Dr William Mahrt on The Mass of the Americas

GREGORY DIPIPPO

Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., by His Excellency Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco.


Our publisher Dr William Mahrt attended the recent celebration of the Pontifical Mass in Washington DC, the first time Frank LaRocca's Mass of the Americas was performed with the celebration of the Extraordinary Form, and was kind enough to share this review with us. A complete video of the ceremony is included below, and several pictures of the Mass, courtesy of photographers Matthew Barrick and Jeffrey Bruno, and the Benedict XVI Institute.

On November 16, a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., by His Excellency Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco. Sponsored by the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, it was designated the “Mass of the Americas”; the idea for it came from the close occurrence of the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the San Francisco celebration of the Guadalupana, the festive observance of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The archbishop wanted a liturgical observance uniting the two traditions, and so he commissioned composer Frank La Rocca to produce music incorporating traditional Mexican tunes, especially “La Guadalupana,” into the music for the Mass in the manner of a Renaissance parody Mass. This was celebrated in the Ordinary Form on December 8 of last year in San Francisco, and will be celebrated again on other occasions across the country; its celebration in Washington in the Extraordinary Form was part of this project. While the Mass in San Francisco included some texts in the vernacular, the Extraordinary Form admits only of Latin, and so La Rocca revised some of the music to create one of the most beautiful and impressive celebrations of that Mass in a long time.

50th Anniversary of imposition of the Novus Ordo – PODCAzTs Revisited

Posted on 26 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

FIFTY years ago on 30 Nov 1969 the Novus Ordo went into force.  It was the 1st Sunday of Advent.

In 2009, the 40th anniversary of that momentous change, I did three podcasts about the imposition of the Novus Ordo at Advent of 1969.   These podcasts – now a decade old – remain fresh today.

Since the blog was updated, I no longer have a way simply to embed all three recordings.  Here are links.

We Pope Paul VI (+1978) in General Audiences in at the end of November 1969 on the subject of the changes people were about to experience.

The pop music selections were all hits from 1969.   Their choice is also part of my commentary.

For the first of these three, the Audience was exactly 50 years ago, today, 26 November 1969.

093 09-11-16 40 years ago… Paul VI on the eve of the Novus Ordo

094 09-11-20 40 years ago… Paul VI on the eve of the Novus Ordo (Part II)

095 09-11-24 40 years ago… Paul VI on the eve of the Novus Ordo (Part III)

I will note that since 2007 the use of the 1962 Missale Romanum… and the pre-55 Missale… is statistically exploding.  At the same time, demographics in the Church across the board are plummeting.  The Masses with the traditional form are packed with young people, young families.

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Palestrina Mass at St. John's Catholic Church

Here is the TLM celebrated during the 2019 NCYC in Indianapolis on 22 November at St. John’s Catholic Church. The church was full. One of my correspondents wrote that they’ve had a TLM for several years and each year the attendance has grown. They now have to go to a large church for it.

The music was Palestrina’s Missa Brevis.

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Here is the TLM celebrated during the 2019 NCYC in Indianapolis on 22 November at St. John’s Catholic Church. The church was full. One of my correspondents wrote that they’ve had a TLM for several years and each year the attendance has grown. They now have to go to a large church for it.

The music was Palestrina’s Missa Brevis.

Please share!

What’s happening to Catholics in China?

Posted on 26 November 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Vatican changed its stance toward the Church’s presence in China.  What fruits have come from this change?

The following piece has lots of photos at the original page, which you can visit.

From Bitter Winter:

Xi Jinping Portraits Replace Catholic Symbols in Churches

Places of worship refusing to be controlled by the state are being shut down, while government-run churches are used to worship the Chinese Communist Party.
by Tang Zhe

A Catholic Church in Ji’an, a prefecture-level city in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, was built this year at the cost of more than one million RMB (over $140,000), which had been raised by believers. It was named “The True and Original Source of the Universe” (萬有真原), a reference to the name inscribed in 1711 on a plaque the Kangxi Emperor (Xuanje, 1654–1722) donated to a Catholic church in Beijing. Not long after it opened its doors, the church became the target of the local government’s persecution.

In late September, local officials ordered the congregation to paint over the sign with the name of the church, replace it with “Follow the Party, Obey the Party, and Be Grateful to the Party,” and display the national flag at the entrance.

What has hurt the congregations the most was the removal of a painting of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, later discarded into a dark corner of the church. Instead, a portrait of president Xi Jinping was hung in the center of one of the walls, surrounded by propaganda slogans on both sides.

A few days later, officials confiscated the keys to the church and locked all its doors and windows. The congregation lost their place of worship.

The same month, a Catholic meeting venue that is not part of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association in Jiangxi’s Poyang county was ordered to cease religious activities. Local officials threatened to revoke retirement pensions of elderly congregation members if another meeting were to be held. The church’s cross, a painting of the Virgin Mary, and religious couplets were removed, and portraits of Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong were displayed instead.

[…]

May God help our brothers and sisters.

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