Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, in which the church also subtly marks the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. We provide several references and commentaries in the section below.
Masses today: Sunday August 7 is also is 1st Sunday, and there will be a 4pm Latin Mass at Sacred Heart parish in Salisbury. There will of course be the regular 12:30pm Latin Mass at St. Ann parish as well.
Diocesan Latin Masses This Week
- Wednesday August 10 – Feast of St. Lawrence, St. Ann 6pm
- Thursday August 11 – Feria, St. Thomas Aquinas, 7pm (prior to 1960, it was the feast of St. Philomena in some localities)
- Friday August 12 – St. Clare, St. Ann, 7am, St. Mark 12:30pm
The Tears of St. Lawrence Meteor Shower: St. Lawrence’s feast day is an important feast day and there is a special meteor shower that occurs around his feast day and bears his name. To learn more and how to view it visit: https://www.fisheaters.com/stlawrence.html (Another meteor shower also is tied to St. Lucy’s feast day of December 13)
Other feasts this week: August the 11th is the feast of St. Philomena, the Wonderworker and Martyr. Sadly her feast day was removed in 1960, but since many in our community has a devotion to her, there is nothing preventing us from attending a Latin Mass this day and praying for her feast day to be restored. To learn more please visit her shrine and gift shop at: http://philomena.us/
Feast of the Assumption Latin Masses (Monday August 15)
- 7am, St. Ann parish
- 6pm, Our Lady of Grace parish, Greensboro, NC (2 hours north of Charlotte)
- 6:30pm (followed by a Marian procession) , Our Lady of the Lake, Chapin, SC, 195 Amicks Ferry Rd, Chapin, SC (2 hours south of Charlotte)
- 7pm, Solemn High Mass, Prince of Peace parish, Taylors, SC 1209 Brushy Creek Road, Taylors, SC (2 hours southwest of Charlotte
The feast of the Assumption is not a holy day of obligation this year in the US due to it falling on a Monday (per the USCCB), but why not make it a personal holy day of obligation and attend Latin Mass and honor Our Lady?
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski Returns to Charlotte – September 2nd, 7pm
The CLMC is pleased to announce that Dr. Peter Kwasniewski will return to Charlotte next month to offer a special lecture for the CLMC, entitled:
The Primacy of Tradition and Obedience to the Truth
Friday September 2
Aquinas Hall (St. Thomas Aquinas Parish), 1400 Suther Road, Charlotte
5:30pm Cocktails/Meet & Greet
7pm Lecture
7:45pm Panel Discussion & Q&A
9pm Book Signing
This lecture will be a sequel to his talk to us last November, and build upon his new book, True Obedience in the Church. Moreover, the event will also feature a special panel discussion which includes Dr. Kwasniewski and two other noted liturgical writers including Greg DiPippo from the New Liturgical Movement, and Christopher Owens of the Veterum Sapientia Institute (The Latin Institute co-founded by Fr. Barone). The panel will answer your questions about the future of the Latin Mass. It will be moderated by the CLMC’s own Brian Williams. Please invite your friends and spread the word.
The Fall of Jerusalem
This fateful event, prophesized by Our Lord (Luke 19:41-48) and commemorated this Sunday, was one of the more horrific sieges in history. Dom Prosper Gueranger noted that the Temple of Jerusalem flowed with blood, most of its inhabitants killed, not just by Roman soldiers from without, but by the lawless, unspeakable violence of Jewish Zealots (upon their own people) from within inside the city walls. Further north, the sea of Galilee turned red as bodies piled up along the shoreline after that Jewish revolt was crushed by the Romans. Jewish historian Josephus had reported that years prior to the siege, residents of Jerusalem would see signs in the sky including a flaming meteorite/sword and chariots foretelling the pending doom (Luke 21:11). The Catholics, seeing the signs, were spared the terror as they remembered Christ’s prophecy (Luke 21:21, Matthew 11:21-24), and escaped to safe harbor.
As Dr. Mike Foley notes in his article below: “The destruction of the Temple is a stern reminder of divine chastisement and the need for our repentance and conversion. As St Paul teaches in the day’s Epistle (1 Cor. 10, 6-13), we must never think we stand on our own, lest we fall.”. For a fuller account of the siege please see these articles:
- Dr. Mike Foley – Weeping Over Jerusalem: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/07/weeping-over-jerusalem-ninth-sunday.html#.XyYDO357nwc
- Dom Prosper Gueranger: https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/the-time-after-pentecost/ninth-sunday-after-pentecost/
- Storm Clouds on the Horizon: A 2014 sermon, from a pious priest in another diocese, on the fall of Jerusalem and how it relates to today’s culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YID9w2ae9pc
We close this section with Gueranger’s sober warning of the fall of Jerusalem and its meaning for the Church today:
Terrible lesson, all this! The Church learned it, and never forgot it:—the lesson that no blessing, no past holiness, is, of itself, a guarantee that the place thus favored will not afterwards draw down on itself desecration and destruction!
Holy Face Devotions & New Book
Tired of the attacks on the Latin Mass and its devotees? 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)
New Book on the Holy Face Devotion: TAN Books has just announce a new book on the Holy Face devotion by Fr. Lawrence Carney, a Latin Mass priest in Missouri who is chaplain to the Benedictines of Mary. The book is entitled The Secret of the Holy Face: The Devotion Destined to Save Society. If you want to learn more about this powerful devotion, please visit: https://tanbooks.com/products/books/tan-books/pre-order/the-secret-of-the-holy-face/
Supporting Sensus Fidelium: Last week we featured the new Catholic alternative to YouTube, SCTV (Sensus Fidelium TV), developed in part by Sensus Fidelium, the online Catholic apostolate. The great work of this apostolate doesn’t come free and as such, for those whose lives have been touched by the work of Sensus Fidelium, we encourage those whose lives have been touched by the work of Sensus Fidelium, to consider supporting it financially, if you choose: https://sensusfidelium.com/
Latin Mass & Traditional News
- How Goodwill Was Squandered: Occasionally one may stumble upon the fabled “unicorn” of all liturgies – the completely reverent Novus Ordo Mass (chant, ad orientum, Communion on the tongue only, etc.). At this encounter, there is a temptation to think that if these rare (unicorn) Novus Ordo Masses were offered in every parish, there would be no need for the Traditional Latin Mass. This is untrue, but this article in Rorate Caeli does note that there would be a lot more goodwill between traditionalists and Church hierarchy if they actually did care about curbing abuses in the Novus Ordo Mass (instead of suppressing the Latin Mass): https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/08/how-goodwill-was-squandered.html#more
- The Welcome Demise of Enforced Optimism: As sobriety sets into the post-conciliar Church, where many conservatives have finally realized that the Church has not reached the springtime, Dr. Kwasniewski welcomes the demise of the faux-optimist that followed the Vatican II Council: https://onepeterfive.com/welcome-demise-enforced-optimism/
- Highlands mission embarks on capital campaign to build church that suits present, future worship needs: The other week, we noted that Fr. Barone’s mission in Sapphire Valley has been upgraded to parish status. His other mission, Our Lady of the Mountains in Highlands, NC is focusing on another, but no less important effort: they need to build a new church. If you’ve never been to Highlands, it’s a charming old-world town nestled in the mountains, and is just calling for a more traditional church building. To learn more visit: https://catholicnewsherald.com/90-news/local/8418-highlands-mission-embarks-on-capital-campaign-to-build-church-that-suits-present-future-worship-needs (to donate visit: https://olmhighlands.com/capital-campaign)
- Fighting the Church may lead you right out of the Church: Catholic World Report has a sobering article of the few high profile Catholics who left the Catholic faith after being frustrated with the Church’s in action on various moral and liturgical issues. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/08/03/fighting-the-church-may-lead-you-right-out-of-the-church/
CLMC comment: Will the recent restrictions on the Latin Mass cause some Latin Mass faithful, weak in their faith, to abandon Catholicism? What can faithful bishops, clergy and dioceses do to help prevent this and save the souls of their faithful?
- Video Message from Cardinal Burke (Fr. Z): To help strengthen the faithful, Cardinal Burke, who was on the brink of death last summer and miraculously recovered, recorded a brief message of encouragement for the Latin Mass faithful worldwide: https://wdtprs.com/2022/08/video-a-message-from-card-burke-to-the-readership-of-fr-zs-blog/
- Cdl. Burke: Pope’s consecration of Russia ‘will be heard’ even though he didn’t mention Fatima: Yesterday was first Saturday, and although sadly there was not a Latin Mass or Communion Service (1962) offered at the Congress or in Charlotte we do share an article involving Cardinal Burke who is calling for a renewed effort to make the first Saturday devotions: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cdl-burke-popes-consecration-of-russia-will-be-heard-even-though-he-didnt-mention-fatima
Bishops and the Traditional Latin Mass – Cutting Through the Fear
There has been much angst over the restrictions announced in Arlington, Washington DC, Savannah, and supposedly in Chicago. So much that one may believe that all bishops are caving and imposing draconian restrictions due alleged pressure from Rome. Yet is that really true? Let’s take a look:
- San Francisco – On July 1, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone offered a beautiful Pontifical Solemn High Mass to commemorate California’s own St. Junipero Serra, the founder of many of the Franciscan mission churches in the 18th century. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoUM-gKBeiQ&t=2478s
- Newark (NJ) – On July 16, Bishop Emeritus of Paterson (NJ), Arthur Serratelli offered a Pontifical Latin Mass in his home parish in the Archdiocese of Newark for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/08/recent-celebrations-of-our-lady-of-mt.html#.Yu9U2RzMKHt
- Dallas – On July 26, Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas paid a visit to the Latin Mass parish and participated in solemn vespers: https://materdeiparish.com/bishop-burns-visit/
- Atlanta – On Saturday June 4, at the very hour that Archbishop Hartmayer visited our diocese to confer diaconate ordinations, in Bishop Jugis’ absence, his Auxiliary Bishop Bernard Shlesinger was offering a Pontifical Mass and Traditional Confirmations at the Latin Mass parish in Atlanta – the metropolitan see of Charlotte (e.g. our archdiocese).
These are but recent examples, but a look back further shows that the Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago Joseph Perry offered a Pontifical Mass for the feast of the Assumption 2021, and even more, Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester, NH erected a Latin Mass only – personal parish, both weeks following Traditiones Custodes. Some may wonder if its time to head for the hills, lay low, or run for cover. Yet these bishops aren’t running. Why should we?
Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? (Matthew 8:26)
What Mass are you attending Sunday?
Charlotte Latin Mass Community 