The management which was set in place within the formerly 'Sovereign' Military Order of Malta by Bergoglianist circles gave us, a few days ago, an example of something we all happily thought was dead.
I refer to the old 'latinising' arrogance which used to characterise the attitude of the more ignorant Latin Catholics towards those 'inferior' Catholics who have their own sui iuris liturgical traditions.
I believed the document on the internet to be Fake News, largely because of its improbability but also because of its remarkable illiteracy. So I did not furiously rush to my keyboard. It now transpires that this preposterous document is actually genuine. I am outraged.
For centuries, Roman Pontiffs admirably reprimanded narrow-minded latinising proselytisers who went East and tried to persuade Eastern Rite Catholics to abandon their own ancient traditions. Many of us assumed that Vatican II had finally seen off such tawdry and illegal aggression; and when S John Paul talked about the Catholic Church having two lungs, I for one assumed that this mindless bigotry was dead for good ... dead and buried deep.
It is apparently S John Paul who, at the heart of Bergoglian Rome, is now buried very deep. Hardly a day passes without further heavy loads of Bergoglian rubble being dumped upon his memory and his teaching.
In my foolish innocence, I had not adequately reckoned with the very cruel and monocultural tyranny which currently mars the Eternal City, and the extent of its brutal and disdainful contempt for the protections given and confirmed by previous popes to lawful diversity within the Catholic Church..
The de facto present authority in the SMOM has, albeit implicitly, banned the use within the Order of Oriental Catholic Rites.
He has also banned, again implicitly but equally categorically, the Anglican Use. I profoundly resent this attack on my own ecclesial body and its august and beautiful liturgical tradition. This gives me the right to express an opinion about a matter which might otherwise be deemed 'not my business'.
This deplorable individual, whether off his own bat or on orders from on high, has, in fact, gone further even than the ignorant latinising bully-boys of the nineteenth century. He is even narrower than they were. He not only requires the use only of the Roman Rite, but (very explicitly) he allows only one of the two lawful forms of the Roman Rite itself ... the so-called 'Ordinary Form'. He explicitly forbids the 'Extraordinary Form', and, by implication (although he does not explicitly name them) all other forms of Catholic worship. The Dominican Rite would thus also come under his intemperate condemnation.
In fact, his degree of ignorance is such that he refers to the 'ordinary rite of the Church', meaning by those words the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, without any apparent awareness that Holy Mother Church has many rites, all of equal dignity. This is totally within the spirit of the old pre-Vatican II latinisers who ignored and despised the lawful existence of the Oriental and other rites.
Previous popes considered it a point of honour to defend these rites.
PF has previously taken a close interest in the SMOM. Can he really be ignorant of these present goings on?
Or perhaps he has already 'forgotten' about them?
As well as they prohibited their own original liturgy: The Rite of the Holy Sepulchre....
ReplyDeleteThe delicious irony of the Bishop of Rome ticking off his diplomatic staff for backstabbing while the Bergoglianistas at SMOM are (in their illiterate way) slipping the stilletto between the ribs of those holding fast to that tradition which Pope Benedict restored to the Church as 'always sacred'.... Has it finally become impossible to invent fiction stranger than fact in the life of the Church? Attack seems to commend itself to the Pontiff as the best form of defence for behaviour and utterances which might once have regarded as indefensible. Perhaps he ought to be praying the Litany of Humility more frequently himself....
ReplyDeleteCould you tell me how to find the document on the Internet please Father?
ReplyDeleteDear Father,
ReplyDeleteIf the letter from the authority of the SMOM is understood as a singular administrative act, then according to c. 36, §1, an "administrative act must be understood according to the proper meaning of the words and the common manner of speaking. In a case of doubt, those which [...] restrict the right of a person [...] or are contrary to a law which benefits private persons are subject to strict interpretation." If it's understood as a general executory decree (c. 31, §1), then it cannot "derogate from laws , and their prescripts which are contrary to the law lack all force" (c. 33, §1).
So, assuming arguendo that what is decreed in the letter is actually in accordance with norms of Summorum Pontificum, it can only be legitimately interpreted to apply in the the very specific context or regulating the use of the Extraordinary form. In other words, it can prohibit the "frequent, habitual, or permanent" use of the Extraordinary form for community Masses, but it cannot mandate the use of the so-called Ordinary form to the exclusion of other legitimate rites or usages, as such would run contrary to the law.
The animosity against the EF Mass in the Order has been ongoing for as long as I have been a member, 12+ years. We have on a number of occasions requested having an EF Mass to celebrate a special feast in the Order and each time it has been refused. Our chaplain otherwise considered a “conservative” who on occasions will wear a cassock has refused to ever offer the EF and not even support our efforts to have a priest willing to do so. This isn’t even for a major event but something so simple as a 1st Saturday Mass. So this is not Pope Francis getting reading to repeal SP but a political move against traditional members. This declaration by the GM makes formal what has been the unofficial policy for years.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the intention was no ban only the EF and that no thought was given to the impact of the order on the Oriental, Anglican, and Dominican rites.
ReplyDeleteEdward Pentin has posted a copy here
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/EdwardPentin/status/1138359732387942400/photo/1
It says that "all of the liturgical ceremonies within out order ...rite of St. Paul VI"
It points out that is permitted by Article 3 of SP.
Doesn't appear to have any effect on the Ordinariates, Dominicans or Oriental. Hurches
“when S John Paul talked about the Catholic Church having two lungs”. The present Pope manages with one lung, literally. I have often thought he might take that as a refutation of his predecessor.
ReplyDelete