Posted on 01/24/2024 5:21:21 PM PST by ebb tide
I received this very interesting message, which I have been given permission to share.
As I write, it is the Feast of St. Raymond of Peñafort (and of St. Emerentiana).
I haven’t edited this. It is from a reliable source. Ed Condon of The Pillar was there, since I saw a different photo of the altar has his photo credit at their site.
REPORT FROM A SECRET LATIN MASS HELD IN THE US CAPITOL TODAY
The Capitol building and grounds wore a sullen air, almost of foreboding today, as a couple of dozen American Catholics gathered at the South entrance for the first Latin Mass to be celebrated there in living memory.
Capitol police were stationed everywhere, appearing to be deeply engrossed in conversations among themselves. They barely glanced at us.
Aside from them, the nation’s beloved Capitol was empty — no school groups, no lovers snapping selfies — just this quiet, self-conscious group of Catholics, filing silently into a makeshift chapel set up in an anonymous meeting room.
They had come at the personal invitation of Speaker Mike Johnson and Chairman Jim Jordan, to mark the one year anniversary of the release of an internal FBI memo smearing them and their families as ‘extremists’ and ‘domestic terrorists’.
When that memo became public, the head of the FBI was called before Congress to explain this targeting of American Catholics. Christopher Wray repeatedly denied that Catholics were the subjects of the FBI’s criminal investigations. But the memos from Portland and Richmond belied Mr Wray’s testimony.
The writers of those memos are still in their jobs. Mr Wray remains in his office. Both are apparently above the Bill of Rights.
There was standing room only in the meeting room chapel. All of us in that room knew that our presence there was being duly noted by the US intelligence apparatus. All of us
All of us knew that we were not allowed to know the identity of the priest who celebrated the Mass. All of us, on up to the octogenarians kneeling with difficulty on that utilitarian carpet, knew that we were taking a risk.
We were there anyway.
Why was I there? I flew in to DC expressly for this Mass in order to make a point to both the President of the United States who authorized this outrage against Catholics and to the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington from whom the celebration of this Mass was hidden, for fear of reprisals against the clergy present.
Here’s my point, gentlemen. This Mass was celebrated by my ancestors, going straight back to Roman antiquity. My own father, in whose veins ran the blood of the Roman Army, rode shotgun as a copilot and navigator on the B24 bombers in World War Two. His brother was in the first Army Ranger unit in the Philippines. My cousins served in Vietnam and my late husband put 35 years into the US Army Medical Corps.
Gentlemen, I have a God-given right to worship as I see fit in this country that the men in my family risked their lives for. And your atavistic, power-mad impulses notwithstanding, I will do exactly that.
I will kneel on the carpet of Capitol meeting room, surrounded by my fellow believers. I will revel in the breath-taking Gregorian chant redolent of early Christian worship in the catacombs. And I will receive my Savior in Communion on the tongue.
And I will do so as a free woman, because my freedom was purchased by the blood of patriots whose sandals you are not fit to tie.
My experience today at the Mass at the Capitol was a poignant juxtaposition of a troubled DC officialdom against the thousand year old Mass of the Saints.
An unforgettable experience in this Year of Our Lord, 2024.
St Raymond of Penafort, Ora pro Nobis!
Why was I there? I flew in to DC expressly for this Mass in order to make a point to both the President of the United States who authorized this outrage against Catholics and to the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington from whom the celebration of this Mass was hidden, for fear of reprisals against the clergy present.
I like the ALMS symbol: looks like the Templar's.
Imagine the bruised egos who will attempt to retaliate......
I used to go to downtown DC to celebrate the Latin Mass years ago.
Now I don’t think there is a church in the DC area that celebrates it now.
Well now, I’ll have to give Mike Johnson more benefit of the doubt.
To ebb tide
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I am a Catholic traditionalist born in Washington, D.C. Beginning around 1910 my family lived, worked, and worshiped in the shadow of the Capitol. My great grandfather’s Requiem Mass was conducted two blocks from the Supreme Court at St. Joseph’s, where I attended Mass every weekday until my retirement. Had I been invited, I certainly would have attended the Mass in the Capitol, even though I now live 130 miles from there. I’m happy you were able to attend.
Amen, Sister!
And so it goes; the days of Irish "Mass Rocks" may yet return.
And this time, we’ll be hiding from our own bishops and pope.
And from the pope and from their own bishop.
The Latin Mass is no longer celebrated at St. Mary’s downtown where it had been for many years. I believe that it has been moved to the Franciscan monastery near Catholic University.
My husband wonders what would happen if a large group of Catholics responded in Latin at an English language Mass.
‘And so it goes; the days of Irish “Mass Rocks” may yet return.’
I’m a Latin mass attendee, and within our circles there is fear of Bergoglio quadrupling down soon with a ban even more draconian than what’s now in place. At the same time, there’s an attitude of “no surrdender.” There are contingency plans in at least being discussed for Latin masses in private homes, community centers, etc. if it comes to that. So, yes, effectively “Mass rocks” again. And that’s fine. Righteous subcultures thrive on oppression, a fact that escapes Bergoglio and his ilk.
Per his grandson Simon, the late great JRR Tolkien was in the habit of doing exactly what you suggest... protesting the new mass by shouting out “et cum spiritu tuo,” “Deo gratias” etc. in place of English responses.
Pax tecum.
Thx!
I’ll check it out.
Pretty soon we'll be passing around copies of "The Chronicles of the Catholic Church in America" if Trump doesn't get re-elected.
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