"Did you lose parishioners?"

The following appeared in the St. Helen parish bulletin this weekend:

I just hate it when the people who remain misinterpret why people left. No, it was not because they rejected to the person of Sr. Joan. No, they didn't object because she was a nun, not a priest. No, they didn't object because she was a SSJ. They objected because she is in open denial of papal authority, and shows an unabashed hate for everything traditional and orthodox in the Church. The fear over Latin being lost was quite real, from what I have been told by friends. However, that has stayed. But only because Sr. Joan knows that if she cut that, St. Anne would be just another bland, flavorless parish devoid of any liturgical strength.

The reason people leave parishes is not so much a matter of "I don't like _________" but rather "I don't like what ________ does because it is illicit." People could have cared less about Sr. Joan if she had just stayed in the pew rather than insert herself into the Mass. However, when you have an administrator (aka "business manager") sitting, vested, next to the priest, major problems arise. People, even if they are not the most well-read Catholics, can discern when something is not quite right. That's how so many of our readers find us - they think something is slightly amiss, so they check with people who have experienced the same thing.

So, yes, people left because of Sr. Joan. However, this bulletin blurb would lead you to think that they were the stick-in-the-mud reactionaries who can't deal with change. No. Those who left did so because they were told to do so by their pastoral administrator. "Go fertilize another parish." "Take your subversion elsewhere." "You're theology is backwards." "I'm the new resurrection." These words, dear friends, are not words of comfort or pastoral leadership. They are the rantings and intemperate bleatings of a nun whose goal is not to glorify God, but to glorify herself. I am sorry, but it is absolutely true.

If you go to any of the parishes in Gates, or know people who go there, set the record straight. People don't leave only because of the clustering. The majority will leave if they are presented with heterodoxy and dissent from Church teaching. Who cares if you have to go to Mass at a different time? The real battles come when you are confronted with administrators who have no regard for the legitimate authority of Rome. Diocesan norms mean nothing if they run contradictory to those from Rome. A bishop must do as Rome does. If he does not, he is in error, and is in denial of Rome. Rome has said NO to lay preaching, NO to women's ordination, and NO to every other abuse perpetrated by Sr. Sobala. It's time we look towards Rome for leadership, for our own local leaders are so consumed with pride they have lost sight of the authentic faith which they were ordained and appointed to defend.

Pray for Sr. Joan. Pray for Bishop Clark. They need our prayers more than most.

The Witch

Ben's recent C.S. Lewis comments made me start re-reading little chunks of the Narnia series. I have always been partial to the stories of Narnia, and remember reading them in elementary school. When I was perusing the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I stumbled upon this sentence spoken by Aslan, the metaphorical Christ figure in the series:

"If the witch understood the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the Deep Magic differently, for when a willing victim who has committed no treachery, dies in a traitor’s stead, the stone table will crack and even death itself will turn backwards."

How many witches we have in Rochester, who profess to be all-wise and all-good, but who do not grasp the notion of sacrifice, especially in the context of the Holy Mass. These women (witches) and men (warlocks?)  who castrate our priests with their liberalism, and who spit with derision on anything Traditional, claim to be living as "Alleluia people." There can be no true celebration of Easter without a clear and absolute understanding of Our Lord's sacrifice. Even at our Easter Masses, we see Christ crucified in the Blessed Sacrament. So, yes, we are "Easter people," and "Alleluia is our song." However, we rejoice knowing the price paid by our God for our salvation, and, in knowing this, do His bidding in reenacting His sacrifice on the cross on our altars.

 Queen Jadis, Witch Queen of Narnia

Lewis also notes that when one "dies in a traitor's stead . . . death itself will turn backwards." How many of our priests have been ridiculed, and derided for orthodoxy, just to be replaced by women who appoint themselves "Pastoral Leaders" and perpetual lay preachers? How many priests have been "put in their place" by man-hating liberals who cannot bear to subjugate themselves to another person, let alone the Son of God? These women who show nothing but contempt to our priests, our noble, Tradition-minded priests, will soon find that the unending "death" that is the Diocese of Rochester will give way to a new resurrection of orthodoxy. All we need to do is wait till these hippies die off and ravenous moths eat their spotless, lily-white albs. In the words of General Patton, "All glory is fleeting." What we see now will all be gone and forgotten in time. We will someday get to the point where Christ's glory will reign over the "glory" we see now, a "glory" of failed politics, closing schools, new pipe organs, and forced clusterings.

And His glory, dear friends, is not fleeting.

"Viva Christo Rey!" - Bl. Miguel Pro, Mexican priest martyr, "Long live Christ the King!"

The Faithful (?) Remnant

In the comment box for Dr. K's piece on parish attendance at SA, OLOL, SM Downtown, and GS, Bernie mentioned that for as many people that have left, at least doubly so have stayed. Why? In my most humble opinion, those who stay in parishes whose liturgical prowess, not to mention theological basis in reality, fall into the following categories:

1. The Ideological Crusaders - These are the people who try to work from within to kill the beast. These people usually have a love for all things genuinely sacred, a distaste for heresy and dissent, and an underpinning sense of fear. Those whom I know who have stayed in parishes such as St. Anne have only done so because they "are on the music committee," or maybe "the liturgy committee." Whatever the committee, they stay to undo do, or at least, oppose, those evils which have made themselves manifest. However, under this genuine desire to serve the parish that once was, they fear what the parish is. In their minds, the St. Anne (or Good Shepherd, or Our Lady of Lourdes) of the past is not dead, but in hibernation - all they need to do is prevent the hunter from shooting the poor beast in its sleep. Well, perhaps it's true that a parish can revive from adversity - just look at Our Lady of Victory before the refugees. However, there is a difference between shifting demographics and a purposeful scattering of the flock. If a lamb meanders away on its own accord, it can be readily led to rejoin the others. However, if a wolf drives a lamb away, bloodying it and battering it, it is improbable that the lamb should rejoin those in the pasture - it has borne too much injury, and suffered too much pain to go back. Those who fled the parishes made a choice akin to that of leaving the room of a dying parent for one last time. Upon leaving that parish, you will never know it as it once was known. "The old things have passed away," and it is not the working of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Ignorant - These are those poor souls who have never been catechized properly, never been educated by a true lover of the faith, never been exposed to the true beauty of the liturgy. For these people, "Church" is "church." The parish is the faith, as opposed to an instrument of that faith, through which its universality is displayed. These people cling to a parish, no matter what, because they love it. No doubt rests in my mind as to the love people have for their home parish. However, there comes a point when one must make a break from the parish, if it becomes a hotbed of sin and dissent. A child will always, in some way, love her mother. However, if the mother becomes a drug addict, selling her body for money enough for the next snort of cocaine, conscious only between binges of drugs and alcohol, the child must leave that parent and seek refuge elsewhere. There is love for the mother, of course. However, the temporal needs of the child outweigh the love for the self-destructing parent. Rehab is an option, yes. But a child never stays with the parent if her welfare is endangered. So too must the faithful flee from dissent - yes, you will always love your spiritual mother, your parish, but at what cost? Would you rather lose your soul for clinging to error and those professing it, than you would experience a "white martyrdom," voluntarily leaving your parish for the sake of Truth?
3. The Bitter - These are the people who let anger and pain get in the way of practicing Catholic virtues. The Bitter stay at a parish to be a thorn in the side of the administrator - not to rectify a problem, but to agitate and aggravate the problem's creator. This is not right, not at all. One must always have love for one's enemy - as we have love for those whom we discuss here. However, the moment hate enters into the picture, one must flee. This is the doing of Satan, who uses the free will of weak and erring humanity to enter into the Church. I have no doubt that Nancy DeRycke, Joan Sobala, Anne-Marie Brogan are good and loving people. However, through their actions, a demeanor enters the Church, a demeanor which is most definitively not from God. The Bitter are no different - they have a love for the Church, but they let this love turn into a jihad, if you will. It turns from love, to pain, to anger, to aggression.
4. The Opportunists - These are those individuals who enjoy putting on a show. I cannot begin to recount the stories of dozens of individuals, each one focusing around someone who would put up a strong front of orthodoxy, only to swoop in for titles and privilege once the faithful had left. A reader sent an email to us about something along these lines at St. Anne. A woman on the parish council was "grievously wounded" at what Sr. Joan had started doing at Mass. She had resolved to resign her chair on the parish council but, not for the sake of joining another church. No, she intended to convert to the Episcopalian parish on nearby Highland Avenue (which, you will note, is holding ecumenical Lenten services with OLOL). However, once several seats were vacated in several committees, she suddenly had a conversion, and swooped in to save the ailing parish. By the time all was done, she had more titles and duties after the debacle than she had before. This is heinous in its duplicity. This is not loving the Church at all - it is using it to flaunt one's abilities, one's talents, one's name and reputation. "Oh, look, Mr. _______ is on the music committee, the liturgy committee, the finance committee, and the RCIA team. He must be really into the Church." Oh, no, dear friends. The opposite is true. Those who stay at these failing parishes only for the sake of gaining something are more concerned with "self," not the Church.

I can state, with absolute certainty, that losing my parish of 30 years was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. It wiped me out emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. For several months, my soul wept as it has never wept before. Not for family, not for pets, not for national disasters. No death was as bitter and all-consuming as was the death of my beloved parish. However, if it had not been for this bloody exile, this personal Via Dolorosa, I would never have discovered the unsurpassed beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass, the depth of the faith I had never truly experienced, the transcendence of a Novus Ordo Mass celebrated correctly, without political bias, done right. In losing my soul, I gained it back. Indeed, looking back on those years, I can clearly see the hand of God through it all. Without these things, I would be one of the God-loving apathetic lambs in the congregation. I wouldn't be motivated to assist those in similar situations, I wouldn't be motivated to write to Rome or the nuncio. I wouldn't be motivated to put myself to the spiritual grindstone, as it were. I would be absolutely complacent. A lover of God, yes, and a lover of the Church, but not a defender.

If you, dear reader, are an exile, you will know what I have relayed. You will have wept, you will have suffered. You will also have discovered yourself. If you are one of the faithful who have held on, continuing the good-fight, well aware of the implications, please consider making a break. Do not lose your soul defending a building. Gain radiance of soul by defending the Church.

If you are an opportunist, or a scatterer of sheep, may God have mercy on your soul. You will be in my prayers, and in the prayers of all who read this blog. But never presume that you, dear friend, are worthy to receive God's mercy. Love Him, not yourself. Love the Church, not your self-appointed self-importance. Find the glory of God in the Tradition of His Church, not in the folds of your lay preacher's alb.

Sacristy Swat Team

A reader recently sent us an email documenting two events which happened in the OLOL/SA cluster, both involving Sr. Joan Sobala being "verbally defeated" in the sacristy. The first occurence happened at St. Anne, when a retired priest was greeted by Sr. Sobala with the phrase, "Hey, _____, how are ya? Ready for my homily today?" The priest, a quiet and meek old soul, responded with alacrity, saying, "Sister, you aren't giving the homily today - I am. I wrote it, I memorized it, I'm delivering it."

"But, _____, I'm the administrator. I'm your boss."

"Not out there you aren't. The Mass is mine, not yours, and no matter what you want to do, you can't."

The second incident happened in the sacristy at Our Lady of Lourdes. Evidently, the children from Seton Catholic School, located about 500 feet from the parish, were going to Mass. The priest, another visiting retired priest, had prepared a homily regarding the Gospel reading, which was about the beheading of St. John the Baptist. Before Mass began, Sr. Sobala entered the sacristy and asked the priest to do different readings. The priest, being charitable, informed Sr. Sobala that she must have the wrong readings for the day, because the ones in the lectionary deal with martydom and John the Baptist. She responed, "I know what I'm doing. Those readings will scare the children, so I want to do this one (something touchy-feely)." The priest was unyielding and said, in essence, the same thing that Fr. _____ said above.

Now, this whole notion of changing the readings because they may scare the little kids . . . that's just insane. When I was little, I thrived on the stories of martydom, suffering, exile, etc . . . It showed me that the faith is something really important, more so than the feel-good platitudes these liberals have to offer. Tell me, would you be more devoted if the religion to which you belonged said, "Jesus loves you just the way you are" or "this is so special, people have died for it." While both are true, there is so much more in the second phrase. One might then ask, "Why have people died for it? How'd they die? Who did it? What made them that brave?" The answer always comes back to Our Lord, His Love, and His Sacred Heart.

Religion, not just Catholicism, but all religion, is something that one must work through, thinking critically and analytically. If you are fed mush on a daily basis, your body loses substance and muscle. The same is true for your spiritual body, i.e. "soul." If you just give the soul the comforting reasurrance that "Jesus loves you," it won't strive heavenward - it's content right where it is. One must always challenge oneself spiritually, thus fasting, holy hours, etc. are great methods of meditating on the faith. To deprive the body of something (whether it is sleep, food, or comfort) is to turn the gaze from the comfort in which we live, both spiritually and physically, so that we may focus on those areas of our life that need improvement.

What better way to do this than to have priests such as these? These men, secure in their masculinity, steadfast in faith, and unswerving in loyalty, bear witness to the priests and martyrs of old, who bore iniquity for the sake of Our Lord, who suffered patiently, correcting with direct charity. To ask a priest to refrain from giving his homily so that one may deliver one's own, or to ask a priest to switch out the readings of the day, so they will cradle the children's psyches - this is rude, selfish, short-sighted, and an affrontery to all things sacred.

Let our priests be priests, and may our nuns be nuns.

Dixit Dominus - Sede a Dextris Meis

"The Lord says, 'Sit thou at my right hand."

A faithful friend of the blog has sent us a photograph of the newly-reconfigured sanctuary at St. Anne Church, where, many of you may recall, Fr. Tyman was exploring the possibilities of having the presider's chair placed beside the altar rather than behind it.

Well, this sounded innocuous enough - after all, it's the way the pastor has it at St. Stanislaus. However, look very carefully at the photo. You will note that it's not only the presider's chair that has been moved. It appears as if Sr. Joan's chair (or at least "some" chair) has also gravitated altar-ward. There is a possibility that this is just where the server with the sacramentary sits. However, Sr. Joan is on record as having said, "I don't want the servers sitting right next to the priest." The few times I have made pilgrimage to the parish after the takeover, the servers have either sat on the bench in the back of the sanctuary, under the St. Anne painting, or to the left side of the sanctuary, against the wall.

I need a reader, ideally, to get a photograph of Sr. Joan in this chair. Anecdotes are also welcome - send them to cleansingfire@live.com. However, we need actual evidence in this matter, evidence showing the good sister seated between the priest and the altar, in a definite "co-presidential" spot, and closer to the altar than she needs to be. It's uncalled for. 

It is wholly possible that Sr. Joan does not sit there - we can't jump on this with 100% certainty. However, I think we can all agree, that there is potential for massive abuse here.

Service of Penitance

The following is taken from the website of St. Thomas. No, not our St. Thomas - their St. Thomas. As in, the Episcopalians.

Service of Penitance w/Our Lady of Lourdes Parish

When: Wed, February 17, 7:30pm – 8:30pm

Where: St. Thomas' Church (map)

Now, don't get me wrong. I think we should all strive for Christian unity. However, people must realize that Catholics have already gotten to the finish line - it's called "the Throne of St. Peter." We are the Church - they are the scattered flock. To borrow a line from the good sister, "it is what it is."

Having this ecumenical service raises a few questions in my mind:

1. What penitential actions will take place? If there's confession, would the Protestants go? (They're not really supposed to, if they're not Catholic.) If there's no confession, isn't it just some kind of "Jesus loves us just the way we are" kind of hug-fest?
2. Why is this at night? The idea of Ash Wednesday/receiving ashes/being penitent, is to be outward signs of faith. How exactly can we do that if we're having our service after dark? Not too much of an outward sign there.
3. Why would a Catholic, in good standing with the Church, go into a Protestant church building for a service that accomplishes next to nothing, if not truly nothing? I'd much rather go to Mass at a Church not in open rebellion, get ashes, and wear them with pride all day long. Something tells me some of the folks from St. Mary's and Spiritus Christi have a bit more pride, but I won't go there.

The Presider's Chair . . . And That Place Where the Priest Sits

 

A commenter on one of our recent posts stated that Fr. Tyman, the Sacramental Minister for the Our Lady of Lourdes+St. Anne Cluster, has expressed a desire to move the presider's chair at St. Anne to the right of the altar, when looking towards the sanctuary from the congregation. Personally, I feel like there is potential for some good here, but also, potential for great liturgical woes.

For example:

Pro - the sanctuary will be among the most uncluttered in the entire city - the only things visible will be the altar, the painting of St. Anne, the pulpit, and the tabernacle, located to the left of the sanctuary (very visible to all). 

Con - more room behind the altar means more room for hordes of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. 

Pro - the priest will appear to be in a more "presidential" position, being directly next to the altar. 

Con - this means that Sr. Joan's chair will be blocked from view. We all know she will go searching for an appropriate seat, one which everyone can see.

Pro - the people can more fully engage in the Mass, i.e. "active participation." While I personally prefer a quiet, subdued role for the laity, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Con - it may make things too casual, and thus remove the "mystery" of the Mass for some in the congregation.

Pro - perhaps now the concelebrants and altar servers will sit closer to the presider, rather than the benches in the rear of the sanctuary

Con - perhaps Sr. Joan will keep them in their places, and use this as an excuse to be more active in the liturgy, i.e. handling the sacred vessels, etc . . .  

Just Between Us

Just when you think error couldn't compound error, this comes out. From our very dear Sr. Sobala's weekly "Just Between Us" column in her cluster bulletin, comes this hypocritical article.

Several things should have jumped out at you. Let's start at the very beginning.

"It is an historic scandal that Christianity ever got divided." Good deduction, Sherlock. Maybe that's why we shouldn't go around and say things that go contrary to the will of the Church? Straight from the horse's mouth we read the word "scandal." Sr. Joan admits, whole-heartedly and without hesitation that a "divided" Church is a "scandal." I find it pathetic that one of the foremost women promoting disunity in the Diocese of Rochester opens her weekly reflection with such rhetoric.

So we then go on to read about a "covenant" signed by Bishop Clark and the local Episcopalian ordinary which, the good sister proudly declares, is a "jewel." Now I'm all for peaceful-interaction with other religions. However, when you say you're open to the other religion, that's where problems come into play. You should be open to accepting that individual's culture, but not open to professing their faith or nullifying your own. Of course, I give credit to Sr. Sobala for actually saying the word "Catholic," but to "gather together" with the purpose of "enriching each tradition" is shameful. Our Tradition is rich enough without yielding to those who deny the authority of the supreme pontiff. 

Then again, Sr. Joan occasionally preaches at the Episcopalian parish she mentions, St. Thomas. And when she does, she is vested in her alb and, this is the clincher, receives communion. There is a clear line separating ecumenical dialogue and ecumenical blending. She has crossed it. I have spoken with two of the altar boys from that parish, and they both said, "that lady (Joan) is a Catholic nun, but she preaches at our parish. I don't get that." Even the Protestants don't understand what she's doing. Then again, in the spirit of her "Good Shepherd Sunday Homily," we are the erring sheep, and she is the Good Shepherd who will carry us to enlightenment. We should bow before her Masters' degree in Divinity.

So, in her spirit of "Christian unity," we should gather all Christians together, regardless at to their allegiance to the True Church, and have one massive communion service. That's disdainful. That's heresy. As Pope Paul VI boldly declared to the World Council of Churches, "SUMUS PETRUS." "We are Peter." What a sublime statement of Catholic faith. And for a pope whose image is more "left" than most, this is truly a message. We are to engage in prayers for Christian unity, of course. But we are the Church. We are waiting for them, not the other way around.

Sr. Joan, perhaps you should have pride for what you have, the Catholic Church? I pray that, someday, you can appreciate the vast and immense treasure which is Tradition. And I mean that sincerely.