In the Cemetery

For  the last four years or so, Emma and I have gone to pray the rosary in the small Catholic cemetery nearest our house every day during November.  It belongs to a rural parish that was established early in the 20th century by people of Czech descent.  We can see the tiny brick church across the hay fields to the west of us as we walk and pray.

We have grown to cherish our time in the cemetery each year.  It is so peaceful there, and often a refreshing breeze washes over us as the setting sun glints golden on the surrounding fields.  Here we have the comfort of the community of the dead, many of whom died before Vatican II and so professed the same Faith as we do.  We love reading the Old Country names.  I am particularly fond of "Frantiska" and "Zofie".  

Along with the joy we experience in the cemetery, we feel keenly the sharp stab of exile.  We gaze with longing at the little church and wish that we could go to mass so close to our house.  To be able to go to daily mass and rosary--what bliss!  We have driven 2 hours roundtrip on Sundays for the last 12 years to be able to assist at the traditional mass.   In desperation several years ago we tried going to mass at the little brick church.  We hungered for Catholic community--to live our faith daily among those who shared it.  The experience was so shocking that we never returned.  That novus ordo mass sharply illuminated for me how formative the traditional mass is.  Ever since, whenever I remember our experience, the word "hootenanny" pops into my mind.  It's far more accurate than "lack of reverence."

I firmly believe the old dead at the cemetery would feel the same way we did if they were allowed to return to their little brick church.

Happily, on All Souls Day, we met an older couple at the cemetery who belong to the parish.  Emma asked them if they would like to join us in praying the rosary, and they agreed.  So most days this month they have met us there, and we have walked and prayed through the cemetery together.  It has been truly lovely to have their company.

From them we learned that there is a new Polish pastor and that he asked the parishioners if the old altar and altar rails were stored somewhere--a hopeful sign.  Sadly, these fixtures, along with many beloved statues, were shipped off to Mexico after the new mass was introduced in 1969.

Our rosary companions told us that one parishioner managed to save the large Sacred Heart of Jesus statue that used to stand at the front of the church on the epistle side.  He carried it home and has kept it ever since.  Now he is quite elderly, and rumor has it that he is wondering if it is safe to bring it back. But the "praise band" now occupies the spot where the Sacred Heart used to stand.  I thought about how that displacement was true on so many levels in the novus ordo.  The day we learned this story, we added to our rosary the intention that the Sacred Heart statue be returned to its rightful place and that the "choir" would return to the long-vacant choir loft.

Let us pray hard for the restoration of the Church.

On My Refrigerator: Handy Dandy Guide to the New Religion of Vatican II

I was cleaning out a kitchen drawer on Tuesday and discovered this long-lost treasure that I had clipped from one of Fr. Zendejas' "blue papers" several years ago, before he left the SSPX and became a Resistance priest.  I had thought of it many times and wanted to review it but could not remember where I had stashed it.

My heart thrilled with its re-discovery!  "Look what I found!" I crowed to Emma.  She immediately whipped out her phone and took a picture for safekeeping.   She knows too well that just because I find something doesn't mean that I won't lose it again.

I began seriously looking over the list last night and started typing it up in chronological order, so I could see the process better.  That's when I realized that a really important change was not even on the list, that being the new rite for Episcopal Consecration, which was instituted in 1968 at the same time as the new rite for Priestly Ordination.

As for the last item, I'm not sure what Fr. Zendejas was trying to say about the New Evangelization of 2013, as John Paul II and Benedict XVI had touted it during their reigns.  I'm guessing he was trying to communicate something about Bergoglio actually implementing the things that JPII and BXVI only dreamed of.  But that is only a guess.

It's quite heartbreaking to ponder the individual items on this list, especially when you know that most Conciliar Catholics have no idea that their religion is not the same one as practiced by Catholics before Vatican II.  Maybe this list can rectify that.  It's a great outline for starting an investigation into what happened to the Church.  I recommend the sedevacantist site, Novus Ordo Watch, as a solid resource.  But by all means, read far and wide.  To get you started, here's a link to NOW's extensively documented post on the new rite of episcopal consecration.

I Dream of Catholic Agrihoods

The Early Monastery, Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny

For more information visit http://www.stcanicescathedral.ie/

Image ©Cathedral Church of St Canice - Paint the Past

On the way to church on Sunday, my daughter Emma read me an article on agrihoods, an up and coming "thing" where houses are built around a working farm rather than say, a golf course.  The prices quoted in the article for this one in California made me laugh.  I think the median home price was $500,000.

Of course Catholics solved this food/community problem ages ago by building houses around a monastery or cathedral.  This make a whole lot more sense, as you have a Catholic community, real food, and ready access to the sacraments, not to mention the grounding effect of having Christ in the tabernacle physically at the center of your life.  And Catholics could actually afford the houses.  But how do you adapt this model to the conditions in modern America?  At least starting out, it would seem that we would have to build modest homes around our traditional chapels, as there just aren't enough monasteries or cathedrals that have not been taken over by what Anne Catherine Emmerich called "the Dark Church," which I equate with the new religion of Vatican II.

I have even looked at some traditional chapels that already have modest homes on small lots surrounding them, but they weren't occupied by the parishioners.  These neighborhoods would be good places for young couples to start out, especially if they got together and made a plan for purchasing these homes.   Square-foot gardening and edible landscaping would be great options for these situations.

Alternatively, Emma has talked for years about finding acreage and getting her friends together to buy plots of it.  Then everybody could help build off-the-grid houses--she favors Hobbit-like cob houses--and get private and/or community gardens started.  Then they would build a chapel and rectory and find a priest to come and shepherd them.  Or maybe the priest part would be first.  She has even thought about which of her friends would make a good midwife, which a good schoolteacher, etc.  Start small but dream big.

I think these are great ideas, and I hope this post gets more young people thinking about Catholic solutions to living the faith in the midst of the death throes of the Vatican II religion.  I know there are already some groups thinking along these lines; I've seen at least one on Facebook, so Emma and I are not totally whacky in considering these options.

I've been reading Song for Nagasaki to my parents, hoping it would help convert my agnostic dad, a retired electrical engineer, as he identifies strongly with scientists.  There is a lot of discussion in the book about the Japanese Underground Christians and how they kept the faith without priests for a couple of hundred years, I believe.  I can't remember the exact length of time.  I hope we don't have to do that, but it is something that we should prepare for.  At least we have live-stream internet masses and DVD recordings of masses and mp3 recordings of sermons for now.  If you don't have access to a chapel with the true Mass and true Faith as known and practiced until the death of Pope Pius XII, I think you will find help and encouragement in these posts:

Being a Real Catholic While the Church is in Eclipse

What to Do If You Have No Mass

Catholic Confusion and "The Reform of the Reform"

I have often wondered what the "reform of the reform" would be like. Now, I think I know. Last Sunday at the indult Mass, I saw a lady in the communion line who was wearing thin, clingy, gray knit pants--possibly exercise pants--and a t-shirt. On her head was a beautiful veil.