Posted on 07/15/2023 2:46:01 PM PDT by ebb tide
STAMFORD, Connecticut (LifeSiteNews) — Later this month, Raymond Cardinal Burke will celebrate a solemn traditional Latin Mass in honor of Our Lady of Sheshan, praying for the persecuted clergy and faithful of the underground Catholic Church in Communist China.
The solemn Pontifical Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, July 25, at 6 p.m. ET at the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford, Connecticut in the Diocese of Bridgeport. The Mass is sponsored by the Cardinal Kung Foundation, which was established in honor of Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei, who suffered a 30-year imprisonment at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for refusing to lead the schismatic “Patriotic” church run by the state.
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In the announcement of the Mass, the Kung Foundation wrote concerning the persecution of Catholics in China:
Since the signing of the Provisional Vatican-China Agreement in 2018, and its renewal in 2020 and 2022, persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in China has significantly increased. Many bishops and priests have been repeatedly arrested, placed under house arrest. They are forced to attend religious re-education sessions to force them to join the independent Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association which is supervised by the communist party.
In solidarity with the Roman Catholic Church in China We encourage prayer groups, parish associations, families/group of friends to join this Mass via Livestream.
“We welcome priests and prayer groups attending this Mass online to request from the Foundation Holy Cards of Our Lady of Sheshan with a prayer authored by the late Pope Benedict XVI in 2008,” added the Foundation.
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In a homily given in Stamford during the first public Mass September 8, 1988, celebrated by Cardinal Kung after arriving in the U.S. upon his release from prison in China, the aged Kung re-iterated how “‘the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” The homily is reproduced below:
Thirty-three years ago today, 30 priests, a large number of brothers and nuns and hundreds of lay Catholics were rounded up and jailed in the Diocese of Shanghai. This was but the beginning of the Chinese ‘Church of Silence.’ Since that date, we Catholics have been subjected to every type of persecution. During those long and harrowing years, a large number of religious of both sexes and lay Catholics fortified by their deep faith have been carrying their cross courageously. Some of them were imprisoned; some were sent to hard labor camps; some were separated from their loved ones, forced to leave their families and homeland; some were expelled from school or lost their jobs; and some paid the ultimate price, sacrificing their precious lives. Why did they endure such suffering? They were not fools, but very reasonable people. They bore and are still bearing this suffering patiently, sustained by God’s grace, and by the unquenchable flame of their ardent faith in His commandments.
Oh, my fellow Catholics! Preserve that bright flame of faith forever! Forever preserve your honorable privilege as God’s adopted children. Never betray your Church. Rather, protect and defend her with all your might. You, my brothers and sisters in Christ who are present at this Mass, have given proof that you have kept your faith and fidelity to the Church. Let us praise and thank God for giving us the grace of such fidelity and courage.”
In addition, we also want to thank God for the privilege of witnessing the heroic example of so many religious of both sexes and lay Catholics who, having endured long years of imprisonment, hard labor, and various other forms of slow persecution, willingly surrendered their lives to glorify God. Indeed, they may be compared to the many martyrs who gave their lives for the faith in the early days of the Church. Truly, ‘the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.’ Today, in heaven, wearing crowns of victory and glory, they are praying for the early evangelization of the Chinese race.
Next, we should offer special prayers for the perseverance of those religious and lay Catholics who are at this moment living in poverty and isolation despite all they have suffered over the past 30 years. May God soothe their worry and agony and help them realize the honor and blessing bestowed on them for accompanying Christ to their Calvary as heroic witnesses to the faith. We, on our part, can never forget them; nor will the Church. May they continue to sustain their firm faith in Christ and persevere in loving God and neighbors. It was our Lord Himself who taught us: ‘Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.’
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Finally, we must pray for those who have gone astray, and for all those who failed when confronted with a painful challenge. We must pray especially for those who separated from the Church and have established an independent, self-assertive and self-reliant church. But worst of all, we must deplore the ordination of bishops without papal sanction or permission. We sincerely hope that they will refrain from taking any further action to separate themselves from the true Church; we pray rather that they may receive the grace to return to the true fold and profess obedience to the one true shepherd … Successor of Peter, Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth.
Let us pray ardently to our patron saint, Our Lady of Sheshan, our protectress, to obtain for us the grace to carry on with our apostolate with reinforced strength, because our mission is still far from being accomplished.
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Ping
Cardinal Burke has been a superb prelate. I have no doubt that Bergoglio will punish him for this. The changes they are going to propose at the Synod will almost certainly eliminate TLM in its entirety- Novus Ordo or some further degenerated form. Bergoglio has been the Obama of the Church- a truly malign individual.
Latin is considered by many to be the language that is at the basis of Western Civilization. Latin turned into the Romance languages spoken in Europe.
Is that the reason why the pope hates Latin and that the FBI places Latin-loving Catholics in the same category as terrorists and murderers?
Thanks ET. May assist at this special mass.
Along with Hebrew and Greek, the Latin language appeared in written form upon our Lord’s cross.
These three languages are considered by Holy Mother Church to be sacred, as opposed, for example, to the vulgar tongue of English.
In other words, yes, the Latin language as used in the mass is a high value target for any individual or group bent on harming the Church.
This is something.
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