"I said to a St Joseph's (Dannevirke) friend just a couple of days ago that I'd like a Mass to be said there Ad Orientem, pointing out the legitimacy of doing such a Mass."
The comment comes from Bob Gill and I post it here because, strange to relate, my post WELCOM GETS IT HORRIBLY WRONG ON LAY-LEAD (sic) LITURGIES was deleted from this blog.
"With my friend being on the Pastoral Committee," says Bob, "I have proposed in an email that she bring it up at their next meeting for discussion. It would be nice to get some parish support, I've been thinking.
"The biggest problem will be finding a priest to celebrate such a Mass.
"I wouldn't expect anyone from Palmerston North to do it - judging by last Sunday's Mass here where the celebrant (I think it was Monsignor David Bell) didn't even bother to distribute Communion, leaving the distribution to the lay ministers only.
He spent his Communion time putting hosts into the pyx containers."
Father Nathaniel Tat Brazil says:
Stop generalizing us all please. I do celebrate Mass Ad Orientem and I know some priests who do it privately. I am learning the Traditional Latin Mass and yes, I am a priest ordained for the Palmerston North Diocese.
Bob Gill says: That's encouraging, Father, and thanks for your input.
Philippa O'Neill says: Awesome Father Nathaniel Tat Brazil. Just amazing. May God bless you.
I say: May Mary Assumed into Heaven bless you muchly on her Solemnity. You're going great guns, Father, and traditional Catholics all over the Diocese will be supporting you in prayer.
Father Brazil says:
Just sharing Whanganui Parish Assumption Solemnity Mass (a Filipino priest bringing tradition back to the Palmerston North Diocese since 2015):
- Benedictine altar arrangement
- Veneration of Our Lady (with incense)
- The whole school and parish singing Salve Regina
Philippa O'Neill says: I'd love to meet him. So encouraging, He will need to be looked after and prayed for much.
I say: Yes! In Whanganui Fr Brazil is blessed by the proximity of the SSPX Parish and School of St Anthony's - which I will check out next weekend.
Sharon Crooks says:
It’s amazing how things differ from one parish to the next in this Diocese! I truly wish there were not only more Fr Nathaniels bringing back Tradition, but more male teachers like the one pictured, assisting at Mass. What an awesome spiritual experience for the children and example of Catholic ‘special character’ education.
I can’t ever personally recall going to a NO Mass Ad Orientem before, and my only experience of the Salve Regina in this Diocese (outside the TLM), was when I arranged to have it in our parish one Sunday for the Offertory (Month of May probably) and the moment Mass was over, was castigated for my efforts in front of the entire congregation.
No different I suppose from being encouraged to receive Holy Communion on the tongue whilst kneeling at one parish, only to be told to "stand up" and "put your hands out" at the next.
May the Lord’s blessings be upon you and your parish Fr Nathaniel and I pray that the children will be inspired in their faith through your efforts.
Oh my goodness... you have to be kidding me? I've heard it is really bad up there but not quite that bad! Plus, you may not have heard that the Bishops put out a statement on the abortion vote - or something similar....
ReplyDeleteThe NZ Catholic Bishops' statement (Aug 9) on the abortion vote was so weak I don't know how it managed to stagger out of their computer. It 'expresses concern'; it should express shock and horror. It looks forward to exploring 'the complexities surrounding abortion'; from the Catholic point of view there are absolutely no 'complexities': abortion is simply murder.
ReplyDelete'When you live in poverty' etc 'you don't have real choices': The bishops are saying some people are forced to break the fifth commandment (Thou shalt not kill). If the mother is literally forced (with no free consent of the will), of course it is not mortal sin. Some women are obviously coerced and bullied by the fathers of their unborn children to the extent that fear overwhelms them; in that case their sin is not mortal but their partners (far less frequently, husbands) are guilty of murder at one remove, of their own children.
'Making abortions easier', say the bishops, who are masters of understatement: the legislation makes abortion freely available up to birth and will inevitably mean infanticide, same as NY State.
The bishops fall over themselves to be conciliatory. They 'strongly support … the rights of the unborn who under the current laws are given statutory recognition'. Read 'statutory' to mean 'on paper'; those 'rights' are in fact meaningless.
The bishops coo about treating 'the matter solely as a health issue'. Abortion is never a 'health issue'; it's an issue of moral and physical sickness. The late, lamented Sir William Liley, 'Father of Fetology' declared in the '70s when opposing the very first abortion legislation that there is no condition which requires abortion to ensure the survival of the mother. Not in Sir William's book.
Abortion is not just 'a significant and heart-wrenching moral issue'; it's murder and the bishops need the courage to call it out. If they did, and if they had for the last fifty or so years (post Vat 2, significantly), society would have marshalled all its forces to combat the 'pressures and stresses that very often leave couples with seemingly little choice but abortion'.
In reality, had Vat 2 never happened, and the Traditional Latin Mass - source of all succor for the human race - not in effect been abolished by the bishops and their predecessors, the societal stresses that 'leave couples with seemingly little choice' would not have materialized to anything like the current extent.
But cheer up! We can look forward to the result of the bishops' study of 'proposed changes concerning doctors' freedom of conscience and 'the suggestion of safe zones around abortion facilities'.
The bishops' use of the expression 'safe zones', meaning footpaths where pro-lifers will face arrest for praying as in Victoria Australia, simply advances the cause of the abortion fanatics who have hijacked the public square, to the extent that the bishops seem afraid even to mount a soap box.