On November 13, Pope Benedict gave a talk about the Internet.

He said, “Many young people, deafened by the infinite possibilities offered by information networks or other technologies, maintain forms of communication that do not contribute to maturation in humanity, but rather threaten to increase the sense of solitude and hopelessness.

“In the face of such phenomena, I have spoken many times of the educational crisis, a challenge to which we can and must respond with creative intelligence . . . .

 “For this difficult and fascinating task, the Church can draw on the extraordinary patrimony of symbols, images, rites and gestures of her tradition. In particular, of the Liturgy, in all its power as a communicative element . . . .”

As usual, many people criticised the Pope for being too negative etc.

* * *

But at least four of the Pope’s phrases are worth thinking about:

(1) Solitude: The Internet makes it easier to communicate with more people. That sounds like the opposite of solitude. But is it? Many people today would know a hundred people with whom they can talk about the weather, fashions, gossip etc. — but not one friend with whom to share their deepest concerns.

(2) Hopelessness: the Internet can lead us to regard other people as “things”, not as fellow children of God.What more hopeless than to relate more to electronic machines and images than to real people?  The worst examples being cyber-bullying and pornography. Turning to pornography risks real addiction, with the desire for ever greater stimulation and more perverse depictions.

(3) Educational crisis: Those spending long hours at the computer inevitably neglect their studies and reading. Research confirms that those devoting most time to Facebook etc. do worst at school. Some of them risk losing the very ability to read and study effectively.

(4) Liturgy: The Pope asserts that traditional worship is the solution to all this. That worshipping is the high point of human communication. That the Catholic liturgy — the prayers of the Mass, in particular — are our way to learn to communicate with God . . . .

And that celebrating Mass together binds believers to each other in a supernatural communication impossible to find any other way.

October 31 was HALLOWEEN. Of interest mainly to shopkeepers selling masks etc. to children.

November 2 will be MELBOURNE CUP DAY. Of interest to millions of Australian gamblers and lovers of flamboyant female hats as worn to horse-racing events

Sandwiched in between comes November 1 – ALL SAINTS DAY – a day to remember and to pray to the Saints in heaven.

November 1 has been All Saints Day for over 1000 years.

But one particular All Saints Day stands out as having unique, superlative and supreme importance.

* * *

In the late 1960’s the Second Vatican Council was over.

The Old Catholic Mass was being replaced by protestant-influenced substitutes.

The seminaries where priests train were – especially in Europe, North America and Australia – abandoning all discipline.

Seminarians often weren’t made to wear cassocks; they watched television, went out at nights, had girlfriends (or boyfriends?) and skipped the regular round-the-clock traditional set prayers.

Did those seminarians delight in all this “freedom”?

Some perhaps. Others hated it — wanting discipline and order, and distressed by the non-Catholic slackness.

Some seminarians approached a recently-retired bishop, asking him to recommend somewhere they could go to be taught properly.

It was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre – by then aged 64 — exhausted after decades of missionary-work in Africa.

He gave the seminarians some suggestions — but they were soon back. The modernism was everywhere. If they were to receive traditional Catholic training, a new Order within the Church must be started.

Archbishop Lefebvre drew up the necessary application to found a new Order and presented it to the local bishop – Francois Charriere, Bishop of Fribourg – who gave it his approbation.

So it came about that the Society of Saint Pius the Tenth began.

The date was 1 November 1970.

Forty years ago today.

* * *

From a single Seminary, the Society has grown — now having 6 seminaries, 500 priests, 700 mass centres, 2 universities and 88 schools.

Society priests use only the original Old Mass liturgy (in Latin).

Some Catholics wish it didn’t exist. A bit of name-calling goes on.

The Society is quite influential with the Pope.

It is obviously not going away.

Let’s thank God for that.

Especially today on this happy Fortieth Anniversary.

Today’s gospel reading in traditional Catholic churches is about forgiving and obeying:

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.

A debtor was brought who owed him a huge amount. Having no way to pay, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his family and property, in payment of the debt.

The servant fell down, pleading, “Be patient, and I will pay everything.”

Moved with compassion, the master let him go and forgave the debt.

When that servant left, he found a fellow-servant who owed him a small amount. Seizing him by the throat, he demanded, “Pay what you owe.”

The fellow-servant begged, “Be patient, and I will pay.”

But he refused, putting him instead in prison until he paid.

The other servants, seeing this, were upset, and told their master about it.

The master summoned him and said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you your debt because you asked me. Shouldn’t you have had pity on your fellow-servant, as I did on you?”

In anger, his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay the whole debt.

So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.

(words of Jesus, St Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 18)

* * *

Mother Mary MacKillop was the exact opposite to that servant.

Wronged repeatedly, she never harboured grudges.

Knowing about child-abusing priests, she didn’t turn against the Church – it made her even MORE determined to be loyal to the Church.

It wasn’t easy for her to be like that, but she knew what God wants, and she obeyed. Only by regular prayers and Mass-attendance was she able to live so well.

Obedience, prayer, the Mass . . . if an excellent person like Saint Mary MacKillop needed these in order to live well . . . .

Won’t we need them even more, B-grade material that we are?

* * *

Yes, the secret of Mother Mary’s life was OBEDIENCE — to God, to the Church and to her vows.

In a time of crisis, Mother Mary wrote to a fellow-sister, “Our work cannot last if the spirit of Obedience for Obedience’s sake is not upheld. The Congregation will crumble away, bit by bit — without the spirit of Obedience in its members.”

You, dear blog-reader — and I — should we not make a new resolution to live lives of Catholic OBEDIENCE?

Happy Canonisation-Day!!!!

Unexpectedly yesterday became Grand Final Day Part II for AFL football supporters.

Many other plans had to be changed — even weddings postponed.

For football everything else takes second place, it seems.

What if you believed that every Sunday you can come into the presence of Almighty God?

If you believed that, wouldn’t you cancel everything else, put on your best clothes, and present yourself there on the dot.

The answer of course is, No, you wouldn’t.

Most people know about the Sacraments of the Church by means of which we may share God’s presence, and even in his divine nature.

They know it, but they’ll spend the day playing sport, watching sport, working in the garden etc. regardless.

* * *

Today’s gospel reading in traditional Catholic churches is a sad story that Jesus told:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for his son. He sent his servants to call those  invited, but they wouldn’t come.

“He then sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell those invited, Look, I have prepared the feast. My calves and fattened cattle have been killed. Everything is ready. Come to the marriage.’ But they ignored the invitation, and went their way, one to his farm, another to his business.

“Then he told his servants: ‘The feast is ready; but those invited have proved unworthy. Go into the highways. Invite anyone you find to the marriage.’ So his servants went and gathered whoever they found, good people and bad, and the wedding-hall was filled.

“The king went in to see the guests. He found there one who was not wearing a wedding-garment. ‘Friend,’ he said, ‘How did you get in here without a wedding garment?’  The man was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and throw him into the darkness outside — where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen.’”

(Saint Matthew’s gospel, chapter 22)

* * *

The point of this story is that God expects us to give him top priority in everything. Even ahead of sport.

He gives us our life. He demands our respect and obedience.

Failing that he will destroy us, which we won’t enjoy.

                                                                                                                                                                           .

Today’s gospel reading for Mass in traditional Catholic churches says:

Entering into a boat, Jesus crossed the water and came to his own city. People there brought him a paralysed man lying on a stretcher. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the sick man, “Be of good heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.”

At that, some of the scribes said amongst themselves, “He is blaspheming.” Jesus seeing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Rise up, and walk . . . .’? So that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, (he then turned and spoke to the sick man) Rise up, take your bed, and go back to your house.”

He rose and went to his house.

The crowd, seeing this, feared and glorified God that he gave such power to men.

(Saint Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 9)

* * *

The big miracle was their faith in God. That’s what saves souls.

Whether Jesus proceeded to miraculously fix the man’s body was less important.

The physical healing was more for the benefit of the unbelievers present — the Scribes, paid to be religious, but reluctant to recognise God Incarnate when they saw him.

Religious people – especially religious leaders — are always in danger of pride, which can lead to selective blindness.

* * *

Most Australian Catholics can’t see that the English-language ceremony used in their parish church is NOT a translation of the Traditional Latin Catholic Mass, as used until the 1970’s – but something completely different.

Why not? Because their religious leaders haven’t told them, and don’t want them to see why . . .

* the new Mass downplays the sacrificial nature of the Mass

* modern altars have no Cross on them

* the priest’s Signs of the Cross, as per the Old Mass, are suppressed

* modernist priests seldom kneel, more often bobbing their heads at the holiest moments of the Mass

* * *

Those watching Jesus miraculously heal the paralysed man were filled with fear . . . .

We need the Mass of Tradition, which miraculously fills us with the fear of God . . . not only in church on Sunday, but all day, every day.

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of ex-President Bill, and Secretary of State, Hilary, married Marc Mezvinsky on July 31, 2010.

A sort of “mixed” marriage — a protestant marrying a Jew.

Otherwise it was a fairly traditional, sensation-free wedding — awful for those media columnists who survive by exposing sensational scandals about “celebrities”.

One commented, “Despite growing up in the White House, Ms. Clinton appears to have emerged ‘relatively normal’. People can’t quite believe it.”

* * *

Another “celebrity”, Julia Gillard, caretaker-Prime Minister of Australia, is famously un-married — living with a de facto male housemate or whatever.

Much more newsworthy.

Much better media.

* * *

Many Australians might shrug, saying mixed marriage isn’t a problem. Living together unmarried isn’t a problem. The only real problem is if somebody stands in front of the TV when I’m trying to watch it.

Yet, deep down, does something tell us that marriage is MORE than a photo-opportunity and/or ego-trip . . . that marriage has something to do with God?

Might God, indeed, have something to say about believers marrying non-believers etc?

* * *

Has confusion about marriage crept even into today’s Church?

The up-dated 1997 “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says:

“A case of marriage . . . between a Catholic and a non-baptised person . . . does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle for marriage, when they succeed in placing in common what they have received from their respective communities . . . But the difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated . . . .”

Two bob each way?

* * *

Before the 1960s, “modernisation” of the Church, the position was clearer:

“From the very beginning of its existence the Church of Christ has been opposed to such unions. As Christ raised wedlock to the dignity of a Sacrament, a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic was rightly looked upon as degrading the holy character of matrimony . . . .”

In practice, however, such marriages happened even then – with the Church trying to insist that the children be brought up Catholic . . . .

Was that already the thin edge of the wedge?