Free Republic

If the grand altars, with all their gold and statues and size, are at their core outward signs of inward devotion, what does it say about plain altars that more resemble a table than a temple? For most of the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history, it has been known for its magnificent churches. In the popular psyche, the stereotypical Catholic church has high, arched ceilings, statues of saints, massive crucifixes, incense that seems to pour from the walls, and gilded, beautiful, and (sometimes) obnoxious altars.There is perhaps no better example of this than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Vatican itself,...

Although it is only August, my choir is planning our music for the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). It is a bilingual Spanish/English service. We have an abundance of songs available in Spanish, of course. However, we need two or three songs in English. For the past two years, we have used "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" and "Holy is His Name," but we're tired of those! Does anyone know of any songs in English about Our Lady of Guadalupe, or even fairly close thematically? I looked last year, but all I found was something for children using...

Sources inside the Vatican suggest that Pope Francis aims to end Pope Benedict XVI’s universal permission for priests to say the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. While the course of action would be in tune with Pope Francis’ repeatedly expressed disdain for the TLM especially among young people, there has been no open discussion of it to date. Sources in Rome told LifeSite last week that liberal prelates inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith were overheard discussing a plan ascribed to the Pope to do away with Pope Benedict’s famous...

Bishop Dorylas Moreau shares Francis’ vision of the Novus Ordo church Two revolutionaries meet — Francis & Dorylas Moreau. Dorylas Moreau is the bishop of the Quebec Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda.  If that name sounds familiar it is because he was the bishop who petitioned the Vatican recently for the twisted Sr. Pierrette ‘the pastor’ Thiffault to be allowed to witness a wedding and perform the ceremony.  In a recent interview with ICI Radio-Canada and an in an article he wrote in the 6 June 2017 diocesan newsletter, L’Église de Rouyn-Noranda, Moreau shared what Francis told him and the bishops of...

The banal news that Donald Trump Jr tried to get dirt on Hillary exposes Progressive delusions as a collective dementia unresponsive to actual facts.In 1848, Charles Mackay published Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. The preface to his first edition explains the idea behind the title: THE OBJECT OF THE AUTHOR in the following pages has been to collect the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men...

Roberto de Mattei writes in Corrispondenza Romana about a secret working paper of the Congregation for the Clergy, which is circulating in Roman Seminaries and Collegios, i.e. houses where priests, who study in Rome live. The paper wants that the young priests stop saying Holy Mass and participate instead in mass-concelebrations. According to De Mattei, already on April 1st 2017 Pope Francis tried to denigrate the celebration of Mass as "individualism" and recommended concelebration instead, while addressing priests, who study in Rome. According to De Mattei, the working paper writes in bold that "the concelebrated Mass is to be preferred...

June 20, 2017 by paulsimeon2014 Vatican reportedly working on “Ecumenical Rite of Mass” for joint worship with Protestants Pope Francis meets with Rev. Jens-Martin Kruse at Rome’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Nov. 15 2016Italian journalist and Vatican expert Marco Tosatti has reported that Pope Francis has formed a top-secret commission tasked with implementing a new kind of “mass” that is acceptable to Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans. The commission consists of representatives from all three denominations, all bound to secrecy.The journalist, who is well known in Italy for his accurate reporting of all things happening in the Vatican, has said that...

Reading three news articles yesterday makes me think that someone is really “getting bent out of shape” and we are entering now a perilous phase of decline: those who don’t agree with the boss – off with their heads! An unprecedented populist degeneration in the life of the modern Church. I sincerely hope I’m wrong: I’m not just saying this, I really hope so. However we have signs that are anything but comforting. The crux of the matter, it seems to me, is once again the Pope’s non-response (a year has now gone by) to the five questions asked by...

India's Catholic bishops have strongly condemned a violent police disruption of a Good Friday service at a small parish in the south of the country. The Dhalit Catholic community in the village of Sogandi was holding a liturgy for the Passion of the Lord April 14 when they were disrupted by the Tehsildar – local tax and revenue officers – as well as police during the Veneration of the Cross and distribution of Holy Communion.

Secrecy: Referring to its source in Santa Marta, the blog Anonimi della Croce reports of secret meetings of Pope Francis with the Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby and other Anglican and Lutheran dignitaries. Protestant representatives participate also in the secret group that works on changing the New Rite into a new ritual that can be used by Catholics and Protestants alike.

Pope Francis has ordered a review of “Liturgiam Authenticam,” the controversial decree behind the most recent translations of liturgical texts from Latin into English and other languages. The commission, established by the pope just before Christmas, is also tasked with examining what level of decentralization is desirable in the church on matters such as this. The mixed commission includes bishops from all the continents. Significantly, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Arthur Roche, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, to be its president. The English-born archbishop is the number two official at the...

This past weekend the Most Reverend Robert Morlino, Bishop of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin made an announcement of great liturgical importance. Going forward His Excellency will be offering all of his Masses at the Cathedral ad orientem. Make no mistake about it, this is a major development on the liturgical landscape of American Catholicism. While Bishop Morlino is a strong supporter of the Traditional Latin Mass, and has offered it publicly on numerous occasions, his recent announcement pertains to Masses offered in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. This is the positive manifestation of Robert Cardinal Sarah’s call...

Commenting on sobering demographic and financial trends, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that “the number one priority has to be, ‘We need to make our worship better.” “Second of all, we need to do the best job that we can to get not only more ordained leaders, but we really have to open up lots of doors for the lay leaders of the Church,” he said. Since 2000, diocesan Mass attendance has declined by 40%, and K-8 Catholic school enrollment has fallen by 50%. The newspaper also reported that nearly half of Pittsburgh parishes are the...

Oh nice. So this is what we have to look forward to in Obama’s “new America.”Father Josiah Trenham described the threats on his Orthodox Church in California. Muslims screamed “Allahu Akbars” at St. Andrew Orthodox Church during its Sunday service. They brought their bullhorn so everyone would get the message. Via FOX News and Jihad Watch:

At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded the 12 Apostles to “do this in remembrance of me.”The “this” is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, also called the Divine Liturgy by Eastern Rite Catholics.When Christianity was new, misunderstood and outlawed, Saint Justin Martyr, one of the first Christian philosophers who understood Greek thought and Christian doctrine to be compatible, defended Christian doctrine and liturgical practices from secular political power, claiming Christians should not be persecuted. In his Apology, a detailed written defense of Christianity, one of the earliest descriptions of the Catholic Mass is found. “And this food is called among us...

Do you ever feel bored at Mass?Don’t worry, I’m not judging. When I first returned to Mass after a time away, I found the Mass boring. But Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist drew me in. And eventually, his presence in the Mass instructed me in the ways of heaven, helping me to develop a greater love for the Mass. I realized that the Mass was the most important prayer that I could pray in any day.As Blessed James Alberione once said, the Mass is “the daystar of prayer.” In other words, nothing else we do to get closer to...

You might say—many commentators have said—that with the quick Vatican smackdown of Cardinal Sarah's proposal for ad orientem worship, Rome has spoken and the case is closed. I disagree. On the contrary, Cardinal Sarah has reopened a much-needed discussion about how to increase reverence in the liturgy. His address to a conference in London caused what that city's Catholic Herald is describing in this week's cover headline as A liturgical earthquake. Ten days ago no one was talking about celebrating Mass ad orientem. Now that option is being widely discussed, even in secular media outlets. Cardinal Sarah was not issuing...

Although the pope's top official for liturgy recently suggested that priests should adopt the ad orientem posture for celebrating Mass beginning in Advent, meaning facing the east, a Vatican spokesman on Monday said that instructions recommending facing the people are not going to change.ROME- In the wake of recent comments by its chief liturgist recommending that priests celebrate Mass ad orientem, meaning facing east with their backs to the people, beginning in Advent, the Vatican released a statement on Monday saying no new rules along those lines are in the works. A Vatican spokesman also rejected the vocabulary of a...

Speaking at a conference on the liturgy in London yesterday, Cardinal Robert Sarah, the highest authority on the topic in the Catholic Church under Pope Francis, asked all bishops and priests to adopt the ancient posture in the Mass where the priest faces the tabernacle along with the congregation, rather than facing the people. He asked that the posture be adopted by Advent of this year, which begins November 27. During the same talk, Cardinal Sarah encouraged all Catholics to receive Communion kneeling. During the talk, the Vatican’s liturgy chief revealed that Pope Francis had asked him to “continue the...

This is just so wrong. (NRx)