When I was in my teens, I often darkened the doors of the Roman Catholic Church in Clacton on sea. It was an unusual building. Opened in 1903, it was not just another piece of late-Victorain ungrammatical 'Gothic'. It was Romanesque; taken stylistically from S Bartholomew's Smithfield. The architect, F W Tasker, supplied those furnishings which would not have been present in Norman England ... including all the altar masonry culminating in a fine 'Romanesque' Exposition Throne ... in the same spirit. Stylistically, it was all of a piece.
Or rather, Tasker designed the church and its fittings. It was a Mr A G Swannell who gave ... paid for ... the High Altar, the Altar Rails, the pulpit. To my adolescent eyes, it made a perfect ensemble, graced, additionally, by a Shrine of our Lady of Light (about which I shall write on another occasion) and a statue of Blessed (beatified 1887; canonised 1947) Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, to whose apostolate the devotion to Our Lady of Light owes so much. Totus tuus ...
Using my computer, I have tried to manage a look at the current interior of this Church; the results have not been quite decisive. But I get the impression that the Sanctuary has been completely devasted. Whether the pulpit and statue were allowed to survive, I know not. I would be interested to hear.
I would also be mildly interested to know when the devastation occurred. Such things have continued until fairly recently. The Younger Pugin Cathedral at Queenstown ... er ... I mean Cobh, the one you admire as you sail into Cork Harbour ... was in the news only a few years ago. There were plans to reform the interior in accordance with Vatican II. But Catholic laity, thank God, appear less grovellingly supine than they were in the post-Conciliar decades. They secured some sort of enquiry, and put up Alcuin Reid. Alcuin was easily able to demonstrate forensically that the Council had in no way mandated what was proposed.
Two or three decades ago, I was talking to some Kerry ladies outside Killarney Cathedral (wow, Constable's Salisbury in miniature!!); they described vividly the skips outside, full of smashed masonry and pulverised marble, when Ireland's Most Charismatic and Most Modern Bishop, the Most Reverend Eamon Casey (Bishop of Kerry 1969-1976) was 'reordering' (in 1973) his Cathedral Church.
Casey exemplified ... perfectly ... the "Spirit of Vatican II". Sponsor some Cultural Festivals! Smash up some Altars! Get Sexually Active! (ironytriggerwarning). After all, why on earth do you think God gave us pickaxes? What are American divorcees, and nieces, for?
That generation was a generation of habitual liars. They could read; so they knew perfectly well that Vatican II had prescribed none of the vandalism they desired to unleash on Catholic Churches (or, indeed, the sexual immorality). That's why they invented the mendacious fiction of a "Spirit of the Council". It needed to be invented in order to cover up the con-trick being perpetrated.
I think someone somewhere should maintain an archive of prelates and priests who took part in that crooked cultural conspiracy ... a sort Truth and Justice Commission. With a view to academic use, its lists could be cross-referenced with lists of clergy involved in sexual misconduct or cover-ups.
For all I know, some of those nice old gentlemen may still be oppressing the People of God from Episcopal or Archiepiscopal Thrones.
The archive could be called The A G Swannell Library. May Swannell rest in peace; may he enjoy the rewards of his labours. And of his good taste.
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Dear Father. Sacrosanctum Concilium;...Sound Tradition may be retained but...Latin is to be preserved but...Clerics are to retain the Latin language in the Divine Office but...
The puissant progressive possibilities infecting S.C. reminds ABS of sitting in his car outside of a Golden Corral and watching the long line of fat women departing the all-you-can-eat buffet tables and waddling towards their vans in the parking lot.
Both Sacrosanctum Concilium and the fat women exiting the Golden Corral have ugly buts.
Dear Father. The excerpt from a Vatican Two presser has long been forgotten..
We wish to convey to all men and to all nations the message of salvation, love and peace which Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, brought to the world and entrusted to the Church.
In fact, it is for this reason that we, the successors of the apostles, all united in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, forming one single apostolic body whose head is the successor of Peter, are gathered here at the invitation of His Holiness Pope John XXIII.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we intend in this meeting to seek the most effective ways of renewing ourselves and of becoming increasingly more faithful witnesses of the Gospel of Christ.
We will strive to propose to the men of our times the truth of God in its entirety and purity so that they may understand it and accept it freely.
Conscious of our duties as pastors, we wish deeply to meet the demands of those who seek God “and perhaps grope after him and find him though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17: 27).
Faithful, therefore, to the mandate of Christ, who offered Himself a holocaust “in order that he might present to himself the Church in all her glory … but that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27) we shall devote ourselves with all our energies, with all our thoughts toward renewing ourselves and the faithful entrusted to us, that the image of Jesus Christ, which shines in our hearts “to give enlightenment concerning the knowledge of the glory of God” (II Cor. 4:6) may appear to all people.
We believe that the Father loved the world so much He gave His Son to save it; and that He freed us from the slavery of sin through this same Son, “that he should reconcile to himself all things, whether on the earth or in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20) that we might be called and truly be His sons.
Moreover, we receive the Holy Spirit from the Father that, living the life of God, we may love God and our brothers, with whom we are united in Christ.
We, therefore, the followers of Christ, are not estranged from earthly concerns and toils. Indeed, the faith, hope and charity of Christ urges us to serve our brothers in imitation of the example of the Divine Master who “has not come to be served, but to serve” (Matt. 20:28).
Neither was the Church born, therefore, to dominate but to serve. “… He laid down His life for us; and we likewise ought to lay down our life for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
While we hope that the Faith may shine more clearly and brightly from the work of the council, we also expect a spiritual renewal which may provide a happy impetus for human welfare; that is, the findings of science, the progress of the arts and of technology, and a greater diffusion of culture.
United here from every nation under heaven, we carry in our hearts the anxieties of all peoples entrusted to us, the anxieties of body and soul, sorrows and desires, and hopes. We turn our mind constantly toward all the anxieties afflicting men today.
Our concern is directed especially to the more humble, the more poor, the weaker, and, in keeping with the example of Christ, we feel compassion for the throngs who suffer hunger, misery and ignorance.
We are constantly attentive to those who, deprived of the necessary assistance, have not yet reached a standard of living worthy of man.
For this reason, in performing our earthly mission, we take into great account all that pertains to the dignity of man and all that contributes toward the real brotherhood of nations. “For the love of Christ impels us” (2 Cor. 5:14); in fact, “He who has the goods of this world and sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).
Here are two great problems facing us:
In his broadcast message of Sept. 11, 1962, His Holiness Pope John XXIII stressed two points especially. First of all, he recommended everything that favors peace among peoples.
There is no man who does not detest war and who does not ardently desire peace. This is the greatest wish of the Church who is the mother of all. Through the voice of the Roman Pontiffs, she has never ceased to proclaim not only her love for peace, but also her resolve for peace, always ready to give herself wholeheartedly and effectively to every sincere proposal.
She tends, furthermore, with all her strength, to unite all peoples and to create among them a mutual esteem of sentiments and of works...
Is not this conciliar assembly — admirable for its diversity of races, nations and tongues — a testimony of a community bound by fraternal love which it bears as a visible sign?
We proclaim that all men are brothers, irrespective of the race or nation to which they belong.
Secondly, the Pope urges all to social justice. The doctrine outlined in the encyclical letter, “Mater et Magistra” (Mother and Teacher), clearly shows how the Church is needed by the world today to denounce injustices and shameful inequalities and to restore the true order of goods and things so that, according to the principles of the Gospel, the life of man may become more human.
We have neither the riches nor the powers of the earth, but we place our faith in the strength of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus Christ to His Church.
Therefore, we humbly and ardently invite all to collaborate with us to establish in the world a more ordered way of living and greater brotherhood. We invite all, not only our brothers of whom we are the pastors, but all our brothers who believe in Christ and all men of good will whom “God … wishes … to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:4).
In fact, it is the divine will that the kingdom of God through the means of charity, shine even now, in a certain sense, upon earth, almost in anticipation of the eternal kingdom.
It is our ardent desire that the light of the great hope in Jesus Christ our only Savior may shine, in this world which is still so far from the desired peace because of the threats engendered by scientific progress itself — marvelous progress — but not always intent upon the supreme law of morality.
ABS received an email about this presser by Professor Herman NuDix of Hermeneutics College in Rome who said, "So?
I have often heard Kerry people lament what Casey did to their poor cathedral back in the 1970s. He was not well liked. But the Galway people were either more naïve, or more forgiving. You can see Casey's smiling pig face in all sorts of pictures, usually holding a pint glass in his hand, or using his position to hob-nob with the Galway Hurlers. It was that man, more than any other person, who destroyed respect for the Church in Ireland. Yet, he was allowed to play the role of the martyr, while the people's wrath fell on innocent heads. It was all so disgusting to watch- the exposed pervert traipsing off to Ecuador to pretend to be a missionary, and then slipping off to England before he managed to learn any Spanish.
My uncle Kevin, from Castelgregory, in Dingle, could not stand that man. He would tell me repeatedly, in his impenetrable Kerry brogue, that Casey did not have the morals of an animal, and that a Gander would not abandon the Goose while its eggs were hatching, but would stay there to protect its family. The anger welling up in his voice as he told me.
Casey was a leftist heretic, an extreme example of the worst that post civil war Ireland could tolerate, and produce.
A Google image search for the church shows an Our Lady of Lights and St Osyth. It is a fine structure, but in the sanctuary nothing but a Communion table (although not the worst of them), some mean furniture, a plain crucifix and lots and lots of white paint or magnolia. Sad! Sacrosanctum Concilium at most urged that it be possible for a priest to be able to go around the altar, not to outdo Edward VI and Cromwell.
For those who may be interested, here is a link to a view of the church which shows its situation (may take a few extra seconds to load clearly): bird's eye view of Our Lady of Light & St. Osyth, Clacton-on-Sea.
And here are some good images from Google Maps.
And finally, some images from the parish's site.
And still there are those who say 'It's what Vatican II wanted.' On the website of a church in my diocese it gives a history of the church in which it states that :'1981 saw the repositioning of the Sanctuary to turn the altar to face the congregation as required by the 2nd Vatican Council.' So sad.
Lists cross-referenced to ascertain the degree to which clerical iconoclasts were also sexual libertines? Dear Fr. H, how very politically incorrect. To call to account in this world any cleric, not say nothing of bishops, smacks of charity. How could you?
Dear Father. The excerpt from a Vatican Two presser has long been forgotten..
We wish to convey to all men and to all nations the message of salvation, love and peace which Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, brought to the world and entrusted to the Church.
In fact, it is for this reason that we, the successors of the apostles, all united in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, forming one single apostolic body whose head is the successor of Peter, are gathered here at the invitation of His Holiness Pope John XXIII.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we intend in this meeting to seek the most effective ways of renewing ourselves and of becoming increasingly more faithful witnesses of the Gospel of Christ.
We will strive to propose to the men of our times the truth of God in its entirety and purity so that they may understand it and accept it freely.
Conscious of our duties as pastors, we wish deeply to meet the demands of those who seek God “and perhaps grope after him and find him though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17: 27).
Faithful, therefore, to the mandate of Christ, who offered Himself a holocaust “in order that he might present to himself the Church in all her glory … but that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27) we shall devote ourselves with all our energies, with all our thoughts toward renewing ourselves and the faithful entrusted to us, that the image of Jesus Christ, which shines in our hearts “to give enlightenment concerning the knowledge of the glory of God” (II Cor. 4:6) may appear to all people.
We believe that the Father loved the world so much He gave His Son to save it; and that He freed us from the slavery of sin through this same Son, “that he should reconcile to himself all things, whether on the earth or in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20) that we might be called and truly be His sons.
Moreover, we receive the Holy Spirit from the Father that, living the life of God, we may love God and our brothers, with whom we are united in Christ.
It is right in for of you for those who have eyes to see.
In the midst of Vatican Two we can read the words of this presser by Fathers of V2 which begin with the Holy Holocaust of Jesus Christ and His pluperfect sacrifice on Calvary but then they begin to rabbit on about peace and what the world needs now..
As Trump would say, so sad,
So much fo the Great Commission and His Holy Holocaust and the two reasons Jesus established His church
Salvation
Sanctification
Even in the midst of Vatican Two the fathers had chosen a new way, a new commission of their own creation.
Many men mock Pope Francis when it is he who is absolutely in continuity with the weltanschauung of Vatican Two
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