Posted on 09/17/2007 6:32:17 AM PDT by maryz
This is the most unbelievable thing I have seen! This Bishop is in open defiance of the Pope, Summorum Pontificum, and blatantly ridicules the Extraordinary form! HT to Amy Welborn
Caserta bishop prohibits traditional Mass - Parish priest obeys but says he disagrees
By Angelo Agrippa
Corriere del MezzogiornoNAPLES - He is known as the bishop of tolerance. Of immigrants. Of deprived persons. He has opened diocesan structures for Muslims to say their Friday prayers, and Ukrainian/Moldavian Orthodox to use for their worship.
But now he has prohibited the celebration of the 1962 Mass restored as of September 14 by Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.
With a telephone call, Mons. Raffaele Nogaro ordered the rector of the Shrine of Sant'Anna in Caserta, Don Giovanni Battista Gionti, to stop the Mass he was planning to celebrate at 8 p.m. today.
"This case has nothing to do with tolerance," Nogaro said later.
"The Mass in Latin is a distortion of religious fact. Not even university professors who teach Latin pray in Latin. It is not an appropriate instrument for establishing a true relationship with God. To help people to pray is an honorable effort. That is what I try to do in allowing the Tent of Abraham to be used by Muslims and the chapel next to the Cathedral, to be used by the Orthodox.
"But to assail the faithful with sacred images, theatrical choreography and esthetic embellishments does the opposite. The faithful should be offered something valid and educational, not an occasion for disorientation. In short, murmuring prayers in Latin is good for nothing."
Strong words. A clear dissociation from Pope Benedict XVI's decree regarding the traditional Mass.
"The authority for the theological, liturgical and moral correctness of a diocese is the bishop," Nogaro continued, "even if the Pope has decreed an opening in favor of other rites. I am the only bishop in Campania who has asserted this so far to control the application of the Papal decree.
"Besides, the request of 30-40 persons is not sufficient in order for the traditional Mass to be celebrated. The parish priest is obliged to report it to his bishop. And I was never informed."
In his sacristy, Don Gionti is surrounded by many of those who had requested him for the traditional Mass, and is visibly disconcerted: "I will obey the bishop," he said, "even if this loses us the occasion for a liturgical experience that is important for our community, many of whom requested this. I considered it an experiment, certainly not a replacement for the post-Conciliar Mass.
"I think a priest should respond to a request by his congregation. But the bishop has ordered me to suspend the scheduled Mass, telling me that this would create a dangerous precedent. Though I still do not understand what danger he means."
In short, the Caserta case is everything but "Nulla veritas sine traditione" (Nothing is true outside tradition) as the followers of St. Pius V love to quote.
Fr. Louis Demornex, who studied at the Collegio Russium of Rome and has been the traditionalist parish priest of the Aulpi-Corigliani district in Sessa Auruna near Casertano, commented: "The Tridentine rite is not 'democratic' but for more than a millennium, it was the backbone of the Church. By destroying a traditional valid form of teh mass, one is tearing down the Church itself. The Pope knows this and that is why he issued this decree."
Nogaro, while protesting that he did not wish to be involved in any controversy, said further: "(Celebrating the traditional Mass) is like watching a statue passing in procession and simply admiring its artistic beauty. One cannot say that this is an act of faith or an occasion to inspire spirituality. This is what happens if we communicate in a language which no one knows at all, no one uses anymore, no one understands. The practice has nothing to do with the faith and someone must speak out on what the common thinking is about this."
Anyone want to take bets on whether satanic worship would elicit a similar response from the Bishop?
Sounds like what’s happening, covertly, in the Archdiocese of Denver.
“He is known as the bishop of tolerance. Of immigrants. Of deprived persons. He has opened diocesan structures for Muslims to say their Friday prayers, and Ukrainian/Moldavian Orthodox to use for their worship.”
This tells you all you need to know.
Compare with this from Fr. Z's sermon in England on motu proprio day!
The Latin language, for example, or the position of the priest in relation to the altar, or the silence, especially the silent Canon, leaves them confused. And so these elements are thought to be defects, defects which liturgical experts couldn’t wait to correct.But we know that these characteristics which so challenge 21st century man, are actually advantages. They are precisely what we need to train the soul for an encounter with mystery. They purify us of our over-attachment to the immediate, to the easily and instantly comprehensible. The soul grows in faith, hope and charity only in contact with a reality so far beyond itself, so transcendent, that it cannot be grasped or controlled.
Rorate Caeli has a post about this bishop. The comments there are quite forthright as well.
He's got 15 more months to make mischief before he's replaced.
The Pope will likely allow him to bray until then.
True, but if Don Gionti appeals to the Ecclesia Dei Commission, he has an open and shut case. OTOH, with all of the press this is getting, he may not even have to appeal it. Bp. Nogaro may receive communication from Rome...
That would come as news to St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), St. John Vianney, St. Pius X, St. Pius V, St. Maximilian Kolbe and a host of other saintly priests not to mention all the saintly men and women canonized by the Church who used this rite.
Before a demon leaves a possessed man it throws him into convulsions and screams for all it's worth, knowing that the fight has been lost. The bishop's words are the final convulsions and screams of a demon that knows that it has been defeated.
The Pope probably won’t replace him, but if he just ignores this and lets the bishop get away with it, it sets a terrible precedent and this bishop will be only the first of many to do this.
Nogaro’s sure not subtle about how much he hates the old mass, is he? They don’t even try to disguise their hatred anymore.
Is Denver bad? I thought they were allowing for training and, while Chaput didn’t really like it, he wasn’t really opposing it (unlike our bishop here in St. Augustine, Florida).
There are a good number of cranks with poor social skills in the traditionalist movement.
A year ago, a parishioner walked out during the homily of my local Tridentine rite Mass. The local ordinary had asked parishes to give a few moments of the homily time to a missionary priest serving in India to drum up funds for his mission. During his remarks he made favorable comments about the Salvation Army's missionary effort (clearly he was trying to stir up Catholics to contribute so as not to be outdone by the SA).
This parishioner stalked out mid-homily. The next Sunday he was outside of the church and tried to dissuade me from attending Mass there.
He told me that it was no longer a Catholic church because of the missionary's remarks. I told him he was being a bit hasty and that the remarks had been made not by our pastor by a missionary who may not have been sensitive to American traditionalists' way of looking at the world.
He told me that he had met with our pastor and our pastor had informed him that the missionary was there at the request of the bishop and was doing good work and what he had said was no big deal. As a result, the angry parishioner had written a blistering letter to the bishop and chewed out our pastor. He informed me that our pastor was now "a heretic" and was "headed to Hell" and that he would bring me with him if I went to Mass at my parish anymore.
I spoke to my pastor and he said he regretted this guy felt that way, and that he was most concerned that the bishop would reconsider our parish's indult if he kept receiving hate mail like that - that this guy was not only hurting himself but might hurt the whole parish.
Catholic ping!
And that's a reason for the bishop to react the way he did? Give me a break! Bishops are supposed to be like Christ and forgive those who persecuted them.
Unfortunately true! The left-wing nuts tend to have much better social skills . . . though that may be partly due to being in tune with the times, lends confidence!
Very cool.
I didn't think that was possible.
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