Here are some comments from John in the beautiful people's republic of California.  He posted them on an article in the archives,  The Latin Mass Returns to Vermont.  It is reposted here so that more visitors will see it.

It is the 1st of March 2008 and since last posting on this blog I can say they are still coming, more and more (most notably youth) are coming and continuing to come to the ancient Latin Mass. Sadly though, & it's only whispered, they, the ordinaries, bishops & novus ordo priests of the late 20th century vintage, particularly in California are not happy about the rebirth of the Tridentine liturgy. Quietly roadblocks are in place by some in chancery offices here on the sunny left coast and many of the cumbyya variety priests can't wait till the Holy Father dies and they can hopefully get a more "progressive/secularly inclined" pope. To this returning catholic that is the height of arrogance and disobedience and Rome needs to understand the Holy Father has as many enemies in the Church as outside it. It may be time to use good old fashioned excommunication & laicizing to clean house after forty years of pink revolution that has been occurring in Christ's own Church. These are the opines of a catholic who's returned home and still sees the same prelates in place that drove millions from the Church in the first place.

Presented below is a quote from Quanta Cura, an encyclical letter from Ven. Pope Pius IX.  The pope boldly condemns the central tenets of liberalism, and invokes his Apostolic authority.

Vatican II has been described as a "counter Syllabus," referring to Ven. Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors.  Is it fair to inquire whether Vatican II actually overruled the Apostolic authority of Ven. Pius IX?

Another very grave error which has invaded the Church is the new-age sex cult, a cult which permeates every facet of modern society.  Two manifestations of this are birth control, also known as natural family planning, and sex indoctrination of children, commonly called sex-ed. 

Traditionally, Catholics are known for having large families, and for having an aversion to public discussion of morally sensitive and private topics.  Nowadays, the opposite is the norm.  One reason for the inversion is the perversion which entered the seminaries, the outcome of which is all too well known.  What is overlooked is that the perverts still maintain their positions in the episcopacy, and continue to teach erotic and queer behavior to children, most notably in the USCCB-approved program Growing in Love.

Pope Pius XI vociferously condemned classroom sex-ed in his encyclical on Catholic Education of Youth (below).  But the modernists, who have overturned Popes Ven. Pius IX, Leo XIII, and St. Pius X, as we have seen, also run roughshod over Pius XI.

Pray the Rosary for an end to sex-ed.

A Roman Forum Conference in New York

The Modern Image and Catholic Truth Series:

The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game

Modern man has a positive image of himself that has been shaped and very effectively propagandized since the time of the Renaissance. The Roman Forum’s Modern Image and Catholic Truth series explores the gap between this image and the true predicament in which both the individual and contemporary society as a whole now find themselves imprisoned.

This year’s series began in November with a conference called The Sleep of Reason, designed to underline the fact that modern naturalism ends with the destruction of the rational in man, achieved in a variety of different ways depending upon the particular approaches of the thinkers and activists concerned.

 The Glass of Absinthe and The Rules of the Game were originally intended to be two separate conferences---the first focusing on the destructive aspects of the naturalist separation of the individual from society and his own past; the second on the intellectual, artistic, psychological and socio-political obstacles placed in the path of identification of the disease that afflicts us. These have now been combined into one session--- the last Roman Forum event in the United States in the 2007-2008 academic year.

PROGRAM

Saturday, May 3^rd, 2008

9:00 A.M.—5:00 P.M.

9:00-10:00 A.M.: Registration and Coffee Hour

10:00 - 11:00 A.M.: The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game

Dr. John C. Rao

St. John’s University, Director of Roman Forum

11:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.: The Empire of Nothingness

Christopher A. Ferrara, Esq.

President, American Catholic Lawyers Association

12:15 P.M. - 1:45 P.M.: Luncheon

1:45 P.M.-2:45 P.M.: Citycraft and Soulcraft

Dino Marcantonio, AIA

Architect and Lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture

3:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M.: Reason Gone Mad

James Kalb, Esq.

International Catholic lecturer and writer; author of:

The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming

Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command

(Fall, 2008, ISI Books)

4:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M.: General Discussion

Reserve by April 28^th, 2008:  $35 for entrance and luncheon

Pay at the door:  $10 for entrance alone

Checks payable to The Roman Forum

 11 Carmine Street, 2C, NY, NY, 10014

Catholic Center at New York University

238 Thompson St. (Between Washington Square South and West 3^rd St.)

A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4^th St.; R to 8^th St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

For further information: www.romanforum.org

Roman Forum Spring Ball

to honor

THE BIRTHDAY OF ROME: 753 B.C.-2008 A.D.

Saturday, April 26^th, 2008, 7:00 P.M. through Midnight

Feast translated from April 21

7 Piece Rich Siegel Ballroom Orchestra

Grand Imperial Buffet and Dessert

BYOB

Well Done Roma! Festivities and Spontaneous Outburst of Joy

10:00 P.M.

On Rome's Birthday (April 21, 753 B.C.) and the Parilia

    According to tradition, Romulus took up his trusty plow and marked out a sulcus around "Shepherds' Hill" on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, i.e., a.d. XII Kal. Mai-a date which, give or take eleven or twelve days, roughly corresponds to what we call April 21st. Conveniently, the date was also the festival of the shepherd goddess Pales (the Parilia), in whose honor the hill, chosen by Romulus, had been named the Palatine.      

    When the festival was adopted by city dwellers, the date was set to coincide with the date of the traditional founding of Rome. Each area of Rome set up festivities, much like a block party. Bonfires were set onto which offerings were thrown. The event concluded with a bountiful feast set up out of doors. Catholics, for obvious reason, can also commemorate the day due to Rome’s Christian meaning.

    Two songs will be sung at the 10:00 P.M. festivities: The papal hymn, Roma Immortale, and Rome’s Birthday Song, the latter to the tune of Oklahoma, with lyrics by Judy Hallet. See the back of this announcement for the words.

Reserve by April 21st, 2008

$50 per person—children 16 and under enter for free will donation only

(jacket and tie or dinner jacket for men required)

Make checks payable to The Roman Forum

11 Carmine Street, 2C, NY, NY, 10014

Catholic Center at New York University

238 Thompson St. (Between Washington Square South and West 3^rd St.)

A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4^th St.; R to 8^th St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

For further information: www.romanforum.org

By Felicitas

Here’s the place to find all your Catholic needs:

Pro Multis Catholic Book and Gift Center
On the web at www.promultis.com

If you’re in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, visit the store located at

1850 Colvin Blvd.
Tonawanda, NY 14150
Phone: (716) 838-2898
Hours: Tuesday thru Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM
Saturdays from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Closed: Sundays, Mondays, Holy Days of Obligation and Good Friday.

At Pro Multis Catholic Book and Gift Center you will find a large book selection including new and used books, also videos, DVD’s, CD’s, framed art work, statues, medals, and rosaries, etc.

Al Huntz, owner of Pro Multis has been in business since 1993.
After taking an early retirement at 55 he decided to combine
his love for the Church with a business, so he took a second
mortgage on his home to fund the startup. The store first
opened on the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother,
and it operates under the patronage of Saint Joseph. The store
has grown since its inception in terms of more inventory and
exposure on the Internet. Al finds this line of business rewarding
in that he is exposing people to the Catholic Faith in a traditional
approach and he feels that he is helping to promote and preserve
the Traditional Latin Mass. He is able to help people return to the
Church. At times he meets uninformed and non-practicing
Catholics who do not recognize the difference between a
“Christian” store and a Catholic store. Pro Multis is decidedly
Catholic as evidenced by the most popular items in the store –
rosaries and medals.

(Excerpts from lectures by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, 1975; emphasis in the original.)

(On the Catholic Mass) At the Last Supper Our Lord said, "Do this in memory of Me;" "Hoc facite im meam commemorationem." He did not say, "Tell this story, remember my sacrifice;"  He said "Facite," "Do this Sacrifice, re-do this sacrifice, continue this Sacrifice."

Protestants forget or refuse to recognize that Our Lord said: "Hoc facite," "Do this!"  They, rather, recall what Christ did at the last Supper: "in meam commemorationem."  They do not continue Our Lord Jesus Christ's Sacrifice.  The Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us, together with the Apostles, and with our Lord Himself, that we are to go unto the altar with the priest to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and that through the actions and the words of the priest Our Lord truly comes to the altar as the Victim truly present in the Holy Eucharist.  He in truth said to the Apostles: "Hoc facite," and we ought therefore to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for the gift of deep faith in the Holy Sacrifice of the altar.

From the Boston Herald

A new generation of young altar servers captivated by the solemn rituals of Latin Mass is mastering the traditional rite in growing numbers in the Boston archdiocese as the liturgy makes a comeback after a four-decade hiatus.

“It’s really reverent. That’s why I like it,” said altar server Brendan MacKenzie, 12, of Marshfield, as he readied for the Tenebrae, or “Spy Wednesday,” service at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton during Holy Week. “It brings you closer to God.”

Since April, the number of young boys trained to perform Latin Mass in the Boston area has more than doubled, from eight to 18 servers, said the Rev. Charles J. Higgins, pastor at Mary Immaculate, where the old-style Mass is celebrated every Sunday at noon.

This came in the mail, but I haven't verified the facts. If any reader has better information, please help me out.

Easter is early this year, March 23. Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) that is rare.

Here's the interesting information. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

St. Helen church to offer traditional Latin Mass

New service will begin at 8 a.m. on March 8
By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW, KY — St. Helen Catholic Church will begin offering a traditional Latin Mass in March.

The service will be on Saturdays at 8 a.m. beginning March 8.

The availability of the Mass is not only something the church’s congregation has requested, but Pope Benedict XVI has asked parishes worldwide that the Latin Rite be made available to the Catholic faithful, according to Father Shannon Collins, associate pastor of the church.

The Pope made the request on July 7, 2007.

The Traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass was used in the Catholic Church for almost 1,600 years, until the introduction of the Mass of Pope Paul VI following the Second Vatican Council, according to Latin Mass.org.

“In 1969 or 1970, when the new Mass was introduced, a lot of people thought the old Mass was buried, and it never was,” Collins said.

While the two services share some similarities, there are two major differences.

One difference is the language in which the service is delivered.

“Latin was the dominant language for the entire hist-ory of the church,” Collins said, but was used less and less over the years. “Latin can still be used, always has been, (and) always will be.”

The other difference is the direction in which the priest delivers the service.

“The priest in the new Mass is largely facing the congregation as he prays, whereas in the old Mass, he is facing with the people toward God,” Collins said. “It kind of reaches out to Christians to show that we appreciate the ancient things which our fathers left to us.”

While the service is new to St. Helen’s, it has been made available at Our Lady of the Caves Catholic Church in Horse Cave for the past six to seven months.

For more information about the service, call the church’s rectory at (270) 651-5263.

Submitted by Felicitas

Saint Paul tells us, “For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Rom. 1:20). Flowers then must tell us something of the beauty of Heaven with their delicate petals, pleasing colors, intriguing fragrances, and natural beauty. According to Rev. Nicholas Gihr, “These beautifully colored creatures are wonderfully formed by the light from the mud of the ground and colorless water. Indeed do flowers, those lilies of the field, which neither spin nor weave and yet are so splendidly arrayed, by the purity and perfection of their attire give us to understand that they are the handiwork of that Creator who created Paradise, from which they come, and that they have been left to us, as it were, as a remembrance thereof.” Possessing all these heavenly attributes, aren’t flowers the perfect adornment for our holy altars?

The following excerpts are from “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” by Rev. Nicholas Gihr.

To decorate the altars with flowers, especially on great feasts, is an ancient, venerable, devout, and praiseworthy custom, and, therefore, approved of by the Church. Fresh, bright, and fragrant flowers add to the decorations of the altar, making it beautiful and pleasing, and consequently they help to enhance the celebration of the feast and to edify the people. A holy religious, the Capuchin, Francis Borgia, used to say: "God has left us from Paradise three things: the stars, the flowers, and the eyes of a child." In fact, flowers have in God's creation a place entirely their own; they are on the globe of the earth what the stars are in the canopy of heaven: uneffaced traces of a former world, the earthly Paradise, the least affected by the curse of sin. In the splendor of their colors, in their fragrance, they are revelations of the beauty and goodness of God, emblems of His benevolence, images of His first, true designs (Isa. 25: I). For all these reasons, flowers, besides lighted candles and incense, have their liturgical meaning and are used to adorn the divine service. By their fine and elegant forms and lovely colors they possess a peculiar charm to please and captivate both the heart and the senses, thus impressing us the more deeply.

The Traditional Latin Mass will be celebrated Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 8 A.M. as

St. Roch's Church
1141 Verona Drive
West Bangor, PA. 18105
Diocese of Allentown.
610-863-9055

From 1995 until his death in July 2006, Msgr. Charles T. Moss celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday and Holy Days.

We are grateful to Msgr. Vincent York, Pastor of St. Roch's, to have the Traditional Latin Mass once a month.

Traditional Latin Mass approved on an every-Sunday basis for the Diocese of Victoria, B.C., in Canada. This is the first Canadian Diocese to add an every-Sunday Mass since publication of "Summorum Pontificum".

Here is the information:

Our Lady Queen of Peace Church

851 Old Esquimalt Road

Esquimalt (Greater Victoria),

Vancouver Island, B.C. V9A 4W9

Canada

Celebrant: Fr. Alexander MacLellan, Parish Priest

Every Sunday: 12.00 noon

These are still 'private' Masses for invited guests. Contact to confirm:

Tel.: (250) 384-3884

e-mail: office@qop.ca

A reader has informed us that this Sunday on March 30, 2008 at 5PM the Traditional Latin Mass will be said at:

Tagaste Monastery
220 Lafayette Avenue
Suffern, NY 10901
845-357-0067 ph
845-369-0625 fax

http://www.tagastemonastery.org/

by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.

We understand that this will be the first Traditional Latin Mass said at the Monastery in 40 years.

From ABC news:

Pope Benedict XVI, at center under white umbrella, on his way with other prelates to celebrate mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008. The pontiff rejoiced over conversions to Christianity a day after he baptized a prominent Muslim, marking Easter Sunday in a rain-drenched appearance he used to renew calls for peace in Iraq, the Holy Land and Tibet. On Easter, Christians celebrate their belief in the resurrection of Jesus two days after he was crucified. Thanks to the apostles' preaching about the resurrection, "thousands and thousands of persons converted to Christianity," Benedict said. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) (AP)

From Pope Benedict's Easter Homily:

Dear Christian brothers and sisters in every part of the world, dear men and women whose spirit is sincerely open to the truth, let no heart be closed to the omnipotence of this redeeming love! Jesus Christ died and rose for all; He is our hope - true hope for every human being. Today, just as He did with His disciples in Galilee before returning to the Father, the risen Jesus now sends us everywhere as witnesses of His hope, and He reassures us: I am with you always, all days, until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28:20). Fixing the gaze of our spirit on the glorious wounds of His transfigured body, we can understand the meaning and value of suffering, we can tend the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day. In his glorious wounds we recognize the indestructible signs of the infinite mercy of the God of whom the prophet says: it is He who heals the wounds of broken hearts, who defends the weak and proclaims the freedom of slaves, who consoles all the afflicted and bestows upon them the oil of gladness instead of a mourning robe, a song of praise instead of a sorrowful heart (cf. Is 61:1,2,3). If with humble trust we draw near to Him, we encounter in His gaze the response to the deepest longings of our heart: to know God and to establish with Him a living relationship in an authentic communion of love, which can fill our lives, our interpersonal and social relations with that same love. For this reason, humanity needs Christ: in Him, our hope, "we have been saved" (cf. Rom 8:24).

To read all the Holy Father's homilies from Holy Week go here.

(I found this on angelqueen.org.)

In a recent interview with L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos made the following statement regarding the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX):

"The excommunication applies only to the four bishops, because they were ordained without the mandate of the Pope and against his will, while the priests are only suspended. The Mass they celebrate is undoubtedly valid, but not licit, and, thus, participation is not advised, unless there are no other possibilities on Sunday. Certainly, neither the priests nor the faithful are excommunicates."

.. For this reason, the moment God had chosen her to be his
mother, He exacted from her the most authentic proofs of an
inviolable attachment to purity. Thus, it is not in a crowd, or
idle conversation, but in a retreat, that the angel finds her.
It is not from the distraction of diversions and entertainments
that he calls her aside to deliver his message: no; she is
alone in her house, with the door shut; "and," as St. Ambrose
says, "he must be an angel that gets entrance there."

Hence, according to the same holy father, it was not the angel's
appearance that gave her trouble, for he will not have it to be
doubted but heavenly visions and a commerce with the blessed
spirits had been familiar to her. But what alarmed her, he says,
was the angel's appearing in human form, in the shape of a
young man. What might add to her fright on the occasion, was
his addressing her in the strain of praise, which kind of words
flattery often puts in the mouths of ill-designing men. And how
few, alas! are able to withstand such dangers? But Mary,
guarded by her modesty, is in confusion at expressions of this
sort, and dreads the least appearance of deluding flattery. Such
high commendations make her cautious how she answers, till in
silence she has more fully considered of the matter: She revolved
in her mind, says St. Luke, what manner of salutation this should be.

Hermit
(1417-1487)

Saint Nicholas of Flue was born in Switzerland of pious parents. One day, when he saw an arrow launched on a neighboring mountain, he was filled with a desire for Heaven and with love for solitude. He married, to obey the formal will of his parents; he and his wife Dorothy became the parents of ten children. His merit and virtue caused him to be chosen by his fellow citizens to exercise very honorable public functions.

He was fifty years old when an interior voice said to him: “Leave everything you love, and God will take care of you.” He had to undergo a distressing combat, but decided finally to leave everything — wife, children, house, lands — to serve God. He left, barefooted, clothed in a long robe of coarse fabric, in his hand a rosary, without money or provisions, casting a final tender and prolonged gaze on his loved ones. His habitual prayer was this: “My Lord and my God, remove from me all that can prevent me from going to You. My Lord and my God, give me all that can draw me to You.”

One night God penetrated the hermit with a brilliant light, and from that time on he never again experienced hunger, thirst or cold. Having found a wild and solitary place, he dwelt there for a time in a hut of leaves, later in a cabin built with stones. The news of his presence, when it spread, brought him a great influx of visitors. Distinguished persons came to him for counsel in matters of great importance. It may seem incredible that the holy hermit lived for nineteen years only by the Holy Eucharist; the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, startled by this fact, had his cabin surveyed and verified this fact as being beyond question.

When Switzerland for a moment was divided and threatened with civil war in 1480, Saint Nicholas of Flue, venerated by all, was chosen as arbiter, to prevent the shedding of blood. He spoke so wisely that a union was reached, to the joy of all concerned, and the nation was saved. Bells were set ringing all over the country, and the concerted jubilation echoed across the lakes, mountains and valleys, from the most humble cottage to the largest cities.

At the age of 70, Saint Nicholas fell ill with a very painful sickness which tormented him for eight days and nights without overcoming his patience. He was beatified in 1669 by Pope Clement IX, canonized in 1947, by Pope Pius XII.

Source: Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l’année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950).

From St. Louis Marie de Monfort
True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 243.

Loving slaves of Jesus in Mary should hold in high esteem
devotion to Jesus, the Word of God, in the great mystery
of the Incarnation, March 25th, which is the mystery proper
to this devotion [Holy Slavery], because it was inspired by
the Holy Spirit for the following reasons:

a) That we might honor and imitate the wondrous dependence
which God the Son chose to have on Mary, for the glory of His
father and for the redemption of man. This dependence is
revealed especially in this mystery where Jesus becomes a
slave in the womb of His blessed Mother,
depending on her for everything.

b) That we might thank God for the incomparable graces he
has conferred upon Mary and especially that of choosing her
to be His most worthy Mother. This choice was made in the
mystery of the Incarnation. These are the two principal ends
of the slavery of Jesus in Mary.