May 14 -- St. Boniface, Martyr

May 15 -- St. John Baptist de la Salle, Confessor

May 16 -- St. Ubald, Bishop and Confessor'

May 17 -- St. Paschal Baylon, Confessor

May 18 -- St. Venantius, Martyr

May 19 -- St. Peter Celestine, Pope and
                Confessor

    The Lady appears to the 
    Childen for the 1st Time

Solemn Latin Mass, Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Sacramento California

by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Keeping a good archive is important, especially in the long run. The more important the event or records, the more urgent the need for a good archive… and archivist.

Scripta manent, after all.

Some people think that the Second Vatican Council was important. Thus, you would think that the archives of the documents of the Council would be well-tended.

No?

No.

Sandro Magister of Chiesa has a story that suggests that the archives of the Council haven’t been that well tended. In fact, stuff has gone missing.

In any event, a large part of the documents from the Council still haven’t been inventoried, much less made available for research purposes.

An important question from a WDTPRS Poll :) ?

By Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?

During incensation, do you like some noise (the 'clink' of the chain)?

• Yes, I like clinking. Incensation should be a little noisy. (91%, 2,901 Votes)
• No, clinking is a distraction. I like my incensation intense and quiet. (9%, 273 Votes)

Total Voters: 3,174


Timeline of Vatican relations with US women religious since 1950s

Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious march in New Orleans in 2009 for a prayer service to preserve the wetlands. The walk was part of the LCWR's annual assembly that year. (CNS/Frank J Methe, Clarion Herald)

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Here is a timeline of major events related to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Vatican:

-- 1956: The Conference of Major Superiors of Women was founded as the sole canonical conference for U.S. superiors of women religious.

-- 1970-71: The Conference of Major Superiors of Women is restructured and changes its name to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

-- 1971: Some nuns who disapprove of LCWR's new directions create a new organization, the Consortium Perfectae Caritatis. They are concerned that what they consider necessary, distinctive elements of religious life -- such as a common identifying garb, community life and religious obedience to a superior as traditionally understood -- are disappearing among American sisters. In the early 1970s the consortium seeks recognition from Rome as an alternative conference to the LCWR.

-- 1974: The Vatican Congregation for Religious calls representatives of the two groups to Rome for a three-day meeting to try to sort out differences and improve dialogue. The Vatican rules that LCWR will remain the sole canonical conference for U.S. superiors of women religious.

-- 1974: The Institute on Religious Life is established to promote vocations and religious life in the United States. The Chicago-based organization is open to laity, priests and men religious as well, but women religious -- most of them linked with the consortium -- make up the bulk of its membership.

-- 1979: Welcoming Pope John Paul II to a meeting with 7,000 U.S. women religious in Washington, Mercy Sister Theresa Kane, then LCWR president, raises the issue of the church's prohibition of women priests by asking that women be allowed to participate in "all ministries of the church." Several days before, the pope had reaffirmed that an all-male priesthood is part of God's plan.

-- 1983: Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco is named by Pope John Paul to conduct a Vatican-mandated study of U.S. religious life. He transforms the study into a nationwide dialogue over the next three years. The study is completed in 1986 with a 152-page report to Rome.

-- 1987: As a follow-up to the Quinn study, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men and the LCWR decide to reinforce strengthened bishop-religious relations on an ongoing basis with a new Tri-Conference Commission of Religious and NCCB.

-- 1988: The Forum of Major Superiors, a new organization of women superiors formed in 1987 by the Institute on Religious Life, unsuccessfully petitions the bishops for a place on the commission.

-- February 1989: In a letter to the U.S. bishops responding to the Quinn study, the pope expresses concern about the "polarization" among U.S. women religious and calls for dialogue to resolve their divisions.

-- March 1989: At a Rome summit of U.S. archbishops with the pope and top Vatican officials, Cardinal James A. Hickey of Washington gives a talk on the "crisis" in U.S. religious life. He says women who do not belong to LCWR "desire some representation with the Holy See."

-- May 1989: The former Vatican Congregation for Religious, now called the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, appoints Cardinal Hickey to a three-year term as official liaison between non-LCWR women religious in the United States and the Holy See.

-- Fall 1991: A group of women's superiors, led by Mother Vincent Marie Finnegan of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, decides to try to form a new council that will receive canonical recognition from the Vatican.

-- Early 1992: Mother Vincent Marie, on behalf of herself and 43 other superiors, petitions the pope for recognition of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious and approval of its proposed statutes as a new canonical conference in the United States. According to sources, Cardinal Hickey personally intervenes with the pope and the religious congregation on behalf of the new group.

-- April 1992: Reacting to rumors about the new council, representatives of the LCWR, CMSM and the U.S. bishops meet with top officials of the religious congregation. They report back to LCWR members that congregation officials "affirmed that there will continue to be one canonically recognized, national conference of women religious leaders in the U.S., namely LCWR (and that)... the proposed entity is not a parallel conference nor is it an alternative to LCWR."

-- June 1992: Cardinal Hickey and Mother Vincent Marie jointly announce that the new council has been approved by the Vatican and that the superiors of 84 religious congregations, with a combined membership of 10,113 sisters, have applied for membership. LCWR and CMSM say they are "profoundly disappointed" with the Vatican decision. LCWR says its members represent 94 percent of the 99,894 sisters in the United States.

-- October 1994: The world Synod of Bishops addresses the topic of consecrated life. A past president of LCWR who attended the sessions says the synod "did not suggest that the direction taken by religious life since Vatican (Council) II can or should be reversed" and "wisely chose not to attempt specific solutions to local problems."

-- June 2004: Archbishop (later Cardinal) Franc Rode, newly appointed to head the Vatican religious congregation, says in a talk in Canada that the "secularization of society and religious communities," and Catholic families having fewer children, have contributed to the declining membership of Canadian religious communities.

-- April 2008: Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo, Ohio, is named by the Vatican doctrinal congregation, to carry out a "doctrinal assessment" of the "activities and initiatives" of LCWR.

-- January 2009: Cardinal Rode initiates an apostolic visitation to determine why the number of members in religious communities of women in the U.S. had declined since the late 1960s and to examine the quality of life in U.S. communities.

-- July 2010: Bishop Blair completes an eight-page report on LCWR and submits it to the Vatican.

-- January 2012: The apostolic visitation team completes its work and submits its report to the Vatican.

-- April 2012: Vatican announces major reform of LCWR, citing "serious doctrinal problems which affect many in consecrated life." Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle is named to provide "guidance and approval, where necessary," of the organization's work. LCWR now says it represents 80 percent of the 57,000 women religious in the United States.

Immaculate Mary Traditional Hymn... for the Month of May

Memorare prayer set to Immaculate Mary Hymn with Photos of the Church of the Immaculate
Conception (St. Mary's) Yonkers, N.Y.

Ensure orthodoxy in Catholic schools,                       Pope urges US bishops

From Our Store: Witness of Suffering (eBook)

Pope Benedict XVI spoke at length about the need to preserve the Catholic identity of Church schools, during a May 5 address to a group of visiting bishops from the US.

The Pope told the American prelates, who were making their ad limina visits, that they should “preserve the great patrimony” of the parochial-school system in the US. He urged them to do whatever is possible to ensure that a sound Catholic education “remains within the reach of all families, whatever their financial status.”

At the same time, the Pope said, it is vital that Catholic institutions provide a solid founding in the faith. Tacitly acknowledging that many American parochial schools have strayed from that mission, he observed that “great progress that has been made in recent years in improving catechesis, reviewing texts and bringing them into conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.” Still more work should be done to ensure that students are properly formed in the faith, he said.

At American Catholic colleges and universities, too, there is a “need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideas and the Church’s mission in service of the Gospel,” the Pope continued. He encouraged the bishops to ensure orthodox instruction especially in the field of theology, and called their attention especially to “the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines.”

Adherence to that canonical norm and to the teaching magisterium is “a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity,” the Pope said. He contrasted such union with “the confusion created” when representatives of Catholic institutions engage in public dissent from Church teachings. "Such discord harms the Church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom," he said. 
 

Reason #547786 for Summorum Pontificum, or, “Please? Just shoot me now?”

The Holy Father recently explained the “pro multis” situation to the German Bishops.

How would the Holy Father explain this?

 

What does this teach children about the importance of or nature of liturgical worship?

I am reminded of something I posted here a few days ago from the Holy Father’s book The Feast of Faith:

“The Council did not create new articles of faith, nor did it replace existing ones with new ones. Its only concern was to make it possible to hold the same faith under different circumstances, to revitalize it. As for the work that preceded the Council, it seems to have been more intensive in Germany than elsewhere, for Germany was the heartland of the liturgical movement, the primary source in which the documents of the Council had their origin. But many of these documents were issued too abruptly. To many of the faithful, most of them seemed to be a challenge to the creativity of the individual congregation, in which separate groups constructed their own “liturgies” from week to week with a zeal that was as commendable as it was misplaced. To me, the most serious element in all this was the breach of fundamental, liturgical consciousness. The difference between liturgy and festivity, between liturgy and social event, disappeared gradually and imperceptibly, as witness the fact that many priests, imitating the etiquette of polite society, feel that they ought not to receive Holy Communion until the congregation has received; that they should no longer venture to say “I bless you” [German euch: familiar form of plural “you”]—thus dissolving the fundamental liturgical relationship between them and their congregation. In this context belong also the often obnoxious and banal greeting which, it must be admitted, many congregations tolerate with a kind of patient forbearance. In the period before the new missal made its appearance, but after the old one had already been characterized as “old-fashioned”, people forgot that there is a “rite”, that is, a prescribed liturgical form, and that liturgy is genuinely liturgy only if it is not subject to the will of those who celebrate it.” See: The Feast of Faith, pp. 83–85.

I respond, not to make this too banal:



Missa Cantata offered at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA

by Shawn Tribe

Always interested in liturgical activities at our Catholic academic institutions, I was interested to hear of a Missa Cantata which was offered on May 1st at Holy Cross College in Worcester Massachusetts by Fr. David Philipson. The Mass was organized by one of the seniors at Holy Cross.

I was also quite interested in the chapel with its beautiful altar and ciborium.

 

 

24 Nuns who signed A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, alternatively referred to by its pull quote “A Diversity of Opinions Regarding Abortion Exists Among Committed Catholics” or simply “The New York Times ad”, a full-page advertisement placed on 7 October 1984 in The New York Times by Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC): “Statements of recent Popes and of the Catholic hierarchy have condemned the direct termination of pre-natal life as morally wrong in all instances. There is a mistaken belief in American society that this is the only legitimate Catholic position.” Many signers put their names on the ad because they viewed it as a partial response to the highly publicized anti-abortion statements of Archbishop John J. Card. O’Connor of New York. His insistence that a Catholic could not in good conscience vote for a pro-choice candidate was clearly aimed at Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, a Catholic, a member of O’Connor’s archdiocese, and a consistent pro-choice advocate.

Kathryn Bissell
Mary Byles
Anne Carr
Mary Louise Denny
Margaret Farley
Barbara Ferraro
Maureen Fiedler
Jeanine Grammick
Kathleen Hebbeler
Patricia Hussey
Caridad Inda
Pat Kenoyer
Agnes Mary Mansour (at the time an ex-nun)
Roseanne Mazzeo
Margaret Nulty
Margaret O’Neill
Donna Quinn
Ellen Shanahan
Marilyn Thie
Rose Dominic Trapasso
Margaret Ellen Traxler
Marjorie Tuite
Judith Vaughan
Ann Patrick Ware
Virginia Williams

Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey: in 1984, along with 22 other nuns, they co-signed an ad in The New York Times by Catholics for Free Choice challenging Catholic teaching on procured abortion. Both refused to recant their statements when ordered to do so by the Holy See and their religious order. They both signed a second pro-abortion statement, published in the National Catholic Reporter, and participated in a pro-abortion rally organized by the National Organization of Women (NOW) in Washington on 6 March 1986. 

Margaret Traxler: now deceased, was a supporter of activism among homosexual Catholics, who once carried a banner into the Vatican to protest the church’s stand on abortion. In 1982 the National Conference of Catholic Bishops endorsed a Constitutional amendment proposed by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. It would have allowed state legislatures to restrict or ban abortions. In an appearance on the Phil Donahue show at that time, Traxler said, “I believe every human being has a free will, God respects our free will even though it is sometimes used against God’s will. I believe women must have the right to use their free will in making decisions about their own bodies.” She signed the New York Times ad in 1984 stating that abortion could sometimes be “a moral choice.” “I don’t think church leaders are living on the same planet. They are unrealistic and out of touch with the people,”. . . she said then. She was one of the first to call for women’s ordination in 1971.

Jeanine Gramick: co-foundress of the homosexual, lesbian activist organization New Ways Ministry. After a review of her public activities on behalf of the Church that concluded in a finding of grave doctrinal error, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) declared in 1999 that she should no longer be engaged in pastoral work with homosexual persons. In 2000, her congregation, in an attempt to thwart further conflict with the Vatican, commanded her not to speak publicly about homosexuality. She responded by saying, “I choose not to collaborate in my own oppression by restricting a basic human right [to speak]. To me this is a matter of conscience.” In 2001, Gramick transferred to the Sisters of Loretto, another congregation of Catholic Sisters, one which supports her in her advocacy on behalf of homosexuals.

Marjorie Tuite: now deceased, was among the key organizers of the first International Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC). Tuite was also one of the “Vatican 24”, religious sisters who had signed the Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion published in the New York Times on 7 October 1984. Tuite appeared on The Phil Donahue Show on 28 January 1985 (along with fellow signers Patricia Hussey and Barbara Ferraro) to defend their refusal to recant their support of that  
statement.

 Margaret Farley: over the years, she has taken positions favorable to abortion, same-sex “marriage,” sterilization of women, divorce and the “ordination” of women to the priesthood. Farley, who taught Christian ethics at Yale Divinity School, is well known for her radical feminist ideas and open dissent from Church teaching. In 1982, when the Sisters of Mercy sent a letter to all their hospitals recommending that tubal ligations be performed in violation of Church teaching against sterilization, Pope John Paul II gave the Sisters an ultimatum, causing them to withdraw their letter. Farley justified their “capitulation” on the ground that “material cooperation in evil for the sake of a ‘proportionate good’” was morally permissible. In other words, she declared that obedience to the Pope was tantamount to cooperation in evil, and that the Sisters were justified in doing it only because their obedience prevented “greater harm, namely the loss of the institutions that expressed the Mercy ministry.” In her presidential address to the Catholic Theological Society of America in 2000 she attacked the Vatican for its “overwhelming preoccupation” with abortion, calling its defense of babies “scandalous” and asking for an end to its “opposition to abortion” until the “credibility gap regarding women and the church” has been closed. In her book Just Love she offers a full-throated defense of homosexual relationships, including a defense of their right to marry. She admits that the Church “officially” endorses the morality of “the past,” but rejoices that moral theologians like Charles Curran and Richard McCormick embrace “pluralism” on the issues of premarital sex and homosexual acts. She says that sex and gender are “unstable, debatable categories,” which feminists like her see as “socially constructed.” She has nothing but disdain for traditional morality, as when she remarks that we already know the “dangers” and “ineffectiveness of moralism” and of “narrowly construed moral systems.”

Mary Ann Cunningham: wrote an “open letter to Catholic voters” in 2006 as an alternative to the church hierarchy’s voter education efforts in Colorado and nationwide. “We encourage respect for the moral adulthood of women and will choose legislators who will recognize the right of women to make reproductive decisions and receive medical treatment according to the rights of privacy and conscience.” Cunningham said many Catholics disagree with the church’s opposition to legalized abortion for “compassionate, faithful reasons.” “I do value the voice of the church hierarchy,” Cunningham said. “But I don’t find anything in the Gospels about abortion or gay marriage.”

Louise Lears: banned from church ministries and from receiving the sacraments in 2008 by then-St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke for 1) the obstinate rejection, after written admonition, of the truth of the faith that it is impossible for a woman to receive ordination to the Sacred Priesthood (cann.750, §2; and 1371, 1º); 2) the public incitement of the faithful to animosity or hatred toward the Apostolic See or an Ordinary because of an act of ecclesiastical power or ministry (can. 1373); 3) the grave external violation of Divine or Canon Law, with the urgent need to prevent and repair the scandal involved (can. 1399); and 4) prohibited participation in sacred rites (can. 1365).

Donna Quinn an advocate for legalized abortion. As late as 2009 she was engaged in escorting women to abortion clinics in the Chicago area so they could abort their babies safe from pro-life protesters. She is now a coordinator of the radically liberal National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN), which stands in opposition against the Catholic Church’s position on abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and the exclusively male priesthood. In a 2002 address to the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, Quinn described how she came to view the teachings of her Church as “immoral”: “I used to say: ‘This is my Church, and I will work to change it, because I love it,’” she said. “Then later I said, ‘This church is immoral, and if I am to identify with it I’d better work to change it.’ More recently, I am saying, ‘All organized religions are immoral in their gender discriminations.’” Quinn called gender discrimination “the root cause of evil in the Church, and thus in the world,” and said she remained in the Dominican community simply for “the sisterhood.”

Margaret Mary McBride: an administrator and member of the ethics committee at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, in Phoenix, Arizona, who incurred automatic excommunication following her sanctioning of an abortion at the hospital in November 2009. The controversy that ensued resulted in the diocesan bishop declaring that the hospital could no longer call itself Catholic.

Carol Keehan: as head of the Catholic Health Association, she sparred with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the question of health care reform, which the bishops criticized for funding abortion. Some observers have noted the critical role that she played, along with a social justice lobby of sisters called Network, in the bill’s eventual passage. In his farewell address before resigning the presidency of the U.S. Bishops’ conference last year, Cardinal Francis George – who directly opposed the health care bill, for its abortion funding – spoke of unnamed groups he said wanted to “remake the Church according to their own designs or discredit her as a voice in … public discussions” such as the debate over abortion and health care reform. As for who truly “speaks for the Catholic Church,” the cardinal left no room for doubt: “The bishops in apostolic communion and in union with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, speak for the Church in matters of faith and in moral issues and the laws surrounding them.” In another matter, less than 24 hours after the bishop of Phoenix stripped St. Joseph’s Hospital of its Catholic affiliation for performing abortions, Keehan declared that “Catholic Healthcare West (to which St Joseph’s belongs) and its system hospitals are valued members of the Catholic Health Association.” Keehan also defended the decision of Sr. Margaret Mary McBride to authorize the abortion. “They had been confronted with a heartbreaking situation,” she stated. “They carefully evaluated the patient’s situation and correctly applied the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services to it, saving the only life that was possible to save.” However, two obstetrician-gynecologists from the Diocese of Phoenix’s Medical Ethics Department said Keehan was misrepresenting both the facts of the St. Joseph’s Hospital case, and the ethical principles of Catholic health care. “It goes back to the basic issue that you can never do an evil, to achieve a good,” said Dr. William Chavira. “The act is inherently evil.” Dr. Chavira is a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist who also serves on the Phoenix Diocese’s medical ethics committee.

 

 

           
               St. Paul's, Philadelphia (Easter Sunday)

   

Famous 13th century Latin Catholic hymn of profound mourningDies Irae" ...Suppressed by Vatican II

Brick by brick: Most seminarians would prefer the older, traditional rite

Laetare: 4th Sunday of Advent: "with prompt devotion and eager faith"

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Finigan of Blackfen in the Rose vestments YOU readers helped to purchase in 2009!

The nickname Laetare originated from the first word of the Introit chant for the today’s Mass, “Rejoice!”

On Laetare Sunday there is a slight relaxation of Lent’s penitential spirit, because today we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming at Easter, now near at hand.

As WDTPRS has explained before, the custom of rose vestments is tied to the Station churches in Rome. The Station for Laetare Sunday is the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem where the relics of Cross and Passion brought from the Holy Land by St. Helena (+c. 329), mother of the Emperor Constantine (+337), were deposited. It was the custom on this day for Popes to bless roses made of gold, some amazingly elaborate and bejeweled, which were to be sent to Catholic kings, queens and other notables. The biblical reference is Christ as the “flower” sprung forth from the root of Jesse (Is 11:1 – in the Vulgate flos “flower” and RSV “branch”). Thus Laetare was also called Dominica de rosa…. Sunday of the Rose. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to develop rose colored vestments from this. Remember, the color of the vestments is called rosacea, not pink. This Roman custom spread by means of the Roman Missal to the whole of the world. 

"To celebrate and live the ordinary rite is a worthy call...to live, fight for, protect and save the extraordinary rite is an EXTRAORDINARY call."

Forbidden...powerful...beautiful...ancient...extraordinary....

In the darkest hour of humanity, surrounded by forces of destruction from within as well as from without, what was built upon one man two thousand years ago now seemed doomed to be lost forever.

Faced by formidable enemies, who would arise to fight for what was now almost a forbidden rite, a forbidden faith, a forbidden way of life?

One organization heard that call, an extraordinary call, and arose to fight for what was almost obscured into history.*

With their trust in God, they faced the rage of those who placed their trust in everything but.*

"Oh fortune! Variable as the moon. Always dost thou wax and wane." So cry those who turned to their false ideologies, their false gods; to pagan, secular, and / or heretical notions that deny truth. They ultimately cling to nothing but fortune, luck and fate like blind men, and in their false bravery they sink, their cries resounding in the air, while the soldiers of God march steadily on to a great triumph.

Who are these soldiers? They are the members of The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, also known as the FSSP.*

Below is a color rendering of our chapel.

Please consider donating now, or making a pledge. You can also learn more about IHM Chapel.  

Tebowing, We Did It Before It Was Mainstream! 

By Tito Edwards

“I have cried to Thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to Thee. Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.”
Psalm 140:1-2

Incense in Scripture: Exodus 30:34-37, Malachias 1:11, Matthew 2:11, Mark 15:22-23, John 19:39-40, Revelation 8:3-4  

Bishop Schneider:  
Auxiliary Bishop Says Communion In the Hand is a Calvinist Novelty
By Gloria TV
In the last century the Old Liberal Bishops promoted hand Communion. They used a historical lie toward this end.


Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider

(kreuz.net)Present day Communion in the Hand has no roots in the early Church.

This was stressed by Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider (50) of Astana in Kazakhstan on the 19th on the radio station 'Radio Maria Südtirol'

Msgr Schneider is a Patristic expert.

Hand Communion was contrived "all new" from the Second Vatican Council -- the Auxiliary Bishop firmly said.

The antique Church had practiced a completely different form for the reception of Communion.

In that period the hand in which Communion was received was purified before and after.

Additionally, the faithful would take the Body of the Lord from their hand in a disposition of prayer with his tongue:

"If anything it was more of an oral reception of Communion than in the hand".

After Communion, the communicant had to lick their hands with their tongues, so that even the smallest particle should not be lost.

Christmas in America

by Shawn Tribe
 

St. Theresa's, Sugarland, Texas

Christ the King, Sarasota, FL

Blessing of Children on Christmas Day, Chicago

Christmas in Iowa

by Shawn Tribe 

Christmas at St. Anthony's Church, Des Moines, Iowa. The celebrant was Msgr. Frank Chiodo.

We now turn our attention to France beginning with the FSSP parish in Bordeaux (the first two photos are from the Midnight Mass and the remainder from one of the Masses of Christmas Day):

* * *
Next, the FSSP parish in Lyon:

* * *The parish of St-Eugene in Paris:

by Shawn Tribe

Our first Christmas photos come from Shanghai, China. This particular Mass was celebrated according to the usus antiquior.

by Shawn Tribe

The website of Messainlatino.it have some interesting photos up of the usus antiquior celebrated in India. The first, coming from another blog, Te Igitur, shows the weekly Sunday Mass which takes place in the chapel of Saint Anthony School in Chennai, India. (Formerly Madras.)

You'll note here the fact that the Indians remove their footwear within church. Note also how the men and women sit on separate sides of the church.

* * *
From the same sources, here are two images of a Mass in what used to be referred to as Bombay, and now Mumbai.

Pope Benedict ushers in Christmas



The Pope’s Message Urbi et Orbi:
The Child is our salvation.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world!

Christ is born for us! Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to the men and women whom he loves. May all people hear an echo of the message of Bethlehem which the Catholic Church repeats in every continent, beyond the confines of every nation, language and culture.

The Son of the Virgin Mary is born for everyone; he is the Saviour of all. This is how Christ is invoked in an ancient liturgical antiphon: “O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, hope and salvation of the peoples: come to save us, O Lord our God”. Veni ad salvandum nos! Come to save us! This is the cry raised by men and women in every age, who sense that by themselves they cannot prevail over difficulties and dangers. They need to put their hands in a greater and stronger hand, a hand which reaches out to them from on high.

Dear brothers and sisters, this hand is Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. He is the hand that God extends to humanity, to draw us out of the mire of sin and to set us firmly on rock, the secure rock of his Truth and his Love (cf. Ps 40:2). This is the meaning of the Child’s name, the name which, by God’s will, Mary and Joseph gave him: he is named Jesus, which means “Saviour” (cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31).

He was sent by God the Father to save us above all from the evil deeply rooted in man and in history: the evil of separation from God, the prideful presumption of being self-sufficient, of trying to compete with God and to take his place, to decide what is good and evil, to be the master of life and death (cf. Gen 3:1-7). This is the great evil, the great sin, from which we human beings cannot save ourselves unless we rely on God’s help, unless we cry out to him: “Veni ad salvandum nos! – Come to save us!”

The very fact that we cry to heaven in this way already sets us aright; it makes us true to ourselves: we are in fact those who cried out to God and were saved (cf. Esth [LXX] 10:3ff.). God is the Saviour; we are those who are in peril. He is the physician; we are the infirm. To realize this is the first step towards salvation, towards emerging from the maze in which we have been locked by our pride.

To lift our eyes to heaven, to stretch out our hands and call for help is our means of escape, provided that there is Someone who hears us and can come to our assistance. Jesus Christ is the proof that God has heard our cry. And not only this! God’s love for us is so strong that he cannot remain aloof; he comes out of himself to enter into our midst and to share fully in our human condition (cf. Ex 3:7-12).

The answer to our cry which God gave in Jesus infinitely transcends our expectations, achieving a solidarity which cannot be human alone, but divine.

Only the God who is love, and the love which is God, could choose to save us in this way, which is certainly the lengthiest way, yet the way which respects the truth about him and about us: the way of reconciliation, dialogue and cooperation. Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, on this Christmas 2011, let us then turn to the Child of Bethlehem, to the Son of the Virgin Mary, and say: “Come to save us!”

Let us repeat these words in spiritual union with the many people who experience particularly difficult situations; let us speak out for those who have no voice.

Together let us ask God’s help for the peoples of the Horn of Africa, who suffer from hunger and food shortages, aggravated at times by a persistent state of insecurity.

May the international community not fail to offer assistance to the many displaced persons coming from that region and whose dignity has been sorely tried.

May the Lord grant comfort to the peoples of South-East Asia, particularly Thailand and the Philippines, who are still enduring grave hardships as a result of the recent floods.

May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts which even today stain the earth with blood.

May the Prince of Peace grant peace and stability to that Land where he chose to come into the world, and encourage the resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed. May he foster full reconciliation and stability in Iraq and Afghanistan.

May he grant renewed vigour to all elements of society in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East as they strive to advance the common good.

May the birth of the Saviour support the prospects of dialogue and cooperation in Myanmar, in the pursuit of shared solutions.

May the Nativity of the Redeemer ensure political stability to the countries of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and assist the people of South Sudan in their commitment to safeguarding the rights of all citizens.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation! He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace. Let us open our hearts to him; let us receive him into our lives. Once more let us say to him, with joy and confidence: “Veni ad salvandum nos!”

Pope Benedict XVI