Fact: Seminarian to offer his first Mass after his Ordination as a Missa Solemnis

Gentle Readers...

In a couple of my past postings I have spoken glowingly, and full of hope for the number of orthodox seminarians in the Diocese of Charlotte... in faithful accord with the mens of the Holy Father.

One in particular I have mentioned was Jason Barone (now Deacon Barone)... and I am pleased to share this news that he has posted to his Facebook:

Greetings all. As many of you know, I'm in the final months of priestly formation and preparation. My bishop now plans to ordain me to the holy priesthood this June 2nd at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Huntersville, NC (just outside Charlotte) at 10am. My first Mass will take place the following day, Sunday June 3rd, at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Charlotte at 2:30pm. Receptions will follow both. Please save the date. I hope you can join me for this momentous weekend.

Those of you following my early posts will well notice that this timing aligns with the Missa Solemnis that we are expecting at St. Ann's... so my dear readers, it does not take much deduction to notice that his First Mass offered after his Ordination will be a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary form!!

I hope that as many of you as possible can be there to support Deacon Barone... both at his Ordination, and for his First Mass!

Please continue praying for Deacon Barone and all of our seminaries as they continue their preparations and study for becoming ministers of Christ's Holy Church.

Grapevine: (Updated) Mark your calendars... more Missae Cantatae

Gentle Readers,

Some updates I have heard on the preparations beginning for the next few Missae Cantatae for 2012 at St. Ann's in Charlotte...

Monday, March 26 -- Missa Cantata for Feast of the Annunciation (7.00pm)
Thursday, May 17 -- Missa Cantata for Feast of the Ascension (7.00pm)
Sunday, June 3 -- Missa Solemnis for Feast of the Holy Trinity (2.30pm)

In addition, also hearing discussions on some additional summer events to look forward to...

Thursday, July 26 -- Missa Cantata or Solemnis for Feast of St. Anne

... and the possibility of a Forty Hours Adoration as well in June around the time of the Feast of Corpus Christi.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Forty Hours Adoration which was quite a common devotion in the pre-Vatican II days, it was a great Eucharistic celebration that open with a High Mass of the Blessed Sacrament followed by a Eucharistic procession after which the Blessed Sacrament was enthroned on the High Altar for 40 hours while a Mass for Peace (pro Pace) was offered on the second day at a side altar, and then a closing Mass at the end of the 40 hours. In the "old days" the closing Mass was usually followed by an "opening" Mass at another parish so that 40 hours of Adoration of our Blessed Lord was constant at one parish of the diocese at all times.

I look forward to being able to post this as a "Fact"... and in the meantime, please join me in praying for all of those involved in making these fonts of grace available to us: Father Reid, the Altarboys, and the Schola & Choir.


God bless y0u all!

Fact: Administration Attacks Religious Liberity

Dear Readers,

Until now, I have managed to avoid talking politics on this blog, but there are times when things are so wrong , that it must be addressed as I am reminded of the poem at the entrance to the Holocaust memorial in Boston:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I was Protestant.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

We must now speak... or our freedom to believe and to live our lives in our believe will be gone. I only pray that the outcry raised by this will exceed the successful beat back of the Internet censorship efforts that this same Administration was supporting... first it was freedom of speech, now it is freedom of religion... this Administration has no moral compass to guide it as it wantonly flaunts those precious rights that this country was founded on.

I implore you to:

1. Pray for conversion of the Administration and repeal of the regulations
2. Contact your representatives in both houses of the U.S. Congress
3. Vote your informed conscience in November's elections

Below is the video message of Cardinal-Designate Timothy Dolan, President of the USCCB and a link to the official USCCB "statement" on this issue...

Please do not be a bystander on this one for they are "coming for us"

Archbishop Timothy Dolan on HHS Conscience Regulation from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.

U.S. BISHOPS VOW TO FIGHT HHS EDICT

Unconscionable to force citizens to buy contraceptives against their will

No change in limited exemption, only delay in enforcement

Matter of freedom of conscience, freedom of religion

WASHINGTON—The Catholic bishops of the United States called “literally unconscionable” a decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today's announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.

“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The cardinal-designate continued, “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty."

The HHS rule requires that sterilization and contraception – including controversial abortifacients – be included among “preventive services” coverage in almost every healthcare plan available to Americans. “The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” added Cardinal-designate Dolan.

At issue, the U.S. bishops and other religious leaders insist, is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for the conscience of Catholics and all other Americans.

“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, chairperson of the board at Franciscan Alliance, Inc., a system of 13 Catholic hospitals. “I have hundreds of employees who will be upset and confused by this edict. I cannot understand it at all.”

Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, voiced disappointment with the decision. Catholic hospitals serve one out of six people who seek hospital care annually.

“This was a missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection,” Sister Keehan said.

Cardinal-designate Dolan urged that the HHS mandate be overturned.

“The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand,” he said. “The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation. We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision.”

Fact: St. Ann's of Charlotte, NC ... A Beacon to the Recovery of Catholic Identity

Dear Gentle Readers... in these closing days of Advent preparation (both spiritual and secular), I am pausing to reflect on the last couple of weeks of the Missae Cantatae offered at St. Ann's and just what a blessing this parish, its priest, its servers, and its schola and choir are to the recovery of our Catholic identity.

Within just 10 days, both a Missa Cantata and a Missa Solemnis were offered... it was not that long ago that we would pray to just have one Mass in the Extraordinary form a couple of times a year... here are two in just 10 days... with full schola and choir... and just what exceptional schola and choir they are... every Mass offered seems to "raise the bar" on the last, with sacred polyphony being added to their repertoire of parts of the Ordinary of the Mass.

I state in the title of this post that St. Ann's has become "a beacon to the recovery of our Catholic identity"... because it is exactly these Masses that is attracting so many other priests and our blessed seminarians to come here to experience something "other-worldly" and to carry that with them into their own parishes and seminaries.

When our beloved Holy Father, Benedict XVI (Long may he reign!) liberated the "old Mass"... stating that it was never abrogated and expressed his heartfelt and prayerful desire that the two forms of the Roman rite might "enrich each other"... we see it played out weekly at St. Ann's.

Much of what has been recovered in offering the the Mass in the Extraordinary form, is carried over into the weekly Masses of the Ordinary form... to the recovery of the Mass propers... to the recovery of sacred polyphony... to the recovery of sacred ritual and rubrics...to the recovery of Latin as the language of the Church,... and now, with the new translation of the Roman Missal... even the recovery of sacred language for our prayers again.


But it does not stop there, this Catholic identity then carries forward to the "New Evangelization" that our Holy Father desires as well! I have used these Missae Cantatae to bring back fallen-away Catholics as well as to expose some of our separated brethren to the "fullness of Truth" offered by Holy Mother Church.

In last night's Mass I had a two-fer.... a fallen away Catholic who married a Southern Baptist. After Mass, we went to dinner... and it was a wonderful moment of evangelizing...and they were blown away by the Mass.

The wife said "it was all just so beautiful and reverent, you Catholics really know how to do reverence"... and the little boy, aged 11... "wow, I felt like it was a 'real' church"... and after fielding the usual questions of "why do you have to pray to Mary?" ... "why did the women have the heads covered?" ... "what was the thing the 'smoke' came out of and why?"... and answering them with all of the theological and scriptural references appropriate... they walked away with the seed of "fullness of truth" planted in their spiritual soil.

They also could not stop talking about the music and how it pulled them in and kept them engaged. They said that they had "never heard anything so beautiful" and even though they did not fully "understand the Latin"... they knew that it was something special! They even mentioned that the gentleman in front of them was recording the Mass... and after the Mass, the man turned around and handed their son a prayer card with a prayer for priests... little seeds can grow!

I offered Father Reid my gratitude this morning for his offering the Mass last evening, and ever gracious, he said that he loved doing it... and he added that the other priests assisting asked him if "he knew how lucky he was to have a schola and choir like that"... to which he answered "yes, I know."

Also, at Mass today, Fr. Reid announced that the new 'statues' had arrived, and that he hoped to have them installed by Christmas. So, the physical church itself continues to be an example of Catholic identity... adding not just more beauty to the Domus Dei, but adding more theological and catechial elements to the architecture... and continues to display St. Ann's as the beacon to Catholic identity that it has become.

I think it goes for all of us here at St. Ann's... that we are "lucky" to have Fr. Reid, St. Ann's parish, the Servers, and the Schola & Choir.... and that we should continue to remember them all in our prayers.

Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel nascetur pro te Israel.

Fact: It's official... Solemn High Mass at St. Ann's on Dec. 17th for IV Sunday of Advent (anticipated)

Dear Readers... terrific news!

It was confirmed today in the bulletin of St. Ann's in Charlotte, NC. on Park Road that on Saturday, Dec. 17th, at 6.30pm there will be a Missa Solemnis for the IV Sunday of Advent (anticipated).


Veni, veni Emmanuel... captivum solve Israel, qui gemit in exsilo, privatus Dei Filio... Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel, nascetur pro te Israel.

Fact: Missa Cantata for Immaculate Conception (anticipated) at St. Ann's in Charlotte

Gentle Readers... it is official, as listed in the calendar of the Catholic News Herald... there will be a Missa Cantata offered at St. Ann's on Park Road in Charlotte for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (anticipated) on Wednesday, Dec. 7th, at 7.00pm.




Please note this is NOT on the actual Feast Day of Dec. 8th... but the evening before. Please keep Father Reid, the servers, and the Schola/Choir in your prayers as they prepare to assist in offering another Missa Cantata for all of us.

"Je suis l'Immaculée Conception".... Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis peccatoribus!

Fact: Another view of July's Solemn High Mass

Dear Readers... I just found this video of the Missa Solemnis at St. Ann's in Charlotte, NC back in July... quality video... although it looks like the creators added their own musical accompaniment... It was wonderful to think of this Mass again.




Laudetur Jesus Christus