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Eight Sunday After Pentecost

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the eight Sunday after Pentecost, and the readings, and particularly the Divine Office this week focuses on Solomon’s building of the Temple (whose destruction will be told next Sunday).  As custom we provide commentary on the Collect for Sunday’s Mass: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/07/what-the-eighth-sunday-after-pentecost.html    

Diocesan Latin Masses This Week

Community News

  • No 1st Saturday Latin Mass in Charlotte Diocese on Saturday August 6:  The Diocese of Charlotte has directed all parishes to cancel Masses on Saturday August 6 – including the three diocesan 1st Saturday Latin Masses* – so people can attend the Eucharistic Congress. Sadly, despite the CLMC’s hand-delivered letter to Bishop Jugis at the Synod requesting a Latin Mass at the Eucharistic Congress, the laity’s needs have again been neglected by the Chancery (who were entrusted with our letter).  It’s been said that people can make their 1st Saturday Mass/devotion at the Novus Ordo Mass offered at the conclusion of the Congress (e.g. the anticipatory Mass). Sadly, this insensitive policy, perhaps done by accident, not only excludes Latin Mass faithful who have concerns about Eucharistic sacrilege at such mega-liturgies, but also discriminates against the poor faithful who may not be able to afford the fuel costs to travel from remote parts of the diocese to attend the Congress, and for the frail or those uncomfortable driving into the congested labyrinth of streets and parking garages of Uptown Charlotte. Most of all however, it denies the honor and reparation due to Our Lady which would have been offered by the many who now will be unable to receive Holy Communion and fulfill the first Saturday devotions under this arrangement. This is an unfortunate spiritual situation that could have been (and still could be) averted with some simple pastoral solicitude within the diocese. In years past, the Congress has been a beautiful source of unity, but in more difficult times has sowed some division and perpetuates the perception that the Chancery ignores or filters the needs of the laity. Please pray to Our Lady of Fatima for a last minute miracle.

*The CLMC did inquire about an earlier 1st Saturday Latin Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas, but it was not feasible. There will not be 1st Saturday Latin Masses in Boone or Tryon either.

  • Holy Face Devotions: Tired of the attacks on the Latin Mass? Why not push back by praying the powerful Holy Face devotion of reparation? As background, in 1843, Sr. Mary of St. Peter, a Carmelite nun in the monastery in Tours, France, received a series of revelations from Jesus telling her that reparation for certain sins were an imperative, and that it was to be done through devotion to the Holy Face.  The primary purpose of this apostolate is to, by praying certain prayers, make reparation for the sins committed against the first three Commandments of the Lord: The denial of God by atheism (communism), blasphemy, and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. Devotion to the Holy Face has been referred to as the devotion for Jesus Crucified.  It should be noted that Communists hate the Latin Mass. The schedule is as follows:
  • St. Mark – Mondays 2-3pm
  • St. Thomas Aquinas – Tuesdays 6am in the main church
  • St. Ann – Tuesdays 7:30am in the chapel after the Novus Ordo Mass (uses the booklet which takes 15-20 minutes)
  • Feast of the Assumption – Monday August 15: So far the only announced Latin Masses for the feast of the Assumption are:
    6:30pm Latin Mass followed by a Marian Procession at Our Lady of the Lake Parish, 195 Amicks Ferry Rd, Chapin, SC (2 hours south of Charlotte).
    7:00pm Solemn High Latin Mass – Prince of Peace Parish, Taylors, SC, 1209 Brushy Creek Road, Taylors, SC, 9am (2 hours southwest of Charlotte).

    If more Latin Masses are announced we will share them.

Latin Mass & Traditional News

  • Diocese of Arlington Cancels Many Latin Masses: Last week we noted how St. John the Baptist parish in Front Royal, VA, in the diocese of Arlington, now offers a Traditional Latin Mass daily. While this is good news, the diocese of Arlington – one of the most beloved “conservative” diocese in the U.S., that was “friendly to Latin Mass” has decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by now canceling many other Latin Masses at multiple parishes and consolidating them into just a few locations, such as Front Royal. We provide Rorate Caeli’s post on the matter: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/07/segregation-is-restored-in-diocese-of.html#more

CLMC comment: This may sound surprising, but traditionalists shouldn’t see this as a persecution as much as an opportunity – specifically, a much needed exodus plan. Ultimately, the Latin Mass and Novus Ordo cannot exist peacefully in the same parish building over the long term as this framework can lead to divisions. Moreover the Latin Mass has a full liturgical calendar along with customs and culture that needs to be unfurled, and is frequently blocked or limited by the natural needs of the Novus Ordo community. Latin Masses deserve their own dedicated chapels and priests. Eastern Rite Communities face a similar situation as they retain their own liturgical calendar, rituals, customs and traditions. Do not they deserve their own church someday? To answer that question, we share a helpful explanation from the website of St. Mary’s Syro-Malabar parish, which was established in 2017 right here in Charlotte:

  • “The desire to have our own place to celebrate mass in Syro-Malabar rite has been growing among the community members for a long time. We need a church facility to congregate, share in friendship & common bonds with others in the community. This will enable us to receive the sacraments in our traditional way, celebrate our traditional activities like annual retreat, perunnal, etc. Which is not imaginable in other churches under diocese of Charlotte. Introducing the next generation to the “Traditional values with which we all grew up” is invaluable by any measures to many community members.”

The CLMC couldn’t have said it better. If it’s acceptable for an Eastern Rite Catholic Community in Charlotte to have its own church building, why not a Traditional Latin Mass Community?

Sensus Fidelium TV launches with New Fr. Ripperger Conference

Sensus Fidelium, the online Catholic apostolate, which features thousands of traditional sermons, spiritual meditations, and Dom Gueranger’s commentaries, and is based here in Charlotte and run by our friend Steve Cunningham, has now launched its most important endeavor to date, a new online TV platform called Sensus Fidelium TV: https://sensusfidelium.tv/

To kick-off the new medium, it has just posted an excellent conference given by traditional theologian and exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger, who founded a society of traditional exorcists. To see all four videos (which are excellent), please click on the links:

Early August Feasts & Commemorations

  • Portiuncula Indulgence this Tuesday August 2nd: This Tuesday is the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the great doctor of moral theology. It is also a day when the Church offers a special plenary indulgence called the Portiuncula Indulgence, which commemorates the little chapel where St. Francis of Assisi discovered his vocation. The indulgence was originally only available to those who visited the chapel in Italy, but now extends to the universal church.  The indulgence can be made any time after Vespers on Monday August 1st and before sundown on Tuesday August 2nd.  A plenary indulgence is available under the usual conditions – please see this link for details: https://sensusfidelium.com/2019/07/29/portiuncula-indulgence-from-vespers-august-1st-to-sundown-on-august-2nd/
  • August 6 – the feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord: This feast marks when Our Lord took Ss. Peter, James and John up to Mt. Tabor where they saw Our Lord glorified, along with Moses and Elijah. To learn more about the traditions of this feast day visit Fisheaters.com: https://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost5.html

Feast of the Holy Maccabees – August 1st

The second commemoration of August 1st is an often overlooked feast day, that of the Holy Maccabees – the only Old Testament saints listed in the universal 1962 calendar (The Carmelites do commemorate another Old Testament great, the Prophet Elijah).  These seven holy Maccabee brothers were martyred defending the rights of God and for His public worship in a pagan culture. Their relics are actually buried in the same church that houses the chains of St. Peter. For more on the liturgical aspects of this feast day visit: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/08/the-feast-of-holy-maccabees.html#.XyOweX57nwc

It’s also a good time to be thankful for the many of the modern day Maccabees in the Church (some who have passed on to their eternal reward) who in the dark/confusing liturgical days of the 1970s and 1980s defended, sacrificed and suffered for the Traditional Mass when most in the Church were opposed to it. Yet their perseverance through the years (1971 Agatha Christie indult, 1984 Quattuor Abhinc Annos indult, and 1988 Ecclesiae Dei Moto Proprio, and 2007 Summorum Pontificum Moto Proprio), has enabled us to benefit from their sacrifices here in Charlotte each Sunday and on select weekdays. 

The Maccabean Saints give us much to reflect on as another persecution of the Traditional Latin Mass is occurring.

Here are some select commentaries on the Maccabees:

Dom Prosper Gueranger writes:

The sacred cause of which they were the champions, their strength of soul under the tortures, their sublime answers to the executioners, were so evidently the type reproduced by the later Martyrs, that the Fathers of the first centuries with one accord claimed for the Christian Church these heroes of the synagogue, who could have gained such courage from no other source than their faith in the Christ to come. For this reason they alone of all the holy persons of the ancient covenant have found a place on the Christian cycle; all the Martyrologies and Calendars of East and West attest the universality of their cultus, while its antiquity is such as to rival that of St. Peter’s chains in that same basilica of Eudoxia where their precious relics lie.

August 1 – Saint Peter’s Chains ~ Dom Prosper Gueranger

Their faith is also echoed in a sermon given by a New York priest in 2017:

First, we see how important it is to fight against assimilation into a pagan culture. Initially, the Jews of that time were subjected to a “soft” persecution, which offered them rewards for abandoning the traditions of their fathers (for example, circumcision and refusal to eat pork). When that didn’t work, “hard” persecution ensued. Don’t we find the same modus operandi today? How many would-be Catholic politicians have sold their Catholic souls for acceptability in a political party of death, which also promotes a vision of marriage inimical to both the natural law and divine revelation? How many Catholics work in offices and public service in this city yet are completely unknown as Catholics since their lifestyle blends in seamlessly with that of the secular culture (or anti-culture)? In effect, they are content to be crypto-Catholics, even though Our Lord commanded us: “What you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops” (Mt 10:27).

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/08/01/lessons-from-the-holy-maccabees/

As we are now entering into another period of liturgical persecution, we may consider praying that may God send us more modern day Maccabees – especially among the clergy.

The Maccabees of the 1970s and 1980s helped preserve the Traditional Latin Mass for this generation. What Mass are you attending Sunday?