what if a bishop’s outlook is liberal to the extreme? Will he not allow even the modest “The Latin mass draws me closer with tradition, symbolism …” etc should he be conducting a witch-hunt in his eccleastical “kangaroo court,” looking for any reason to cancel a Latin Mass or a priest? Abuse of power and clericalism, the very things Francis abhors, now can be used against honest lay faithful and priests attached or doing the EF.

“ § 2. is to designate one or more locations where the faithful adherents of these groups may gather for the eucharistic celebration (not however in the parochial churches and without the erection of new personal parishes);”

Now this is where I find His Holiness’ restriction to be somewhat cruel to the faithful and good priests who do/attend the Latin Mass. Mr Liberal bishop will see  this and say, YES! Now i can kick those scumbags out of my diocesan parishes and give them nothing! No altar, no liturgical items or vestments, no mass. Sadly there will be bishops who will take this to the extreme and force the faithful out of ANY place with an altar. And in more rural dioceses, there may be no legitimate Catholic chapels OR monasteries/Nun’s convents to have the EF. So where does Fr Latin Mass do the Mass? Someone’s kitchen table? A Garage? A log in a forest (Ironically speaking this HAS been done before in Canada with the Novus Ordo by Jesuits associated with the centre in Guelph, ON. See here.) Actually it could be said reverently outdoors, see here at The New Liturgical Movement website [personal edit: in an ironic silver lining looks like he will be increasing business and the demand for personal/portable carry altars like these ones!]

Not only does this denigrate the faithful attending the mass, but this is only possible IF the group/priest has their/his own liturgicals and/or vestments. Further this will drive these faithful underground and separate them from the regular Church which is the OPPOSITE of what T.C. and it’s accompanying letter implies. And where else will they go?The SSPX! This will further make the faithful hate the Church, Francis, and the ordinary Form Mass/liturgy and oh yeah, likely damn them to self-schism and eternal hellfire, taking their families too if they have kids and raise them in that environment. Not to mention these Good traditionalists (and bad ones too) will not be giving their hard-earned coin back into the coffers of the Catholic Church and the poor. 

Is there any good here in this subsection? Yes. Reasonable bishops who take the time to evaluate this situation, and/or do not have a plethora of groups can control the dispersion of the Latin Mass, and/or, if said infrastructure (with or without EF specific chaplain) is in place, they can simply let what is established remain, and improve or create the infrastructure to what was once loosely based single offerings/groups here and there …. While adhering to subsection 1. 

“ § 3. to establish at the designated locations the days on which eucharistic celebrations are permitted using the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962. [7] In these celebrations the readings are proclaimed in the vernacular language, using translations of the Sacred Scripture approved for liturgical use by the respective Episcopal Conferences;”

OK …. This is a little much to peer at for this layman. Now, likely by “Eucharistic celebrations” this refers to the Mass (re: EF liturgy.) My guess of the basic interpretation, is that the bishop controls which feast days in the Latin Mass Calendar the said designated locations/sites/ offerings can have the Latin Mass. Unfortunately it seems that the bishop interpreting the clause will determine how often the Latin Mass gets said in a particular diocese. This could be anything from only 1st class feast days at the least, to daily and Sunday obligation Masses including Christmas and the Triduum if the Bishop is lenient or sympathetic to an already established community. 

Now, the sentence about the readings in the vernacular? This was not thought out well. You ABSOLUTELY cannot perform ANY liturgy of any rite in the Church without reading the prescribed parts. Now if an option is permitted in any liturgy by the Church (e.g. the utterly lazy options in Scripture in the Novus Ordo to shorten them, choice of Eucharistic Prayers, choice of response to “the mystery of Faith” …) that’s fine, but in the Latin Mass there is NO option. The readings MUST be read in Latin. Not only would it be a distraction to have English readings of Scripture ONLY vs the Latin of the rest of the Mass, how would one apply the tones of chanting to reading English Scripture in the Missa Cantata and Higher? Obviously what must be done NOT to invalidate the Liturgy is to say the reading in Latin first as prescribed and then say the English translation after the Gospel (and Incensing post-Gospel in higher levels). 

Sadly this could lead to liturgical policemen for dioceses reporting to their liberal bishops and allow them to wield TC as a weapon to shut it down, lacking any common sense. Stupidity at its finest and somehow I doubt Pope Francis would be that stupid to make something like this. I smell another member of the Curia in this with no understanding of the Latin Mass. 

“ § 4. to appoint a priest who, as delegate of the bishop, is entrusted with these celebrations and with the pastoral care of these groups of the faithful. This priest should be suited for this responsibility, skilled in the use of the Missale Romanum antecedent to the reform of 1970, possess a knowledge of the Latin language sufficient for a thorough comprehension of the rubrics and liturgical texts, and be animated by a lively pastoral charity and by a sense of ecclesial communion. This priest should have at heart not only the correct celebration of the liturgy, but also the pastoral and spiritual care of the faithful;”

Ok right here there is a error, but its an understandable gaffe. There WAS an intermittent revision to the Missale Romanum from 1965-1969. It was close to what the Anglican Ordinate have for their liturgy with Latin and some shortening of prayers (eg Prayers at the foot of the altar reduced,) so this is factually incorrect. However, Francis and the Curia members involved in TC either forgot this or dismiss the MR 1.0 Novus Ordo liturgy as a forgotten footnote because for the majority of their lifespan they dealt with the MR 2.0 revision from 1970-2011. 

Now this chunk in terms of the law should be divided into two parts, the first part being about competency of the priest. YES, exactly a priest should be competent in carrying out the Tridentine Liturgy/Latin Mass. Between many additional/different actions the priest does vs Novus Ordo Mass, how to properly say the Latin, understanding the old rite calendar and differences (eg liturgical colours, levels of feasts, periods of calendar …) they can’t just wing this form of the Mass or gasp! Ad lib it as has been sadly done on many occasions in the Novus Ordo by Fr Prideful and Pompous. I have no question here. Of course HOW to become competent in the Latin Mass …. That’s up to the priest himself. My recommendation would be to take formal courses held by the FSSP/ICKSP etc. As there would be written records, receipts/payments, maybe a nice certificate etc. to have evidence of competency and training. 

However said training will likely be out of the priests’ pockets or donations as after this anti-Traditonalist document, there is NO damn way most bishops will support the training of a priest in the EF financially or spiritually, unless that bishops hand is forced by Rome to make even one paltry offering for a presence of faithful who want it in their diocese (though likely the case would be more to NOT lose the faithful to the SSPX.) 

Now the second part, is highly prevalent. It’s not just correct liturgy, but it’s about the right ATTITUDE and INTENTION as well as proper care of the faithful. I am in full support of this. Should one read the accompanying letter to TC it’s clear that priests and others in their communities were leading the faithful to attack the Church, Pope Francis, the Novus Ordo/Vernacular liturgy etc. If the priest is schismatic in mind and heart and corrupting mentally and spiritually the “sheep” he must “shepherd” he is doing Satan’s work and turning people against the Communal Body of Christ! Also from a Mass perspective a priest to offer the Mass validly must use proper matter, conduct proper form (according to the liturgical books,) AND have proper INTENTION for the Mass. If HE is in a schismatic, anti-Francis/Pope or Anti-Vatican II mindset, he has made the Mass invalid and Null. And sadly THIS sickness and poisoning of the laity and clergy, manifested in vile outward behaviour amongst Trads themselves, one’s Catholic neighbours and non-Catholics (eg extreme insistence on EENS/No salvation outside the Church) is exactly why this paragraph is needed. 

On a small practical note, it seems that an EF chaplain setup is being promoted via this paragraph and it does usually work well. It also parallels other special minority provisions in the Church (eg Charismatic groups, Anglican Ordinate, …) that KEEP people attached while nourishing them spiritually in a specific way or accustomed to their culture/past spiritual background/unique way to speak to their souls.

§ 5. to proceed suitably to verify that the parishes canonically erected for the benefit of these faithful are effective for their spiritual growth, and to determine whether or not to retain them;

This I say is simple prudence. An analogy would be a company or business. The goal of the company or business is to make profit via conducting business which includes the sale of goods. If a company is costing more to run and/or using more money than it is making on its service/products it must either stop its wastage, cut its costs, or fire employees to continue to remain aloft. It’s budget it entirely dependent on the product it sells or the business it conducts, and the old economic principle of supply and demand. 

While an imperfect analogy it’s basic concepts ALSO apply to worship in the church. It’s main goal is to SERVE people. Now, while there is much that can be argued about the poor implementation of the Novus Ordo Mass, especially after the 1970/MR 2nd revision combined with post-conciliar liturgy documents, regardless bishop MUST be prudent (not just as a personal virtue) in how they are to serve the faithful best and WITNESS to those outside the Church, with the liturgy/worship as a primary means. So at its base level, a bishop has to determine whether it should use its limited resources (eg its parishes and priests) to hold Latin Mass, based on the demand in their diocese. 

More so, one of the very reasons Francis did this was because of the Anti-Church, Anti-Novus Ordo, Anti-Papal attacks and attitudes of a number of these wayward movements. Is everyone like this in the TLM? NO! However a sizeable number of clergy and even lay people (with or without accompanying tabloid blogs and websites eg RorHATE Caeli) clearly presented enough of a concern to Francis that this clause got inserted. It’s good that this coincides with Sub-clause 4 as those “renegade” environments and priests who have made the Latin Mass a weapon and corrupted the lay faithful (especially the youth!) deserve to be shut down. 

However my caveat, is again, Liberal or EF hating bishops abusing their power to wipe it out completely with little to no recourse or appeal to counter the bishops’ clericalism and abuse of power. 

§ 6. to take care not to authorize the establishment of new groups.

The bad: It’s plain as day. Pope Francis does NOT want the Latin Mass to grow exponentially. 

The good: This does NOT 100% ban new groups or communities from forming, or the bishops to bring in the FSSP/ICKSP/Institute Bon Pasteur (or of the Good Shepherd)/Canons of New Jerusalem into an existing diocese if they have a parish for them to inhabit. 

Stay tuned for part two of my analysis of the paragraphs of Traditionis Custodes, and then, my personal opinions and advice about the need for TC related to the Archdiocese of Toronto and my experience dealing with the Latin Mass in this diocese. 

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin. 

Of Interest: Select FSSP Parishes Have Indult to do pre-1955 Holy Week

Hello everyone,

I’ve come across an interesting development within the Church, specifically in the Latin Mass communities of the FSSP.

Thanks to a close friend in my circle of trusted allies in the TLM/EF community here in the Archdiocese of Toronto, it was brought to my attention that the Pontifical Commission of Ecclesia Dei had granted a certain number of communities in the FSSP, a 3 year experimental basis to do the pre-1955 Triduum (Holy Week) liturgies for the three days.

Apparently, amongst hard core liturgiophiles (lovers of the liturgy,) and Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalists, the current 1962 liturgies of the EF are inferior or had much damage dealt to them by Pius XII’s reforms in 1955. It is said some of these “damages” are examples, like: the number of scriptural readings known as “Prophecies” from the Old Testament (Starting from Genesis at Creation, and progressing through the OT with other readings, dealing with the salvational history of man and woman,) were reduced from 12 in the pre-1955, to just 4 for the current 1962 Holy Saturday Liturgy. Ironically, the Novus Ordo Holy Saturday Mass resurrected some to make it 7 of the original 12, albeit some are optional to the priest discretion and/or convenience. Also it is thought that, generally, much richness and symbolism was lost.

In my personal opinion, what gives? I’m just happy and would rather devote attention to even getting the EF/TLM of 1962 spread more in the Church that can be accessed by the majority of people, and stopping RMTs from poisoning the community spiritually, never mind going back further to another liturgy or version of it.

Regardless, the issue is big enough of a concern to laity and some clergy members of the FSSP, that a large enough request was made to the PCED and it was allowed. As for the details of the indult, one may find both reasoning and summary details of what was granted in these example bulletins from two FSSP parishes as follows:

http://www.olmcfssp.org/uploads/OLMC2.18_.2018_.pdf

http://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Bulletin-2-18-18.pdf - St Joan of Arc, Idaho, U.S.A.


- The rites of the pre-1955 liturgy can be used on an experimental basis for the years of 2018-2020.
- FSSP pastors had to gain permission before requesting the indult (unclear if a FSSP regional superior or a bishop is the “superior.”)
- A limited number of FSSP parishes are doing this on a trial basis, rumours on social media sites estimate at least, around 25 FSSP parishes have been granted the indult
- PCED was strict on one condition that is publicly known, Benedict XVI’s 2008 revision to the prayer for the Jews in the Intercessory Prayers MUST be used, not the pre-1955 version.

As for up here in Canada, it is currently unknown at this time whether any FSSP parishes, including my closest ones of Thorold (St Catharines, ON) or Ottawa have expressed interest, or are even aware of the indult. However, word likely will travel fast and soon those priests there will have an answer. Mind you I would think not, or that being Mid-Feb, it might be slightly too late to apply for said indult, then also deal with the catechesis on this liturgy, and also become familiarized with the rubrics
and have both choir and liturgical ministers, superior (priests/deacon/seminarians w/minor orders) and inferior (laymen up to Master of Ceremonies positions) be trained in the super Vetus Ordo liturgy.

Regardless, this is an interesting piece of news for those that are part of the EF/TLM environment or communities, and perhaps, should this experiment go well, it could lead to, or be part and parcel with,  greater effects Church or worldwide to come.

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

REPOST: Information for the Feast of the Epiphany Jan 6 in the EF Calendar (2nd Sunday after New Years in O.F.)

REPOSTED FROM Jan 6, 2013 (http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/01/blessed-chalk-facts-about-feast-of.html) with slight changes for this year of 2017:

FYI .... Missa Canata/Sung High Mass for Epiphany @ 0930h/am tomorrow, Jan 6, 2017, with blessing of Epiphany Holy Water in the EF at 0915h/am in Mississauga (Toronto proper), at Carmel Heights Retirement Home chapel. Celebrant is veteran priest to the EF Mass in Toronto, Fr. Russell Asch. 

Hello Everyone,

I decided for this Sunday's liturgical feast, that of the Epiphany, because both the Ordinary and the Extraordiary Forms' calendars are in rare sync, and there are some fun and family-freindy Traditional Catholic practices associated with this feast day (that in my opinion SHOULD be resurrected by Catholic families everywhere), I bring to you some information on this feast day, including the traditions herein in the Church.

The information I bring to you, comes from a word document I created for myself that is for my info, but also for my future children someday to teach them about major liturgical calendar days of the year. Here I share with you one portion: That of the Feast of the Epiphany:

Feast of the Epiphany

When? – Usually January 6 in both forms, however in the Novus Ordo it is usually moved to the Sunday near it after Christmas.

What? – From Crossroads Initiative of Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio: “The Solemn feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, traditionally occurs on January 6 following the twelve days of Christmas.  Epiphany commemorates three scriptural events: the visit of the Magi to the stable of Bethlehem following the nativity of Jesus, Christ's Baptism in the Jordan, and his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana.  This Epiphany article focuses on the significance of the Magi or three wise men who follow the star in search of the King of kings.”

Also from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of the Diocese of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: “The Epiphany celebrates the peoples of the world coming to know God's Son as their Saviour. In the words of Ephesians concerning Jesus' death and resurrection, thereby 'the Gentiles have become fellow heirs [with believing Jews], members of the same body [the Church, Christ's Body], and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel'.”

From the 1962 Baronius Press Missal:

“The word “epiphany” means “manifestation.” The Church in the Mass, commemorates a triple manifestation of Christ: to the Magi, that is, to the Gentiles; in His Baptism, when the Voice from "Heaven declared: “This is My Beloved Son”; and in the miracle of changing the water into wine at Cana.”

Source: January 6, The Epiphany of Our Lord. The Daily Missal and Liturgical Missal with Vespers For Sundays and Feasts From the Editio Typica of the Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962 With Supplements Containing The Additional Masses for Englang and Wales, Scotland, United States and Australasia. Summorum Pontificum Edition. Baronius Press: London. 2009. p.237.

Notes:

1. It is this part of the season of Advent liturgically where we are introduced to the “Wise Men/Kings” in the readings. People think the wise men are associated with Christmas. They are in the SEASON of Advent or more traditionally known as the Octave of Christmas, but not Christmas (the Feast of the Nativity) itself.

2. This is a HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION according to the Catechism. In other parts of the world this feast day might be transferred to the previous Sunday before the 6^th. Regardless, the Catholic obligation to Mass must be obeyed, Sunday or not:

The Sunday Eucharist

2177 The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life. “Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated in light of the apostolic tradition and is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church.”¹¹⁰

“Also to be observed are the day of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christi, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of Saint Joseph, the feast of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints.”¹¹¹

Sources:

SCRIPTURAL PASSAGES:

Extraordinary Form

Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12

Novus Ordo

Also Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 and Matthew 2:1-12. No change from the EF except for the addition of a 2^nd reading for the NO liturgy.

Benedict XVI, Pope. Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI Vatican Basilica Thursday Jan 6, 2010. Online. Available: [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110106_epifania_en.html]. 14 Jan 2010.

http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/371/Feast_of_Epiphany.html 

http://archbishopterry.blogspot.com/2011/01/manifestation-of-lord-to-nations.html

TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC EPIPHANY TRADITION FOR FAMILY

Blessed Chalk Writing with Epiphany Holy Water blessing - http://www.churchyear.net/epiphany.html -  

"Various customs have developed around Epiphany. In the East, there is a solemn blessing of water. In the West, in the Middle Ages, houses were blessed on Epiphany. Holy water was sprinkled in each room. The whole family was involved. The father led the procession with a shovel of charcoal on which he burned incense and the oldest son had the bowl of holy water. The rest of the family followed along saying the rosary and/or singing hymns. While the father and oldest son were incensing and blessing the house, the youngest child carried a plate of chalk. The chalk had been blessed with a special blessing after morning Mass. The father took the blessed chalk and wrote over every room that led outside: 20 + C + M + B + 08 which stands for "Anno Domini 2008 -- Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar" and means "The three Holy Kings, Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar, in the year of Our Lord, 2008" or whatever the year may be. The letters C, M, and B are also thought to stand for Christus mansionem benedicat, meaning "Christ bless this home." This tradition of blessing the doorways symbolizes the family's commitment to welcome Christ into their homes on a daily basis through the year."

So guess what? It's not just a "Middle Ages" tradition to be left back in the 1400's, you can do this beautiful family tradition as well! My [former] serving ally Robin provided this photo on our Latin Mass associated facebook group so I hope he does not mind me posting this here. Here is the picture with instructions as to what the priest or the head of the household (Father usually speaking) is to do with the blessed chalk and Epiphany holy water, though note one correction: The number at the end should be 13 17 to mark the year as 2013 2017:

Now you may be asking what to do about how to get that chalk blessed? Well, Domincan Priest Dom Mark Kirby  at Vultus Christi - http://vultus.stblogs.org/2013/01/epiphany-blessing-of-chalk-and.html - Provides us with the appropriate prayer in English that a priest should use to bless the chalk:

Blessing of Chalk
V. Our help is the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Bless, O Lord God, this creature chalk
to render it helpful to Thy people.
Grant that they who use it in faith
and with it inscribe upon the doors of their homes
the names of Thy saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar,
may through their merits and intercession
enjoy health of body and protection of soul.
Through Christ our Lord.
And the chalk is sprinkled with Holy Water.

Do note there are the special prayers/blessings in Latin that your EF priest/parish will use from the Rituale Romanum 1962 (see the link below), and for sure you can count on those blessings! So do to try to go to an EF priest/parish for those items (Epiphany Holy Water and the Chalk) if possible. However, do not hesitate if all you can get is Novus Ordo chalk/holy water and blessings from Novus Ordo priests.

By the way, a note on the Epiphany Holy Water. This is likely difficult to obtain and you may have to settle for regular holy water. This special type of Holy Water needs to be blessed the eve before the Epiphany and has its own special blessing/prayers. See here - http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/48-blessings-for-special-days-and-feasts.html

Regardless, have fun and make this a Catholic Tradition your family will uphold every year. If Christ blesses me with marriage and a family, I will certainly want to do this. Pax, Julian. 

OPINION: The Pope and His Audiences on the Mass Re: Pictures At Mass.

Hello Everyone.

Forgive the tardiness, but married life with full time work including 1/5 hrs travel to and fro on the weekdays each way, plus domestic duties and whatnot, gives me such limited time for blogging these days. Still, I wanted to release this regardless as a not-as-once-youngish, but still "Church young" at 34 years old, Latin Mass server and male in the Church.

Back some weeks ago, as part of his new series of Wednesday General Audiences on the Eucharist, Pope Francis has done it again, striking hard at something (finally!) that affects everything at all spheres of the Church, with tie-ins to secular culture: Photos at Mass/social media.

His first general audience in November as part of the series, dealt with the Holy Mass, connected to catechesis on the Eucharist. The link from the Vatican's website is here for the first audience:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2017/documents/papa-francesco_20171108
_udienza-generale.html

The Pope's Message

In the audience, the Holy Father states: ".... He does not say: “Lift up your cell phones to take a photo!” No, that’s bad! I tell you, it makes me sad when I am celebrating here in Saint Peter’s Square or in the Basilica to see many cell phones lifted up, not only by the faithful but also by some priests and even bishops! But please! Mass is not a spectacle: it is going to encounter the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord. This is why the priest says: “Lift up our hearts”. What does this mean? Remember: no cell phones."

In terms, of the Pope's take on this, I truly think that he is applying this to the WHOLE CHURCH.  I must start by saying this audience is NOT HYPOCRISY NOR HATE OF THE TLM. Yes, he has given numerous statements in the past in audiences/fervorinos that do not favour those in the Latin Mass/Traditional Catholicism (e.g. the "breeding like rabits" statement, the "rigid" youth in the TLM comment in an interview that was without clarification or a general broad statement that most aren't crazy,) but I do not think that in this instance, our holy father is specifically targeting blogs, such as New Liturgical Movement, or even the Radical Misrepresenting Traditionalist (RMT) blog, Rorate Caeli, with regard to these pictures at Mass.

Because of society being "wired" and the majority of youth and young adults in the world, including older tech-savvy adults , this is a common problem for people in all forms of liturgy in the world, to be attached to their cell phones w/cameras. Furthermore, most developed nations, sadly, share a sense of the notion of "celebrity," which is not limited to music pop-idols and movie actors. Dare I say it, even in Catholic media circles, even some priests and laymen indulge in this notion with the invention of the Internet, on both sides of the spectrum, (Radical) Trad and Liberal. It has even spreads to the Holy Father indirectly and directly, such as the Holy Father doing selfies. Sorry Papa, but selfie taking isn't exactly strengthening the power of your message to the audience of the hostile, anti-Catholic world ... but at least you do not command it AT MASS.

What is clear as day in this Papal audience, is he is trying to convey that main message: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not an entertainment spectacle or a concert, it IS the highest form of prayer in the world, the re-presentation of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection, with which He freed us from the binding of Adam's Original sin that prevented us the opportunity (not de-facto admittance) to be in paradise with God in Heaven. (You have my full permission to copy/paste this quote, just acknowledge my blog.)  Sadly, phone photos take away from this reverence and make the events more like a concert. The Pope is saying, the Mass is not such a venue.

My Opinion (My Two Canadian Dollars)

Now, while I agree with the Pope's main message in full, I am disagreeing with his outright ban of cell phones/pictures in the Mass for a specific purpose: The promotion of the Sacred Liturgy, especially the Latin Mass in the current theological-political climate of the Church, is VITAL, particularly online and in social media platforms (e.g. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) where the young adult generations and younger are gravitating to as part of their lives.

Most, if they were part of the Church, only received a non-reverent, "watered down" Novus Ordo, with variance in quality in terms of homiletics (most being "Jesus loves everyone"/human sentimental garbage, mercy ad nauseam, extreme focus on social justice excluding the rest of the faith) as well as Praise and Worship/childish music that despite the ideas and egos of clergy and music ministers, is NOT the be-all and end all of worship. While I am not partial to a certain Mass being set aside for that and even praise and worship in Eucharistic Adoration (unlike other Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalism, who hate on their Novus Ordo berthen and desire complete decimation of the Novus Ordo in their minds and hearts, and its "music" and even "Novus Ordo" ministries in the everyday Church,) most youth aren't thinking of heaven and angels and the afterlife when they hear that "Rainbow" song for the hundreth time on Sunday.

Further, might I also add that while it has been 10 years since Summorum Pontificum, and worldwide the number of new holding of the TLM, and priests/seminarians, and even permanent deacons are picking up this noble form, as a whole, there is still a need for HIGHER NUMBERS of Masses, and competent clergy/laymen to instruct even more clergy/lay people in how to carry out the solemn and sacred Latin Mass (though women could assist in areas of expertise such as choir, altar preparation and textiles/vestment creation, and administrative roles in the case of lay organizations e.g. F.I.U.V., local EF/TLM societies.)

How better to promote the Holy Mass, in the Extraordinary Form, than with pictures on social/media, the internet. As the expression says, "a picture is worth a 1000 words," and to the majority of people, they would not be repulsed, but actually drawn in by what is going on at the altar. When one sees images such as the solemn Latin Mass with the numerous servers on their knees at the consecration, and 3 sacred ministers at the altar, does not that invoke an image of angels all around our Lord as King? Now, tie that in with the fact that our youth are "glued" to their internet phones and social media, and you can see that pictures, taken in proper parts of the Mass and posted, IS actually a form of evangelization to youth, and even an indirect invitation to say "Come, see what our Faith is about ... come, and experience eternal salvation, and Heaven on Earth ... Come ..." Might I also add that for all of Pope Francis' talk about getting dirty with the sheep, making "Hagan Lio" and going out to the peripheries, those youth and adults struggling with their faith and lives, and/or have departed from the Church but are around social media, ARE PART OF THE PERIPHERIES! 

Conclusion

So, if I must counter the Holy Father, then I counter him on this point by saying in summary: I get it. Yes the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is NOT an entertainment venue and we should not be taking constant pictures and idolizing the Holy Father as a pop star. However, one cannot "throw out the baby with the bathwater" in regards to the promotion of our faith, when many of our lost youth and even adults, who are trapped in the "world of the net," are not going to daily Mass and/or have anyone, even their parents, guiding them remotely, in anyway to the life of the Church. Further, because there is still a need for an increase in the Latin Mass, with the institutional Church including Pope Francis, PURPOSELY NOT promoting the Latin Mass and/or ignoring it in the Life/Culture of the Church (alongside a pure hatred of pre-Vatican II anything by the 65'-late 80's ordained generation of clergy,) it is being left up to the lay body and future/current younger clergy to promote and expand the Latin Mass, and the taking of photography and public promotion of it on the web is a necessary tool for advancing the TLM itself, and evangelizing to those who desire that deeper faith in Christ in the liturgy of the Holy Mass.

And that is my two Canadian dollars on this issue. Unless he makes this audience a part of the Acta of the Church to bind it as Magisterial, I'm sticking to my guns here.

Pax, Julian.

P. S. Love this gem in the audience: "... “But what are you saying, that the Lord is dull?” — “No, no. Not the Mass, the priests” — “Ah, may the priests convert, but it is the Lord who is there!” Do you understand? Do not forget it. “Participating in Mass is living again the redemptive passion and death of Our Lord.” Notice that for all the venom that RMTs spew at our Holy Father, he DID NOT in that sentence consider the Mass a "meal," the usual thing that is said by priests and laity thanks to shoddy post-Vatican II catechesis.

He even did it before in 2014 (see the reference earlier in the same paragraph I took this snippet from in the link above.) Please read the full address for other gems including Martyrdom for the sake of the Holy Mass, the definition of "Eucharist" etc.

DOUBLE HIGHLIGHT: Oil and Water Mix for a Change: Mark Shea and Latin Mass Society UK Joseph Shaw on Liturgy

Hello Everyone.

Out of interest, two entries appeared on my blog feed, one linking to the other. Some of you who venture into the online Catholic blogosphere, would know of the high quality devotion and defense of the faith provided by Catholic Answers, at www.catholic.com/. One of their frequent authors in their publications, and in numerous collaborations, is Mark Shea, a Catholic apologist, who also writes a weekly column for the more conservative National Catholic Register (NOT the NCreporter!).

Of course, for this week, he decided to cover the Liturgy. On the whole, Mark gets it absolutely right in his column, here:

" .... Quarrels about liturgy have, for me, this same maddening and distracting quality.  I don’t want a liturgy I can look at.  I want a liturgy I can look along—to see God .... I want to enter into the Paschal mystery, not keep being dragged back out by the thought “What is he doing now?”  [as in stupid liturgical abuses or things the priest likes.] I want music that makes me think of God, not ... a riff from Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5” ... I want vestments that clothe the priest in Christ, not in gimmickry.  I want them to just stick to the script. Say the black, do the red, as the saying goes. [Father Zuhlsdorf !!!!]

I’m not at Mass to be entertained, charmed, fascinated by a dazzling personality, or amused.  I’m not there to worship myself or hear about ... which lay martinets dominate a few “ministries” in the parish ... and are now ... tiny tyrannical fiefdoms [over the whole of the parish community].  I don’t want to hear a homily in which a priest is now so remote from the most elementary truths of the Tradition ... I don’t want to improve the Our Father to the Our Mother nor pray in the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.  I don’t want to live with the impression that the last words of Christ to Peter were “Try experiments on my rats” and not “Feed my sheep.” 

Why am I at Mass?  I want God.  That’s why ...."

Wow! This, Mark, is exactly what those of us of the Generation X and Millenial generation, want of our Catholic liturgy and faith. WE ARE TIRED of the stupid things that priests and misguided lay teachers think we want. We want the whole kit and caboodle, without lies about the true teachings, doctrine, and dogmas of our faith. Screw the "Jesus loves everyone" garbage and "tolerate one another" stuff.

Now, Mark continues on because he's about to, like Christ always has, turn the tables and challenge the other extreme when it comes to the faith: The liturgical Pharisees and/or the "Trads behaving badly."

" .... But for exactly the same reason, I’m also not interested in the reaction to all this sort of twaddle from laity who have made it their life’s mission to be perpetually angry or obsessed with the minutiae of liturgy and hyper-critical of the Paul VI rite.  Just as I don’t want a priest to take me out of the Mass and into the cult of “Aren’t I Fabulous?” so I likewise don’t want angry Reactionaries endlessly critiquing and carping about how intrinsically inferior even a well-celebrated Paul VI rite is. [a sadly typical behaviour of Trads Behaving Badly (TBBs), and their organizational counterparts e.g. the Society of St. Pius X.] I don’t want to listen to paranoid rants about the Jewish conspiracy tunneling under the sanctuary, or how the vestments aren’t quite the right color, or how we must all panic because Pope Francis’ priorities are not particularly on gorgeous liturgy. I find his simple offering of a beach ball to God in gratitude for 3 million hearts touched by Christ at World Youth Day to be an occasion of deeply moving joy, not a reason to scream "Sacrilege!" I also don't think the Little Drummer Boy insulted God by not playing Palestrina. I’m not super-inspired by singing “City of God”, and I can't stand "Anthem", but on the whole, I think that if that's the worst suffering I have to endure, I’m getting off way better than the Hiroshima martyrs and I am not going to let it destroy my peace ...."

While I do appreciate the gesture to Pope Francis about the beach ball thing, and I get his point not to act like a `trad behaving badly` to such a thing, personally, beach balls don`t belong on the altar. If you HAVE to absolutely bring something up like that in the Novus Ordo, then put it below the actual altar in front with those ``liturgical displays`` done by ``liturgical committees``. I`ve seen it before though usually with things the "Children's Mass/Liturgy/schools" do. I respect the sacredness, especially even higher, of the Sanctuary, and we should not willingly be doing things to violate that. Though I get we can't take out our mace and batons and do citizen's arrests on priests and people for that. So I`ll take my lumps with Mark on that.

HOWEVER, His overall sentiment rings true. This is the sickness that KILLS any hope of people coming to the Latin Mass, or even the Church in general. It`s not the form of the Mass itself that drives away people. It`s the bitter, angry, TBBs that do it, in person and their social media. This anal-retentiveness about all things liturgical and keeping the purity of "t/T-radition" just angers people off except their own allies/adherents. The Church and the Latin Mass is for everyone, and if you TRULY care about spreading the EF, you don't be like how Mark is describing above. Seriously, youth these days hate over-burdening authority of ANY sort. You have to break down our sensitivity barriers people.
SO, of course someone else decided to chime in, the Latin Mass Society UK head no less on his blog! At first glance of the title, I feared another TBB reaction was coming, and usually, these "Neo-Con" bloggers and Trads don't mix, like oil and water. Interestingly, there is some agreement from the author, Joseph Shaw. I still think there is a tad bit of reactionary "self-defense" mode going on, as I've seen his tone and writing in other posts, especially concerning a Lie-Beral Monsignor Basil Loftus, but he actually had some support for Mark Shea. Let me show you:

".... To liberals, comparing Mass to a piece of theatre is like showing a red rag to a bull. They want it to be natural and spontaneous. Nevertheless, Shea has a point: you need to lose yourself in the liturgy. The trouble is that doesn't make the point he wants it to make, which is that thinking about the liturgy is a Bad Thing.

 

There may sometimes be an element of 'I murder to dissect': if you are thinking too much about how the poet is producing his effect, it won't have its effect on you. But it equally won't have its effect if you can't understand the words or images or references (like me reading Mark Shea's blog), or if it is being read badly or printed in the wrong order. So learning about poetry or drama and getting a good text or a good performance will ultimately enhance your experience. Learning about the liturgy, and attending its worthy celebration, will enhance your liturgical experience.

 

If liturgy is important, as Shea presumably thinks it is, if he thinks it allows you to 'look along - to see God', then we need to argue about it a lot, we need to make it better, we need to adorn it with the best music we can and art set it in the best architecture. There's no easy escape for those 'conservatives' who don't want to takes sides on liturgical issues, I'm afraid ....

.... Shea may be feeling weary of the battle, but bad arguments and poor scholarship must be replaced by better, and a banal liturgy with something which speaks to us more clearly of heavenly things."

So while Joseph is about maybe 89.27546% in agreement with Shea (as he still defends most argumentation about the liturgy in general here, which, I agree somewhat, of the sentiment that we should not be blind sheep obeying our parish overlords and Lie-beral types of clergy and lay authroities), It is great to see some agreement between the Trad and Neo-con side here with this critical analysis blog post from Joseph.

The main message is clear between the both of them:
--> Liberals, stop thinking the liturgy is all about YOU. Stop trying to screw with the means God gives us as the highest form of worship, set about by Christ in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection that Passover Seder 2000+ years ago. Stop trying to violate the Church's doctrines and dogma. It ain't going to Happen as Christ said in Matthew 16:18.  Priests, say the black text in your Missal and do the Red indicated. Nothing else NOT in the liturgy or outside of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Give the laity what they deserve: A liturgy fit for Christ the King!

--> Conservatives: Stop being TBBs, over dissecting the liturgy and pitting one form of the Mass against the other, Pope Benedict Emeritus and his preference of the EF over Pope Francis and his preference of the OF against one another, and stop being a bunch of liturgical police that enforces every rubric known to man, 1860 or 2013. You are sickening the liturgy and the people who come to the Church with your overzealous, and often anger-laced behaviour.

Good job to both of them. Pax Tibi Christi, Julian.

Highlight: Fr Z. Highlights Excellent Article About Music and Liturgy, Especially "Guitars" in Liturgy from The American Spectator

Hello Everyone.

I found something really interesting on my blogfeed today, with a Hat Tip to Fr. Zuhlsdorf of WDTPRS.

I usually stay on the serving end of things with regard to the Latin Mass. However, I do know that music in liturgy is always a topic that comes up with Conservative/Traditional Catholics, especially Latin Mass goers.  Whether it comes to preference, rigidity, validity, complaining about the folk choir or other liturgy at St. happy-clappy-elsewhere parish you abandoned, etc. I know this is an issue within traditional Catholicism, even among the laity.

Therefore, I am highlighting an article from a Patrick O`Hannigan of an american magazine/site called The American Spectator. The article is titled "Can we save the Liturgy?" The link for the article is here. Fr Z even musingly has the title of his post: "When ‘Guitar Masses’ became a chew toy between traditionalists and progressives." Ooooh Father, you are quite snippy and curt eh?

Please read the article and do enjoy. Meantime I have wanted to get to a book I got from Shawn Tribe, (formerly Editor) of New Liturgical Movement from one of his sales. It's an ``Àlcuin Club edition`` book called Cross and Crucifix by C.E. Pocknee. It`s got a section on the history of the Crucifix and I`ve been dying to add that to the Crucifer section of my Latin Mass serving posts.

Pax, Julian.

What? Gaia Mass in Archdiocese of Toronto??? We Need to Help our Archdiocesan Office.

Hello Everyone,

Look, there's a lot of stuff going out in the blogosphere these days. We can look at it and really wonder who these people are that write these things, or why things happen in archdioceses. The expression is though, that even "a broken clock chimes correctly twice a day." Unfortunately, something did chime in this morning about something in my own archdiocese.

I woke up to find this in my blogger feed. Here the blogger talks about some "Gaia Mass" happening in the diocese at Holy Name Parish staffed by a Fr. Morrasse. Normally this is not the kind of blog I like to give attention to on S.U.D, but this issue, deserved some reflection and attention and I had to think about this one. Is this an over-reaction to the event? What could have happened? What is the parish and Archdiocese saying/doing with regards to this?

Yeah .... it was happening ....  

Unfortunately, the claim that the blogger makes that this was featured on the Archdiocesan website under their News and Events page, is true.

I'll reveal something to all of you. A week ago, I did find this entry on their website, while looking for an entry for the St. Joseph's Feast Day Solemn Latin Mass at SLTM (which I found out later, was just that the organizer had not called/e-mailed the archdiocese. No ill will here between both parties, despite others perceptions of the diocesan office with regard to the EF). I took a snapshot of the page:

Found March 17, 2013 on the News and Events Page of the Archdiocesan Website. 

Why would I do this? Well, see, I was planning to write one crazy post on the matter. I really went away at it, but I just really felt uncomfortable writing what I had. Now before you go and demand like the crowd in the Passion for me to be crucified for being a failure to the Traditional Catholic community, listen to why I did not.

Something just didn't sit right with me releasing it in a manner like other blogs. I also have a mandate on this blog to be a positive example of the EF community, and not to misrepresent it as a EF-serving/participating Catholic. So before I wanted to do something so "radical," I sought out the council of trusted allies and friends (including a holy and noble priest of the Church) in the Catholic Faith, both of the EF and who are devout but attend the OF. While they too were shocked, I was counseled by them that there are more prudent means than this to go about slogging such a post of that nature. I listened to them and did not release the post. I have it archived on my computer as a personal testament, but also to keep what I found in my research.

However, in light of the revelation, and seeing as I knew about this earlier, I want to give my take on this matter. If you want to know more about the Church's stance on New Age Spirituality, please see this:

The Pontifical Council For Culture & Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue: "JESUS CHRIST THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE, A Christian reflection on the “New Age.” Please especially view 1.4, 2.1, 2.3.1, as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church sections 2112-2113, 2120:

 http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html

My two biggest concerns about this are as follows:
1) By Conducting Such a Mass, if they are still on, it is highly possible that the Masses with be ILLICIT (Not conducted according to Church Law and the Liturgy as set out in the Missal) AND INVALID (NO SACRAMENT WILL TAKE PLACE!)

Plain and simple. If the Mass includes all these elements NOT APPROPRIATE to the liturgy, won`t be conducted according to the proper liturgical norms in the GIRM and the Roman Missal, AND Christ is Not the focus of the Masses, but ``Gaia/Mother" Earth is, then this will violate the three things necessary for a Mass to be valid: 

• Proper Form (Liturgy), 
• Matter (the instuments used AND the correct physical substances of a host with enough gluten to be wheat matter + wine from fermented grapes), 
• and INTENT. The intent will be violated on the basis of Christ not being worshipped and focused on in the Mass. The "Sacrifice" if anything, will be focused on the Earth, a finite/real object. Not our Lord. 

More importantly:

2) Possible, Irreparable spiritual damage and harm will be done or started to the faithful, ESPECIALLY the young children involved in the Masses/performances. This can be beginning of damage to their spiritual, psychological, and mental development, or make worse what is already evident in their lives. 

Yes, There are likely young children involved in the Mass/orchestra/dancing, etc. This is tied to the Holy Name school and parish, and therefore, some of its parishioners who are children, and/or attend the school, might be part of this production or will see it. Unlike adults, who whether they were poorly catechized by "the system" or not have the faculties to truly reject the Catholic faith if they so will it, young children are impressionable and over- trusting in adults, so much they hinge of most or every word adults tell them as `truth` or knowledge. 

Young children usually do not develop self-awareness or self-reasoning abilities until they start to enter puberty and carry out (poorly or not), self-independence. Which is why I am highly concerned if these Masses, or hopefully concerts only, take place next Wednesday and Friday. It is SO essential, between parents, clergy, teachers, etc. To give them the firmest foundation possible in their youths, so that they can be ready to delve deeper into their faith as adults and when challenges come their way, it is like a rock, and not like something built on sand that collapses along with them. What this Mass will do is build up an apathy/resistance in their young impressionable minds to the Catholic faith, including anything even Jesus-y related. 

I'll also give one more interesting tidbit about kids: Once they get into their tweens (EDGE ages, which is Grades 6-8 or 10-14), they "wake up" so to speak in a certain sense, and those self-reasoning and self-awareness abilities kick in. That includes knowing straight up when adults are lying to them or being honest in their actions and their selves. THEY WILL NOT BE STUPID. They might be smiley and happy about what they do, but most will know you are serving them processed baloney when they really want the "organic, healthy and nutritious" meat of the Truth of the Catholic Faith. If they see Fr. is not serious about his role as an alter Christus, their parents don`t care about the faith, and their teachers don`t either, in actions like this `Mass`, they will think that Mass is a joke, It`s not obligatory or even that it is the re-presentation of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord, and worse, they`ll leave the Catholic Faith faster than I can type a corny yoga joke on my keyboard. Really though, I`m being serious here. 

And worse, the spiritual damage that New Age Practices can do can really wreak havoc on one`s life, and those around you:

E.g. of Spiritual and Psychological Damage in the Form of an MTV Celebrity: Spencer Pratt (and his wife, Heidi Montag)

Take the example of former MTV celebrity, Spencer Pratt, from the self-absorbed and materialistic MTV production, ``The Hills`` (as in Beverly Hills, California). The ``reality`` show followed the lives of four main protagonists/antagonists/frenemies ... four privileged women living out "dream jobs" and posh lifestyles in Beverly Hills, with a cast of supporting characters (and enemies).

One supporting "character"/actor was Spencer Pratt, a blond young guy in his twenties, who ended up being the boyfriend and now legal husband of the main character, Heidi Montag. He was entertaining as a ``bad guy``, but unfortunately, as he delved further into being famous, he succumbed to New Age Spiritual practices, particularly in the form of "healing crystals". This aspect of the show was NOT scripted. As he got further into the practice and his fame, he became quite outrageous in behaviour (`famously emphasized in his `I want Heidi to myself!`` quote) and even his appearance. Seriously, here's some pictures back of him in 2010 during the height of his crystal worship:

   

  

Spencer Pratt: Poster Child for New Age Spirituality, complete with healing crystals, other deity or physical object worship stance, Tye Dye Shirt, and "Enlightened" Facial Expressions. You can be just like him! Be in tune with the harmonizing energies of crystals ...."

His life fell apart and he did irreparable harm to those important to him in his life. He pushed his own sister (Stephanie Pratt) out of his life and only acknowledges her as a blood relative, seen in the famous "un-friending" scene. With only the empty values of society and his crystals by his side, he was unsupportive to Heidi and allowed her to undergo multiple plastic surgeries when Heidi was clearly a physically, beautiful woman, even before all that. He essentially forced his wife to end, unjustly, the strong friendship that Heidi shared with the show's main protagonist, Lauren Conrad. Further, he spent a ridiculous amount of money on those crystals, over $500,000 on them! Combined with ludicrous spending that the celebrity society encourages, he and Heidi were in serious financial troubles post-Hills! 

While he did try to sell off the crystals, and/or got rid of them, one can clearly see that this "poster boy" for the New Age Spirituality clearly went off his rocker with the whole thing. To this day, he and Heidi still try to engage in whatever the reality TV world offers them, having no other bearing to guide their life other than the principles of the secular world and left behind tatters of New Age Spirituality. 

Had Spencer's life been deeply centered in the Catholic Faith under Christ, he would have likely not gone off the deep end. Further, he would have valued the friendship his wife had with Lauren, he would have valued his wife more and tried to help her see that she is not just a token physical object, but in union with her a reflection of the Trinity and a reflection of Christ and his Bride, the Church. Why, he might have even chosen a more noble path in life, had he been deeply rooted in his Faith, having been led by our Lord to his true vocation and lifelong dedication. Being part of the celebrity culture is bad enough, but New Age Spirituality make him go off the deep end, and clearly this individual is in dire need of prayers, as well as those whom are in his life.

How does Spencer connect to all this? This is what can happen to the children, should they experience and be exposed to this. Sadly, most people don't understand the harm it can do to your Faith, yourself, and those around you. 

However, one question remains, Why?

My Take on the Archdiocese's Role in all This ... And an interesting revelation.

This is kind of a hard one to say who's right and wrong in this. I'll get to the critical point first. 

Like all workplaces, institutions, etc. There will always be a few bad eggs in the mix. There are all kinds of examples out there of people who in office truly have liberal or self-absorbed agendas, or are negative Nancies who seek the job for power/money purposes/pride and love to take down others with them. Furthermore, yes, the media is indicating the "wrongs" rather than the "rights" of clergy in action, and yes, some of them have committed liturgical and even sexual crimes worthy of excomunnication. 

While it is possible there might be someone in an office, institution, etc. like this, the majority of the time, the general body of workers in a workplace, including management, is NOT so. I, Julian Barkin, of Servimus Unum Deum, have never known or met an Archdiocesan Official who I can clearly say with a big fat finger, is of this nefarious type, so portrayed in right-wing Catholic blogs (e.g. Rorate Caeli) and intentionally posted this event to cause direct spiritual harm to the flock of the Archdiocese under ++Collins' pastoral care. 

Unless hard evidence is submitted about the clergy and/or the liturgical team of the parish that proves/disproves culpability of their administration or actions in all this, I will state for now, that it is unclear who was responsible for this and why. I have no affiliation with the parish or the clergy/community there and therefore it cannot be determined whom is responsible for this. 

Furthermore, I found an interesting revelation on all this. The "school" mentioned in the News page may not likely be Holy Name elementary school. In fact this is what the Church's website's bulletin says for the concert :

"Concert-April 3 & 5 Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts Music Department will present Missa Gaia at Holy Name Church Wednesday April 3 and Friday April 5  at 7 p.m. This concert will feature the combined choirs and select band/string performers of CCAA in an eclectic mix of traditional, contemporary and nature sounds all directed to praise Jesus Christ as Lord of all creation.  General Admission $15" Interestingly enough, they do not list ``new age`` here at all. However, if one will look in that document above from the Vatican, Gaia Worship IS in fact specifically addressed in the document. Also, thanks to another blog, So Con or Bust, I found the poster for this ``Earth Mass``

http://www.tcdsb.org/schools/cardinalcarteracademyforthearts/news/20122013/pages/missa-gaia.aspx

[ So um, like , God/Gaia is like, a huge whale man, and like, heaven is, like, one big ocean of choice waves man ...]

So I guess the bigger question, is then, is this really a Mass then, or is this an actual concert with a poorly done, New Age, Gaia-worshipping composition? Because if it is a concert and not a Mass, it`s still a really poor decision to expose the young students who are Catholic of Cardinal Carter, the parishioners both old and especially young, to New Age Spirituality, even through this concert. If CC, like the Masses of the Baroque and Classical eras of Music, is the orchestra accompanying the organ to provide music for the Masses, with the dancers acting in "liturgical dance," and real Masses will take place alongside CC's orchestra, then clearly it was absolutely right to alert the diocese. Furthermore, who submitted the advertisement for the Mass, and worded it in that manner, differently from the Archdiocesan page? Was it someone on behalf of Holy Name? From Cardinal Carter academy? Was it someone in the Archdiocese? Clearly someone twisted this advertisement from its listed form on the Church bulletin/webpage to the form that was on the Archdiocesan events page. 

When these events happen, unintentionally, or good-minded people, usually do not have the knowledge or skills necessary to handle an issue or protocols in place. In addition, there will be slip-ups and things not foreseen or passed by/ignored in these places. That or somewhere along the process from idea to completion, something is overlooked, or ignored, assumed to be fine, and so, it could become that one piece of the Jenga(TM) puzzle that results in the tower toppling over. 

Furthermore, the people working in this office are human, and do we know what happened that day in the office of Communications, or the Web office? Maybe the hypothetical, combined 2-person team of the Auxillary bishop in charge and the communications/web person who is a young graduate student doing his/her doctorate in Divinity at St. Augustine's, were overloaded with work in the Conclave absence of ++Collins, and on top of clerical duties and the young graduate's school stresses, the website work had to get done. 

That, or maybe one, or both the team members, didn't even know what New Age Spirituality/Liberal Theology is and just saw it as a Mass with kids/a concert, not knowing better. And thus it was passed. I would not be surprised if they did not with the crisis of catechesis in our institutional Church today, combined with the fact that general society loves doing things like Yoga, and that even certain retreats in Catholic spaces/retreat centers use New Age practices like Reiki and Ennagrams. They likely don't know it's not OK in the life of the Church, and just assume it is, without the proper knowledge from the CCC and the Vatican document mentioned earlier. 

Clearly, some investigation should be done or something said, as to why this was passed under the noses of the Archdiocesan Office, and better protocols for the News and Events page should be established to the mistake never happens again. That's what Hospitals, businesses, etc. do. I believe the term for that in institutional lingo is "Quality Assessment and Improvement."

Regardless, I state, in my honest opinion, that it is highly likely this was an unintentional mistake, not caught until likely the faithful of the diocese alerted the office on the matter. The Archdiocese

has at least started the proper process of rectifying the issue by removing it from their webpage, and I do not sense that there was any malicious attempt to harm the spiritual constitution of the faithful in this diocese. 

And this, everyone, shows just how vital your role in the life of the Church is! Even Bishop Fulton Sheen said once in a famous quote that it is the lay people who will help to govern the institutional Church's affairs and keep it in order. Because of your actions, you helped bring this to the attention of the diocese. At least on line, they have listened. 

I must ask of you, to assist the Archdiocese of Toronto under the governance of ++Collins, in their efforts to pastorally care for you, to HELP THEM. They are a human institutional body interwoven into the life of the Church, of whom Cardinal Collins is in charge of, to care for your spiritual and pastoral needs. However, our archdiocese is big, with over 250 parishes operating in it! That means many priests, seminarians, and laypeople! Can an office of maybe under 100 people working for it, ensure the spiritual integrity of your personal salvation and the pastoral life of the archdiocese all on its own? NO! Which is why you should do your best to spiritually co-operate with the office on affairs like this. When there is something spiritually detrimental in the archdiocese needing attention, please help the staff there and communicate with them in an effective, Catholic, charitable manner! They need your help, and they need to know what's going on. If you choose to concentrate on bashing them and not communicate with them, how will they know when there's a crisis or spiritual decay going on? Which is also why it must be more than a few people. It must be you, me, your friends, family. We have to Evangelize, Catechise, and then help those tools, institutions, etc. in the Church already in place. 

And that is my take on this matter. Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin of Servimus Unum Deum.