Extraordinary Form or Extraordinary Conditions?

From Paix Liturgique

"Catholic tradition is not an Indian reservation. The rehabilitation of the Church's liturgical tradition is the exclusive business neither of the Society of Saint Pius X, nor of the "traddies", nor of French Catholics; it is that of Catholicism as a whole."

Why they are singing Gregorian chant

A priest in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, Father Lawrence Donnelly has a new blog; A Son of St. Philip.

In a recent post, Father Donnelly publishes a letter which he wrote to his parishioners, "Why We Are Singing Gregorian Chant" wherein he articulates clearly the mind of the Church and the desires of the Popes and the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. This letter is with reference to the celebration there at St. Jude's Parish and Shrine, primarily for the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. One Sunday Mass is in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite integrated fully into the life of the parish and two are in the Ordinary Form in English with Gregorian chant with Solemn Vespers every Sunday afternoon:

"My motive for having you all learn to sing the chant is part of my priestly fidelity to lead you more deeply into the mind of the Church on sacred music and ultimately to enter into the true spirit of the Mass, which the chant, in its beauty, movement and text is geared to do. Admittedly it is a challenge for us all, but once we have a familiarity with this great treasure of the Church, we will find consolation and spiritual benefit."

It really is that easy.

Just do it!

The sublime Sancta Missa Lecta et Musica

With the departure of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter from Toronto, next Sunday at St. Theresa Shrine Church the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be a Missa Lecta (Read Mass) or what is more commonly known as Low Mass. There will be NO MUSIC. Hopefully sooner rather than later we will return to the Missa Cantata or Sung Mass.

The Missa Lecta as many remember it gave rise to much of the need for liturgical reform. Bishops, priests and laity did not heed the desires of Pope St. Pius X, XI and XII in fostering the legitimate liturgical movement. Of course, ther was no internet then. The Mass was quiet or done with dated and sappy hymns with the then equivalents of On Eagles' Wings--not much has changed. People knelt and prayed the rosary or read a devotional book. They did not respond in dialogue, they did not read the Mass nor sing and the choir rarely sang the Propers and often a hybrid Mass was attempted with some of it sung and most of it not, all rubrically speaking, incorrect. Liturgical abuse or carelessness is not new and some priests said the Missa Lecta in 18 minutes! The line from the Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore film, Change of Habit summed it up pretty good; "I liked the old days when we could come to church and not do a blessed thing!" That was a reference to the above and it was a film from about 1968 and as part of its finale it displayed the abrupt changes to the Mass prior to the promulgation of the 1970 Missal, it was an ugly time for liturgy including an offertory procession and a doo-wop trio.

Given that the resources were not always available for a Missa Solemnis or Missa Cantata and considering Sunday should not be simply a Missa Lecta (unless circumstances prevent anything else), what should this more basic liturgy look like?

Let us look very briefly at the different levels of what is now referred to as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Keep in mind though that notwithstanding what some may say, the so-called Tridentine or Trent Mass was not composed there. The Council of Trent codified or made the Mass as it was celebrated in Rome the norm for the whole Latin Church except for certain ancient rites such as the Mozarabic and Ambrosian or the Sarum had their been no English schism and certain rites under the purview of religious orders such as the Carmelite or Dominican Rites. There were no printing presses until a few decades before Trent so a consistent rubric before this was not necessarily possible.

Arising out the catacombs the Mass was more or less organised in its current form by the sixty century. It was celebrated by the bishop assisted in his cathedral by his priests or by the Abbot in the monastery. These were generally at the centre of town or in the countryside where the people would travel. The Mass would have always been sung and was what we would refer to now as a Missa Ponticalis (Pontifical Mass celebrated by a bishop). The first part of the Mass up to the Mass of the Faithful (Liturgy of the Eucharist in the Ordinary Form) was from the cathedra or chair. This is now replicated by the priest in the Ordinary Form. As time progressed and a bishop was not always available the Mass without the bishop became known as a Missa Solemnis or Solemn Mass with the bishop's role taken by the priest assisted by a deacon and subdeacon and celebrated exclusively at the altar. From this came the Missa Cantata utilised when deacon and subdeacon were not available and then the Missa Lecta or Read Mass. As apostolate orders such as the Franciscans developed and village churches were opened the Missa Lecta became commonplace. Our history in Canada is mostly that of the quiet Mass, much of it because of the silent masses necessary in Ireland due to priestly persecution and often necessarily said in houses or barns or in the forest. Eventually, music was added to the Missa Lecta and this is primarily what people would remember from the days before the reforms following the Second Vatican Council. The Missa Cantata or Missa Solemnis was a rarity because the whole Mass must be sung. As an aside, this was one of the reasons that Msgr. John Edward Ronan founded St. Michael's Cathedral Schola (now St. Michael's Choir School.)

A Missa Lecta is a deeply meditative and contemplative union with God. Whenever possible during the week, it is something I will go out of my way to attend. You need a missal so that you can undertake actuoso participationem as so desired by Pope St. Pius X and you leave the rosary or private devotional book alone. You are not illiterate and this is not your grandmother's Low Mass. As we were told by Pope Pius XI in Divini cultus, Dec. 20, 1928 we are to be at Mass "not as strangers or mute spectators" but as we were advised by Pope Saint Pius X in Tra le sollecitudini, we are to engage in "actuso particpatonem." But on Sundays and Feasts or Solemnites the Mass should always be sung, though every Mass could certainly be sung and their are Gregorian Propers for every day of the year.

Depending on the local custom you may dialogue with the priest fully or partially. That is, you may recite the Server's part for the Prayer at the Foot of the Altar (not usually recommended) and undertake the responses to the priest. The Altar Server at as Missa Lecta is actually standing in for the deacon by ancient indult. Most will remember only the Server responding. However, Popes St. Pius X and Pius XII and the true liturgical movement of the nineteenth and twentieth century encouraged the people to take their part, though many resisted and still do. Again, depending on the local culture, the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus may be said with the priest. Beginning in 1922, this was encouraged by Pope Pius XI as the Missa Dialogata or Dialogue Mass. It's popularity in Europe was generally confined to France and the Low Countries and resisted firmly in Ireland and in never really took hold in North America though it was not unheard of in Quebec.

The proof of what I say follows. Again, from Pope Pius XII "Da musica sacra:"

30. The faithful can participate another way at the Eucharistic Sacrifice by saying prayers together or by singing hymns. The prayers and hymns must be chosen appropriately for the respective parts of the Mass, and as indicated in paragraph 14c.

31. A final method of participation, and the most perfect form, is for the congregation to make the liturgical responses to the prayers of the priest, thus holding a sort of dialogue with him, and reciting aloud the parts which properly belong to them.

There are four degrees or stages of this participation:

a) First, the congregation may make the easier liturgical responses to the prayers of the priest: Amen; Et cum spiritu tuo; Deo gratias; Gloria tibi Domine; Laus tibi, Christe; Habemus ad Dominum; Dignum et justum est; Sed libera nos a malo;

b) Secondly, the congregation may also say prayers, which, according to the rubrics, are said by the server, including the Confiteor, and the triple Domine non sum dignus before the faithful receive Holy Communion;

c) Thirdly, the congregation may say aloud with the celebrant parts of the Ordinary of the Mass: Gloria in excelsis Deo; Credo; Sanctus-Benedictus; Agnus Dei;

d) Fourthly, the congregation may also recite with the priest parts of the Proper of the Mass: Introit, Gradual, Offertory, Communion. Only more advanced groups who have been well trained will be able to participate with becoming dignity in this manner.

32. Since the Pater Noster is a fitting, and ancient prayer of preparation for Communion, the entire congregation may recite this prayer in unison with the priest in low Masses; the Amen at the end is to be said by all. This is to be done only in Latin, never in the vernacular.

This is the Mass that you pray most intimately with the priest. Most of it is on kneeling, sitting only for the Epistle and from after the Credo to the Sanctus with the remainder kneeling, though one may sit after the Ablutions. One would stand for the entrance, Gospel and Credo and Last Gospel. Whether silent or in dialogue, the Missa Lecta is sublime. As referred to, if one follows the whole Mass with the priest and even silently in one's mind reads the whole Mass in time with the priest, it is the most active or actual participation in the Holy Mass that any Catholic can undertake.

Eventually music was added to the Missa Lecta, particuarly on Sundays. But because of the difficulty of a full Missa Cantata with sung Gregorian propers and the priest chanting the epistle and gospel a "hybrid" developed with the singing of the Kyrie or Sanctus and Agnus Dei as an example and perhaps a hymn. While this is what many remember, this was not in keeping with the rubrics. The Rossini Propers were meant to be the answer here for some parishes.

For the next little while, we will undertake the Mass at St. Theresa as a Missa Lecta et Musicam and we will do it according to the rubrics. This is very important for anyone moving forward with the Extraordinary Form. Until Rome issues new rubrics if it even will we must look carefully at what was intended in every way we celebrate the EF.

Based on the document from Pope Pius XII, De musica sacra et sacra liturgia; let's look at what the Congregation of Rites, the predecessor of today's Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments had to say, quoted here at length on September 3, 1958 pp47, 48 of the 1959 Edition of Matters Liturgical:

"First of all, such popular religious hymns are greatly to be commended and esteemed, since they constitute a most effective means in directing the minds of the faithful to heavenly things and in imbuing the Christian life with a genuine religious spirit. Strongly to be encouraged for pious exercises, they can only be sung at liturgical functions "when this is expressly permitted."

"English hymns are expressly permitted during a Low Mass, but in general expressly forbidden during a High Mass: Hymns in the vernacular are permitted at a Low Mass, on condition that their theme corresponds to the part of the Mass at which they are sung. This means that a theme of sacrifice or offering is retained at the Offertory, of thanksgiving, love of God or any similar theme at Communion time. However, the singing of vernacular hymns at a sung Mass or Missa Cantata is manifestly an abuse that can only be tolerated when backed up by a long standing custom that has lasted for over a century: They [hymns in the vernacular] are permitted at a Mass in chant only in the case of a centenary or immemorial custom, which in the judgment of the local Ordinary cannot prudently be suppressed."

What the above will looks like with a few posture lyrics follows; here is a sample Missa Lecta, for Lent:

Choral Preludes: Audi Begnigne Conditor & Parce Domine
Processional Hymn: LORD, Who Throughout These Forty Days
Prayers at the Foot of the Altar--kneel
Epistle--sit
Gospel--stand as priest moves to Gospel side of Altar
Homily--sit (stand for Gospel if read in vernacular)
Credo--stand (genuflect at "et incarnatus est...")
Offertory--sit
Offertory Hymn: Attende Domine
Sanctus--kneel
Communion Chant: Responsory from Ash Wednesday, Emendemus in melius
Communion Hymn: Ave Verum Corpus-chant
Second ablution--sit
Last Gospel--stand
Marian Antiphon: Ave Regina Caelorum
Recessional Hymn: Forty Days and Forty Nights

Oh, notice something? For good or ill, this is the origin of the Ordinary Form's four-hymn sandwich; and we still don' sing the Propers even though they are in the book!

Last Mass (for now) of Toronto FSSP Apostolate

They came from Brampton and from Stouffville, from Peterborough and Niagara Falls, from Hamilton and from Mississauga. They came; 155 Catholics. They came to the worship God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form and to say good bye, or perhaps until we meet again, to Father Howard Venette, FSSP and the wonderful experiment of the Toronto Apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

It will be a Missa Lecta or Low Mass for now. The choir will remain for the time being and provide a simplified music program; the Ordinary (Asperges, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus) and the Propers (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia/Tract, Offertory and Communion) are not sung and none must be sung in accord with the rubrics. But we will present a simplified Mass to encourage the people not to lose heart and to assist them as best we can with expressing their love of the Mass through music. There will be a Processional and Recessional hymn in English, the Marian Antiphon to conclude Mass and a Latin chant, antiphon, hymn, motet or responsory during the Offertory and Communion. While the rubrics permit a vernacular hymn at the Offertory and Communion provided it is in keeping with those to actions, we will remain with Latin. We certainly have enough seasonal repertoire. (Nota bene; Since this was written the priest has decided that the Mass will be a Missa Lecta or Low Mass with no music).

The Toronto Traditional Mass Society is a registered member of International Federation Una Voce, which you should join. Your support is needed.

As well, you might consider joining the Facebook site.

On behalf of all of those at St. Theresa's Latin Mass Community thank you to Father Howard Venette for the last 19 months of his faithful and prayerful chaplaincy. Thank you to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter for coming to Toronto and bringing us many blessings. Thank you to His Grace, Archbishop Thomas Collins for inviting them here and for the public commitment to invite them back again when the circumstances are more appropriate.

We hope and pray that this is not good-bye, but only until we meet again, and that our waiting may be short.

Getting There From Here

To shock you into where we need to go from here, it is important to preserve this evidence lest we forget what is at stake. Now, this is an extreme liturgical abuse and clearly not indicative of the Mass in Toronto but it was allowed to happen. It took place on July 2, 2006 (prior to the appointment of Archbishop Thomas Collins). This is a magnificent century-old stone classical Church in the east end of downtown Toronto, St. Ann's.

 

On February 2, 2009, at St. Brigid's not far from St. Ann's but as far as what you saw above could be short of a Missa Pontificalis, Father Howard Venette, FSSP assisted by transitional deacons and seminarians from St. Augustine's Seminary celebrates as Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

This is the truest Catholic worship to Almighty God. The first three pictures are a matter of sacrilege and false theology that is more pagan than Catholic.

d

While the FSSP will leave Toronto, the Mass will continue at St. Theresa Shrine Church on Kingston Road at Midland. The Mass will continue at 1:00 with a retired priest as a Low Mass. The goal is a stable and consistent parish where, if not exclusive, at least the shared and integrated existence where both "Forms of the Roman Rite" can co-exist and compliment each other in a normal parish life.

Father Michael Eades, C.O. celebrating his first Solemn High Mass at The Oratory (St. Vincent de Paul Church) on Pentecost Sunday 2009. Father Eades, C.O. was ordained at The Oratory (Holy Family) by Archbishop Thomas Collins on the feast of their founder, St. Phlip Neri only a few days before, Father Eades first Mass the next day was in the Extrordinary Form.

This already exists in Toronto and it is at The Oratory (above photo). The good Fathers there in addition to their own House and Seminary operate two diocesan parishes, Holy Family and St. Vincent de Paul. The usus antiquior (ancient use) is offered daily at Holy Family as a Missa Lecta and Sunday at St. Vincent's as a Missa Cantata and moving more frequently towards the Missa Solemnis. This is ideal and what Pope Benedict XVI hopes for by his motu proprio; that the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms can co-exist side-by-side and integrated into parish life. At this place, there is no rancour or dispute or debate about which is "better" or brings one "close to God." There is no "us and them" mentality; no pre or post-Vatican II Church. There is only one Church. Go to Vespers and you will find people that attend both Forms. Go to the 8:30 on Saturday to the usus antiquior and you'll find someone there who was at the 5:30 Novus Ordo the afternoon before. No complaint, just sinful people trying to be better and working at their salvation in fear and trembling and accepting and praying and doing that which the Church asks. Present them both, and let the Holy Spirit do His work. To be sure, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a wonderful grace. Similar is the Institute of Christ the King. The challenge though, which has been clearly evident at St. Theresa Shrine parish is that before and after the FSSP's arrival, the Traditional Latin Mass there has been ghettoized. Very few attendees actually lived within the boundaries of the parish and those who did rarely ventured in at 1:00. To the "real" parish, it was like these people were intruders at worst or didn't even exist at best. When I first arrived as Cantor and to build the choir in Advent 2008 (and singing from the front it was easy to see) there were on some Sundays 40 maybe 50 people. It's an old habit of choir directors from the loft to count. In the summer of 2009, I was embarrassed to see it even drop to about 30. But then something happened. More publicity was being created on blogs and the internet about the Mass in other parts of North America and around the world. The motu proprio was becoming more known and the word was getting out. EWTN continued to broadcast from the Shrine special Masses by the FSSP and people came to realize that the Fraternity was actually here. We were consistent with our Missa Cantata on Sundays and Feast Days and Solemnities and the Chaplain worked to cultivate the vineyard. By autumn it started to increase, slowly. Throughout January 2009 the attendees were consistently moving up to 70, 80 even a few more. Lest anyone forget their math. If we said that typical attendance was 40 in December 2008 and in January 2009 it was consistently 80 that is a 100% increase in attendance. It was my view that by next Christmas we would be up a similar amount. That is how fast it was growing.

And better still, they were not little ladies with doilies on their heads (forgive me please). These new congregants were younger, with children and they were not even born before 1970. They could hardly be accused of "nostalgia neurosis" as was said once by a long since retired Ottawa Archbishop Emeritus about Gregorian chant. Some going tto St. Theresa's for years and sitting up front insist they always had 80 to 100 people. This is simply not true. Before the arrival of Father Howard Venette, before the fully implemented Gregorian chant, the choir and the publicity, this little Latin Mass community was on life support. The laity there did little to nothing to promote the Mass or support Una Voce Toronto, lobby, write or encourage anyone to attend. It was a closed and quiet little group and if we are not careful, that is what it will return to. People attending the usus aniquior in other parts of Toronto did nothing to support these or Una Voce. All have been pretty passive and complacent. As a fruit of the last 19 months of the Fraternity's presence, there are two young men who are discerning a call to the priesthood. Yes, you read that correctly. Two. Young. Men. Discerning the call to the priesthood. In 19 months! The responsibility now to move forward lies with all the laity there. Una Voce Toronto requires more support. There are people attending St. Theresa Shrine who do not belong to this most important international association. There are people attending the Latin Mass in other parts of Toronto who have not joined.

Join the Toronto Traditional Mass Society-Una Voce. Now! Join Latin Mass Toronto on Facebook. Now! So what are the solutions?

• In a perfect world, the Pastor at St. Theresa Shrine Church would simply undertake to celebrate the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The people after all, do take up the collection which goes to the parish.
• If the above is not possible, then a "Chaplain" needs to be appointed to undertake this as a mission on Sundays.
• The appropriate solution is that at St. Theresa Shrine Church or another church in the east of Toronto where the Sunday Mass can move, the Mass in the Extraordinary Form needs to be offered daily and on Solemnities and Feasts in the normal life of a parish undertaken by a visiting Chaplain or Parish Priest or Associate.
• For the people of God, the importance of it being in one location, daily cannot be underestimated. This would also serve to re-invigorate a needy parish with more people, more life and more--dare I say funds! (The fact is, Latin Mass attendees, while they still may not tithe are usually generous so that they can preserve what they have).

The four points above are the short-term solution to the departure of the Fraternity of St. Peter from Toronto. The odds of a whole parish building being given over to the FSSP or the Institute of Christ the King (ICK) or their attendance here, at least in the short term, are not great. Further, the fact of the matter is that even if the congregation was 200 a week, the collection, may still not be sufficient to maintain the salaries of a priest and secretary and the property. Let's face it; there are some beautiful churches in east Toronto where this Mass could blossom, Holy Name, St. Ann's, Canadian Martyrs, and Immaculate Heart of Mary to name four. All have declining attendance but taking over a building of the ages of these by a small group would not be sustainable. The "sharing" of a parish and "integration" is the short-term answer and this would also prevent the ghettoization which currently exists at St. Theresa Shrine.

The Archdiocese of Toronto also has a responsibility to fully implement the Holy Father's desires in Summorum Pontificum. Clearly it is a chicken and egg scenario. On one hand, if there is no demand what is the Chancery to do? On the other hand, if they do not promote SP how can people respond? So far, the growth has been because of individual discovery, probably through the internet. But is this really what the Holy Father wanted when he referred to the gravitational pull of "two forms of one Roman Rite?" After the implementation of the four points above both the Archdiocese of Toronto and St. Augustine's Seminary should consider the following:d

• Mandatory training of all Seminarians in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite at St. Augustine's Seminary in both its practicum and theology. I say "mandatory" so that these priests in the future can fulfill the obligations of Summorum Pontificum. Let us assume that a priest in Brampton establishes as part of the regular parish life through the request of a stable group or at his own initiative as announced last week by Ecclesia Dei; he is transferred to a new parish, and the new priest arriving must be able to serve the people in a liturgical manner desired. How could a priest be appointed to tell an existing group of 50 or 200 that "I won't say the EF? This is not a good scenario.
• Refresher courses for those elderly priests trained prior to the reforms who may wish to celebrate it; and, courses for priests who wish to learn it to implement it in their parishes.
• Establishment of firm guidelines from a "liturgical" office on what is appropriate and what is not for example; the question of the distribution of Holy Communion (the hand and EMHCs are not appropriate liturgically and are within the purview of the Local Ordinary to regulate), gender of Altar Servers (see the last), manner of celebrating Missa Lecta with music (we are not sure how the 1967 Musicam Sacram applies to the 1962 Missal. Currently, the Missa Lecta cannot have a sung ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, etc.) but it can have an opening and recessional hymn in English, Latin at Offertory and Communion but no Sung Propers or Ordinary). These are important questions which will need to be addressed, certainly locally but also by Rome. The prospect of these "indults" of communion-in-the-hand, the use of EMHC's (and their overuse) and Altar Girls would not allow us to move forward in peace and would provoke severe debate from those who desire the more traditional form of worship.
• The eventual holding of a conference in and sponsored by the Archdiocese of Toronto on Summorum Pontificum.
• In a perfect world, the eventual celebration of a Pontifical High Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral, (I hear they have a pretty excellent choir), thus showing to all Catholics in Toronto that this is part of the Church's life.d

In the Holy Father's letter accompanying the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum he wrote "It is true that there have been exaggerations and at times social aspects unduly linked to the attitude of the faithful attached to the ancient Latin liturgical tradition. Your charity and pastoral prudence will be an incentive and guide for improving these." He further added that "Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church or its leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity. One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of the blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden."

All of us need to move forward, but those who desire the liturgical ebb and flow and marking of the usus antiquior desperately need pastoral outreach. I think this is what the Holy Father refers to above.

This must never be a debate about which is better, the OF or EF? Many of you know I assist with my professional skills at both and when I usually attend Mass during the week it is in the Ordinary Form.

But one thing that has hardened "traditionalists" is at the top of this blog and what follows below.

In Summorum pontificum the Holy Father went on to write: "Many people who clearly accepted the binding character of the Second Vatican Council, and were faithful to the Pope and the Bishops, nonetheless also desired to recover the form of the sacred liturgy that was dear to them. This occurred above all because in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church"

In case we need a reminder of what Pope Benedict XVI, was referring to; what you see below occurred in June 2008 at the Jesuit Farm near Guelph in the Diocese of Hamilton, and this is a priest, Father Jim Profit, S.J., becoming "one with the earth." I don't think anything this bad happened in Toronto since the "hindu" Mass at St. Ann's as referenced above.

Fr. Jim Profit offers the sacrifice of the Mass as a sacrament which connects us to God's creation at the Jesuit farm in Guelph, Ont., June 1. (Photos by Michael Swan)

Availablility of the Traditional Latin Mass in the Archdiocese of Toronto

CLARIFICATION: I have received a clarification from Neil MacCarthy, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Toronto that the article in the Catholic Register should have expressed "archdiocese" and not "city." Further, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is offered in six locations (though the Carmel in Zephyr is not a parish, the public may attend) spread over different times during the week.

To confirm:

• Sunday: St. Patrick's, Schomberg, 9:00AM Low Mass
• Sunday: Carmel of the Infant Jesus, Zephyr, 11:30AM Low Mass
• Sunday: St. Theresa Shrine Church 1:00PM Low Mass (beginning March 7.)
• Sunday, St. Vincent de Paul Church, 11:30AM Oratorian Fathers Missa Cantata/Missa Solemnis once per month.
• Monday to Friday, Holy Family 11:30AM, Saturday 8:30AM, Oratorian Fathers Low Mass.
• Friday (not First Friday) St. Elizabeth Seton, Newmarket, 7:00PM Low Mass.
• Saturday St. Elizabeth Seton, Newmarket, 10:00AM Low Mass.

The Mass is available in six locations in the Archdiocese of Toronto throughout the week.

However, in all of these places it is only offered by an elderly priest or by one religious congregation, the Oratorians and while they celebrate it at two parishes it is really only at one since it is only once per day. Not desiring to split hairs, but "six parishes" really means four on Sunday, one daily and one once or twice per week.--Vox

FSSP TORONTO LETTER

From: info@fssp.com

To:
Subject: FSSP in Toronto
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:17:40 -0500

Dear Dr. K------ M-------,

Greetings in Our Lord. Feel free to disseminate this e-mail as you deem best.

d

As questions have been sent to the Fraternity of St. Peter about our leaving the Archdiocese of Toronto at this time, we wish the faithful to know that this decision was made after discussing the matter with Archbishop Collins and Fr. Venette. The decision was clearly made by the District Superior of the FSSP due to the need for priests elsewhere, where they are being given "personal parishes" and being allowed to function fully their charism. There was a common agreement among all parties and the FSSP was not put under pressure from the Archbishop to definitively leave the Archdiocese. Let us remember that His Grace, Archbishop Collins invited the FSSP to Toronto and has indicated his desire to see them return.

In short, the Archbishop remains committed to providing the Extraordinary Form in his Archdiocese in various locations. In the end, the situation in Toronto for a Mass location and for a residence for a priest of the FSSP was not what the Fraternity and the Archbishop had hoped it would be by this time. This is due to many reasons, but the primary concern for the FSSP revolves around the well-being of its priests by providing them a life in common according to our Constitutions. This is part of the community life and personal holiness to the priestly vocation in the Fraternity, the FSSP priest's charism would suffer if this issue was not resolved sooner rather than later.

r

The Fraternity of St. Peter has agreed with the Archbishop to look at the situation again when a more fitting arrangement can be found. It would follow that any return by the FSSP or the inviation of the ICK would need to include a canonical arrangement for a parish similar to those in Ottawa, Vancouver or more recently the sale for nominal sum of a church in Quebec City to the FSSP by Marc Cardinal Oulette. Since Summorum Pontificum, the FSSP sees its role as either serving stable parochial communities or training other priests to provide Masses in accord with the needs of the Archdiocese.

We realize this is a disappointment for many of the faithful in Toronto, (!!!) yet the best course for both the FSSP and the faithful wishing a FSSP priest in the Toronto area will be our keeping in contact with the Archbishop as he is certainly not opposed to our assistance.

In Christ,

Fr. Eric Flood,
FSSP
North American District Superior

FSSP APOSTOLATE IN TORONTO COMES TO AN END!

TORONTO--Only three weeks after a Solemn High Mass was held on Candlemas assisted by transitional Deacons and Seminarians of St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto; and less than a week after a column appeared on Rorate Caeli Blog extolling the provisioning of the Traditional Latin Mass in Ontario, it was announced today after the Mass for Quadragesima Sunday that effective next Sunday, February 28, 2009, the Toronto Apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter will come to an end.

Apostolate Chaplain, Father Howard Venette, FSSP addressed the nearly 100 congregants following the Mass advising the shocked congregation that the departure was due to "internal personnel" matters. Father Venette will be reassigned to Orlando, Florida following his 19 month stay in Toronto.

The FSSP was invited to Toronto by Archbishop Thomas Collins with the hopes of establishing a personal parish for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. In September 2009, a public announcement was made by the Fraternity and on the Archdiocese of Toronto web page that Canadian Martyrs parish would be the location over a six-month transitional period. Within days of this announcement and without public explanation, the situation changed and the parish plan did not materialise.

Recently, the Fraternity was advised that while a parish was not currently available, its provision would depend on the continued growth and financial viability of the community. In the last 19 months, attendance at the Sunday Mass at St. Theresa Shrine Church increased over 100% from the attendance under the former indult at the Missa Lecta to the Missa Cantata.

Upon arrival in Toronto, Father Venette was in residence at Holy Cross parish where the Mass was celebrated daily and on High Holy Days. Following the situation in September over Canadian Martyrs, Father was moved to St. Brigid's where the daily Mass schedule changed from week to week and the High Holy Day liturgies were split between St. Brigid's and St. Theresa's Parish.

According to officials from Una Voce Toronto, Archbishop Collins had indicated that he desired no less than "five" Extraordinary Form Masses throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto every Sunday.

A Solemn High Mass was being planned for St. Theresa's for March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, Patron Saint of Canada and has now been cancelled. After the departure of Father Venette, the only daily Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the Archdiocese of Toronto will be at The Toronto Oratory Church of the Holy Family. The Oratorians continue to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite Missa Cantata or Missa Solemnis Sundays at St. Vincent de Paul Church at 11:30AM.

Go back to Hell. Our Church belongs to Christ.

"That is how it felt to be young and Catholic in the 1970s. Every sacred thing had to be changed, every old thing replaced with a new one, every complicated beauty plastered over by the cheap and the easy. The message was almost subliminal, but by that means all the more powerful: All Your Church Are Belong to Us.

And by changing back the flag, by taking back our Mass, we are saying: Go back to Hell. Our Church belongs to Christ."

John Zmirak is the author, most recently, of the graphic novel The Grand Inquisitor and is Writer-in-Residence at Thomas More College in New Hampshire. He writes weekly for InsideCatholic.com.

Read it all here.

Ash Wednesday--Ordinary Form

This year, I will be singing the Ash Wednesday for the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite in Toronto. Here is the program for tomorrow's Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Notice that it is in complete accord with the Sacramentary or Roman Missal for the Ordinary Form.

• Prelude: The Lenten Prose ATTENDE DOMINE
• Entrance Antiphon: Wisdom 11:24-25,27 Father Columba Kelly, OSB
  Lord, you are merciful to all, and hate nothing you have created. You overlook the sins of men to bring them to repentance. You are the Lord, our God.
• Processional Hymn: O MERCIFUL REDEEMER
• Kyrie Deus Genitor Alme (Mass XVIII)
• Responsorial Psalm: Have Mercy on us LORD, for we have sinned (CBWII)
• Acclamation: Praise to You LORD, King of Eternal Glory-Somerville
• Three Antiphons for the Imposition of Ashes by D.A. Domet
• Antiphon I: Joel 2:13
  Come back to the Lord with all your heart; leave the past in ashes, and turn to God with tears and fasting, for he is slow to anger and ready to forgive.
  Antiphon II: Joel 2:17; Ester 13:17
  Let the priests and ministers of the Lord lament before his altar, and say: Spare us, Lord; spare your people! Do not let us die for we are crying out to you.
  Antiphon III: Psalm 51:3
  Lord, take away our wickedness.
  Responsory (Gregorian chant) Baruch 3:2; Psalm 78:9
  Let us make amends for the sins we have committed in ignorance, lest death's day come upon us suddenly, when we might seek more time for repentance and find none. * Hearken, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you. y. Help us, O God, our Saviour, and for the glory of your name, deliver us, O Lord. * Hearken, O Lord…
• Offertory Antiphon to Gregorian Tone II Psalm 29:2-3
  I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord, I cried unto you and you healed me.
• Offertory Hymn: LORD JESUS THINK ON ME +Synesius of Cyrene 4th c. SOUTHWELL
• SANCTUS FROM MASS XVIII
• Memorial Acclamation: LORD by Your cross and Resurrection--Somerville
• AGNUS DEI FROM MASS XVIII
• Communion Antiphon: Psalm 1:2-3 Father Columba Kelly, OSB
  The man who meditates day and night on the law of the Lord will yield fruit in due season.
• Communion Hymn: PARCE DOMINE Gregorian hymn
• Recessional Hymn: FROM THE DEPTHS OF SIN AND SADNESS Russian Melody

Candlemas-Solemn High Mass in Toronto

For those of you in the Toronto area, please note that on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be celebrated, Missa Solemnis, by the Toronto Apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter at St. Brigid's Catholic Church on Wolverleigh Boulevard. The Toronto Apostolate of the FSSP is awaiting a permanent home and Mass is celebrated (Missa Cantata) every Sunday at 1:00 P.M. at St. Theresa Shrine Catholic Church on Kingston Road at Midland Avenue.

The Mass will be preceded by the Blessing of Candles and Procession with the full Gregorian Antiphons and Responsory sung. The music for the Holy Sacrifice will of course include the full Gregorian Propers and the Ordinary will be from Gregorian Mass IX for Feasts of the Blessed Virgin, Missa Cum Jubilo or Mass with Shouts of Joy. The Offertory Anthem will be Ave Maris Stella to an Italian melody and after the Communion Antiphon with it's psalm, Nunc Dimittis, will be sung Palestrina's Jesu Rex Admirablis.

The Deacon and Subdeacon for the Solemn High Mass will be two transitional Deacons from the Archdiocese of Toronto, both to be ordained to the Priesthood this spring by Archbishop Thomas Collins. The Master of Ceremonies, Acoytes, Crucifer, Thurifer, and Torch Bearers will be Seminarians from St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto.

Candlemas or the Purification of Mary, more commonly known in the Ordinary Form as the Presentation of the LORD, recalls both events in the life of Our Lord and His Mother. Following the ritual commands forty days after giving birth, Our Lady presents herself in the temple for her Purification and as the first-born son, Jesus is presented to God in the Temple.

Truly, a day in Toronto for shouts of joy!

Knowing how to exercise authority

I've just heard a story about the late Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia:

About 40 years ago, a catholic parent complained to the Cardinal that he and his wife worked hard to put their children in catholic school and were upset that a priest/teacher told the class that attending Sunday Mass was not a "moral obligation" for a Catholic.

The Cardinal called the school principal and asked for an investigation. The principal responded that it was true and that he was indeed teaching that Sunday Mass attendance was not a "moral obligation." Cardinal Krol told the principal to dismiss the teacher with the reason made public. The principal responded to His Eminence that he had "no authority over staffing."

Then, in his wisdom, the Cardinal contacted the Provincial Superior of the Order and gave the same instruction. The Provincial responded as the Principal did, that he had "no authority" over staffing."

The Cardinal then advised the Provincial, that while it may be true that his authority did not extend over staffing, he expressed to the Provincial, the areas over which he had authority:

The very presence in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of that particular Order, its hospitals and schools.

The next day, the priest was fired.

Is there a lesson here?

The Canizares Interview

From the blog The New Theological Movement:

The Cañizares' Interview Below is my translation of the recent interview given by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares to Paolo Rodari of Palazzo Apostolico (Il Foglio).This interview is certainly of great importance and interest liturgically. It is also very important doctrinally because of the Cardinal's insistence on Summorum Pontificum's importance for reading and interpreting the Second Vatican Council with a 'hermeneutic of continuity.'

Here is the True Reform of Pope Ratzinger:

Cardinal Cañizares explains how to restore to Divine Worship the significance and vigor lost in the post Conciliar banalization.

January 9, 2010, Il Foglio

The ex-archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera has led the Vatican "ministry" which occupies itself with the liturgy for a little more than a year. A delicate task in a pontificate, such as that of Benedict XVI, in which the liturgy and its "restructuring" has a central role after the post conciliar drifts. Besides, the liturgy is the center of the life of the faithful. The Pope said it again at the Christmas Vigil: as for the monks, so it is for every man, "the liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes after." It is necessary, "to put in second place all other occupations, as important as they may be, to set out toward God, to allow Him to enter into our life and our time.

Cardinal Cañizares says as much to Il Foglio and more in an assessment after having passed one year in the Roman Curia:

"I have received - he explains - the mission to complete, with the indispensable and most valuable help of my collaborators, those tasks which have been assigned to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus of John Paul II with respect to the order and promotion of the sacred liturgy, in the first place of the sacraments. For the religious and cultural situation in which we live and for the same priority which corresponds to the liturgy in the life of the Church, I believe that the principal mission which I have received is to promote with complete dedication and engagement, to re-vivify and develop the spirit and the true sense of the liturgy in the conscience and life of the faithful; so that the liturgy may be the center and the heart of the community; so that all, priests and faithful, consider it as the substantial and inescapable thing of our life; so that we live the liturgy in full truth; so that we live from it; so that it may be in all its fullness, as the Second Vatican Council says, "the source and summit" of the Christian life. After a year at the helm of this Congregation, I experience and sense with greater force every day the necessity of promoting in the Church, in every continent, a strong and rigorous liturgical impulse. An impulse which revivifies that most rich heritage of the Council and of the great liturgical movement of the 19th and first half of the 20th century - with men like Guardini, Jungmann and so many others – which the Church rendered fruitful at the Second Vatican Council. There, without any doubt, stands our future and the future of the world. I say this because the future of the Church and of the entirety of humanity is found in God, in the life of God and of that which comes from Him; and this happens in the liturgy and by means of it. Only a Church which lives the truth of the liturgy will be in a position to give the one thing which can renew, transform and recreate the world: God and only God and His grace. The liturgy, in its most pure character, is the presence of God, the salvific and regenerating work of God, the communication and participation of His merciful love, the adoration and acknowledgement of God. It is the only thing that can save us."

Guardini and Jungmann were two pillars of the liturgical renewal of the past decades. Figures which also inspired Joseph Ratzinger in his The Spirit of the Liturgy. Figures which, probably, have also inspired the promulgation of the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum. It is said that the Motu Proprio has represented also (there are some who say before all else) an extended hand of the Pope to the Society of Saint Pius X. Is this so?

"In fact, it is. However, I believe that the Motu Proprio has a most important value for its own sake, for the Church and for the liturgy. Although this displeases some - judging by the reactions which have arrived and which continue to arrive - it is only just and necessary to say that the Motu Proprio is not a step back or a return to the past. It is to acknowledge and receive, with simplicity, in all its fullness, the treasures and inheritance of the great Tradition, which has in the liturgy its most genuine and profound expression. The Church cannot permit herself to prescind, to forget or to renounce the treasures and the rich inheritance of this tradition, contained in the Roman Rite. It would be a betrayal and a negation of her very self. She cannot abandon the historical inheritance of the ecclesiastical liturgy, or desire to establish everything from anew - as some have pretended - without cutting off fundamental parts of the Church herself. Some understood the conciliar liturgical reform as a rupture, and not as an organic development of the tradition. In these years after the Council, "change" was almost a magic word; it became necessary to modify that which had been, to the point of forgetting it; everything new; it was necessary to introduce novelty, in the end, a human work and creation. We cannot forget that the liturgical reform and the years after the Council coincided with a cultural climate marked or intensely dominated by a conception of man as 'creator' that only with difficulty co-exists with a liturgy which, above all, is the action of God and His priority, "the right" of God, the adoration of God and also tradition of that which we receive and has been given to us once and for all. We are not to make the liturgy ourselves, it is not our work, but the work of God. This conception of man as 'creator' which leads to a secularized vision of everything, where God, often, has no place, this passion for change and the loss of tradition has not yet been overcome. And for this reason, in my opinion, among the other things, stands the cause by which many see with such distrust the Motu Proprio or that it greatly displeases some to receive and accept it, to re-encounter the great riches of the Roman liturgical tradition which we cannot squander or to search for and accept the mutual enrichment of the one Roman rite between the "ordinary" form and the "extraordinary.” The Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, has a most important value which everyone ought to appreciate, whose value has not only to do with the liturgy, but the entire Church, of that which the tradition is and signifies, without which the Church turns into a human institution always in change. Obviously, the Motu Proprio has to be seen with the reading and interpretation one makes or would make of the Second Vatican Council. When one reads the Council and interprets it with the interpretive key of rupture and discontinuity, he understands nothing of the Council and he completely distorts it. For this reason, as the Pope indicates, only a hermeneutic of continuity brings us to a just and correct reading of the Council, and to understand the truth of that which it says and teaches in its entirety and in particular in the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the divine liturgy, which is inseparable, for the most part, with this same entirety. Consequently, the Motu Proprio also has a most high value for the communion of the Church."

The Pope stands behind the slow but necessary process of the Church's rapprochement to an authentic liturgical spirit. Also, divisions and contra-positions are not lacking. Cardinal Cañizares speaks about it:

"The great contribution of the Pope, in my opinion, is that he is bringing us closer to the truth of the liturgy, with a wise pedagogy, introducing us to the genuine 'spirit' of the liturgy (the title of one of his works before becoming Pope). He, before all else, is following a simple educative process which seeks to move toward this 'spirit' or genuine sense of the liturgy, to overcome a reductive vision which is still very entrenched in the liturgy. As Pope, he is the first to put into practice his teachings, so rich and abundant in this area. As his evocative gestures which accompany the celebrations at which he presides, move in this direction. To receive these gestures and these teachings is a duty which we have if we are disposed to live the liturgy in a way corresponding to its very nature and if we do not want to lose the treasures and liturgical inheritance of the tradition. Further, they constitute a great gift for the formation, as urgent as it is necessary, of the Christian people. In this prospective, one needs to see the same Motu Proprio which has confirmed the possibility to celebrate with the Roman Missal approved by John XXIII and which goes back, with the successive modifications, to the time of Saint Gregory the Great and even earlier. It is certain that there are many difficulties which those are having who, in utilizing that which is their right, are celebrating or participating in the Holy Mass according to "the ancient rite" or "extraordinary" form. Of itself, there need not be this opposition, or even less to be seen as suspect or labeled as "pre-conciliar" or, even worse, as "anti-conciliar." The reasons for this are many and diverse. However, deep down, they are the same which they will carry to a reform of the liturgy understood as rupture and not in the horizon of the tradition and the 'hermeneutic of continuity' which reclaims the renewal and true liturgical reform in the interpretive key of Vatican II. We cannot forget, in the end, that in the liturgy one touches that which is most essential to the faith and the Church and, for this reason, every time in history when one has touched something of the liturgy, tensions and even divisions have not been rare."

It is from the discourse of Benedict XVI to the Roman Curia on December 22, 2005 that the necessity to read the Second Vatican Council not under the lens of discontinuity with the past but in continuity has become central to this pontificate. What significance does this have from the liturgical point of view?

“It signifies, among other things, that we cannot bring the liturgical renewal to completion and put the liturgy at the center and source of Christian life if we approach it with the interpretive key of rupture with the tradition which precedes and which carries this rich source of life and of the gift of God which has nourished and given life to the Christian people. The teachings, the indications and the gestures of Benedict XVI are foundational in this sense. For this reason, one needs to promote the serene and profound knowledge of what he is saying to us, including that which he has said before becoming Pope, and which he so clearly reflects upon in Sacramentum Caritatis.”

The Congregation which Cañizares leads gathered last March in a plenary session and presented some propositions to the Holy Father.

"The plenary session of the Congregation was occupied, above all else, with Eucharistic adoration, the Eucharist as adoration and adoration outside of the Holy Mass. Some conclusions which were approved, were then presented to the Holy Father. These conclusions foresee a level of work for the Congregation in the coming years, which the Pope has both ratified and encouraged. The conclusions concern themselves with revivifying and promoting a new liturgical movement which, faithful to all the teachings of the Council and the teachings of Benedict XVI, place the liturgy in the central place which corresponds to it in the life of the Church. The conclusions of the propositions regard the impulse and promotion of the adoration of the Lord, based on the worship one must give to God, in the Christian liturgy; inseparable from the real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharistic sacrament; absolutely necessary for a living Church. To put an end to the abuses - which disgracefully are many – and to correct them is not something which derives from the plenary session of the Congregation, but it [the end of abuses] is something which the same liturgy and life of the Church and future of the Church and the communion it has protest. On this point, on the numerous liturgical abuses and on their correction, the Congregation published a most important Instruction some years ago called Redemptionis Sacramentum and we all must return to it. It is a most urgent duty to correct the existing abuses if we as Catholics want to bring something to the world, to renew it. The propositions do not have the purpose of putting an end to the creativity, but rather to encourage, favor, revivify the truth of the liturgy, its most authentic sense and its most genuine spirit. None of us can forget or ignore that liturgical creativity as it is often understood and as one often understands it, is an end to the liturgy and the cause of its secularization, because it is in contradiction to the nature of the liturgy itself.”

Do the propositions speak of the use of the Latin language?

“There is nothing said with respect to giving more space to the Latin language, including in the ordinary rite, nor to publish bilingual missals, which, in truth, has already been done in some places after the conclusion of the Council. Moreover, one must not forget that the Council does not dispense from Latin in the Constitution, Sacrosanctum Concilium, that venerable language to which the Roman Rite is connected.”

There are, moreover, so many other important questions, the orientation...

“We did not raise the question of “versus Orientem,” nor communion on the tongue or other aspects which sometimes bring out accusations such as “taking steps backward,” of conservatism or of elitism. I believe, besides, that questions such as these, the orientation, the crucifix visible on the center of the altar, communion received on the knees and on the tongue, the use of Gregorian chant, are important questions that we cannot make light of in a frivolous or superfluous manner and of which, in every instance, one must speak with knowledge of the cause and with foundation, as, for example, the Holy Father does. These things also correspond with and favor more the truth of the celebration. This can also be said of active participation, in the sense in which the Council speaks of it, and not in other senses. That which is important, is that the liturgy is celebrated in its truth, with truth, and that it favors and intensely promotes the sense and spirit of the liturgy in all the People of God in such a way that one lives from the liturgy. It is truly very important that the celebrations have and advance the sense of the sacred, of the Mystery, that they revive the faith in the Real Presence of the Lord and of the gift of God which acts in it, as in adoration, respect, veneration, contemplation, prayer, praise, thanksgiving and many other things which run the risk of being lost. When I participate in or see the liturgy of the Pope which has already incorporated many of these elements, I am always more convinced that they are not unimportant aspects but which rather have an expressive and educative force of themselves and in the truth of the celebration, the absence of which one notices.”

Cañizares has been for years a high-profile figure in the Spanish Church. He still is, although now he resides in Rome. In Spain, there has been a declaration by the secretary of the Episcopal Conference of the country, Monsignor Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, which said that those politicians who publicly express support for abortion, cannot receive Communion. Do you share this position of Camino? Because Spain has become the outpost of so called “secular” (laiciste) politics? How must bishops and the bishop’s conference carry themselves in the face of positions which negate life?

“Bishops, as pastors who guide and protect the people who have been entrusted to us, have the inescapable duty of charity to teach and transmit to the faithful, faithfully, with wisdom, doctrine and prudence, that which the faith of the Church believes and teaches, even if this costs us, even if this goes against the current or offends public opinion. That which is in play concerning the topic of abortion and that which one will legislate in Spain on this subject, when they will have approved all regulative procedures, it is something very grave and decisive, and we cannot remain quiet or hide the truth. It is the truth which, fulfilling the command of the Lord, the Church speaks of and requires of her faithful; it is the truth which she demands and expects of them. We must serve and direct the faithful with the light of the truth we have received, and of which we cannot set aside in moral questions and sometimes delicate ones at that. We must also help Catholics in public life to make their decisions with responsibility before God and men in conformity with reason as it corresponds to their condition as sons of the Church and believers in Jesus Christ. We cannot and must not, lest we be evil pastors, act in these questions with relativism, with political calculations or with skillful or subtle ‘diplomacy.’ The faithful exercise of our Episcopal ministry, besides, is not to be in absolute conflict, rather, with prudence, measure, mercy, gentleness and an extended hand which certainly must accompany us in everything. It is a difficult moment in which we are living right now in Spain. It is not easy for the bishops either. I do not believe, on the other hand, that Spain is the flag bearer or vanguard of political secularism. Secularism, evident and hidden, and political secularism have spread almost everywhere, in some countries more than others and in some with great power and force. There is a force, apparently unstoppable, engaged to introduce secularism all over the world or, which is the same thing, to erase the revealed God with the human face of Jesus Chris, His only begotten Son, from the conscience of man. It is true that this secularism has some special connotations, perhaps on account of her history and her very identity. Spain is undergoing a very radical transformation of mentality, in its thought, in its criteria of judgement, in its customs and ways of acting, in its culture, in summary, in its nature and identity. Further, this manifests itself in a great and profound crisis of values or moral rupture, behind which hides a religious crisis, both social and the fragmentation of man. However, at the same time, the roots and foundations which sustain Spain and its most genuine aspect derive from the Christian faith. These roots find there sustenance in it and in which it believes. And these roots have not been lost, nor will they be lost. A collection of laws, as that of abortion, which has already been approved in Parliament, beyond the other factors, are the sign of transformation already in motion. I have always believed that we bishops, being obedient to God before to men, must always announce the Gospel and Jesus Christ, not putting anything before Him and His works, to announce without rest and courageously the living God, the glory of Him being man fully alive, which constitutes the ‘yes’ most fully and totally which one can give to man, to his inviable dignity, to life, to his fundamental rights, to all that which is truly human. To announce and bear witness to Him who is love, by acting in all things with charity and carrying and bearing witness before all to the love of God, the passion God has for man, in a particular way for the weak, the indefensible and those who are treated unjustly. Everything aimed toward conversion, so that a new humanity rises up, made of new men, with the newness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their mode of being, of thinking and of acting which in Him, the truth of God and of men, we encounter and find its origin. One speaks simply to give impulse and bring to fruition a new and decisive evangelization. This is the condition in which the Church and bishops of Spain have found themselves in for a long time. It is a slow and arduous work, but which is bearing its fruits. Further, I believe, that the bishops in Spain, in virtue of the affirmation of God and the faith in Jesus Christ, have been in a great battle for man, of the right to life, of liberty, of that which is un-relinquishable for man as a family, the truth and the beauty of the family based on matrimony between one man and one woman, open to life, in love. They are in favor of the education of the person and of the freedom of teaching, and of religious liberty. The Church in Spain, looks every day and with more force and intensity on man and his fundamental rights, feeling the call to strengthen the experience of God so that the faithful may be ‘witnesses of the living God,’ as one of their most important documents from a few years ago says. Its task is not political nor to do politics, but only simply to be the Church, the presence of Christ among men, even if this penalizes the Church. The situation is hard but we look to the future with a great hope and a great call to allow ourselves to be strengthened by God and to keep Him at the center of everything and to proceed on our journey without tiring or without looking back, with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. I have absolute certainty that Spain will change and turn to the vigor of a living faith and a renewed society. We cannot let down the guard or let down our arms which must be held out to God in faithful and permanent supplication. It is essential that, before all else, it recuperates its vitality and its theological vigor and religiousness, that the God given in Jesus Christ, may truly be its center and its most solid foundation, to be capable and to make a new society arise. This is possible and, furthermore, nothing is impossible with God.”