Regarding Sister Louis Lears SC Excommunication by Abp. Burke

Thanks to Jeff Miller @ The Curt Jester Blog

What would you get if you crossed a patriot with a small curly-haired dog?
Yankee Poodle!

Gregor Kellmorgan offers us his translation of the Italian weekly Panorama article:

Benedict Changes the Mass - The Study of the New Liturgy Assigned to the Congregation for Worship

The rite of the Mass could change. According to some indiscretions, Benedict XVI has charged the Congregation for Divine Worship to study some modifications in the liturgy. In particular, the Pope is said to have the intention to restore Latin for the formula for the Eucharistic consecration within the Mass in the “vernacular language”, i.e. the one celebrated in the different national languages. The same could happen to the formulae of Baptism, Confirmation, Confession and of the other sacraments. In addition, the exchange of peace among the faithful during the Mass, which today takes place prior to the distribution of the Eucharist, could be anticipated (as in the Ambrosian rite) to the offertory so as not to disturb the recollection that precedes Communion.

These would be changes which would be added to the changes in the liturgy and regarding sacred vestments which the Pope, together with his Master of Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, has made in recent months, to recover ancient traditions: the restoration of the crucifix at the center of the altar, the distribution of Communion to the faithful in the mouth while kneeling, the recovery of the pastoral staff of Pius IX (the ferula), the changing of the style of pallium (the strip of white wool with red crosses worn by the Pope), the restoration of the papal throne used in the Consistory and the celebration of Mass with the back to the assembly, as happened in January in the Sistine Chapel.

Il rito della messa potrebbe cambiare. Secondo alcune indiscrezioni, Benedetto XVI avrebbe incaricato la Congregazione per il culto divino di studiare alcune modifiche alla liturgia. In particolare il Papa avrebbe intenzione di ripristinare il latino per la formula della consacrazione eucaristica nella messa in «lingua volgare», cioè quella celebrata nelle diverse lingue nazionali. Lo stesso potrebbe accadere per le formule del battesimo, della cresima, della confessione e degli altri sacramenti. Inoltre lo scambio della pace tra i fedeli durante la messa, che oggi avviene prima della distribuzione dell’eucarestia, potrebbe essere anticipato (come nel rito ambrosiano) all’offertorio per non disturbare il raccoglimento che precede la comunione.

Sarebbero modifiche che si aggiungerebbero ai cambiamenti alla liturgia e ai paramenti sacri che il Papa, insieme al suo cerimoniere, monsignor Guido Marini, ha compiuto in questi mesi, per recuperare antiche tradizioni: il ripristino del crocifisso al centro dell’altare, la distribuzione della comunione ai fedeli in bocca e in ginocchio, il recupero del pastorale di Pio IX (la ferula), la modifica della foggia del pallio (la striscia di lana bianca con croci rosse indossata dal Papa), il ripristino del trono papale utilizzato nel concistoro e la celebrazione della messa con le spalle all’assemblea, come avvenuto a gennaio nella Cappella Sistina.

McCain Tours Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City

Thanks to Adoro Te Devote for this succinct definition:

Modernists reject the idea that God can be known from without; they embrace the concept of immanence, that religion comes from within man, and comes from a certain personal experience. It is completely subjective, so lends to the next logical conclusion that in fact, all religions must be the same and equally valid, for no one can argue with another person’s personal experience. Additionally, there is the idea of “evolution”; modernism has an evolutionary character, meaning that over time it develops in response to man’s own subjective beliefs or needs or desires. They equate a “living religion” with a constant state of fluidity, and in fact, much of what we witness in modernism can be called “New Age”, for it leads one towards a certain “divinization,” making themselves God, deciding for themselves what is right or wrong not according to an external and objective “deposit of faith”, but rather that internal evolution or divinization. The additional factor of modernism is one of a collective unconscious, and this is what forms dogma. The big question is where the world is going and what they should do to look to the future and be “prophetic”.

“A beautiful act of love”

The papal master of ceremonies explains how Pope Benedict XVI’s liturgical decisions are neither pre- nor postconciliar

“The pope does not put on Prada, but Christ,” said Fr. Guido Marini, the Holy Father’s master of ceremonies, in an interview that appeared in the June 26 L’Osservatore Romano. Marini was explaining Pope Benedict XVI’s decisions affecting the liturgy.

Marini said the pope’s restoration of the traditional Latin Mass and liturgy had a “precise, twofold intention.” The first, said Marini, was to make it “easier to reach ‘a reconciliation in the bosom of the Church’; and in this sense, as has been said, the motu proprio is a beautiful act of love for the unity of the Church.” The pope’s second aim “is that of fostering a mutual enrichment between the two forms of the Roman rite: in such a way, for example, that in the celebration according to the missal of Paul VI (the ordinary form of the Roman rite) ‘will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage.”

As for the pope’s celebration last January of Mass in the Sistine Chapel at the ancient altar, facing liturgical east, Marini explained that such a celebration “is not a matter of turning one’s back to the faithful, but rather of orienting oneself together with the faithful toward the Lord. From this point of view, ‘the door is not closed on the assembly,’ but ‘the door is opened to the assembly,’ and it is led to the Lord.”

According to Marini, kneeling for communion and receiving it on the tongue will become “a regular practice at papal celebrations.” The master of ceremonies noted that “the distribution of communion in the hand remains, from the juridical point of view, a dispensation from the universal law, conceded by the Holy See to the bishops’ conferences that have asked for it.” Benedict’s proposed practice at papal Masses “tends to emphasize the continued validity of the norm for the whole Church,” said Marini. Receiving on the tongue, he continued, “better highlights the truth of the real presence in the Eucharist, aids the devotion of the faithful, and makes it easier to enter into the sense of mystery. In our time, pastorally speaking, it is urgent to recover and emphasize these aspects.”

What of those who accuse Benedict of imposing “preconciliar models” on the Church? Terms like “preconciliar” and “postconciliar,” “it seems to me,” said Marini, “belong to an outdated language, and if they are used with the intention of indicating a discontinuity in the Church’s journey, I maintain that they are mistaken and typical of highly reductive ideological views. There are ‘old things and new things’ that belong to the treasury of the Church of all time, and must be considered as such.”

“Not all that is new is true, nor is all that is old,” said Marini. “The truth spans old and new, and it is for this that we must strive, without prejudice. The Church lives according to the law of continuity in virtue of which it recognizes development rooted in tradition.

“What is most important,” Marini continued, “is that everything work together so that the liturgical celebration truly is the celebration of the sacred mystery, of the crucified and risen Lord who becomes present in his Church, reenacting the mystery of salvation and calling us, in the logic of an authentic and active participation, to share to the full in his own life, which is a life given in love to the Father and to his brothers, a life of holiness.”

Mary’s first action after God had come to dwell in her was one of self-denying charity. She undertook a troublesome journey in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Thus she proclaimed charity to be the virtue which above all Christ brought with Him from heaven. God made Mary’s visit the occasion of a wonderful miracle. On her entrance into St. Elizabeth’s dwelling, St. John Baptist was cleansed from sin in his mother’s womb. Mary was the channel of this exceptional privilege of the cleansing away fo sin in the case of the unborn child. As then, so now: Mary is the channel of all graces, and above all, of the restoration of the sinner to friendship with God. Mary’s charity is not less present now than at the time of the Visitation. Nay, she is far more eager now than then to promote the happiness and console the sorrows of those who fly to her for succor.

“Precious Blood, Ocean of Divine Mercy, flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
Most Pure offering, procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
Hope and refuge of sinners, atone for us!
Precious Blood,
Delight of the Holy Souls, draw us!
Amen.”

— Saint Catherine of Siena