The EF Mass 'cannot' be banned

In my previous post I speculated on a Plan B if the unthinkable happened and the Latin Mass was banned.

It was a speculation.

I hope that it will never happen and, yes, I do know that it 'cannot' be banned but, sometimes life throws a googly at you and the impossible becomes possible.

I would like to thank those who commented and to post here, a comment made by a young Catholic woman named Hannah.

If there is anything to make me feel on top of the world (apart from two pints of Rev James), it is to see the witness of young Catholics.

Here is Hannah's comment, I hope she will forgive me for bringing it to the fore:-


"The Traditional Latin Mass cannot be banned and thank God for that.

I would be completely heartbroken if that happened. The banning of the Latin Mass would be the cherry on the top of this Chastisement the Church is undergoing.

The Church is under the judgement of God.
I pray that it will come to end.......soon.

To those who cannot attend a reverent Liturgy, have hope.

The Church will return to her former glory. You may think I'm crazy for saying that, but it's true.

Our Lady triumphs in the end. We must continue to hope and pray.

And, especially, give God due worship at the Holy Sacrifice.

The Latin Mass means so much to me. I will always love my traditional Catholic Faith.

I feel so close to God at the Latin Mass. I really can't describe it.

The Latin Mass is indescribable. I feel sorry for those who hate it.

Only the worst enemies of Holy Mother Church could hate it, could hate tradition and our heritage.

If you haven't been, GO! GO GO GO! You will never regret. It's amazing to sit there in silence before Mass without having to listen to the yakking before and after Mass.

It's amazing not to have to watch people treat God like a cracker aka Communion in the hand.

It's amazing not to see armies of lay people handle God ahd the sacred vessels.

It's amazing to be able to kneel to receive the Holy Eucharist on the tongue at the altar rail. And so on and so on.

Most of all, it's amazing to be able to lift your mind and heart to God in a Mass where you KNOW Heaven meets Earth."

Thank you Hannah.

Ite Missa est?

                                            Would you follow this Man?

I am indulging myself here in a little bit of gazing into the future (not necessarily a good thing but sometimes it is useful to prepare a strategy to cope with the peaks and troughs that our Faith throws at us).

What would happen if Rome announced the end of the Latin Mass?

Well, apart from the liberal lobby throwing their hats in the air, I suspect that, on the surface, life would carry on as much as usual.

Some priests would buckle down and revert to OF mode only; maybe the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate would elect to part company with Rome pro tem.

And the traditional orders......the FSSP, ICKSP and Transalpine Redemptorists.......would probably be setting out on the path to Econe.

Congregation numbers at SSPX Masses would swell to unimaginable proportions and some might even find their way, tragically, into the sedevacantist camp.

Assuming that the ban on the Latin Mass was not made by the Holy Father speaking infallibly, those traditional Catholics who did not wish to attend the Novus Ordo would be left facing the dilemma - the Pope or conscience.

As several people have pointed out of late, it is not necessarily a sin to disagree with the Pope.

It might be a sin to disobey him but, if the HF speaks (informally) then presumably, with the benefit of spiritual guidance and an informed conscience, it would be in order to go one's own path to salvation.

There have been several cases of precedence for such actions, most famous, of course, being the stand taken by St Athanasius.

And St Catherine of Sienna was not backward in coming forward to tell the Pope where he was going wrong.

I am not, of course, advocating a course of action, I just find it helpful to have a Plan B to hand.

Because, if such a ban did at some stage in the future, come into being, we can be certain of one thing.

That is, that our more liberal Bishops, will jump to obey in a fashion somewhat akin to the speed of greased weasel ****.
Sorry to be coarse, I just could not find a more suitable phrase for such a situation.

I hate to imagine the excesses that their Lordships will indulge in, not least of which will be their actions of retribution against those priests and teachers and other members of the laity who have been the grit in their jar of Vaseline for so long.

The question for my conscience is going to be: If stuck between St Peter and a hard place, what should I do?

Answer: Pray hard and follow the Mystical Body of Christ as He intended us to follow.

The exclusive Ordinary Form

Belgian Catholics get together before Mass
 in the spirit of universality

I hope that I will be forgiven for taking a peek at a blog that I normally steer clear of (avoiding the occasion of sin).

I was somewhat amused to read that the blogger had posted how, on a visit to Poland, she had attended Mass (in Polish, would you believe) and that she found it an uplifting experience that emphasized the universality of the Church.

Well, this lady has backed the wrong horse on this occasion.

I would be most interested to learn from her, the content of the bidding prayers or, even, precisely what formed the subject matter of the sermon (yes, I know it's not part of the Mass but let's not get picky here).

The fact is, that with all the liturgical variances in the NO Mass, you don't stand a snowball's chance of comprehending just what is being said unless you are reasonably fluent in the language.
I may be wrong but I do not think that missals in Serbo-Croat with an English translation alongside, are readily available.

Now, stand by for the nostalgic pre Vat II bit; I remember, quite well, the fights that broke out in Belgian churches (especially) when the French speaking Belgians fell out with the Dutch speaking ones.

People clutched each other's throats in an early form of the kiss of peace and rolled around the aisles in a wonderful display of universality.

This went on for some months until, in a spirit of sensible inclusivity, the various groups (one mustn't forget the Walloons, the Flemish or the Luxembourgish speakers) all went their separate ways and adjusted their Sunday obligation to a church where a Mass in their tongue was celebrated.

Thus was a form of spiritual ethnic cleansing created.

I believe that this was replicated globally as, many years later, whilst sipping indecently large gin and tonics in Madras, my young friend Theresa, (who was Catholic as it transpires) told me that there was no longer a Mass in Latin that all could attend.

Instead, she said, there was a Mass for the Tamils, one for the Hindi speakers and several more for speakers of other dialects.

Sadly, these divisions reflected very closely, the  caste system of India.

The one occasion where all castes would combine together, the Tridentine Latin Mass, had gone and in its place were services that rigidly enforced  separation and division. Catholic apartheid.

Closer to home we now have a marvellously diverse selection of Masses to attend, ranging from Tagalog to Mandarin (pity about the Cantonese speakers) and Polish to Syro Malabar - but nothing much in Latin.

Close to where I live, in Wales the Welsh speakers (all two of them), attend the Mass in Welsh, a few Indians attend the Syro Malabar Mass and the rest, with greatly reduced options to fulfil their Sunday obligation, attend a Mass celebrated in broken English.

So universal! So uplifting! So.......(I must stop it there for the sake of Christian charity.

It would be unfair of me to reveal the name of this blogging lady but I do hope that she will stick to cooking in future.


And I shall stick to my inclusive Extraordinary Form.


H/T to my A & B friend for flagging this up

NO LATIN MASSES HERE

A research study that is just about to be published by The Journal of Applied Social Psychology  would seem to indicate an obstinate streak in our natures.

It appears that physical signs that instruct us to do something, such as EAT HEALTHILY, actually can provoke an opposing response.
Bryan Earp, a researcher in applied ethics at Oxford University stated that:
"For unconscious or automatic processing, 'not good' is often taken as 'good' and 'not bad' as bad".

NO PARKING is a classic example as is DO NOT TOUCH on a museum exhibit; they are just 'green lights' for people to either park unlawfully or to reach out and finger that 4,000 year old papyrus scroll.

So it seems eminently sensible to me that we should reverse the message and request people to KEEP ON THE GRASS in order to achieve the opposite.

In which case please print off the following message and pin it on your local parish notice board....
.

            NO LATIN MASSES HERE

There are even rumours that the powers that be in the Vatican are taking a fresh look at the Ten Commandments - "Thou shall covet thy neighbour's goods" could be the new order of the day.