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Ratzinger & Tolkien on the Novus Ordo and Organic DevelopmentGetting your Trinity Audio player ready...Many of these trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nuts and acorns; many had voices of their own that are lost forever now. And there are wastes of stump and bramble where there were singing groves. ― TreebeardJoseph Ratzinger and the Organic MetaphorDom Alcuin Reid’s monograph, The Organic Development of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2005), represents a significant contribution to the rediscovery of the liturgical Tradition that had been obscured by the “mutation” following the replacement of the Liturgy of the Ages with...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Schneider tells Michael Knowles that reverence is a question of taking ‘God seriously’‘God is not something which we can treat as we like. God is God,’ the Kazakhstan bishop said of the importance of right worship.Bishop Athanasius Schneider stressed the importance of reverence toward God in a Friday interview, saying that it is a question of taking God “seriously.”The Kazakhstan bishop began by telling Daily Wire host Michael Knowles how as a child he lived under the Soviet regime and grew up in the “catacombs” of the Catholic Church, with his parents helping to organize “secret Masses.”...

[Catholic Caucus] Sacrosanctum Concilium Turns 60IntroductionTurning 60 can be traumatic: all of a sudden retirement looms on the horizon, less than optimal physical fitness or even the prospect of bad heath beckons—if it has not already caught up with us in one way or another. Our busy lives may still be filled with activity, but turning sixty raises the inevitable question: for how much longer?But what of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium—the much-vaunted first-born child of the Council, as it were, and certainly the one which has had the greatest impact on the lives...

The 1978 Investigation into Vatican Freemasonry: Discovering the Smoke of SatanIn its foreword, Murder in the 33rd Degree by Father Charles Murr, stipulates that since 1738 with Pope Clement XII’s encyclical, Eminenti Specula, the church’s condemnation of Freemasonry had remained the same, best expressed in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 2335: “Those giving their name to masonic sects or other associations of this sort that machinate against the Church or legitimate civil powers contract by that fact excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See.” The author of the foreword, an unnamed, “friend and brother priest,” concludes, “Thus, if...

Cursed Cultus or Worthy Worship: The Choice That Faces UsEditor’s Note: The following is a transcript of prepared remarks delivered by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski at the official launch of Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s book, The Catholic Mass: Steps to Restoring the Centrality of God in the Liturgy (Sophia Institute Press, 2021), hosted by the publisher in Arlington, VA (Oct. 18, 2022). It is truly a great honor and joy to be here this evening, in the company of His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, my long-time friend Diane Montagna, my newer friend Charlie McKinney, and all the distinguished guests and faithful Catholics...

[Catholic Caucus] Reposting: A most important historical document: the 1969 Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (the original GIRM) - "The Lord's Supper, or Mass, is the sacred meeting or congregation of the people of God assembled, the priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord..."Eleven years ago, in 2011, we in RORATE were proud to be the first to make available online, for the first time, a document that had then become extremely rare: the very first GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), published together with the 1969 Novus Ordo Missae.From our post:***7. Cena dominica sive Missa est sacra...

[Catholic Caucus] Viganò on Liturgical Revolution and the Holy Week Reforms of Pius XII Dear Monsieur…,Thank you for sending Abbé…'s question to me regarding the reform of Holy Week.I agree with him that the reform can effectively be considered a sort of trial balloon with which the architects of the subsequent conciliar reform introduced an entire series of modifications – which in my opinion were entirely questionable and arbitrary – to the Ordo Majoris Hebdomadæ as it existed up until that time.I would say in fact that this modification may have appeared almost harmless, albeit bizarre, because the mens...

[Catholic Caucus] Masonic Conspiracy, Lefebvre, and the Murder of John Paul I[Catholic Caucus] Fr. Charles Murr is one of the last living witnesses to Vatican corruption who is both orthodox and courageous. We have many clerics out there – dare I opine “many”! – who are orthodox, but do not have the courage – or perhaps the opportunity? – to speak the truth come what may.Today, we thank God for Fr. Charles Murr who continues to show that he has both, setting an example for all clerics everywhere.Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowIn an interview with Kevin Symonds back in 2020,...

[Catholic Caucus] Announcing Fr. Charles Murr’s new book of memoirs, Murder in the 33rd Degree: The Gagnon Investigation into Vatican & FreemasonryIn Catholic discourse today, one notices two extremes when the question of Freemasonry and its (past or present) penetration into the Church hierarchy is raised.Some people, rather like McCarthy with Communists in the 1950s, are inclined to see Freemasons behind every desk and department. Others, reacting against this excess, dismiss the whole idea as nuttery, as a “conspiracy theory” that has no basis in reality.Both extremes suffer from the defect of being impatient, unhistorical, and unphilosophical. A patient...

What I Didn’t Know about Bugnini and the LiturgyAs a Millennial who was weaned on the Novus Ordo Missae, I have been inescapably molded by its main architect, Abp. Annibale Bugnini. Yet there is so much that I didn’t know about Bugnini and his revolution of the liturgy.I didn’t know, growing up, that a man infamously alleged to have been a Freemason or “something far worse” was behind the freewheeling liturgy of my youth. I didn’t know that the Roman Canon was supposed to be shrouded in the silence of the Cross — or that my pastor’s altar theatrics were...

Does It Really Matter if Bugnini Was a You-Know-What?I once wrote an article for Rorate Caeli entitled “Conservative Fragility.” I have noticed in recent weeks the extent to which conservative Catholics are sounding jittery, short-tempered, dismissive, and intolerant towards traditionally-minded Catholics who refuse to embrace the papally-bestowed role of scapegoat for the abrogation of Summorum Pontificum.One such person in particular—no need for a name, since my point is not about a name but a phenomenon—heatedly makes fun of anyone who mentions that Bugnini probably or certainly was a Freemason, mockingly referring to “Viganò’s flying monkeys” and other such sarcastic turns...

Source Found! Bergoglio Copied BugniniArchbishop Annibale Bugnini (+1982), the inventor of the Novus Ordo – who wrote the Second Eucharistic prayer in a restaurant – formulated in 1976 four conditions for allowing Archbishop Lefebvre and other Catholics to continue celebrating the Roman Mass. These conditions are listed on page 180 in a Bugnini biography published 2018 by French historian Yves Chirion: 1. A declaration that the Novus Ordo is not heretical or Protestant, and that those who composed and approved it are not heretics and Protestants. 2. The order of Mass may be that of the 1962 Missal but the...

[Catholic Caucus] WATCH: Paul VI, Maritain, Alinsky, and the New MassIn this talk, Catholic attorney and author Christopher Ferrara unveils the connections between Pope Paul VI, Jacques Maritain, Saul Alinsky, and the agenda behind the Novus Ordo Missae. Mr. Ferrara gave this presentation at our 2019 Conference, “The New Mass: Fifty Years of Problems”, held in the Chicago area.This lecture is particularly significant in light of recent news about the “imminent reform” of Summorum Pontificum by Pope Francis (see here, here, and here) — that is, an attempt to make access to the Traditional Latin Mass more restricted and difficult....

EXPOSÉ: New Interview with Fr. Charles Murr on Mother Pascalina, Bugnini, Paul VI, and Other Major Figures Preliminary Note: For decades, traditionalists have suspected or accused Annibale Bugnini of being a Freemason, based essentially on hearsay and circumstantial evidence. The matter remained doubtful to such an extent that the eminent French historian Yves Chiron, himself a traditionalist, was unable to credit the rumor, judging the evidence inadequate and inconclusive. The situation began to change last May when Kevin Symonds presented credible details, courtesy of Fr. Brian Harrison, naming Cardinal Dino Staffa as the one who brought Paul VI the...

[Catholic Caucus] "A pope would be schismatic... 'if he if he were to change all the liturgical rites of the Church that have been upheld by apostolic tradition'." (Francisco Suárez / Klaus Gamber) Only four years had passed since the publication of the new Missal when Pope Paul VI surprised the Catholic world with a new Ordo Missæ, dated April 6, 1969. The revision made in 1965 did not touch the traditional liturgical rite. In accordance with the mandate of Article 50 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, it had been primarily concerned with removing some later additions to...

[Catholic Caucus] The strange birth of the Novus Ordo After several decades of liturgy wars, few are unaware of the turbulent history of the post-conciliar liturgy since the New Order of Mass (Novus Ordo Missae) was promulgated 50 years ago, on April 3, 1969, by Pope Paul VI with his apostolic constitution, Missale Romanum. The Novus Ordo was produced in a mere five dizzying years by a committee of bishops, guided by an assemblage of experts. The process itself was a novelty, starkly contrasting with the gradual and organic growth (over more than 1,500 years) of the liturgy it replaced.The...

[Catholic Caucus] Did Francis Chose Sarah’s Successor? Francis intends to replace Cardinal Sarah as soon as he turns 75 on June 15, although Sarah is from the “peripheries,” Francis allegedly likes so much.HommeNouveau.fr (May 9) writes that Francis informed Sarah about this several months ago.Sarah's successor could be Tortona Bishop Vittorio Viola, 55, a Franciscan who holds a doctorate in liturgy and was a professor in Sant’Anselmo in Rome.He was ordained in 1993 by his mentor Bishop Luca Brandolini, 87, a disciple, co-worker and confrere of Archbishop Bugnini, the inventor of the Novus Ordo.Brandolini has been using Bugnini’s episcopal ring...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Paul VI vs. Bugnini   By David Martin If the engineers of the Neo-Reformation were able to advance their plans and bring forth a new Mass for the Church in defiance of centuries of divine guidance, it means they weren’t being watched too carefully. While John XXIII and his men were busy at work preparing for the Second Vatican Council in the years preceding the Council, there lay hidden in the Vatican a secret cabal of liturgical planners whose work would bring discredit to the Church and to the one appointed to lead it, Pope Paul...

Archbishop Bugnini: The Man Behind the Post-Vatican II Mass The concept of “living and prayerful assembly” looks tragic in retrospect; it led to a collapse on every front. And soon after the “New Mass” was promulgated, a 1971 petition in the London Times, signed by high-profile personalities such as Jorge Luis Borges, Graham Greene and Yehudi Menuhin, called for the survival of the Tridentine Mass. The response of intellectuals and artists is forgotten now, but at the time, it must have stung the reformers. The exile of the average laity, however, seems to have never given the reformers a second’s remorse;...

Many facts once dismissed as conspiracy theories are shown to be historically accurate For Christmas I was given a copy of the newly translated biography of Annibale Bugnini, architect of the Novus Ordo Mass – and hero or éminence grise of the Council’s liturgical reforms, depending on your viewpoint. It is difficult not to tend towards the latter, though I don’t think the author intends it so. Startling things emerge: many facts once dismissed as conspiracy theories because they were originally reported by those who opposed some reforms are here held to be historically accurate, perhaps the most notorious being...