13 April 2011

Another pontifical Mass in France

Some commentators seem to have wondered whether the bishops in the previous post were behaving appropriately or not, especially if they were just having a private concelebration, whatever that might be. But some of them seem to get up to this sort of thing all the time. Here is the Archbishop of Clermont-Ferrand, Bishop Simon. His left hand man has just been appointed a bishop. You can see some of his liturgical antics here.


12 comments:

  1. Given the state of liturgical undress on display here and there, it seems those French summers are always mightily hot.

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  2. I'm honestly starting to wonder if it would be better for souls in France if there were no Latin rite bishops. Perhaps the Pope should suppress the rite and give the dioceses to the Assyrian Catholic Church.

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  3. No, I disagree. The Pope should suppress the novus ordo rite and give it over the real Roman Rite.

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  4. There is clearly a chasuble shortage in France. I suggest a whip-round to help these impoverished bishops out.

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  5. Beautiful noble simplicity!

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  6. I'm usually fairly lighthearted when I post here, but not today. I'm serious about this one.

    These liturgical horrors don't just happen in France. This same missal mutilation happens every day here in Quebec as well. I've seen some horrible photos out of Germany and Austria as well.

    Forget the conversion of Russia. It's now time to re-evangelize France, Quebec, and all of post-Christian Europe through consecration to the Sacred Heart. The Eldest Daughter and the first converts of the Western Church have reverted to heathenism and need to hear the Gospel again.

    I know the Leonine prayers were suppressed in 1962, but I wish that Pope Benedict would order them said again for the re-evangelization of Europe. As a layman I will do my part and say them after Mass.

    Yeah, it's lots of fun to look at the lunacy and laugh, but it's all just the external manifestations of a malignant cancerous loss of faith.

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  7. It's now time to re-evangelize France, Quebec, and all of post-Christian Europe through consecration to the Sacred Heart. The Eldest Daughter and the first converts of the Western Church have reverted to heathenism and need to hear the Gospel again.
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    Yes, and perhaps we should start to re-evangelize our bishops and clergy first. As for holding a child's liturgy, I'm not mad about them either, but a little clowning around by a bunch of clowns in purple may be far more effective in spreading the faith to these French children than trying to get the French and French Canadians, or anyone else for that matter, to return to your vision of the Church. This Mass is anything but a celebration of heathenism.

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  8. According to the GIRM, for a concelebrated mass the co-celebrants may go without the chasuable, or I believe they can wear a white chasuable. Even if the chief celebrant (presider) is wearing a chasuable of another color. The presiding celebrant is expected to wear a chasuable no matter what, but don't forget this is France. A Gallican production which has always done exactly what it wants and rarely agrees with Rome on anything.

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  9. This Mass is anything but a celebration of heathenism.

    Beg to differ, Anonymous. When I was a child and went to Masses similar to these, I knew I was being patronized. As soon as I could get away in my teens I immersed myself in the Tridentine rites. After I heard my first Low Mass, I knew I would never go back to those idiotic "teen Masses". There, at that first Mass, was the splendor of the Holy Faith. No guitar strumming or bad drum beats can match the soft Latin prayers and the silent gestures of the Canon.

    From the very first few weeks of life through adulthood and old age, the baptized must be fed the solid food of the orthodox liturgy. Our understanding of the Mass unfolds over our entire lives. No mortal will ever truly understand the Holy Sacrifice. Nevertheless, we are utterly transformed by this mystery of which we will always feebly comprehend.

    Better then to skip the balloons and puppets and advance directly to the Asperges and Judica me, The immersion in the Western liturgical tradition must begin as soon as the trifold pouring. Every moment wasted at a "children's Mass" or a "LifeTeen Mass" is a moment taken away from conversion and enlightenment in the liturgical patrimony of Western Christianity.

    The triumph of liturgical orthodoxy and the triumph of Christianity in the post-Christian world will be synonymous.

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  10. After I heard my first Low Mass, I knew I would never go back to those idiotic "teen Masses". There, at that first Mass, was the splendor of the Holy Faith. No guitar strumming or bad drum beats can match the soft Latin prayers and the silent gestures of the Canon.
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    Come on, this is the same tired old canard the traddies harp on all the time. The Vatican Council never designed anything like the liturgies you've mentioned. Local bishops and soporific popes PERMITTED the excesses to which your refer.

    I agree, many of the NO masses were terrible, particularly popular in the era of the Vietnam war and the civil rights struggle of the 60s and 70s here in the U.S.A. They were part of a pseudo folk culture now rapidly on the wane just as people between 18 and 37 here are on the wane. Those days are over and so are the bishops who permitted them, but, unfortunately, there are parishes and bishops who haven't graduated much beyond the terrible liturgies of that period.

    If you think going back to the 16th century and the museum piece liturgies of Pius V will be replacing them and the NO anytime soon, you had best think again. The Anglican Ordinariate masses and offices will become popular with more and more Latin rite Catholics in time, and their masses will put many a NO liturgy that can't equal them for beauty, dignity, and decorum right out of business.

    From the perspective of the EF, or Mass of 1962,in New York City one big parish recently dropped it's only Tridentine Mass because few attended it, and those who stopped going complainted it looked too much like a staged performance with no opportunity for communion under both forms. So, the pastor with the archbishop's permission, cancelled it and it has been replaced by a Latin and English NO mass with all the bells and smells etc.

    These TLM, one size fits all floor shows are going to have to compete with the Anglican Ordinariate's rich Anglican patrimony and very evident beauty, or they too, along with the more disappointing NO liturgies, will slide into obscurity over time. Mark my words.

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  11. "No mortal will ever truly understand the Holy Sacrifice. Nevertheless, we are utterly transformed by this mystery of which we will always feebly comprehend".

    If you think you're "transformed" by the Liturgy of Pius V, try the Coptic Liturgy of St. Mark or St. Basil, or visit Mt. Athos, or St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai!! Now they know how to really transform you!!!

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  12. "These TLM, one size fits all floor shows are going to have to compete with the Anglican Ordinariate's rich Anglican patrimony and very evident beauty..."

    I'll mark your words, but it's yet to be proven whether the Ordinariate will be a flash in the pan or something else. Given that it doesn't even exist outside the UK, I'd like to know how it is going to affect the situation over the pond, where it's far more likely to result in the erection of more personal parishes in the Anglican Use.

    Perhaps a more useful aspect of the Patrimony would be the serious thought about mission and worship that has gone on in western Anglicanism over the last century or two. It can be summed up as follows: only the best will do for God.

    How many Romish parishes can claim to be living by that maxim?

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