Benedict's Secret Plan is Working!

Cross-fertilization requires diversity.  Pope Benedict's plan of letting the older forms of the Roman Rite as well as the rich liturgical patrimony of the West cross-fertilize the liturgy after Vatican II is progressing.

Over the years I have grown increasingly uneasy with the reductionist reforms of the Council of Trent. They reduced genuine, legitimate liturgical diversity in the West. In its true form as envisioned in the Liturgical Movement, that diversity is again flowering up amid the withering weeds of false diversity and the banal desert characterizing the forty years after Sacrosanctum Concilium.  Consider these news items:

1) A Jesuit celebrated his first mass according to the Extaordinary Form of the Roman Rite in Massachusetss: "Fr. William V. Blazek, S.J., newly ordained for the Jesuit Chicago-Detroit province, celebrated his first Solemn High Mass (Extraordinary Form) on June 24 (Nativity of St. John the Baptist) at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton, MA."  Father Jungmann must be smiling in heaven.

2) In Melbourne, the Australian Students Association celebrated the mass three times once according to the extraordinary Form, once chanted (apparently in Latin) according to the Ordinary Form ad orientem (the Proper was chanted), and once in the Ordinary Form versus populum.  The New Liturgical Movement tells us that "The conference was entitled Defending Human Dignity and Fr Aidan Nichols OP was the invited international speaker.

'ACSA with an appreciation and understanding of the full worth of the Sacred liturgy as described by the Church, desires to have its liturgies celebrated with dignity and in accordance with the mind of the Church, particular under the light of the Second Vatican council’s document Sacrosanctum Concilium.' (ACSA Liturgical Guidelines)"

3)  In my old diocese (Arlington) "former Anglican archbishop, Father Sly, 63" was ordained into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter." It is the second such jurisdiction established under the provisions of Pope Benedict's 2009 apostolic constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus,'" which created a structure united with Rome for former Anglicans ans Episcopalians who now use a form of the Latin Rite using a liturgy based on the Book of Common Prayer and presumably the Sarum Use.

4) And "the Dominican Friars at St. Patrick’s in Columbus, OH [have announced] the celebration of the Solemnity of Holy Father Dominic with a Missa Cantata, celebrated according to the Dominican Rite, on Saturday, August 4th at 10:30 AM. In the old calendar of the Mass, the Solemnity of Our Holy Father Dominic fell on August 4."

Inflaming your Chances of Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer', Stroke & cancer

Beyer rightly touts aspirin as "the miracle drug:" aspirin reduces inflammation. The reason why is becoming clearer as we learn how much damage inflammation does.

Kaua Landro asks in the Wall Street Journal, "What do heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, stroke and cancer have in common?" It turns out that each is linked to chronic inflammation, and she tells us scientists "are studying how high-fat foods and excess body weight may increase the risk for fatal disorders."

Thus that beer belly is a worry. Arthur Agatston, the famed heart specialist tells us in the South Beach Heart Program that an extra pound of fat requires the heart to pump blood through an extra mile of arteries and veins.  Now Laura Londo tells us those pounds around the waist also causes inflammation.


You can read her article, "The New Science Behind America's Deadliest Diseases." or watch her video interview: "How Inflammation Can Ravage the Body:"



Some good news: she tells us a new test helps detect that inflammation within us better:

Fr. Barron and Dr. Scott Hahn discuss the New Atheism

Father Barron in some ways is the face of the New Evangelization in America. Scott Hahn, that turncoat Presbyterian, has so reinvigorated Catholic apologetic theology, he has filled the void left by Frank Sheed. Enjoy their discussion of the New Atheism:

"For the Greater Glory" Opens in Wichita

The movie, "For the Greater Glory," ("Christiada" in Mexico) has been a big hit in Mexico. 

It opened here in Wichita today at Northrock (3151 Penstemon, Wichita, KS: near 29th and Rock Rd.), Warren 13th (11611 E 13th St - Wichita, KS), and 21st Street Warren (9150 W 21st St - Wichita, KS.)  Steven D. Greydanus calls the movie "[o]ne of the most lavish and ambitious films ever produced in Mexico...: a sweeping, handsome epic with strong performances, solid production values and magnificent locations across Mexico."

According to many who say it beforehand, the film benefits from repeat viewings.

Watch it early and often!

Justin & the Church after Vatican II

June 1st: The Feast of Saint Justin. 

One of the apostolic fathers, Justin was a philosopher trained in rhetoric and the first great Christian apologist. We have important writings from his hand and a detailed account of his trial and martyrdom. The Romans were fastidious in their legal proceedings and, by one estimate, employed 100,000 stenographers in the empire.  Thus we know of his responses at his trial and those of his young followers.  His students followed him to the arena: humbling for those of us who teach.

Justin Martyr pray for us!

Vatican II Fifty Years After

Given the initial whirlwind we reaped after the Council, it is easy to forget why it was called.  Apologetics!  John XXIII wanted to find a new way to explain the eternal truths to a world which had lost its way and had a tin ear to the traditional language of Christianity.  In Europe the cultural disease was far more advanced than in America, but even in this New World the health of mother church was much more superficial than we realized.  

The hour is late, but the Council is now finally bearing fruit with John Paul the Great's  New Evangelism and a thousand flowers that are blooming.  Benedict chose the name of the patron of Europe knowing the task facing us is much like that of Benedict of Nursia whose monasteries century by century turned the dark ages into the High Mediaeval splendor exemplified by Thomas Aquinas' Proper and Office for Corpus Christi.  That great feast is celebrated June 13th or the Sunday before as in our diocese.

The Priestly Order of St. Peter is a fairly new order of priests trained to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (the traditional Latin mass.) In this interview with Catholic News Service, Father Joseph Kramer of the Order puts Vatican II into perspective and explains why young Catholics are turning to a more traditional Catholicism: 

Thanks to Father Z for this!

Corpus Christi

http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2011/06/corpus-christi-in-pre-reformation.html

The War Mexican History Books Censor

What is is the the number one movie in Mexico?  Would you believe it was made in Hollywood and this part drama, part western, part war movie has as its battle cry "Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long Live Christ the King!)  More mind boggling, it is about religious freedom and portrays the Catholic Church in a favorable light.  At its core it is about courage and the fight for freedom during what we could call the Mexican Spring during the 1920s.

Director David Wright, previously known more for his special effects, demonstrates his great talent on a huge dramatic canvas.  He told the Mexican press conference (below), "And when we show it to the world, I think everyone will be amazed at this story of passion [and] the struggle for freedom that will touch everyone and inspire the world."

"For the Greater Glory" (the Spanish version is called "Christiada") stars Academy Award® nominees Andy Garcia and Catalina Sandino Moreno, TV star Eva Longoria, and Peter O'Toole, although early viewers say young Mauricio Kuri, playing 13 year old Jose Sanchez del Rio, steals the show.

Here's its promoters' description: "What price would you pay for Freedom? In the exhilarating action epic FOR GREATER GLORY an impassioned group of men and women each make the decision to risk it all for family, faith and the very future of their country, as the film's adventure unfolds against the long-hidden, true story of the 1920s Cristero War, the daring people's revolt that rocked 20th Century North America."

Watch the trailer:



If you want to practice your Spanish, enjoy the press conference in Mexico:




I look forward to a review of "For the Greater Glory" by Steven D. Greydanus on his DecentFilms.com.