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She’s a mom on a mission. A single mother-of-two from the Los Angeles neighborhood of South Central recently went on strike against her employer McDonald’s. Maribel makes $9.35 per hour working as a server but that’s not enough to support her family (she shares a home with 10 other people including her children, grandmother, and niece). “I need fifteen to buy my babies diapers, their wipies, their clothes,” she explains. “Its hard with nine dollars per hour — you can’t do that. It’s really hard to pay rent.” On December 4, Maribel, along with a large group seeking $15 per...

As the Rev. Justin Wylie took the pulpit at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan last month, anger and anxiety emanated from the pews. The church is the only one in New York City to offer a daily traditional Latin Mass, but an archdiocesan panel had recommended that it be closed. Father Wylie, a visiting priest, urged parishioners to be obedient but also to speak up, as traditionalist Catholics, for a place in the church, saying they should not be “turned out like squatters.”

It’s been roughly 500 years since Martin Luther introduced the language of the people to the Mass – the Divine Liturgy of the Church. 500 years since the historic language of the Western Church was purged from the worship of God’s people. As a student of history, I understand why Luther thought this was necessary. Indeed, there is goodness in hearing and understanding the Liturgy in one’s native tongue. But Luther’s experiment with language should end. It’s time to restore Latin to the Mass of the Western Church. It’s time to reintroduce the language of the Church to her people.For...

Greetings in Christ! Like you, I am a transplant to the NYC area with Midwestern roots. It was an honor to attend the young adult Mass you celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral last December. Your joyful witness to our Catholic faith is such an inspiration. It's come to my attention that the Archdiocese of New York is considering closing several churches. It's always a shame to see a parish go, but I get it. Neighborhood demographics change, and we're no longer in an era where multiple ethnic parishes need to co-exist within blocks of each other. Urban dioceses now find...

Yes, there is a unique quality, difficult to capture, that the sensitive visitor experiences in the silent old churches of New York or Brooklyn. A feeling of remoteness from the surrounding city, a somewhat musty atmosphere of a past that here somehow has not disappeared and a mysterious sense of solidarity with the tens, even hundreds, of thousands who have passed through these doors. This is especially so in the old Victorian churches of New York. The few neoclassical buildings, like St. Peter’s, are stark witnesses to us of an earlier age that has vanished. The later magnificent structures of...

“A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning…” Those are the words of Jeremias the Prophet. St. Matthew’s gospel tells us that they foreshadow King Herod’s murder of Bethlehem’s infant males following the birth of Christ, who Herod feared might usurp his ill-gotten earthly throne. Holy innocents die for different reasons. In every generation. In every place. A church — a very special church — by that name is scheduled to die in Manhattan’s Garment District.

Yes, you read the thread title correctly. - CD De clunibus magnis amandis oratioMixaloti equitis mehercle!(By Hercules!)Rebecca, ecce! tantae clunes isti sunt! (Rebecca, behold! Such large buttocks she has!)amica esse videtur istorum hominum rhythmicorum.(She appears to be a girlfriend of one of those rhythmic-oration people.)sed, ut scis,(But, as you know)quis homines huiusmodi intellegere potest?(Who can understand persons of this sort?) colloquuntur equidem cum ista eo tantum, quod scortum perfectum esse videtur.(Verily, they converse with her for this reason only, namely, that she appears to be a complete whore.) clunes, aio, maiores esse! (Her buttocks, I say, are rather large!)nec possum...

In the noble tradition of De clunibus magnis amandis oratio (Baby Got Back), I bring you: Gelu, O Gelu, CaraVANILLÆ GELUS doo doo doo, doo-doo-doo-doo doo doo doo, doo-doo-doo-doo... Etenim, siste, me iuva, auscultaque (Indeed: Halt, aid me, and take heed) Gelu redivit cum inventione novissima (Frost has returned with a very new invention) Nescioquid me constringit (Something constrains me) Fluo ceu hasta baleanarum necandarum noctu et quotidie (I flow in the manner of a whale-killing spear daily and by night) Umquam hoc desistetne? Ego dubito. (Shall this ever cease? I myself doubt it.) Lucernis restinctis luceam (When the lamps...

12 Latin Words that Shaped the Faith Stephen Beale We all know that Latin is the language of the Church. But in the post-Vatican II era, it may seem that Latin is not as relevant as it once was.While you may not need to know Latin to understand the Mass anymore, it is impossible to imagine the Christian faith as we know it without Latin—including where the word “Mass” comes from. Below are twelve words that have shaped the faith in Western Christendom.gratia: Grace—it’s what we all need and what none of us can earn through our own efforts...

Are we about to witness a big power shift in Latin America?Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina are languishing in differing shades of turmoil, steadily losing ground to regional underdogs. The Pacific Alliance, an historic trade agreement between Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia (and coming soon: Costa Rica), has the potential to recolor Latin America’s economic map and introduce some new regional powerhouses to the world stage. As The Atlantic points out, not all the credit goes to the underdogs: One reason the Pacific Alliance may succeed is the increasingly urgent need to transcend the chronic failure to link Latin America’s economies.The...

EWTN is providing live coverage of ... SOLEMN PONTIFICAL MASS IN THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM FOR THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD AT THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE INFANT OF PRAGUE 02/02 at 11:00 AM ET; 02/03 at 12:00 AM ET Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa celebrates Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the National Shrine of the Infant of Prague in Prague, Oklahoma. LIVE. Bishop Slattery on Prayer, the Mass and New Vocations You’ve made public statements about problems with the liturgy. What changes would you like to see? I would like to see the...

Perhaps as a concluding post on funeral masses, this is my third post on the subject this week (omni trinum perfectum – all things are perfect in three), I would like to re-post an article I wrote over a year ago.Many of the comments these past days mentioned the Traditional Latin Requiem Mass, which I have been privileged to celebrate many times in my 25 years. It is a beautiful and gentle liturgy, so consoling and yet also sober and mindful that someone has died and that we ought to pray.And while I do not say that everyone must like...

From the Bible we can see that the devil is real and active. Personally, I do not think that there is any other place where the spiritual battle is so intense and extreme, as when it comes to restoring Catholic Tradition. As we read in scripture about the devil asking Jesus to adore him, we know that the devil wants all of us to adore him instead of Jesus. If the devil can’t get us to adore him, he works on getting us to adore ourselves. In the Novus Ordo Mass we see so much anthropomorphic or man centered liturgies....

Ever since British jurist Sir William Jones noted in 1786 that there are marked similarities between diverse languages such as Greek, Sanskrit, and Celtic, linguists have assumed that most of the languages of Europe and the Indian subcontinent derive from a single ancient tongue. But researchers have fiercely debated just when and where this mother tongue was first spoken. Now a bold new study asserts that the common root of the 144 so-called Indo-European languages, which also include English and all the Germanic, Slavic, and Romance languages, is very ancient indeed. In this week's issue of Nature, evolutionary biologist Russell...

The Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel In Latin V. Deus, in adiutórium meum inténde. O God, come to my assistance R. Dómine, ad adiuvándum me festína. O Lord, make haste to help me. V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. R. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. [Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following...

All primary schools will be expected to teach foreign languages to pupils from 2014 as part of a major drive to boost education standards, it emerged. At least one subject from a seven-strong shortlist – French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Latin and ancient Greek – will be offered to seven- to 11-year-olds. The move – outlined in a consultation document published by the Department for Education – could result in a major rise in the number of pupils studying the classical languages at a young age....

Pope Benedict XVI has approved the launch of a new Latin language college in the Vatican. The Pontifical Academy for Latin will promote the knowledge and study of the language from classical times to the present day, said the Vatican. The Pope said the Church was the "guardian and promoter" of Latin and that a good understanding of it was more important than ever. The Church officially abandoned the use of Latin in Masses in the 1960s. But Pope Benedict has taken steps to make it easier for priests to say Mass in Latin, rather than their local language, if...

Sounds like comic actor John Leguizamo pines for a one political party system. Leguizamo, best known for providing the voice of Sid in four "Ice Age" movies, recently talked to CNN about his political views. “Latin people for Republicans are like roaches for raid,” he adds. “It doesn’t make sense. [Republicans are] not for us. You’re not for my values. We’re working class people mostly and blue collar. We’re your cops, we’re your firemen, we’re your carpenters and the things we need – we need to protect our unions, we need to protect our Medicare, we need to

Thank God for the Catholic church – and I speak as an agnostic Anglican. Once again, they are helping to preserve the study of Latin in Western Europe, as they have for more than a millennium. Pope Benedict is about to set up a new body, the Pontificia Academia Latinitatis, which will study and promote the language in schools and churches. The role of Latin has declined in the Catholic church since Vatican II but it still remains the official language of the Vatican – and the role of the church in the survival of Latin is incalculable. The Old...

They sue a Green Party politician for his statements about Bishop Williamson and their attitude to Islam