Photos from the Corpus Christi celebration at Immaculate Conception Church in Sleepy Hollow, NY this past Sunday. Photos courtesy of Ann Whelan

Newly-ordained Fr. Simon Zurita, a priest of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, will celebrate a Solemn Mass tonight at 6 pm at the Church of the Holy Innocents. It will not be his very first Mass, but his first Mass in New York City

The Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving will take place at 6PM followed by a reception.

We are grateful to the FSSP for allowing him to serve at our Church numerous times.There will be an opportunity to receive a first blessing from him.

Fr. Zurita is pictured here during his FSSP ordination.

Another day of excellent speakers at the Sacra Liturgia Conference in New York. The Mass for the Feast of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions was celebrated in St. Catherine Of Siena Church according to the Missale Romanum 2002. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was celebrant and Bishop Frank Caggiano was homilist. The Schola Cantorum of the Church of St. Agnes, New York, under the direction of James Wetzel performed the Mass in E Flast Major by Josef Rheinberger.

Most Reverend Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone

Matthew Menedez

Rev. Dr. Allan While, O.P.

Rev. Dr. Kurt Belsole OSB

Rev. Dr. Richard Cipolla

Now and then we should think outside the “traditional ” box, and cast a glance at how the “other side” sees the world. In that spirit, let’s take a look at “A church refreshed: A dispatch from an American Catholic future” –   a dream offered by Patrick T. Reardon in the National Catholic Reporter.  Please note that this not some satire by a traditionalist but an absolutely serious attempt to imagine a progressive Catholic utopia. Indeed, some comments appearing on the site where this article appeared criticized the author for not going far enough: he still seems to assume a male priesthood (if under the control of female “chancellors”)

CHICAGO, MARCH 13, 2063 — Song leader Sophia Santiago stood to the right of the altar of St. Gertrude Church in Chicago and invited those in the crowded pews and in folding chairs to greet their neighbors. “All are welcome,” she proclaimed.

To the simple notes of a single piano, the parish choir and the congregation sang a sweet, lilting version of “Come to the Water” as liturgical dancers, altar servers, ministers of the word, parish chancellor Emma Okere and pastor Fr. Antonio Fitzgerald processed up the center aisle. The song filled the soaring interior of the 131-year-old structure. On a banner high behind the altar, in large, easily readable lettering, was a quotation from Pope Francis: “Who am I to judge?”

This was one of thousands of celebrations across the globe marking 50 years of rejuvenation and renewal dating from the election of Pope Francis in 2013, popularly called “refreshment of the faith.”

By this time in the future,  the cult of Pope Francis seems to have displaced that of the once-revered Founder of this religion;  for doesn’t a banner with “Who am I to judge” – in “easily readable” letters of course – dominate the sanctuary instead of a crucifix or cross? We can only applaud the honesty of the author in acknowledging the revolutionary implications of the utterances of the current pontiff.

The same honesty pervades the rest of this piece in which the reduction of Chicago’s churches to a small handful is applauded – as is the abandonment or destruction of the Catholic legacy of art (some former churches survive as museums).

The closures affected 314 churches, dating back to 1860. Some were sold, usually at nominal cost, to other religious denominations. A handful were rescued by preservationists and reopened as architectural museums or cultural centers.

The majority, however, were stripped of their stained-glass windows, gold ornamentation and other finery, then torn down, the victims of impossibly high maintenance costs.

Rarely has the progressive hostility to art and beauty  – so dominant since the Second Vatican Council – been so frankly acknowledged (and commended).

What survives seems to be a “church” exclusively dedicated to making those who show up feel “welcome”  – “we are all sinners” is the other mantra of this future church – and to relieving material poverty. Because is little money and even fewer priests in the author’s vision of  future church,  Catholicism largely has devolved to a network of conventicles of “believers” who don’t necessarily share a common creed at all.

Read the whole thing – and reflect that the realization of this dream is already underway in theory and practice.

Update:  Of course it is also striking that our author does not foresee some glorious, expansive future for the new church of Bergoglio. On the contrary – once again he has the candor to acknowledge that the future church will be limited to a minority huddled in a handful of outposts. And those frequenting these churches and pastoral centers are clearly no longer Catholic or even Christian. Rod Dreher ( in “the Liberal Catholic Benedict Option” in The American Conservative) points out that it is the progressive equivalent of the growing Traditionalist realization that the faith will survive only in that minority of churches and organizations that are fully committed to the faith in liturgy, theology and morality. And in his post, Rod offers the following parody of the above article by Erin Manning:

Imagine there’s no organ
Felt banners proudly fly
No kneelers below us
Dancers prancing by
Imagine all the faithful
Unfolding their chairs…

Imagine there’s no reverence
It’s pretty hard to care
Nothing much to worship
Nothing that looks like prayer
Imagine plastic boxes
And strip-mall pseudo church…

You may say I’m a dreamer
Stuck in nineteen-sixty-five
But my past shall be your future
So my world will stay alive

Imagine lady deacons
Female chancellors too
No need for priests or Masses
Nothing for them to do
Imagine there’s no pastors
Just unguarded sheep…

You may say I’m a dreamer
Stuck in nineteen-sixty-five
If my past becomes your future
Then the Church will not survive

In time for the Feast of the Pentecost, magnificent peonies are blooming at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. In Germany peonies are  called suitably  Pfingstrosen or “Pentecost Roses.”

Students of Regina Pacis Academy, Norwalk, CT gathered today for a May crowning at Villa Maria Guadalupe in Stamford. Villa Maria is the retreat center of the Sisters of Life.

Father Massa was the celebrant of the Solemn Mass on April 12 for Low Sunday at Holy Name of Jesus Church.  Photos are courtesy of Arrys Ortanez

Pope Francis has appointed the Very Reverend James Massa as auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn.   Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement public today in Washington, D.C.   Father Massa will be ordained  bishop by the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn, at a Mass of Episcopal Ordination to be celebrated at the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph on July 20, 2015 at 2 p.m.

Father Massa has celebrated Mass according to the 1962 Missal at Holy Name of Jesus Church, where he is in residence.

More information about the announcement: link

Today, His Excellency, Bishop Frank Caggiano, bishop of Bridgeport, celebrated the Mass for the Feast of the Ascension for Regina Pacis Academy, an independent Catholic school in Norwalk, CT.

The following churches will offer the traditional Mass for the Feast of the Ascension (a holy day of obligation), tomorrow, May 14

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Solemn Mass, 5:30 pm

St.Stanislaus, New Haven, CT,  5:30 pm

Church of the Holy Innocents, 128 W. 37th St. NY, Low Mass at 8 am,  Solemn Mass at 6 pm

St. Anthony’s Church, The Bronx, Low Mass, 10 am

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY, low mass, 5 pm

St. Matthew Church, 35 North Service Road, (LIE-495), Dix Hills (Long Island), 10:30 AM

St. Anthony of Padua Church, Jersey City, NJ, 5:30 pm

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, NJ, 7 am, 8 am, 12 noon, 7 pm

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange, NJ, 9 am, 7 pm

The stained glass window appears in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, Georgia

Cardinal Dolan has sent a letter to parishioners of St. Thomas More and Our Lady of Good Counsel concerning the merger of the two parishes.  The Cardinal’s letter is below.

May 08, 2015

Dear People of St. Thomas More Parish,

You have been very patient in awaiting my decision on the future of your parish. Thank You!

Thank you even more for your obviously deep love for St Thomas More Parish. So many of you shared your observations on the proposal made to you last November, the majority of you in a very helpful, courteous manner. Many of you participated in the Making All Things New process, taking me seriously when I assured you that I would not, could not, make a decision until I got your input.

The recommendation from your cluster is that Saint Thomas More Church remains open.

I accept your recommendation.

However, I have decided that there will be a new structure. On August 1, 2015, Saint Thomas More Parish and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish will merge: the two churches will both remain open, with Our Lady of Good Counsel Church as the main parish church. The two will now be considered one parish, to share priests, with one pastor – – who will live at Our Lady of Good Counsel – – one parish staff, one parish council, one set of sacramental records, one financial account, one group of trustees , and a developing process of working more closely together in common apostolates, activities and organizations.

The goal of Making All Things New is simple: to ensure that all of our parishes are active, vibrant communities of faith. Now, you will be part of a new community of faith, joining with the faithful of the Parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel in becoming a new spiritual family.

While I trust you were pleased with the first and most important decision – – that your church will remain open – – I acknowledge that you might not be as pleased with the second one, the new structure.

I ask you to look at it this way: the church you love you still have. Your Masses, devotions, traditions, activities, groups and organizations will all still go on, now in a collaborative way as one parish.

You will have many questions about the implementation of this merger over the days, weeks, and months to come, such as, will there be a new name? Will there be a new pastor? Will the schedules change? To help your parish answer these and other questions, we will have a transition team working very closely with you and your pastor to ensure that your new parish is formed in the fairest and most effective way.

My hope is that you can accept this as a fair and logical resolution (as has been the case in dozens of other parishes): your beloved church remains open; yet, resources, priests, staff, and buildings can be more effectively used. That’s pastoral planning.

Renewed gratitude for your patience, and for your hopeful acceptance and understanding.

With prayerful best wishes for a blessed Easter season, I am,

Faithfully in Christ,
Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan
Archbishop of New York

Church of St. Thomas More, 65 E. 89th Street, more photos

Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, 230 E. 90th Street, more photos