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Just under 4 years ago, I started this blog after meeting several devout Christendom College students after a Sunday Traditional Latin Mass at St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Washington, DC. The previous month, I had traveled to England and visited several Catholic sites, including the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and had seen Catholic art in the National Gallery in London. I was inspired, by the events of that time and by those students, to blog about Catholic subjects, especially Catholic art, feast days, and devotions; and also, write about Traditional Latin Masses in the Washington,...

LONDON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI would like every Catholic parish in the world to celebrate a regular Tridentine-rite Mass, a Vatican cardinal has said. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also told a June 14 press conference in London that the Vatican was writing to all seminaries to ask that candidates to the priesthood are trained to celebrate Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, also known as the Tridentine Mass, restricted from the 1970s until July 2007 when Pope Benedict lifted some of those limits. The cardinal, who was visiting London at the invitation of the Latin...

In a private conversation before the release of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum," a leading personality of U.K. Catholicism predicted that the reinstatement of the Traditional Latin Mass would grant again such an abundant flow of graces that it would even effect the restoration of society on sound Christian principles. While that outcome remains to be seen, the release of the motu proprio has certainly sparked a series of controversies and debates — especially in Italy, the heart of Catholicism, and that goes a long way in showing how sensitive the issue is among faithful and non-faithful alike. The...

There is an interesting development in the matter of Summorum Pontificum and the use of the vernacular in celebrations of the TLM. The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei reponded to a questions proposed concerning Art. 6. The questions were: "Can readings be given in the vernacular in the context of the Liturgy?  Does Article 6 uphold the practice of duplicating the readings reading them in the context of the Liturgy in Latin, then before a homily in the vernacular, or does it allow them to be read from the Altar in the vernacular?Also, can local editions of the Missal that refer...

Got a flyer this A.M. that reads: Father William Young will begin celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass on Sundays at 11:30am on March 2, 2008 at Holy Rosary Chapel in Marin. Take the Marinwood/St. Vincents Drive exit (Ramp 457) off Highway 101. At the stop sign turn right. Go East along St Vincents Drive toward the Bay rather than West toward Marinwood. You will see the Church about two-tenths of a mile down St Vincents Drive. Fr. Young met with Archbishop Niederauer and Fr Padazinski on Ash Wednesday to make final arrangements for the Traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated...

St.Columbkille Church 321 Market Street, Brighton at 7:00pm. Fr.Agustin Anda celebrant. High Mass with Chant Propers, Schola Amicorum. Mary Immaculate of Lourdes 270 Elliot Street, Newton 12:00 noon Low Mass. Fr.Charles Higgins celebrant

St.Columbkille Church 321 Market Street, Brighton at 7:00pm. Fr.Agustin Anda celebrant. High Mass with Chant Propers, Schola Amicorum. Mary Immaculate of Lourdes 270 Elliot Street, Newton 12:00 noon Low Mass. Fr.Charles Higgins celebrant (with music sung by the S Shore homeschool children??)

Kobler’s Key to the CouncilBOOK REVIEW: Kobler, John F., C.P.  Vatican II, Theophany and the Phenomenon of Man: The Council's Pastoral Servant Leader Theology for the Third Millennium.  (American University Studies, Series 7, vol. 100)  New York: Peter Lang, 1991.  0820414921, 9780820414928  $51.95 by Paul Zarowny, Ph.D. Whatever its multiple shortcomings, my book on the Council is the only published attempt to provide a synthesis, at least in a seminal way, of the religious ontology shaping the sense of the Council.[1]     Passionist priest Fr. John F. Kobler’s Vatican II, Theophany and the Phenomenon of Man (1991) is a follow-up to...

The Rev. Alfred J. Harris, pastor of St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Northwest, has embraced the return of the traditional Tridentine Mass, in which the priest faces the altar rather than the congregation and celebrates in Latin. Roman Catholic churches nationwide are rushing to accommodate a surge in demand for the traditional Latin Mass, which is drawing a surprising new crowd: young people. Since July, when a decree from Pope Benedict XVI lifted decades-old restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass, seven churches in the Washington metropolitan area have added the liturgy to their weekly Sunday schedules....

Oops mess this up the first time, very hard to do with a cat on the mouse. Just a reminder for those interested in going to the TLM for All Souls Day and it's a First Friday. St.Columbkille Church 321 Market Street, Brighton at 7:00pm. Fr.Agustin Anda celebrant. Requiem High Mass with Chant Propers, Schola Amicorum. Holy Trinity 140 Shawmut Avenue, South End (not South Boston)7:00pm. Fr.Frederick O'Brien celebrant. Terry Requiem Low Mass, German Schola. Mary Immaculate of Lourdes 270 Elliot Street, Newton 12:00 noon and 7:30pm Requiem Low Mass. Fr.Charles Higgins celebrant. The noon sung by S Shore homeschool...

Just a reminder for those interested in going to the TLM for All Souls Day and it's a First Friday. St.Columbkille Church 321 Market Street, Brighton at 7:00pm. Fr.Agustin Anda celebrant. Requiem High Mass with Chant Propers, Schola Amicorum. Holy Trinity 140 Shawmut Avenue, South End (not South Boston)7:00pm. Fr.Frederick O'Brien celebrant. Terry Requiem Low Mass, German Schola. Mary Immaculate of Lourdes 270 Elliot Street, Newton 12:00 noon and 7:30pm Requiem Low Mass. Fr.Charles Higgins celebrant. The noon sung by S Shore homeschool children. The evening will be Terry Requiem sung by Preces Cantatae.

Ave Maria!With Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum there are priests who would like to celebrate the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite, also known as the Tridentine Latin Mass, and there are faithful who would like more opportunities to attend.We are planning a seminar on the history, theology and spirituality of the Tridentine Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 under Blessed Pope John XXIII on August 24-25 (9am-12pm) with a practicum for priests and servers on August 30-31 (9am-12pm).Any priests or boys/men interesting in learning to serve a Tridentine Mass are welcome to attend. The seminar...

The recent statement of the Holy Father amends the previous process, established by Pope John Paul II, whereby a priest had needed permission from the local bishop to celebrate the Tridentine rite according to the 1962 liturgical text (Missal). In other words, Pope Benedict has expanded the permission that had already been given by Pope John Paul to allow for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, in his weekly posting of June 29 ( www.cardinalseansblog.org) shared observations which follow from the Cardinal's participation at a meeting held in Rome prior to the release of the Motu Proprio....

The Vatican says that Pope Benedict concelebrates his daily morning Mass in Italian using the current edition of the Roman Missal, denying claims that he is using the Tridentine rite. Claims that the pope celebrates his private Mass using the Tridentine rite are incorrect, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi said, according to Catholic News Service. The Tridentine Mass is the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council; it was last revised in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal. Less than 10 days after Pope Benedict issued his letter on 7 July providing greater opportunity for the celebration...

Check out the pdf file at the link above!

With their love of tradition and their formal dress code (no shorts even for children, and covered heads for women), the members of Mater Ecclesiae Church in Berlin Township can seem a tight-laced congregation of Roman Catholics. But on Sunday they were ringing bells, popping corks and slicing cake, and - mirabile visu! - some were even smoking cigars. Mirabile visu? Isn't that Latin? Graceful, dignified, formal and obscure, Latin is the language of choice at Mater Ecclesiae, one of the only Catholic churches in the nation where all the liturgies are conducted according to the centuries-old Tridentine rite. Its...

The ubiquitous Father Tom Reese, formerly of America, naturally had some sound-bites prepared about the motu proprio. A few highlights: If the pope issues a Motu proprio allowing the use of the Tridentine mass without the local bishop’s permission, he is basically saying that he does not trust the pastoral judgment of the bishops. Hmmm. You said it, Tom. I didn't. But I'm guessing that you think the Pope should trust their pastoral judgment. This is because: They have been so successful in maintaining the strength of the faith (as evidenced by high Mass attendance, abundant religious vocations, stable marriages,...

With a motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum, made public on July 7, Pope Benedict XVI has provided for a much broader use of the Roman Missal of 1962, explaining that he hopes to encourage "interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church." Of course, this decision by the Holy Father has no practical effect on the Ruthenian Church; but, as a Roman Catholic serving in an Eastern Catholic eparchy, your Priestly Pugilist is understandably interested; and wishes to address some of the misrepresentations that have been made, both within and without the Latin Church, regarding this important event. First of...

One of the more deft moves in Benedict’s apostolic letter motu proprio, titled “Summorum Pontificum,” is in referring to the 1962 form of the Roman Rite as the Mass of Blessed John XXIII. It is not the Tridentine Mass or the Mass of Pius V but the Mass of John XXIII. It is the form of the Mass that was celebrated daily at the Second Vatican Council. Benedict notes that, over the many centuries of the Roman Rite, popes have from time to time made modest changes. Pius V did so in 1570, John XXIII did so in 1962, and...

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Pope Benedict has just shaken up the Catholic world as no pope has since John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council in 1962. In his Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, the pontiff announced that any priest in the world may offer the traditional rite of Mass, the liturgy of the Catholic Church before the new Mass was introduced after Vatican II. What difference does that make? To outsiders, the Catholic Church today is as it was 50 years ago. The unbroken line of teaching on major moral issues of the day like abortion seems to confirm that...