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"The analysis of the Novus Ordo made by these two Cardinals has lost nothing of its value, nor, unfortunately, of its timeliness . .. The results of the reform are deemed by many today to have been devastating. It was the merit of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci to discover very quickly that the modification of the rites resulted in a fundamental change of doctrine." - - Cardinal Stickler, November 27, 2004, on the occasion of a reprint of the Ottaviani Intervention. LETTER OF THE CARDINALS ALFREDO CARDINAL OTTAVIANI ANTONIO CARDINAL BACCI TO HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI [On September 25,...

(Barcelona / Rome) Does the Congregation of Religious suffer from a villainous portrait of tradition? This question has hung in the air since last weekend. The Franciscan José Rodriguez Carballo, for a year secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, participated in a Conference of Religious of Catalonia. In his speech he delivered last Saturday without directly mentioning the Order by name, gave a first official hint as to why the Franciscans of the Immaculate have been reprimanded by his Congregation. The reason implied much to the young religious Order, and is of...

Pope Francis is shaking things up again. The pontiff with a penchant for surprises is making new waves by launching a survey of his flock on issues facing modern families — from gay marriage to divorce. Very specific questions are being sent to parishes around the globe in preparation for next year's synod of bishops, a grassroots effort that experts say is unprecedented. "It's fascinating," said Thomas Groome, a professor of theology at Boston College. "It's pretty astonishing," agreed Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of the gay Catholic organization DignityUSA. Advertise | AdChoices Vatican watchers say Francis' polling attempt is extraordinary...

No genius is needed to figure out that Pope Francis is not a liturgist the way Pope Benedict was. But the fear that Francis’ papacy may mark the “end of the reform of the reform” of the liturgical changes that were introduced after the Second Vatican Council is, frankly, unfounded. [snip] ... Buenos Aires is probably the Latin-American city with the largest number of Masses celebrated in the extraordinary form....[Yet Bergoglio] was concentrating on a far more daunting task: making sure that all of the faithful in his archdiocese had access to a decent Mass. In Latin America, beside...

The vast majority of faculty and staff members from the nation’s top Catholic universities donated to President Barack Obama’s campaign over Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s this cycle, according to a new report. Ninety-one percent of the employees at 23 different Catholic schools gave to Obama, according to Federal Elections Commission data available on OpenSecrets.org and analysed by the conservative college site Campus Reform. Much has been made of Obama’s Affordable Care Act mandate requiring employers to provide contraception coverage, a requirement that church officials say conflicts with Catholic religious doctrine,

Yonkers, NY––Blake Jennings, lead guitarist at St. Therese Parish in Yonkers, New York is outraged over what he calls “years of concerts being interrupted by the Mass.” The 56-year-old accountant and father of three has played with his band at the 9:30 Folk Mass since 2009. “Our fans love us,” Jennings said, after Sunday Mass. “You can see it in their eyes…the way they droop down, lazily closing as we play…as if their entering into some kind of ecstasy. Or the way some in the parish are so moved they just can’t stand another moment of joy, and simply walk...

The Pope’s ambition, a powerful blend of the Novus Ordo and the Old Rite, could sweep the Church There are too many difficulties attending both the Novus Ordo and the Old Rite By William Oddie on Friday, 20 May 2011 Cardinal Walter Brandmüller celebrated the Extraordinary Form Mass at St Peter's Basilica on Sunday (CNS photo) An extremely interesting story by John Thavis – which appears currently on the Herald’s homepage under the headline “Pope’s ‘reform of the reform’ in liturgy to continue” – reports what seems to me a potentially wondrous proposed advance. But will it happen? There is...

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 21, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As Catholic Relief Services responds to criticisms over its partnerships with pro-abortion anti-poverty groups, LifeSiteNews has discovered that the aid organization also has a history of hiring employees with strong ties to pro-abortion and pro-contraception organizations. One CRS employee lists the pro-abortion Pro-Choice Resources and Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies as former employers on her LinkedIn resume, while another was hired by the Catholic aid organization directly from the pro-abortion Population Services International. Former CRS employee Charisse Glassman was convicted of assault after driving her car into a crowd of March for...

Lately, the music director at our church has been “tickling the ivories” during the Consecration. While at the piano, in the front of church (naturally), he has been playing tunes, based on hymms for sure, on the piano during the entire Consecration (with a well timed pause during the elevation). It’s not irreverent, but it does sound like “lounge music“. [As the non-liturgical instrument, the piano, nearly always does.] I find it annoying, and keep wondering when Tony Bennett comes on stage (I’m kidding, of course). [Put a brandy snifter with a dollar bill on the piano next time...

A Cancer at the Heart of the Church How and why does this sort of thing happen? It causes me a piercing sorrow because it is emblematic of the widespread loss of faith in the adorable mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist that is a cancer at the heart of the Church. The Erosion of Faith Several years ago, in the context of a course I was teaching, I suggested that the erosion of faith in the Most Holy Eucharist was, in fact, fostered by a number of liturgical and disciplinary changes: – Minimalistic approach to the fast before Holy...

 Revealing overlooked Roman Missal changes The new Roman Missal has dropped three eucharistic prayers and added one. Why? And an introduction By Barry Hudock - OSV Newsweekly, 12/11/2011 W.P. Wittman photo In all the hoopla leading up to the implementation of the new edition of the Roman Missal in the United States, most of the attention has focused on the new principles used to translate its contents from the original Latin to English. Though questions about “dynamic equivalence” or “formal equivalence” are important and interesting, other changes — arguably more important ones — have barely been mentioned. Here’s one: There’s a...

From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume I (eBook) What is finally emerging as the sticking point between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X is the question of the assent owed to the Second Vatican Council. This is now the subject of an important essay in L’Osservatore Romano by one of the key negotiators for the Vatican, the vicar general of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocariz. Note that there is a link to the full text at the end of our news story, which itself includes substantial quotations.I hate to say I told you so, but Msgr. Ocariz...

 The long-awaited introduction of the new translation of the Roman Missal on November 27, the First Sunday of Advent, offers the Church in the Anglophere an opportunity to reflect on the riches of the liturgy, its biblical vocabulary, and its virtually inexhaustible storehouse of images. Much of that vocabulary, and a great many of those images, were lost under the “dynamic equivalence” theory of translation; they have now been restored under the “formal equivalence” method of translating. Over the next years and decades, the Catholic Church will be reminded of just what a treasure-house of wonders the liturgy is.At the...

Local Novus Ordo Priest has Communist Prayers and Genderless Creed By: Jay It is a bad thing to be a red-blooded male and attend a Novus Ordo liturgy locally. Before the mass began, it was asked of the crowd if anyone would like to do the readings that has been trained. I am familiar with how to conduct a traditional Latin Mass as well as how to operate in the Novus Ordo as a server and reader. I offered, but was turned down, because a college girl had offered her skills. I protested that the Catholic theological norm was that...

February 3 Helen Hull HitchcockThe New Missal Helen Hull Hitchcock is founding director of Women for Faith & Family and editor of its quarterly journal, Voices. She is also editor of the Adoremus Bulletin  a monthly publication of Adoremus - Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy, of which she is a co-founder. She is married to James Hitchcock, professor of history at St. Louis University. The Hitchcocks have four daughters and five grandchildren, and live in St. Louis.She has published many articles and essays in a wide range of Catholic journals, and is the author/editor of The Politics...

The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy called for a restoration of the “prayer of the faithful” saying:Especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation there is to be restored, after the Gospel and the homily, "the common prayer" or "the prayer of the faithful." By this prayer, in which the people are to take part, intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world. (SC 53)Exactly how this takes place with regard to form and the specific intercessions offered...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The Vatican on Thursday warned Italy's bishops against letting deserted churches be transformed into nightclubs if the decision was taken to sell the places of worship.Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's new culture commissar, urged "the greatest caution" after announcing that Roman Catholic churches with few worshippers could be sold off. He gave the example of a church in Hungary which was "transformed into a nightclub and where striptease took place on the altar." The archbishop, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said dwindling numbers of worshippers at some churches meant it now made...

The official Vatican guide to the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass has arrived on YouTube, where you can find long sections of Ecclesia Dei’s DVD about the Extraordinary Form. The clip below shows a priest saying the canon of the Mass. Coming soon to a church near you? Not if certain bishops can help it.

Following their exchange in July, author Moyra Doorly and Aidan Nichols discuss the merits of post-Vatican II liturgical reform Dear Fr Aidan, In your kind reply to my first letter you made the point that I was drawing "unnecessarily sharp" contrasts between a theology of "propitiation and supplication" on one hand, and teachings on the "fruits of Communion" on the other. But what I was trying to demonstrate is that the pre-Conciliar sources give ample teaching on both, whereas the documents of Vatican II ignore the theology of propitiation and supplication. Now, to me this represents a doctrinal discontinuity of...

As an American arrived in the Vatican post that'll oversee the English-speaking church's global transition to the controversial new rendering of the Roman Missal, the US bishops did their part to keep the process moving, approving each of the four action-items on the new text presented last month in San Antonio... albeit on mail ballot given the meeting's "inconclusive vote" from the floor: The translation of the Order of Mass II (of the Roman Missal) received 191 votes in favor, 25 against and five abstentions. The translation of the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Intentions passed by...