Mass today with Francis Cardinal George and Abp. Schwietz

Over the next two days Mass will be celebrated in our area by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal George. Pray for him.
Pray for us.
Hopefully this will cause some fruits to blossom in our parish...

For some help addressing clergy please visit: Addressing Clergy. It is important that we respect the people that Christ has ordained as priests, bishops, and cardinals. The following will help you do just that. It may seem somewhat awkward because we don't often find ourselves addressing people with etiquette and respect, but these men in their positions deserve that because they have been chosen by God.

The following charts from the above website may help in the next two days with addressing the men that will be celebrating Mass.

Addressing a Cardinal (Click to Enlarge)

Addressing an Archbishop (Click to Enlarge)

We are going to the Mass today and I will update more later regarding his homliy, the Mass, etc...

Mass becomes 'perverted' when 'community celebrates itself.'

A big Sword-dub (h/t) goes to: Christine at A Catholic View on this story:

Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, made some very important and powerful statements about the way in which Mass should and shouldn't be celebrated. It isn't as long as it seems... PLEASE, PLEASE read this... 

(My emphasis and comments):

The Cardinal expressed sadness over the fact that often, the Mass is “reduced to a mere banquet, a celebration of the community,” instead of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. He noted that “Worship becomes perverted when we have a celebration in which the community celebrates itself.” [This isn't a "feast" or celebration of us, it is the actual 'once for all' sacrifice that we, through the grace of God, participate IN.]

The prelate added that the primary focus of the Mass should be God.

...~~~...

Cardinal Canizares also underscored the centrality of the sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist, saying that oftentimes, the Mass is “reduced to a mere banquet, a celebration of the community, a commemoration, but not the very sacrifice of Christ who gives himself up for us on the Cross.” [It isn't simply a COMMEMORATION. It isn't a community celebration. It is the VERY SACRIFICE OF GOD... continual, but once for all.]


“Without this we can understand nothing about the Eucharist and we celebrate nothing more than ourselves,” he said. [In other words: if we as parishes - the Body of Christ - don't celebrate Mass in this way... we are simply celebrating ourselves. How would you answer the question: "Explain, specifically, how the WAY IN WHICH your parish celebrates the Mass, is focused on God?"]


“We have become secularized and convinced that everything has been the result of our own creativity,” [Read: Modernism in: Music, Dress, Church Design, Lack of Sacred Objects, the Abrogation of Incense, Bells, Chant, Statutes, Stain Glass, etc...] the prelate remarked. However, what truly matters is that “we recognize the mystery, that the mystery be celebrated. We must remember God’s right. God tells us how the mystery, how the celebration should be carried out.” [AMEN! But do we listen...]


After underscoring the spirit of renewal proposed by Vatican II, Cardinal Canizares noted that the council fathers placed a priority on liturgical renewal because “we cannot understand (the Vatican II document) Gaudium et Spes if our understanding is not based on the foundation for everything: the Eucharist.”


“There will not be a Gaudium et Spes Church if it is not a Sacrosantum Concilium Church,” he added. For this reason, the Pope has a great interest in the liturgy. For this reason, when renewal is understood merely in terms of changes to the rite, we do not understand anything that the Holy Father is telling us,” he added. [What he is saying is that renewal is not just about actions... it is about mindset. If we change the actions, and the mindset changes, a la moving away from a focus on God, we have lost the purpose of the renewal.]


“Renewal does not mean a different puppet show every day,” the cardinal underscored. [This is HUGELY IMPORTANT: As a Cardinal, he supports Holy Mother Church, Vatican II, and the teachings of the Faith. That does not mean that he supports what we necessarily HAVE in the Church, i.e. a "different puppet show every day."] “It means making it possible to celebrate the mystery of faith that occurs. This renewal must express the entire reality of the mystery. Worship becomes perverted when we have a celebration in which the community celebrates itself. The principle should be that God occupies the central place.”


The Spanish prelate noted that in Communion, it is not we who assimilate Christ, “but rather He who assimilates us unto himself,” and consequently we are pulled out of our individuality. “Thus the Eucharist takes on a social nature.” [NB: This relates to my former posts about kneeling. While some argue that standing after Communion allows us to be united with our brothers and sisters, it seems the Cardinal is saying that WE do nothing to assimilate Christ. That our individuality does not and should not matter. Instead, the Eucharist itself is takes on a social nature outside of anything that we can do.]


“To celebrate the Eucharist is to bring about the renewal of society,” he said. “For this reason, renewing the sense of the Eucharist is what guarantees a future for the Church. This is the true danger for a humanity that does not acknowledge God.”

Source: CNA

I think this is very important article. This is why I have a problem with TEEN Masses, Children's Masses, and other "Production Style" Masses. It isn't that I don't think that configuring the Mass to be better understood by certain groups within a community is an appropriate goal, I think what happens is that the focus becomes THE GROUP, instead of GOD. The Mass needs not be relevant to anyone but GOD. Some may argue, "But how do we get them to understand and appreciate the Mass?" Not by turning it into a "puppet show," both figuratively and literally. Instead, we must expose them to the Truth, the teachings of the Church.

We must also examine how we as lay faithful, and even the clergy, prepare our hearts and minds for Mass. We must attend Mass and worship at Mass with the right mindset. We must also construct our Masses in a which celebrates the MYSTERY of the EUCHARIST in a God-centric way. We must restore the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels of the faith, in an authentic way, that is centered on God and not ourselves. This is why I don't clap during a Mass... because then we are only celebrating ourselves; applause is a gesture of the celebration of Man, God doesn't require applause, he requires worship and devotion.

New Cardinals?... possibly in the fall of 2010?

So this is Rumor #2 that is floating around the inter-tubes-of-web.

Rocco Palmo of Whispers in the Loggia posted about several top level 'Vaticanist' reporters that have conveniently "leaked" a report that claims that the Pope will elevate around 19 Bishops to Cardinal this fall.  The report also speculates that this could be the first of several elevations which will occur in the next year.

The logic behind this "leak" is deeper than pure speculation. Although a Pope does not set-up his successor, there are practices and traditions in place to maintain a continuity. This continuity is accomplished through a uniformity in procedure more than in thought; at least this is true on a theoretical level.

Rocco Palmo explains it, but for those unfamiliar with the process it can be quite confusing. He also goes into great detail on WHO the next Cardinals might be.

For a more basic explanation, and ramifications, here is some of the reasoning behind the rumor:

First, the "full voting compliment" of the College of Cardinals is 120. That number is the maximum. Once a Cardinal hits 80, they are no longer eligible to vote, but they may participate in Conclave. Pope Benedict is committed to keeping the number of Cardinals near 120 should the need arise for a Papal Conclave.

Second, the current number of "voting" Cardinals currently is at 111. That number gets down to 101 by November due to 10 more Cardinals reaching the age of 80. Another 12 reach 80 between January and April of 2011. That means by Easter-ish of 2011, the number of voting eligible Cardinals could be around 89. The number used to be 70, but after 1975 it was increased to 120.

Third, there are some discrepancies in the ratio between the number of Cardinals from certain areas/countries and their "rank" in terms of the number of Catholics from that area. In other words, the representation is currently askew in some places. For example there are currently 12 voting age Cardinals from the United States. This number is second only to the Italians, although the US ranks 4th in terms of the number of Catholics it purports to have. Therefore, a "thinning" of sorts might be logical, which points to the fact that if Cardinals were to be appointed, they would likely hail from lesser represented places like Asia and Africa.

Fourth, these rumors could spell the end of the "large" US contingent of Cardinals. While such places like St. Louis, Baltimore, and Detroit were once seen as "Red Hat" assignments, these places may be on the chopping block, so to speak - this is due to a combination of the Bishops being "newer" and these cities declining somewhat in their "influence" in the Catholic world if for no other way than in population. Ironically though, these are "hot-beds" of Traditional Catholicism. [For more on this situation please see: Te Deum laudamus - Red Hat Rumor Mill]

On the list of SURE things from the US seems to be Raymond Burke, ArchBishop and prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.

There should be more to come on this later....


-Posted by: Joe