A homily, a hot dog and ignorance regarding orthodoxy

The reform of the reform trundles on, annoyingly at a brick by brick pace.

Equally annoyingly, as the pace increases (gradually) so more 'nuanced' comments from priests and laity in the Nuchurch are forthcoming.

Often such comments display an appalling ignorance of what it is to be traditional; what it is to be Catholic, even.

Some priests who have daringly dipped their toes into the scalding hot water of celebrating the EF Mass are taking short cuts; adapting the liturgy and the actions associated with the Holy Mass to suit their own purposes.

Why not? They do it every Sunday at the New Mass.

What do I mean by short cuts? (and, as you are about to hear, not just short cuts)

I mean priests who, at a High Mass, will dispense with the MC and leave the altar servers floundering around doing very little as per the Novus Ordo. And, who, at Low Mass, insist on booming out the words at the Secret and at the Consecration.

"But we don't do that at an EF Mass Father"
Photo: Cooees from the Cloister

I also mean priests who are 'on the journey' from liberal to authentic and who haven't quite got the point.

They think that being traditional is just saying the Tridentine Latin Mass - Ho, ho! If they only knew.

One priest in my sphere of knowledge often makes little quips as he distributes the host at Holy Communion.

What! Yes, sad but true. He will say (to a visitor from another parish): "We welcome tourists here" And then place the host in that person's mouth.

Inane, stupid and unnecessary.

And then 'new' priests also often forgo the rubrics regarding reception of Holy Communion and proceed to place the host into the hands of those who appear not to know either. I am not suggesting for one second that there should be a bit of argy bargy at the altar rails but I do believe that, by positive body language, in most instances, the host may easily and reverently be placed on the tongue of the person with hands held out.

Failing that, a gentle homily on the matter will serve to enlighten and educate.

And, also, from a good friend comes an example of how a non traditional priest (is that a good, politically correct way of phrasing it?) totally misses the point and ends up shooting himself in the foot with his hotdog metaphor (I like to mangle metaphors from time to time).

The priest, in his sermon, tells a story about a family who are eating out at a restaurant, here it is in my friend's words (my comment in red)


"The family took their seats and, when the waitress had taken the adults orders she turned to the seven year old son to ask what he would like. "Hotdog please", he replied.
 "No" said mum. "He will have steak with potatoes and carrots."

The waitress ignored this and asked the child if he would like tomatoes sauce with his hotdog. The boy said yes, he would, she then left.

The family were speechless and there was silence around the table.


 The boy said," She thinks I'm real".

The priest then began to link this up with the Curia's treatment of the Catholic laity who want a different church, women who want to play more of a part, to be be deacons and priests (but that it is not up for discussion). (It was a tortuous link back to the hotdog analogy; the boy represents the voice of those reasonable and logical (????) modernists who want to change elements of the faith that those in authority refuse to budge on). 
He railed against the Curia somewhat, telling us to get informed about what they are doing and how we should read The Tablet etc etc, to be in touch. He told us we needed wise people to guide the Church.

I decided to receive Holy Communion (on the tongue of course) kneeling down as a act of reparation. He did not like this and appeared to stop in his tracks as if I'd done something "unholy" -  he made a show of dropping the host on my tongue, ( not for the first time in my experience with Vat 2 fanatics)

After Mass two liberal members of our community spoke to him agreeing with his viewpoint.


I overheard him scathingly referring to the Society of St Pius X and other traditional communities that the Church was accommodating and then I chatted to him about a mutual friend before putting him in the picture.

I told him he'd rather shot himself in the foot with that story as anyone who has read up about the contents of hotdogs would know how horrifying the contents really are and that a wise (got that one in!) mother would protect her children from eating such gross ingredients.

I also said ( to quote from today's passage) " The gates of the underworld shall not prevail" and that obedience to our superiors / those placed over us, is everything according to the saints
and they are the ones to follow and to be informed of and by.

I also told him that I would be accompanying my husband, a convert, to an SSPX Mass that night and that my husband had found the Latin Mass through our daughter in XXXXX (I got it in that the young are being attracted to the Latin Mass also) and that my husband cannot understand how we "ditched" the Latin to replace it with.....?


Father asked me how was it different.  


So I shared with him the views of my husband and daughter and there were a few more exchanges but I did feel I'd got the "wops in" on all his stances.
So there we have it! A dissident in a position to mould the faith and knowledge of young men and women passing through the college (he taught at a well known Catholic school) for decades.

But I'm thinking, they are scared stiff! 


The whites of their eyes are showing! They feel the change and are trying to stop it ( Satan more aggressive in his final throes).
Jubilation!"


So, please, when you see abuses taking place or, errors being voiced, have a quiet but polite word in the ear of the priest after Holy Mass......and, remember, if he is celebrating the Latin Mass, he has his foot on the first rung of the orthodox ladder. Don't push him off.  Be Christian, be Traditional.