Monthly Archives: April 2010

AlwaysCatholic.com loves a good news story when we can get it. This is it. Go meet Sister Mary Elizabeth, OP PhD (Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist) and see what is possible when Our Lord’s creativeness in His Love for His Religious is met with Love returned. Sister Mary Brainiac in a habit is our good news story in a month when we learned what real suffering means to be Roman Catholic.

Take a moment and read this story of triumph in Holy Mother Church.

Our New Dominican Doctor

POSTED APRIL 29, 2010

The last three decades I have watched, commented and yes, complained about the state of affairs in the Church. Particularly, my area of focus was the Mass and sacred music for most of my complaints. Please, don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that was all that was awry in the Church that I love. Doctrine has been distorted , ignored and worst of all, denied as Truth. Those are things that sometimes felt very overwhelming to me as a Roman Catholic in the pew.

What wasn’t overwhelming to me was the Liturgy and how important it was to my Faith and to all of us as Roman Catholics. I was blessed to have the Mass remain under the 1962 Missale Romanum until mid 1969. The parish I had grown up in was run by a Religious order from Italy and lucky for us the priests were extremely resistant to a Mass they felt was “an experiment in Liturgy”.

These particular priests never said that the Mass was invalid or anything remotely like that. These were learned men, many of them had studied Liturgy along with their theological studies in Rome at the Gregorian University. Our sacred music program was organized and administered by extremely competent Religious Sisters that were also highly trained as both musicians and students of sacred music.

I was then extremely fortunate to be able to attend and participate in the choir of the “Mass of all Ages” until the young age of 15. Seems quite young now some forty years later, but in fact I was quite mature (perhaps only in that area) in that participation.

I was a student of piano, organ and violin since I was 6 and bred in the classics both sacred and secular. My paternal grandfather hailing from Puglia, Italy taught me everything anyone would want to know and love about opera. Mine was homeschooling to the max before it was fashionable. I still attended formal school of course, but that would also be considered homeschooling by today’s standards. Why? Well, we were taught with CATHOLIC texts and learned such out-of style subjects as history/geography/civics instead of “Socialist Studies”. I call it that for obvious reasons.

Well, this wonderful dream didn’t last long because we were about to enter the Seventies when all things look ugly now in retrospect. The Religious Orders were revolting within & the Seminaries were places of pure experimentation. My aunt was a higher up in her Religious Order and she suffered… she passed away several years ago, still a Religious, still an obedient daughter of the Church with habit intact. Another story for another day.

I go into this monologue about Liturgy, Sacred Music and Doctrine askew because finally, I now have hope. My favorite priest and homeschool teacher via texts, Joseph Ratzinger, became Pope (miracle of all miracles). Prior to that, the Latin Mass resurfaced when JPII proclaimed Ecclesia Dei Adflicta in response to the separation of the SSPX and gave birth to the FSSP much to my delight. There were years of disappointment when those who loved Sacred Liturgy were being treated as though we were as common criminals if we asked for an Indult Mass by our local Ordinaries (not all).  Then came the coronation of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to the Throne of Peter.

Pope Benedict does not disappoint. There will be naysayers, even if Our Lord was back on the Throne, sure enough. This loving, kind and brillant man is suffering for us in the “Imitation of Christ”. Should we do less?

The following video is perhaps the best piece on what our suffering and obedient Pope is doing for us. Watch, listen and then act. He sets an example for us; let us set the example for our fellow Roman Catholics in America and throughout the Universal Church. Sancta Ioseph, ora pro nobis.

It goes beyond my comprehension how one group can demand something from another group when they have no right to it. Is not Israel the ONLY nation in the world that had its borders drawn out by GOD HIMSELF? So, tell me … where is the problem with this? I know, it all reverts back to Abraham and Sarah and ‘the boys’. Certainly Abraham’s seed was multiplied as the stars in the skies and the sands of the shore … and until Jesus returns, there will be no peace between them
What are we looking at in the near future?
Peace talks seem to be getting closer and closer … (keep an eye out for the guy that finally gets ‘em to sign on the dotted line!)
Iran has spoken the prophetic words from the Bible about Israel’s name being no more remembered and wiping the Jews from the face of the earth.
All 3 major religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) all expecting their respective Messiah’s in the not so distant future.
We certainly have the wars and rumors of wars along with most if not all the other signs of which Matthew 24 speaks.
More than anything else, we’ve really begun to see good being called EVIL and evil being called GOOD.
WE NEED TO PRAY AS NEVER BEFORE! Don’t leave it up to someone else …. we all need to storm heaven, do penance and forgive each other. Not sweating the small stuff has taken on a new meaning  ….. don’t hold on to grudges … do what’s REALLY important …. PRAY for each other and the WORLD!

Berkeley, Calif., Apr 23, 2010 / 10:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a statement released by the Holy See’s Press Office on Friday, the Vatican’s lawyer in the U.S., Jeffrey Lena, states that a recent lawsuit against the Holy See regarding an abusive priest from Wisconsin is not legitimate. The case does, however, show an attempt by “certain U.S. lawyers” to take advantage of the judiciary for media relations, he argues.

The declaration from the lawyer comes after the filing of a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District Court of Milwaukee, naming the Vatican as a defendant in a case about abuses committed by Fr. Lawrence Murphy. The Wisconsin priest, who sexually abused hundreds of minors between 1950 and 1974 at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, died in 1998.

Lena responds in the statement released on Friday, “first and foremost, sympathy is due to the victims of the criminal acts committed by Fr. Lawrence Murphy. By sexually abusing children, Murphy violated both the law and the trust that his victims had placed in him.”

Stating that there have been “legitimate lawsuits” filed by victims of abuse in the past, Lena underscores, “this is not one of them.”

He calls John Doe 16 vs. Holy See “an attempt to use tragic events as a platform for a broader attack,” and says that this specific case is “one dependent on re-characterizing the Catholic Church as a worldwide ‘business enterprise.’”

The lawsuit alleges that the Vatican had known about complaints against Fr. Murphy since 1995, that its secrecy perpetuated further cases, and that, as the Church’s supreme authority, it was responsible for the decisions of Wisconsin bishops regarding Fr. Murphy.

The suit seeks monetary damages as well as the release of Vatican files concerning sexually abusive priests.

But Lena charges that the lawsuit is “completely without merit,” as it “rehashes old theories already rejected by U.S. courts.”

As for the involvement of the Holy See in the case, the Vatican’s lawyer says that it had “no role whatsoever in causing plaintiff’s injuries,” having not known about the cases “until decades after the abuse occurred.”

This lawsuit, he writes, is “simply the latest attempt by certain U.S. lawyers to use the judicial process as a tool of media relations.”

The lawsuit is being brought by the St. Paul, Minn.-based lawyer Jeff Anderson*, who has made millions off of suing the Catholic Church in the United States. In 2002 Anderson told the Associated Press that he had won more than $60 million in settlements from the Church.

* Check article posted on News page of AlwaysCatholic.com concerning Jeff Anderson and lawsuits against the Church.

Just over at “Liturgy Reflections“, you know the [place where all good libs go to worship at the altar of a "Father" Jan Larson] I put Father in quotes because as you will see, he does not use the title when describing himself.

In an earlier post we highlighted Father John Zuhlsdorf’s chef skills when he “sliced and diced” Fr.Jan Larson’s commentary on Saturday’s Pontifical High Mass. We weren’t quite sure if FatherZ realized that he might be considered for a spot on “Top Chef”. His dicing & slicing acumen was that good.

Well,FatherZ & manwithblackhat got us so jazzed we thought we should take a run over to “Liturgy Reflections”. Barf bag in hand I sauntered over on my laptop to Jan’s place. (Forgive me, Lord I know I should call him Father BUT…)

This is what yours truly found: the usual barfbagging nonsense except for the Combox. (It’s really good so I’ll leave it until later)

First, let’s meet “Jan”.

Biography

Jan Larson, a senior priest of the Archdiocese of Seattle, was ordained in 1968. He received a M.A. in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame, and a D.Min. in pastoral liturgy from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. He has served as director of the Archbishop’s Office of Worship and as liturgical consultant for the building and renovation of churches in western Washington. For eighteen years he wrote a weekly column on various liturgical issues in The Catholic Northwest Progress, the official newspaper for the Archdiocese of Seattle. He currently assists the liturgical ministry of Our Lady of Sorrows church in Snoqualmie, Washington, and St. Anthony church in Carnation, Washington. He teaches for the Archdiocese’s Liturgical Ministry Institute, and presents various workshops.

Well! That biography reads like, “Intro how to be a liberal priest & disobey the Church 101″ Same old, same old, yawn…….barfbag, please!!

We really do not have to rehash his ridiculous, insulting “commentary” on the “old Latin Mass, you can read it at WDTPRS and give Father Z the hits on his blog instead of “Fr.hippie,dippie,doodle,Jan” getting the hits. He probably more hits from us in one day than he normally gets in a year)

final thoughts on “Father” Jan, Check the combox at his page. Full of Traditional Catholics explaing to him why he is offbase. One problem: I wrote a comment & it posted then quickly deleted. So, I had a copy (always prepared) and resubmitted it under my name and website. The first comment I had signed in with Twitter and the name AlwaysCatholic. I am posting the screenshot for all of you to see. Maybe Jan will repost it tomorrow. Ho hum!

Notice I posted it as AlwaysCatholic at 7:19PM and two minutes later at 7:21PM as Sophia Guerra. I immediately took a screenshot and when I went bact to the combox it was gone. Let’s give Jan the benefit of the doubt and perhaps he moderates the comments. I will check back tomorrow to see if yours truly is back up!

UPDATE: STILL NOT SHOWING UP ON JAN’S SITE! So much for free speech from a Lib from Beserkley!! LOL! Sophia