YEAR OF THE LAITY: CBCP head laments clericalization of the Filipino laity!

That is a surprising status update from Archbishop Soc Villegas who according to my sources is really the one posting on his Facebook account. The new CBCP president is obviously reacting to how so many lay people wanted to be at the sanctuary rather than working at other places in the church and in the Church. No, that's not a typo.

Now let me break it down for you the instances of the lay wanting to be at the sanctuary.

1.  Altar boys serving only during high profile Masses like fiestas or when the bishop of Cardinal Tagle is around.  But you never see them serve in ordinary Sunday Masses or in daily Masses especially early morning Masses.  My guess?  Too lazy to get out of bed or to few people to notice him performing.

-  Did you see how the boy immediately changed his profile pic?  That's an indication.

2.  Girls wanting to be like the boys.  They want to serve at the altar too.
-  what's next women wanting to become priest?  Oh yeah, it's already happening.

3.  Batallion of EMHCs serving at the Mass.
- Watch the Sunday TV Mass at Studio 23 of Fr. Mario Sobrejuanite and see what I mean.   Everybody wants to be seen on TV?  Getting the common denominator now?

4. Liturgical dancers always!
- Also on Studio 23 Mass of Fr. Sobrejuanite, even though the Holy See has already outlawed liturgical dance.  This practice is not only a certified LITURGICAL ABUSE but it is a public and blatant disobedience of Church liturgical laws?  Why is it continuing?  Why, because some people don't want to read from the lectionary, they cannot sing, they don't want to be an EMHC because they are not THAT old, but they want to showcase the whole world their Protestant way of worshiping in a Catholic Mass.  Period.  Oh, and they want to be noticed.


The archbishop also lamented the fact that since most want to be at the sanctuary, nobody wants to serve at the pews, collecting Mass donations, or even working behind the cameras (at the sacristy like what the Mother Butler Guild does, or at the field, after the Mass, like what the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Women's League, catechists, Family and Life ministries, etc.) does.  Why?  Those are thankless jobs!  They don't get to be photographed in ACTION with the famous cardinal, nor will they be able to showcase their liturgical prowess, nor will they be able to be spotted by the cameras...

Call me biased but most of the EMHCs I have known, most of the women who have talked to me about eh RIGHT of a young girl to serve at the altar, as an altar boy (yeah someone told me that) and how some nuns long to be priest (by offering the Mass, and yes, some of them still profess that they are Catholic) all boils down to one thing and one thing only...

NARCISSISM!  The lays who desire to be at the sanctuary, dignifying their "vocation" or "calling" to be at the altar boils down with the selfish intent to be the center of attraction, to be at the most glamorous position, to be in a position of fame, to be given that title and prestige!

Blame it on liturgists like Fr. Anscar Chupungco and Fr. Genaro Diwa who like to quote and claim lay empowerment and active participation.  It is through their faults and those two alone who taught the lay that the best way to actively participate at the Mass is TO DO the Mass, (by being at the sanctuary) and not by PRAYING the Mass!

We call them learned men, scholars of liturgy, world class liturgist, but looking at the state of the Mass in the Philippines, how each and every parish has its own way of interpreting the liturgical books, makes you wonder if we really do have working liturgists in the country.

With the state of the lay desiring to be more at the sanctuary rather than stay at the pews and "go out into the world", it won't be far fetched to have a Mass like this in the future.  Almost the pews are empty because everyone is at the sanctuary.

Most of our laity spend too much time at the church forgetting that their main calling is NOT to work at the church, but to work at THEIR church, the domestic church, THEIR VERY OWN FAMILIES.

THIS IS THE VOCATION OF THE LAITY!

Not to spend too much time at the Parish Council!  Nor to spend too much time doing what a priest must do!

We cannot totally blame the layman for this.  The parish priest is at fault too for too much lay empowerment, for too much active participation, for too much CLERICALIZATION OF THE LAITY.

Indeed this must be corrected!

In this Year of the Laity declared by the Filipino bishops, the laity must remember their role in the Church, their chosen vocation.  They are not called to spend too much time doing what the parish priest wants him to do.  He must fulfill his/her role as parent, as son/daughter...

If most of the lay think this way, then woe to us!

We would not have great saints like Mother Teresa, or St. Therese or St. Francis who found their calling and vocation by serving at the foot of the altar, not at the altar.  Mother Teresa served the poor when the world abandoned them.  Would our EMHCs do what she did?

St. Therese taught us that in everything we do, ordinary things we must do it with extraordinary love.  You can fulfill simple tasks and chores even though you are not at the sanctuary during that Mass.

St. Francis chose not to be ordained a priest because he felt unworthy of the call, so he became a permanent deacon.  Shame on those nuns who continue to disobey Christ who did not ordain women!

Blessed John Paul II in Christifidelis Laici said: "The vocation of the lay faithful to holiness implies that life according to the Spirit expresses itself in a particular way in their involvement in temporal affairs and in their participation in earthly activities."

Stop desiring the job of the priest.

You are a layman by virtue of your baptism, confirmation and chosen vocation!

Your contribution to your local church is edifying.  But first things first.  Your job is at HOME.

Go back!

Lex orandi

The priestly vocation is important.  The priestly missionary vocation is very important.

But in promoting this great calling, you dishonor it by using lame and wrong vestments.

So, what is wrong with this picture?

Dear Father, please don't tell me you cannot celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass

because this little kid will make a big joke out of you.  Promise.





Because if he can do it, so can you.

It is not the Latin...

It is not the rubrics...

It is the heart that is missing.

So, it is not about this form of the Mass...

It is about choosing what to give to the Lord.

It is about working for something that you put your heart and extra effort into it.

Because if you could give something more than the usual, why not go for it?

This kid aspires for it and I wouldn't be surprised if he enters the seminary one day.

This is how you foster vocations...

This is how you foster ordinary Catholics to love the holy the sublime.

If any of you hippie priests goes to this kid's house and discourages him from doing this and instead teaches him to do those wacko inculturated Mass...

Luke 17:2

Unfortunately, that is what most priests and bishops and even nuns and professional liturgists from Anscar Chupungco's heritage do to those who are attached to the Traditional Rite.

Villify them.

Mock them.

Ostracize them.

Right Fr. Geny Diwa?

So pastoral of you!

PS Fr. Diwa.  As if THAT is not happening right now.

Sad thing for a priest like you who spends much of his time behind his desk rather in an actual parish!

If Fr. Diwa and this kid celebrated Mass, this kid will make minced-meat out of Fr. Diwa.

"What liturgy degree Fr. Diwa?" said the kid.

Unfortunately, those diplomas do not have heart...and so does....



RANT OVER.

Kids "playing" Mass?

I am glad Fr. Z made a post about this after a reader asked a question if kids are committing a sin for simulating Mass.

In fact, that is a very valid question.  In Canon Law, it is very specific what will happen to a person who simulates doing the Mass.

Let us see the entry in the Canon.

Can. 1378 §1. A priest who acts against the prescript of ⇒ can. 977 incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

§2. The following incur a latae sententiae penalty of interdict or, if a cleric, a latae sententiae penalty of suspension:

1/ a person who attempts the liturgical action of the Eucharistic sacrifice though not promoted to the sacerdotal order; 

A person under interdict forbids that person to celebrate or receive any of the sacraments, including the Eucharist, or to celebrate the sacramentals. One who is under interdict is also forbidden to take any ministerial part (e.g., as a Lector or Acolyte if a layperson or as a deacon or priest if a clergyman) in the celebration of the Eucharist or of any other ceremony of public worship.

These penalties apply to those person who have incurred, as mentioned by the canon, a laetae sententiae interdict or an automatic interdict committed at the time of the offense.

This type of interdict applies to ALL CATHOLICS WHO JOIN FORBIDDEN ORGANIZATIONS LIKE THE MASONIC LODGE!

Catholics who are Masons are also forbidden to stand, as the Canon stipulates, as godfather to baptisms, confirmations and weddings!

But getting back...

Kids "playing" Mass, sinning?!

Fr. Z, was right!

They do not!

Why?

Simple!

Kids do not do that with MALICE!

Adults are in the age of reason, and they KNOW that it is wrong to do that, especially if it is not during a stage play!

Kids do it not for fun.  Kids do it because they EMULATE what they see.

See it as more like when we were kids we fool around doing what the Three Stooges do to each other.

Kids playing Mass?  A quick way to foster priestly vocation!

Let me share this video from a good friend of his only son, playing Mass.



PS: If my daughter would do this, she'd be grounded. No more TV! :)

I'd rather buy her a complete set of what Mother Angelica and her nuns are wearing. :)

Where the Catholics are...

The latest statistics are out!

The largest number of Catholics are in the new Pope's continent, Latin America!

But the fastest growing number of Catholics is in Africa and Asia!  The number of priests and religious are also growing in these two continents.

Asia ordained 1695 priests in 2010 while Africa added 761. The Americas, meaning both North and South America, where the Pope came from, only added 40!  40!  Just 40 for the entire continent... while Europe was down 905, or it lost 905!

WOW!!!

Hmmm...Isn't it the same continents where the United Nations is vigorously campaigning for contraception and abortion?

And where is "Christian" Europe?

The double life of some priests

In continuing our post about the problem of some priests...most of them WE SEE ON TV everyday or every week!   Honestly, nothing against Fr. Glenn Paul Gomez, SVD but how he celebrates the Mass is really CRASS!  Good Lord, that guy must just sell DVDs at Quiapo and Greenhills!  Evangelical pastors would look like Greek Orthodox eparchs with his kind attitude during the Holy Mass!  Ugh!

But back on the topic...

Here we have an article, published a year ago by the National Catholic Register....not Reporter aka FISHWRAP, about the problem of Priestly Narcissism and how it is indicative of a doouble life of a priest.  Not the Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker double life kind of thing.

More like John in the morning and Johanna at night?

What do you think?

Joke.

***

OTTAWA - Despite the many cases in recent years of unfaithful priests, an expert on sexual abuse and pornography predicts a future with a “much healthier Church and healthier priests.”

Peter Kleponis is a Pennsylvania psychologist who has counselled priests who sexually abused minors as well as men addicted to pornography, his specialty. He says the Church has gone through a painful phase and, although “it’s not over yet,” there is reason for optimism.

“There is hope. There is change,” said Kleponis. But, he adds, “there is still more purification and purging that needs to be done.”

Kleponis made his remarks while discussing the case of Bishop Raymond Lahey, who received a 15-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to importing child pornography. At his sentencing hearing, a forensic psychiatrist testified that Lahey had been involved in a “number of one-night stands” before entering a 10-year relationship with a man. Kleponis and other experts who have worked with troubled priests believe the double lives they lead might partly be explained by narcissism.

“What causes a man to maintain this kind of double life for so long is basic narcissism, the idea that I’m entitled to this, I can do whatever I want; if I want to lead a double life I’ll have a double life,” said Kleponis.  [Too much attention?]

Narcissism can grow as priests climb the ladder and become bishops, regarding themselves as a Prince of the Church who is above everything, he said.  [Uhm... What do you think?  Not all those who rise from the ranks are like that.  Some, I know one, newly ordained.  Not even a decade as a priest.  When he acts, he is like a Cardinal already!]

“Narcissism is very common in addicts, because even though they know what they are doing is bad, and know it is wrong, they decide, ‘I’m going to do it anyway,’ ” Kleponis said from his office at the Institute for Marital Healing, a private Catholic practice, in West Conshohocken, Penn., where he works with colleague Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist who is a consulter to the Congregation for Clergy in the Vatican.

“Our clinical experience in treating large numbers of seminarians, priests and religious for over 35 years has demonstrated a direct link between unresolved anger from childhood and later rebellion against the Church’s teachings on sexual morality and sexual acting out,” wrote Kleponis and Fitzgibbons in the August 2011 issue of the Linacre Quarterly, the journal of the Catholic Medical Association in the United States.  [Sounds like what liberal seminary formators and faculty call "normal" in the book, Goodbye Good Men.]

“Some men are more susceptible to sexual temptations because they suffer from psychological conflicts of loneliness and sadness, weaknesses in male confidence, excessive anger, anxiety, selfishness and/or having a history of childhood sexual abuse,” they wrote.  [And the pseudo-psychiatrist, like a priest or nun who just took up a book, and even the closeted homosexual seminary staff, would tell the seminarian that it is "OK" to act it out.]

Fitzgibbons, who wrote an open letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 at the height of that country’s sexual abuse crisis, said at the time that those treating priests who engaged in pedophilia or ephebophilia observed they “almost without exception suffered from a denial of sin in their lives.”  [Isn't denying what is wrong, immoral and sinful the lines of liberals and those who hate the Church?  "Accept the love. Stop the hate."  that is the motto of the homosexual movement against the Church and the Pope.]

“They were also unwilling to admit and address the profound emotional pain they experienced in childhood of loneliness, often in the father relationship, peer rejection, lack of male confidence, poor body image, sadness and anger,” Fitzgibbons wrote, noting the anger was often directed at the Church, the Holy Father and religious authorities.  [And most of the liberals and aging priests and angry feminist nuns have this common problem!]

Richard Sipe, who spent 18 years as a Benedictine monk and priest and has authored eight books on clerical celibacy and/or the clerical sexual abuse crisis, said cases such as Lahey’s did not surprise him.

“It’s very easy for priests as they move up in administrative levels to establish a sexual life,” Sipe said from his office in La Jolla, Calif.

Los Angeles Bishop Gabino Zavala is one clergy who led a double life, fathering two children. 
Experts say narcissism can partially explain such behaviour.- CNS photo

Those double lives can be either homosexual or heterosexual, he stressed, noting the recent resignation of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala after revelations he had fathered two children.

A myth has been perpetrated that priests and bishops do not have sexual lives, Sipe said.

“There are volumes of case histories that record this kind of behaviour,” he said.

“Sometimes it lasts for a long period of time, even a lifetime of the priest or bishop, sometimes it’s a serial monogamy that a priest or a bishop will have a relationship with a woman or a man for three to five years and go to someone else.”

During the 1970s and earlier, before being “out of the closet” was socially acceptable, some men went into the priesthood so no one would ever ask them why they never married, said Kleponis. In the 1970s, there was more homosexual activity going on in seminaries than there is now, and some men who became sexually active with other men in seminary continued to remain so after ordination. Some became seminary rectors, he said.  [I know someone North of Manila.   Oops!  hehe.....and some place else....hehehe]

As for the future, Kleponis is not finding this tendency to run away from or hide one’s sexuality is as prevalent in priests 50 and younger, he said.

“Younger seminarians are there because they feel it’s a vocation, they are not there to hide their sexuality and have no intent of leading a double-life.” This is true both of men with heterosexual orientation as well as those who struggle with same-sex attraction.

Sipe said more needs to be done to train priests on how to live out their celibate vows successfully. [Not how to experience and express the repressed tendencies like what the liberals teach the seminarians!] Though he received a dispensation to marry, he said celibacy is a wonderful gift to the Church, but secrecy and cover-up over failures needs to be replaced with a full understanding of human sexuality and ways to live a celibate lifestyle in a spiritually fruitful and successful way.

Canon lawyer Fr. Francis Morrisey, who has advised the Catholic Church in Canada on the sexual abuse crisis, when asked if Lahey’s kind of double life is common, answered: “I certainly hope not.”

“Oftentimes, provincials or superiors are the last persons to know what’s going on,” he said. “Normally, let’s say somebody’s leading a double life, he is not going to tell his boss what he’s doing.

“We’re probably dealing with a psychological issue,” Morrisey said, adding that he hoped Lahey would get the assistance he needs to “address his issues.”

Morrisey said that most Catholics were shocked by the revelations.

“I’m just hoping the Holy See will be able to address this situation rather quickly so it’s not left hanging and Bishop Lahey will be able to get on with his life.”  [I seriously doubt he could get back with his old job.]

Lahey applied for laicization a year ago, his lawyer told the court, and removal from the clerical state is one of the penalties the Holy See can impose on him.  [Good for him at least he has the decency to do it without him being forced to by Church officials!]

In the last sexual abuse case involving a priest where Sipe served as an expert witness, the priest received 3,000 signed testimonies in his favour, even though he had “savagely abused this youngster.”

“People will always defend the perpetrator,” he said.

Lahey was hailed for the compassionate and generous settlement he brokered for clerical sexual abuse victims in the Antigonish diocese.

***

Latest report about Richard Lahey is that he has been laicized or removed from the clerical state, or is now a simple layman.

I am sure you have your own stories about these men who live double lives.

So a friendly note to ALL CATHOLICS!

Stop over pampering your priests!  Some take in too much it reaches their heads and forget who they are and what they are.

I even tell my friend-priests that people would not gang up on them to greet them, grab their hands, have their photos taken IF THEY ARE NOT PRIESTS.  It is the character of the Sacrament of Holy Orders that sets them apart from other men.  If they are not priests, would they think they will enjoy the same attention?  My friends all agree that they wouldn't.

On the other hand, they must let these admiration get the better of them and think that people are after them just because they are uhm, cute, handsome and what have you though sometimes there are those old ladies who still think that years of dancing in Obando gave them the answer to their prayers courtesy of Fr. Pogi or Fr. Entertaining-Mag-homily!  Darn it!  Douse some ice cold water on that poor woman and tell her to accept her vocation as a single lady!  Period!

But hep hep hep!!!  Those anti-Catholic hypocrites like the INC stop where they are because they themselves especially their BEM ministers, (I'd like to call them BUM Ministers) have their own share of atrocities.

INC ministers who are drunkards, gamblers, womanizers, wife-beaters, crooks, and yes even sex abusers.

They are all humans, like priests, they commit mistakes.

The ones who don't are those 6 feet under.

Felix Manalo agrees.

He can't rape anyone anymore.

Toinks!

Would you encourage young men to become a priest with this pose?

Seriously Father. What is your image of a priest? A poster boy for a clothing company?

The only difference in what you are wearing is that little white tab!

This post is generating a lot of talk on my Facebook Page. Head on over there to join in the discussion if you have a Facebook Account.

The best comment I have seen thus far is this:

"Crass real crass."

This photo reminds me of that excellent article about Priestly Narcissism in the Church, well, which was brought about when the priest started looking at the people rather than talking to the Lord during the Liturgy.  George Weigel also wrote on the similar topic.  Versus populum ring a bell to you guys?

And another great article about this problem with this kind of a priest is this article about
The Emasculation of the Priesthood.

***

PS:  That logo of the photo company who took the shot..."Great Image", that company is owned by Mrs UNLAWYER....PRO-RH Advocate online.

BOYCOTT THAT COMPANY!!!

From PALO, LEYTE: How seminarians are invested...

PROPERLY.

And you don't just buy from a store, wear one, and pretend to be one!

Damn wackos!

These young men are REALLY SEMINARIANS.

They passed a battery of tests before they are accepted.

And one of those is a PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST!

Ha!

Bet some guys won't pass that.

So they just buy one of these lovely vestments and do COSPLAY!

Ugh!

Enjoy the pictures!

From this....

The cassocks and surplices are blessed and incensed....properly!

And the worthy seminarians are vested with it.

WORTHY!

This is how you inspire VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD!

If you see nut cases wearing something like this that they are not even worthy...

If you see girls trying to look like them...

GOD HELP US!

And you still wonder why they do not do this in LITURGICALLY IMPERIAL MANILA.

...to think we have a world-class liturgist there.

This one is in Palo, Leyte under Archbishop John Du!

Lovely!

PS:  How to receive Holy Communion.......PROPERLY

And you still wonder why they do not do this in LITURGICALLY IMPERIAL MANILA.

...to think we have a world-class liturgist there.

Cool!

One of the coolest vocation photos I have seen!

You won't attract young men and women to join your society or congregation if you are wearing secular clothes...

And you keep on talking about Modernist rubbish!

Yeah, yeah...some would say that there are nuns and priest who wear the habit and still spread modernist filth.

Well, that is the task that we the laity should do.

Video, record, upload, report!

That's the way to do it.

As I have been hearing, this one priest will definitely be on his way to losing his license to teach Theology with his continued advocacy for married priest, contraception, selective abortion, etc.

Oh, it's true!

It's definitely true!

Positive impact of the Mass

I have got to hear a young man say that he wants to become a priest because he wants to have his weekly televised Mass at SM Megamall.

Or to be an expert in order to go up against the Pope.

Pope: "family as a "sanctuary of life and the primary cell of society"

Who's numbers are REALLY dwindling?

Yeah!!!

Michael Voris nailed it on the head again.

As I have posted time and again, and I will ask it again.

What is it with the Traditional Latin Mass that liturgists and most bishops are freaked out?

....when it draws more young people to the Church?
....when it draws more vocations?
....when it gives more hope for the Church?

What, then, is the reason why you don't want it, oh genius one of the lamp?

Ha!

PS:  Selling seminars and books are going down nowadays.  Not enough money to finance buying his dolls.

Go figure this one out, GULPolice Officers!

Australia looks to Asia for more priests

And what could be causing the shortage?

Hmmm....


From ABC News

***

The Catholic Church is keen to recruit priests from Asia to help overcome a shortage in regional Australia.

Bishop Greg O'Kelly from the Port Pirie diocese in South Australia says the church also needs to ordain younger people.  [you mean, younger men?]

He says only three of 23 priests in the diocese are under 50.  [And those 50 above belong to the Kumbaya era.]

Bishop O'Kelly says he has been to the Philippines and found strong support for the idea of relocations to Australia.  [I hope those Pinoy priests go there for the right reasons.  But I digress.]

"The Australian church has never supplied enough priests by itself, we've been dependant on Ireland until relatively recent times," he said.

"There's scarcely a Catholic in the older generation who wasn't taught by an Irish nun or had an Irish parish priest or an Irish brother.

"Now that source from European overseas, Ireland, has dried up, we have to look to Asia I believe."

***

The Catholic Church in Australia and the rest of the world is not addressing the issue why there are shortages of priests.

BAH! Enough of the married thing and the women thing.

They are non-negotiable especially the WOMYN priests. No such thing. It is almost the same as saying that Felix Manalo and his cohorts start hating money, and Eli Soriano stops hating boys. WHA!

A survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate of uhm, Jesuit run, uhm, Georgetown University, found out that "clearly and unambiguously that most new vocations in the United States are going to Orders (and seminaries!) that practice and stress more traditional forms of religious life and priestly formation."

Even if there is no research in other parts of the world, this trend is happening worldwide! Traditional Orders are running out of space, while liberal orders especially those spending more time in (get your pen and paper) Justice and Peace, Liturgical Inculturation, Eco-Spirituality, Gender Equality, and the whole nine yards of 60s madness.

The CARA study concluded:

"The most successful seminaries and institutes in attracting and retaining new members at this time are those that follow a more traditional style of priestly formation and religious life in which members live together in community, participate in the daily Eucharist, pray the Divine Office and engage in devotional practices together. They wear a religious habit, work together in common ministires, and are explicit in their fidelity to the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium. All of these characteristics are especially attractive to the young people who are entering seminaries and Religious life today."

Remember how Christ called His disciples and sent them out into the world "like sheep among wolves"? How could you even atract men and women to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience if all they are going to do is be like Mao Tse Tung or Nelson Mandela without the spirituality of an Mother Teresa or Josemaria Escriva?!

Is it worthwhile to give up the world's pleasures with most of our congregations and orders "marketing" their lifestyle to be "missionaries of love and presence"? Whatever happened to saving souls, or harvesting for the Lord?

The difference with most liberal orders as against traditional ones is not only in their garbs. Traditional ones always wear theirs all the time. Liberals and modernists, hate to be identified, as if they hate being nun, brothers and priests.

The difference is traditional ones always talk about salvation of the soul, while liberals talk about salvation of the marginalized and oppressed, salvation of our planet...and any other new things other than those taught by the Church for 2,000 years.

That is the fruits of Modernism. They are so stale that they have no chance of survival. They do not multiply, just like the RH Bill that they espouse. They are so full of anger with the Church that the new breed of Modernists end up tearing their very own Modernist professors. They just cannot survive.

Modernists are dying!

Just find a congregation of Modernist priests, brothers and sisters and see if their numbers are even increasing. While the Modernists find new ways of trying to destroy the Church from within, traditional Catholic orders are silently increasing in number. In due time, their chants and traditional hymns will subdue the "Praise and Thanksgiving" songs of the Kumbaya church.

These are just two of the traditional orders whose numbers are on the rise.

The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration aka Mother Angelica Sisters :)

Canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest where Canon Jean Marie Moreau is a member.

And I almost forgot, Michael Voris has his Vortex episode for today about this.

For young traditionalist men who want to become priests

The great blogger, Father John Zuhlsdorf has a very wise advice for all of you!

Back in the dark days of the 80′s when in my seminary to have a statue of Our Lady of Fatima or to say the rosary in public meant expulsion, I came up with the Six Rules of Seminary Survival. Where you are they may still pertain:

Rarely affirm.
Never deny.
Seldom make distinctions.
Smile a lot.
Say very little.
Never wear black.

In my day, it was as if we were officers-in-training, but in the military academy of the enemy. That seems like the situation there.

This is what you must do: learn what these modernist oppressors have to teach, parrot it back to them, and read good books on your own, with a flashlight and shades drawn if necessary.

And if you have to give up the internet, then for the love of God and His Holy Church give it up.

Get ordained.

Your day will come.

There will be time after ordination to learn the TLM and build up that dimension of the formation they are – contrary to the Church’s law – cheating you out of.

For the sake of that day, be quiet and make sacrifices of your desire to surf around as you will.

If you have to, you can – believe me – hang by your thumbs until your hands are anointed.


Do not, by fighting or reacting suddenly, give those… aging-hippy modernists anything to beat you with.

Once you are ordained, with a joyful smile and in charity destroy their life’s work.

***

I have known a couple of friends who swear they could have just shut the hell up and played politics just to get ordained!  :D

And I know a couple who did just that and raised their nutty professors into a frenzy for "coming out" and showing their true Traddie colors!

Well, "destroying their life's work" is what some of Fr. A's students are doing, eh?

Read the entire post here.

And don't forget to vote for his blog!

So to those wanting to enter the seminary and have this knack to hunt for liberals and modernists...

Heed Fr. Z's advice!

Ranting about your Anathema sit won't get you anywhere!

And the Church is found on both East and West, North and South.  So, stop your obsession about directions, ok?!

The call is not limited by age

And this man, proved it.

He just got ordained at the tender age of...............80!

And with his deceased wife's blessings!

From Ottawa Citizen.com

***



For nearly half a century, Gérard Lafrenière was devoted to his wife, and, by all accounts, fulfilled his vows to love, honour and cherish her. Yet, he had another love, too.

In 2009, two years after his wife of 49 years, Gisèle Viau, died, Lafrenière fulfilled the vocation that had been with him since childhood. He became a Catholic priest, with his wife's blessing.

"This is something that has been in my life for the past 65 years," he told the Citizen on the day of his ordination. "You never know what the Lord has in store for you. I had to put it aside for a while and take a different avenue."

On Saturday, three years after becoming a priest, Father Lafrenière's died at the age of 83.

Those who knew him describe him as a modest but exceptional man who had a great gift for consoling others.

"He was very loved," said his son Georges Lafrenière.

"He was the type of person who was always willing to listen to you, really listen," said Leonard Larabie, a longtime member of the congregation of St. Joseph d'Orléans, who knew Lafrenière for nearly four decades. "He knew how to listen and how to comfort people."

"He was a man with a very deep faith," said Royal Galipeau, the Conservative MP for Ottawa-Orléans, who remembers Lafrenière signing his nomination papers when he entered politics in the 1980s.

"He didn't care about promoting himself. He just fit himself in where he thought he was best needed."

Even though Lafrenière officially retired in November when a liver ailment left him frail and shaky, he continued, unofficially, to used what energy he had left to take calls from the church and members of the congregation.

"He really worked until the end," said his son Georges. "He was doing a lot of phoning from his bed."

That, say friends, was typical. "He never retired," said Larabie. "He was too busy. He just never slowed down."

Even so, it took Lafrenière a long time to get to where he wanted to be. He grew up on a farm near Plaisance, Que., one of several children. He knew as a boy of nine or 10 that he had a vocation, he want to be a priest. When he was 14 he began studies at the Ottawa junior seminary, but left after less than three years because of poor health. He assumed he'd never be a priest.

Lafrenière eventually married, had children and embarked on a career in the insurance business. His faith, however, never dimmed. He kept the church at the centre of his life, serving as a deacon at the Parish of St. Joseph d'Orléans for almost 30 years.  [He was a married deacon.]

His wife, Gisèle Viau, shared his faith, according to friends. And shortly before she died in August 2007, she urged him to fulfil his vocation.

"That story is true," said Larabie. "I heard it from him personally. She understood. This man was in love with his wife all her life, but at the bottom of his heart he felt he was destined to be a priest."  [Now those married priests, those who left the priesthood to get married, and those who support a married clergy...hold on to your socks!  This is in no way promoting that!]

"They had a marriage that was full of love," said Galipeau. "She certainly knew about his faith and his sense of vocation."

After his wife's death, Lafrenière's friends reiterated her encouragement. He'd fulfilled his vows to his wife, they said, and now he should make other vows.

On March 25, 2009, Lafrenière was ordained by Archbishop Terence Prendergast at St. Joseph's in Orléans. At the time, he was told that he was the first person his age in Ottawa to be ordained. Four days later, he held his first mass.

He was, it seems, a popular priest. The fact that he was married for so many years gave him insight that was unique among priests, says Debbie Guindon, who worked with Lafrenière to prepare couples for marriage.

The knowledge that comes with being a husband and father drew long lineups outside his confessional. [Uhm....St. John Mary Vianney anyone?   And St. Pio of Pietrelcina.....not married....longer lines....saints.  I am not saying that Fr. Lafrenière is not exceptional and devoted to his ministry but I hope this does not begin a discussion about "See, married people are more effective!" kind of rant.  This is an exception rather than a rule.  Priests also came from families and they console families and are exposed to every kind of situation more than a married person can ever experience it.]  "Everybody wanted to go to confession to him because he was very open and spiritual and he would really guide you in your confession," Guindon said. "He was a good-hearted person. Very loving."

About a week ago, the old priest finally slowed down. "I put my hand in his hand," said his son, "and I said in his ear, 'Daddy, it's OK, you can go and see mom. I'm sure she's waiting for you.'"

Visitation will be held Tuesday at Heritage Funeral Home, 2871 St. Joseph Blvd., from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Another visitation will be held at the Parish of St. Joseph d'Orléans on Wednesday at 9 a.m., followed by a Eucharistic celebration at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Canadian Liver Foundation or to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

***

Rest in peace, Fr. Gérard Lafrenière.

Let us all pray for his repose and pray that we have more exemplary Catholic husbands, fathers and priests serving us at our homes and parishes!

The "problem" with the Traditional Mass

A pesky problem with the Traditional Mass is this: (courtesy of Mulier Fortis blog) and in WDTPRS.

“Of course, just when you get a decent MC (Master of Ceremonies) trained up, he leaves. We’re losing about three soon… That’s the trouble with the Old Mass… it keeps causing vocations…!”

***

I can vouch for this.  I have known a couple or more devotees and acolytes of the Traditional or EF Form of the Holy Mass who end up entering the seminary or convent.  And their reason for entering?  Their love for the liturgy.  They have entered traditional orders, mind you!

Can we get the same reaction from those devoted to the Tambourine Mass at SM Megamall?

Well, uhm, just asking.

I am wondering if they'll ever say:

  

"I want to become a priest because I want to have my own TV Mass and do powerpoint presentations and bring a smile to the face of the people as I made their Mass more lively and animated!"

Pfft!

You still wonder why these liturgical abusers still do not want to follow the simple rule:

"Say the Black, Do the Red."

Well, as the Lord said:

"You shall know them by their fruits."

The most beautiful woman to walk the Oscar's red carpet

Mother Dolores Hart when she arrived for this year's Oscars where a documentary about her life as a movie star to a cloistered nun is nominated for an Academy Award.  "God is the bigger Elvis" unfortunately did not win the Oscar for Best Documentary Film.

Here she is posing for photographers.  I do not know who was with her.  They maybe the filmmakers of her docu.  No, they did not do her make-up nor designed her "gown".

Here she is waving to the crowds.

And here she is blowing a whistle for the crowds.   She is really having a blast.  :)

Photo credits to (according to order) the Telegraph, 2Space, Deacon's Bench and Moviefone.com

You can read about her life story by reading a previous blog post I made about her in September 2010.

You can also read about her in this wonderful post in Deacon's Bench.

I will be watching out for the documentary.

Mother Dolores Hart, OSB goes back to the Oscars!

 I have been receiving emails about the news that Mother Dolores Hart, OSB the former Hollywood actress, once Elvis Presley's leading lady, whose life and her journey from Hollywood to the monastery, is made into a documentary, which is nominated to this year's Oscars.

And the best part of it all, she was invited to this year's Academy Awards and she will, uhm, "strut the red carpet", wearing her black Benedictine habit!

Woohoo!!!

While the rest of Hollywood "royalty" will be parading their designer gowns, these Lady of God will be parading her habit designed for the Lord, as a bride of Christ!  :)

Read more about this wonderful story in Women of Grace. 



I have blogged about Mother Dolores Hart, OSB way back in 2010.

Pinoy Bishops from Visayas and Mindanao's ad limina with the Pope

From EWTN News.com

VATICAN CITY, 18 FEB 2011 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Benedict XVI received prelates from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, who have just completed their "ad limina" visit. Addressing them in English, the Pope recalled "the deep links which Catholics enjoy with the Successor of Peter", noting that this has "always been a significant characteristic of faith in your country, I pray that this communion will continue to grow and flourish as you consider the present challenges of your apostolate", he said.

"While the Philippines continues to face many challenges in the area of economic development, we must recognise that these obstacles to a life of happiness and fulfilment are not the only stumbling blocks that must be addressed by the Church. Filipino culture is also confronted with the more subtle questions inherent to the secularism, materialism, and consumerism of our times. When self-sufficiency and freedom are severed from their dependence upon and completion in God, the human person creates for himself a false destiny and loses sight of the eternal joy for which he has been made. The path to rediscovering humanity's true destiny can only be found in the re-establishment of the priority of God in the heart and mind of every person. [The Pope is aware of the rising influence of Western secularism in the country.  Cafeteria Catholics in mind here!]

"Above all", the Holy Father added, "to keep God at the centre of the life of the faithful, the preaching of you and your clergy must be personal in its focus so that each Catholic will grasp in his or her innermost depths the life-transforming fact that God exists, that He loves us, and that in Christ He answers the deepest questions of our lives. Your great task in evangelisation is therefore to propose a personal relationship with Christ as key to complete fulfilment. ... At the same time, it must be recognised that new initiatives in evangelisation will only be fruitful if ... those proposing them are people who truly believe and live the message of the Gospel themselves".

The Pope then went on to remark on the positive impact basic ecclesial communities have had throughout the country, highlighting how the "the Church in the Philippines is fortunate to have a number of lay organisations which continue to draw people to the Lord. In order to confront the questions of our times", he explained, "the laity need to hear the Gospel message in its fullness, to understand its implications for their personal lives and for society in general, and thus be constantly converted to the Lord. I therefore urge you to take special care in shepherding such groups, so that the primacy of God may remain in the forefront".  ["Primacy of a person's conscience" people will throw in a nutty here.]

In the Philippines, the Pope continued, faith "plays a very important role in the lives of many young people, a fact that is due in large part to the patient work of the local Church to reach out to youth at all levels. ... Care must also be given to showing young people the importance of the Sacraments as instruments of God's grace and assistance. This is particularly true of the Sacrament of Matrimony, which sanctifies married life from its very beginning, so that God's presence may sustain young couples in their struggles".  [The Importance of Sacraments!...Get that?  And liturgists pay much importance in singing and dancing and camp outs to evangelize the youth.  Not so!  They are instruments to draw them near, but if the youth's faith is not nourished by the Oprah Winfrey style of evangelization, then we have a problem.  Yes, folks, this happens in our parish, in our diocese.  The groups that attract the youth the most are those groups who do not burden themselves on making "creative liturgies" but groups who are devoted to prayer and a more solemn worship at Mass.  Take it from a worker.  I have seen it.  We even have some Knights of the Altar who are considering the priesthood because they fell in love with the solemn and dignified manner of celebrating the Mass. The "Willie Revillame" and "Bob Barker" priests just have fans...no vocations.  Now that says a lot!]

Finally the Pope noted how "the pastoral care of young people which aims to establish the primacy of God in their hearts, tends inherently to result not only in vocations to Christian marriage but also in plentiful callings of all kinds". [See?  Told yah!] However, "it appears that in many dioceses the number of priests and the corresponding number of parishes is not yet sufficient to meet the spiritual needs of the large and growing Catholic population. With you, I therefore pray that young Filipinos who feel called to the priesthood and the religious life will respond generously to the promptings of the Spirit". [Unless they have a rude awakening once they learn in the Catechism is not what is being taught at theology schools.  But I digress...HA!]

Kickin for the Lord!