"Fascist!!!!"... I can't tell you how many times I've had this 'F-bomb' hurled at me during my days as a police officer. My patented reply to the bongwater back-washers who were the usual tossers of such insults, was always, "What exactly is a fascist anyway...???" This question more often than not proved way to challenging for the protester, leaving them tongue-tied and with a face as red as the backdrop of their Che Guevara t-shirt. It also managed to shut them up, leaving me with only their inane environmental/social justice/yada-yada rantings and the stale smell of hemp that was permeating from their pores to deal with. But hey, they'd more often than not give up on trying to push this bull's buttons...Mission accomplished. But really, what does fascism look like?
For the past few months here in my area of Southeastern North Carolina, we have been blessed with a visiting priest traveling from up to 2 hours away, to offer the faithful of our area the Mass in the Extraordinary Form on the last Sunday evening of each month. It has given this area a nice break from the typical modernist fair that is normally offered to us. Hell, I just heard a couple of weeks back from the lips of a convalescing priest at my parish how, John the Baptist, about whom Christ had said, "among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist"~Matthew 11:11, was a bit to heavy handed and probably wasn't so great with kids! Even the subversive teachings of such parochial impostors are easier to deal with, when you know you have something to look forward to at the end of the month.
The only downside to this monthly reprieve is that it has given me a whole new insight as to what fascism truly is. And no, it is not the version being presented to the congregation of the parish hosting the TLM. They have been told that it is the people who attend the TLM who are the fascists. Especially the ones who frequent blogs that demand accountability in regards to illegal immigrants. For whatever reason, they've been told that should not attend this Mass. This is a parish that consistently fails to post this Mass in their parish bulletin announcements, despite their being requested to do so, well in advance. Despite its endorsement from the diocese and the desire for it from the faithful, the TLM in my area has had more hurdles thrown at it then one could imagine. But then again, I guess this should be expected. After all, the adversary hates Latin, doesn't he?
So again, what is fascism? Could it be the hiring of a law enforcement officer to stand watch over a Mass that one does not approve of? This is something I've seen for the past 5 weeks. I'm sure who hired the last one would have really appreciated the officers scowling cross-armed performance. Can it be a pastor who does not approve of the TLM, confronting an Altar Boy about a delay in the Mass he is about to serve? He showed not only pure disgust towards this young man in his demeanor, but he also showed disdain for one of his fellow priests in addressing his concerns. Concerns that the laity should be spared of, regardless of where you stand on matters within the Church (The Mass was running behind schedule and this priest came over and made a scene regarding going over the time that he'd contracted the police officer for). Maybe experiencing fascism is attending a parish where you are afraid of being 'outed' for your traditional views. A parish where if you dare to receive Communion on your tongue, our Lord, handle as He was handled by the Roman soldiers on Calvary, gets jammed into your mouth perpendicularly, delivered with a glare of disapproval for showing what is deemed as an act of excessive piety. A parish where if you dare to fall out of line, you will surely hear about it from your pastors more approving flock. So stay in line if you want to keep those prestigious positions that the lauded laity feel so compelled to hold and are willing to compromise for. Just remember what you are sacrificing in your fear of speaking up.
This is the face of fascism that I've witnessed in the past few months. Like the boy who points out the emperors wardrobe flaws, I'm not bringing up anything but what should be obvious. Why has it taken me so long? Well, I guess I've been struggling lately with the right approach in addressing the problems I've personally witnessed within our beloved Church. I've been hung up on trying to find the right level of charity in delivering my message and end I up remaining silent over it. This is another thing that the adversary seems to prey on in our own nature. We are so caught up in how our acts are to be perceived that we end up doing nothing. Our weaknesses are used by him and becomes his strength. As a retired police officer, I can honestly say that I'd rather look down the barrel of a perps gun, than have to stand up for some of the things that need to be addressed within the Church. But it's what we are called to do, isn't it?
Fascism is alive and well within our Church. It has bullied good people into silence and placed the laity in roles that 40 years ago did not exist and should not exist for them today. It is the placement of this laity which has given fascism its roots within the Church. It is what drives this forcible suppression to what it opposes most:traditional Catholicism. Sure it takes a leader to establish a fascist mentality in a parish, but it doesn't have any legs if it were not for the the sheep who do not want to disrupt the status quo. I know, I know, we are all in fact sheep, but let's make sure we are following the right shepherd and not giving 'legs' to a fascist parish. Time to 'man up', 'woman up', 'cowboy up' and most importantly, 'Catholic up'. Remember, the good Lord has no use for a coward, but the devil sure does.
Saint Michael the Archangel...
Defend Us in Battle!!!
posted by Unknown at
11:02 AM
19 Comments:
A parish where if you dare to receive Communion on your tongue, our Lord, handle as He was handled by the Roman soldiers on Calvary, gets jammed into your mouth perpendicularly, delivered with a glare of disapproval for showing what is deemed as an act of excessive piety.
I've never heard of that one before. I had a friend who had an EMHC try to pry his hands open to receive the Host (which didn't work), but that perpendicular thing is a new one to me, and one I hope never occurs to any anti-tongue-reception people here. How is that not sacrilegious? That is worthy of a complaint to the bishop, and then to Rome if nothing is done about it.
NYPD Green,
First class posting. I couldn't have said it better myself.
There is just one correction I'd like to make. The powers-to-be at St. Mary's in Chains have finally made a bulletin announcement (http://thestmaryparish.org/bulletins/2009/bulletin_091227.pdf)
If you scroll all the way down to page 6, you'll see at the bottom of the page on the left-hand side, the following;
A forma extraordinaria, as a diocesan ministry, is celebrated at 7:00 p.m. the last Sunday of each month at St. Mary Church.
After more than a few months of requests sent to this parrticular parish (community, gaggle, whatever they're called), the above is what's FINALLY placed in the bulletin. Don't blink... you'll miss it. Why do I have a funny feeling that this wasn't done so willingly, but made to do?
In the meantime, I think it's a legitimate question -- why is there an armed police officer looking (scowling) at us during Mass? I wonder if we'll ever get an answer.
Such hypocrisy. The leftists in the Church have all sorts of love for everyone except good faithful traditionalist Catholics. The priest who celebrated the TLM the other night had an excellent point: we must adhere to the truth, to our faith, to the reverent sacrifice of the Mass regardless of the hatred directed our way. Also, has the heresiarch down at St. Mary's preached against the TLM during his masses? Or is it just something he is saying to his parishioners and office staff in a more casual manner? Anyway, it really is getting the point where the Bishop MUST do something about this intolerable situation. I'm sure there might be more going on behind the scenes then we expect, but I haven't seen any improvement thus far.
Nice place to hide the announcement!
Wow. Sounds like your parish needs a fly-over by a crop duster filled with holy water. You don't need the Gregorian Rite Mass, you need an exorcism.
I went through what you described many times in many dioceses. Priest, bishop or pew sitter, they would visibly recoil in the presence of Catholic piety. They'd see a dress and veil and cower in a corner like vampires looking at a garlic rosary. Promote a Marian devotion if you really want to smoke them out of their holes. But oh how I loved to make them squirm.
Keep challenging them at every opportunity when their actions show that something ugly and evil dwells in them. They'll either be converted or be condemned but you'll have done your part to defend Altar and Throne.
Totally off topic and a message to The Caveys more then a comment:
Could you good Cave Peeps help me out? I've started up a blog about the rich Catholic history and heratige here in Orkney. Everyone thinks this place is Protestant and that Catholics and Catholicism are totally out of place here ~ which is not true one bit! Orkney is dripping with Catholic history! We even have an ancient Catholic chapel sight right here in our own neighborhood! I've been praying and praying since I arrived here that the Catholic Faith would sweep like wildfire across Orkney. We even have a monastery of monks here on the islands AND a hermit nun!
Anyhoo, I was wondering if you could mention the "Catholic Orkney" blog and help me get the word out? I've invited a friend to write on the blog as well ~ he writes for the British "Catholic Life" magazine and he's been putting time and effort into the blog... but we don't have any readers!!
Our goal is to go about Orkney taking photos and getting information about all of the Catholic historical sights, as well as writing about present events within our own parish etc.
I can't type any more. Braxton-Hicks contraction uuuugh!!
http://catholicorkney.blogspot.com/
...like vampires looking at a garlic rosary.
That one I'm going to remember. LOL!
Anita~That is just my personnal experience, which has been experienced by others in the exact same manner. There are plenty of others, including a First Communicant, whose parents were told that if he wanted to receive on the tongue, he'd have to ask him when he came up to the Altar.
VSC~ my wife brought up the announcement to my attention. A bit late(the morning of the Mass), but you're right, we finally made the cut. I hope they didn't have to cut an announcement for yoga classes for us to finally rate!;)
C~I'm not sure what has come from the pulpit there lately. I have seen firsthand some of the things he'd written on the parish website slamming the TLM. This includes his disclaimer when the MP first came down, how the TLM would NEVER be held at St. Mary's while he was there. This posting has mysteriously vanished from their archieves, but it was up there.
Sonja~You are right, the rewards will far outweight the persecution in the end.
Hear, hear! Excellent post, NYPD Green! (And thank you for your loyal service to both our country and your city.)
My husband laughs at me because I'm pretty feisty about this issue since returning to the Catholic Church. My response to lame-brained pseudo-intellects is usually, "Bring it!" But I can't tell you how often I struggle with my fiery side, knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ desires us to love one another (and love our enemies!).
How can I do this when faced with "Spirit of Vatican II" zombies who believe (erroneously) that the TLM was supposed to be "done away with" in the 60's? Nowhere does it say this in Vatican II but yet it was assumed by everyone that anything traditional was supposed to be discarded so they could cling to acoustic guitars and felt banners.
I wouldn't have such issues with those who prefer a more "modern" Mass if they weren't so hateful toward those of us who love a traditional liturgy. It's awful. Whenever I read about some of the more unloving and unkind actions and comments from these Catholics, my heart breaks a little because I know the devil is quite pleased. Nothing pleases him more than division.
My prayer for myself in 2010 is for wisdom. I know I need to know what to say and when to say it - and other times I believe I'm called to love and pray privately for them. As Christians, we are to stand firm for the truth. Perhaps what needs to be pointed out is the hypocrisy of those who call TLM followers "fascists." Aren't we all the Body of Christ? And what is important, at least from what I've read in the Bible and now re-learning from the Magisterium, is that as the Body of Christ we are to die to self.
Which puts a church's "quest" to "express oneself" in a totally different light.
As always, you guys give me food for thought and a springboard for my own blog musings. Keep on rocking it, NYPD Green!
I'm going to repeat one of my favorite quotes from Jennifer F., over at conversiondiary.com: "All that is needed for full participation in the Mass is that I love Jesus."
And NYPD Green, I'm going to suggest that what you've experienced, though vile, intolerant, and bigoted, isn't fascism. Mussolini was clear that fascism is the total integration of EVERY social structure, be it business, social, religious, and/or family, into the State. In fascism, none of them exist apart from the state.
Your bishop is negligent in his duties and a total failure as a leader. He should be relieved for cause.
This will be a bit of a stretch, but maybe it will makes some sense to some folks.
Arkanbar posted: "Mussolini was clear that fascism is the total integration of EVERY social structure, be it business, social, religious, and/or family, into the State. In fascism, none of them exist apart from the state."
This is pantheism, to believe that everything is connected. The theory of evolution believes this, but the doctrine of creation with its "ex nihilo" concept does not.
Catholicism is not the same as what the world believes. Personality develops in individuals through Jesus Christ; non Catholics do not know what personality is, and so they end up mushing it all together, ie pantheist conformity; notice that the individual gods of pantheism do not have normal characteristics, but are always fantastic? Jesus demonstrated that He is not fantastic but real; all that glitter of hollywood personality is fantasy.
Fascism then, according to Musselini, hates true personality because it hates God.
It is not an easy point to understand; it took the Church several centuries to get the difference between nature and person. Jesus, they as was finally realized, is a person. Pantheism does not respect persons, because it does not respect God, and God is three persons.
This fact (however insufficiently I've laid it out) can explain why the parish in question employs an armed cop to watch over the Mass that persons flock to ... Pantheists always have a hard time understanding persons, because they have not developed their personalities and thus do not know what such things are. Use this information and see what the result is. Warning: Harsh treatment awaits you if you do. It may be much wiser to call the pantheist spokesbots names such as "fool", "yoyo", heathen, etc. They often expect that. But if you run into one who has exalted him or herself such as the horse's *ss speaker of the house of doom ... I mean of representatives, then watch out for they will want to annihilate you, even though they do not believe in annihilation because they believe that there is not any way that something can either become nothing or come from nothing.
Very complicated, but it seems to explain a lot about the foes of Holy Church.
NYPD Green,
Great post, though sad that Catholics feel a need to treat fellow Catholics that way. It sounds like the type of factionalism and false teaching about which St. Paul chasitised some of the early churches.
Yes, we are all sheep of the Good Shepherd but that doesn't mean we have to tolerate abuse. Jesus didn't ask for wimps and made sure his apostles were armed on Good Friday (evidence they were likely armed at other times). You should put this post in the form of a letter and send it off to your bishop with a cc to the Papal Nuncio and another cc to the Vatican.
My dear Adeodatus, our current Bishop has done a fantastic job here repairing the damage that his predecessor allowed during his overlong tenure. He is an amazing, kind, and holy man but he is not a miracle worker. While I would like to see this situation rectified in a more direct manner, I will not second guess His Excellency's intentions. I share your fustration, god knows, but Bishop Burbidge is on our side and needs prayers more than criticism. He has his plate full in this Diocese.
Strap on that veil, ladies, and hold your rosaries with pride. Kneel after Mass and recite the prayers even if everyone else is glad-handing and back-slapping with their backs turned to Our Lord in the tabernacle. Rely on the Lord and His Mom and you cannot go wrong, even when the Mass-illiterate luke-warm happy-clappers think they hold sway.
Our Lord is not mocked, even by those who think they are being "reverent" by holding hands and singing kumbaya.
The wheel turns slowly, but it turns.
To C: I do not share your sense of Bishop Burbidge. I do feel that he is not combative to the Traditional mindset. I also believe that he "supports" efforts to provide the TLM.
However, he does not take the necessary stands that a Bishop in today's world should. He is noticably silent on way too many things. In my view there are way too many liberal influences still around him and the Raleigh Diocese in general. He should have cut off these influences long ago. How does a Bishop support the TLM when he is very uncomfortable even speaking Latin so he avoids it? How are our young men who serve the TLM Mass who have been expected not only to learn the language but perfect the pronunciation supposed to be inspired when they see the highest local position in the Church completely incapabable of doing the same?
My intent is not to shame or cause scandal, but these are nagging questions that bother me all the time. I just expect my Bishop to be out there fighting like some of the other 4% of the USCCB that are taking their responsibility seriously.
Never the less I pray for his courage to grow. I believe that he wants to lead souls to Christ and For that I am very greatful.
I think many are just happy to have a Bishop that loves his flock. I do not set the bar that low I expect much more. (of course many probably think the same of me)
Arkanabar~I know the Fascism comparison was a stretch, but it comes from the fact that the very pastor who I'm drawing this comparison to, has called people from the TLM community (man, I hate using that word, but for lack of a better one...)Fascists. It is his actions, and those of some of his followers that fall in line with the sort of intimidation and propaganda manipulation that you'd expect from a fascist. You might notice that the 'forma extraordinaria' mentioned in VSC's combox post is lower case. I'm sure he cut and pasted it that way directly from the parish website and I'm even more sure that it was posted that way intentionally, with much disregard. It falls in line with all of the rest of the antics used to discredit the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Sometimes it's subtle like the use of lower case letters, sometimes it is not, like an armed police officer staring down people going to Mass.
Mary Rose~I wouldn't have such issues with the NO crowd either, but I've found that a lot of the folks who seem to be dying to hold my hand during a private, personal prayer, don't want anything to do with me after Mass. On the other hand, I've found that the folks who prefer silent time on their knees in front of the Lord, can be quite friendly and welcoming after Mass is over.I guess it is because we don't have to rush home to practice guitar or make felt banners!
Adeodatus~Like C, I still have a lot of hope for our Bishop. I genuinely like him. On the other hand, I cannot dispute the concerns posted by Simplex Vir. Please pray for our Bishop, that he has the strength and courage to address the challenges he faces.
NYPD, ask your pastor the simple question: "Who are you?", and note his reply. This will indicate his sense of self identity. I'd ask him cold, without any lead up to the question.
Re: your bishop
He may be a nice guy, may have benevolent intentions, and may even be trying to effect change quietly. Nonetheless, a leader often has to do unpopular things and be willing to be unpopular or disliked. A leader must have the respect of his people, but he does not need their approval to be a respected and a competent leader. Any leader in the armed forces--commissioned or NCO--knows this. The CC is a human organization as well as a Divine organization. The leadership problems in the CC today are more human than Divine IMHO.
If what is happening in that parish vis-a-vis the TLM is true, then the pastor and those who support these negative activities are flaunting the legitimate authority of the hierarchy from the diocesan Ordinary up to the Pope of Rome.
IMHO, the Church today, especially in the U.S., needs more "in your face" leadership and less pussy footing around. As far as people who will "bolt the Church" in reaction, well we have a Biblical record of the faithful remnant, a separation of the goats from the sheep in advance of the ultimate separation that will result from the General Judgment.
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