Monday 10 June 2013

Some, Like, Whoa points: Holy Family and other little chestnuts

Hello Everyone,

I waited till after the Latin Mass of Sacred Heart to post this, because I wanted the Mass left up to promote the EF on my blog and Society of Canadian of Catholic Bloggers. So, here's some cool things that happened with me and on the Catholic Blogosphere recently:

1) I went to Holy Family Parkdale, Toronto, for the EF High Mass at 11am last Sunday (2nd after Pentecost at SPN HF, Corpus Christi in the Novus Ordo). This is a parish that is staffed by the Oratorian Fathers (of St. Phillip Neri, the title being SPN at the end of a priest's name). The parishes of Holy Family and St. Vincent De Paul are the parishes under their governance and is the home of the EF for the West/Central Toronto in the core of the Archdiocese. Fun fact: SVDP was holding the Latin Masses under special privilege called an indult, granted specifically by John Paul II himself under his papacy!

 It was a Missa Cantata with a full complement of servers and a small choir of all men. While there:

  • It was the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel: Luke 14: 16-24. The main message in the homily: Don't forsake Jesus for all other things. Your eternal salvation is priority! Even little urgent tasks here and there add up till you just don't care about the Lord. To paraphrase McDonalds (TM) before they used "I'm lovin' it", Christ was saying to us "Have you cared about Me today?" 
  • There was more than a few families with more than 2 children, and there were decently dressed, as well as the young ladies were wearing mantillas! The youth are with the Latin Mass!
  • It's been a while since I did Sunday TLM there, great to be back!
  • Got to see old acquaintances and some of the Oratorian students there. Met a new face or two. I even saw one of my U of T Newman Center friends! 
  • Out of the full complement of altar servers, there was only one St. Phillip Neri Oratory student who was boat bearer/MC. The other servers were young boys/men! Great to see so many young servers!

2) I wanted to pray the rosary, but couldn't find a seat at the back of their 1230pm Novus Ordo mass. So I stood. Today was the Corpus Christi Sunday in the Ordinary Form (it is this past Thursday May 30 in the EF). While I didn't get to pray in the body of the Church, the priest there had some bang on things in his Homily! And there were numerous young children in the pews with their families. Here's what I, and those fortunate young children got to hear:

  • Number one thing: You cannot take the Eucharist in Mortal Sin! It is compounding Mortal Sin on Mortal Sin! Yes, I realize the Oratory is like the gold standard of Novus Ordo Masses, but honestly, how many Novus Ordo priests have the guts to talk to children about Mortal Sin??? Not many at all!!!
  • He quoted from Vatican II which lists the Eucharist as the source and summit of our Faith. Great to hear that. 
  • He also mentioned that all the other sacraments tie into the Eucharist in the Mass. 
  • He spoke about Eucharistic Adoration briefly! It's becoming quite popular among the youth of my, and the generation below me, so kudos to the priest for adding that in.

3) Here's something that requires ATTENTION. It crosses over to both the Novus Ordo and EF realms, and should be directed to all music ministers, parish priests, and liturgists: MARTY HAUGEN IS NOT A CATHOLIC AND PURPOSELY HAS ANTI-CATHOLIC SENTIMENTS IN HIS HYMNS!!! I did not say it. Please see THIS! revelation and why parish music as a whole for lack of a better word "sucks." (Hint: it was NOT VATICAN II!) More importantly, spread this like the plague on the internet and among your friends and parishes!

4) GREAT NEWS!!!! The Vatican has heard the requests of the faithful for the Pope's powerful "Fervorinos"/weeday homilies when he does not do his audiences or Sunday Masses. These homilies have tackled everything from Faith without works, being joyful on one's faith and not a sourpuss or hypocrite, and even calling out the Evil One himself by name!!! THEY HAVE LISTENED!!!! They now have the summaries of the Pope's Fervorinos when he does Mass in the Sanctae Domae Chapel on the following page on the Vatican Website: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/cotidie/2013/index_en.htm/. The summaries are printed in L'osservatore Romano and reposted on the Vatican website. ADMG! One note: The Vatican is slower to update their page vs. Vatican Radio and News.Va. If you want everything right after the day of the homily, then go there. Still this is a big improvement for the Vatican!!!

5) I'd like to promote something Novus Ordo. If you have read my "About" page, I feel it is highly critical as part of the New Evangelization and my mandate to be a voice of my generation and the one below it, and we should be highly ministering to those generations and reaching out to them. Youth Ministry, done with respect to the Magisterium and orthodox Catholic teaching, can really make a difference in the faith life of young people. Examples are in parish structured youth ministries (e.g. EDGE, LIFETEEN), and other initiatives like Totus Tuus, which is held in the Summer in the Archdiocese of Toronto. Further, these programs are also producing teachers who are not false in their faith who apply to our separate school system/Private Catholic schools.

However, starting out in youth ministry, or achieving said orthodoxy, might not work without the necessary tools and experience (or for that matter, you might need something to merit getting said initial experience). Therefore, I am promoting a youth ministry course called the Canadian Certificate for Youth Ministry Studies, co-sponsored by the Redemptorist Fathers and the University of St. Michael's College School with University of Toronto. It is an 8-course certification program requiring a combination of 2-day seminars and accompanying assignments (with a 5 month period due to practical components) per course. The link for this summer's courses in Toronto are here. It would be a great opportunity to begin the CCYMS program as the courses offered are the first two in the logical order of the 8 courses (first 4 are foundations courses in ideally the first year, the last 4 are specific facets of ministry in ideally the 2nd year of the courses). I personally might take this program myself, though that will depend on a possible future employment opportunity I applied for.

6) Most importantly, please see my Post-Latin Mass Report of the St. Pat's Sacred Heart Mass from Last Friday the 6th June, which was held at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish, Scarborough, ON. Here. It's similar in structure as last time, but I do them as a labour of love and because these Masses DESERVE to be reported on. All efforts deserve recognition in the EF of the Roman Rite.

Pax, Julian.

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