Midnight Mass at Holy Innocents Church, Manhattan.  Photos courtesy of Arrys Ortanez.

Our Lady of Refuge Church,  Bronx, NY.  Photos courtesy of Joanne O’Beirne

Midnight Mass at St. Josaphat Church, Bayside, NY.  Photos courtesy of Julie Collorafi.

Christmas Day Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York.  Father Christopher Salvatori, celebrant.

Midnight Mass at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory, Bridgeport, CT.  Photos from Sts. Cyril and Methodius Facebook page.

Christmas Day Mass at St.Patrick’s Church, Newburgh, NY.  Photo from  AdaltareDei Facebook page.

By Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla

Just when one thinks that one has read all of the mindless and harmful stuff that Catholic clergy have written or spoken, that assumption is shattered, this time by a truly offensive homily given by Father Michael Mullaney, the President of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland, a section of which homily was published on Rorate Caeli a short while ago.

The homily was preached at the annual Christmas Carol Service at Maynooth, in the presence, we may suppose, of other clergy, seminarians and laity.  The topic of the homily is the sin of racism in contemporary Western society.  That racism is a sin according to Catholic teaching there is no doubt.  The Catholic Catechism is quite clear on this:

The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it. “Every from of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights of the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.”(CCC no. 1935)

There are many statements in Church documents of all types that confirm the sinfulness of racism.  Would that Father Mullaney used one of these texts as the foundation for his homily.  Instead he uses the story in the Gospel of St. Mark about Jesus’ encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman who wanted him to cure her daughter who was very sick. The following is Father Mullaney’s use of this encounter as an example of how everyone can commit the sin of racism.

Even Jesus had to confront his ingrained prejudices; indeed, even racism. The Gospels recount his stunning and unique encounter with a Syro-Phoenician woman desperately seeking a cure for her sick daughter. The disciples dismiss her as she was considered racially inferior. Surprisingly, Jesus sharply rejects her appeal. His mission is to the Jews only; his tribe; the children of God. When the woman insists, Jesus dismisses her again– calling her shockingly a ‘dog’ – a racial slur. The woman doesn’t challenge his insult. Like so many victims in history, she has internalized her inferiority. But her repartee: “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” is the only recorded encounter that left Jesus speechless. If we truly celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, of God who takes human flesh, it should not surprise us that Jesus could not have avoided the effects of the prejudices that had shaped his human and cultural identity from childhood.

We do not know what Jesus thought in that moment. But the Syro-Phoenician woman dislocates Jesus from his narrow tribal suppositions and prejudices about the ‘other’ represented by her. She ceases to be an ‘outsider’. God’s heart could not be closed to her. She too is one of the children of God. Physical healing is given not only to her daughter but ultimately the deeper wounds of isolation, marginalization and discrimination become central to Jesus’ healing and liberating ministry in the Gospel. In this transformative encounter Jesus demonstrates that regardless of how unwittingly and unknowingly we are part of the problem, we can choose to reject racism and hostility to the ‘other’, the stranger, in ourselves and in our world, committing ourselves to the slow, hard work of transformation.

The whole passage is so wrong-headed that one hardly knows where to begin to react to these words in a homily delivered by a priest who is helping to train seminarians to become good priests.  Let us begin with the observation that Father Mullaney believes that in this encounter between Jesus and the woman that Jesus is acting like a racist, that is, his comments to her are racist.  If this be true, then Jesus is sinning against this woman.  It is obvious that this contradicts the dogma of the sinlessness of Jesus, “he who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), which is an integral part of the Church’s understanding of the Incarnation itself.  But Father Mullaney has his own understanding of the Incarnation:   “if we truly celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, of God who takes human flesh, it should not surprise us that Jesus could not have avoided the effects of the prejudices that had shaped his human an cultural identity from childhood.”  Does this imply that he learned these prejudices that are racist from his mother and father?  Did his mother, the Virgin Mary, gratia plena, whose sinlessness is also a part of Church teaching, teach him to be a racist and consider people other than Jews “dogs”? If Father Mullaney believes this, he should read up on the heretical kenotic doctrines of liberal Protestantism that have been condemned many times by the Church.  More fundamentally, he should also read up on the context of this passage in the Gospel of St. Mark.

Father Mullaney begins the next paragraph of the sermon with this statement:

“We do not know what Jesus thought in that moment” Thanks be to God for the preacher’s admission that he could not see into the mind of Jesus at the moment! But he has already claimed to know that Jesus harbored racist attitudes towards this woman.  And in the next sentences he credits the woman with “dislocating Jesus from his narrow tribal suppositions and prejudices about the ‘other’ represented by her.” In this way, by her persistence the woman pricks Jesus conscience, and he feels guilty, and from that feeling of guilt is converted from his racist attitudes to a more enlightened moral understanding. This event marks a “conversion experience” for the man Jesus.

Is this the same Jesus who recounted the parable of the Good Samaritan? Is this the Jesus who reprimands Peter for cutting off the Roman soldier’s ear, this man the symbol of Roman oppression of the Jews?   Is this the Jesus who speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well and brings her to faith? Is this the Jesus who said:  “The Second (Commandment) is this:  Love your neighbor as yourself.”?  Is this the Jesus who gave the Great Commission to the Apostles to “go and make disciples of allnations”? And finally:  Is this the Jesus who died on the Cross not only for his own people, the Jews, but for the whole world?

I have long thought that most heresies are attempts to make the Incarnation easier to understand and accept, to make the inherent contradiction that is at the heart of the person of Jesus Christ as true God and true man, two natures in one person—to make this contradiction go away.  This was at the heart of Arianism, of Nestorianism, of the complex Gnostic systems, of those Protestant sects who at the Reformation and beyond rejected the divinity of Christ, of those in our own time who in their own way deny the radical nature of the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation, including the many Catholics who deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I wish I could take Father Mullaney’s homily with a sense of irony that he would preach this in preparation for the feast of Christmas.  For irony allows us to distance ourselves from things that are truly bad. Irony allows us to refuse to engage with the distortion of truth when we see it or hear it or read it.  I wish I could distance myself from what this priest said in this homily and say with a wry and knowing sardonic smile: “And this guy is preparing priests!”.  But I cannot.  The only thing I can do is to be sad, pray for him, and hope that his bishop will chastise him and correct him, and that he will never again shamelessly disfigure a Carol Service celebrating the birth of the God-man who alone can be the Savior of the whole world.

Stained glass window in the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, NY

Wednesday, January 1, the Circumcision of Our Lord, the Octave of Christmas, is a Holy Day of Obligation.  The following church will offer the traditional Mass.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, 9:30 am Solemn Mass.

St. Patrick Church (the Cathedral Parish)  Bridgeport, CT, 12:15 pm, High Mass.

Saints Cyril and Methodius Oratory, Bridgeport, CT,  8:30 am low Mass;  10:15 am high Mass.

St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, CT,  2 pm

St. Patrick Parish and Oratory, Waterbury, CT,  8:30 am, Low Mass; 10:30 am High Mass.

St. Francis Church, New Britain, CT,  5 pm

St. Martha Church, Enfield, CT,  11 am.

New York

Church of the Holy Innocents, New York, NY,  New Year’s Eve:  11:30 pm, High Mass; New Years Day,  9 am, Low Mass; 10:30 am High Mass

St. Agnes Church, New York, NY,  10:30 am

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York, NY, 10:30 am Missa Cantata

St. Josaphat Church, Bayside (Queens), NY,  9:30 am.

St. Paul the Apostle Church,  Yonkers, NY,  12 noon.

Annunciation Church, Yonkers (Crestwood), NY,  10 am

Immaculate Conception Church,  Sleepy Hollow, NY,  3 pm

Our Lady of the Way Chapel, Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY,  10 am

Holy Trinity Church, Poughkeepsie, NY, 6 pm, Solemn Mass.

St. Rocco Church, Glen Cove, NY  (Long Island)  11:30 am

St. Matthew Church, Dix Hills, NY  (Long Island),  10:30 am

St. Peter Church, Amagansett, NY  (Long Island),  12 noon

New Jersey

Assumption Church,  344 Pacific Avenue, Jersey City, 12 noon.  Fr. Perricone, celebrant. Convivium after Mass.  Please bring food to share.

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel,(FSSP) 32 West Franklin Ave., Pequannock, NJ (Northern NJ)  7 AM, 9 AM, 11 AM, and 5 PM. (No 7 pm Mass on Tuesday, December 31) Confessions 15 minutes before each Mass.

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory (ICKSP), 1360 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ  (suburbs not far from Newark Basilica via I-280) 9 AM and 11 AM. Confessions heard 30 minutes before each Mass.

Corpus Christi Parish, (near Rutgers New Brunswick) 100 James Street, South River, NJ:  6:15 p.m. Low Mass.

The Church of St. Catherine Laboure, (Raritan Bayshore) 130 Bray Avenue, Middletown, NJ – 9 AM

St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church (western Monmouth County), 1282 Yardville Allentown Rd, Allentown, NJ  11 AM

Mater Ecclesiae, 261 Cross Keys Road, Berlin, NJ: Tuesday, December 31 – 5 pm anticipated Low Mass; Wednesday, January 1, 2020 – 8 am Low Mass, 10:30 am High Mass. Confessions heard half hour before Mass. (Half hour east of Philadelphia)

St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish, 1421 New Road, Northfield, NJ, 12:30 PM (near Atlantic City)

Window in the church of St. Mary, Charleston S.C. (Mayer of Munich)

A blessed and holy Christmas to all our members and readers!

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We have some exciting news to communicate to you for the coming year.

We have just finalized our plans for our Third Annual Lepanto conference, which will take place on February 15.

We are very honored to announce that Cardinal Joseph Zen, the courageous retired bishop of Hong Kong, has accepted our invitation.  We will also welcome Professor Michael Foley and Fr. George Rutler.  Given the tense and tragic situation in Hong Kong, we cannot be certain that the Cardinal will be able to make this long trip. But we hope and pray that we will be able to greet him in New York!

Like last year’s Lepanto Conference, we plan a Solemn Pontifical Mass with a beautiful choral setting.

Our full schedule will be forthcoming shortly, but please mark the date, February 15.  You will not want to miss this event.

 There are many costs to putting on a conference of this scale, including airfares, lodging, transportation,  facility fees.  We must engage fine singers and musicians for the pontifical liturgy.

 Can we count on your help to bring about this important event to New York? 

Our Lepanto Conferences have been a huge success.  Many people in attendance have experienced the beauty of the Traditional Mass for the  first time.

We know of a priest who went back to his parish in New Jersey to start his own weekly traditional Mass after witnessing it for the first time at our conference.

Most of you are following our documentation–in word and picture–of the many Catholic Traditionalist events in the greater New York area.   In addition to our blog at sthughofcluny.org, we have a popular Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter (yes, we have one!). The traffic on our sites seems to be ever increasing–demonstrating the growing interest in the Traditional Mass it is our mission to promote.

We sponsored a busy schedule of events this past year. Complete ceremonial, appropriate vestments and beautiful music were integral parts of every liturgy celebrated.

1. Our successful annual Lepanto Conference at St. Vincent Ferrer Church. Over 700 attended the pontifical liturgy, over 300 attended the conference that followed.
2. An address by Prof. Peter  Kwasniewski at St. Mary’s, Norwalk;
3. A Sung Requiem Mass at Most Holy Family Church in New York for the repose of the soul of Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro. The pastor, Fr. Gerald Murray, gave the homily.
4. In July, a Solemn High Mass for the feast of St. Ann at Immaculate Conception Church in New York.
5. In September, a Solemn Mass at Most Precious Blood Church in Little Italy for the Feast of San Gennaro
6. In October a Solemn High Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Church in New York  on the occasion of the canonization of Cardinal Newman.
7. On December 5th, a Solemn Mass for the Feast of St Nicholas at Most Holy Redeemer parish—the first traditional Mass in that parish since Vatican II.

In addition to these events that we ourselves organized, we co-sponsored the annual Requiem Mass at St. Vincent Ferrer parish in November.

We will sponsor the music for Christmas Midnight Mass in the Dominican Rite at St. Vincent Ferrer.  And we will return to Most Holy Redeemer church on January 6 to co-sponsor a Solemn Mass! The schedule is indeed growing full.

We thank you for your support of all of these events.  We turn to you once more to help us in this coming year to keep the traditional Catholic cause alive. 

Please consider making a tax-deductible gift to the Society of St Hugh of Cluny today!

 Donations can  be made by PayPal.  Go to the PayPal icon on our website: https://sthughofcluny.org

Checks may also be sent to the following address:

c/0 Stuart Chessman

2 Tamarack Place

Greenwich, CT  06831

In either case, tell us your address so we can send you an acknowledgement.

 Wishing you a Blessed Christmas,

Stuart Chessman

The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny

Church of the Holy Innocents,  New York, NY,  Patronal Feast Day,  1 pm High Mass.

These churches will have a Rorate Mass this Saturday morning, December 21.

Our Lady of Refuge in the Bronx at 6 am. Our Lady of Refuge is located at 290 E 196th Street, Bronx.

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, 6 am.

St. Joseph’s Church, in Middletown NY, at 6:30am. Fr. Seán Connolly will be the celebrant.

This photo was taken at a Rorate Mass at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk in 2017.

Also this Saturday: