De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

The German writer Martin Mosebach has written a piece on Traditiones custodes in First Things . He recognises that perhaps the most striking think about Traditiones custodes is the extent to which it constitutes a departure from the pope's professed style: with this document the pope... ...has given a command. He does this at a time when papal authority is unraveling as never before. The Church has long since advanced to an ungovernable stage. But the pope battles on. He abandons his dearest principles—“listening,” “tenderness,” “mercy”—that refuse to judge or give orders. Pope Francis is roused by something that troubles him: the tradition of the Church.  This is important because it exposes the modus operandi of those who seek to fundamentally change/ destroy the Church. They always speak of "dialogue" but they only seek dialogue where none should be had; i.e. about settled matters. This kind of talk always makes me nervous because, as Archbishop Chaput once pointed ...

Mass in the Vetus Ordo at Leigh-on-Sea, Sunday 1st August 2021 As I've said numerous times before, I feel fortunate that we have a very reverent Novus Ordo Mass at my Parish. The fact that the Mass is so reverent insulates me to a large degree to the pain and the division in the Church currently. On Sunday at my Parish we had our monthly Vetus Ordo . The 11.30am Mass which we usually attend was being said for a family friend and my wife wanted to go to that Mass. A family conference ensued and all the children wanted to go to the Latin Mass. So my wife went in the morning and I took everyone in the afternoon to the old rite. Sometimes I go to to the Latin Mass and just pray, I often feel I can completely lose myself in prayer in the Vetus Ordo . Sometimes I join in by following everything in the Missal and that was how I felt this Sunday. Following the prayers and instructions as the Mass proceeded I felt deeply moved by the careful repetition, the way the priest begins the Mass...

 Things have moved quickly this week. There are quite a few things worth drawing attention to and all relating to the Pope's Motu Proprio : Traditiones Custodes . As a Catholic who attends the Novus ordo — the "Ordinary Form" as Pope Benedict XVI termed it, I feel wounded by this document. I feel it is extremely harsh, lacks justice and integrity and seeks to promote a worrying political element within the Church which works against, not promotes, the unity the document purports to foster. My initial reading left me scratching my head about several issues. How are bishops supposed to obtain oaths of fidelity from Latin Mass goers? Verbally? In writing? If the Latin Mass is banned from Churches ( see §2: "not however in the parochial churches and without the erection of new personal parishes" ) where are those who gather for the Vetus ordo supposed to gather? Are they banned from Churches? Thankfully, The Latin Mass Society has published a document which prov...

As I mentioned yesterday , the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Gerhard Cardinal Müller authored an analysis July 19 of Traditionis custodes , Pope Francis’ July 16 motu proprio on the use of the Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970. I think it's well worth a deeper look at what he said if only because his erudition and scholarship provide a perfect antidote to the dim-witted person who wrote the flawed motu proprio text. Presumably not even bothering to have it checked by a Canonist...but why would you when you are omniscient!? As I pointed out in my last post , Pope Francis explained his decision in an accompanying letter to bishops, in which he wrote: “In defense of the unity of the Body of Christ, I am constrained to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors.” The pope said he was saddened that the celebration of the extraordinary form was now characterized by a rejection of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms. This des...

The motu proprio “ Traditionis Custodes ” was issued by Pope Francis on 16th July 2021, along with an accompanying letter. This move has been rumoured for months now and was reported to be in its third draft at the beginning of June, but everyone seems to have been taken by surprise at the ferocity of the language in the motu proprio (Latin for "on his own impulse"). It is another embarrassing Pope Francis blunder which damages the office of pope and reveals his petty factionalism and politicalisation of the Papacy. As was posted at NLM : We must redouble our prayers for Pope Francis, whose whole papacy, every smile, every hug of a disabled person, every exhortation to mercy, will be stained for the rest of history, along with the throne of St Peter itself, by this unprecedented and absolutely gratuitous act of pastoral cruelty, the attempted revocation of Summorum Pontificum . And what about that title! Is it supposed to be some kind of deeply ironic joke? With Catholicis...

From Patrick Coffin : As the Irish used to put it, “it’s the Mass that matters.” The holy sacrifice of the Mass is the “source and summit of the Christian life” according to Vatican II. In the short years following the Council, the reformation of the Mass, replacing the pre-1962 Missal with the Mass of Paul VI (aka the Novus Ordo Missae ), has unfortunately led to what amounts to a two-track Church. The 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum by Pope Benedict XVI lifted the need for episcopal permission to celebrate the Extraordinary Form (the Traditional Latin Mass) so any priest could celebrate it. This in turn led to a resurgent interest in the Mass that nurtured saints and sinners alike for over 500 years. Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, OR, taught himself how to say the Latin Mass, and has nuggets of wisdom as to why the Church benefits from its celebration and the sense of balance needed to avoid extremist attitudes. He’s also an expert in sacred music, which is a...

Fr. Ray Blake made some really interesting observations at the beginning of July regarding the lack of action currently on Catholic blogs. “Most Catholics but especially clergy want to be loyal to the Pope in order to maintain the unity of the Church,” he said. “Today that loyalty is perhaps best expressed through silence.” Fr. Ray's thinking is that in the previous pontificate “there was a solidity and certainty in Benedict's teaching which made discussion possible and stimulated intellectual honesty, one knew where the Church and the Pope stood.” He added, “Today we are in less certain times, the intellectual life of the Church is thwart with uncertainty.” Cardinal Raymond Burke suggested a different approach recently. Cardinal Burke, who serves as head of the Vatican’s highest court, the Apostolic Signatura , the Pope has made a strategic decision to focus on making the Church appealing, and thus bishops and priests “are even more compelled to underline these teach...