*I need to post the update right up top. The picture below is of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin, TX. It is NOT my parish. I always try to include a picture of church art/architecture from my own photos on this blog. I can see how that picture below given the content of this post can be confusing.*
I have heard too many things over the weekend from a variety of sources around the country pertaining to the coming suppression on the Latin Mass to not be concerned at a heightened level.
Without revealing details, I can say that additional bishops appear ready to drop the hammer on the former Ecclesia Dei communities who serve parishes in their sees. Furthermore, if what I’m hearing is correct, whole communities are essentially on the chopping block.
We’ve kind of known this was coming. What surprises me is the rapidity with which it appears to be happening. These bishops will hide behind a number of factors including, “Cupich made me” to “Fwancis made me” to “it’s for your own good because we need you to abandon that silly old-timey stuff.”
Be prepared. Have a plan. Go to confession and for heaven’s sake, stop committing mortal sins if you haven’t already. You do not know if that confession you made yesterday will be your last for a long time.
The Lord gave us a taste of this two years ago. Remember, bishops shut down the sacraments (many, before a single government entity “ordered” them to). Funny, but Our Lord is also giving us the great grace in these times to recognize the intellectually diminished on the spot. Used to be you’d meet a man and maybe after a few months would begin to realize he wasn’t that bright. Now, they wear face muzzles and I can know who to avoid on the spot.
But now the bishops seem ready to do it again only this time they want you to think you have a choice.
Read Quo Primum. There’s something in there about how priests need no special permission to offer the Mass (emphases mine):
“Furthermore, by these presents [this law], in virtue of Our Apostolic authority, We grant and concede in perpetuity that, for the chanting or reading of the Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used. Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us.”
Seems to me a priest needs to remember his rights. Even a valid pope (which Bergoglio certainly is not) cannot take that away unless you let him. Boy this is pretty clear cut. I even ran it past a lawyer yesterday for clarification. Also, the V2 crowd made conscience their god. Well, Fathers, turn the tables. Tell them your conscience won’t allow you to violate this law.
St. Lucy’s Catholic Church/National Shrine of St. Gerard Majella, Newark, NJ
But we know that many of our good Fathers will cower and cave. Pray for them. If you find one who is stalwart, well, you know what you have to do.
God, through His Blessed Mother, will sort this out. And when it’s over, God willing, many of us may very well be saints.
More to come as I am given permission to discuss…
Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, have mercy on us!
With all the portentous news this week of bishops with busted moral compasses and bio labs and nukes, it seems to me the biggest story is what lies ahead.
One by one this week the dominoes started to topple. It started with Cupich and the Institute last Friday. Cupich – the smug, race baiting, vindictive man – never met a true Catholic he couldn’t stomach. He’s shutting down the ICK on his turf; or not if you listen to Doctor Taylor. By the way, I always thought Doctor was a strange first name but to each his own. Sidenote #1: My dad used to tire of getting notes from teachers and principals signed with a string of meaningless academic letters so he used to send his replies back with his signature followed by “FOS” – “Father of Sixteen”. In any event, I do think it’s a done deal, “DWW” (Dad with Webcam” notwithstanding).
Next up we had the delightful item of the Bishops of New Orleans (most demonically oppressed city in the hemisphere), Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Houma-Thiebedoux, and Crawdaddy sign off on the murder of the unborn. They’re just taking their cues from the antipope, I suppose. He’s apparently set to drop a doc on us that supposedly legitimizes the use of condoms and other contraceptives. Just looking out for his buds in the cardinalate. Sidenote #2: No straight man in his right mind would ever consent to covering that up. Just sayin’… it’s a little thing called nature.
Then there was the reportage by Mark Doherty that the US government has systematically been leading us to the brink of a nuclear war over biolabs, and pharmaceuticals. Nice. Sidenote #3: They say we should flee to a safe place like Wyoming but then there’s that whole Yellowstone Caldera thing…
Sanctuary view from Ambulatory, Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ
Finally, though, we have Holy Wilton Gregory, or as his friends call him, “Big Papa” (or so I hear). Hey, who am I to judge, right? Sidenote #4: McCarrick used to call every seminarian by a diminutive. I hated that. He went by “Uncle Ted” to some or “His Nibs” to others. Anyway, Notorious GRG has informed his people that the Latin Mass will effectively end in his diocese because “We love you so much we need to bring you into this craptastic farce called Novus Ordo!” Keep in mind that they insist the NO is the “sole expression” of the Roman Rite and yet they conveniently ignore the Anglican Ordinariate. These men are liars (or stupid to be more charitable).
The reason I think this last item is significant is because it is part of a pattern playing out before us. Chicago, Savannah, DC… The “implementation of TC seems to have taken shape a year after its release and it ain’t pretty. In the coming days and weeks I would look for other bishops to start issuing their own similar documents to Holy Wilton’s.
Final sidenote: I went back and re-read Quo Primum today. My isn’t it fascinating? Here you have a papal bull explicitly stating that no future pope can undo what’s been done in a particular matter. And no one did until 1970. Did Paul VI Montini really think his precious Humanae Vitae wouldn’t meet the same fate 50 years later?
Mother Inviolate, pray for us!
St. Mary Magdalene, the Penitent, the one who loved much, pray for us!
There are multiple reports that the Catholic bishops of the state of Louisiana have declared as moral and licit the use of the “contraceptive” morning-after pill for victims of rape.
Ever since I took that sex ed class in fifth grade (see last post on how their own ilk in the episcopate forced that garbage on 10 year-old me), and owing to the fact that I have contributed to the conception of several human people who look astonishingly like me but with hair, I feel qualified to dispense the following advice to Their Excellencies.
Listen carefully boys, because I don’t want to have to repeat myself.
The moment a man’s sperm cell makes contact with the egg cell of a woman…
God creates another human person!
The original TBT*
You probably never learned this next fact either so I’ll include it here. A human person is defined as the union between a physical, human body and an immortal soul. This is such fascinating stuff. Also, murdering a human person is wrong. I don’t even want to broach the subject of “mortal sin” and how those who die unrepentant of it go to the everlasting fires of hell… Best not to shock you like that.
If we consider all the facets of the situation of human conception we might actually come to the conclusion that once the two gametes (reproductive cells) meet, deliberately doing anything to cause a demise to that human person would be murder no matter how the two cells came together.
Does a woman have a right to protect her egg? Of course. And as tragic as rape is, even when rape is the cause of the fertilization, that egg is no longer an egg but a person.
I must be making my fifth grade teacher so proud right now! Shucks…
Getting serious for a second… I remember the late Archbishop John Myers of Newark (McCarrick’s immediate successor) trotting out the same line 20 years ago. They called it the “Peoria Protocol” after Myers’ first see in Illinois. Turns out a doctor Myers had befriended in Peoria had convinced him that “protecting the egg” from “potential conception” was valid. It was explained to the Archdiocese (I have had it confirmed) that this was, in fact, wrong on two grounds. 1) WHAT if a woman is already pregnant when she is raped? 2) You cannot determine the moment of conception so you may not proceed with this action. My source tells me that she was given the runaround by the Archdiocese of Newark at the time who finally put her touch with a lawyer from Princeton, NJ (not sure how he should figure into this). This lawyer used circular logic for about 45 minutes before telling my source, “Well, that’s how it’s going to be so we’re done here.” Additionally, my source made it through to JJ Myers himself on a conference call with a prominent pro-life leader on the call. The two of them listened as Myers stated that ‘The doctor who had given him [Myers] the information from which he based his decision was also a prominent man who Myers was trying to convert [begs the question, convert to what?] and that he fully understood exactly what my source was explaining but that his mind was made up.’”Bishops, how dare you? Can I charitably assume that you really don’t know that RU-486 and even “the pill” itself act as abortifacient drugs once fertilization has occurred? You’re not stupid, we presume. Looking for worldly applause? A little human respect? Wanna’ show the non-Catholics of the Pelican State that you’re chill?
Better idea. Take off your zuchettos and pectoral crosses and deposit them on the altars now. In this very day’s Gospel we hear: “He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.”
You disgust me, every damn one of you, if you know what you’re doing and you do it anyway. And every human life that ends abruptly because of your “pastoral instruction” will bear witness against you at your judgments.
Have a nice day.
O Mary Conceived Without Sin, Pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
This past Sunday morning after mass and breakfast I was on the phone with one of my nephews. This is a part of my usual Sunday morning routine. A solid man, my nephew is also one of my many godchildren. Like myself, he discovered the Latin Mass a few years ago. Like myself, he dove headlong into the study of tradition, wanting to understand this beauty more and more. On Sunday mornings we trade stories about the sermons we heard and any other happenings in the Church at large.
Somehow or other, the topic of Fr. Paul Wickens came up. I think it was as a result of the fact that certain people we know who might be inclined to attend a Latin Mass refuse to attend my nephew’s parish in New Jersey because it was established by Wickens.
If you are not familiar with the saga, click here.
I remember as a boy and later as a young man growing up in the Garden State, in fact in Newark. My parents would discuss news items around the dinner table and in our general activities. They never shielded us kids from the horrors of the world – not to traumatize us but because they believed we should know that evil exists so that we could combat it. Also, both of them – but especially my dad – wanted his children to be able to hold intelligent conversations. Fr. Wickens was discussed occasionally, and always with a bit of sadness. They sympathized with him (they did not know him personally) but they also believed he was wrong to “break from the Church”. Hindsight shows me that he did no such thing and that he, like Archbishop LeFebvre are in fact heroes. Remember that I have a personal history with Ted McCarrick as he plays into this story significantly.
As I spoke with my nephew I was also on the webpage of a tribute to Fr Wickens. This lead me to several articles from sources like the Gray Lady herself, the New York Times. These articles detailed what exactly happened that caused Wickens to “go rogue”.
As I was eyeing the pages, I stopped a moment when I came across the section about how Wickens vehemently opposed the teaching of “sex ed” in Catholic schools.
“Odd,” I remarked to my nephew, “I remember around that time very well. I was in the fifth grade at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Newark. I think Archbishop Gerety, before he retired had implemented a sex ed program in the Catholic schools and McCarrick pushed it through full-steam. I recall, along with my classmates, being handed a book by my teacher on a Friday afternoon and being told to bring it home to show my parents. The understanding was that if they had any objections they could ‘opt me out’.”
I didn’t know what any of this was all about at the time except that the book was clearly about sex.
I was ten years-old.
Being filled with a native curiosity about how things work and, you know, being a ten year-old boy with a book about sex in my backpack, I rushed home, read the book, and then remembered I was supposed to give it to my parents. I did hand it off to them and they, to my surprise, cautiously allowed me to sit through the next three weeks learning how babies were made. If I recall correctly, the book was more clinical than anything else but to this day I do not remember a semblance of moral teaching. And I cannot explain why they did not opt me out except that there were moments in the past 50 years where we have all been caught off guard.
Can I back up to the part where I was 10?
In the time it took me to read that book (it was sonly 30-40 pages long and filled with illustrations), my innocence was destroyed. And people wonder why I homeschool my kids and will NEVER let them into the clutches of another until I am certain they have been formed properly enough to be solid in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic faith of our ancestors. Sorry if I went a bit off the rails there. That afternoon, something changed. I now had a whole lot of knowledge I did not need at that moment. I had a little bit of confusion too as a 30 page booklet couldn’t possibly fill in all the gaps and, as I mentioned, it left out any moral teaching. In fairness, my teacher never strayed from instructing the class that this beautiful gift was reserved by God for a man and woman in the sacrament of marriage. Thank the Lord for that. And of course, my parents always taught the same and more at home. But something died. My boyhood was over. I was 10.
I came across something quite germane to this discussion in the Catechism of the Council of Trent recently. I’ll quote it here. Remember, the modernists before, during, and after V2 never wanted you to read this particular catechism even though it’s still official Church teaching. Ask yourself how you can be in unity with anyone who denies these truths.
“In the explanation of this Commandment [the Sixth], however, the pastor has need of great caution and prudence, and should treat with great delicacy a subject which requires brevity rather than copiousness of exposition. For it is to be feared that if he explained in too great detail or at leangth the ways in which this Commandment is violated, he might unintentionally speak of subjects which, instead of extinguishing, usually serve rather to inflame corrupt passions. As, however, the precept contains many things which cannot be passed over in silence, the pastor should explain them in their proper order and place.”
p. 451, 1952 printing
And that’s the problem. The pastor (typically Church law refers to the local bishop as the pastor) was McCarrick, a sodomite sonofabitch. These men are so vile they desire not only to corrupt the youth but to kill their souls. This is classic narcissist behavior. “I’m miserable and you should be too!” They have purged all love from their hearts and they desire your death for their pleasure.
Why do I bring this up? As I continued to read about Wickens, after sharing that sex ed story with my nephew and explicitly telling him how I felt my innocence was robbed from me, I read a line in that Times article. Wickens, it seems, knew what this program would do and did what he was supposed to do. He manfully stood up and said, “Up yours!” In fact, he called a press conference in which he said that this program was not only unnecessary but would, wait for it, “rob children of their innocence.“
How did the Church respond? As you can guess, they got a judge to evict him from his rectory where he’d lived for 29 years. He raised some funds and built a chapel where he offered the TLM. McCarrick’s goons told the world that Wickens had been excommunicated although that appears not to have been the case. And in the early 2000’s, Wickens died, a man willing to suffer much to defend his people – especially the children not only in his care (he had been a teacher himself) but of the whole archdiocese.
Chapel of Our Lady of Grace (the Lady Chapel), Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ
And Here’s Where the Soldiers Come Marching In
Men, when are we going to wake up? When are we going to take the stands we have to take? I’m not talking to those who have been fighting this fight for years. No, to those men I raise a glass of my finest bourbon even though I’m a gin drinkier. But not just to those men but to the women, too, like Barnhardt and Mary Ann and Susan from Les Femmes or the Nellie Grays of the wold. If you’ve been arrested to save the babies, you’re my hero. If you’ve called a bishop a faggot without fear of “excommunication” because, well, he’s a faggot, God bless you!
But to the men… Our Blessed Mother told us that the final battle would be over marriage and the family. THE family, not just your own. My vingette is not just a stroll down a thorny memory lane or an expose of the rot. We all knew that was there already. The point of this is to steel our resolve as men. We need to be the Wickens’ of the world. Husbands, fathers, brothers… God gave us the physical strength and spiritual fortitude and the headship over our beautiful families to fight this fight. Your training ground is the altar of Calvary at mass, your home kneeler, and your garage gym. Your captain is St. Michael and your Queen is the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
It’s us. We have to fight for marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid to stand up when you know you must. Resist the heresy. Repudiate the heretic. Learn your faith inside and out. Call out the queers for their evil. Don’t ever let them take the Catholic Mass away from you. Pray. Pray. Pray. And love your wives and children.
The temperature today maxed out at 111 degrees here in my part of Texas.
And I was just asking Our Lord to give me the grace to meditate on His Passion…
In other news, the gayest chest cold in history continues to steamroll its pathetic way back into our daily lives. Local news reports are screaming that numbers are up and everyone will die. Remember that these are the same people who told you that Joe Byron got 81 million votes.
Moving on…
Can you tell it’s a slow news day?
Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré, Quebec Province, Canada
I recently watched a new Fr. Ripperger video. This one (in three one-hour segments) is on the virtue of integrity. Toward the end, however, Fr. wends his way into end times prophecies. I must read more about Blessed Elena Aiello; but this did raise an interesting point. Tonight my wife asked me if I would be interested in a pilgrimage to Rome. After watching that video, hell nein. but for a more practical reason I deferred my answer.
If the Mass of the Ages is to be completely unavailable in the Eternal City (as I suspect it will be soon), then why would I travel there? And why would I spend time and money to go to a general audience of an antipope? Although that thought intrigues me as someone who frequently finds himself in “impossible historical situations”, I think I will take a pass for now.
Perhaps if the Triumph occurs in my lifetime I may rethink this.
Folks, I got off all that social media nonsense a while ago. Sorry but I'm not on Twitbook, Facepalm, YouHu, WingWang or any of the others. Maybe an event will happen to make me change my mind like Peter and Paul coming down with flaming swords and commanding it be so. Until then, read the blog and if you feel a comment is in order or you feel like sharing a tip or suggestion for a topic, email me at harvey@harveymillican.com.
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 