Corpus Christi Diocese Master of Ceremonies Continues Making Altar Servers Kneel for Holy Communion!

Here's some good news for all you out there, bellyaching about our new Holy Father!

Pope Francis' quiet example of making even his deacons kneel for Communion does seem to be filtering down.  Corpus Christi's altar servers now, just now-not before this Holy Week, kneel at our seldom-used Communion rail for Holy Communion!  I noted this in the previous post for our Chrism Mass...but it is been going on all-week-long!

 k.c. suspects that it is the Diocesan Master of Ceremonies who is behind this move....

Good for him!  Pray for him (and for MSGR Marini)

Corpus Christi Cathedral Chrism Mass Features Kneeling Altar Boys

Sisters and Brothers!

Maybe our Holy Father's example is filtering down!

Communion at Corpus Christi Cathedral's Chrism Mass began with 10 altar boys kneeling at our seldom-used altar rail, with their patens under their chins, waiting for the Bishop Michael Mulvey and the parochial vicar to give them Holy Communion.  (no, they did not hop up like Easter bunnies!)

May God have mercy on me for being so critical of the way things have been done in our diocese!  Pope Benedict began this holy kneeling crusade and his Holiness, Pope Francis continues it with his Tridentine  way of making the deacons kneel for Communion and then having them give Communion to kneeling communicants.      I know this is the Tridentine way for a pope....Fr. MacDonald at Southern Orders Blog said so!

This kneeling crusade, by two popes in a row now, reminds me of something one of Pope Francis' fellow Jesuits once said: 

"it is of God; it cannot be withstood"

About The Holy Father, Pope Francis Washing Women's Feet!

Father McDonald at Southern Orders has written a bracing article for Traddies, like me, who are shocked-disappointed-indignant that Pope Francis might be washing women’s feet and other laity’s feet on Holy Thursday.  In short Father says:

1.   Washing feet is a SacramenTAL, not a SacraMENT.  Therefore,  how the Pope does it is should not be a deal-breaker, anymore than when Bl. JP II added those 5 Mysteries of Light to the Holy Rosary.  (I understand that Francis is one of those intransigents who stubbornly refuses to learn them!)

2. Washing feet should not be considered a symbol of ordination, anyway….it is a symbol of Christ’s--and therefore the sacramental priesthood's humility.  Period. (I did not know that....but Father makes a good case!)

  (this is my point)  Christ gives us teachers to help us sort out what is really important, to order things.  Otherwise we just see a collection of incoherent regulations.  Do we naturally know when one rule trumps another?  No!  We need guidance from above for that….plus, if it turns out we have been wrong about the best interpretation of this sacramenTAL that could be a good thing-- as it is a good thing when we sometimes have to ‘eat crow’.   It fosters humility and speeds reconciliation which the Church badly needs. 

Long live Pope Francis!!



addendum: A pope washing the laity's feet is not unprecedented.

from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

......In 694 the Seventeenth Synod of Toledo commanded all bishops and priests in a position of superiority under pain of excommunication to wash the feet of those subject to them. The matter is also discussed by Amalarius and other liturgists of the ninth century. Whether the custom of holiding this "maundy" (from "Mandatum novum do vobis", the first words of the initial Antiphon) on Maundy Thursday, developed out of the baptismal practice originally attached to that day does not seem quite clear, but it soon became an universal custom in cathedral and collegiate churches. In the latter half of the twelfth century the pope washed the feet of twelve sub-deacons after his Mass and of thirteen poor men after his dinner........{{this article also mentions that it is the practice of some Orthodox for the Priest/Bishop to wash the feet of the laity}}

Francis Prevents Politicians from Photo-opping the Blessed Sacrament

 

I've scoured the internet to find pictures from yestedays papal inauguration where politicians have tried to pose with the Blessed Sacrament and hence show their good standing with the Church.  I have come up pretty much empty.   All I can find is a stunning photo of a kneeling princess!

 

To those grumblers out there who already claiming that Pope Benedict's reign was sooo much better for holy reverence than what we have now, I would have to wonder if they have forgotten............

 

this

 



2011 at the Papal Nuncio's Memorial

 

or this 

 

2008 at the Papal Mass

after being scandalized on a regular basis, I think I am way ready for this........



                                                          Yesterday at Francis' Papal Inauguration

 Long live Pope Francis!!!!

More Kneeling Communion at Francis' Papal Inauguration

Southern Orders Blog is right on top of the situation........



http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2013/03/two-changes-in-papal-installation.html

Thank you Fr. MacDonald!

 

Bombshell!! Onlly Kneeling Communion at Pope Francis' First Sunday Mass

Friends!

Shame on everyone who has attacked our new Holy Father even  before they have even seen what he is doing!

I was alerted to this by  Praytell blog  (no friend of kneeling)......


.....@Fr. Allan J. McDonald – comment #10:
Bombshell: The Holy Father distributes the Hosts to the two deacons as they kneel before him and by way of intinction. But the Holy Father and none of the other bishops distribute Holy Communion to the faithful! Two deacons are distributing only the Hosts to the congregation at the center of the church as they kneel to receive.......

 Father D'Souza said a few days ago, watch for any changes that are made.  Well a few change have been made...one assumes this is the Holy Father putting his own stamp on papal Masses...as some like to say--bottom line up front---Pope Francis has gone from some people kneeling and some standing during Holy Communion [[i.e. right after Pope Benedict would begin distributing to kneeling communicants, then his ministers of Holy Communion would often give out Communion any old way]],  to (with Francis) everyone kneeling with no exceptions.

If this liturgy is our new Pope's 'via media',  then sign me up!

Thank you, Praytell and Fr. McDonald! for the 'hearts up'

Thank you, Holy Father!

EWTN's Father D'Souza Doesn't See Liturgy as Emphasis in Next Papacy

Check out Father Z and Father D'Souza!

Father D makes his prediction about Liturgy soon to be put on the back-burner around 19 minutes into this video.......Father seems to be pooh-poohing people (around 18m30sec) who want their priests to imitate what they see in Papal liturgies....Father D certainly does seem to take a whack at Benedict XVI for implicitly criticizing his predecessor, Bl. J P II,  by making changes in the papal liturgy.....

my only point here is:  Father D doesn't know what is going to happen with the liturgy, therefore imo his speculation is more likely to be what Father D would like to see happen.  i.e. let's-get-back-to-the-basics, and-btw-worship -is- not- a -basic."

By making such statements, I really wonder how obligated Father D has ever felt to imitate Benedict XVI's  papal liturgies.  This is what frustrates me!  Benedict XVI's liturgical efforts were often undermined by statements like the above--and actions-- by his 'friends'. So many of the Bishops and Cardinals he elevated, no names mentioned right now, have felt no loyalty to their benefactor....just watch some of their dreadful installation Masses EWTN has carried!

I pray that our Cardinals make a wise choice, but I cannot see any of our North American cardinals ever picking a Pope--let alone becoming one-- who will continue Benedict's attempt to restore Catholic worship.
We must pray and hope for a miracle!

Will Cardinal Ranjith be our next pope?

We can always hope! (and pray!)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/sri-lankan-cardinal-ranjith-holds-tight-to-tradition-in-papal-stakes/2013/03/07/dbf01142-8797-11e2-a80b-3edc779b676f_story_1.html

I might add, k.c. is not the only one backing Cardinal Ranjith!...
"The Remnant" (http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/) is fully behind him! (this is after they apparently attacked him in 2006....(http://wdtprs.com/blog/2006/11/the-remnant-vs-archbishop-ranjith/)

This would be one more reason to choose Cardinal Ranjith.....he has a way of winning over 'difficult' people....

And.....he speaks 10 languages!  American bishops would not be able to 'pull the wool' over his eyes (as most certainly did happen when they waved the original, dreadful, discredited and discarded ICEL translation in front of confused Vatican eyes back in the 70's (60's?) )


On another note, another strong Asian contender for pope, Cardinal Tagle of Manila.,  seems to have "gotten one over" on Pope Benedict XVI and his vettors according to Sandro Magister,
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350082?eng=y
.  Apparently Tagle's connection to a liberal organization, School of Bologna, was concealed until after he was made a cardinal......

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this one of Cardinal Tagel is not encouraging!!!

Did Dr. Scott Hahn's 2005 prediction about Benedict XVI come true?

(Dr.Hahn's 2005 quote regarding Pope Benedict XVI's future papacy)

...He'll direct our attention away from the hot-button issues, which are really peripheral issues -- such as the battles over liturgical language and decoration. , [k.c.'s emphases].....We'll see very soon how this plays out in his pontificate. The synod in October will conclude the Year of the Eucharist with a Churchwide reflection on the Eucharist. Watch for the themes I mentioned: the heavenly liturgy, the de-politicization of the liturgy, [k.c.'s emphases] and the re-sacralization of the liturgy....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1422240/posts

Thankfully, I believe,  Dr. Hahn's prediction of a resacralization of the liturgy did occur, however it seems to have occurred thru  Pope Benedict XVI's emphasis upon what Dr. Hahn said would not be emphasized......
or am I reading him wrong....?

Isn't kneeling for Communion a 'hot-button issue'?