Helmut Rückriegel(on right)

Today a friend asked me for the contact information of Helmut Rückriegel; I soon found to my great sorrow and surprise that he had died on January 25 of this year! I unfortunately only had a few occasions to meet Ambassador Rückriegel. He would visit New York where his son lived. I would meet him in a restaurant in the company of his friend Arkady Nebolsine. Helmut Rückriegel was a true Christian gentleman. A man of great culture, he had represented his country in various assignments – notably in Israel and Thailand. Possessed of a keen intelligence and a great sense of the real, he had the ability to understand and appreciate the merits of other peoples and cultures without falling into the servile obsequiousness so typical of the West and particularly of Germany today. Devoted to the Church and to the Traditional mass, he was utterly without the “churchy” Catholic’s cant and fawning airs. Ambassador Rückriegel had put his practical talents to use in promoting the Traditional Latin Mass – he held a leading role for years in the Una Voce Federation. To me he seemed a reminder of a bygone age, of the former greatness of German culture – which in its great days had sought to comprehend and embrace all the cultures of the world. I regret so much that through my own fault I had not had the chance to get to know him better!

Martin Mosebach has written the following obituary.

Obituary for Helmut Rückriegel by Martin Mosebach

An extraordinary man has left the earth. Standing at the grave of Helmut Rückriegel his friends conceive the whole truth of the discernment that with the death of a man there is a whole world that perishes. What pertains to everyone is most evident for such an overabundant nature as it was with our deceased friend Helmut. He was allowed to live a long life, and, we can say, to live in mindfulness and intensity. He finished the wine of life completely and entirely, including even the very last and then most bitter drops. Furthermore it was granted to him to maintain his entire strength of mind until his last moment; in complete alertness he witnessed his time and all its phenomena until the last moment. His participation in the world was insatiable; he was a pious Christian – the archaic term ‘piety’ in its comprehensive meaning like the antiquity knew it –  was fitting for him. A life in the presence of the supernatural and a joyful discovering of this supernatural in the inexhaustible statures of the created world – but without suppressing the reality of the mortality of all life on earth, he lived as if there was no death.

Until his painful last sickbed he was seized with the fascination of languages – recently he started to learn Turkish, a language that is extremely far from all Indo-Germanic familiarity – joyfully entering into a totally different kind of thinking and feeling. I always wondered why he, whose sense of language was infallible, did not write himself. But in return his sentiment for the great German poetry was so profound that the verses of Goethe and the Romantics, of Hölderlin and Stefan George constituted deeply and totally his inner life. He was the reader and reciter that poets desired, drawing from a great pool effortlessly the most remote lyric creations to engender an awakening to melody and life.

His artist’s nature became apparent in the invention of his garden that he created in Niedergründau, the village where he came from, after the end of his working life: he cultivated rambler roses, growing into the old, partly withered apple trees high as a house, to create real snow avalanches of white blossoms; in May and June they were phantasmagorias of surreal, sheer beauty. Here, the gardener who planted hundreds of sumptuous roses, turned into a wizard. ‘Il faut cultiver son jardin.’ are the last words of Candide, Voltaire’s wicked satire in which the hero, after having underwent the horrors of a world falling to pieces, is forming the conclusion of his experiences. And it was in this awareness that Helmut created his garden. The experiences of this great connoisseur of the art of living had made him learn, no less clear than Voltaire’s Candide, that the earth is not a peaceful place, not a paradise.

As a pupil and young man during the years of Nazism he thanked his teachers for the discernment that Germany was ruled by criminals; in these years he also experienced the Catholic Church as a place of resistance against the despotism. As a diplomat he travelled widely; but his most important positions for him were in New York and Israel – in the Holy Land, this small spot of earth, where also in his life all spiritual and demonic forces that agitate us as well today, collide; there he found the proximity of the truth of his faith, especially there, where it seemed to be completely unreachable. And very early he discovered for him the obligation to serve the Roman Catholic Church, his mother, for whom he saw himself as a faithful son, in her great crisis in which she had fallen after the Second Vatican Council. Helmut Rückriegel, who loved the oriental Churches, especially the Orthodoxy, the friend of many Jews, who – together with his friend, the great Annemarie Schimmel, admired the Sufism; he was a Catholic, as ‘the tree is green’ to say it with a word of Carl Schmitt. From his universal culture, from his enthusiasm for the masterworks of language, from his detailed knowledge of history and the cultures of the world Helmut Rückriegel was convinced that the Roman Church was – by its cult which has been transmitted from the late antiquity – a melting pot of all beauty and holiness that is possible on earth. In a decades-long friendship with Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI., he helped to ensure that the Church did not completely abandon this treasure that belongs not to her alone, but to the whole mankind.

Helmut Rückriegel the diplomat must occasionally have been rather undiplomatic – he was full of passion, a battler who did not spare himself and his adversaries. A man made for being happy – but still often enough desperate of the vainness of all struggles of the best, putting up resistance against the spirit of the times. The old Helmut Rückriegel did not become wise of age – a wonderful trait he had and that conjoined him with his younger friends. A consistent one, also in his matrimony that lasted nearly fifty years: after his rich life that she shared for so long with him, Brigitte Rückriegel accompanied him faithfully unto death – for this long companionship and the synergy during the working years in many positions she is, as she told me, profoundly grateful, and Helmut’s friends have today to be grateful to her for all that she did for him, especially during the darksome days.

The cosmopolitan German patriot Helmut Rückriegel embodied the best aspects of Germany; to have known him is for me and certainly for many others an infinite well of encouragement and hope.

Source: International Federation Una Voce

In the current published financials of St.Agnes parish we find this:

“Contribution from St. Agnes to Archdiocese of NY 1,250,000”

That’s a remarkably large amount from a parish – as its 2015-16 financial report reveals – so deeply in the red. And that’s in addition to the Cardinal’s appeal and the Archdiocesan assessment. Perhaps an explanation is in order?

 

Donald W. Wuerl, Bishop of Pittsburgh 1988-2006:

Wuerl closed 73 church buildings, which included 37 churches, and reduced 331 parishes by 117 through merging while bishop of Pittsburgh; he was managing the remaining 214 parishes when he left in June 2006.  Wuerl’s plan, The Parish Reorganization and Revitalization Project,  is now used as a model for other dioceses seeking parish suppression. 1)

Now, in 2016:

The number of active Catholics within the Pittsburgh diocese has declined rapidly in recent decades, from 914,000 in 1980 to 632,000 in 2015, diocesan figures show.

Since 2000, weekly Mass attendance has dropped by 40 percent — for almost 100,000 fewer regular churchgoers; K-8 Catholic school enrollment fell by 50 percent; and the number of active priests plummeted from 338 to 225.

By 2025, if trends hold, the diocese projects that just 112 active priests will remain. 2)

A new massive reorganization program is scheduled f0r 2018:

In designing the “On Mission” initiative, (Bishop) Zubik said he drew from elements of the Archdiocese of Boston’s long-term planning efforts. 3)

And I almost forgot the brilliant assessment of John Allen:

Finally, there’s Wuerl in Washington, who may actually be the most important “Francis man” in the States of all.
The Archbishop of Washington since 2006 and a cardinal since 2010, Wuerl has long been seen as one of the most effective behind-the-scenes figures among the American bishops, engendering wide respect for his intellect, his management skill, and his almost preternatural sense of calm.
At the two Synods of Bishops on the family in 2014 and 2015, Wuerl was the only American named by Pope Francis to the drafting committees for the summit’s final documents.
That was in part likely because Wuerl had dropped strong hints that he was open to a “pastoral” solution to the debate over Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, and has since emerged as one of the most forceful defenders in the States of the pontiff’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Wuerl
2. http://triblive.com/mobile/10970880-96/zubik-parishes-church
3. http://triblive.com/mobile/10970880-96/zubik-parishes-church
4.https://cruxnow.com/analysis/2016/12/15/chicago-boston-d-c-axis-key-franciss-agenda-america/

(Thanks to the Liturgy Guy)

 

 

Rorate Mass this morning at St Mary’s Greenwich. As you can see from these pictures and the prior post of this day, the inclement weather was no obstacle to this newly popular Advent devotion. (St. Mary’s Greenwich and St. Mary’s Norwalk are roughly 12 miles apart)

(Photographs courtesy of Father Cyprian P. La Pastina, Pastor, Saint Mary Church
Greenwich)

Before dawn this Saturday morning an impressive congregation braved the darkness, snow and ice of an early winter storm to participate in the celebration of a Rorate Mass.  Fr. Richard Cipolla celebrated the missa cantata.

 

(Above) The view from the choir loft (photo courtesy of David Hughes)

Stained Glass Window in the Church of St. Monica, New York

Connecticut:

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, Brookfield

CHRISTMAS DAY, 4 PM
OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS, Jan. 1,  4 pm

Holy Apostles College and Seminary, Cromwell

Christmas Day, 10:00 AM Low Mass

St. Martha, Enfield

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday, December 25,  12:00 Midnight,  12:00 Noon

OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS, Sunday January 1 2017,  12:00 Noon

 

St. Stanislaus, New Haven (The St. Gregory Society)

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday, December 25, 2:00pm (High Mass)

OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS, Sunday January 1 2017, 2:00pm (Low Mass)

 

St. Mary Church, Norwalk

CHRISTMAS EVE,  Saturday, December 24, 2016
11:00 PM Rosary by the Crèche
11:30 PM – Christmas Carols
12:00 Solemn Midnight Mass

Charpentier Messe de Minuit. Motets by Charpentier and Sheppard.

CHRISTMAS DAY, 9:30 AM (Solemn Mass)

Saturday, December 31, 2016, 9:00 AM

OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS,  Sunday, January 1, 2017, Solemn Mass, 9:30 AM

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Waterbury

CHRISTMAS DAY, 6 pm
OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS, 6 pm

New Jersey:

Sacred Heart Church, Clifton

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday, December 25

8:00 AM – Missa Cantata

Our Lady of Victories, Harrington Park,

CHRISTMAS EVE

9:00 PM High Mass

St. Anthony of Padua, Jersey City
CHRISTMAS EVE, 9 pm
CHRISTMAS DAY, 9 am

Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Regina Pacis Chapel, Maywood

CHRISTMAS DAY, 5 pm, High Mass

St. Catherine Laboure, Middletown

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday,December 25,  8:45 AM High Mass (2nd. Mass)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Newark

CHRISTMAS EVE, Saturday December 24

11:30 PM traditional Christmas carols, Solemn High Mass at Midnight followed by a light reception of coffee and desert. The Midnight Mass will be accompanied by full choir, chamber orchestra and organ; the program will include Franz Schubert’s Mass in G

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday, December 25

12:00 Midnight – First Mass of Christmas (preceded by Christmas Carols beginning at 11:00 PM)
7:00 AM – Mass at Dawn
9:00 AM – Mass of Christmas Day
11:00 AM – Mass of Christmas Day

 

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange

CHRISTMAS EVE, Saturday December 24

9:00 AM

11:00 PM

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday  December 25

7:30 AM

9:00 AM

11:00 AM

 New York:

St. Matthew, Dix Hills (Suffolk County, Long Island)

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday, December 25,

12:30 PM. High Mass (in the Parish Center Chapel)

St. Ladislaus, Hempstead (Nassau County, Long Island)

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday, December 25,  9:00 AM

St. Rocco’s Church, Glen Cove, (Nassau County, Long Island)
CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS: 1130 PM [Christmas Eve] to 130 AM [Christmas Morning]

St. Patrick’s Church, Newburgh, NY

CHRISTMAS DAY, 3 pm

St. Agnes, New York

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday December 25

11:00 AM( Solemn High Mass)Music: Missa “O Magnum Mysterium” by T. L. Victoria, Laetentur Coeli by Lassus and Hodie Christus Natus Est a 8 by G. P da Palestrina.

OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS, Sunday, January 1, 2017

11:00 AM (Solemn High Mass)

St. Catherine of Siena, New York (411 East 68th Street)

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday December 25
12 Midnight – High Mass in the Dominican Rite

Missa Angelus ad pastores ait – Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629)
Angelus ad pastores ait – Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
Quaeramus cum pastoribus á 8 – Giovanni Croce (c. 1557-1609)

Church of the Holy Innocents, New York

Sunday, December 25 – Christmas Day
12 Midnight – (High Mass)
2AM – Mass at Dawn ( Low Mass)
9AM – ( Low Mass)
10:30AM – ( High Mass)
Traditional Vespers: 2:30 PM, preceded by the Rosary

Saturday, December 31 – New Year’s Eve
11:30 PM – Mass of Reparation (High Mass)

Sunday, January 1, 2017 – New Year’s Day
9:00 AM –  (Low Mass)
10:30 AM – (High Mass)
Traditional Vespers: 2:30 PM, preceded by the Rosary

Church of the Most Precious Blood, New York (Little Italy)

Tuesday, December 27 – Feast of St. John the Evangelist

7:15 PM Missa Cantata (Mass for repose of Soul of Francis II of Sicily)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Pontifical Shrine, New York (East Harlem)
Sunday, December 25, 2016, 10:30 AM, High Mass

Sunday, January 1, 2017, Octave Day of Christmas
10:30 AM, High Mass

Friday, January 6, 2017 – Feast of the Epiphany,
11 AM, Low Mass followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament All Day
6 PM – Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament
6:15 PM – Blessing of Epiphany Water – Bring your empty bottles or bottles of water to be blessed!
7 PM – Solemn High Mass and Indoor Procession with the Christ Child
Noveritis Proclamation – Announcement of the Date of Easter and the surrounding Feasts
Blessing of Chalk, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh
Blessing of Statues and Religious Articles brought by the faithful
Distribution of Epiphany Water, Frankincense and Chalk

Our Lady of Peace Church,522 Carroll St, Brooklyn, NY

Sunday, December 25, 2016, 9:30 AM, High Mass

Sunday, January 1,9:30 AM, Low Mass with Organ and Hymns

Holy Name of Jesus Church, 245 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn

Monday, January 2, Patronal Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, 3 PM, High Mass

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow (Westchester County)

CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday December 25

1:30 PM Missa Cantata (note earlier time!)

OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS, Sunday January 1 2017

3:00 PM Missa Cantata

Saint Paul the Apostle Church, 602 McLean Ave., Yonkers

Fr Leonard F. Villa – Pastor
Saturday, December 24, 10 PM, High Mass

A number of churches in the area have revived the practice of Rorate Masses, a traditional Advent devotion wherein a Votive Mass to the Blessed Virgin Mary is offered in candlelight just before dawn.

The Church of the Holy Innocents in New York has had a number of Rorate Masses in Advent. The last is scheduled for this Thursday, December 15, at 6 am.

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Saturday, December 17 at 6 am.

St.. Mary Church, Greenwich, CT,Saturday, December 17 at 6:30 am.

Our photo was taken last year at the Rorate Mass at St. Mary Church, Greenwich.

A Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated yesterday for the soul of Paul G. Hughes at the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford. The music included the Officium Defunctorum a 6 by Tomas Luis de Victoria.