Laudetur Iesus Christus! Yesterday Saturday August 29 was the feast of the beheading of St. John the Baptist – who had no hesitation to stand up to the head of state and speak God’s moral law in order to save his soul. We provide more on this feast day below.

13^th Sunday After Pentecost:  Today Sunday August 30 is the 13^th Sunday after Pentecost and Dr. Mike Foley has a reflection on this Sunday’s Collect, which focuses on the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/08/the-theological-virtues-and-thirteenth.html#.X0sPw9R7nwc

Sunday Latin Masses in the City of  Charlotte

11:30am – St. Thomas Aquinas parish – The parish requires signups to attend Sunday Masses. There are still a few inside seats (late Saturday night) for the 11:30am Mass but there are still some slots outside. All attendees will have the opportunity to receive Holy Communion. Please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0445a4af29a6f94-thefeast

12:30pm – St. Ann parish – usual constraints for Mass since May (per diocese – not state). Seating outside in plaza.

Latin Mass cancellations: With Fr. Reid being away, and a substitute priest is unavailable, the following Latin Masses are canceled this coming week:

• Wednesday September 2^nd: 6pm Latin Mass canceled (no Mass that evening)
• Friday September 4^th: 7am Mass canceled (As an alternate: St. Mark will offer 1^st Friday Low Mass at 12:30pm)
• FYI – Sunday Vespers Sunday August 30 are now cancelled (last minute cancellation).

Douay Rheims bible tabs fundraising campaign:

The CLMC needs your help – we are now co-sponsoring the campaign to raise the necessary funds to help manufacture high quality Douay Rheims bible tabs (Old & New Testaments). Even if you don’t need tabs yourself, we encourage you to consider supporting this project as can help people who are unfamiliar with the Douay Rheims bible to switch over to this eminently preferred translation. To learn more visit this website here: https://wonderwe.com/drbibletabs. For those who donate (any amount), they will receive a complimentary tab. Thank you for any support you might provide.

Beheading of St. John the Baptist

With yesterday’s feast day, King Herod’s sister in law Herodias, and daughter Salome did not appreciate (to put it mildly) St. John’s speaking of the truth about adultery and instead requested St. John be beheaded at a party honoring Herod. Dom Prosper Gueranger shares the fate of these three individuals – Herod and Herodias were eventually exiled to modern day France, while Salome herself met a similar fate of St. John when danced on a frozen river, fell into the water, and the sharp ice beheaded her (ouch!). Back to St. John, his beheading apparently took place closer to the Pasch in late March or April, but the Church choose August 29 as his feast day to celebrate when his head was found in what is now modern day Syria. Here are a few articles with history and reflections:

• https://sensusfidelium.us/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/august/august-29-decollation-of-st-john-the-baptist/
• http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/08/the-beheading-of-st-john-baptist-2020.html#.X0sPudR7nwc

Latin Mass News & Tradition

Fr. Reid named co Education Vicar: Please offer your congrats and prayers to Father Reid as he has been named Education Co-Vicar for the diocese. This is a major appointment as he essentially will oversee the entire Catholic school system in the diocese: http://catholicnewsherald.com/news/90-news/local/6154-second-education-vicar-named-for-growing-diocese

Fr. James Jackson FSSP on Beauty and Art: Article outlines the basic Catholic principles on what makes art and the liturgy beautiful: https://fssp.com/on-beauty-qa-with-fr-james-jackson-fssp/

Fr. Dwight Longenecker on the collapse of the Catholic faith after COVID:  Fr. Longenecker is a pious priest in the Charleston Diocese whom occasionally spars with Latin Mass/traditionalists on various topics over the years (the last paragraph hints that). Despite occasional disagreements, Father has penned an excellent essay in Crisis Magazine discussing the collapse of the Catholic faith after COVID: https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/why-bother-going-to-mass

Father Longenecker acknowledges something we’ve been uncomfortably observing for 3 months – many Catholics are simply not returning to Mass. We can hope that they do when this “crisis” is over but new habits can be hard to break. The hysterical fear over a virus (in which overall 99% patients survive) is compounded by strange (superstitious?) naturalistic protocols implemented by dioceses across the country (not by the state!).  Thankfully the Latin Mass parishes here have not been as severe, but we’re also aware of parishes around the country which have no restrictions, no protocols, and no outbreak – just normalcy in attending Mass.

One wonders how many future converts and potential lapsed Catholics who found God during the lockdown are scared away by all the red tape and hyper fear that many parishes have erected (limited seating, health warnings, no singing, kneelers taped up, temperature checks, mandatory facemasks, rubber gloves for priests, social isolation, no Holy Water, outdoor Masses, etc.).

We may not have the answers but we can ask: What would the saints and martyrs have done? Saints John the Baptist and Damien of Molokai, pray for us!