Highlight: Commentator "Grumpy Beggar" on Fr. Z's Post for Burke's "Demotion" or Transfer to Malta

Hello Everyone.

I ask that in light of some of the other calamities abound in our Church, read my posts the recent SSPX bans in two dioceses in parts one and two, with my take on it (which is in essence, against Radical Traditionalism, and not necessarily in favour of the bishops' motivations themselves.)

No sooner does one crisis hit the fan for the Radical Traditionalists, than they get all in a tizzy over a new (yet not unknown) problem. It's official: Pontifical Latin Mass-saying (in full cappa magna and gloves) Cardinal Burke, is not holding any more key positions in the Curia and will be the Patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta. See here for Fr. Z's posting on the matter. Some other bishop is replacing him as the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, though we do not know his track record. Fr Z at that link gives his most charitable assessment of the transfer as he can ... which doesn't say much.

What do I gotta say about it? The writing was on the wall, and it was just awaiting an official notice. Generally speaking to the Radical Catholic Reactionaries: yeah, one of your precious "Trad Heroes" (My Term! Get my permission before using it!), got booted due to 'big bad mean ol' liberal Francis' papacy'. Wah Wah Wah. Go cry me a river and stop creating lies about His Holiness.

Now, does it affect me at the ground level in the Archdiocese of Toronto with regard to carrying out the Latin Mass, or my spiritual salvation? No. Worldwide, it might give weaker-minded bishops a non-official "permission" as it will to hate on Trads and the Latin Mass more. I know that His Eminence, Cardinal Collins is not that kind of bishop! On the contrary, he's respectful to the Latin Mass, as long as the foolish Trads Behaving Badly and the laity don't screw things up!

More importantly, what we need is to have a proper perspective, thinking with the mind of the Church and in a spirit of benefit of the doubt. We need to keep hope alive! So allow me to share some excellent commentary from the comment box of the Fr. Z post above from a "Grumpy Beggar" who shows us how to take ++Burke's re-arrangement in stride:

Grumpy Beggar says:
8 November 2014 at 12:11 pm

C’mon guys , Father Z just did requiems.

” The language is at best confused, and I’m afraid that some of the Synod Fathers may not have reflected sufficiently on the implications of that, or maybe because the language is confused, didn’t understand completely what was being said.”

Would it help, even if we could find out the origin and particularly the identity of every single person who had a hand in formulating the actual text of the documents/reports – all of them : initial, interim and final ? Or, would we then just have an object that we could hate ?

“The language is at best confused,” indeed. And I would personally need to do an enormous amount of mental gymnastics before I could ever begin to believe that the wording – or at least critical parts of it, had not been engineered with the intention of rendering such results ; namely, confusion.

If , in fact , as Cardinal Burke suggests, ” some of the Synod Fathers may not have reflected sufficiently on the implications of that, or maybe because the language is confused. . . “ then who better to “un-confuse” them than a straight-shooter who clearly sees where the confusion lies (double entendre) ? Especially , a straight shooter who has just been unleashed.

Fr Z said:
“. . . now that Card. Burke is no longer the Prefect of a Dicastery, he is far freer to act and to speak than he was before.”

So, perhaps he is being positioned at this time so that in speaking more freely he may wake up the general comatose Catholic public, and more importantly some of those sleepy-head brothers of his . . . What a revolutionary idea: Re-evangelizing (some of) the Curia. Just think . . . Cardinal Burke just might be able to jump both Cardinal Kasper and his mentor-Hans Kung at their own game.

And we need to take solace – be reminded that Cardinal Pell , Cardinal Ouellette , and some others are also true sons of the Holy Catholic Church who don’t get fooled by any amount or style of sophistry.

It’s still premature IMO to hit the panic button . Didn’t our Lord say there would be “ravenous wolves” coming into the flock. And St. Peter forewarned us quite matter-of-factly in his second Letter :

” There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who ransomed them . . . ” [2 Peter 2:1]

. . . Anybody audaciously dim enough to believe that what Cardinal Burke has been doing recently is tantamount to denying the Master who ransomed him . . . ? Of course not – he’s defending the truth with clarity. That in itself , doesn’t really reflect so well on anyone who is condemning him , or who would wish to stifle him. Perhaps there is some plausibility in proposing that the Bishop of Rome feels he would have less use for Cardinal Burke in his plans ? Whatever the case, it’s evident to us that our Blessed Lord also has His plan(s) ; and didn’t He say, “My ways are not your ways” ? (I know, I know . . . some of us are thinking, “Well then maybe God could send that same sentiment to Pope Francis in the form of a registered letter.”)

It happened.

So , don’t worry – be grumpy ! And most of all, we mustn’t stop praying !

Think about it . . . look at all the umm, wonderful (oww – it hurt my fingers to type that word) things Cardinal Kasper has accomplished recently – and he’s officially retired . . . I think a good Cardinal – unleashed and armed with the truth might easily be able to dwarf those accomplishments with a few more of his own.

Let’s watch and see. . . Remember what happened when they put St. Peter in prison ? Remember what happened leading up to the event of his release ? .

“Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the church was fervently being made to God on his behalf.”
[Acts 12:5]

We need to see this as our call to prayer (persevering prayer) once the lament is over.

Doesn't sound so grumpy, no? I'd say this is a good perspective to listen to, unlike the sour sack diatribes of the angry Radical Catholic Reactionaries, a.k.a. Trads Behaving Badly. 

Pax, Julian. 

Trads Behaving Badly are a Thankless Lot on Thanksgiving Weekend and Update for Latin Masses

UPDATE Oct 14, 2014

Due to unforseen circumstances, the SPGC is unable to now use SLTM for its Christ the King Mass. It might be still held, should an alternate site be found. Prayers for the choir please? Thanks.

UPDATE!!!!!

No sooner do I write about how the coverage of the Synod is biased at the hands of these TBBs, that the Might Trad Hero, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, weighs in and warns us to watch what is being reported by the media. See HERE!!!
____________________________________________________________________
Hello Everyone,

This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving weekend, where we have a good old meal of turkey and all the fixings, and are supposed to be thankful for all we have in our lives.

I was reminded of that at Mass this Saturday evening, when with my fiancee we attended the vigil with the pastor presiding, whose community and church is to be built. Due to the current location being locked, we relocated to the temporary chapel set up in his house, complete with an altar, tabernacle, and the like for a basic location to hold Mass.

There, the deacon from the neighboring large-scale parish was present at Mass, and preached on the theme of Thanksgiving. Certainly, on this weekend, one should be thankful for what we have, especially for the Sacrifice that our Lord made on Calvary. However, we are often sour-sacks (not his words) and we are not grateful enough to God and Christ, and should do things such as small efforts of gratitude, but most importantly, open our prayers in gratitude for the coming day, and end at night for the day we had and where God acted in our lives. I think that`s great advice, considering most of us use prayer for supplication, vs. thanking Christ for things. We`re quite selfish and sour and un-thankful, aren`t we?

Unfortunately, some pickled-pepper faced people have no room for thankfulness in their hearts, spewing their hatred for the Church and the Holy Father and others over the Synod of 2014. This is retrospect as mid-way, a document has been released, a ``relatio`` of sorts that outlines what has been covered so far. Wow they are fuming over a lot. It makes you wonder why these angry denziens of darkness even care to be a part of the Church. They accuse Modernist Rome of conspiracy, and Pope Francis of teaming up with the homofacists in changing Church doctrine by stealth, and that the Church is essentially going to Hell in a hand basket with the world. With that kind of attitude, how many Latin Mass ``converts`` have joined you people in your quest for ``holiness?" Have new Latin Masses popped up in your archdiocese, or mine for that matter? With that attitude, likely, 0.

They might as well take their Modernist Rome hate and join their ``good friends`` who are outside of the Church canonically and are protestant, the Society of St. Pius X (Don't blame me for the protestant remark, even a Latin Mass saying priest in a diocese neighbouring mine thinks that. Not linking to him though due to whom he associates with.). Why with the SSPX, you can have your Francis/Church of Rome hate, believe you have the "true" Church, and get your Latin Mass done to every minor law about liturgy in one! If you are happy to believe the lies that their sacraments are VALID and licit (of which, "Trad Hero" Benedict XVI re-iterated they have NO SACRAMENTAL FACULTIES in 2009), then great! Go be a part of their number. Stop being part of the "modernist" church! The exit door with Dante's Inferno's line about abandoning all hope ye who enter here, is just waiting for you. As for your soul ... well it`s a dice roll, as other communications such as from the PCED warn going frequently can put you in a state of schism, which automatically excommunicates you. But really, if you don`t like what`s going on in Holy Mother Church, then get out. Go be with your like-minded friends.

Now listen, I don't like some of the politics that is going on here. I don't approve of Francis' power play with the "liberal" additions to whatever committee he put the supposedly "sinister 6" on, when democracy was upheld and this is not something needing "supreme legislator" interference. If he purposely told all in attendance, "kay I get some of you are pastoral, and others doctrinal. You can't have one without the other, so I'm balancing the groups as an exercise in collegiality and co-operation," then fine. I'd approve of that as a teachable moment. But no announcement to that effect was made. That was not a move where the Pope is exercising divine authority/Infallability.

Regardless of politics and human fault, I still stand with Holy Mother Church, and I still obey the Holy Father in terms of his valid election to the chair as Bishop of Rome, and that in Faith and Morals he cannot err, as well as being supreme legislator of the Church.

One bone of contention in my mind, is this principle of "graduality." Thankfully, the Anchoress, Elizabeth Scalia, a Benedictine tertiary/oblate, has covered this topic in an excellent post, of what proper gradation is AND addressed some of the more educated laity's fears, which I'm posting most of the content:

"... we’ve been writing about aspects of graduality here at Patheos, sometimes without even realizing it, and to my way of thinking there is no better explanation of “graduality”, or a better example of its power, than Calah Alexander’s personal story, which she first shared here in 2012, and in which she describes, yes, a yes, “long road” to mercy, undertaken by a sincere but challenged couple, and a priest who was willing to see them fully and deal with the reality of their lives:

He was trying to figure out how to bring both of us into a state of grace, how to help us learn to love God, each other, and our child, and how to begin building a foundation that might one day support a solid family.

Saint John Paul famously said told his priests that we have to “deal with the world as it is; the world before us.” That is precisely what Calah and Christopher’s priest did, and he ultimately welcomed them into full communion with the church. Now they’re a solidly-Catholic young family of six.

That’s the goal of gradualism. It is not about ignoring doctrine or condoning mortal sin. It is about a priest at work the field hospital God has provided, and applying powerful medicine within dosages that each patient can withstand, until they are spiritually stronger, and can withstand further treatment. Your dosages and mine will be different at different times in our illnesses.
Calah has written more about gradualism, here:

The law being for the people means that its purpose is to aid in the salvation of souls. It can’t be thrown out or changed without throwing away souls in the process; but neither can it be used as a spiritual threshing machine without throwing away souls in the process.

When I go to confession, I usually confess the same sins. The same sins, over and over, over and over, like a litany of awfulness...
The thing is, though, that the sins I confess over and over today are not the same sins I confessed over and over seven years ago. They are, in fact, radically different.

Do people have a point when they worry about “gradualism” assisting in the degradation of the sacraments and our understanding of them? Is there a possibility of it being misunderstood and misused? Oh, yes, and that’s worth being concerned about, particularly given the church’s poor catechetical transmission over the past five decades — when it has most desperately been needed — and the Curia’s self-destructive habit of not controlling its message but allowing important teachings, documents and exhortations to be filtered through the secular press, and thereby reduced to the least-helpful soundbites.

Father Dwight Longenecher is concerned about the seeming double-speak on co-habitation, and I get that, but then again. . .the thing about Calah’s story is that Calah and her husband were taking the church on its own terms, while still trying to extricate themselves from their sins, and were therefore willing to work within the discipline, willing to withhold themselves and (so to speak) “take their medicine” of refraining from Communion, until they were in a state of grace.

It seems to me this is where things fall apart and gradualism becomes scary for people; precisely at the line where people place their sense of entitlement before their willingness to try something as radical as obedience, which is strong, strong medicine, and must be taken with an IV of humility.

Yes, I get the scary part. But I also get the humane part that evangelizes people back into church by seeing them in their totality and walking with them. Gradualism is a time-consuming and one-on-one sort of pastoring, and we have so few priests well-trained to it, and so many Catholics or potential Catholics, in great need: how can shall we manage this?

The laity will have to step up. The priests will need the support of a nursing and nurturing laity — a laity willing to humbly assist the patients, and their priests, with hands-on support and their prayers, and with a minimum of hand-wringing about how it “looks” to have all these spiritually bedraggled people milling about the pews, giving scandal to the church, as though we do not do that, all of us, every day, anyway.

We really must pray, and ask the Holy Spirit to forcefully guide the synod and its wisdom, and then keep praying all the way through to the next synod, next year. It’s that grave an issue.

There are a lot of prodigals who are “still a long way off” and whom the church wants to “run out to meet.” Gradualism is effective ministry, but it’s a long healing. Done correctly, it can completely renew the church. Implemented poorly (as was VCII) and it can be a wrecking ball, and pfft goes Catholic credibility and too, too many souls.

I’ll let Calah close this:
The danger inherent in the idea of gradualness lies in losing the distinction that JPII made — the law of gradualness is not the same thing as gradualness of the law. We knew we were in sin. That was clear. No one told us that it would be okay if we went ahead and took communion, since we were working on that whole “not sinning” thing. We went to Mass with our friends and the Ogre’s family and stayed in the pew during communion, and everyone knew why. But we kept going, and when we finally got to receive with everyone else it was amazing. That approach would probably not be healthy or helpful with some people…the point is, only the pastor can know when, where, and how to apply it.

But for ordinary laypeople, our job is not to figure out when, where, and how someone is sinning or not sinning. Our job is not to cast out those among us who smell suspiciously like sulfur, or whose hair looks a bit tinged from brimstone, or whose companions in Mass cry “irregular!” from the bare ring fingers of their same-gendered hands.

And that is not our job for a very simple reason: if we’re always looking for scandal, we’ll find it everywhere.

What is also everywhere, whether we’re looking for them or not, are souls trapped in the mire of mortal sin and desperately in need of Christ. Please don’t cast them out. There were people in the Church who tried to cast me out, who went to extraordinary lengths to bar the door against me. I can’t begin to tell you how much it hurt to feel unworthy and unwanted by the people I recognized as keepers of Truth and bearers of Christ.

And there you have it. So people, just remember that the doom-prophets don't have the foresight on the Church, and that their message is thankless, and spiritually damaging and full of despair. THEY DO NOT REPRESENT THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH, NOR THINK WITH ITS MIND. Does that mean we are to just be tolerant of everything? No. However, we should be thankful in our faith life and with others, and not everything that "Modernist" Rome does is poisonous. If anything, the gravity is lesser than the Chicken Littles are saying. 

Pax and Happy Thanksgiving, Julian. 

P.S. Oh yeah! New Latin Mass update Here! St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir is doing their annual Christ the King Mass Sunday October 26th @ 1pm, I'm serving in it.  

P.P.S. The Trads Behaving Badly, are not all badly, nor all the time. Here's an example of a guy who does attend their organized Masses and supports them, but is demonstrating that Pope-bashing and the Modernist Rome thing isn't their modus operandi 24-7. There are times some of them actually can have Joy and thank fullness in their lives and not act like their Trad-masters. 

2 Weeks of Blogging Despair: Embarrasment from the Radical Catholic Reactionaries over ++Burke and ++Dolan

Hello Everyone,

I realize that this is a lengthy post. Bear with me though. It needs the length as this is 2 weeks worth of observation and reflection.  

These past two weeks have been a sad and woeful one on the Catholic blog-o-sphere. This has been one of the worst periods of recent, where it feels like there is no hope living as a Catholic. The players who are directly responsible for carrying out the sin of despair are powerful men in esteemed positions of authority, who are not speaking with the Mind of the Church, despite the responsibility given to them by our Lord. Are you thinking what I am thinking, or whom I am directly referring to?

Perhaps I should explain further, by discussing what I have been witnessing on the Catholic blog-o-sphere. The situations that have been of critical (as well as hateful) discussion these past two weeks, are in regards to two cardinals, on opposite sides of the theo-political spectrum. They are Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, who’s what we could call “pastoral”, while at the other end, the “spiritual” end, is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, possibly soon to be ex-prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome.

Summary of the Major Events

Dolan’s criticism, and fury amongst the Traditionalists Behaving Badly (my term by the way that I created, like Dave Armstrong with Radical Catholic Reactionary, to purposely ostracize the Traditionalists who are disobedient and hateful to and within Holy Mother Church, from the good, loyal traditionalists who don't do what they do,) deal with the fact the jolly Cardinal is MC for the upcoming St. Patrick’s parade in New York in 2015. The parade is now letting in pro-gay groups. Dolan's acceptance of the "honour" is being seen as an OK for being gay in the Church. Further, the TBBs are likely thinking of him as the Devil’s minion, for wanting to close down Holy Innocents Catholic Church in NYC, the U.S.A base of operations for valiant Glad Trad hero, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf of WDTPRS. The critics are also implying that the only reason Dolan extended the possible merger/closing of H.I is because too much bad press got out about him, despite his response, so he's saving face for himself and the office of the Archdiocese of New York.

At the other end of things, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is likely being re-assigned to another office of the Church, a superior of sorts of the Knights of Malta, based in Rome. This move by Pope Francis is being seen by the TBBs as a “demotion” and part of a conspiracy theory of Pope Francis’ and company’s hate for anything dealing with that trad hero, Benedict XVI. They are also attributing this demotion to the fact that ++Burke and other traditional bishops and Jesuits wrote a book defending the traditional teachings of the Church on marriage and the family, in contradiction to the violation of Church teaching in the “tolerated but not acceptable” position of ++Kasper on non-annulled Catholics receiving communion. In addition, ++Kasper is getting a “ringmaster’s stage” for the upcoming Extraordinary Synod of the Family. The worst of the rumour mill at Rorate Caeli, even says that Francis was royally pissed off at this book, and even scolded ++Muller of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith not to promote the book … if you believe the worst PR site for radical traditionalism who’s one step away from sedevacantism that is. 

So, what am I getting at?

With the summary of the main events, it seems as if our appointed leaders in the Catholic world are failing us. The disgusting liberal clergy who are wolves in sheep’s clothing are heroes, the good Cardinals are being destroyed by the Spirit of Vatican II clergy including our Pope of Mercy, and St. Anna Catharine of Emerich’s prophecy is coming true right? Well the leadership of the Church certainly has failed …. But surprise! It’s not entirely the clergy. 

I am talking about those of us laity charged with the full participation of Christ’s priesthood, prophecy, and kingship.

The laity who are being leaders, fighting what they think is their quest to maintain the Church’s order and governance, have done the greatest disservice these past two weeks for the Church. THEY DO NOT, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, HAVE VESTED AUTHORITY TO DICTATE OR ENFORCE THE CHURCH’s LAWS OR TEACHINGS. If they say they do, they are liars and only have the privileges every ordinary Catholic has, albeit at the service and mercy to the clergy and Canon Law (including choice to wield said law.) Many of them, are laypeople, with nothing more than an acumen to see black wherever there is white, and no good of the Church. 

Now, by no means am I wearing rose coloured glasses and saying "all is well", but they have crossed a line between critical evaluation and fraternal correction, into the Devil’s camp using his weapons of slander, calumny, and detraction. They have also aided in committing the sin of despair, sister to the deadly Sloth.

Despair

If anything, the bloggers have allowed for the fruition of the sin of despair amongst what they say. What is the sin of despair? The Sin of Despair is, as per Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church 2091, ".... By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy."

What the bloggers have been reporting constantly, with hatred/anger, pride (also deadly sins, evidenced in their writing), actually detracts from Holy Mother Church’s mission of evangelizing and the salvation of souls. People want to be saved or seek internally salvation, or being “happy.” Every person’s reason for existence, a la Baltimore Catechism #1 is to know, love, and serve God all their lives. The Church is that spiritual and physical means by which in His Eternal Sacrifice on the Cross, Christ gave us, so that we could be with Him in Heaven. All that these bloggers have done is contravened the Holy Father’s “mission of mercy” and have shown that the Church is another institution with corrupt people in it via their coverage. To show that there is nothing but corruption in the Church and no means of salvation via their blogging coverage is exactly causing despair, a loss of any hope in the Church because of the institutional problems (and false boogeymen) within it. 

  

Let's continue. As traditional Catholics, one would know a number of lists that is nearly forgotten and not taught by current “Catholic” teachers and clergy. One of these lists is The Nine Ways of Being An Accessory to Another's Sin. Allow me to refresh your memory with the list:

1. By Counsel
2. By Command
3. By Consent
4. By Provocation
5. By Praise or Flattery
6. By Concealment
7. By Partaking
8. By Silence
9. By Defense of the ill done

This list, by the way, is in the little red missal books you Latin Mass attendees see at most chapels, churches, and lay-organized Masses. 

If you notice, some of the ways of assisting in committing sin are blatantly being committed by these members on the Net, which I`ve highlighted:

Partaking: Between the quantity and slanderous and calumnous nature of the postings, this is clear provocation of sin, division, and the like amongst members of the Church. This is even more so when these attacks directly concern the Holy Father. Might I also remind you that the Holy Father himself equated gossip and calumny as the devil's works? Those "works" would obviously be sins of grave Matter. The devil's works are no laughing matter. They are always serious business. 

Provocation: The provocation of what they have done is on numerous levels: 1) Vs. the clergy and establishment in place, to anger them, and drive those targets to sin further themselves, 2) Amongst their fellow Traditionalists, by once again embarrassing them and can prompt further persecution. 3) Others, that is, it provokes others to experience the sin of despair. 

Defense of the Ill Done: And how do they justify their actions? They continue to say they will not stop in attacking the Holy Father, will not stop attacking others, and will not stop harming the faithful spiritually. Their defense of their sins committed is that it's all for the Good of the Holy Church, when it's pure bullying, harassment, and hatred dressed up as religion. 

Whether it is in disparaging the Jesuits, the Holy, Father, or Cardinals, this is blatant Pharisee-ism at its worst. In doing the disservice, those leaders on the Catholic blogosphere are leaving us with only one question: Why would anyone in their right mind want to be part of the Church when it is no different from its secular counterparts of schools, government, workplaces, etc.?

Furthermore, people like myself, who actually care about Traditional Catholicism, can only leave shaking our heads in disgust. We want to have a vibrant and happy life with traditional Catholicism as part of the beautiful fabric of worship and liturgical rites in the Church, not the sole be all and end all that is enforced upon everyone! When these leaders embarrass us, misrepresent ALL CATHOLICS, say cruel barbs at our priests and clergy, and fellow Glad Trads and Catholics alike, either we desire to depart from our sinful siblings by having nothing to do with the Latin Mass, or worse, we put our heads in the sand and sin by omission when those significant few do their dastardly deeds, because we fear the “big bad bishops” will take away our Mass in violation of Church Law. Better to continue going to the Latin Mass every Sunday and not say anything right? Both approaches do nothing to increase participation and/or respect for the Latin Mass and Traditional Catholicism. Yet it's all because of a few spiritually misguided souls who just haven't found the proper means to say, "Hey! The Church is awesome! Even though our leaders do sin, there is STILL Spiritual salvation here!" 

I, myself, became quite disparaged about the Church this week, thanks to my sad “brothers and sisters” of Christ. It affected my disposition with my relationships and made me question if there is anything positive in the Church when we are all mucking it up, bloggers included. Thankfully, Christ in Matthew 16:18 promised us Hell would not prevail!

My Appeal

To those specific bloggers, you are making Traditional Catholicism a hateful place to be, and all your Catholic brothers and sisters and clergy will want none of it! Even your closer friends and clergy, can only stand so much, and will be forced in their fidelity to the Lord, to part ways for their souls. Do you care about the actions and influence that you wield on your fellow Catholics? You do want more people to discover the Latin Mass and become traditional Catholics right? Have you heard the expression, “you attract more flies with honey than vinegar?” 

Listen, I get that we have collectively “became awake” to politics and how we were not taught the truths of the faith in light of the institutional, NOT "TRUE", Church’s adoption of the “Spirit of Vatican II” a.k.a. pastoring gone wrong as extreme liberalism, misinterpreting the Vatican II documents. I also understand that some of you are war survivors, carrying around battle wounds that have never been fully healed deep within. There is scar tissue, but it's only a patch that easily opens with the slightest provocation. 

But does bearing your scars mean we are to wage war against the Church and smear every clergy member and layperson who does not practice the doctrine and laws perfectly, even at the cost of your eternal salvation when you go too far, too deep in your conquest? 

I can only end with saying this in necessity. While you have used this in past against me in anger and hatred, or others just like me on the blog-o-sphere not in your "camp," I must appeal to you in earnest. Please, for your spiritual health and others, seek the help of those who can assist you and give you spiritual mercy. What good has airing our all this on the Internet done for your spiritual health? Do you feel any better after? Has the institutional Church around you, or in a large scale, "changed" in any way from your actions? Please refrain from causing sin and grave spiritual harm to yourselves, and those others you associate with. Find a proper, Biblical, and truly, Theological way to love your brother with True fraternal, Catholic charity, according to the virtues (theological, cardinal, others) without resorting to the Devil’s trickery.

If you do not have counselling, please do seek a good and noble priest (preferably), or other orthodox Catholic who can help you with your issues. I do not mean simply a “yes man” who agrees 100% with your ideas and thoughts. I mean someone who can honestly acknowledge your concerns, your hurts, your pains, and assist you in fully seeking and obtaining Christ’s Love and mercy. This might even challenge you, or contradict your thoughts now, but that person will do so in order you to come to a deeper relationship with Christ, and lead a more true, Catholic life. 

Final Words

If anything, it shows that Pope Francis’ mission of mercy is more pertinent than ever, as even Christ’s “best soldiers” of the Church Militant, are badly wounded and their armor in need of major black-smithing to repair the damage.

Finally, allow me to end off with a pertinent link from "Neo-Trad" (a.k.a. Orthodox Good Guy) Mark Shea who succinctly shares to a degree my feelings and concerns, in an excellent interview about the changing face of Catholic Internet blogging:

 http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/blogging-pope-francis-interview-mark-shea

Everyone, I know that things are rocky right now, but we have to do better than this. As Fr. Z says, Benedict XVI gave us the tools we need. It’s time to get the training wheels off the bicycle and ride with it!

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

P.S. I haven't forgotten about SINE, or my Latin Mass Serving Posts. Give me a break here as I got a significant lady in my life, a Mon-Fri job, and 3-7 other things on the go I gotta worry about, plus being stressed out at the end of the day needing to unwind. You try it and let me know if you do better. I'd like to know your strategies. 

Two Notes of Blogging Here on S.U.D and Highlight from Fr. Z on Pope Francis End of Papacy (What?)

Hello Everyone,

Just a couple of brief notes here on blogging at S.U.D.

1) Don't expect a lot of altar serving progress or new postings here on Servimus for the next while. Right Now I am knee deep in a really excellent summer course I am taking with St. Paul University Ottawa and Mission of the Redeemer Ministries, called the Summer Institute for New Evangelization. When I am done, I intend to do a post about this course to highlight (and thank) the awesome work of the people and content that created this course, including some of its awesome, powerful revelations I gained with it. They are a lot more Traditionally Catholic than one might think.

Might I add it's for 3 years and earns a certificate or university credit w/St. Paul? Needless to say I have to get my papers (3 of them! One per section of lectures) done by Aug 29th and I have to catch up on video lectures cause I can't afford to take that time off work (I only get 3 weeks unpaid leave until a couple more years later).

Oh, one other note of importance here, on this point. of whom I must give credit to. My TA for the course is none other than the blog-roll master for the SCCC .... Dr. Colin Kerr! Small world eh?

2) I have noticed that I have been getting a lot of hits this past while because of a post I wrote here, about the Nun symbol and my reasons for NOT jumping on this trend, despite now, more and more "Glad Trad"/Orthodox Leaning/"Neo-Cath" bloggers and friends are jumping on it. While I do value the additional hits because it is still a trend, do realize that I present an alternate viewpoint, and those were my reasons at that time. Also, despite the change in who's donning the symbol of death (or solidarity), I am not going to change my stance on the issue, to be consistent, even if this isn't the "Traditional Catholic" thing to do.

However, the positive side effect is that you have been viewing my other postings on my blog, whether archived, or even the more recent ones, even those that wouldn't be deemed "major" posts. Thank you for doing so, and please, do view the central focus of my blog, the altar serving postings that have been created under this page.

And now, the Highlight from Fr. Z.

Today's highlight is a post from prolific Traditional hero priest, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf of What Does the Prayer Really Say?. He posted an interesting post about questions asked to the Holy Father on the airplane leaving from South Korea. Read the posting here. In a nutshell, Pope Francis speaks about Benedict XVI and his re-introducing of the Pope Emeritus (or ability to retire from the Papacy). In the interview, it sounds like as if Pope Francis is pretty much telling us how he's going to leave the Papacy: A) "I'll be dead in a few years given my age", or 2) "I will copy Benedict XVI when I'm too weak to function, and I'm retiring."

My take on it: It's perfectly logical and rational for Pope Francis to say such things. He's 77, a few years shy of being an octogenarian, he's got 1.5 lungs, he might be receiving medical treatment (corticosteroids) according to some sources and weight gain is a common side effect, and he's possibly been slowing down a bit. Look, he's getting old folks, it happens. Also being in a leadership position in an institution in a modern world of the Internet and 24/7 social media, with many of the people in the Church being lukewarm or your enemies (in truth), would stress out anyone, and age them biologically too. It's gonna happen folks. Not to mention Benedict XVI changed the game plan with that Pope Emeritus thing. So you could say "The writing is on the wall," not barring miracles of the Holy Trinity.

Pax, Julian.

Another Trad Behaving Badly Bandwagon: The Sign of Peace and My Two Cents

Hello Everyone,

So once again, the TBBs (with some other level headed conservatives) are doing something again and passing the buck around on an issue: The Sign of Peace.

How is this coming about (again?) The Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, one of the Vatican's Papal Congregations, who issues out orders, decrees, evaluations, etc. on the Pope's behalf in the area of liturgy and sacraments, back in June released a letter which was given Pope Francis' approval (!) about the practice in the Mass. It's basically a letter that notes that this part of the Mass is taken for granted and suggests, ways to improve the dignity of this practice.

Unfortunately, this letter has NOT been made available to the general public, including the Congregation`s section of the Vatican website. It was supposedly in Spanish, but the one link is ``not available`` anymore on the website that one blogger linked to. The best I`ll do is to link to ``safe`` traditional blogger priest Fr. John Zuhlsdorf here with a summary of the content and the 4 suggestions.

The four main suggestions, NOT ORDERS, are as follows:

1. The rite is optional, and there certainly are times and places where it is not fitting.[This IS in the latest edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.]
2. “... familiar and worldly gestures of greeting” ¨[a.k.a. hugs and kisses, handshakes] should be substituted with “other, more appropriate gestures.”
3. The congregation for worship also noted that there are several abuses of the rite which are to be stopped: the introduction of a “song of peace,” which does not exist in the Roman rite; the faithful moving from their place to exchange the sign; the priest leaving the altar to exchange the sign with the faithful; and when, at occasions such as weddings or funerals, it becomes an occasion for congratulations or condolences.
4. ... episcopal conferences prepare liturgical catechesis on the significance of the rite of peace, and its correct observation.

My thoughts on these matters:

1) The Trad Behaving Badly bloggers have got this wrong in a sense. The letter is NOT AN ORDER, yet they are claiming so. This is a false claim, but this is nothing new from the Church's new "liturgical police." They cheer and applaud anything with some semblence of ordering their perceived "faulty" institutional (and often times, True Catholic Church), back to pre-Vatican II levels of ... well ... everything. Also, it is mostly them alongside more conservative Catholic news sites picking this story up. Not a good sign. Also I feel that the general sentiment is one of "we order you to make these changes ..." vs educational information.

2) The Vatican should have put this and other communications from this Congregation on their website. The oldest is from 2008. Not smart at all. Then again, not surprizing from the media machine of the Vatican. It`s becoming public knowledge that they are not always up to speed on things. Why, it took 7 years for Summorum Pontificum to be posted in English and people had to complain to the Vatican to get that to happen.

3) For the most part for me, I find the sign of peace, tolerable. I am not one of those TBBs who abhors it, and I understand that we CANNOT be like the TBBs on the Catholic blogosphere in their demeanor and their attitudes towards the Novus Ordo. Take note, that passive-aggressive stabs in your writings towards the Novus Ordo and other topics and those who attend the N.O., are also part of that sick rhetoric.

4) As much as I hate to side with the TBBs on something, I do agree that unless bishops force this upon their priests in mandates that are publicly displayed online and to their parishes by fax/letter, they will continue to proceed with such liturgical abuses.

However, I do have preference, not absolute, enforced, necessity, for the Pax of the Latin Mass (as I nickname it in admiration, a good ol' fraternal bear hug.) As for the suggestions, they are all perfectly reasonable and it would be nice to be implemented.

From my experience of 30 years in the Archdiocese of Toronto, I am glad to say for the most part, I have not witnessed much of these abuses from the clergy and liturgical staff at Masses. I have seen lay people get somewhat out of hand, and only recently have I seen this "song of peace" be implemented in Masses with some parishes I go to out in Maple. However, giving the best benefit of the doubt I can, I do not think that the musical staff of these parishes know it is not a vital part of the liturgy. They are laity, not clergy, and likely part of the majority of Catholics who don't know where or what these documents and congregations in the Vatican are. It is more non-willful ignorance on their part vs. outward rebellion against the Church. On the bright side, that's 29 years of living post-Vatican II I have NOT seen the song of peace in the Archdiocese of Toronto, and 30 years where it's not crazy out of control, to the contrasting opinions of the Blogosphere critics.

So that's all on this matter folks. Now, I will leave comments open, but consider this post red flag. Read my blog rules, and don't even think about abusing the freedom or my e-mail here.

Pax, Julian.

For your Humour ... Gilbert & Sullivan Mass

Hello.

Here's something funny, H/T to Fr. Z for posting this first. Yes it's based on the Lutheran Church, but it's quite fully and you can laugh at some "Spirit of Vatican II" Church humour too with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP8tTXKzObc

Have a chuckle. Pax, Julian.

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.

Collection of Highlight Posts about What Pope Francis Said and Apologetics Against TBB Claims

Hey Everyone,

Wow, I've fired of a lot of Highlight posts today. Here's the collection of what I've fired off all in one shot, to defend against what is going around the Trads Behaving Badly blogosphere, by Traditionalists themselves (with a little of my personal $0.02 added in), with regards to the La Repubblica interview with the Italian atheist.

The interview that started it all, from La Repubblica: http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2013/10/01/news/papa_francesco_a_scalfari_cos_cambier_la_chiesa-67630792/

The Vatican, put it on their website (not a smart move until it's fully translated and evaluated): http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/october/index_en.htm

And now, the apologetics posts against some of the crazy claims floating around the TBB blogosphere and critics of Pope Francis:

1) Big Blue Wave - General defense against how the TBBs are slamming Pope Francis because of the La Repubblica interview.
POST 1 - http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/10/highlight-big-blue-wave-says-it-best.html
POST 2 - http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/10/highlight-big-blue-wave-says-it-best_2.html

2) Kevin Tierney of Common Sense Catholicism - Latin Mass Traditionalist who has done apologetics, and continues to do so. He's now in my sidebars under "GladTrad/Defenders ..."
Post 1 - My Two cents. http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/10/highlight-2-part-1-my-two-cents-on.html
Post 2 - Kevin's Take on the Youth Unemployment and Lonely Old People line (which are both tied together) - http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/10/highlight-2-part-ii-kevin-tierney.html

3) Fr. John Zuhlsdorf - Traditionalist Blogging Priest who says the EF/Latin Mass blog is "What Does the Prayer Really Say" after his ability to dissect the Latin of prayers in the Mass. Speaks out about the "conscience" line and Jesus being incarnate in the souls of men mis-translation (that makes it look like the Pope promotes heresy and pantheism):
Post 1 - http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/10/highlight-3-great-fr-z-counters-trads.html

Now, you got everything together. Have a fun read. Pax, Julian.

Highlight 3: The Great Fr. Z Counters the Trads Behaving Badly on the Papal Italian Interview

Hello Everyone,

As always, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf is one of the mega-stars of the Traditional Catholic Blogosphere, between his intelligent (and sometimes witty and snarky) take of those things traditional in our Church, and his vast knowledge of liturgical and theological things.

And one thing is for sure, he`s on the right side of Traditional Catholicism.

Turns out the Pope said some things about Conscience and Jesus incarnate in the souls of Man. The old heresy of relativism and a little pantheism to boot, eh? Well, No Virginia, Pope Francis is NOT violating Church teaching on these beliefs. Here's good old Fr. Z, using his linguistic break-down skills and intellect to decipher the truth of what was said in the interview, and it's non-violations of Church teaching. Pax, Julian.

P.S. You gotta love how Fr. Z uses the bona-fide Vatican II documents in his defense. Fighting the "Spirit of Vatican II" with the "Real" Vatican II.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/10/wdtprs-what-did-the-pope-really-say-1/

WDTPRS: What Did The Pope Really Say? 1 – UPDATES

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I finally got the glacial site of the vile Italian daily La Repubblica to cough up the latest Franciscan interview… in Italian.

When I read in the English version that Pope allegedly said,

“The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood”,

I said to myself, “That can’t be right. Swap out brotherhood with something like ‘sisterhood’ and he sounds like an LCWR nun, and he is no fan of theirs or of their ‘female machismo’!”  No! Allow me to amend.  None of them would have said that.  They’ve grown beyond Jesus and words like “son”.

But you get my drift.  The Second Person of the Trinity did not incarnate in the “souls of men”.
So… What Did The Pope Really Say?  My emphasis.

Il Figlio di Dio si è incarnato per infondere nell’anima degli uomini il sentimento della fratellanza….
The Son of God was incarnate in order to instill in soul of men the feeling of brotherhood.
Perhaps better… “awareness… sense” of brotherhood?

I would like to take that “sentimento” in the Italian sense of “awareness”, but since Pope Francis is fundamentally a Spanish speaker, I don’t know what he meant by it here. I suspect we have to hear “sentimento/sentimiento” as “feeling”.  Honestly, my Spanish isn’t quite strong enough yet to hear that possible nuance behind the Italian.  In Italian I would have said something like, “consapevolezza”… or, now that I think of it, “senso”.

We have to be careful with the reports about what Francis said.  We have to check the English version of the interview against the Italian.

I am sure there will be other examples.

UPDATE:
In the meantime, the vile La Repubblica has this as a headline right now, filtered to you from a twit on Twitter:

“Questo Papa è il Rohani del Vaticano”… “This Pope is the Rohani of the Vatican”.

Yah… that’s right.  Talk about not getting this at all.

UPDATE:
From a reader:

Pope Francis–“Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.”
Here, man “conceives” what is good or evil. Conceiving what is good or evil on an individual level is Moral Relativism.
 

Catholic Church in GS 16

16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects [Latin detegit] a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.(9) Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.(10) In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.

Here, man “detects a law” in his conscience he must be “obedient” to. Conscience “reveals that law”, not “conceived” by each according to one’s liking. How do we reconcile these things that seem to be in direct opposition?

It think you may be over analyzing this on the basis of the English alone.

What Did The Pope Really Say?

Ciascuno ha una sua idea del Bene e del Male e deve scegliere di seguire il Bene e combattere il Male come lui li concepisce….
Each person has his idea of Good and of Evil and he must choose to follow Good and combat Evil as he perceives / understands them…

In this case, Italian “concepire” is clear understood in the sense of “understand, believe, perceive”, maybe even “grasp” and not English “conceive” in the sense of making something up on one’s own, as in “devise”.

In English we can say that “he conceived a plan”, which is something that he comes up with. Otherwise, we can say that “he couldn’t conceive what she was rattling on about”, which means that he didn’t understand, couldn’t workout out what she was saying.  Be careful of “false friends” in translation. Sometimes similar words do not have the same meaning or the same impact.

Let’s turn back to your citation of GS16 with that “detects”.  Latin detego, detexi, detectum (compound of tego “to cover, hide”) is, in the first place, “to un-cover, lay bare” and also to “dis-cover, dis-close, de-tect”.

From Vatican website: In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience.  Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that.
Latin (doesn’t hack up the sentence): In imo conscientiae legem homo detegit, quam ipse sibi non dat, sed cui obedire debet, et cuius vox, semper ad bonum amandum et faciendum ac malum vitandum eum advocans, ubi oportet auribus cordis sonat: fac hoc, illud devita.
Fr. Z: In the depths of conscience man discovers the law which he does not give to himself, but which he is obliged to obey, and whose voice, always summoning him to do good and to avoid evil, whenever it is necessary rings in the ears of the heart: do this, shun that.

There is juridical language: lex, advoco.  However, the Holy Spirit is referred to in language both juridical and moral: Advocate, Counselor.  Advoco can also mean “console” and the Holy Spirit is called Consoler.

I love the image GS16 invokes: the “law’s voice summons” us to obligations, to obedience, to action.  It is as if we are, in the moment of “discovery” of the previously hidden evidence in the case, then placed before the bar in a moment of truth, when we are called to act justly and truthly in the face of the evidence that has been uncovered.

I digress. I don’t see much daylight between Francis’ “concupiscence”, rightly understood, and the GS 16 detegit.

Whoa!!!! Vatican Scores BIG!!! SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM RELEASED IN MAJOR LANGUAGES ON VATICAN'S WEBSITE!!!!!!

Hello Everyone.

I wanted to leave up the last post promoting my colleague's sons' charity so I haven't been writing about anything in the last few days. And then .....

This just came in though, first on my blogger feed thanks to the almighty Fr. Z! This popped up in my Blogger Feed:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/08/summorum-pontificum-finally-in-modern-languages-on-vatican-website-it-only-took-6-years/

No this isn't a prank! I check the link myself for the English .... AND IT WORKS!!!! People are checking out the translations and of course with Latin there's things here and there, but ... so far no really big warped manipulations!!!



That's right folks .... That .. is the first screen of SP translated to English. 

I can't believe this. This is big for us Latin Mass going Catholics, and even the rest of the Church! The Vatican has listened to your cries and concerns!!! This should be celebrated around the world!!!

Please, spread this like a mega-virus across the Catholic blogosphere!!!! Tell your friends, family, that guy on the street you pass by every morning!!!!! THIS IS TOTALLY UBER AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

AD MAJORIEM GLORIA DEI!!! and pax tibi Christi. Julian Barkin.