FINAL 14'-15' LATIN NOVUS ORDO FOR ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH, TORONTO, SATURDAY JUNE 6, 2015 5PM EST

Hello Everyone.

Firstly, I apologize for not promoting last month`s offering of what is below. Life got in my way with more hours at work, and a tired mind. Sometimes I detest parts of my life which block me from doing things for Christ.

REGARDLESS ......

This post is to advertise the final offering of the 2014-2015 liturgical (academic) year of one of the most sacred and wonderful, liturgical initiatives going on right now in our Archdiocese of Toronto. One I wish intently you will support and help to grow in this Archdiocese.

The pastor of St James Catholic Church, Rev. Ignacio Pinedo, will be organizing and acting as celebrant for the Novus Ordo Latin Mass, that has routinely occurred on the first (or second) Saturdays of the month at St. James.

Latin Novus Ordo masses in Toronto ended a couple years ago at the Oratory of St. Phillip Neri. Inspired by their efforts, Fr. Pinedo engaged in this pilot project at the parish. Therefore, it would be ABSOLUTELY worth attending and supporting. Should this be successful, it could become a regular occurrence at St. James, and maybe spread to other parts of the archdiocese.

Here is the information to attend the Latin Novus Ordo for next Saturday:

Saturday June 6, 2015 (NOVUS ORDO) - Solemnity of Corpus Christi, in the Novus Ordo Calendar. 

WHERE???? St. James Roman Catholic Church - LATIN NOVUS ORDO, 

• Location: St. James Roman Catholic Church
• Address: 728 Annette St., Toronto, Ontario, CANGoogle Maps: https://plus.google.com/105912210603375556435/about?gl=ca&hl=en
• Time: CONFESSIONS 4pm EST
• MASS TIME IS 5:00 p.m. EST
• Contact info: 416 767 6451 or st.james@sympatico.ca
• Prior Bulletin Advertisment/Online (Archdiocese of Toronto News and Events):

• " Latin Mass Revisited - Rediscover the beauty of the solemn Latin Mass in this modern Eucharistic celebration. We will be celebrating the Mass using the original Latin text of the Third Typical Edition of the Roman Missal (note: this is not the Tridentine form of the Mass). Side-by-side Latin and English Missals will be provided for those attending. A truly uplifting experience that is both ancient and new, bridging past and present. For more information, contact St. James Church at st.james@sympatico.ca or call 416-767-6451."

• Also: 
• There are Latin-English booklet aids that are provided for the Liturgy by the parish. You can either borrow them for the Mass, or for a donation of $1.25 you can purchase the booklet, a suggestion I say to do if you are a repeat attendee! 

• The altar servers as of last month, are NOW wearing the black surplice and cassock, the most traditional garb/attire for serving at the altar. This decision was made purely by the youth and young adult altar servers on their own accord with Fr. Pinedo. 

Unfortunately, there will be no Latin Novus Ordo masses for July and August.

IMPORTANT: Whether they will return to St. James for the fall of 2015 will be up to the decision of the pastor .... and you. The more attendance and support (including $$$), the more likely they will continue in the Fall.

So everyone, please attend!!! This could be a breakthrough for St. James and the Archdiocese of Toronto if this continues to occur. If you do not support this initiative, then it will die. I realize not everyone has the same "heart" for the Church as other people do.

Perhaps, your faith is at a certain level, and your local parish is meeting your needs. I can understand, You are free to go where you want to go in the diocese. It's not like in my grandparents' era where priests enforce their boundaries like policemen (although there are some who dole out stipulations of a sort ....)

But ... if you truly have a heart for Christ, and want to help bring the Church to greater glory for your children and the future of the Church in the Archdiocese of Toronto, I implore and request of you, to come out and help Fr. Pinedo and St. James. The laity of the Church want to "be fed" spiritually, because the majority of its Masses are devoid of many things that emphasize the sacredness and holiness of the Mass. This Mass ACTUALLY DOES THAT!!!!! Please Come .... the Lord is waiting for you, to redeem you ....

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin. 

Highlight: Pope Francis May Not be a Lover of the EF, but He's Certainly in Favour of the TRUE Hermeneutic of Vatican II

Hello Everyone,

Sorry that I haven't been active a lot on Servimus. My life is in a tailspin between a new job, all my other activities, and even a girlfriend too.

However, I think this is of important note to make a post, with the few precious hours I get outside of my weekends.

Background: To understand this post/highlight, I must make a few statements-of-fact, about Vatican II, Pope Francis, Trads Behaving Badly (which encompasses "radicals" e.g. SSPX, as well as those outliers looming about traditionalists/Latin Mass communities), and such, to understand what the content might just mean.

1) Vatican II happened. Generally speaking, liberals ran crazy with it, and many things got misinterpreted and damage to the lay faithful happened in numerous ways, from churches becoming ugly-fied from wayward "liturgical interpreters" or "wreckovations", to bubble-gum weak theology that makes Jesus sound like a fuzzy bear, to Catholics not knowing their basic faith.

2) Vatican II in itself, was not the main point of blame for all that occurred in 1). However, it got elevated to the status of a "super-dogma" that allowed so many of the liturgical, doctrinal, and moral violations that have plagued the Church and the lay faithful for 50+ years to occur. Part of this was a liberal, ultra-modernist interpretation of the Council by the "school of Bologna" and its chief architect of this way of thinking about the council, a Signor "Giuseppe Dossetti."

3) In response to the horrible events from that school of thought in 2), there were many lost vocations and faithful who have left the Church. However on the opposite spectrum, there was an opposite, but equally disturbing reaction to the events in the form of Radical Traditionalism, exemplified in the thoughts and "Pre-Vatican II" way of life by groups such as the Society of St. Pius X, other more radical groups, as well as certain members of Traditionalist communities who contain the theology and ideaology of those groups, but follow the rules of Canon Law to remain "in the Church" in order not to be excommunicated, despite sympathies/sentiments to these groups, or making statements in person or online, similar to these radical groups. Part of these groups/people's going-abouts with regard to their faith, is anywhere from a negative view of the Vatican II council to rejecting it outright (which is heretical, for to deny any TRUE ecumenical Council of the 21 held in the Church's history, is self-excommunicatory/latae sentitiae under current 1983 Canon Law, under heresy/apostasy).   

4) With regards to our new Holy Father, Pope Francis, it was discovered that the situation of the Latin Mass, which the people in 3) regard so dearly, was mismanaged poorly in his former diocese of Buneos Aires, South America. In addition, the Pope has not taken an active role towards the Latin Mass in his pontificate. Between his off the cuff statements (e.g. "Who am I to judge?",) coupled with his management of the EF in his former archdiocese, those in 3), but also parts of Latin Mass/traditionalist communities (even my Latin Mass friends and colleagues) have an attitude anywhere from a cautious and critical eye on our Holy Father, to daggers of hatred and accusations of heresy and modernism (cough cough SSPX and Fellay cough cough).


Now that I've made my statements-of-fact, I turn your attention to the latest from Traditionalist internet phenom, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, of What Does the Prayer Really Say. Today, he caught wind, thanks to a "Vatican Insider" by the name of Sandro Magister, of a letter sent to one Archbishop Marchetto, of admiration from His Holiness and the unofficial title of "The best hermeneutical interpreter of the Second Vatican Council." See the translated content of the letter in the link to Fr. Z`s blog.

See, the Archbishop isn't just any interpreter. Firstly, he too, like Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, prescribes to the proper hermeneutic of ANYTHING within the Church of major importance, the hermeneutic of continuity. That is, any major pronouncement, document, etc. must be interpreted in the light of the Church's Tradition (Big T, meaning the infallible or unchangeable teaching, principles, etc.) and created to follow such Tradition. Furthermore, this archbishop wrote a book, "The Second Vatican Council: A Counterpoint for the History of the Council," which smacks down the false hermeneutic of interpreting the Council and everything that goes with it in the institutional Church, the "hermeneutic of rupture", of which the thought behind it came from the "School of Bologna" mentioned in the statements-of fact.

So what does this affirming letter basically mean? Even if the Vatican's "official spokesman", Fr. Lombardi, gets in the way and downplays the event, it means that, despite the claims, slander, detraction, etc. thrown by the kinds of traditionalists mentioned in statement-of-fact 3), THEY ARE DAMN WRONG on the Pope being the enemy of Traditionalism, once again (as they were when he slammed a bunch of Italian bishops who wanted the EF eliminated in their diocese by eliminating Summorum Pontificum). So you thought that the Pope was a modernist and enemy of the Church, believing the silly hermeneutic of rupture that the Lie-berals did? Well, unless Jorge Bergoglio is the greatest actor in the world, and is truly being two-faced to all of his subjects in the Church as the Holy Father, (which is likely less than 1% chance here), then this is proving that our Holy Father is right where he needs to be on the theological-political spectrum, and isn't stupid to the situation of the Catholic Faithful and the Church in today's world. He takes the situation of the faithful in the Church seriously and is pushing for proper renewal in the Church.

So once again, I guess this Pope is really a litmus test for the Church. He's once again showing us who he truly is, and in return, where we truly are on the narrow path.

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

NEW PAGE ON RIGHT SIDE! Long Term Project Regarding Vatican II Documents

Hey Everyone,

Check out the new page on the right hand side of my blog. The link to it is here:

http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/p/long-term-project-vatican-ii.html

And you get to help out too! Don't expect a lot in a short time, but it's something to work on after being inspired by a Fr. Z post today. I'll be reminding you about this from time to time.

Pax, Julian.

Off the Beaten Path: Traditional Catholicism is Trendy! So says the Economist

Hello viewers.

I came across this article from the Economist about the general growth of the Latin Mass worldwide, though the focuses on more specific statistics in Britain. This is making its way around the Latin Mass/Conservative Catholic blogosphere. Nevertheless, it discusses the trend of growth in the Latin Mass. I decided to post the Fr. Zuhlsdorf version here, because his commentary is insightful, humourous, and poignant. Here's the link to the Fr. Z commented version of the article:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/12/the-economist-a-traditionalist-avant-garde/

Pax, Julian.

One priest's Take on the Novus Ordo After Only Doing EF

Hello Everyone.

I hope all is well. I wanted to bring your attention to an article from one of the blogs I follow. This is from a priest associated with an abbey in Ireland (not all Catholicism in Ireland is dead!). He usually celebrates the EF in his practice, however due to circumstances beyond his control, had to say the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite at an excursion somewhere.

Now, before you read this, realize that this is not to say the "OF sucks, the EF rocks." I am not posting this to cause a riot or rally traditional Catholics to protest their local OF churches and bishops on the OF ALONE. However, most OFs are not done as reverently as one can be, and even when done as reverently as possible (as this abbey priest did), without catholics protesting with their wallets, there is still a number of deficiencies that exist that detract from what the Novus Ordo could be.

The priest says in many parts as you read though, HOW one could restore the ars celebrandi to the Novus Ordo, the best as possible to a form that clearly is, well, just not keeping Catholics in the pews every Sunday alone, sadly, despite how we Catholics should all be CRAVING the Eucharist in the re-presentation of the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord, who gave us in these acts the opportunity to obtain eternal salvation. 

The article is here: http://vultus.stblogs.org/2012/10/the-ordinary-form-after-summor.html

Also one final note, you can see now through even one priest's viewpoint, in this article, why Benedict is encouraging the two forms to co-exist (for the present) side by side, as a mutual enrichment of each other (though I am not sure what the OF does for the EF at the moment). If you dare, share this article with your pastors, priests, seminary friends, family members, and those who don't "get it" why the OF needs that mutual enrichment the Holy Father keeps mentioning.

Pax Vobis Christi, Julian Barkin.

P.S. It's unofficially Latin Mass week in our Archdiocese of Toronto starting October 28 !!! Please see my 2nd or 3rd post for special offerings of the Solemn Latin Mass in our diocese, and at the top, click on the regular mass times link to see where else in the city one can go for daily mass. And do attend and come out to support the efforts of the EF parishes and the lay-run EF initiatives organizing the Latin Massses!

Pope Benedict Truly knows what Vatican II Should Have Been

Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for your interest in my little start-up blog. Now for a "traditionally" related side post. I am posting this because in traditional Catholic communities, Vatican II is akin to a swear word or that taboo thing you keep in private drawing or smoking rooms. To those who were around before, and during the beginning post-council (or really, post implementation of the Novus Ordo), it brings forth painful memories of liberal banality and rash changes in liturgy, decorum, etc. but most of all, the removal of the Latin Mass to a near non-existent state. For those that have come anew to Traditional Catholicism, they realize the damage that has been done in the name of "the spirit of Vatican II", and sadly some hate it to a point of being anti-Council and even anti-Pope.

Regardless of the reaction, the fact is, that Vatican II was NEVER meant to be an excuse to do away with traditional Catholicism, be it history, central or Magisterial teachings, or liturgical aspects vital to our Catholic identity, including the Latin Mass/Extraordinary Form/Tridentine Mass/1962 Mass. Well, if anyone has read Pope Benedict's Spirit of the Liturgy, you will understand how our blessed father GETS this fact when and counters arguments for why those things had to go, and modernist criticisms of tradition(s) in that book. And he did it again today in Rome during the Synod for the New Evangelization.

While I was cruisng my YouTube Account, I saw a video from my subscription to the Vatican's channel, and boy is it a whopper:

The Pope, Benedict XVI, tells his audience of people present, INCLUDING bishops who were present at Vatican II, what Vatican II was really about. I am sure some of them were not too pleased at hearing the Holy Father's words as he set the record straight on what "aggorigiamento" means. To me this is a powerful excerpt from this video with my bolded emphasis:

" "Aggiornamento", the Pope explained, "does not mean breaking with tradition; rather, it is an expression of that tradition's ongoing vitality. It does not mean reducing the faith, debasing it to the fashion of the times ..."

Whoa! He basically in a nutshell told them that no way did it mean disposing of all in Catholicism's history, including its Magisterial teachings, AND THE LATIN MASS!!!!. Thank you O' Holy Father for your bold pronounciation of what we faithful Catholics have known all along. Thank you, for fighting back against those who think otherwise and saying truly what the Council meant for the Church. Let us pray as the Synod continues, and with the November meeting in Rome to commemorate 5 years since Summorum Pontificum, that our Holy Father will be blessed with longevity, good health, and continue to restore true meaning of the Council and Catholic Tradition to our Church, and lest he die early, that his inheritor of the Papal throne will continue in his stead.

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

P.S. Started to work on Part 2 of my Q and A dissecting each part of the Extraordinary Form Mass. I've broken it into chunks for readability so part I with the Asperges to getting up from the foot of the altar should appear in the future.