St. Philip's Seminary Graduates and Toronto Ordinations

This is an important weekend for the Church in Toronto. Last night at Holy Family Church, this years graduates at St. Philips Seminary received their degrees and at 10:00AM this morning, three men will be ordained for the Archdiocese of Toronto at St. Michael's Cathedral by Archbishop Thomas Collins.

St. Philip's Seminary at the Toronto Oratory began twenty-five years ago after the late Emmett Cardinal Carter asked Father Jonathan Robinson, Cong. Orat., to begin a Philosophy program there for the Archdiocese. Father Robinson was formerly the Head of the Philosophy Department at McGill University in Montreal. Up until then, Seminarians for Toronto had to study Philosophy in secular universities or other church affiliated schools. The liberal, modernist protestant dominated Toronto School of Theology, an ecumenical initiative, is thankfully losing its influence over Toronto's future priests as more and more is being taken "in-house" so-to-speak. Cardinal Carter and Archbishop Thomas Collins deserve great credit for this. The current Archbishop has assigned a number of priests to study in Rome and elsewhere to eventually return as Professors to teach at St. Augustine's Seminary. This thankfully includes, liturgy.

Last night, sixteen young men from the Archdiocese of Toronto, the Diocese of Pembroke, Peterborough, St. Catharines and Hamilton in Ontario, Cincinnati, Ohio and the international Redemptoris Mater Seminary received their degrees in Thomistic Philosophy and Catholic Thought. The Holy Mass was celebrated in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, "ad orientem" with a packed church singing joyfully and praying for these young men and the future of the Church. This year's graduating class is the largest ever. Next years will be larger, twenty! There are currently over 60 young men studying at St. Philip's Seminary.

The Mass was celebrated by Father Derek Cross and the homilist Father Paul Pearson, the Dean of St. Philip's Seminary announced that in the twenty-five years of its existence, the Seminary has graduated young men who are now total over 140 priests, many in the United States. Over the years I can recall many from Lincoln, Nebraska prior to Bishop Bruskewitz's building of a Seminary there, seminarians from the Fathers of Mercy in the United States and now there are six or more Norbertines from Orange County, California. St. Philip's Seminary's influence is near and far.

Solidly formed priests. Morally, intellectually, spiritually and liturgically now in both Forms of the Roman Rite-Extraordinary and Ordinary.

At 10:00 this morning, Reverend Mr. Russell Asch, 39, Reverend Mr. Eric Mah, 34 and Reverend Mr. Allyn Rose, 34 will be ordained to the Holy Priesthood for the Archdiocese of Toronto. I am honoured to know two of these men, one from a summer placement at his home parish where for a short-time I consulted on the liturgy and formed a Sacred Music Choir still in existence there and another whom I had the pleasure of coming to know as he was part of a small Schola which I directed for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite whilst the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter was in Toronto.

Last year, there were two ordinations for Toronto, this year three. This is not good. An Archdiocese the size of Toronto needs no less than fifteen per year to cope with growth and retirement. There were challenges in the past. Moribund vocations attempts and a promotion of vocations that a priest "has more day off than teachers" did nothing to inspire young men, at least not here; and if they had a calling, they took it elsewhere.

Archbishop Thomas Collins deserves much credit; it is turning the situation around but it takes time and his good work won't be seen yet for a few more years. I can tell you that he meets personally with young men interested in the priesthood and Serra House has been strengthened with a solid new Vocations Director and it is full. One will be spending the summer at the Vox estate as a little contribution to sponsorship of his vocation.

Say a prayer today for all these young men and let us pray that more young men will set aside the "false allures of the world which opes its magic coffers" (Bl. J.H. Newman) and instead hear the call of the LORD of the harvest for His sake and ours.

Universae Ecclesia--The Instruction

This is a a "no-hitter" in baseball terms as Father Z recently described. It is a great day for the restoration of the liturgy and it is justification for all who suffered for this day. It is a firm and clear Instruction from a Vatican dicastry and it is unambiguous as to their authority to act in this regard. It is a clarion call for all Catholics and a warning to all in the Episcopacy and their underlings to obey.

If Summorum Pontificum (The Supreme Pontiff) of the Universae Ecclesiae (Universal Church) are not appropriate enough names of these documents to gain the attention of the episcopacy, then I don't know what would.

It is going to be hated by the National Catholic Fishwrap and the hippie crowd. It will be detested by those who have for almost half a century undermined the Church through a debasement of Her liturgy. It is a smack-down to those talking-head, media clerics who opine about "affectations" and other such nonsense. It states that those who think that Summorum Pontificum was only about the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X are wrong and any priest who thinks otherwise, is simply wrong.

• No Altar Girls!



• No Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion!



• No Communion in the hand (not even during H1N1)!!!



• No vernacular music (except in the appropriate Missa Lecta et Musica permissions from 1957).



• No Communion under both species (obviously the Precious Blood is available due to allergies of gluten).



• No standing for Holy Communion (unless impeded due to health, age).



• No Lay proclaiming scriptures (some provision for the Epistle in a Missa Solemis for a "straw-man" Subdeacon and there may be some permission for a "commentator" outside the sanctuary as was permitted prior to 1962.



• No Concelebration (except under the usual Ordination pattern).



• Triduum may be celebrated, even in the same parish as the Triduum in the Ordinary Form.



• Any priest is qualified in Latin if he is by law permitted to celebrate the Holy Eucharist.



• No bishop can prevent a priest from celebrating the EF!!!!!



• No minimum number on a "stable group"!!!!!!!



• A priest in your parish must allow another priest and laypeople access to the parish church for a Mass in the EF if he can not/will not provide it.

• In a Missa Lecta (Low Mass) the Epistle and Gospel may be read in the vernacular languages without first reading them in Latin. In a Missa Cantata or Missa Solemnis they can be read in the vernacular only after being sung in Latin.

• New Saints and Prefaces can be added and will be upon a future Instruction.
  

• More, you're a grown up Catholic and you can read it all by yourself. You don't need any media cleric or chancery official or professional Catholic to tell you anymore. You have rights, God has given them to you, Christ has ordered it, Mary has guided it and the Vicar of Christ has ensured it.

Now, note this:

"8. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum constitutes an important expression of the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff and of his munus of regulating and ordering the Church’s Sacred Liturgy.3 The Motu Proprio manifests his solicitude as Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church...."

Bishops, priests, professional Catholics, talking-head media types; Let me tell you what this means in language you can understand; Benedict XVI, Papa Ratzinger, is THE BOSS AND HE MEANS WHAT HE SAYS. Can you understand that now?

Laudeter Jesus Christus et hoc usque in saeculum!

Vivat Jesus!

Long live the Pope!

INSTRUCTION UNIVERSAE ECCLESIAE OF THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION ECCLESIA DEI On the application of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, of HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI, given motu proprio

There is no better analyst and commenter in this matter than Father John Zuhlsdorf. This link will take you to a location on his blog where all his posts on this topic are summarised.

Go; get educated.

How a New Mass Composition SHOULD Sound!

One of the joys of having a blog are the little gems we find in the combox.

Dear Vox,

As an alternative to a lot of this awful music, I have written a congregational setting of the new translation with SATB choral writing, that I invite you to listen to. Perhaps this might relieve you of your despair - not all new Church music is bad...

http://www.benesonarium.com/roman-missal/

Yours in prayer and beauty,

Chris

Dear Chris,

Thank you for leaving the note and thank you for your beautiful composition. I can't stop listening to the Sanctus, it is exceptionally well crafted, beautiful with dignity; it lifts the mind and heart, I want to sing this next Christmastide! Yes, you are correct, not all new music is "bad." There is much good work being done by you, Keven Allen, Jeff Ostrowski and so many others. This is such great news and your music above shows how unfortunate the offerings being put forward by Canada's bishops.

Friends, Chris is right, there is good music being written today. But you need to ask for it to introduce it to your pastor or choir director and not accept the drivel being put forward in your parish. This is not just a matter of preference like wanting anchovies on your pizza. Some things are just plain wrong, like pineapple on pizza as an example.

You're a grown up Catholic now.

You have the internet, you don't need the "professional liturgist" or talking-head media cleric to tell you, you can find it for yourself.

Now, go forth and sing!

New Roman Missal for Canada, Canadian Compositions

Oh Vox is in the mood for a rant!

Of course the good news is that the corrected translation of the 2002 Roman Missal will implemented in Canada in November on the First Sunday of Advent.

The bad news is the musical setting of at least one of the Masses commissioned by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

If you can stand any more than about 20 seconds, I'll be surprised.

Go here and listen.

Yeah, that's what I thought you'd do.

The most fundamental papal document about sacred music is the Motu proprio of St. Pius X, Tra le sollecitudini of November 22, 1903 in which the Saint wrote:

“Sacred music must, therefore, possess in the highest degree the qualities which characterize the liturgy. In particular it must possess holiness and beauty of form: from these two qualities a third will spontaneously arise—universality.”

This composition is as far from this sentence as one can get!

As someone who has worked for twenty-five years in church music and its restoration, as someone who is published and who is educated in what the Church desires in Her worship, this is not it.

The Gloria in particular is simply unsingable by a congregation; then again, I did not get past the first 30 seconds because I couldn't stand it. Where is the "actuoso participationem" in this musical drivel?

I will attend the Toronto workshop in a few weeks to see and hear for myself the rest of these settings. If these are no better than this piece of banal musical garbage that the so-called "professional liturgists"at the CCCB think is in keeping with sacred music then they should be literally, fired for incompetence.

To think, royalties from your parish will be paid to the composer of this trash.

Now what do I know, after all, according to an American-born, Toronto-based Toronto media cleric, I am not a "professional liturgist" so what do I know.

I will not sing or promote this trash and if the other two compositions are of the same calibre it will be another ajbect failure on the part of Canada's bishops to restore the liturgy.

Instead, it will be up to young Priests, Cantors and Choir Directors to be strong and motivated to do that which is in harmony with the mind of the Church and it is not this musical drivel.

So, at the parish in Toronto where I provide the music as Cantor for the Ordinary Form, this is the plan.

1. Concentration on the ICEL setting which are based on the Gregorian tones and only ICEL settings of the Memorial Acclamations.

2. Continued use of existing Kyrie and Agnus Dei from Father Somerville's New Good Shepherd, Proulx's Community and Togni's Parish Masses.

3. Easy adaptation of "power and might" to "hosts" in the Sanctus of all three. In fact, the Good Shepherd and Parish Mass were originally scored for "hosts" for the 1965 Missal and had to be adapted for the incorrect translation we've been forced to endure for forty years.

4. A re-introduction of Father Stephen Somerville's original Good Shepherd Gloria from 1965 (I am fortunate enough to have a copy) with the change of one word, "men" on a quarter note to "people" on two eighths. This Gloria was always the correct translation.

5. Slow and cautious introduction of new compositions which follow the principles of sacred music so much of which is offered for free by the Church Music Association of America and Corpus Christi Watershed.

Now, in case you are wondering what it should sound like as far as chant is concerned which can be best described as "sung prayer" here is an example of the Gloria, lovingly sung, to the tone from Mass XV which will be in the new Missal. This is based on the ancient Gloria and is the oldest known of all Gregorian settings from the 900's. Yes, you read that correctly, the tenth century.

Now, did you listen to this? Can you compare it to that composed by Dawson?

Which to you evokes prayer and worship and solemnity and devotion and the Catholic liturgy?

Now, my question for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, John Dawson and the other "professional liturgists" out there, of which I am not one is this: "If this is actually in the new Roman Missal and it has been available on the web from ICEL for almost a year, why did you not consider that this in fact, is the style of music most suited to the Roman Liturgy? Or, did you actually consider it and you chose simply to ignore it?

Priests, friends and colleagues in Church music. You don't need the CCCB's settings. You don't need the banality of this pulp. You don't need any more ugliness. You can find everything you need for the liturgy, free on the web and above are just some of the links.

Now, my next question; "Where are the Propers?"

Oh, they're here in the Simple Propers Project which I use every Saturday Vigil Mass in Toronto.

For something more elaborate; feast your eyes and ears on this soon to be published gem.

On this day

To our Heavenly Mother and all of our mothers.

Catholic? Canadian? Read this.

Consider for a moment what the Pope whom liberals love to quote wrote in 1961:

34. Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social organization which aims solely at production, it places too severe a restraint on human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority.

Now, how are you voting on Monday?

Father Ted Colleton, Requiescat in pace

Father Ted Colleton, Catholic priest, Spiritan Father, pro-life giant has died at the age of 97.

The Reverend Ted Colleton, 1914-2011

Requiem aeternam donna eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion, et tibi reddetur votam in Jerusalem: exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem aeternam donna eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.

See here at LifeSiteNews.

See here at Milites Veritatis.

See here at The Interim.

Sit back and watch this lovely testament to a live well lived in His service:

“The better the liturgy, the better the prayer, the better the Catholic.”

Vox was interviewed by Charlie Lewis. Here is the article which appeared in the National Post on Good Friday.

David Domet, another Toronto choirmaster who has worked with several parishes, said Catholics have been so disconnected from sacred music that they no longer understand the richness of their own tradition.

“Gregorian chant as we have it today is the closest thing we know to what Jesus would have sung and heard himself in the Temple in Jerusalem,” he said.

The appeal of Gregorian chant is undeniable. During a service, it adheres itself to the mass — moving with it hand in hand in perfect harmony.

Mr. Domet said what is truly amazing is that the music was memorized and passed along orally. It was only in the 10th century that a Benedictine monk, Guido d’Arezzo, put the form on paper using a system of square notes — the same notation that is used today.

“It’s the same man who came up with do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti. So the man responsible for writing down Gregorian chant is also inadvertently responsible for ‘Doe A Deer’ from The Sound of Music,” Mr. Domet said.

“The better the liturgy, the better the prayer, the better the Catholic.”

Victimae Paschali laudes

Victimae paschali laudes immolent Christiani.

Ecce mater tua

Stabat Mater dolorosa...

Salvator mundi, salva nos!

And Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.

Mandatum novum

Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini Nostri Jesu Christi: in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra per quem salvati et liberati sumus.

Hosanna, filio David

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis.

Send Kat to Rome!

I know a cute little Catholic who needs our help!

We are strong and supportive community of Catholic bloggers and Rome has taken notice. This is wonderful opportunity for us all. Katrina R. Fernadez of The Crescat has been invited to be amongst the 150 bloggers at the Vatican BlogMeeting. She'll be staying the next day for the "Other" blognic too.

Let's help get Kat to Rome.

Click here to her blog and the Paypal button.

Congratulations Kat!

Enjoy your time with the two ladies from Toronto. (Can't wait to see what you and Seraphic do to Hilary's hair.)

Happy Birthday Papa Ratzinger

Ad multos annos!

A very happy birthday today to our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and may the LORD keep you strong and healthy for many, many, many, many, many, many more years.

Ecclesiastical Karaoke

From Joseph Cullen, Director of the London Symphony Chorus comes this little gem:

"The misuse of one booming voice behind a microphone, an ecclesiastical karaoke, seems to have killed off unified congregational singing.”

Yeah, that and carpet!

God and Dog

Because it's Saturday...

Roxy

God and Dog

To Rome with Vox

Special thanks to Father Finegan for the translation!

You know, I really don't like to fly and I don't have a passport, but as my friend Dennis in the bucolic countryside north of Hogtown said to me on Facebook, I could have a really great seat mate and the possibility is just too hard to resist, so...application sent (not that I have any serious expectation of it being accepted...)

Oh, pay attention to the quote below from Paolo Rodari; sort of explains a few things...



The Pontifical Council for Social Communications gives the official information in Italian. Here is my own unoffical translation:

Information on the meeting in the Vatican for Bloggers
St Pius X Auditorium, 2 May 2011

A meeting of bloggers will take place on the afternoon of 2 May. The event, organized by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Communications, aims to enable a dialogue between bloggers and representatives of the Church, to share the experiences of those working in this field and to better understand the needs of that community. The meeting will also present some of the initiatives that the Church is putting in place in the world of new media, whether in Rome or at the local level.

In the two planned sessions, various speakers will present some key points to open a discussion open to all the participants. In the first, five bloggers, representing the different language areas, will address specific issues of general importance. In the second, there will be accounts from people involved in the communication strategies of the Church, who will present their experiences of working with new media, as well as initiatives for an effective meeting between the Church and the world of bloggers.

Participants will include Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Archbishop Claudio Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and Father Federico Lombardi, Director of the Press Office of the Holy See and of Vatican Radio. An important aspect of the meeting will be that of offering the opportunity for new contacts, informal exchanges among participants, and to open new avenues of interaction.

L’incontro si svolge il giorno dopo la Beatificazione di Giovanni Paolo II, per questo si prevede la presenza a Roma di numerosi bloggers. L’invito è aperto a tutti, ma, per partecipare, bisogna inviare un email a blogmeet@pccs.it con un link al proprio blog. Dato che lo spazio è limitato a 150 posti, e c’è il desiderio di avere una rappresentanza di tutta la blogosfera, i pass e i dettagli per l’evento saranno assegnati secondo criteri linguistici e geografici, la tipologia del blog (istituzionale, privato, multiautore o personale), le tematiche e la tempestività dell’iscrizione.

The meeting will be held the day after the beatification of John Paul II: the presence of numerous bloggers in Rome is expected for this event. The invitation is open to all, but to participate, please send an email to blogmeet@pccs.it with a link to your blog. Given that space is limited to 150 seats, and it is desires to have a representation of the entire blogosphere, passes and details for the event will be assigned according to geographic and linguistic criteria, the type of blog (institutional, private, multi-author or personal), the basic themes, and the timeliness of registration.

A simultaneous translation service will be provided in the following languages: Italian, Spanish, French, Polish and English.

The venue is the St Pius X Auditorium, Via della Conciliazione, No 5 (entrance on the Via dell’Ospedale.)

H/T Paolo Rodari who introduces his article with these observations:

For some time, bloggers on religious matters have been an important voice on the web. Their blogs are read in the Vatican. They influence opinions. I would say more: they influence decisions on the upper floors.

Welcome to the fight, we knew you never really left it!

Whereas the Catholic Register's editorial states that Development & Peace is "guilty of either appalling poor judgment or blatant incompetence;" and

Whereas the same Catholic Register in the same editorial commentary states "Two years ago his (Mexican priest Father Luis Arriaga) organization was cited in an investigation by LifeSiteNews.com as one of five D&P Mexican partners with ties to pro-abortion groups;" and

Whereas the same editorial asks "How D&P, his own staff, fellow bishops and the priest himself, Fr. Luis Arriaga, (could) put the Archbishop in such an awkward position" and

Whereas LifeSiteNews initially broke the story about D&P funding pro-abortion groups in the third world with your money from ShareLife or ShareLent; and

Whereas certain persons who shall remain nameless here out of deference to their position have referred to LifeSiteNews as "extremist" for their position in this regard; and

Whereas LifeSiteNews' investigative reporting and evidence in this regard has been upheld by the Archbishop of Ottawa, His Grace, Terence Prendergast, S.J. and the wise action of Bishop Mulhall of Pembroke and Archbishop Collins of Toronto; and

Whereas the Catholic Register in Toronto has reported on this truth as first reported in LifeSiteNews;

Now therefore, let it be known that as surely as 1 + 1 = 2, the obvious explanation is that the Catholic Register has become extremist (except for JBM of course!)

Not in the same way as Vox Cantoris mind you.

But nearly.

Blow-Back Blogging

Courtesy of the combox at Seraphic in Scotland which should be on your daily list, comes this salient commentary on the issues this week in Canada regarding Catholics' blogs:

The blogosphere/internet is a Revolution comparable to Gutenberg. But I would emphasize that it is not technology per se that is wholly responsible for all the blow-back now occurring. The internet is just a more efficient and quicker means of communication over more expansive distances. Between words printed on paper and words posted on a blog is only a difference in degree, not kind. So the question that the cleric under scrutiny in your post (including the bishops, theologians, Catholic MSM etc.) that constitute the "professional Catholic" class in Canada have to ask themselves is this: Why is there even blow-back at all? That is the question.

If there were no apostate bishops, if there were no Baum's composing Marxist-inspired tracts, if RCIA directors had been properly catechizing, if school kids were not politicized by baby-booming "Catholic" teachers enraptured by whatever trendy cause, if homilies were not exclusively devoted to "God is love", if nuns weren't worshiping the rain forests, if power hungry parish tyrants would understand that they are not consecrated priests ... if these (and more) had not occurred over the last 4 to 5 decades, I will confidently say that there would not have been any blow-back from the Catholic blogosphere in the modern day. Support and a defense thereof from the secular world would have been the mainstays. If there was a sufficient degree of faithfulness to the Magisterium in the first place, there would be no need to revolt.

When for decades you have a very select group of "professional Catholics" running the show, leftist and skewed to heterodoxy in approach and viewpoint, when for years letters to the editor are ignored, when time after time you have qualified and knowledgeable people (academics, writers, etc., not just the "plebeian" types you mention) continually shut out from the newspapers, journals, publishers and other educational/apologetic programs because they are too "orthodox" or "judgmental" or "uncharitable"... and then when the blogosphere emerges, you at last have an outlet slay the dragon.

The current situation of the "professional Catholic" class in Canada can be analogized with Hugh Hefner as he exists today: a fossilizing, self-absorbed, smelly old man wandering around a mansion in a gaudy smoking jacket, stupid enough to think that the chicks are still attracted to him.

The comment comes from TH2 and hits the nail on the head, especially the point about Hugh Hefner.

Poking the Protests out of the Printing Press

Poking the Protests out of the Printing Press

Anonymous

Lyons—The printing press is not all that it’s cracked up to be, and sometimes the truth can slip through those cracks.

That’s the message Father Bonaventure Aveugle, OFM, CEO of Superior Sheepskins, passed on about the wild frontier of print when he gave a talk to 65 priests from the diocese of Paris. Father Aveugle was visiting the diocese of Lyons from Paris to give a number of talks. His clergy lecture was on March 22, 1491.

Father Aveugle focussed on new challenges to the Church in the areas of books, newspapers and pamphlets. “These are really important areas, so much so that a big part of the last meetings I was heavily involved in myself, the last two rounds, has been spent on this,” he said. “The printing press is an international phenomenon.”

There are serious ethical questions that must be addressed by the Church and by individuals, he continued, making sure to distance the concept “Church” from the concept of “individuals”, e.g. ordinary parish priests and laypeople. These include issues of the dissemination of information the laity ought not to know, and “frank criticism of shepherds by sheep.”

“The printing press is not only a source of problems, it is a source of great benefits to the human race when used properly,” he said. “The benefits can be fully realized if only the right people have access to it.”

He said the three main issues are: the destruction of the privilege of the very few to control information, the challenge of mass literacy, and the lack of accountability which permits laypeople to comment on Church life without getting punished for it.

He discussed the importance of assessing content found in the print media, and not believing any of it. Father Aveugle used the example of a priest he knows who takes homilies from books and preaches them at Mass without reading them first.

“There are some things that are being proclaimed from the pulpits that are questionable,” he said. “Discernment is required in what you take from print books. It’s no substitute for texts carefully written on sheepskin.”

Print materials, he said, are becoming a major topic of discussion amongst scribes as well as at the Vatican. He said they were useful for disseminating news and such doctrines as ordinary folk can handle.

A relatively tiny number of people read his own newspaper every week, he noted. “We use it as a teaching tool,” he noted. “Thousands of priests rip off our stuff to write their homilies, and that’s fine with us.”

However, since anyone—not just Superior Sheepskins—can set up a printing press, readers must be wary.

“I have rules for my scribes,” said Father Aveugle. “We don’t say anything that defames anybody except LifePrintNews, other newspapers, pamphleteers, other sheepskin suppliers and other utilizers of the printing press.”

Father Aveugle said that a study of Catholic print materials involving Catholics and heretics looking at Catholic print materials found they were filled with “filth, hate, conjecture, and innuendo.” The printers try to look official by including woodcuts of their favourite popes and saints.

Many of these printers say nasty, negative things, he said, citing rival LifePrintNews as a notorious sinner.

“I don’t care how many people at LifePrintNews are Catholics or how many of their readers are Catholics or how much they write about Catholics,” he said. “It’s not a Catholic blog. It has no authority, unlike me. It is causing division in the English Church, not just in France.”

He cited how upset unnamed English bishops are by LifePrintNews. One English Cardinal assumed LifePrintNews had its own glittering fortress in Paris. “I said, non, non, monsieur. They operate out of someone’s parent’s root cellar in Rouen. And may I say how much I have admired you all these years?”

LifePrintNews and other print materials are dangerous when clerics and laypeople read them more than they hear the Scriptures or Vatican documents proclaimed. He said people were citing print materials more often than those teachings selectively chosen by Superior Sheepskins for dissemination.

Some print materials have muddied the waters of Catholic dialogue in past years, said Father Aveugle. “The anti-Borgia pamphlets, the anti-infanticide pamphlets which are, indeed, anti-infanticide but too critical of those prelates who aren’t as concerned as they are about infanticide, the pamphlets criticizing me criticizing the pamphleteers—ooh, it makes me crazy.”

He added that powerful and influential heretics read these materials, which give skewed vision of what the Church—by which he meant the authoritative, clerical bit—is about.

"If we judged our identity on certain printed materials, Christians and Catholics would be known as the people who stand against everything and against everyone," he said. "If anything we should be known as the people who are for something."

There was a startled silence as his audience wondered what he meant by Christians AND Catholics.

Despite these issues with printing, Father Aveugle said mass publishing has its place. He said it has linked the Church between continents much more closely, but we also need to be wary of how mass literacy can erode and cheapen personal relationships.

"Writing letters makes some kinds of communication easier, because it is not tied to geography, or governed by social norms, therefore writers can communicate whatever and whenever they want," he said. "While many of us can get back in touch with our friends via letters, there is a danger that print interactions can hurt our real-life friendships."

Writing, Father Aveugle explained, can encourage a "new form of narcissism." He said people reveal in their letters—especially those Christmas ones that go out to the entire Chrismas list—the most intimate details about themselves to the world and "we can't take it back."

He said print is an important tool for evangelization, but it also reinforces a belief that every mundane detail of our lives is worth publicizing.

"People are not just living in the moment, but they are publicizing the moment. This may lead to the spread of novels, poetry and heaven knows what else."

Father Aveugle said these new forms of communication can hurt the "art and language of friendship."

Though these technologies are supposed to better connect us, he said, there is an increase in reports of loneliness and distance between people. Instead of talking and visiting all the time, they read and write in isolation.

Father Aveugle talked about a woman he had met after Mass who said she received 20 letters a day from her granddaughter in the fields. She invited her to see her, because they lived in the same town, but the granddaughter doesn’t make the time.

"With letters, you don't see people. You see letters," he said. “A, B, C….”

"Without friends, human beings, to connect with, what are we doing?" he asked. “Writing? Our faith is about the Good Shepherd, and the sheep should know to trust his shepherds and the doctrine and news we see fit to give them, like the fine quality information carefully selected by Superior Sheepskins.”

As much as Vox would like to credit for this wonderful satire, alas, I cannot. It was our old friend Anonymous whom I abundantly thank for permitting me the honour of its publication. Oh, in case you missed the motivation.

Salt + Light C.E.O. slags LifeSiteNews

Once again, the head of Salt + Light, Your Catholic Channel of Hope has found it necessary to harshly criticise the good people, Catholic and non-Catholic at LifeSiteNews. This time in the B.C. Catholic:

"...American bishops are upset about the division it has caused in the Church. "One of the American cardinals asked me where the headquarters was and I said, `It's somebody's basement in the Ottawa Valley.' He thought it was a tower in downtown Toronto, so it's extremely deceiving."

"...a study of Catholic blogs involving non-Catholics and non-Christians looking at Catholic blogs found they were filled with "filth, hate, conjecture, and innuendo." He added some blogs attempt to claim they are official, using the Vatican crest or a picture of the Pope."

"...American bishops are upset about the division it has caused in the Church. "One of the American cardinals asked me where the headquarters was and I said, `It's somebody's basement in the Ottawa Valley.' He thought it was a tower in downtown Toronto, so it's extremely deceiving."

"Some blogs have coarsened Catholic dialogue in the past years: the anti-Obama Catholic blogs; the so-called pro-life blogs, that may be advocating pro-life, but they are decimating persons and reputations..."

You're a grown-up Catholic.

Read it all yourself.

You decide. d

CCCB distorts comment by Archbishop Prendergast

Here is the Archbishop's statement. Here's the story on Socon. Here's the salient point in the combox.

According to this CCCB spin memo, Archbishop Prendergast has cancelled the speaker’s engagements based on allegations and the fear of “prayer protests”. That is a gross misrepresentation of what the Archbishop stated in his letter on Fr. Arriaga.

According to the statement he published (on the archdiocese website), the Archbishop was not at all manipulated by allegations and the fear of public opinion (prayer protests). Rather, he followed a very evangelical course of action in dealing with this controversy (see Matthew 18:15-17).

From the Archbishop’s statement :

“The Archbishop met with Father Luis Arriaga, director of the Miguel Pro Centre for Human Rights (PRODH) on his arrival in Ottawa and discussed with him, and with representatives of Development and Peace, the Centre’s support of groups espousing abortion.”

He met directly with Fr. Arriaga, asked questions and then concluded that he could not endorse this speaker’s engagements in his archdiocese. That’s not basing a decision on allegations and the fear of protests.

That may be the modus operandi of the career cath’lics at the CCCB, but that is not how a true Shepherd of the Church behaves. Thank you Archbishop, for being a good shepherd.

You're a grown-up Catholic.

Read it for yourself.

You decide.

Update: Hat-tip to Mike: Does D & P not get it? Written by Fr. Raymond J. de Souza Tuesday, 05 April 2011

Roman Missal Recognitio: Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Finally, weeks after the news here on Vox Cantoris, and a day after it was published on Vox with a hat-tip here, three weeks after it was in the church bulletins in the Diocese of Hamilton and two week after the Archdiocese of Toronto announced the beginning of a training session, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has finally announced the recognitio of the new Roman Missal for Canada.

Thank you CCCB for your excellent communication!

For superior information please click the picture below:

Thank you Archbishop Prendergast and LifeSiteNews!

Grateful prayers of thanks and acknowledgement and blessing to Archbishop Terence Prendergast, S.J. of Ottawa for his statement and banning of a priest of Mexico from speaking engagements in the name of the Church promoted from Development & Peace where funds were directed to abortion.

Notwithstanding the unjust, vitriolic accusations by some who consistently blame LifeSiteNews "for stirring up 'division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence' " LifeSiteNews once again has scored another victory for justice and truth and the unborn by exposing the rot at Development and Peace and those in the Church in Canada and the CCCB who continue to whitewash the funding of your collection money to groups in Mexico and other countries who fund the murder of children in the wombs of their mothers.

This is the power of the Internet, the new media and bloggers. As I've stated previously in the last two weeks, they don't like it and they continue still to issue personal attacks by email unbecoming of their state. (I am sure that this will provoke another). The truth will be told and they will convict themselves by their actions and public comments.