The Altar after Good Friday Services.

The Passion according to St. John:

The Conclusion of the Passion, sung by the Deacon in the “Weeping Tone.”

The Intercessions:

Flectamus Genua:

Ecce Lignum Crucis:

The Veneration of the Holy Cross:

The Mass:

The Sermon of Fr. Richard Cipolla:

Washing of the Feet:

The Consecration and Commmunion:

The Procession:

The Altar of Repose:

The Stripping of the Altar:

Matins and Lauds for Holy Thursday.

A growing euphoria seems to be gripping the Church Establishment and the forces of Catholic progressivism. Everyone from the German Catholic hierarchy to the LCWR is expecting great things from Pope Francis – for starters, the reversal of all of his predecessor’s initiatives and the confirmation of the Church Establishment in the national hierarchies and religious orders. Now from Germany comes the following early shot in this “Battle for the (Universal -not just the American) Church.” Daniel Deckers in the “FAZ” has penned “The Carnival’s Over.” The title refers to the supposed words of Pope Francis to Marini in refusing to don the complete papal vestments.  Deckers suspects this anecdote is apocryphal but nevertheless adopts it almost as a motto. His meaning: Catholic Traditionalism is finished.  For:

“Overnight the so-called “people’s altar,“ erected by John Paul II but removed by Benedict XVI, reappeared (in the Sistine chapel)… The courtly splendor and ceremonial pomp, which under Pope Benedict had spread like dry rot throughout the timber frame of the Vatican, has vanished. So do many people see it.”

Since the abdication of Benedict, Deckers explains, Catholic Traditionalists  “are the new orphans of Rome.”  That’s why they are opposed to Francis. They are joined in this resistance, however, by another group “which is partially identical with the Traditionalists: the homosexuals.”  As Deckers explains to his readers:

“…no group is more strongly attracted by the aesthetics of the old mass than men who love men. The cult of precious vestments and luxurious lace, the holy game surrounded by all kinds of erotic connotations, the asexual depictions of Mary, the Mother of God and the excessive veneration of relics –these are the public – and since Benedict XVI, once again papally approved  – counterparts to a private, parallel world. A world in which all kinds of fetishes correspond to these relics:  to the veneration of Mary, the cult of anorexic models and girlish pop stars; to the exclusively male sanctuary, the men’s sauna and the “darkroom;” to the Solemn High Mass with gold brocade, maniple and lace rochet – the queers’ ballet.”

So there we have it: Catholic Traditionalism has been foisted upon the Church by Benedict and homosexual networks in the Vatican. Note that these wild utterances do not appear in some blog but on the pages of the German equivalent of the New York Times. Please also note that the same statements were made in late 2010 during the struggle of hidden forces to make Summorum Pontificum a dead letter, by a colleague of Deckers who is also a frequent commentator on religious matters, in the same paper, relying upon the same source (David Berger, ex-“conservative Catholic” champion).

Do I need to state that this is nonsense? Do I need to remind our readers that clerical homosexual networks worldwide have consistently advocated anything but a return to the Traditional Liturgy? 1) And if these networks are so entranced by the old mass, why did they and their allies spend the last eight years in the Vatican and elsewhere blocking or slowing the promulgation and implementation of Summorum Pontificum, Universae Ecclesiae – and generally making it impossible for Benedict to rule?

We suspect that many of the big priests of the German Catholic Church are reading Deckers’ ranting attentively and with satisfaction. We would not be very mistaken if a time of trial for German Catholic Traditionalists may soon be at hand. And perhaps not just for the Germans…

See also  “Daniel Deckers flips out.” for a systematic critique.

1) Is the Catholic Church in England a partial exception to this statement? So some have claimed. The “Society of St. John” offered a further example.

Sacred Then and Sacred Now: the Return of the Old Latin Mass

Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Roman Catholic Books,(Fort Collins, CO 2008) (Reprint 2013)

A kindly, smiling Benedict XVI appears on the cover of this 2008 work. Benedict’s signature also appears prominently. Sacred Then and Sacred Now, reissued without apparent change, was one of the first reactions to Summorum Pontificum (“SP”). Do we need to add that much has changed since then – even in the last month? Yet Sacred Then and Sacred Now retains its utility as a primer on the Latin Mass for those unacquainted with Catholic Tradition.

The first chapter lays the foundation for understanding SP. It is evident that the addressee of this book is not just any reader – whether a Catholic “man in the street,” an unbeliever or a progressive – but specifically a representative of the “conservative Catholic” milieu whose overriding concern is conformity to Authority. This introductory chapter reassures this Catholic bien-pensant, fearful of transgressing the rules set down by Authority, that it is safe to have concerns about the new liturgy and to frequent the Traditional Catholic Mass. It then, however, brings forth more substantive arguments for the Traditional Mass, as formulated by Michael Davies, Klaus Gamber, and especially Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. By linking the legislative rules of SP to these prior analyses – particularly those of Cardinal Ratzinger – the author of course supplies a key or “hermeneutic” for the proper interpretation of SP. Not that all these prior positions are wholly coherent upon closer examination. For example, then-Cardinal Ratzinger “did not regret that the reform ever took place” (p.4) yet raised what appear to be fundamental objections to it (“excessive creativity” and “desacralization” as to which the text of the new missal “was not altogether blameless” (p.9)). But then Sacred Then and Sacred Now is not intended to provide a scholarly critique but to give the basics necessary to understand the origin of SP.

The next chapter briefly considers the rules of SP. We can wholly concur with the author’s conclusion that they are revolutionary – a fact perhaps not understood by their author himself. Here of course, Sacred Then and Sacred Now would have benefitted from a revision to take into account the subsequent instruction Universae Ecclesiae. This instruction provides sounder support and further clarification for the interpretations of SP the author makes in this book. Moreover, we do find it anomalous that then-Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport is cited as a proponent of SP – he certainly was not in actual practice. At best, he didn’t “get in the way” of certain local initiatives.

Chapter 3 is far longer and is a straightforward, non-technical exposition of the “Latin Mass” for those having very little knowledge of it. The author takes the Missa Cantata as the basic model of the Extraordinary Form. Low Mass is only very briefly sketched out, even if this form was and is exceedingly common. In this area too, post-2008 developments have overtaken the situation described in this book. For example, Thomas Woods mentions (but does not describe) the Solemn High Mass. Yet in not a few places this form of the Mass has become almost routine for special feasts and occasions (and at least one parish it is the regular Sunday liturgy!). And even the Solemn Pontifical liturgy, almost unheard of even before the Council, is celebrated more and more frequently! I would suggest for a subsequent revision of this book a more detailed presentation of all three commonly encountered forms of the Mass.

Chapter 4 details ”Important Features “ of the Extraordinary Form. In keeping with the non-technical nature of this work, these are externals: communion received on the tongue – while kneeling, absence of Eucharistic ministers and exclusively male altar servers. Chapter 5, dealing with “Common Misconceptions,” in effect resumes the thread of argumentation of the first chapter and seeks to make the intellectual case for the Traditional Mass against the usual objections (“celebrating with the back to the people” etc.). Sacred Then and Sacred Now concludes with several source documents – including the text of SP.

In summary, Thomas Woods has written a short, solid work whose judgments about the nature and scope of SP were validated by subsequent practice and official interpretation. As we have indicated, however, these – mostly favorable – developments have outstripped in a number of respects the situation described in this book, which accordingly would benefit from updating.

But then there are the developments of the last several weeks. One wonders what the author will say now that there is a new pope whose liturgical ideas seem to be the exact opposite of those set forth in Sacred Then and Sacred Now. The reign of Pope Benedict, evoked by his smiling portrait on the cover of this book, already seems like a distant, melancholy memory. Will support for Catholic Tradition collapse now that it is for the moment impossible to claim the direct support of the Pope? We do not think so. For, fortunately, the course of liturgical renewal has a much stronger foundation – outlined succinctly in this book – than the uncertain and shifting winds of official ecclesiastical favor.

A chilly Palm Sunday in Norwalk Connecticut…… Fr. Paul Check is the celebrant, Mr.Steve Genovese the deacon, Mr. William Riccio the subdeacon.

David Hughes rehearses the massed scholae of the parish.

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT

The Easter Vigil, Saturday, 30 March 2013, 8:00 p.m.