We wish our readers a blessed feast day.

This window is in St. Stephens Church, Manhattan.

Recently Father Richard Cipolla led a group of pilgrims from St. Mary Church, Norwalk on a pilgrimage to Venice and Rome. In this photo, he is celebrating the Traditional Mass at a side altar of the Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. Thanks to Sharon Levin for sharing this photo.

Massacre at Holy Innocents

From Rorate Caeli we have this.

Traditionalists here are admonished to emulate a priest who celebrates the “Mass of Paul VI” and then reaches out to those who “walk in the door.” Supposedly this is in contrast to the conduct of Traditionalists. I must confess never to have encountered this “welcoming” behavior of anyone who celebrates the mass of Paul VI – other than now and then in more limited communities such as certain college chaplaincies or in Opus Dei events. I have encountered it at the Russian Catholic chapel in New York, at the traditionalist services of St. Mary’s parish in Norwalk, Connecticut, after the public events and liturgies of various traditionalist organizations in New York (such as this one), at the Traditional parish of St Sebastian, Salzburg etc.etc.

It is the case that various traditionalist communities – particularly under the prior Indult regime – seemed to display indifference to visitors. But here they were sharing the attitude that prevails in the rest of the Roman Catholic church, not departing from it. It is an attitude that some never had and which I find in remission since Summorum Pontificum. For now traditionalists understand that the traditional Roman rite is a treasure for the whole Church and indeed fror the whole world, not the possession of a remnant. Evangelization is part of that realization. Traditionalists do need to make a special effort to reach out to those who walk into their midst. And they do need to restrain those who carry on about women who wear trousers or who don’t wear stockings or who rage against families with noisy children. But they have been making tremendous progress over the last eight years. And let’s not fantasize that they have anything to learn in this regard from the mainstream Church – on the whole, one of the most off-putting and indifferent institutions on this earth.

Cardinal Kasper now explains to the super-neocon Kath.net that he didn’t say some of the things he was reliably reported to have said regarding radical feminist theologians. This “clarification” comes one week after the “offending” statements – which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. So the Kath.net post states that “the question from the audience concerned a nun (Johnson), who teaches as a theologian at Fordham University,and who Kasper has known for along time – he knows, however, little about her theology.” “So I (says Kasper) made a couple of observations regarding the necessity of dialog for the clarification of the issues, but did not address her theology and even less so the discussions with the union with (sic) major superiors.”

Yet Commonweal reported:

“Kasper: Sometimes the CDF views things a bit narrowly. Aquinas was condemned by his bishop. So Johnson is in good company.”
(Commonweal adds:”this is more or less a direct quote”) Earlier in the interview, Kasper was quoted to have said that he “esteems” Johnson and Fiorenza

It sure sounds like he is addressing Johnson’s theology here and the relations with the CDF. Kasper further asserts that he – and his audience – could not have known anything of Cardinal Mueller’s specific criticisms of Johnson because they were published that day. Why that would be the case is unclear to me – particularly since Cardinal Mueller’s remarks had been given as an address to the Leadership Conference on April 30 and had been reported before the interview in the evening.

Moreover, he doesn’t deny at all the most outrageous of his assertions made during his promotional tour: that the Church does not opposes birth control, or that Pope Francis believes 50% of all marriages are invalid. It is all very similar to the endless Vatican “clarifications” of Pope Francis’s remarks.

Eamon Duffy, that is – at George Weigel’s expense:

“Ecstatic liberals hailed the return of the spirit of Vatican II, while agitated conservatives mounted damage limitation exercises. George Weigel, biographer and confidante of John Paul II, insisted that Evangelii Gaudium demonstrated a “seamless continuity” between the attitudes and emphases of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, a judgement which, if not tongue-in-cheek, appeared more than a little impercipient about the entire rhetorical impact of Evangelii Gaudium.”

http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/8th-march-2014/6/eamon-duffy

Meanwhile, Cardinal Kasper speaks at Fordham – including the following:

“Audience asks why feminist theologians are particularly suspect in the church today? Kasper esteems E. Schussler Fiorenza & Beth Johnson.”

Commonweal commentary: Obviously this was a response to news from Rome that the prefect of the CDF had criticized the LCWR for honoring Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, whose book Quest for the Living God was taken to task by the USCCB Committee on Doctrine for “completely undermining the Gospel” (it really doesn’t).

“Kasper: Sometimes the CDF views things a bit narrowly. Aquinas was condemned by his bishop. So Johnson is in good company.”

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/kasper-kaveny-fordham

The National Review weighed in on the proposed closing of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/376801/save-tridentine-mass-or-these-little-town-blues-michael-potemra

Here is an video report about a proposed church closing in Mamaroneck:

http://www.lohud.com/videos/news/2014/04/29/8475955/

UPDATE: Church Closings in Westchester

(They can’t support 2 parishes in Mamaroneck – one of the wealthiest suburbs of New York, whose population is reported as 72% Catholic? A village where both Catholic schools closed years ago. And this is attributable to demographic change?)

See this link:
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/04/8544320/archdiocese-moves-toward-large-scale-parish-closings?top-featured-1

Holy Innocents Church

for more photos of Holy Innocents Church see our earlier posting: Link

Holy Innocents Church during this year’s Easter Vigil

it’s the charter schools that are bringing down the Catholic school system! But even so there’s no need to worry: “The Archdiocese of New York has now regionalized its school system to assure a vibrant future for Catholic education, and has seen dramatic growth in its early childhood programs, adding 2,300 new students in the past year.” It seems, however, that Orthodox Jews aren’t experiencing the same difficulties as the Catholics: “In another development, enrollment at Jewish schools has surpassed those attending Catholic schools for the first time in the city’s history. A surge in the Orthodox Jewish population has caused the number of students attending yeshivas to soar from 73,254 a decade ago to 94,589 last year.”

UPDATE:  City Finds 2 Former Catholic School Locations for Charters

Let us return to the reality of the “Church of today” after the great joys of Easter. We learn in the New York Times of one more Catholic high school closing its doors – this time Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in Brooklyn:

A Catholic High School Abruptly Loses Its Fight to Stay Open

As the NYT puts it: “the school had fallen into a familiar category: a New York City Catholic School that couldn’t.” “But enrollment has plummeted to 499 this year from 1347 in 2006, just as the neighborhood was blossoming with condominiums and renovated row houses to house young professionals.” All this just in the pontificates of Benedict and Francis. It is claimed that Bishop Ford High School could not survive competition from improving public schools and charter schools (there seemingly being no other reason to attend a Catholic school instead of these). And, as is so often the case, there are allegations of impropriety in the years leading up to the school’s demise.

Earlier this year, in Manhattan:

Mother Cabrini High School To Close Its Doors After 115 Years

School announcement.