The Sound of Violent Extremism - Asperges Me

 

I was brought up with this tune, as an Anglican in Oxford, and I loved it, I still do. But you'll notice the ethnically violent, colonial oppression cant of the thing. To boot, "Thou shalt wash me and I shall become whiter than snow." Wow, what hideous RMVE (racially motivated violent extremism). 

Perhaps you think I'm joking, think again. Years ago, in a beautiful church outside of Philly I had a POC organist. He was paid 45 grand a year to enhance the liturgy which, when I arrived, included the Asperges. And guess what, he taught the choir, such as it was, to change the words of the chanted psalm to "cleaner" as opposed to "whiter."

This is your enemy

You see, "whiter than snow" was racist to him on his oppressed POC 45k. So I fired that fraudulent, no account, trifling mountebank and the people heaved a sigh of relief. But that was then, this is now. Just picture all those RTCs storming Mammon on the Capitol, consecrated in their mission by the Mass.

That in mind, maybe the Godless FBI has a point. Could it be that genuine Christianity's a threat to them, that it's a spear in the eye of their Father, Satan.

Libera nos a malo,

LSP

Mass in Dallas

Unlike our adversary, the Devil, I'm taking a couple of Sundays off but that doesn't mean you don't go to Mass, far from it. So I roused the slumbering team, ironed a shirt and headed out to the local RC church in Dallas. Why there? Because it was around the corner and I wanted to check it out.

St. Cecilia's was set-up as a Swedish congregation back in the day and was an interesting church, with an attractively painted Sanctuary and Stations of the Cross. I know this because I went to Mass there years ago and was surprised at the European aspect of the place. Then it burned down and they built a new church, modern basilica style, sort of thing.

As it Was

It's an airy space, all tones of white with beige brick and an arresting brass tabernacle up against the east wall behind the small freestanding altar. But what was the Mass like? Just what you'd expect. A high-pitched woman cantorite banged away on an amplified piano and led the congregation in song. Not that anyone sang, because the setting was unsingable. You know the tune, you hear it burbling away in the background at retreat center bookshops.

Wrecking Crew

The liturgy was standard too. The Priest sat off to the side of the tabernacle in an outsize chair, or "throne," accompanied by an elderly Deacon and a youth in a cassock alb who held the Missal for the Celebrant. He moved to the altar at the Offertory and took it from there. All well and good and, like the music, exactly what you'd expect. Reverent enough, no clowns, no dancing, but not really liturgical either. Move from the Chair to the Altar, and there you have the stunning simplicity of liturgical reform. Well done, experts of the 1970s, for doing your part to destroy over a thousand years of worshiping tradition. 

A Catholic Mass

Still, I shouldn't complain, the Mass was said, the church was full, the people were faithful and the team left St. Cecilia's edified and uplifted by Word and Sacrament at this onetime outpost of Sweden in Dallas.

God bless,

LSP

Knave Altar

The Brompton Oratory Before Reform

From Geoffrey Kirk at IHC:

It has just been revealed that, on the night of July 14, a posse of twenty-five hastily recruited and commissioned Vicars General, at the behest of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, gained entry to the Brompton Oratory and forcibly installed a westward-facing altar.

The Cardinal’s representatives dismantled the existing High Altar – an action described by Catholic commentator and blogger Damian Thompson as ‘reminiscent of the worst excesses of the French Revolution’ – and replaced it with an altar table and matching ambo ‘tastefully handcrafted in limed oak’, donated for the purpose by Messrs Vanpoulles Ltd.

In what was described by the Sacristan as ‘a rampage fuelled by mindless ideology’ other altars were dismantled or defaced and a bonfire of liturgical music (Monteverdi, Mozart, Haydn, Durufle, Bruckner) was started in the nave, around which the Vicars General danced, singing worship songs by Paul Inwood and Bernadette Farrell.

A typical praise scene at the Oratory this week

At least they weren't dressed as clowns, or were they?

Your Old Friend,

LSP 

Donald Trump For Pope

According to CNN, Donald Trump is taking a shot at the Papacy as well as the US Presidency:

I don’t have to do this, when you think about it. I really don’t. I’m rich. I’m really, really, rich. I built a great company; a tremendous company. I employ thousands and thousands of people. So my friends, they ask me, they say Donald, you have everything you can dream of. You’re rich, you have an amazing wife, an amazing family, you’re very successful, why run for Pope? And I say, you know what? I have to run. My Church needs me. The Catholics need me. I have to make the Catholic Church great again. I have to.

I especially enjoyed this:

The priest consecrates a bunch of hosts and then a layperson, usually a woman up at the altar in a pantsuit. Probably Hillary. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were Hillary.

(Laughter)

You ever notice today that all the nuns dress like Hillary? When did that happen? When did nuns start dressing like Hillary? It’s scary. It’s really scary.

Trad Catholics, and anyone else, might enjoy reading the whole thing here.

Cheers,

LSP