You Know You're in Good Company When . . .

. . . at daily Mass, the priest sings "Dominus Vobiscum" and every single person responds in flawless unison, "et cum spiritu tuo."

And you also know you're in good company when, on a similar note, every single person can sing the chant ordinaries without picking up a book.

That's the real spirit of Vatican II. The sooner you grasp that, the sooner you become a citizen of reality.

Biblical Cartoons.

Sacred or Secular Music at Mass?

Can you tell the difference?? from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Announcing the Brand New "Vocatus Es Contest"

The Diocese of Rochester is trying (and I give them some credit for that) to recruit men to the priesthood through these posters you've seen here and in your parish atria and gathering spaces. However, most men aren't called through feel-good posters, but one-on-one interaction with priests. There is something so fraternal about the priesthood, something which gets forgotten or trivialized in these posters. Sure, the little boy at the altar looks cute enough. "Aww, he's soo wittle!" But that's not what rouses vocations awareness.

And so I'm challenging you all to design two posters:

#1 will be a serious poster, asking young men to answer the call to the diocesan priesthood.

#2 will be a comedic poster, embracing the fruits of your snarkiness. I will post ALL submissions, presuming they aren't inappropriate, and we will vote on them in due time. 

You can submit for one or both categories.

What do you get for all your hardwork? How about a brand new Cleansing Fire t-shirt! If you want, I'll even autograph it for you. Just promise you won't sell it on eBay. Yes, I'm just that awesome. Runners up will receive, in order of achievement, a Cleansing Fire medal for second place, and 10 Cleansing Fire prayer cards for third place.

So get to work! I want to see your Vocations Awareness Posters! Send your submissions in the Vocatus Es Contest to me at cleansingfire@live.com. Do it now, and maybe

A Nod of the Miter Goes To . . .

. . . you, the readers. Yesterday evening, we surpassed 100,000 hits. That means that we have had thousands of people, in the Diocese of Rochester and outside of it, reading of our plight and our efforts. You, dearest friends, have turned this blog into a success. We have conducted ourselves for almost a full year in the ways of light-hearted sanctity and jocularity, bringing comfort, affirmation, and an occasional smile to your besieged hearts.

We have "admonished the sinner" and "instructed the ignorant," two of the spiritual works of mercy so integral to the life of the Church. While we have our detractors, even in our own midst, their words fall on deaf ears, and are heard by individuals whose apathy and sluggishness prove their unwillingness to risk great things for the sake of the greatest, that is, the Holy Eucharist, brought to us each and every day in the Mass. Without a proper respect and zeal for the King of Kings, we can have no genuine recourse, in this life or the next.

And so, as we near our First Anniversary, and all the festivities there-upon, I want to thank you all for your continued support and readership. People always tell me, not knowing my blogging identity, "you know, all those blogs, they're run by cranky old white men who can't deal with reality." You, friends, are proof that this is not so. Just look at our followers on Facebook - almost half of them are in high school or college. The others are young parents of large families, converts, devoted single people, and those who have stayed true to the authentic teachings of the Church through the tumult of the 60's and 70's. We are the real face of diversity. The sooner these aging liberals realize that, the sooner God's will may be realized.

Your humble host and friend in orthodoxy,
Gen

Needed: Baby Swing, Highchair/Stroller

If any of you would like to help Mary Jost at the Focus Pregnancy Help Center, she sure could use many things.

She most especially needs baby swings, highchairs and stroller. With the nice weather, the mothers want to take their babies out in a stroller. The Center always needs diapers from newborn and up.

So if any readers would like to make a very significant contribution to a most worthy cause, please call Mary at 200-9477. She would be very grateful for any contribution that you could make.

From Rome

Cardinal Arinze on Kneeling, Communion Rails, and Eucharistic Reverence

Prayers needed to stop this abortion

A very good friend called to ask all of us to pray to stop an abortion that is scheduled take place early tomorrow morning. The doctors (?) talked her into it. Please say some prayers that the abortion does not happen. Thank you.

In Honor of Our Dear Lay Administrators

Another "Epic Limerick" for your perusal.

I found myself mumbling in Latin,
The words more luscious than satin.
So I spoke them aloud,
In the midst of the crowd,
And that's when this story did happen:
The alb-clad lay preacher rose tall,
And gave a most sobering call:
"I feel I've done wrong,
Misleading this throng,
And piercing their souls with this awl."
At this the old woman reached down,
Picked up an awl, stained by blood brown,
She spun it about,
Beginning to shout,
"I drove all my faithful downtown!"
So I kept up my feverish pace,
Running this linguistic race,
Mumbling old prayers,
Despite all the stares,
In this dark, sterile, liberal place.
The awl was a menacing tool,
Which she used in a spirit most cruel,
When one would oppose her,
With intent to depose her,
She'd challenge that bloke to a duel.
So the awl pierced many a soul,
To defend her illicit role,
And those who survive,
Must carefully drive,
To escape the clutch of this troll.
But then, alas, she lamented,
Admitting her soul was demented,
She dropped the awl,
And discerned her call,
Te be a nun, and contented.

On This Day O Beautiful Mother

In honor of Our Blessed Lady. Catholics of a certain age will definitely remember singing these hymns, especially when First Holy Communion fell on Mothers Day.


On this day, O Beautiful Mother!
On this day we give thee our love;
Near thee, Madonna, fondly we hover,
trusting thy gentle care to prove.

On this day we ask to share, dearest Mother,
thy sweet care;
Aid us e'er, our feet astray, wandering from
thy guiding way.

Queen of Angels, deign to hear, thy dear
children's humble pray'r;
Young hearts gain, O Virgin pure, sweetly
to thyself allure.

For the Crowning of the Blessed Mother, this was probably sung more than any other hymn.



The hymn below can and does get Catholics to sing with gusto to the Virgin Mother of God. It is one of those hymns that Catholics seem to love to sing. This is not the version from that stupid "Sister Act".

Mozart's Veni Sancte Spiritus

This is the closing portion of the piece - definitely worth a listen.

Our Lady of the Lighthouses, Pray For Us

A reader of the blog sent the following to us. He was visiting his aunt, a one-time parishioner at St. Anne Church on Mt. Hope Avenue, and who now lives at Monroe Community Hospital. The reason she chose to live there rather than a home like St. John's or St. Ann is because she knows how reverent the Masses are there. Every Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, Fr. Bonsignore offers a Mass, and in her words, "they're just so sublime!"

Well, today the hospital chaplain was away, celebrating the golden anniversary of ordination for a friend of his. In his stead was a priest who, at the request of the "informant," will remain nameless. Usually, this priest is solid, loving the Traditions of Holy Mother Church. And doubtless he did today, but in a most . . . peculiar . . . way.

Upon the altar, flanking the crucifix, he placed to lighthouse figurines. Adorning them at their base was the stole which should have been worn with the chasuble he chose for the day. However, the stole that he wore (over his chasuble, mind you) was apparently made of felt, with glued-on flames and other "fire decorations." His explanation for the statuettes was that they represented the fruits and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He continued this theme at the "Behold the Lamb of God" portion of the Mass by saying, "Here is the Lamb of God, whose fruits and gifts are like these beacons on the shores of life. Happy are those who have been called to His supper."

This is part of a trend which is perhaps the most unfortunate of trends in the post-Conciliar Church. Uniformity has been lost. The Mass is an instrument of whatever priest is saying it, rather than being a timeless, ageless, statement-free liturgy focused on God rather than self. Are we starting to see the merits of having a by-the-book interpretation, folks? When you "say the black and do the red," no one gets angry, no one feels hurt, and the Mass is genuinely beautiful. However, when you let personal ideas and tastes infiltrate the hallowed halls of our liturgical "know-how," that's when problems begin.

I hope that you all had a lighthouse-free Pentecost. I'm certainly glad I did.

The Man's a Saint - The Brother's a Foul-Tongued Cretin

For anyone who caught Brother Wease's interview with Dr. Scott Caton, you will have noticed that a little piece of you died. No one should be made to deal with such a lewd, shallow, dull-witted individual as Wease. I mean no offense to the man, but when he refers to Dr. Caton's children as "little packages" that drive him insane, and when he professes to be a Jehovah's Witness because he let them in his house, and when he says that all priests should have the ability to have a sexual outlet with their wives, he loses his veil of innocence and charity.

Dr. Caton - you have all of our sincere admiration for dealing with such an insipid and tactless man on live radio.

Brother Wease - stick to your station's celebrity bikini contests (do not click if you value your soul), and leave religion to those who actually take it as something serious, and not an amusement for communal jocularity.

Missa Cantata for Pentecost

This coming Sunday there will be a Gregorian Missa Cantata celebrated by the Rev. Gerard McMahon. Mass is at 1:30 at Saint Stanislaus Church. The local "Schola Roffensis" will sing the Gregorian Chant Mass "Orbis Factor" and the Gregorian propers. Orbis factor means "Creator of the World". Take a listen to the clip below and see what you'll be missing. See you all on Sunday. Remember - it's "open seating".

Can the deacon's wife preach the homily?

"On March 25, 1963 kids were uneasy"

In grade school, I was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. They taught us many useful things, but most important of these was our Catholic faith. Getting to heaven was the major reason we were born, ultimately to be with God in heaven.

Practicing our Catholic Faith, and the frequent reception of the sacraments and attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, would give us the necessary graces (actual and sanctifying), to get us to heaven. Our minds and bodies were fresher and more alert in the morning, so each day we had to attend 8 a.m. Mass and the off to school to study the truths of our Catholic faith.

I distinctly remember Sister Meinulpha (and the priests too) telling us that the Church never changes quickly; it changes slowly and with good reason as it use prudential judgment and the wisdom contained in its vast 2,000 years of tradition to guide any change that might happen. She further instructed us that where the Holy Ghost is present there is gentleness, meekness and humility. If that is not the case, beware of a false outcome.

These very major points were not lost on me (I believed everything the Sisters told me) when I started seeing the upheaval after Vatican II. I smelled a rat. So I was always skeptical of the Council, because it didn't seem to square with what the Sisters and priests had taught us about change. They wouldn't lie. It was breaking a commandment to lie.

Kids like a secure environment. When that changes, most kids tend to get uneasy. On March 25, 1963 kids were uneasy. The Sisters changed from their old habit to a modified habit. We knew it was coming. The 12 Sisters filed from the convent to church for 8 a.m. Mass. The door opened and for the first time we saw the Sisters in their "new and modified" habits. We didn't pay attention to the Mass much that day, because part of the environment was changed. The Sisters knew that.

In school, after Mass, they let us ask questions. Sister told us about obedience and we should always be obedient to the Church and her traditions. Out of the 60 kids in class, the majority did not like the new habits. A few said "it looks so different". A few didn't care much. Guess which group I was in?

In retrospect, it seemed that on that day the old world was tossed aside and the new world had to be embraced, however reluctantly. Remember we were 13/14 years old then, but well formed enough in the Catholic faith, to know that our Catholic traditions ran deep in the faith.

I have linked below to a video the Sisters made about the change of their habits. If I haven't adequately expressed myself, please forgive me. I smelled a rat in 1963 and in all those years after with the changes that Vatican II never even came close to suggesting, I smelled an even "bigger rat". It's getting better with Pope Benedict, but we have a long ways to go to return to the Catholic heritage and traditions that are our birthright. Long live Catholic Tradition! Long live Pope Benedict!

So now, Vatican II opened on October 11, 1962 and within a little over 5 months the Sisters had their new habits made and donned. Seems like they went a bit too fast into change.

http://www.sturdyroots.org/Sewing_The_Habit.html

Nostalgia for Bishop McQuaid

Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid, the Jesuit high school's namesake, has been dead for one century. He was the first Bishop of Rochester, and made this diocese into a cradle for Catholicity. He opened scores of churches, schools, orphanages, and other Catholic institutions. He formed St. Bernard's Seminary, along with St. Andrew's, which was a minor seminary. He elevated Rochester's Catholic population from being small, weak, and almost priest-less, to something which was associated with the very fabric of the city.

But alas, his vision of Rochester has died. Below are some photographs, one showing Bishop McQuaid lying in state in St. Patrick's Cathedral in downtown Rochester, and others showing the funeral and the procession to his grave for burial. In the words of St. Thomas More, "Yes, death comes for us all. Even for kings does he come."

Click on the links to view the photos:


http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/rmsc/scm08/scm08513.jpg

http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/rmsc/scm08/scm08728.jpg

http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/rmsc/scm08/scm08512.jpg

Nostalgia for St. Patrick's Cathedral

No, not the one in Manhattan. I'm talking about Rochester's original cathedral, St. Patrick's, now a parking lot due to shifting demographics, Kodak's expansion, and the diocesan coffers.

This photo shows the consecration of Bishop Hanna in 1912. Note how the entire left hand portion of the image is filled to capacity with priests and seminarians in their cassocks, and how the lay people are dressed respectfully and in a dignified manner. No jean shorts and tie dye here.

Now any function at the cathedral, Sacred Heart, is accompanied with gay politicking and celebrations of "diversity" when there is no genuine diversity to be had.


http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/rmsc/scm08/scm08558.jpg

Nostalgia And St. Joseph's

I was browsing various sites for images not yet shared with you on this site. Below is one I particularly liked, showing St. Joseph's, now burned-down and turned into a park, as seen from East Avenue in downtown Rochester. You can really get a sense as to how grand that church was, as well as how beautiful and prosperous downtown was back then. Anyone that goes to Our Lady of Victory, Blessed Sacrament, Corpus Christi, etc. knows what a daunting prospect it is to launch oneself into the bowels of urban depravity for the sake of Mass. Note that above the street are the wires and guide-lines for the trolleys which once traversed Rochester. They were discontinued in 1936, and the subway followed suit in the late 50's.

http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/rmsc/scm03/scm03071.jpg