CARDINAL DEW CANCELS WELLINGTON ARCHDIOCESE LATIN MASS

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So the Mass of Ages, the Immemorial Mass, the Traditional Latin Mass, the only Mass celebrated in the Catholic Church for centuries - until the Second Vatican Council - is now officially deemed by Cardinal John Dew to be, in the Archdiocese of Wellington (as opposed to Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin), obsolete, verboten, persona non grata. 

The only Latin Mass in the whole archdiocese, at St Columba's Ashhurst, is to be 'discontinued'. The reason? Its congregation does not enjoy the 'full and active participation' in the Mass that is the exclusive privilege, apparently, of Novus Ordo Massgoers.

But, Your Eminence, every priest in the world has the right to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. That right has never been abrogated and can never be abrogated, even by an Antipope.

The decision to can the Usus Antiquior (how many names has the Mass been awarded, down through the centuries?) was made eventually, after weeks of procrastination, only after Bishop Emeritus Peter Cullinane was brought in to decide matters. Perhaps that was because he was bishop-before-last in the Palmerston North Diocese which still languishes bishopless after nearly two years, still praying for the appointment of a holy bishop by the Bishop of Rome whose first duty that is.

But yet another stay of execution has been granted by His Eminence for the first Sundays up to and including December - providing, of course, that our kind Prime Minister lets us out of our 'bubbles' to celebrate the most essential service known to mankind, the Most Holy Eucharist, but wearing witless masks and 'signing in' at the behest of a godless Government.

And Bishop Emeritus Cullinane has kindly agreed, by kind arrangement of Cardinal Dew, to be present in the hall after those last four Masses "to discuss the reasons behind this decision". Something to look forward to.

Father Peter Brockhill of Marton, who celebrates the Mass at St Columba's, explains in a letter to the Latin Mass faithful:

"I have since (his meeting with +Dew and +Cullinane) written to Cardinal Dew expressing my disappointment and making the case for the continuance of the Ashhurst Mass. The points I made were, in brief:

• that the Moto Proprio does allows for the Old Latin Mass to be continued, albeit with very specific conditions;
• that many other Catholic faithful assist at Mass in non-parish settings, especially according to the language and ethnicity of those faithful;
• that attending and assisting at the Old Latin Mass constitutes a legitimate addition to this common practice of Mass outside the Parish;
• that those faithful who assist at the Old Latin Mass do so whole-heartedly and in no lesser way than those who assist at a Novus Ordo Mass.

And graces and fruits certainly have followed the flowering of the Tridentine Mass (yet another title) in the past 20-30 years. We see them in frequent reception of the sacraments, especially Confession, in full churches where you have to come early to get a seat, in weddings, babies, and vocations to the priesthood; in whole new priestly orders like (in New Zealand) the Trans-Alpine Redemptorists.

A reader of this blog regularly attends Holy Mass twice on Sundays; first at a local Novus Ordo (New Order) Mass, then at Latin Masses either an hour or an hour and a half away. Comparisons being odious, that factor of distance, expense and time involved can be left to speak for itself. Anyway, said reader finds the graces of the Latin Mass with confession beforehand incomparable with the N O experience, except as penance, reparation and expiation for sin.  

Father Brockhill goes on:

"The last point listed above regarding assisting whole-heartedly at Mass lies at the heart of the matter. The enabling of greater "full, active and conscious participation" was the stated reason for the making of the Novus Ordo mass, it was repeated by Pope Francis in his Moto Proprio and it was part of the discussion again at my meeting with Cardinal Dew and Bishop Cullinane. Participation is seen to be passive and private in the Old Mass and not appropriate for a community acting together (emphasis mine)."

Yes, 'community' is of the essence of the N O. "Full, active and conscious participation" meant we all had to get up and Do Something. 

• We had to read from the lectern. 
• We had to take up the gifts. 
• We had to have Prayers of the Faithful. 
• Most of all we had to be 'Ministers of the Eucharist'. All of which served to distract us dreadfully; by making us first nervous as tyros and then superior, as our new status tended to render us, and by providing a spectacle for the congregation to gape at, to admire or to criticise.

"At my meeting with Cardinal Dew and Bishop Cullinane, the prime source of concern was a non-acceptance of the Novus Ordo Mass and of the Second Vatican Council as a whole. I conveyed to the Cardinal and the Emeritus Bishop the acceptance of these by the faithful who assist at the Ashhurst Mass."

Our Latin Massgoing reader can speak only for herself, but she accepts the Second Vatican Council and the Novus Ordo Mass. She must: they are a fait accompli and she gladly accepts them as full, active and conscious participation in the Suffering of Christ.

Vatican Council II

But the point of all the N O 'full active and conscious participation' might perhaps have been to give the Emperor new clothes, as the vapidity of the New Mass - the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer introduced into the Catholic Church by the freemason Archbishop Bugnini - became evident; as the truth sank in: the Church had exchanged her birthright, the Latin Mass of Ages, for a mess of pottage. 

And the point of all the Protestantism so gladly paraded by New Zealand's bishops, and Modernist bishops around the world, was to smooth the liturgical path towards a Masonic New World Church headed, as a symbol of its 'spirituality', by the Antipope. 

"My response to this in my letter was to emphasise the Church's tradition that interior participation and a heart-felt union with the Lord in His Passion and Death come first, and graces and fruits in ourselves, our families, and the communities in which we live, may then follow.

In his letter Cardinal Dew has asked that I do all I can "to assist the people who attend the Mass in Ashhurst to prayerfully come to a state of mind and soul where they can celebrate the mainstream liturgy of the Church with full, heart-felt ascent." I have no doubt that assisting at the Old Mass with full mind, heart and soul is something easily applicable to the current Mass; I know that to be the case for myself personally as a Priest. I will have no trouble assuring Cardinal Dew of this for us all."

Yes, the Holy Mass is the Holy Mass. Even if at its celebration in the Novus Ordo you never hear it mentioned, it is the re-enactment of the agonizing death on the Cross of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. So of course Latin Mass adherents, perhaps with missal in hand and following its vastly superior texts which plumb the depths of the intellect and will in a way that the 'spiritual drink' inanities of the N O cannot, will assist at the current Mass with "full mind, heart and soul".

The Crucifixion
Francisco de Zurbarán

"Since my beginning to learn about and offer the Old Mass, I have come to appreciate more fully the great gift given by the Lord from His hands at the Last Supper and from His pierced side at Golgotha; the gift of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. I have been led to unite myself more fully in His Holy Sacrifice. On this account, I see an inherent value in the Old Mass and it causes me great disappointment to have this privilege taken away."

Yes, to attend the Old Mass also gradually becomes a contemplative experience, like that of the Magdalen who sat listening and loving at the feet of Christ, Who rebuked her sister Martha, saying, "But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her " (Lk 10:42).

The New Mass seems rather Martha. The Traditional Latin Mass appears to us by contrast as Mary Magdalen, and now in the Wellington Archdiocese, Cardinal John  Atcherly Dew and Bishop Emeritus Peter Cullinane in an exercise of clerical abuse have taken her away.   

We must invoke Our Blessed Mother. Jesus has said "If you want graces and miracles, go to My Mother, as I will never deny her anything she asks of Me". 

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, please pray for us.