St. Vincent de Paul

Today is the Feast Day of St. Vincent de Paul. He is truly a hero of the Faith. Like St. Patrick, St. Vincent was captured and sold into slavery (by the Turks). He escaped after two years and converted his master.

A champion of the poor, of convicts, of children, he was also a champion of priestly vocations.

Here's some more information on him.

Bio of St. Vincent de Paul

Patron Saint of Charitable Societies

Monsieur Vincent

Teachings of St. Vincent de Paul

Closing Churches

Abandoned church in NY

Fr. Z writes about abandoned churches. There are pictures. He says:

• When people value something, they pay for it. 
• When Catholics lose their Catholic identity, they stop valuing Catholic things. 
• When the Church’s pastors compromise Catholic identity in their preaching and, above all, liturgical are celebrandi, people lose their Catholic identity.

Original article is at HuffPo with many more haunting photos.

I wonder if anyone got any photos of St. Patrick's. They might want to get some photos of IHM before its gone, too.

What with tent meetings, healing services, Protestant-based adult catechesis between Masses on Sunday, it is probably safe to say that All Saints Parish is well on its way to losing its Catholic identity.

Save a child, save a mama

Sanctifying the Seasons -- Ember Days

Rorate-Caeli republishes an article "The Glow of the Ember Days". And yes, tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday are Ember Days.

From the article:

The Ember days, which fall on a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the same week, occur in conjunction with the four natural seasons of the year. Autumn brings the September Embertide, also called the Michaelmas Embertide because of their proximity to the Feast of St. Michael on September 29.1 Winter, on the other hand, brings the December Embertide during the third week of Advent, and spring brings the Lenten Embertide after the first Sunday of Lent. Finally, summer heralds the Whitsun Embertide, which takes place within the Octave of Pentecost.

And this:

The Ember days, then, stand out as the only days in the supernatural seasons of the Church that commemorate the natural seasons of the earth. This is appropriate, for since the liturgical year annually renews our initiation into the mystery of redemption, it should have some special mention of the very thing which grace perfects.

A Rosary for Syrian Christians

You may not have heard about the live dismemberments of young Christians in Syria, the rapes, beatings, murders, but rest assured it is a living Hell for them right now. Won't you take a few moments from your day and pray the Rosary for our brethren?

And pray that our elected representatives stop funding the rebels, who are engaged in this wickedness against Christians.

Come, Pray the Rosary

"In the presence of the sacred"

When you have 20 minutes, listen to Dr. Thomas Woods' convocation address to students at Benedictine College. It will make you proud to be Catholic. And he's got some really good advice about the liturgy, too. (H/t Rorate-Caeli) Here's a link to his website and the book he references, "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization."

The Boatlift of 9/11

H/t to iOwnTheWorld.com

Have we forgotten Beauty?

I've been made aware that the All Saints Parish Chant Schola has been temporarily moved to the Saturday of the first Sunday of the Month, for September (yesterday), October and November, hence: October 5 (Vigil, 27th Sun in Ordinary Time), and November 2 (Vigil, 31st Sun in Ordinary Time).

Apparently, the Chant Schola will be evaluated (via a survey) to see if they will be allowed to continue to serve the parish. Imagine that.

If you don't already know, this dedicated group of volunteer parishioners has been quietly singing and working for some time bring the beauty and reverence of Gregorian Chant to ASP. Recently, a Latin Mass Society was formed to bring the beauty and richness of our liturgical heritage to the parish on a regular basis.

Just for good measure, here is a first-installment article about the Traditional Latin Mass (sometimes called the Old Mass or the Vetus Ordo or the Extraordinary Form) from the folks at the New Liturgical Movement website. Whatever it is called, it is the Mass that is/was said for centuries by priests in the Roman Rite. From the article:

"But most memorable for me, though, were the times when someone would sort of stumble into our little chapel by accident, when Mass was going on, and I would hear weeping behind me.  Oft-times, I would have no server, and sometimes no congregation when I started the Mass, so I would simply be unaware that anyone had come in to the chapel. Until I turned around for the “Ecce Agnus Dei” at the people’s Communion, I did not know whose sobs I had been hearing.  After Mass, the explanation of these impromptu visitors was almost always the same:  “Father, I haven’t seen this Mass in thirty (or forty) years.  I have forgotten how beautiful it is.”  This was a Low Mass, without any of the grandeur of the Sung Mass or the Solemn High Mass.  But people remembered how intensely God-centered it was, how awesome it presented the Mercy of God and the call to holiness---how it invited one to such humility before the omnipotence of God...I heard the same thing from visitors to our Sunday liturgies, but over the years something dramatic has begun to happen.

One now hears these things from people who have no experience of the old liturgy at all from their earlier years. (Emphasis mine)

The same thing is at work:  The beauty of the chant, the lingering odor of incense, which permeates one’s clothing and reminds one that they’ve been to Mass, the dignity and beauty and the color of vestments and altar furnishings, the “littleness” of kneeling to receive the Lord on one’s knees at Communion time---all these things tell of something great.

The Old Mass changes hearts."