Study in America Magazine: Why People Leave the Catholic Church and What They Want

Hello All.

Still need to get myself to hunker down and change the posting on the SSPX part II. Unfortunately it won't be until a bit later this week. I just finished 4 straight days of shifts and 3 of them are night shift (booooo!!!) and I got only a brief respite till tommorow's night shift. Those just kill me and I sleep in for 5-6 hours immediately after the following day. I might as well conisder the whole day lost.

Anyways I was scouring the blogs I usually read last week, and I found this link from a friend of mine on another Catholic blog (sorry, can't reveal the blog else it's obvious who I am. I don't think he knows I blog under a pseudoname, but I want to keep it that way):

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13347

This article has a bishop who did a study in his American diocese in Trenton, New Jersey, from fallen away parishoners. Hopefully he asked a lot more people than the Jersey Shore Snookis and Situations out there. lol! ok it was a corny Jersey Shore joke. Then again, maybe it would be interesting to ask each of them about their collapsed faith lives. We do know Snooki a.k.a. Nicole Polizzi was an altar server as in a Youtube Video on her personal channel, she said she "used to hold the candles and the book for the priest."

But I digress. While reading the article above, I couldn't help but read the articles featured reasons as to why they fall away from a few direct statements in the survey. There were many more items to break apart in the 2nd half of the article with regard to what people want in the Church, but I chose to focus this post on the first 1/2 with reasons why those people left the church, and my commentary in blue text. As always, this is from the viewpoint of a young adult, Roman Catholic, male layperson in Canada who received a private Catholic high school education (more truer to Magisteriam Teaching) and has been a Catholic revert for 2.5 years now.

Reason 1: The Church hierarchy is corrupt and evil!

".... One respondent wrote: “I separated my family from the Catholic Church and turned to an alternate religion for a while and then returned knowing I had the right religion but the wrong people running it.” Several chose to specify that they separated themselves from “the hierarchy....”

Alright, here we have a case of "I left the Church cause the idiots running the show are corrupt." First let's get the rough stuff out of the way. Yes, the instiutional Church has screwed up, as you have seen some occasions here on YCRCMB. What I meant by the institutional church is: the liberal or weakly-catechized teachers of Catholic schools, the numerous lax or liberal priests, the religious brothers and sisters (Fr. Z. will sometimes refer to the sisters and the "Magisterium of Nuns"), your parents, etc. Many people in the wake of the "Spirit of"/misapplication of Vatican II" took all sorts of liberties with their positions in power. Furthermore, yes we've seen priests in financial and even sexual scandal or bishops who have failed to uphold even Canon Law. Disgraced and likely lacized Raymond Lahey is the most recent example to mind here in Canada. So sorry if you sadly got one of these priests, teachers, or even your parents, who failed to teach you the authentic true tenets of the Catholic Faith.

Now, does this mean that the whole Church is bad???? No. As a whole, Christ in Matthew 16:18 vowed to Peter when he infomred him he would have His teaching authority (knowing he would die on the Cross), that ``the gates of Hell shall not prevail against [the Church] when it comes to providing us the means of spirtual salvation. Further when we look at the individuals in the Church in positions of power, when they screw up or are corrupt all the way to the Popes themselves (e.g. the Medici line of popes), the Church will still be there for us and theologically and spiritually remain intact till His Second Coming (a.k.a. the end of all existence). If it has survived corruption before, it will continue to survive, and be the spiritual link to our salvation despite what happens in its physical walls and organization.

In addition, all throughout our salvation history including the Old Testament, God (and Jesus once the Word Made Flesh existed) used ordinary, sinful men, to carry out God's love and desire for our selves to unify us with him. In the OT, think of for example, king David, whom was one of the most, if not the greatest, king(s) of Israel of all time. He sent poor Uriah to die in battle to claim his wife for himself (Uh David? hello? I think there is a commandment of those big 10 about coveting your neighbour's goods???). Once a prophet came and chided him did he finally realize "Oh no!!!!". Yes even this great king was flawed. And look at the Apostles themselves. They were all sinners, heck Matthew was even a reviled tax collector, and they were the big 12 who carried out Christ's authority and began what is the awesome Catholic Church. Also don't forget, of those sinful apostles, two of the four Gospels were written by a member each, including that reviled tax collector.

Reason 2a, b, c: Female roles, Peer involvement, and Spiritual Mentorship

" One 23-year-old woman said: I felt deceived and undervalued by the church. I didn’t understand certain things and found no mentors within the church. I just stopped going because my community of friends and family were no longer in the church ... 

2A, "DEPRECIATION OF WOMAN": Man, this is a much larger kettle of fish when you deal with the Church and feminism. I won't tackle the ideaology in depth, other than to say that thanks to 2nd wave radical feminism, it has misled both sexes (incl. men in supporting this) to believe in more than just human rights and true equality for women, including misandry (man-hating) and a passion to rule the world and punish all men or those who won't go along with their agenda. Now this woman is by no means shown to be a radical feminist, or a feminist at all for that matter, but I have to adress her deception and undervaluing. I also am sorry for this young woman, that with the liberal wave of the "Spirit of Vatican II" came a lie in the form of women infiltrating every crevice of the Church and taking over it like a rebellion, and the poor examples of conduct shown by her role models of both sexes. Maybe even being told of things like womynpriests and even a woman pope.That was not the truth and you should have not been even led to believe such a thing. Blame our stupid higher ups and the "Magisterium of [pantsuit] Nuns" for that one, and us laity for just going along with that.

I will say, however, that the Church does have many positive roles for women. One of the better fruits of Vatican II was the opening of liturgical "ministries" once held by minor orders to the Laity. This young woman, and yourselves too any female readers, can actively get involved in the Liturgy. Because of an indult (indults are supposed to be "special priviledges" not the norm in the Church) that got widespread to a point, Pope John Paul II had to be prudent and for the sake of civility, he made altar serving available to women in Churches and dioceses that allow it (some bishop's don't or pastors in their parishes don't and the bishop OKs this.) So one could be a female altar server. There are other lay ministries in the Mass, like extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, and lectors that PROCLAIM the Word of God. Also there are female sacristans, directors of religious education/catechists, and even pastoral associates. If you want to be somewnat more valued as a young person in the Church, show them you mean business!!!! Turn the tides and show them you love your Mother Church and the Holy Father and Want to make a good, positive, orthodox difference in your parish and keep it alive! Also as a side note, there have been many female saints and some powerful writers such as St. Joan of Arc, St. Hildegard of Bingen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen),  Mother Theresa, and Alice Von Hildebrand who've made their mark so to speak on the Church's history as key figures (and Saints!). A modern day Catholic phenom or example is Dr. Janet Smith. Also, John Paul II has adressed this modern state of Women in the Church in a very heartfelt letter here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_29061995_women_en.html

2B, "No Mentors": I partially disagree with the respondent on this one. Where I disagree is that there are many good mentors in the Church, even if they are not in traditional roles. We tend to think of mentors as simply the priests, bishops, or nuns. While laity cannot provide traditional spiritual direction or deep counselling (high school and hospital chapliancy seems different from that,) mentors or role models in the church can extend to people we don't think of normally: the sacristan, the head of a ministry such as lectoring, the youth minister, maybe even the parish secretary or humble Ms. Lumen Christi who goes to her weekly Mass, prays the Rosary daily, and has her wits about her with regards to the true teachings of the Catholic faith while looking after her children and grandchildren in her spare time! Just because there aren't a lot of clergy to look up to, or a lack of clergy who are traditional and don't espouse worldly values, it doesn't mean there are a lack or good mentors out there. Also if its true Church knowledge you are looking for, there's laypeople doing apologetics and teaching it right (e.g. Catholic Answers, Fr. Z) on the Internet, and maybe even your own diocese (though that can WIDELY vary according to what your bishop ``allows`.`) If it really is that bad, then thanks to today's technologies, go out there and find out the Truth for yourself! Thanks to the marvels of the Internet and other technology and cheap printing, the true Catholic faith in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium or other good solid literature is one Amazon.com order away, or one is just a click away from the Vatican's/Popes of present and pasts' major writings on www.vatican.va/. Also, you are not alone. There are lonesome good faithful Catholic youngsters out there too if you know where to look. They are also amonst the pews.  I'm sure they'd love a friend like you too and also to feel not alone out there. That's what I did myself to revert, though a youth ministry helped me start to get there. And if you have the guts, go be that mentor! Go get the training and form that youth minsitry (a lot of hard work required though, so be firm in commitment!) Change the outlook on things! Finally, there are more traditional orders of nuns and priests springing up in correlation with the New Evangelization, and even the average seminarian or priest of the John Paul II and Benedict XVI generations is becoming more sound and reliable as spiritual mentors. Why if your local seminary allows contact with those seminarians outside of the parish in their practicum year, maybe a seminarian could be your mentor! They are relatively young too!

2C: Peer Involvement: I 100% support this woman's statement on it. For high schoolers, and even more so young adults who aren't married, the institutional Church overall, sucks, when it comes to reaching this age group. It seems still the big focus is: Getting those sacraments pumped into kids` spiritual veins like some sort of vaccine up to Confirmation age, Marriage, and seniors. They are the institutional Church`s biggest "clients/consumers" to use crude business terminology. Sadly this approach makes it much harder for youth to appreciate the Church, and when their parishes or communities (including univerisities) have nothing to offer or what is offered is rather POOR and uninviting like my univeristy years were, it`s either tackle the world alone with whatever little Catholic Faith you got, or ``join the party`` of the secular, amoral, hedonist culture of the world and do whatever you want (and hopefully nothing serious will befall you .... ). However, there are efforts being made to incorporate youth into the Church`s daily life again. In the wake of declining parish populations and a slow but steady revival of Church theological and spiritual orthodoxy, parishes and dioceses are waking up to realize this group needs to be sought out as they are LOSING the youth to the world, flesh, and the Devil (if priests even acknolwedge his existence to begin with). Numerous parishes are even getting in there and dealing with pre-teens as, to paraphrase the EDGE (TM) youth ministry program that deals with Gr. 6-8 pre-teens: These kids are at a precous stage in their physical, mental, and especially spritual development as young Catholics. They are metaphorically ``on the edge`` and if we don`t reach out to them in this ever increasigly aggresive secular world, we may lose them forever and they won`t remain in the Catholic Church .... and likely never desire to come back. This idea even extends to the teenage years and especally for young adults prior to marriage years. Even good young Catholic men and women like myself, can fall after that stage, even if they got a `better upbringing` in their youth and teens. Once they hit university, if they aren`t strong enough to hit the wall of secularism that smacks them in the face, or stay within a supportive Catholic parish/community, well you get the picture. Therefore, youth ministries of varying degrees are emerging. Now, not all ministries are equal. Some are organized programs like LIFETEEN(TM) and EDGE (TM) needing large bodies of people in a core team (priest, youth minister, leaders), while others are one to few person gigs with a less structured focus meeting less frequently. Also, not all ministers are theologically conservative, depending on their background, personality, and even what they are studying in their post-secondary Catholic school. This is where you gotta do your research and find one that will help you to love the Church (including its teachings) and also enhance your personal spirituality. However, for this survey respondent in particular, it was even much harder for her, as those people she looked up to bought into the secular culture of the world and gave her poor example to live up to as a Catholic. Sometimes, you just gotta bite the bullet and go against the grain of those you know, and YOU be the shining example of the faith, that ``light of the world, the salt of the Earth`` to your family and friends. You be the catechist, you be the ``New Evangelization`` in your actions and knowledge of the faith and maybe you will call your friends and family back to the spiritual arms of Mother Church (she is a mother in a sense, the ``Bride of Christ.``). As a last note, do look around your city and parish for youth ministries and even singles communities of Catholics, or even Catholic dating services, if you are seriously considering marriage yourself. Just be careful which one you use. Ì recommend the one promoted on Catholic Answers, www.catholicmatch.com/ as that one is not a secular dating site, nor is it geared towards extreme ultra/rad-trad Catholics either.

Reason 3: THE LITURGY!!!!!!: ``“I tried different Catholic churches in the area because I just didn’t seem to be getting anything out of the Mass, especially the homily.” Another person said, “I stopped going regularly because the homilies were so empty. And whenever the church wanted to raise money, they dropped the homily and talked money.” There were many complaints about the quality of homilies as well as about poor music at Mass.`` [My text is now red colour as I'm going into Fr.Z rant mode]

Homiletics/Catechesis
AHHHHHH!!!!! If there is any one thing that ticks me off as to making people leave parishes, it's this. Priests and higher clergy (Deacons included), the homily is not the time to express your wishy-washy liberal sentiments or to promote social justice causes. It is also not "me" time to say something that makes you feel good nor joke around (though I'd make an exception for using it as a literary device to introduce your topic of necessity). The homily is the time to make sense of the Liturgy of the Word's readings to the congregation, to tell "the moral of the story" as it were from the mouth of Christ himself, and even to relate Christ's teachings to modern day life, and that may include reiterating Catholic teachings (yes, of THAT CATECHISM) and even apologetics as well. People crave those good, solid homilies they can take home, even just one nugget of spiritual umph to nourish their souls and minds, geared towards the objective truth of the Lord. They also are in a world of constant flux and are relying on YOU to tackle those issues, like that YouTube kid who says he loves Jesus but hates organized religion. We hate when you abuse the message of Christ to promote your latest church fundraizing campaign DURING THE MASS (unless you also teach us a theological lesson about the necessity of a parish building and its centrality to our faith) or even replace the homily with a "guest speaker" from the local diocesan charity that also deals out money to pro-abortion side arm divisions (knowingly or unknowingly). If you have to announce this stuff due to the commands from the bishops (an every Mass this Sunday kind of thing), the proper place in the Ordinary Form is before the dismissal, and in the EF prior to the "continuation of the Gospel" before the Homily. However you could also have people optionally listen after a Mass, and you don`t waste time with the uninterested early self-dismissal people either.

Finally, your homily might be ALL the Catechesis that a kid or adult will get in their whole week. No, you CANNOT TRUST the separate school systems as they are under the thumb of the government who gives them most of their funding or teachers who teach under the guise of ``tolerance`` and ``anti-bullying.``  They must obey whatever the government dictates or suffer financially, and that might include promoting social justice causes that contradict Church teaching. Worse, not all your teachers that work in those systems are Catholic. And the ones that are? I dare you to quiz them on their basics: What is the Trinity? What is the Mass? What is the Eucharist? What are the 7 Sacraments? Do they know what Sin is? Is there such a thing as Sin? Many would not be able to give a straight answer I'd bet you. Also, if the school administration and teachers are brainwashed socially and liberally beyond reasoning, the minute you step foot and mention SIN of any kind or a teaching on the big issues like papal infallability, abortion, euthanasia etc. I guarantee you will likely not be let back in to that school. Therefore clergy, you got only one shot a week to teach these people something about the true Faith. If you don't want to and espouse a "Jesus loves everybody" message, they'll find NOTHING UNIQUE about the Catholic faith vs. the other faiths out there, or worse will think you aren't serious about your position and are just "sucking on the power teat" as it were. Now if they like that kinda "lukewarm" thing, fine, but maybe you should look ahead to the future 10-20 years down the road when your donating parishoners die and the collection baskets thin out because the next generation isn't giving a lot and not having enough children (or none if they are contracepting), and the next two generations are leaving/have left the parishes after Confirmation. Just saying!

In fact, I'm personally switching my parish for the Novus Ordo, as this above is one of the reasons. At least at the new N.O. parish I'm seeking has priests that give good traditionally-minded hiomilies, one of them leaning more on solid catechesis and spirituality while another excels at applying the Gospel and LOTW to the modern world. That's the stuff I crave baby!!! And it seems this young woman does too.

The Liturgical Music
Now to tackle music. Music's purpose in the liturgy is outlined here in the Papal Instruction Liturgicam Sacram " 5. Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it" (I, 5). In other words, it is used as an accompanyment to help lift your soul and help you be in a prayerful mood for the Mass and be able to particilate in it more fully. This document, BTW, was issued by the Vatican II pope, Paul VI. Let's look further into this document: "60. The new melodies for the vernacular texts certainly need to undergo a period of experimentation in order that they may attain a sufficient maturity and perfection. However, anything done in churches, even if only for experimental purposes, which is unbecoming to the holiness of the place, the dignity of the liturgy and the devotion of the faithful, must be avoided." (V, 60) I post this with regard to that fodangled new pop-ish stuff and those tunes of the 60's and 70's in your parents' days where pop hits were turned into Churchy songs (or in the worst cases even used) as well as some of the new genres like "praise and worship." What can we take from this? Look, there is leeway for experiementation and development of new sacred music in Church history. But that does not give you the right to incorporate whatever music you like in the liturgy, just to be "in with the times." If we want secular garbage we'll get that off YouTube and we don't need it elsewhere. We young people can't stand when adults try to "cramp our style" so to speak.

Also accompanying that paragraph is this: " .... Musical instruments can be very useful in sacred celebrations, whether they accompany the singing or whether they are played as solo instruments. "The pipe organ is to be held in high esteem in the Latin Church, since it is its traditional instrument, the sound of which can add a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lift up men's minds to God and higher things." "The use of other instruments may also be admitted in divine worship, given the decision and consent of the competent territorial authority, provided that the instruments are suitable for sacred use, or can be adapted to it, that they are in keeping with the dignity of the temple, and truly contribute to the edification of the faithful."[43]" (VI, 62) Secular instruments and elements might be okay, but have to be assessed as to whether they are or are not geared to the liturgy. Also, just by their sound/nature, some instruments are clearly poorly suited or not at all for the liturgy (e.g. drums, electric guitar when it's not electrically changed by an amp to sound acoustic, and even acoustic guitars to some extent) should be either cautiously used or not at all. The Church, the choir loft, and especially the sanctuary, is not suitable for a rock concert! Sadly there's that territorial authority thing  (cough, bishops, cough) so em if you get a liberal one, well don't be suprized to find the aging hippie band or the folk choir with a guitar at the parish. As for the LIFETEEN/EDGE rock group bands, well I'm mixed. I say the best thing is, well fine let them have their band playing P and W music (if they have to have a band at all for those Masses) but do introduce them to Gregorian Chant and other better Church music to see the gamut of "allowable" music and read to the youth the document above, as well as some of the Vatican II stuff that also speaks with regard to the liturgy. Practically, Is there a schola or a choir school/cathedral they can take a day/eve trip to see? Maybe a secular choir that performs classical/baroque pieces out of musical respect or reverence?

Now you might say, what about the corny music that passes for liturgical ``hymns``? Well likely they got by thanks to your bishop cause of this: "54. In preparing popular versions of those parts which will be set to melodies, and especially of the Psalter, experts should take care that fidelity to the Latin text is suitably harmonized with applicability of the vernacular text to musical settings. The nature and laws of each language must be respected, and the features and special characteristics of each people must be taken into consideration: all this, together with the laws of sacred music, should be carefully considered by musicians in the preparation of the new melodies. The competent territorial authority will therefore ensure that in the commission entrusted with the composition of versions for the people, there are experts in the subjects already mentioned as well as in Latin and the vernacular; from the outset of the work, they must combine their efforts." (V, 54). So in a nutshell, if the bishop is lax and lets this stuff by, well too bad if your pastor okays it use. This is where you have to let your bishop and pastor know you don't like what they do. If they don't listen, you have every right to walk and register at another parish that does respect the Church's liturgical tradition and has music that elevates your soul in the liturgy of the Mass. You also have the right to take your money and put it into the hands of competent musical ministers or choirmasters, and withhold it if your parish is screwing with your ability to truly worship Christ in the Mass in a proper, liturgically correct, manner. It is your hard earned money after all. Also one can protest with their feet: The Church CANNOT deny you your sacraments as long as you are not excommunicated (with exception to reconciliation likely at the hands of the bishop), so you can go to any Catholic Church and attend their Mass, including ones with all the smells and bells and Gregorian Chant if your home parish keeps singing "Gather us In" from that Gather hymnal and "Send down the fire".

My point is, well, the lady has a valid point! Not all this kind of modern stuff is liked by our generation, and we do like the traditional uplifting Church music. We want music that lifts our souls to participate more fully in the Mass, and if you aren't doing it parish X, we have the right and we will go to parish Y that has that unless we are, like "whatever." though we likely won't come back for a long time or never if we have that attitude. You can't deny us our sacraments and kick us out for our liturgical musical preferences. Furthermore, not everyone is moved by your type of music (though not everyone, even some faithful young Roman Catholics, are moved by Gregorian Chant and actually are moved by Praise and Worship or other forms of liturgical music). My point is, move with your feet and your wallet if you can't stand the bandstand.

Alright rant mode OFF. Unfortunately the liberal/mainstream media has made a mess in the minds of many average people with this one, Reason # 4: ".... The scandal surrounding the sexual abuse of minors by clergy was mentioned often. One man said that what did it for him was “the bishop’s refusal to list pedophile priests on the diocesan Web site and his non-support of the effort to lift the statute of limitations for bringing sexual abuses cases forward in the courts"

Well I cannot stand for this person's diocese. However, generally, those priests and bishops who have done anything like this, you've made the Church worse and you deserve the criminal and civil and Church penalties you get. Even Canada is not immune. It is generally known that some of the nuns and priests who took care of Native Canadian reserve school and residences, treated the Natives with abuse of multiple kinds. Also, recently a bishop from the Maritimes, Raymond Lahey, was found with pornography with his computer in 2009. So there's no shortage of stories even for Canada. However, generally, as a whole, the majority of Church clergy do not engage in this kind of activity. In fact this can be applied to every major profession in modern society. The expression is "a few rotten apples spoil the bunch". Now, I will not perform apologeitcs on the Church sex crisis in this post in detail as it's been extensively covered by other Internet and media apologists. For Canadians, the best arguments I can recommend are found in the works of Michael Coren of Sun Media TV, especially "Why the Catholic Church is Right." He tackles the issue with a whole chapter RIGHT FROM THE START of his book. As for the rest of you viewers you can also view Michael Voris' video series on this matter in his little 6-10 min daily faith blurb called "The Vortex" on youtube. Search for Michael Voris, Vortex, and sex scandal or crisis in Catholic Church. I believe he did the weeklong series at the beginning of September in 2010 when the 2nd wave of the crisis hit or was still at high tide?

And this is where I will retire. I could spend many a day on this portion of the survey and more, but this mind has other things he'd like to devote his time to. Enjoy the read, and as always, my blog rules are in effect, so think before posting.

Pax Tibi Christi, YCRCM.

SUPPER DEE DUPER quickpost: Churchy feel good liberals, BEWARE!!!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

So I was just checking my rotation of blogs, and this showed up:

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.ca/2012/04/for-record-latest-tornielli-fellays.html

This is pretty significant. I certainly thought Fellay and the SSPX were going to be stubborn louts and ruin it. This is a game changer and will certainly strengthen the powers of TCs and TPs everywhere!!!! If things become finalized and canonically valid INCLUDING SACRAMENTALLY all their "sacraments" outside the Mass (quotations to be removed in future), the Church will regain 500+ priests and their army of servers, MCs, and such can aid us who have stayed true and loyal to the Magisterium/Vatican in our cause of the EF/TLM!!!! Once I get the canonical OK from Pater Benedictus XVI, I might explore them .... but I won't go that far in my Traditional Catholicicsm. I've got too much invested currently with the Novus Ordo Church and my regular TC/TP effots.

Anyways, Now that this announcement has been unleashed, I will have to align my Part II post quite a bit. While I am glad for the sake of the EF/TLM that SSPX seems to be on their way to full canonization, I have my concerns about them extra-liturgically (e.g. psychologically/sociologically). That will be where my criticism lies in the Part II post.

Keeping my eyes peeled on this one,

YCRCM.

UPDATE Tues Apr 17, 1035pm EST/2235h:

I think I jumped the gun here. Obviously the only acceptable source of Yes or No is the Holy Father Himself. Read here:

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/st.-pius-x-society-gives-mixed-response-to-vatican

Let us all pray Fellay didn't make the response so screwed that B16 rejects SSPX. Let's hope the "modifications" are acceptable. It's up to him to accept or reject B16's offer and unify with the Church, not the other way around.

YCRCM.

UPDATE Sun May 6, 2012, 444pm EST/1644h

Those pro-SSPX supporters at Rorate Caeli picked this up from a news source somewhere:

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/05/rome-sspx-very-relevant-popes-decision.html

So it sounds like this month, the be all and end all for the Society will occur, and the Papal satellite cannon will either fire it's ultimate schiz-Or beam at the Society, or the abort codes will shut the satellite down on itself and finally, we'll be welcoming 500+ priests and numerous adherents to the Society home. That, and canonical and licit sacraments will finally be offered by them. Keep praying guys, cause this will either bestow a powerful bunch of TC allies to the cause, or will deal a severe blow to the Latin Mass/EF initiatives worldwide and allow liberals in the Church to mock us sympathetic to TC/TPs more.

YCRCM.

Update Mon May 21 (Victoria Day in Canada), 2012, 1020 pm EST/2220h


This has been making the Circuit on the blogs as Fellay himself while in Vienna spoke about the negotiations:

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/05/rome-sspx-fellay-speaks-in-vienna-words.html

I'd like to highlight some points of the text:

".... This structure that is being offered to the Society is in fact entirely appropriate. That is, if it actually takes place, you will feel absolutely no difference between now and afterwards. We will remain as we are, so to speak .... 

 So it seems that the SSPX, according to this statement, is being likely offered an ordinate like the Anglicans under A. Coebitus. I am thinking it is less likely a personal prelature, because the latter would imply that they must be adherent to ordinary bishops of dioceses, and well many of them would say no to the SSPX cause they are liberal heterodox thinking types still from the pre JPII and B16 generations. An ordinate would, like the Angilcans, mean that they are physically separate from the dioceses and can own their own properties, and be directly under the command of B16 himself. The key words are underlined leading me to think as such is more likely. Do not forget, the SSPX hierarchy`s biggest fear is that they`ll end up like the FSSP or other organizations, forced to set up shop in little hidey holes in the country they are in, treated with contempt by the mainstream Catholic society and just another "act" under the big circus tent that is the modern INSTITUTIONAL Catholic Church. 

".... It could happen that, in the upcoming days, weeks - it is very hard to ascertain this - the Pope will decide directly.... That is the current status."

So it's likely that this month, the Satellite canon will either be launched or the         abort codes on the SSPX will be unleashed by Benedict, metaphorically speaking. 

Some others on the Catholic Blogosphere have noticed a pattern that Benedict tends to do pretty big things on Church solemnities/feast days, so perhaps, maybe Pentecost or the vigil of it, something BIG is going to happen. And would it be appropriate!!! It is often said that it is by the Holy Spirit that conversion to Catholicism happens, so I wouldn't be suprized if the big announcement occurs on Pentecost. 

So in short, all this YCRCM can say, is we must keep our ears peeled, and if Fellay isn't stupid enough to do what his predecessor, +Lefevbre did (yes he was a validly consecrated bishop in the Church, and key name in the Vatican II accounts), we my friends will have reinforcements for the sake of the Latin Mass and many more clergy, servers and the like to revive this spiritual transfusion in the Church. However, I still have doubts, which reminds me to get to work on part II of my big SSPX post .... I might just do that this week with some time off if I don't get emergency work calls or give aways ... sad thing is I'll have to take them as the taxman killed me this year, even with a job and an accoutant.I lost 1.5 - 2 paychecks worth of my hard earned, already taxed doe to Stephen HARPER!!!! (angry tone. sigh).

YCRCM.

Quickpost: Spike in pageviews again

Hi all,

My record got broken again. at 17:00 according to the blogosphere, I got 19 hits! Checking the day stats for the whole dayy (0000h - 2359) 18 of those are from the Netherlands. I am not 100% sure whether this means there are some hungry Catholics there seeking knowledge, or someone's fishining for information, or some kind of internet bot is spying on me somehow. Hmmmmmm.....

YCRCM.

Quickpost: Holding back on my current project

Hello All,

So I've been saying I've been working on a blogpost project the last few occasions. In reality, I started working on this post since I first started my blog last August. I'll reveal it now: I was working on Part II of the SSPX situation. The first post was a brief historical overview for people who weren`t in the know about the subject.

My part II was going to be my reflections and opinions on the matter with both some positives, but also criticism about them via websites of ex supporters with accounts of those who fled the Society and some of their public resources and why I am wary of them from an extra-liturgical (e.g. outside the TLM/EF) reasons. For this purpose, I didn`t want to say directly I was doing it, and I know it would make a lot of sympathizers and supporters very, inordinately angry on the TC blogosphere. Some people are so devoted to them they go on blogs and express their love of the Society, criticizing anyone and anything against them. One blog in particular, Rorate Caeli, tends to have more of these extreme position people in their comboxes vs. other TC blogs. At least the head moderator there, New Catholic, keeps a level head on many posts. I only keep up with that blog for news about the situation and on the TLM`s growth worldwide, especially North America.

Anyways, with the ever possible decision to be reached by the Vatican this month, (with the ultimatum date being said to be tomorrow, April the 15, Divine Mercy Sunday/Low Sunday in the EF) on the status of the Society, via acceptance or rejection of the doctrinal preamble, I have decided to be prudent and somewhat charitable, and I am not going to post my project at this time. Depending on which way the decision goes, it will need to be editied further to reflect that decision, or further developed in the form I have now.

Whatever happens, there is much work to be done with the Society in the Church, and to the Church with the Society. I ask you tonight to pray whatever prayers you can (seems the Rosary keeps poping up with them) and hope, do hope, that pride will be swept away and Fellay will lead the SSPX home to full canonical status. We need them for the sake of the EF/TLM !!!! We need their acceptance and their MCs and servers to help us learn that beautiful Mass of all time and restore the Mass as part of the New Evangelization!!!

But before I go, again a warning. Read my first post in September 2011 on my blog rules before you post, if you must comment as well. I do suggest though not commenting and waiting and seeing what tomorrow brings, or the next few weeks after that if not immediate ...

YCRCM.

Quickpost: Traditional Catholicism is Winning

Hello All.

Just a quick post, with a thank you to The Deacon's Bench for highliting this, which interestingly enough comes from the notoriously liberal Wall Street Journal about an increase in vocations to the priesthood:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/04/wsj-traditional-catholicism-is-winning-renewal-is-coming/

YCRCM.

Good Friday Homily from the Vatican, April 6. 2012

Hello Everyone. Thanks to the Vatican's new online news site, news.va, I bring to you the Good Friday Homily of the Vatican. Here's the Link: http://www.news.va/en/news/full-text-good-friday-homily-of-fr-raniero-cantala. I comment in certain parts in puruple like Fr. Z does and only had one comment that was a slightly speckled filled nutty.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, ofmcap“I DIED, AND BEHOLD I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE” (Revelation 1:18)Homily of Good Friday 2012 in Saint Peter’s Basilica
Some ancient Fathers of the Church enclosed in an image the whole mystery of the redemption. Imagine, they said, that an epic fight took place in the stadium. A courageous man confronted a cruel tyrant who had the city enslaved and, with enormous effort and suffering, defeated him. You were on the terraces; you did not fight, or make an effort or get wounded. However, if you admire the courageous man, if you rejoice with him over his victory, if you intertwine crowns, arouse and stir the assembly for him, if you kneel joyfully before the triumphant one, kiss his head and shake his right hand; in a word, if you rave so much as to consider his victory yours, I tell you that you will certainly have part of the victor’s prize. However, there is more: imagine that the victor had himself no need of the prize he had won, but wished more than anything to see his supporter honored and considers as the prize of his combat the crowning of his friend, in that case, perhaps, will that man not obtain the crown also though he has not toiled on been wounded? He certainly will obtain it![1] [What a fitting analogy]
It happens thus, say the Fathers, between Christ and us. On the cross, he defeated the ancient enemy. “Our swords – exclaims Saint John Chrysostom – were not bloodied, we were not in agony, we were not wounded, we did not even see the battle and yet we obtain the victory. His was the fight, ours the crown. And because we are also the conquerors, let us imitate what soldiers do in such cases: with joyful voices let us exalt the victory, let us intone hymns of praise to the Lord!”[2] It is not possible to explain better the meaning of the liturgy we are celebrating. * * *
However, is what we are doing itself an image, a representation of a reality of the past, or is it the reality itself? It is both things! “We – said Saint Augustine to the people – know and believe with very certain faith that Christ died only once for us […]. You know perfectly that all that happened only once, and yet the solemnity renews it periodically […]. Historical truth and liturgical solemnity are not opposed to one another, as if the second is fallacious and the first alone corresponds to the truth. In fact, of what history says occurred only once in reality, the solemnity repeatedly renews the celebration in the hearts of the faithful. [This is exactly what happens every single Mass. We are renewed sacramentally in the Eucharist and re-immerse ourselves in His passion, death, and resurecction, via the unbloddy re-presentation of his Sacrifice on Calvary.] ”[3]The liturgy “renews” the event: how many discussions have taken place for the past five centuries on the meaning of this word, especially when it is applied to the sacrifice of the cross and to the Mass! Paul VI used a verb that could smooth the way to an ecumenical agreement [holding my feelings in on this one .... grrrr....] on such an argument: the verb “to represent,” understood in the strong sense of re-presenting, namely to render what happened again present and operative.[4]
There is an essential difference between the representation of Christ’s death and that, for example, of the death of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name. No one celebrates as a living person the anniversary of his own death; Christ does because he is risen. Only he can say, as he does in Revelation: “I died, and behold I am alive ever more” (Revelation 1:18). We must be careful on this day, visiting the so-called sepulchers or taking part in processions of the dead Christ, not to merit the reproach that the Risen One addressed to the pious women on Easter morning: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). The affirmation of certain Orthodox authors is bold but true. The anamnesis, namely the liturgical memorial, “renders the event truer than when it happened historically the first time.” In other words, it is more true and real for us who relive it “according to the Spirit,” than it was for those who lived it “according to the flesh,” before the Holy Spirit revealed the full meaning to the Church.
We are not only celebrating an anniversary but a mystery [YES!]. Again, it is Saint Augustine who explains the difference between the two things. In the celebration “by way of anniversary,” nothing else is required – he says – than to “indicate with a religious solemnity the day of the year in which the recollection of the event itself takes place;” in the celebration by way of mystery (“in sacrament”), “not only is an event commemorated but it is also done in a way in which its meaning is understood and it is received devoutly.”[5]This changes everything. It is not just a question of attending a representation, but of “accepting” the significance, of passing from spectators to actors. [The context is not the way we know actors, like those on our movie screens or Hollywood, nor it is people in their various lay ministries or bringing up the wooden cross. He means as in the person participating in mind, body, and soul, uniting their prayers with that of the priest acting in persona Christi, every time we go to Mass. Often the "active participation quote" from Vatican II is misunderstood in this context.] It is up to us therefore to choose what part we want to play in the drama, who we wish to be: Peter, Judas, Pilate, the crowd, the Cyrenean, John, Mary … No one can remain neutral; not take a position, means to take a very precise one: Pilate’s who washes his hands or the crowd “standing by, watching” (Luke 23:35) [Whoa! This is key everyone. You cannot remain lukewarm when it comes to one's Catholic Faith, be it through standing on the sidelines with regard to critical faith issues like Pontius Pilate, just being "nice," taking the side of the world or dissenting from the Church like Judas when he betrayed our Lord, or denying your Catholic Faith in various ways as did Peter directly. Even Jesus commented that those lukewarm would be spit out of God's mouth come their judgement. You either truly belive in the Magisterium and the teachings of the Church and seek to apply that in all areas of our lives, espeically in upholding our Catholic beliefs in the public square, or you don't really care/believe in the Faith and are no different than those who attack our Faith. Isn't the expression 'for evil to triumph, it is only for good men [and women] to do nothing?' or something like that? I suspect it's possible Benedict is trying to stir up in our hearts via this homily, delivered by his mouthpiece priest, a more devout faith and to either do it or forever hold your peace.]
If when going home this evening, someone asks us “Where are you coming from? Where have you been?” We must also answer, at least in our heart: “on Calvary!”* * *
However, all this does not happen automatically, just because we have taken part in this liturgy. It is a question of “accepting” the meaning of the mystery. This happens with faith. [Yes! Just going to Church alone does not make you a good Catholic or practicing one. You could go every Sunday and sin the other 6 days. Are you truly being nourished by the Mass and carryiong out the mission of the Church when the priest dismisses you from Mass when he says "Go in peace" or "ite, missa est" (The Mass is finished)? Faith without works is dead. Vice versa also applies too, as actions without faith are just actions that any person can do for some collective benefit of the world, with no true, final end goal is sight. Furthermore, this could be Benedict taking aim at the many Catholics around the world who are "C & E" or Christmas and Easter Catholics.] There is no music where there is no ear to hear it, no matter how loud the orchestra sounds; there is no grace where there is no faith to receive it. In an Easter homily of the 4^th century, the bishop pronounced these extraordinarily modern, and one could say existentialist, words: “For every man, the beginning of life is when Christ was immolated for him. However, Christ is immolated for him at the moment he recognizes the grace and becomes conscious of the life procured for him by that immolation.”[6]
However, let us stay on the safe side; let us listen to a doctor of the Church. “What I cannot obtain by myself – writes Saint Bernard --, I appropriate (literally, I usurp!) with confidence from the pierced side of the Lord., because he is full of mercy. Hence my merit is the mercy of God. I am certainly not poor in merits, as long as he is rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are many (Psalm 119:156), I will also abound in merits. And what about my own righteousness? O Lord, I will remember only your righteousness. In fact, it is also mine, because you are righteousness for me on behalf of God” (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:30).[7] [An appropriate insert about the Divine Mercy of the Lord, considering in the Latin Rite that next Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. If you haven't started, please look up the Novena to Divine Mercy and obtaining the indulgences with this feast day.] Did this way of conceiving holiness make Saint Bernard, perhaps, less zealous in good works, less committed to the acquisition of virtues? Did perhaps the apostle Paul neglect to mortify his body and reduce it to slavery (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:27), he who, before all and more than all, had made of this appropriation of Christ’s righteousness the purpose of his life and of his preaching (cf. Philippians 3:7-9)?
In Rome, as unfortunately in all big cities, there are so many homeless people, human persons who only have a few rags upon their body and some poor belongings that they carry along in a plastic bag. Let us imagine that one day this voice spreads: on Via Condotti (everyone knows what Via Condotti represents in Rome!) there is the owner of a fashion boutique who, for some unknown reason, whether out of interest or generosity, invites all the homeless of Termini rail way station to come to her shop; she invites them to take off their soiled rags, to have a good shower and then choose the garment they want among those displayed and take it away free of charge.All say in their heart: “This is a fairy-tale, it never happens!” Very true, but what never happens among men is what can happen every day between men and God, because, before Him, we are those homeless people! This is what happens in a good confession: you take off your dirty rags, your sins, receive the bath of mercy and rise “clothed in the garments of salvation, covered with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).¸[CONFESSION! He is promoting the Sacrament of Confession!!!]
The tax collector of the parable went up into the temple to pray; he said simply but from the depth of his heart: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”, and “he went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:14), reconciled, made new, innocent. The same could be said of us, if we have his same faith and repentance, when we go home after this liturgy. * * *
Among the personages of the Passion with whom we can identify, I realize that I have neglected to name one that more than all awaits those who will follow his example: the good thief. [St. Dismas]. The good thief made a complete confession of sin; he says to his companion who insults Jesus: “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40f.). Here the good thief shows himself an excellent theologian. Only God in fact, if he suffers, suffers absolutely as innocent; every other being who suffers should say: “I suffer justly,” because even if he is not responsible for the action imputed to him, he is never altogether without fault. Only the pain of innocent children is similar to God’s and because of this it is so mysterious and so sacred.
How many atrocious crimes in recent times remained anonymous, how many unresolved cases exist! The good thief launches an appeal to those responsible: do like me, come out into the open, confess your fault; you also will experience the joy I had when I heard Jesus’ word: “”today you will be with me in Paradise!” (Luke 23:43). How many confessed offenders can confirm that it was also like this for them: that they passed from hell to heaven the day that they had the courage to repent and confess their fault. I have known some myself. The paradise promised is peace of conscience, the possibility of looking at oneself in the mirror or of looking at one’s children without having to have contempt for oneself. Do not take your secret to your grave; it would procure for you a far more fearful condemnation than the human. [This isn't just an opinion to ignore. Obstinancy in sin is one of the six major offenses against the Holy Spirit. And considering big crimes like murder (exception is legitimate self-defense) and adultery are "grave offenses" which would undoubtedly fulfill the conditions of mortal sin, the condemnation without repentance before death would be Hell. No sanctifying grace, no way to even remotely unite with our Lord in Heaven.] Our people are not merciless with one who has made a mistake but recognizes the evil done, sincerely, not just for some calculation. On the contrary! They are ready to be merciful and to accompany the repentant one on his journey of redemption (which in every case becomes shorter). “God forgives many things, for a good work,” says Lucia to the Unnamed in Manzoni’s novel “The Betrothed”; with greater truth we can say, he forgives many things by one act of repentance. He promised it solemnly: “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Let us take up now and do what we heard at the beginning, it is our task this day: with joyful voices let us exalt the victory of the cross, intone hymns of praise to the Lord. “O Redemptor, sume carmen temet concinentium”[8]: And you, O our Redeemer, receive the song we raise to you. [YEAH!!! LATIN!!! WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!]

1. Nicholas Cabasilas, Vita in Christo, I. 9 (PG 150, 517)
2. Saint John Chrysostom, De coemeterio et de cruce (PG, 49, 596).
3. Saint Augustine, Sermon 220 (PL 38, 1089).
4. Cf. Paul VI, Mysterium fidei (AAS 57, 1965, p. 753 ff).
5. Augustine, Epistle 55, 1, 2 (CSEL 34, 1, p. 170).
6. Paschal Homily of the year 387 (SCh 36, p. 59 f.).
7. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Canticle, 61, 4-5 (PL 183, 1072).
8. Hymn of Palm Sunday and of the Chrism Mass of Maundy Thursday

Quickpost: Most pageviews at once for YCRCM

Hello All,

I can't believe this. Blogger's stat counter just listed me as having 16 hits in one hour, 5pm EST to be exact. I can't believe this. This is the most in one day I've received. Thanks to all who viewed my page. Hopefully Holy Saturday I'll have a bit more time to work on my project. Maybe a bit tomorrow too.

YCRCM

Quick Post: Update April 1, 2012.

Hello Everyone,

Hope all is well with you heading into Holy Week. So I see I got a new blogger, Christopher. Well Hello Christopher. Thanks for joining up and I read your blog briefly. Glad to have another supporter of TCs/TPs on here.

So what's new? Well I was incognito for a bit because I had a job interview for something more suited to my skill set. I didn't get the job, but now that freed me up to start getting back to my latest blog project that I mentioned last time. Yeah that one I'm warning you about. I've got more work to do but it has been coming along. I did get one small break to add some more to the final thoughts of the post, thanks to a TC friend and I'm reveiwing some of the documents he sent me on why he has chosen to abandon the Novus Ordo. So my post will be one heck of a nutty, but with some decent final thoughts. Again stay tuned, and since I likely won't post before Easter (save maybe some Catechesis as I did some liturgical calendar work prior to my starting this blog), I wish you all a blessed Holy Week, somber Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and joyous Easter.

Pax Tibi Christi, YCRCM.

On The Blogosphere: Fr. Marcel Guarnizo's Reply on the Johnson Lesbian Funeral Fiasco

Hello Everyone.

Been a couple of weeks since I posted, and still doing the usual work and such. However, I'm working on something personal, slowly and incrementally, that I'll release soon and can't hold back any longer. I will warn you ahead of time, that it's going to be a very heated issue, and some of you Traditional Catholics (TCs) may not like what I am going to say, even though I am a TC and/or Traditional Practices (TPs) supporter.

Something really important came up with regard to a hot Catholic blogging topic. Those of you keeping up with the Catholic blogosphere, know that at the start of this month, A lesbian activist Buddhist Catholic (assuming valid Baptism and Confirmation early in life) by the name of Barbara Johnson (1) held a funeral for her mother at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, in Maryland (though under bishop Knestout of the Diocese of Washington) USA. She introduced herself as a lesbian (her exact words indicated she refered to her female partner as a "lover" therefore revealing her sinful obstinacy by being in a lesbian relationship) to Fr. Guarnizo before the funeral, and was physically blocked from further discussion by her lesbian partner when Fr. tried to approach her.  Long story short, he denied the lesbian communion probably thinking along the lines of Canon Law 915 (many other people have covered this online so I'm not looking this law up) and as a result, the bishop of Washington has prevented the priest from performing sacramental duties (e.g. Mass, weddings and funerals,) when the lesbian went postal on him with the liberal Catholic-hating mainstream media. The only sacramental exception might be an emergency life-or-death confession (even a laicized priest could do that as a last resort with someone if no other valid canonical priest is around). That might be in Canon Law also.

You can examine the snipits of this unfolding bungle for the institutional Church in the following links:

A summary of the event with commentary by the awesome traditional priest, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (2) is present here.

Canon Law expert on the Internet Dr. Edward Peters (unreliable only with regard to the Voris Detroit "Catholic" name removal issue due to diocesan bias but great with everything else) comments on Canon Law 915 (3) and his take on the issue in reply to an editoral in another publication here.

Diocese of Washington Bishop Knestout's reply to the situation (4) to Mrs. Johnston, here, and the letter read at all Masses this past Weekend with regard to the "incident" (5) basically smearing the good priest's name here.

Dr. Peter's take on the issue after the second letter was read at all masses (5) at the parish here (6).

Now, here's the biggest development yet to date. Finally, the priest at the heart of the controversy, has spoken out officially in writing (via CNA) offering his side of the story and also commenting on what the bishop isn't telling us. It is provided to us courtesy of the Catholic News Agency here (7), with boldface emphasis on specific parts by yours truly and I'mma gonna take a page out of Fr. Z's book and go all red with commentary. WARNING: I`m having a Fr. Z speckled filled nutty on this one:

"I would like to begin by once again sending my condolences to the Johnson family on the death of Mrs. Loetta Johnson.

I also feel obliged to answer questions from my parishioners, as well as from the public, about the incident on February 25th.

Here are the facts: On Saturday February 25th I showed up to officiate at a funeral Mass for Mrs. Loetta Johnson. The arrangements for the Mass were also not my own. I wish to clarify that Ms. Barbara Johnson (the woman who has since complained to the press), has never been a parishioner of mine. In fact I had never met her or her family until that morning. [Really? So only the mother was part of the parish or did she just happen to die in that diocese and it was the closest church? That's not clear in any of the accounts I`ve read so far. Any clarifications?] 

The funeral celebration was to commence at 10:30a.m. From 9:30 to 10:20, I was assigned to hear confessions for the parish and anyone in the funeral party who would have chosen to receive the sacrament. [WHOA!!! Finally a non-EF priest outside of the EF community and specific orders in the Church or Cathedrals who gets it when it comes to worthiness to receive the Eucharist!!!]
 
A few minutes before the Mass began, Ms. Johnson came into the sacristy with another woman whom she announced as her “lover”. [Really? Honestly where was her common sense? She should have been well aware with her lesbian activism that the Church and homosexuality aren't exactly the closest of friends. That and not every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to hear about your personal life choices in public. Any regular person with common sense would know not to go about announcing their personal lifestyle choices around Catholics with the sexual teachings of the Catholic Church in the Catechism and such (unless they know their friends/family are liberal minded). Believe me, if you read any stats online with regards to Catholics and sexual teachings, you'd know many Catholic purposely ignore the teachings of the Church. HOWEVER, They just don't go out about saying to their parishes "Hey I'm having pre-marital sex" or "Hey I participate in an S & M leather costume society every Tuesday night." Sounds like this was pure lesbian activism in full force. If she truly wanted to tell the priest about her relationship as an ISSUE, why didn`t she sit down with the priest prior and discuss this? Better yet why the heck didn't the pastor or lay secretary/funeral arranging person not disclose this info to the priest?] Her revelation was completely unsolicited. As I attempted to follow Ms.Johnson, her lover stood in our narrow sacristy physically blocking my pathway to the door. I politely asked her to move and she refused.

I understand and agree it is the policy of the Archdiocese to assume good faith when a Catholic presents himself for communion; like most priests I am not at all eager to withhold communion. But the ideal cannot always be achieved in life.

In the past ten days, many Catholics have referenced canon 915 in regard to this specific circumstance. There are other reasons for denying communion which neither meet the threshold of canon 915 or have any explicit connection to the discipline stated in that canon.

If a Quaker, a Lutheran or a Buddhist, desiring communion had introduced himself as such, before Mass, a priest would be obligated to withhold communion. If someone had shown up in my sacristy drunk, or high on drugs, no communion would have been possible either. If a Catholic, divorced and remarried (without an annulment) would make that known in my sacristy, they too according to Catholic doctrine, would be impeded from receiving communion. This has nothing to do with canon 915. Ms. Johnson’s circumstances are precisely one of those relations which impede her access to communion according to Catholic teaching. [from a general reading of the law, I'd say that being in a homosexual relationship which is longer than the time it takes for one drunken fling with a female friend at a university frat party, is grounds for withholding the Eucharist, especially when one TELLS the priest.] Ms. Johnson was a guest in our parish, not the arbitrer of how sacraments are dispensed in the Catholic Church.

In all of the above circumstances, I would have been placed in a similar uncomfortable position. Under these circumstances, I quietly withheld communion, so quietly that even the Eucharistic Minister standing four feet from me was not aware I had done so. (In fact Ms. Johnson promptly chose to go to the Eucharistic minister to receive communion and did so.) There was no scandal, no “public reprimand” and no small lecture as some have reported.[Clearly there are innacuracies between Johnson's obviously painted "woe is me" story and the priests. She got the communion and committed a sacriledge against the Lord regardless and the priest didn't do it publically with a loudspeaker. Classy way to handle it Fr!]

Details matter. Ms. Johnson was not kneeling when she approached for communion, she did not receive the cup as the press has reported she has stated. It is the policy of St. John Neumann parish never to distribute under both species during funerals. [He said the black and did the Red people!]

During the two eulogies (nearly 25 minutes long), I quietly slipped for some minutes into the sacristy lavatory to recover from the migraine that was coming on. [No No NO!!!!! There is never to be a Eulogy at a Catholic funeral and it's in a number of diocesan policies in North America too!!! At least Fr. wasn't performing any of the eulogies] I never walked out on Mrs. Loetta Johnson’s funeral and the liturgy was carried out with the same reverence and care that I celebrate every Mass. I finished the Mass and accompanied the body of the deceased in formal procession to the hearse, which was headed to the cemetery. I am subject to occasional severe migraines, and because the pain at that point was becoming disabling, I communicated to our funeral director that I was incapacitated and he arranged one of my brother priests to be present at the cemetery to preside over the rite of burial. [Seems no different from calling sick to work and having your supervisor/co-workers arrange for a substitute/other person to take the vacancy. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE!] Furthermore as the testimony of the priest that was at the cemetery conveys, he was present when the Johnson family arrived, and in fact mentioned that being called to cover the burial rite is quite normal, as many priests for reasons much less significant than mine (rush hour traffic for example) do not make the voyage to the cemetery. He routinely covers for them. This change in plans, was also invisible to the rest of the entourage. [See discreetness again. Not a public stink] Regrets and information about my incapacitating migraine were duly conveyed to the Johnson family.

I have thanked the funeral director and the priest at the burial site, for their assistance that day. Mrs. Loetta Johnson was properly buried with every witness and ceremony a Catholic funeral can offer. I did not and would not refuse to accompany Barbara Johnson and her mother to the cemetery because she is gay or lives with a woman. I did not in any way seek to dishonor Mrs. Johnson's memory, and my homily at the funeral should have made that quite evident to all in the pews, including the Johnson family.

I would like to extend again to Ms. Johnson and her family, my sincerest condolences on her mother’s death. I would never intentionally want or seek to embarrass anyone publicly or increase anyone’s emotional distress during such a difficult time. I did not seek or contrive these circumstances.
But I am going to defend my conduct in these instances, because what happened I believe contains a warning to the church. [This should not just be a warning for those priests in the DC area. This should be for the whole Catholic Church, especially in developed countries where the bishops still hold on to that "Spirit of Vatican II" / Liberal mentality. THIS WILL HAPPEN a lot more in future, especially in Canada. Does the McGuinty government Sex education infiltration of Catholic schools ring a bell???] Such circumstances can and will be repeated multiple times over if the local church does not make clear to all Catholics that openly confessing sin is something one does to a priest in the confessional, not minutes before the Mass in which the Holy Eucharist is given.

I am confident that my own view, that I did the only thing a faithful Catholic priest could do in such an awkward situation, quietly, with no intention to hurt or embarrass, will be upheld. Otherwise any priest could-and many will-face the cruelest crisis of conscience that can be imposed. It seems to me, the lack of clarity on this most basic issue puts at risk other priests who wish to serve theCatholic Church in Washington D.C.

As to the latest allegations, I feel obliged to alleviate unnecessary suffering for the faithful at St. John Neumann and others who are following the case.

I wish to state that in conversation with Bishop Barry Knestout on the morning of March 13, he made it very clear that the whole of the case regarding the allegations of “intimidation” are circumscribed to two conversations; one with the funeral director and the other with a parish staff member present at the funeral. These conversations took place on March 7th and 8th, one day before the archdiocese’s latest decision to withdraw faculties (not suspend, since Cardinal Wuerl is not my bishop) on the 9th of March. I am fully aware of both meetings. And indeed contrary to the statement read on Sunday March 11th during all Masses at St. John Neumann, both instances have everything to do with the Eucharistic incident. There is no hidden other sin or “intimidation” allegations that they are working on, outside of these two meetings. [So the bishop was lying this whole time. How nice to lie to your faithful sheperd. If you truly can back up your claim Your Eminence, please state specifically the date and time and the content of the "other incidents" that are leading you to ban Fr. Guarnizo from your diocese. Prove him wrong, I dare you!]The meetings in question, occurred in our effort to document from people at the funeral Mass in written form a few facts about the nature of the incident. We have collected more than a few testimonies and affidavits, testifying to what really took place during the funeral liturgy.

My personal conversation with both parties in question were in my view civil, professional and in no way hostile. I respect both individuals in question and really do not know the nature of their grievance. On March 13, I asked Bishop Knestout about detail on this matter but he stated that he was not at liberty to discuss the matter. [That's political bull doo-doo speak for "Shut up" and "You damn know what this is about and I'm not letting the public know"] I would only add for the record, that the letter removing me from pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Washington, was already signed and sealed and on the table when I met with Bishop Knestout on March 9, even before he asked me the first question about the alleged clash. [That just goes to show you Fr. Was entering into a kangaroo court. He was pronounced guilty before being proven innocent. Lovely eh? Just makes you think what they'd do to a lay member of the church if Canon Law allowed it outside of the 'anyone' conditions for automatic excommunication.]

In the days to come I look forward to addressing any confusion about the above conversations if the Archdiocese or the persons involved wish to talk about it publicly or privately.

I am grateful for all the good wishes and prayers I have received. And sincerely, having lost my own mother not long ago, I again extend my condolences to the Johnson family. I finally wish for the good of the Universal Church, the archdiocese, my parish and the peace of friends and strangers around the world, that the archdiocese would cease resolving what they call internal personnel matters of which they cannot speak, through the public media.

I remain my bishop’s and my Church’s, and above all Christ Jesus’obedient servant, Very truly yours, Father Marcel Guarnizo."

Well good work bishop. You just booted one of your most faithful priests outside of the diocese. And you wonder why the moderately to traditionally faithful Catholic laity are getting sick of the bishops. You just made it now much harder for the faithful 1/4 of Catholics who still go to weekly Mass or even less than that who are truly obedient to the Church and its Magisterium. Now we have another example of hypocrisy we have to apologise (as in apologetics) against when other non-Catholics and lapsed Catholics accuse the church of being a corrupt hypocritical "organization".

It's bad enough we cannot trust our elected politicians in power who reward moral corruption and such, but when someone does something ethically or "conservative" in politics they get slammed. The politicians lie to us and waste our tax dollars. You have given further evidence to distrust the INSTIUTIONAL church and for weak or non-catechized Catholics to be validated in their misguided idea to leave the Church and that it's a hypocritical Old Boys' association. You have also, like our politicians, LIED to us just like those politicians. Did not Jesus show us to lead by example by the washing of the feet of his Apostles, of which will be retold worldwide in the Church at the Holy Thursday liturgy? Well when you don't serve Him and your flock of laity, you wonder why you bishops have no public credibility and Obama, McGuinty, etc. can walk all over the Church with abadon with regards to Catholic education or the contraception mandate south of the 44th parallel. 

Finally, it was St. John Chrysostom that said that the road to Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops. And everyone wonders why he had to say that so many years ago. It`s things like this that make the saint`s statement timeless. Christ judges us all according to our vocation and profession in life including our souls`status (ordinary lay person vs. consecrated laity vs. consecrated with Holy Orders) Surely he will judge that bishop in his role as priest and bishop, and this error will be brought up in the bishop's eternal judgenemt, unless he repents in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Firstly, everone please get the word out now that the priest has his reply. It's clear his story differs from the lesbian activist's and the bishop's. The more this gets out, the more likely there will be action. At least this bishop may think twice the next time he pulls this stunt in future. Furthermore, please, I beg of you to increase your steadfast prayers. Please pray for Fr. Guarnizo that the virtues will continue to burn in him and that the Devil does not wear him down in this controversy. Furthermore, pray for the bishop of Washington, that he may unharden his heart, be remoreseful for what he has done and realize the spiritual crisis plaguing his Church, and that the candle of this theological and cardinal virtues will be lit brightly once again. And most importantly, please everyone add the Prayer to St. Michael, short or complete form to your daily prayers. The attacks on our most faithful priests with the advance of the Internet and in our post-modern era are ever strong. We all need the spiritual protection of Michael and his legions of angels spiritually in this increasingly dire time in our Catholic history.

Pax Tibi Christi, YCRCM.

P.S. As always, please read my blog rules in my 1st posting in August 2011 before you comment. My rules always apply.

Works Cited
1) Peters, Thomas. News Outlets Failed to Reveal Lesbian Denied Communion at Mother’s Funeral … is a Buddhist and Gay Rights Activist. 7 Mar, 2012.  <http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=27899> 14 Mar 2012.

2) Zuhlsdorf, J. in Boorstein, M. Priest denies Communion to lesbian at her mother’s funeral. Anger ensues. Can. 915 hell breaks loose. 29 Feb 2012. <http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/02/priest-denies-communion-to-lesbian-at-her-mothers-funeral-anger-ensues-can-915-hell-breaks-loose/>. 14 Mar 2012.

3) Peters, E. Remarks on the ‘Catholic Standard’ editorial on the lesbian/Communion controversy. 3 Mar 2012. <http://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/remarks-on-the-catholic-standard-editorial-on-the-lesbiancommunion-controvery/> 14 Mar 2012.

4) Knestout, B. "Dear Mrs. Johnson." 28 Feb 2012. <http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/deaconsbench/files/2012/02/knestout-e1330551467667.jpg>. 14 Mar 2012.

5) Knestout, B. "Dear Brother Priest." 9 Mar 2012. <http://abbey-roads.blogspot.com/2012/03/fr-guarnizos-fate.html>. 14 Mar 2012.

6) Peters, E. Bp. Knestout’s March 9 letter on Fr. Guarnizo. 11 Mar 2012. <http://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/bp-knestouts-march-9-letter-on-fr-guarnizo/>. 14 Mar 2012.

7) Guarnizo, Marcel. Fr. Marcel Guarnizo’s Response to the Eucharistic Incident. 14 Mar 2012. <http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/priest-removal-from-ministry-was-tied-to-communion-incident/>. 14 Mar 2012.

Quickpost: SUPPORT TARA BRINSTION NOT KANDACE HAGEN!!!!!

Hello Everyone.

I need anyone who reads this blog and who's on my friend list to please act now.

1) Please read this article from Lifesite News as to the situation: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/young-woman-poised-to-win-leadership-award-with-pledge-to-bring-abortion-to

2) I would like you all to pay attnention to the Tara Brinton Page. I, YCRCM, wrote the following about 1005pm Feb 28, 2012, even though their data clock is 7 hours ahead:
"

1032

Young Canadian RC Male says: Your pledge is awaiting moderation.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:06 am

I pledge to support those who are pro-life and anti-euthanasia, such as Tara Brinston, and to be against those who seek to bring the cutlture of Death to further fruition (e.g. abortion, euthanasia, contraception).

I have a feeling, with a great possibility, that they will find this comment offensive and remove it from her pledge list: one for the anonymity, and two the nature of the comment as I am Anti-abortion and Anti Kandace Hagen and what she is trying to do. I encourage everyone to support Tara and her cause and to devote your own pledge to her. She is currently #2 and deserves that $1000 grant.

ACT NOW!!!! YCRCM.

Update as of 658pm Feb 29, 2012:

My comment is still awaiting moderation under Tara. It has now been given pledge number 1043. Kandace sill leads with 1499 pledges in first place. Tara is Still 2nd place with 1047 pledges (1046 if mine is deleted). Please place your pledge where it counts. YCRCM.

Update as of 339 pm March 1, 2012:

The pledge drive is over. As of 1159 Pm Feb 29th (yesterday), they stopped collecting pledges. Regardless of wherever I click, I cannot find my pledge, nor others are being displayed publically anymore. However, we might have scored a pro-life victory folks. Every vote counted and currently on the ambassador page, Tara at 1615 pledges has a 3 vote lead over Kandace at 1612 pledges. The official results will be tomorrow. Lets hope they don't disqualify my pledge and hope they don't botch the voting. Stay Tuned ...

Update as of 1:34 March 3, 2012

Hey I've just checked my blogger status and this is getting the most hits on my stats counter! Wow. Guess what? Seems the ACIC-CACI organizers have to really look at the pledges for the votes because it's too close to call. This is what's listed at their site:
http://www.2012.active8campaign.com/2012/03/result-announcement-postponed/

"Result announcement postponed!

We know – How exciting! Due to the high number of pledges received in the last week of the campaign, it’s taking longer than we expected to finalize our moderation.

We will announce the final result on Monday, March 5th, but in the meantime want to extend our thanks to everyone involved.

It’s been an honour to work with all eight of this year’s global youth leaders, and awesome to see the number and content of the commitments they’ve inspired.

Our intention was to show that small changes by individual people can inspire others and that we can all make the world a better place. We hope you’ll continue to carry out your commitments and thank you for walking with us towards a world with social justice, human dignity, and participation for all.

From the entire team at ACIC."

BTW, the numbers still stand at Tara: 1615 pledges to Kandace's 1612. My pledge will probably get deleted. I found out after I made my pledge on Lifesite News` site that it has to fit with the plan listed beside the leaders` specific pledge pages or in line with their general mission. I`ll probably get my pledge deleted and not counted so truly consider Tara having a 2 pledge lead.

You think they just want their pro-abort hero may win and are delaying to try and have this happen? Or is it just due measure in a too close to call election like in politics? Opinions or further information on the competition can be commented below.

FINAL Update Mar 3, 2012 2:17 pm EST

Well, they finally have tallied the results:
http://www.2012.active8campaign.com/2012/03/final-results-are-in-and/

Guess what, it was too close to call so they gave BOTH Kandace and Tara a $1000 grant. While I will say I'm glad Tara won a grant, THE BLOODY FACT THEY GAVE KANDACE ONE ALSO IS A TRAVESTY AND AN MORAL OFFENCE AGAINST GOD! Kandace will now be able to carry out her dream or bringing death to more babies in PEI. How disgusting. Everyone, we have to pray and offer reparation against this outrage (e.g. more Masses, fasting, prayers, First Fridays and Saturdays), and furthermore pray to God for justice, and to the Lord Christ that he may be able to reach the hardened mind and heart of Kandace. Too bad I couldn't have done more. If only a major player like Mark Shea or Fr. Z or someone else picked up on this there would have been a clear winner and this would have been a clear win for Tara. I hate being so insignificant at times.

Post-Final update March 6, 2012

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/leadership-contest-announces-results-pro-abort-candidate-behind-by-a-hair-b

I knew this was rigged from the start and they took out my pledge. See LifesiteNews' post competition take on it. And the commentators have the gall to blame the pro-life organizer saying she "poisoned" the competition? What a bunch of hypocrites and sore losers. They know we won and they deleted the pro-life pledges. Tara is the true winner and GOD KNOWS IT!

That's it, this event is in the history books and I'm done here. On to better things.

One final note, I posted in the Lifesite News article and if anyone comes here commenting against me cause I'm pro life, AUTOMATIC RED FLAG, DELETION, BLOCKING, ETC!!!! Read my forum rules from August 2011.

YCRCM.