Calling all Trads and TLM Catholics

Please pray for Holy Trinity German Catholic Church in Boston. We have our meetingt with ArchBishop O'Malley September 1 at 6:pm EDT. We hope to get a reversal on the closure. Holy Trnity is not onely the only German National Parish in New England but the home of the TLM in Boston. THey plan to move us to a church that is totally unsuitable for many reasons for us. Also Fr. O plans to get rid of the choirs which includes the only Schola (so much for the Holy Father wanted more Gregorian Chant).

When you meet with the Archbishopp and his people, be sure all of you are wearning St. Benedict medals.

Why? To ward off evil? From who?

As a a secular Benedictine myself, and a wearer of the medal--which is embedded in my crucifix--I find these remarks somewhat disturbing.

Have we stopped to consider that the Lord may have something better in store for them? Perhaps, the Lord wants to teach these Catholics to rely more on him and less in their own resources. Perhaps the Lord wants them to love their bishop like children do their fathers, and to trust in his judgment; perhaps the Lord is set to bless this filial obedience with more actual graces and a renewed mission. You will know when you ask for it.

These are a but number of the intentions worthy of intercessory prayer. Preparations for spiritual combat when the perceived adversary is "the Archbishop and his people," as if they were somehow foreign to the Church and tainted, are preposterous, and an offense against charity.

-Theo

In Charity, do you understand the background of what has happened in Boston and how those hold legitimate authority have and continue to create scandal? In this case the people of Holy Trinity have been respectfully requesting an audience with His Excellency for at least 18 months to communicate our plight and its potential effect on the Archdiocese of Boston and the universal Mission of the Church. We have been continually "stonewalled" and misrepresented by those charged with authority to execute the reconfiguration (suppression or merger) of over 60 parish in the Archdiocese of Boston. There has been and remains a callous, utilitarian attitude operative in Boston that completely disregards the importance of the Domus Dei (House of God) as part of our Catholic patrimony. More often than not, forgotten is the role that our Sacred Architectural patrimony plays as a tool of evangelization to both the Church Militant and an increasingly hostile secular culture. We are told churches are "just building" and nothing more. How terrible sad. I believe if the undiscerning mindlessly parrot phrases like this often enough, they begin to believe them. Sadly, it is happening in Boston since orthodox catechetical formation has been abysmal or nonexistent for many years. Belief systems tend to be formed by the prevailing secular culture. The importance of cherishing Sacred places were the incarnate meet our Incarnate Creator in the Most Blessed Sacrament more often than not is not approached with a truly Catholic sense.

How often have I heard in recent days these Sacred Places referred to as "Worship Space". THAT is patently offensive and foreign to Catholic ecclesiology, yet is used as part of language of reconfiguration in Boston. Archbishop O'Malley's tag-line for reconfiguration in a post sex-scandal Boston Archdiocese is "Rebuild My Church". This phrase borrows heavily from the words St. Francis (our Archbishop's own spiritual father) heard. I wonder how he would relate to what has happened in Boston over the last two years. Please pray for the Church, particular in Boston for both the Faithful and our Shepherds that we may all have the Grace to hear and accept God's will.

Siobhan, thank you for the ping. St. Cecilia and St. Gregory the Great are two of my "favorites." I will add prayers to St. Catherine of Siena - may the parishioners of Holy Trinity have the ability to be truly heard by Archbishop O'Malley the way St. Catherine spoke to the Pope of her time - and St. Anthony of Padua - may he knock some sense into another Franciscan.

Pandora the Great, I think part of your strategy is right in your post. How impressed will Benedict XVI be by the closing of the only German National Parish in New England? Someone might want to ask the question in a rhetorical manner during your meeting. When you wrote "Fr. O" did you mean Archbishop O'Malley? If so, why would the archbishop invlolve himself in such minute details as choirs? Or were you referring to a priest at Holy Trinity?

An advance view of your meeting:

Either:
O'Malley will sit looking at you and saying nothing then say something like "I will keep you in my prayers" and use some sort of side step language to say he will consider your request

Or
Tricky Dick Lennon will be there because O'Malley couldn't make it and he will tell you everything you want to here then let you go with a parting smile.

Be sure to check for your wallet afterwards.

Either way Tricky Dick is the guy running the place, if you pay attention you can actually see the place on O'Malley's back where he puts in his hand to make his lips move.

I have to believe this, otherwise our Archbishop is a very evil man.

In Charity, do you understand the background of what has happened in Boston and how those hold legitimate authority have and continue to create scandal?...

Thank you for your kind reply! To answer your question, I cannot begin to understand what is going on in Boston. What I know is that the Archbishop is seeking to close and consolidate several parishes across the board and that there's a lot of discontent.

I agree with you that a "desacralization" has been taking place across the board, and that includes a reengineering of Catholic terminology. With you, I decry all attempts at architectural vandalism under the guise of "renewal." In fact, I share all of the concerns you express.

My first spiritual director is a Capuchin Franciscan stationed in Washington, DC. He serves mostly Hispanic communities, although my spiritual father is of Italian descent and originally from Newcastle, PA. His life is a testament to the dedication of these Franciscans to orthodoxy in faith and devotion to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. I have seen them myself at Capuchin College, near the Catholic University of America campus in DC.

Based upon that assessment, I wish to extrapolate the same best motives to Archbishop O'Malley in this horrible hour when the innocent will have to sacrifice the physical patrimony of the Church in Boston to pay for the grievous sins of a few, and the official negligence of many.

What I'm saying is that this should not be seen as an attempt by the good Archbishop to target the support infrastructure of those loyal Catholics who worship according to the Old Liturgy and rubrics because of who and what they are, but as part of the greater problematic embroiling the diocese. Boston Catholics, whether they want it or not, have to pick up the pieces for the sins of others. We are mandated by the Gospel to grant everyone the best of motives and intentions; charity binds the Catholic faithful to their bishop as children to a father.

Superstitious appeals to saints and using holy medals against the Archbishop have no place in this process and it is an offense against charity. Proper appeals to saints in favor of the Archbishop and his intentions, as well as for his spiritual and physical well being is the proper, correct, orthodox way to go, as well as for an increase in patience and forbearance (sp?) in all Catholics in Boston.

Sacramentals, too, should be used appropriately and any call to use them as talismans or amulets should be resisted, particularly if the target remains vague and undefined or hinted at as the "archbishop and his people." For ignorance and fanaticism in the fight for Truth is no virtue.

Thank you for sharing your information and feelings with me. I'll add them to my prayers. I did not mean to give offense, but to question and correct a wayward poster.

In Christ's Charity,

-Theo

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