LAY CHALLENGE FORCES +DEW TO BACK OFF

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St Anthony of Padua Martinborough - not wanted by the hierarchy

  

 The faithless, reckless rush of New Zealand's Catholic Bishops to cancel churches has been arrested by the strongminded parishioners of  St Anthony's, Martinborough, who have forced Cardinal John Dew to withdraw his decree of deconsecration of their historic church.  

Parishioner and lead submitter Dan Riddiford maintains that his parish church is part of the community’s patrimony and, quoting Canon 1222 §2, submits that Archbishop Dew did not have the consent of those who lawfully claim rights over the church. 

Can. 1222 §2 requires also that the good of souls suffers no detriment" by closing a church. "The good of souls": are New Zealand's Modernist clergy concerned with Christ's brief, which they seem to see as outdated and fuddy-duddy? Why should they care about the good of souls? They believe they're all going to heaven anyway.

Cardinal Dew with UK Cardinal Nichols who celebrated Ramadan at home while saying it would be a "scandal" to re-open churches

Stop press: it seems Cardinal Dew announced yesterday that he having reached the age of 'retirement' (75) had submitted his resignation to Pope Francis and that it has been accepted. +Dew is succeeded as Archbishop of Wellington by Archbishop Paul Martin SM.

 

Welliington's new Archbishop Paul Martin - who made the decision to demolish the Christchurch Cathedral and is convinced St Anthony's should be closed

An aged and kindly priest spent some time this morning, at a weekly Mass for school children, telling them what heaven will be like. No ifs buts or maybes about it: heaven was a foregone conclusion. 

• But NO. ONE. GENUFLECTED. 
• The children strolled - or ran - past the tabernacle. 
• They talked and called to one another. Their sense of Our Eucharistic Lord in the tabernacle is absolutely nil.
• Mass meant much furniture moving so Father could celebrate while seated (even for the Gospel), facing the children at close range as they sat with their backs to the altar, looking down on the makeshift altar instead of raising their eyes to Our Lord as they should. 
• Responses to the beyond-banal children's Mass booklets put one in mind of Brown's cows. 
• A large number of older children in the Communion queue were given a blessing instead of the Holy Eucharist, demonstrating the uselessness of Catholic schools from the standpoint of "the good of souls" (in other words, the Catholic standpoint). 

These poor children will need special graces (gained by the prayer and sacrifice of properly catechised Catholics) if they are to inherit heaven. But the Bishop (if there were a bishop, but there isn't) whose chief care should be "the good of souls" would doubtless have approved of this travesty of Holy Mass. 

Cardinal Nichols celebrates Ramadan. Turn ye not to idols (Lev 3: 19:4) 

The decision last October to close the church immediately left parishioners in a quandary regarding Christmas celebrations.

Taking a risk with the weather, they held their traditional Christmas Mass outdoors; alongside the church, under trees. 

“A conservative attendance (estimate) was around 185 plus, with many standing or even sitting on the steps of the closed church. 

(Parishioner Margaret Bath) says they have approval for a second engineer to carry out a peer review of the church – they hope early this year.

“Interesting to note that Government regulations allow for use of our building until 2033 while improvements are considered and carried out but the Church Administration went for automatic closure.

“We, the local Catholic community, had no input.” https://cathnews.co.nz/2019/02/14/church-closed-martinborough-catholics-christmas/

 

St Anthony's parishioner Yvonne Riddiford

News of the deconsecration withdrawal came in a letter to Wairarapa Parish Priest Fr Bruce England and was distributed to Martinborough parishioners. With +Dew recovering from an operation, the letter was written by Coadjutor Archbishop Paul Martin.

In his letter Martin is clear that the church should not be strengthened and should be permanently closed. Martin, however, encourages England to further explore a Mission Centre as originally proposed in 2020 by Dew.

He says the Mission Centre needed to be carefully designed, have a small chapel and a space (including toilets and kitchen) where the community can gather for a weekday Liturgy of the Word with Communion or occasional weekday Mass, for the Rosary, for meeting and praying with Christians of other denominations and even for small funerals for local people.

"Praying with Christians of other denominations", your Excellency, is what's known as false ecumenism or the heresy of indifferentism - holding that various faiths are equal in value (or with Jorge Bergoglio, believing that God wills a diversity of religions. True ecumenism means calling our separated brethren of other faiths into the fold of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

Martin says the Mission Centre should be a place of welcome for the wider community and be available for community activities and as a base for activities to help the needy, including the services provided by Catholic Social Services.

In fact, 'Mission Centre' is a fancy name for just another hall. 

In a reversal of view, Martin asks England to explore subdividing the Martinborough property so the church can be separated from the adjoining vacant land.

Presumably so the Church can reap larger profits from Martinborough. 

Martin also strongly encourages England to urgently add competent people to the Parish Finance Committee so that it involves the whole parish, and that there be proper processes around nominations and appointments.

That sounds ever so slightly patronising. A parish with the gumption to rally from its church's closure and get so many people to Holy Mass for Christmas isn't lacking 'competent people'. And just how does a finance committee involve the whole parish? Oh of course - with 'workshops' and 'questionnaires' and 'small groups'. 

What's urgently needed, your Excellency, is prayer and sacrifice for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, and the best prayer and sacrifice bar none is THE MASS. The real Mass, the Traditional Latin Mass which teaches the truths of Scripture and the Magisterium gradually forgotten over the past fifty years since Vatican II founded the Novus Ordo Church - a false, parallel Church which 'Pope Francis' is leading towards the abyss. 

The move comes after parishioners lodged a Church legal case to the Vatican opposing Dew’s “Decree of Deconsecration and Reduction to Profane but not Sordid Use” letter.

The parishioners’ appeal is in accord with CIC Canon 1737.

Relying on the book “Fruits of the Toil,” a history of St Anthony of Padua Church by Fr Vince McGlone, parishioners say building the church began in 1923 but was completed by parishioners’ efforts only in 1953.

The book recounts a clear statement from Church authorities in Masterton and Wellington saying they could not financially assist in its construction.

(P)arishioners also claim that the ‘good of their souls’ has been harmed by the transfer to profane use. They told CathNews that using an alternative venue means they have no place to call their own, and no provision is made for reserving the Blessed Sacrament for ministering to the sick.

In this small rural community, parishioners also say they used to have 30+ regularly at Saturday night Mass, that few drive out of Martinborough for anything, and after the Mass in Martinborough was cancelled, a maximum of only six people travel to Mass in Featherston.

He says that the community is experiencing a surge in population but, like parishes everywhere, there is a mix of regular and resting Catholics.

He views the presence of resting Catholics as an opportunity.

Just as the hierarchy should see Cathnews' euphemistically named 'resting' Catholics as an opportunity - for evangelisation, of the Gospel sort, not Bergoglio's. 

(P)arishioners note the success of the well-patronised monthly service Catholics in Greytown run by themselves in the Union Church, followed by morning tea in an adjoining café.

Riddiford says rural parishes should not be forced to adopt a model of church that fits a city where churches are 5-10 minutes away and there is a public transport system.

“On the basis of my personal family history and the Catholic Church in general, I also question the assumption that our Catholic faith and churches must necessarily collapse in the absence of priests,” writes Riddiford.

In line with the request of Archbishop Martin, parishioners are keen to hear back from Fr Bruce England, parish priest of Wairarapa.

Fr Bruce England: pity the poor man, he needs prayers

“On the basis of my personal family history and the Catholic Church in general, I also question the assumption that our Catholic faith and churches must necessarily collapse in the absence of priests,” writes Riddiford.

 

 

Pope St Pius V, on your feast day please pray for the Church