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Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, which according to the Baronius daily missal, alludes to the priestly ordinations that would usually occur on Ember Saturday. Also, as Dr. Mike Foley notes, the Mass propers also begins to hint at the approaching end of the liturgical year, which symbolizes the end times: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/09/eighteenth-sunday-after-pentecost.html

Additionally, we thank everyone who attended the Respect Life Latin Mass or some of the other Ember week Masses, and offered reparation for the recent pro-abortion activity.

Upcoming Masses

  • Wednesday September 29 – Michaelmas, feast of the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel: St. Ann, 6pm Low Mass
  • Thursday September 30 – feast of St. Jerome: St. Thomas Aquinas, 7pm High Mass
  • Friday October 1 – first Friday/St. Remigius: St. Ann, 7am Low; St. Mark,  12:30pm Low
  • Saturday October 2 – first Saturday/feast of the Guardian Angels: St. Thomas 10am, High (blessing of religious objects after Mass); St. Margaret Mary, Swannanoa*, 9am Low (See Respect Life conference below)

Special October Latin Masses

  • Thursday October 7 – feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary: We are pleased to share that St. Thomas Aquinas will offer a 7pm High Mass for the feast of the Holy Rosary. This Mass is unique in that it will be one of the few Masses offered in our diocese this week, as all the priests will be on retreat. Furthermore, it marks the 450th anniversary of the victorious battle of Lepanto, when, in 1571, Pope St. Pius V, asked all the Church to pray the Rosary for a military victory over the Turks (e.g. Muslims) whose fleet was attempting an invasion of Europe.
  • Thursday October 21 – commemoration of Blessed Karl of Austria: St. Thomas will offer a 7pm High Mass on October 21 as it is the feast day of Blessed Karl of Austria, the last Catholic monarch in Europe, who reigned over the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1916 – 1918. Although not on the TLM calendar yet, many Latin Mass attendees have a devotion to him, and the CLMC have organized events honoring Bl. Karl in 2016, 2017, and 2020.
  • Sunday October 31 – feast of Christ the King: St. Ann and the CLMC will host the annual feast of Christ the King and Eucharistic procession after the 12:30pm Mass. St. Thomas Aquinas will also offer a procession after the 11:30am.

Blessing of Religious Objects – First Saturday October 2

St. Thomas Aquinas parish offers a blessing of religious objects in the traditional Latin form after the 10am 1st Saturday High Mass. Items should be placed in the narthex prior to Mass.

Latin Mass at Respect Life Conference – Saturday October 2 at 9am, Swannanoa

A special Traditional Latin Mass is being offered, for the first time, as part of the diocese’s annual Respect Life conference on Saturday October 2 at St. Margaret Mary parish in Swannanoa (near Asheville). The conference begins with a 9am Low Mass offered by Fr. Brian Becker. The Mass is open to everyone and there is no cost to attend the conference, but registration is required for the conference (lunch provided). To learn more, see list of talks, and register please visit: https://ccdoc.org/en/respectlife

Life Chain next Sunday October 3rd, 2-3pm

Next Sunday after St. Ann 12:30pm Latin Mass, there will be the annual Life Chain along Park Road from 2-3pm.

Latin Mass & Traditional News

  • A New Recording from the FSSP’s European Seminary: The Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), a society of priests who offer the Latin Mass exclusively and operate two seminaries (Germany and the US), has, through its seminary in Germany, produced a beautiful Christmas album of Gregorian Chants from Matins (sung before Midnight Mass). They have produced a trailer which you can view:  https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2021/09/a-new-recording-from-fssps-european.html
  • Dante and the Vatican: A few weeks ago marked the 700th anniversary of the passing of Dante Alighieri, one of the greatest poets in all of Christendom (or the world), who wrote the famous Divine Comedy.  Dr. Joseph Shaw, president of the Latin Mass Society of the UK, offers a reflection on Dante, his criticism of the Popes of his time, the recognition of the limits of papal power, and the importance praying for Popes and other clergy: https://voiceofthefamily.com/dante-and-the-vatican/
  • Can Catholics Have Doubts About Vatican II?: Rorate publishes a helpful and probing piece on how the Vatican II generation of priests, bishops and Pope are struggling to realize that what they have promoted has not born fruit, while what they have rejected (Tradition and the Latin Mass) seems to have turned out fruitful – especially for the young. This may explain the bitterness we see among the Vatican II generation in the hierarchy: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2021/09/can-catholic-have-doubts-about-vatican.html#more
  • The Viganò tapes Questions 8, 9 and 10: If one hasn’t followed Bob Moynihan’s interview “bites” with Archbishop Carlo Viganò, CLMC highly encourage it. These are quick 2-3 minute videos with nuggets of catechesis and pastoral commentary on the culture war we live in – of which the Latin Mass part of this battle. This week we recommend Parts, 8, 9 and 10:  

    Question 8 – Protect the Children    : In the civil sphere, there is a need to reject any cooperation with the current pandemic narrative and with the climate emergency that may soon replace it. Disregarding regulations that are illegitimate or that expose citizens to concrete risks to their health is morally lawful and in certain circumstances is even a duty. In no way can one jeopardize one’s life and health and that of one’s children, not even in the face of the threat of retaliation; for in that case our participation would make us guilty before God and deserving of His punishments: https://insidethevatican.com/vigano-tapes/the-vigano-tapes-8/

    Question 9 – In no way can we accept: https://insidethevatican.com/vigano-tapes/the-vigano-tapes-9/

    Question 10 – Decades of Systematic Cancellation: How Catholics are able to undergo the vaccine as a sort of satanic baptism without any scruple of conscience remains a question to which an answer must be given. Certainly, decades of systematic cancellation of Faith and Morals in the faithful, in the name of a dialogue with the world and with modernity, have allowed souls to lose all supernatural reference, allowing themselves to be dulled by a formless sentimentality that has nothing Catholic about it. The castration of souls took place at the moment in which the Christian certamen [combat] against the world, the flesh and the devil was perverted into an indecorous retreat, indeed into a cowardly desertion. Once soldiers of Christ, many now found themselves to be effeminate courtiers of the adversary. https://insidethevatican.com/vigano-tapes/the-vigano-tapes-10/

In Uncertain Times, House Chapels Proliferate

This weekend, we learn the traditional Carmelite nuns of Pennsylvania have received an apostolic visitation from Rome, and the CLMC asks readers to consider offering their Sunday Mass intentions, or Rosary, for the sisters’ strength and support, and a fruitful outcome.

While we hope the visitation for these sisters is, God willing, a routine and eventless visit (we pray), nevertheless, we traditionalists cannot be unaware of the signs of the times in our own communities – even in a Latin Mass “friendly’ diocese such as Charlotte.  A suppression of the Latin Mass doesn’t have to come from Rome or a diocese. Last year, it came from the civil authorities under a pretext of a false pandemic. Additionally, should the civil authorities try to suppress the Church again, it is unlikely a diocese would have an emergency contingency plan to keep the Masses going underground – that’s where the laity comes in.

Last week, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski penned an excellent article in which he discusses the importance of building home chapels. For the “elder” Latin Mass attendees, this may be nothing new, as many Latin Masses occurred in private homes across this country during the 1970s – 1990s, but for many newcomers to the Latin Mass, home chapels may be a new and prudential idea to begin praying about.  The below article provides some interesting background and photos:

“Others, keenly aware of the grave and deteriorating situation in which the Church finds itself in the West, have decided to “plan ahead” by making a suitable space for eventual underground or “canceled” priests. One diocese has already outlawed private traditional Masses altogether, and there may be more that follow suit. Priests in such dioceses will benefit from having places of refuge where they can bypass the unjust restrictions and offer Mass to God, in the presence of grateful laity.“

There are also some helpful related articles:

CLMC comment: While we hope this situation will not play out here in western Carolina, it’s never a bad thing to be prepared. Moreover, house chapels may also offer a silver lining in the long run. The modernist paradigm of building a new parish usually consists of raising tens of millions of dollars to buy a large plot of land on the edge of town, clearcutting it for parking lot, hall and church, and allowing its parishioners to drive to it (if they can drive or afford a car). Yet these new parishes are often isolated or disconnected from the nearby neighborhoods they are oblige to evangelize, resulting in few numbers of converts each year (the crisis of faith and liturgy also being a contributor). 

Prior to World War II however, the traditional approach had parishes built into neighborhoods or hamlets, front door facing the sidewalk and street, allowing people to walk to Mass, make quick visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and evangelize the neighborhood through Sunday Masses, street processions, festivals, funerals, and weddings.

In more Catholic areas like Europe, Latin America, or even in Spanish-American cities like Santa Fe or San Augustine, FL, the parish was even specifically designed to be the center of town, according to the Law of the Indies, which was promulgated by the kings of 16th century Spain to help develop the New World. Unfortunately, today’s suburban code generally prohibits new parishes from being built in the “old way” but house chapels, though not ideal, may offer a temporary way to bring the traditional faith and Mass to residential neighborhoods starving for the Catholic faith.

Only the Traditional Latin Mass and its traditions, customs, and culture that accompanies it, can help restore civilization. To paraphrase Dr. John Senior, we can’t restore the culture, until we restore the liturgy (e.g. the Latin Mass).

What Mass are you attending Sunday?