Five New Priests for the Archdiocese

Congrats to all of our new priests, ordained yesterday, at least one of whom is well known to most readers here. From the Review:


Mass of Priestly Ordination

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson ordained five Kenrick-Glennon Seminary students to the Roman Catholic priesthood at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

Archbishop Carlson confered the Sacrament of Holy Orders on Reverend Mr. Donald Anstoetter, Reverend Mr. Fadi Auro, Reverend Mr. William Dotson, Reverend Mr. Brian Fallon, and Reverend Mr. Daniel Shaughnessy.

Four of the men recently completed their master of divinity and master of theology degrees at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. Rev. Mr. Anstoetter completed his master of divinity in Rome. The five were ordained to the transitional diaconate in 2011.

If You Haven't Read This Book, Why Not?

Nearly everyone who has written about the spiritual life has had in mind those who live apart from the world, or at least the devotion they advocate would lead to such retirement. My intention is to write for those who have to live in the world and who, according to their state, to all outward appearances have to lead an ordinary life; and who, often enough, will not think of undertaking a devout life, considering it impossible; no one, they believe, ought to aspire to the palm of Christian piety while surrounded by the affairs of the world.

I will show them that a strong and resolute person may live in the world without being tainted by it, find spiritual springs amid its salt waters and fly through the flames of temptation without burning the wings on which they soar to God. True, it is no easy task and must be undertaken with much more zeal than many have so far shown, and I hope that this work will help those who undertake it with a generous heart. 

-- Introduction to the Devout Life 
   by St. Francis de Sales

Quick Pics from Visit of Monsignor Wach

Monsignor Gilles Wach, Prior General of the ICRSS, celebrated a beautiful Solemn High Mass at the Oratory last night to close the priestly retreat in St. Louis. In a nice treat for the Oratory faithful, Canon Aaron Huberfeld and Canon Jason Apple, both former Vicars here, filled the roles of Deacon and Subdeacon. I decided to show just how little I know of photography by posting these photos. Above, Monsignor Wach delivers the sermon.

Before Mass, one of the Oratory faithful was inducted into the Society of the Sacred Heart, and received the Cross of St. Francis de Sales from Monsignor Wach:





After Mass, the Institute family got together for a very pleasant reception in the hall. A lovely evening.

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for Us

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world”.

O my God, I thank you and I praise you for accomplishing your holy and all-lovable will without any regard for mine. 

With my whole heart, in spite of my heart, do I receive this cross I feared so much! 

It is the cross of Your choice, the cross of Your love. I venerate it; nor for anything in the world would I wish that it had not come, since You willed it. 

I keep it with gratitude and with joy, as I do everything that comes from Your hand; and I shall strive to carry it without letting it drag, with all the respect and all the affection which Your works deserve. 

Amen. 

--St. Francis de Sales

Monsignor Gilles Wach to Celebrate Solemn High Mass Tonight at 6:30 pm at St. Francis de Sales Oratory

The founder and Prior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, Monsignor Gilles Wach, will celebrate Solemn High Mass at the Oratory tonight at 6:30 pm to close the annual priestly retreat for the American province.  All are welcome.  A reception for Monsignor will follow in the Church hall.

I Haven't Laughed This Much in a Long Time

HA!  Hans Kung is declaring Pope Benedict to be in schism for regularizing the SSPX.  Oh, rich irony!  What better proof of the orthodoxy of the Holy Father do we need than this?

Let me see if I have this straight:  Heretic who doesn't obey the Pope is worried that someone obeys the Pope and thus we shouldn't obey a Pope who doesn't obey the Heretic and his mob.  Got it.

Some are calling this the beginning of the second Western schism.  Maybe.  But I just think the guy's an idiot.  IF ONLY they would disassociate themselves publicly from the Church to avoid leading any ignorami astray.  

Kung has already been stripped of the right to teach as a Catholic by the CDF.  Hey, Hans, get real.  From Rorate, the words of the Kunger:

HANS KÜNG - Papally provoked disobedience

Both in the official and in the alternative activities in the Mannheim Katholikentag, the prevailing sentiment was one of resentment and frustration over the delayed reforms in the Church. In fierce contrast with that, Pope Benedict XVI prepares, apparently for Pentecost, the final reconciliation with the Catholic Church of the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X, with its bishops and priests. This should happen even if the SSPX keeps rejecting key conciliar documents, having to be incorporated into the Church with the use of skillful canonical tactics. Before the Pope does this, he must be duly warned, not least by the bishops, because of the following:

1. The pope would be including in the Church bishops and priests that are definitely invalidly ordained (SLC Note:  this is patently false).  According to the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI "Pontificalis Romani recognitio", of July 18, 1968, the ordination of bishops and priests by Archbishop Lefebvre is not only illegal but also invalid. This view is shared among others by a relevant member of the "Doctrinal Commission", Karl Josef Becker, SJ, now a cardinal (SLC Note, Rorate says "not so").

2. With such a scandalous decision, Pope Benedict would, in his overall regretted isolation, be even more separated from the People of God. The classical doctrine regarding schism should be a warning to him. According to it, a schism of the Church happens when there is separation from the Pope, but also when the latter separates himself from the body of the Church. "Even the Pope could become a schismatic, if he will not guard the unity and communion proper to the whole body of the Church." (Francisco Suárez, major Spanish theologian of the 16th/17th centuries).

3. A schismatic pope loses his position according to that same teaching of the constitution of the Church. At least, he cannot expect obedience. Pope Benedict would be therefore encouraging the already widespread popular movement of "disobedience" against a hierarchy that is disobedient to the Gospel. He would bear sole responsibility for the grave rift and the strife created inside the Church. Instead of reconciling with the ultra-conservative, anti-democratic, and anti-Semitic SSPX, the Pope should rather care about the majority of reform-minded Catholics and reconcile with the churches of the Reformation and the entire ecumenical movement. Thus he would unite, and not divide.
________________________



Check out the standard anti-Catholic template for articles about Pope Benedict XVI, especially as he deals with the SSPX--

• delayed reforms (still waiting for the springtime of V2 to kick in)
• canonical tactics (i.e., lawyer's tricks; they loved using that against Cdl. Burke)
• his overall regretted isolation (see! the Pope's an old coot and we really just have to wait him out)
• already widespread popular movement of "disobedience" against a hierarchy that is disobedient to the Gospel (post hoc justification of heresy and schism by his fellow travelers)
• ultra-conservative, anti-democratic, and anti-Semitic SSPX (the final charge is the trump card of the anti-Catholic; the other two I only wish were true).

If these liars actually followed through and made their own sect instead of acting as parasites within Holy Mother Church, I could at least give them a measure of respect.  But no, they are nothing more than the devil's saboteurs, doing what damage they can.  See ya.

And They’re Breaking Down the Distance between Right and Wrong

Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
’Cross the valleys and streams
For they’re deep and they’re wide
And the world’s on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride

Ring them bells St. Peter
Where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know
Oh it’s rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down
Upon the sacred cow

Ring them bells Sweet Martha
For the poor man’s son
Ring them bells so the world will know
That God is one
Oh the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled
With lost sheep

Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf
Ring them bells for all of us who are left
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through
Ring them bells, for the time that flies
For the child that cries
When innocence dies

Ring them bells St. Catherine
From the top of the room
Ring them from the fortress
For the lilies that bloom
Oh the lines are long
And the fighting is strong
And they’re breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong

-- Bob Dylan

A Nice Take on the Illogic of the Contraception Mandate from a Secular Perspective

It's nice to see this article today on Real Clear Politics-- the whole farce from the Leader is, after all, pretty farcical.

___________________
Church of the Holy Contraception


By David Harsanyi


Are you sick and tired of these moralizing moralizers imposing their morality on the rest of us? I know I am.

Though it's commonly said that social conservatives would force us to live under theocratic rule if they could, these days the group most successful in imposing its worldview on others happens to be called the Democratic Party.

Just ask more than 40 Catholic organizations -- the Catholic University of America, the University of Notre Dame, the archdioceses of New York and Washington, etc. -- that filed suit against Obamacare's contraception mandate. Churches and other private institutions are impelled by government to break conscience in the name of state.

Religious freedom is, of course, limited to the interests of public health, but because contraception is relatively cheap, available in five minutes wherever you happen to be standing at this moment and covered by nearly every insurance plan, the only reason the administration mandates contraception is to coerce everyone to abide by left-wing orthodoxy.

At some point, contraception was transformed from a -- and I hope my Catholic friends will excuse the wording -- godsend to those wanting to avoid unwanted pregnancy to a "public health" concern to a moral societal imperative that must be mandated, lest we abandon our daughters, science, decency, "choice" and freedom.

Vice President Joe Biden once claimed that this debate is about "the right of women to decide for themselves, whether or not they want to use contraception" -- but not, you should note, allowing women to decide what kind of health insurance they can buy.

How does coercion become "choice"? I ran across a headline on the website of the left-wing think tank ThinkProgress that illustrates the awkward logic of this assertion: "Missouri Legislature Approves Bill Allowing Employers To Deny Access To Birth Control."

What could this possibly mean? Are these dastardly priests, archbishops and nuns forming a human blockade in front of the doors of St. Louis area pharmacies, denying men and women their "right" to purchase condoms? Does one deny access by failing to supply that something to another person? ...

[...]

And though I'm not interested in having the Catholic Church dictate the moral contours of my life, I am equally uninterested in having the Obama administration do it. And the dogmatism of the left -- though not driven by God and though, culturally speaking, I may occasionally agree with it -- is no less intrusive, whatever you might make of contraception.

A Full Church? In Europe?

Yep, that is what it looks like-- a church filled with faithful, in Spain. How is that possible? It's the new Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Apostolate in Madrid.




Do churros con chocolate at San Gines break the traditional Eucharistic fast? Or was there ever a wisely-given indult for the late-to-bed Madrileños?