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From the Pastor: Happy Mother’s Day!
A very happy and holy Mother’s Day to all mothers reading this! Mother’s Day is such a valued secular holiday that there is no way that it can be ignored within the Church, even though it is not on the liturgical calendar. On this day, we honor our biological mothers, our Godmothers, our adoptive mothers, and even the special women of our lives who may have “filled in” for our mothers if our own were missing. Today, I wish to highlight one additional mother who, simply because calling her “mother” has fallen out of favor, is rarely, if ever, honored on Mother’s Day. Let us never fail to honor our Holy Mother the Church. A quick search online for the term Holy Mother the Church or simply Holy Mother Church shows that the Catholic Church was called “Mother” over and over in Church documents and other spiritual writings of the distant past, but did you know that it shows up even in current Church documents? For example, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the Chapter titled, “God’s Salvation: Law and Grace,” we find the heading, “The Church, Mother and Teacher.” I will quote the two paragraphs directly under that heading: 2030 It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of “the law of Christ.” From the Church he receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the “way.” From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of those who live it; he discovers it in the spiritual tradition and long history of the saints who have gone before him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the rhythms of the sanctoral cycle. 2031 The moral life is spiritual worship. We “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” within the Body of Christ that we form and in communion with the offering of his Eucharist. In the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments, prayer and teaching are conjoined with the grace of Christ to enlighten and nourish Christian activity. As does the whole of the Christian life, the moral life finds its source and summit in the Eucharistic sacrifice. Doesn’t that show how the Church can truly be called “Mother”? Just as our mothers generally love, nurture, and teach us, just as our mothers sustain us, encourage us, and strengthen us, just as our mothers urge us to live up to the fullest of our potential, so does Holy Mother the Church. The paragraphs following those quoted continue along the same path. They explain how our Holy Mother the Church teaches us the moral life and always encourages us to stay holy and grow in holiness. Paragraph 2040 continues the motherly language, “Thus a true filial spirit toward the Church can develop among Christians. It is the normal flowering of the baptismal grace which has begotten us in the womb of the Church and made us members of the Body of Christ. In her motherly care, the Church grants us the mercy of God which prevails over all our sins and is especially at work in the sacrament of reconciliation. With a mother's foresight, she also lavishes on us day after day in her liturgy the nourishment of the Word and Eucharist of the Lord.” What blessings our Mother bestows upon us! Just as the Fourth Commandment tells us to honor our earthly father and mother, so it similarly would apply to our Holy Mother the Church. For just as surely as we honor her who loves us and gives us mortal life, so should we honor her who loves us and gives us life eternal. Sadly, we do not always recognize our mother’s dignity, her intentions, or her wisdom, yet she is always ready to overlook our faults and failings and embrace us the moment we return to her. In this and in many other ways, mothers, especially Holy Mother the Church, are the most clear images of God that we have upon this Earth. (And no, I am not calling God “Mother” with this statement.) May we love and honor them all as they deserve, by following their teachings and living their love. Shortly before I sent this article to the printer, Holy Mother Church, who was experiencing labor pains as a conclave was being held to determine the next Pope, gave birth, so to speak. Because you will have already had much news fed to you about who Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, is, I don’t have to go into any more details at this time. I may have more to say about it next week. In the meantime, Happy Mother’s Day once again! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: First Holy Communion
The day that one receives Holy Communion for the first time should be one of the most joy-filled days in any person’s life. God made us with a longing deep within our hearts and souls for union with Him. Although our understanding of that longing matures as we grow in our faith, it is present even within the smallest infant. For the Catholic child, this longing is brought into his life in a very tangible fashion every time mom and dad bring him to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. From the time a Catholic infant knows how to reach out and put things into his mouth, he desires to receive Holy Communion. As he is carried in his mother’s arms while she opens her mouth to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the Catholic infant will invariably reach out to try to “receive” Holy Communion as well. His understanding of this sacrament in which Jesus is fully present--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity--is not highly developed, of course, but it is there nonetheless. To the extent that he is capable, he understands that the church is a place unlike any other place his family takes him. It is a place of reverence and prayer, where he is taught to be quiet and still, much beyond his desire to do so. He observes others kneeling in prayer and adoration, and although he may not fully understand what they are doing, he makes the connection between what they are doing in the church and what is done at bedtime when mom and dad pray with him and his siblings. He realizes that kneeling is not something he sees anywhere else and knows it must be special. He sees and begins to understand just how special is the church building (and the activities going on in it) when he notices the statues and stained glass windows; when he hears the bells ring and the organ play; when he sees the altar boys in cassock and surplice (looking like miniature—and practicing to be, perhaps—priests, plus those who are already taller than the priest!), and the priest in his Mass vestments; when he sees the candles lit and sees and smells the incense; and, most importantly, when he sees the confession line and the Communion line. Hence, the church is seen as a special place to a Catholic even from infancy. It is special even before there is an understanding of what the “special” really is. Long before he has even a small theological or scriptural understanding of the Mass or the Sacraments, the Catholic youngster burns with a desire to receive Holy Communion. As previously noted, whoever carries the infant must always hold his arms and hands so that he does not reach out and grab the Host. Whoever holds the hand of the pre-schooler in the Communion line must drag him away as he yells, “But I want one!” Whoever accompanies the slightly older child must constantly be on guard that he doesn’t kneel and stick out his tongue and receive his First Holy Communion long before his “official” preparation and reception. (This actually happens more often that you might think, for all it takes is the closest parent to be distracted for just a moment and, well, if the youngster acts like he/she is supposed to receive and mom and dad don’t indicate otherwise, the priest gives the Benediction and places the Sacred Host on his/her almost innocent tongue! Contrariwise, we sometimes skip youngsters—and, more rarely, adults—who don’t seem to be paying attention at the altar rail, and they have to wait until the next go-round to receive.) You may remember this from your own young life. Certainly, you see it in your own or others’ children. Our Lord knew we would have this craving, which explains why He chose to unite us to Himself in this manner. He knew what He was doing when He told us that to receive eternal life, we must eat His Body and drink His Blood, which He called true food and true drink. Today is finally the “big day.” It is the day that many children will have this longing fulfilled. Yet “fulfillment” is not an action that happens once and is then done away with. Those who receive their First Holy Communion this weekend will realize that in fulfilling this longing for union with God in the Blessed Sacrament, they will hunger more and more for union with Him in the Church, in the home, and in the community. Once they get a taste of God, so to speak, they will yearn all the more to grow in holiness, to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world so as to be happy with Him forever in Heaven. May this be the true desire of us all. Wait, I almost forgot! After the 10:30 Mass, we will have our May Crowning. Our Lady did not receive Holy Communion as a child, for the Church wasn’t founded until much later by her Divine Son, but she received Holy Communion on a regular basis, perhaps even daily, after the first Pentecost. She had been entrusted by Jesus to John, the Beloved Apostle, from the Cross. St. John, as a priest and bishop of the Catholic Church, which Jesus founded upon Peter’s rock-solid proclamation of Faith, would have celebrated Mass and given Mary Holy Communion regularly. Imagine that! After conceiving the Son of God in her womb at the Annunciation, giving birth to Him at the Nativity, nursing Him, nurturing Him, initiating His first public miracle, witnessing his unjust persecution and crucifixion, and, finally, laying him in the tomb, she was still able to receive Him for the rest of her earthly life in the Eucharist! Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, pray for our First Holy Communion children! May they love Him as you love Him! With prayers for your holiness, Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Big News of the Week
I cannot help but mention the biggest news of the week. There were so many Big News stories that it would normally seem difficult to figure out which would be the Biggest of the Big! But, as you know, the Holy Father’s death takes priority over everything else. Yes, Father Mangiafico, the holiest of Fathers, is the Holy Father of whom I write. His Requiem Mass was on Wednesday night, and it was touching to see how many of you came out to pray for the repose of his soul. The final count was 595 laypeople and 13 priests in attendance. The schola did an outstanding job with the solemn chants of the Requiem Mass. I really don’t know how they manage to learn and practice the necessary chants for such a Mass, as well as learning and practicing the chants for the “normal” Sunday Masses and special feast day Masses and other liturgies, but somehow they do. The altar boys, who turned out in huge numbers for Fr. Mangiafico, were amazing, especially considering that this is the first Requiem we have done for a priest, and there were several things different about it when compared to the Requiem for a layperson. Even though the boys knew that most of them would not have a liturgical role in the Mass, they still came to serve through prayer. Their love for Fr. M was on display in a beautiful way. May they each become holy priests like him. The ECCW put together a phenomenal spread of “snack foods” for a reception after the Mass. I was hardly expecting the victuals they provided. The ushers were there to keep the peace and give explanations to people who had never been to a TLM before but knew and loved Father from one of his many other ministries around the diocese. Set up and clean-up crews, and so many others who worked behind the scenes, also made sure that everything came off without a hitch. Canon Matthew Talarico, superior of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, the Order taking over Epiphany Shrine in a few months, changed his overly hectic schedule and flew in to be here with us in this time of mourning and said a few words after Mass. Bishop Parkes was in Rome (and is now taking part in the funeral ceremonies for a completely different Holy Father, more of whom I will write shortly) and sent his condolences. Representing him (and also representing himself, for he also loved Fr. Mangiafico) was Msgr. Bob Morris, Vicar General for the diocese and number two man to the Bishop. He also said a few words after Mass about his appreciation for the priestly ministry of Fr. Mangiafico. Later, in the social hall, Colonel Whiskeyman, specifically tapped (or is it trapped?) by Father before his death to say a few words, and who was dreading having to give a speech about his good friend, did a fine job telling about Father’s life as he eulogized him. Although the Mass took less than two hours, people stayed and reminisced until about midnight. Even with all of that, we still just barely scratched the surface of our love for such a holy priest. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. Now, as for that other Holy Father who passed away and made big news, I hardly have to tell you what happened. His story is all over the media, with every news organization and even many anti-Catholic groups such as the Freemasons already canonizing him for his “humility” and willingness to change Church moral and disciplinary teachings. I received an email from a reporter who wanted a comment. Here is her message to me: Good morning, I’m so sorry to hear about the news of the Pope passing. I’m a reporter with ABC Action News, and I was wondering if I could coordinate an interview with someone from the church. I would like to focus on how this is affecting the Latin community. I know he was the first Latin American pontiff, which holds a special place for Hispanic Catholics. Please let me know. I’m available to chat any time between now to 1:00 pm. Thanks in advance, and I hope to hear from you soon! Best, [I will keep her name out of here so that her complete lack of even basic research in this matter will not cause her great embarrassment]. Somehow, I didn’t think that the true answer to “how this is affecting the Latin community” would fit the narrative she was looking for, so I didn’t respond. Anyway, pray for this Holy Father’s soul with at least as much fervor as you did/are doing for our own Holy Father. As Fr. Mangiafico often noted, priests are held to a higher standard of accountability before God, and therefore, the higher the priest is in the Church hierarchy, the more accountable they are for every thought, word, and action. So the exalted Bishop of Rome needs many more prayers than a humble retired priest. With no more room for Big News, I will leave you with this. The term “sedevacantist,” meaning “someone who claims that the Chair of Peter is empty of a true Pope,” is often (mis)used as a derogatory term to scorn those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass. Yet the Chair of Peter is very obviously empty at this moment, so right now all Catholics really are “sedes!” Add this to the fact that everyone at Epiphany will soon also be “Shriners,” so to speak, when the Parish becomes a Shrine, and get ready for some real fun, the Shriners being Freemasons! Wear those labels (and your fezzes) proudly! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Triduum and Easter
March 24-27, 2016. For some of you, it was a lifetime ago. For others, just a blink of the eye. For most, they are probably just a few forgotten days that simply blend in with all of the other days and years of your life. There really is nothing all too special about those particular dates, and I, too, had to go and look them up, for I had forgotten much about them. I wasn’t actually looking for particular dates but rather for a particular Holy Week, notably my first Triduum and Easter at Epiphany. Perhaps yours, too. There is much to be said for keeping a written account of the passing time, something that I do through writing a weekly bulletin article. Reading the short account of what it was like and comparing it to this year’s Triduum and Easter, there is much the same and yet so much different as well. I was celebrating the Traditional Triduum for the first time, since every previous year I celebrated it according to the New Order Missal (Novus Ordo Missale). I had very little knowledge of what to do and very little talent to be able to carry it out. I could barely chant, having only celebrated low Masses before this assignment, yet each of the Easter liturgies required much more chant than a regular Mass. The Easter Vigil and Mass, for instance, took 3 1/2 hours, and all of my parts had to be chanted. I think that if the schola hadn’t been so excited to be able to chant so much new material of their own, they would have each been bleeding through their ears listening to me hitting so many wrong notes, on the wrong key, and sometimes even with the wrong Latin words. And that year, we had no idea about the length of time the Vigil and Mass would take. I had guessed between 4 and 5 hours. There were several changes of vestments from one color to another, from priestly vestments to diaconal vestments and back again, and other “strange” things to consider. Fortunately, I am able to admit that I am completely incompetent at preparing for such things and following complicated rubrics, so others stepped in who managed to pull it off and keep me on track for the most part. We also had a “visiting” priest who stopped by for his first Traditional Easter, Fr. Vincent Capuano, who would become a big part of our Epiphany family in short order. The two of us blundered and bumbled our way through everything and somehow survived the blind leading the blind. This year, Fr. Alexander Agbata will be the “newbie” joining us for his first foray into a Traditional Easter. Like Fr. Vincent and yours truly back then, Fr. Alexander hasn’t even seen a TLM Easter Vigil, yet is jumping into it full of excitement. Fr. Mangiafico was going to train him to do the Deacon parts of a Solemn High Mass (which role Fr. M—God rest his soul—was no longer physically capable of performing), but he only had one session with him before passing away. That first year, we only had one Tenebrae service, on Good Friday, and I wrote that “It took 2 1/2 hours. Prayerful hours, though, and quite exquisite. I immediately had requests that the choir do all three Tenebrae services next Triduum!” Of course, the schola was eager to comply, so the following year they added the Holy Saturday tenebrae to the schedule to see if people would really show up. They did. The third year, the tenebrae of Holy Thursday, anticipated Wednesday evening, was also added, and we have had all three Tenebraes from that year onward. Those first years, I sat in the sanctuary as the prayers were chanted—not, God being merciful to all on Earth and in Heaven, by me—by members of the schola. In 2019, to accommodate the crowds of people desiring confession, I started hearing confessions during the chanting of Tenebrae. Because of the confessions, I no longer get a chance to bask in the beauty of the chants and candles, but filling the church with shiny halos as people are absolved more than makes up for my missing the rest. That First Holy Week at Epiphany was also the first time I did the Traditional Blessing of Easter Baskets using the Traditional Latin prayers. I had only blessed baskets in English and only for a few years up until that time, for I didn’t grow up with the custom and was only introduced to it by some wonderful Polish parishioners at my previous parish a few years before my transfer. Little did I know how many people would clamor for this blessing, whether it was new to them or a long-loved part of their family/parish Easter celebration. As I look back on my first Holy Week and other “firsts” that I was able to experience here, I am filled with joy for the gifts God and the Bishop gave me with this assignment. Many of you have been here with me for the entire time. Even more of you have come along for part of the journey, and all of us, I dare say, have benefited from returning to the roots of our Catholic Faith in the way we celebrate the Venerable and Ancient Rites. This year marks not only my last Holy Week at Epiphany parish, but yours as well. From now on, your Holy Week celebrations will be at Epiphany Shrine! The new pastor (or, rector, as I think will be his title) and you will have your own “firsts” to look back on fondly, too, one day. May they be as exciting, prayerful, and reverent as those I/we experienced back when the magnificent Shrine was but a simple parish! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Holy Week 2025
This is going to be the first Holy Week that Fr. Mangiafico participates in from the other side of the grave, God rest his soul. He will be greatly missed at each of our liturgies. May his new celebrations be far superior to even his holiest imaginations. There are many changes to the parish schedule, so don’t just come by at the “normal” times but check the calendar carefully. We have three “Tenebrae” services scheduled. Tenebrae is the name given to the service of Matins and Laudes belonging to the last three days of Holy Week. Holy Thursday's Tenebrae is traditionally "anticipated", or chanted the evening before the actual day. Matins and Lauds are the two early morning “hours” of the Divine Office or Breviary that is said (prayed) by all clergy, religious, and laity who use the 1962 Office. They roughly correspond to the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer in the new Liturgy of the Hours Breviary, although they are quite a bit longer. Because Holy Thursday is the day set aside by Holy Mother Church for the celebration of the Chrism Mass (where priests gather with the Bishop to renew their priestly vows or promises and the Bishop blesses and consecrates the three oils that will be used for various sacraments throughout the coming year) plus an additional Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the evening, it is often hard to find time to chant (or listen to others chant) Tenebrae that day. Therefore, it is chanted the evening beforehand. So on Wednesday, the first Tenebrae will be in the Church at 7:00 pm. It takes roughly 2 1/2 hours. Choir members will be doing the chanting and the congregation will actively participate by praying silently. I will be hearing confessions during that time. The second Tenebrae will be on Good Friday morning at 6:30 am, and the third will be on Holy Saturday at the same time. Both of those will take approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours and I will again hear confessions as these prayers are chanted. Even if you cannot come to all three, come and experience at least one of them. If you cannot stay for the entire time, stay for as long as you can. It is a moving experience of prayer. Holy Thursday, as already mentioned, usually has the Chrism Mass in the morning, so there are no parish Masses. In our diocese, as is every arch/diocese of which I am aware, the Bishop has transferred the Chrism Mass to Tuesday, later in the morning. (It will be held at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg at 11:00 am if any of you wish to attend in person or listen to it on the radio.) Even so, there are no morning Masses on Holy Thursday. There are, of course, people who do not remember this even after reading about it in the bulletin and still show up for the non-existent Mass, but that would never happen to you because you are making a note of it right now! We will have the Mass of the Lord’s Supper along with the Mandatum, or Washing of Feet, at 7:00 pm. At the end of that Mass, there is a procession with the Eucharist as we leave the tabernacle empty and bring Our Lord to the “Altar of Repose” for a time of Solemn Adoration lasting until midnight. After the procession and as Adoration is taking place at the altar of repose, the main altar of the church will be ceremoniously stripped and the church, emptied of Our Lord’s Presence, will be symbolically in mourning for the unjust arrest and mock trial of the Son of God. On Good Friday there are once again no morning Masses and no Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the church. But as already mentioned, there will still be some people who show up expecting both of them! More fortunately for them than for those who show up on Thursday morning to an empty parking lot and locked church, at least there will be people inside as Tenebrae is being chanted. Later, at 3:00 pm we will have the Traditional Latin Good Friday Passion and Veneration of the Cross. This includes a Communion Service as well. On Holy Saturday there is no morning Mass. After the 6:30 am Tenebrae service ends, there is a short break until 10:30 am, when we have the traditional Blessing of the Easter Baskets, a tradition which Eastern European cultures often have managed to keep alive even in many Novus Ordo parishes. The baskets, unlike the Easter Baskets filled with jelly beans and chocolate which we are now so used to giving to the children, should contain a bit of everything which you will be preparing for the great Easter Feast, the big meal on Easter Sunday which breaks the (traditional) arduous fasting of the past 40 days of Lent. Search online for examples if you are not familiar with what this type of basket holds and the symbolic reasons for each item. Please don’t be late arriving for this blessing, because each of the food items gets its own special blessing and I won’t be repeating all of them each time someone new arrives after the blessings are underway. This blessing should take no longer than 30 minutes. There is no Mass at the normal 5:00 pm Saturday time slot, for the Easter Vigil and Mass should not normally begin before dark. Our Easter Vigil will start at 8:00 pm and flows directly into the Mass. The entire service and Mass will probably take about 3 hours. On Easter Sunday, the Mass schedule will follow the normal times of 7:30 am and 10:30 am. So mark your calendars and be prepared for a holy Holy Week! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Why are the statues/paintings veiled?
This weekend when you entered the church and the social hall, the crucifixes, statues, and other images of Saints were veiled in purple cloth. It is a stark image, as if funeral palls were covering Our Lord and His Saints. It certainly catches one's attention! In the long distant past this was a common sight near the end of Lent. But for the early part of my lifetime, it was very seldom seen. Fortunately, many parishes have resumed this beautiful (in a somber way) liturgical practice, for it truly helps both the clergy and congregation focus on Passiontide (the last two weeks of Lent) in a deeper way. Lest you think that this is only done at “Traditional” parishes, here is a statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops from March of 2006: The Veiling of Images and Crosses 1. Does the new Missale Romanum allow for the veiling of statues and crosses? The Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, provides a rubric at the beginning of the texts for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, which allows that: “the practice of covering crosses and images in the Church from the Fifth Sunday of Lent is permitted, according to the judgment of the Conferences of Bishops. Crosses remain veiled until the end of the celebration of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday; images remain veiled until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.” 2. Have the Bishops of the United States expressed the judgment on this practice? Yes. On June 14, 2001, the Latin Church members of the USCCB approved an adaptation to number 318 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal which would allow for the veiling of crosses and images in this manner. On April 17, 2002, Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments wrote to Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, USCCB President (Prot. no. 1381/01/L), noting that this matter belonged more properly to the rubrics of the Fifth Sunday of Lent. While the decision of the USCCB will be included with this rubric when the Roman Missal is eventually published, the veiling of crosses and images may now take place at the discretion of the local pastor. 3. When may crosses and images be veiled? Crosses and images may be veiled on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Crosses are unveiled following the Good Friday Liturgy, while images are unveiled before the beginning of the Easter Vigil. 4. Is the veiling of crosses and statues required? No. The veiling is offered as an option, at the discretion of the local pastor. 5. What is the reason for the veiling of crosses and images? The veiling of crosses and images is a sort of “fasting” from sacred depictions which represent the paschal glory of our salvation. Just as the Lenten fast concludes with the Paschal feast, so too, our fasting from the cross culminates in an adoration of the holy wood on which the sacrifice of Calvary was offered for our sins. Likewise, a fasting from the glorious images of the mysteries of faith and the saints in glory, culminates on the Easter night with a renewed appreciation of the glorious victory won by Christ, risen from the tomb to win for us eternal life. 6. Why are crosses unveiled after the Good Friday Liturgy? An important part of the Good Friday Liturgy is the veneration of the cross, which may include its unveiling. Once the cross to be venerated has been unveiled, it seems logical that all crosses would remain unveiled for the veneration of the faithful. 7. What do the veils look like? While liturgical law does not prescribe the form or color of such veils, they have traditionally been made of simple, lightweight purple cloth, without ornament. 8. Is it permissible to veil the crosses after the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday? Yes. The concluding rubrics which follow the text for the Mass of the Lord's Supper (no. 41) indicate that “at an opportune time the altar is stripped and, if it is possible, crosses are removed from the church. It is fitting that crosses which remain in the Church be veiled.” So there you have it. It is still “fitting” that this be done though it is left to “the discretion of the local pastor.” It is a good, solid, theologically and liturgically sound Catholic tradition. With prayers for your holiness, Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: February Mass Counts
As you know, each February and October the Diocese of St. Petersburg asks all parishes to count how many people attend Sunday Mass each week that month. For years, we have posted the results in the social hall. Comparing the year-to-year attendance is heartwarming for the pastor of a growing parish, heartbreaking if the parish is dying. We, of course, are growing. The diocese never released the results for last October, probably due to the strange results coming from hurricane interruptions. But this spring’s results just came in and they are certainly worth a look. Our lowest attendance was the first week of February with only 864 people in the pews. The next three weeks found us at 917, 984, and 981. Sometimes it is difficult or impossible to figure out why there is such a jump or drop in attendance from one week to another. Other times we know that a group of parish families was away at a campout or something like that. Even if I go to their camp to celebrate Mass for them on Saturday evening, I have never included them in the Mass count, for I never want any perception of “cooking the books” by including people who technically weren’t at the parish for Mass. So, how do we compare to the rest of the diocese? Well, the good news for the diocese is that the total number of Catholics has increased from 97,512 in February of 2024 to 99,052 this year. That is an increase of 1,540 people. But when you divide that by the total number of parishes (81) that’s a growth of only 19 people per parish even though the number of new housing complexes in our diocese seems to be beyond counting. I don’t know what the population growth of the 5 counties in our diocese (Pinellas, Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco, and Citrus) is, but it has no doubt brought far more Catholics to the area than the increased Mass attendance shows. Our own parish increased from 912 to 937 during the past year. That’s only 25 more people. Better than average, but not by much. Of course, if you look at the numbers over a longer period of time, we look much more impressive. The diocesan report shows that in the year 2012 Epiphany had 100 people attending Mass (all numbers are averaged February numbers), in 2014 (2013 is not reported for some reason) we had 99, and in 2015 we had 87. The Traditional Latin Mass came to Epiphany in August of 2015, so the 2016 Mass count of 335 shows what an impact it made on the parish. We are currently nearly three times that number in just ten years. In those same years, though, the diocese's overall totals were dropping. From 135,377 in 2012 to 131,592 in 2014 to 128,410 in 2015, the downward trend crept along until reaching only 111,035 in 2020. And then Covid hit. In 2021 the total diocesan Mass attendance had plummeted to 54,168, not quite half of the people of the previous year’s already low total. That same Covid year Epiphany grew from from 494 to 717. This year the diocese also chose to bring attention to the 2019 pre-Covid-year statistics to highlight the attendance change compared to the current year’s statistics. They used 2019 numbers rather than 2020 numbers seemingly because the Covid panic could have already been affecting the February 2020 numbers even though we were not yet locked down. As a whole, the diocese’s attendance numbers still haven’t returned to those pre-Covid numbers. From 2019’s 117,072 to 2025’s 99,052 there is a 16.2% drop. Epiphany’s numbers for those years show a much better pattern. We moved from 349 in 2019 to our current 937, for an increase of 168.5%, by far the best showing in the diocese! At least for me, all these attendance numbers and years, when written in paragraph form like I just wrote, don’t have the same easy to digest impact as seeing the chart that is hanging up in the social hall. I hope you take the time to look it over. One really nice part about looking at the whole list of parishes in the diocese is that you can check out the stats for other parishes you are interested in as well as ours. You can see that only 18 parishes have yet to reach their pre-Covid attendance numbers. Out of those 18 parishes, only Epiphany parishioners never stopped attending Mass (the count never decreased) on account of the pandemic. It seems like there is some underlying cause of our growth that eludes many members of the Church (fortunately, not our Bishop!). I wonder what it might be? Is it possible that somehow we understand and believe the Traditional Catholic Church teachings on the necessity of the Sacraments for our salvation while many others don’t? Or that we know and believe that spiritual death is worse than physical death, and that living and dying with the Sacraments is preferable to living and dying without them, while huge numbers in other parishes (including—and especially influential—priests and deacons) deny that reality? If so, where did we get the firm commitment to God and His Church found lacking in other parishes? As I’ve told you before, learning the Traditional Mass and studying the necessary Traditional books and Church documents changes both the priest and the people in the pews—for the better, I might add! The Mass attendance statistics for the entire world might look similar to Epiphany’s if only the clergy would finally accept the truth that the Traditional Latin Mass and the accompanying older Sacramental Rites and older ritual blessings more fully express and teach the fullness of the Catholic Faith than the revised versions! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Too Busy
A week or two ago the office staff told me that my calendar was booked up through April and people needing to schedule something with me were being given dates in May. I’m passing this information on to you so that you understand that when you want a home blessing, a pre-baptism meeting, a marriage preparation class, or anything else, you are not going to get it right away. The calendar is just full. It’s not something personal against you, you just get the next available slot that fits both your calendar and mine. And if an emergency pops up and I have to cancel, oh, what a mess that makes. Funerals, calls for the Last Rites, diocesan meetings that are scheduled with little to no advance notice, and other such things throw off everyone. If you have been the “victim” of such a rescheduling nightmare, you know firsthand what problems arise when something/someone else takes “your” slot! So the obvious question becomes, and I have heard this too many times to count, “When will the Bishop send you an associate?” In case you are one of the few people who haven’t already asked me this question and received the following answer, let me tell you how these things work. Just as “It isn’t personal” when I cannot squeeze you in for a meeting for two months, so “It isn’t personal” when the Bishop cannot send me an associate! Earlier this year each priest was sent the annual questionnaire from the priest personnel board. Here are the questions asked and my answers (not exact, since I didn’t keep a copy of it). Q. Do you wish to remain in your current assignment or would you like to move? A. I wish to remain here. Q. Do you wish to be relieved of an associate or deacon currently assigned to your parish? Explain. A. None are assigned here. Q. Would you like to have an associate or deacon assigned to your parish? Explain. A. Yes. I would like to have both an associate and a deacon! But they must be open to the Traditional Rites, either already knowledgeable of them or willing to learn, as well as knowing/learning Traditional Church Teachings. QQ. Etcetera, etcetera. AA. Blah, blah. I have written about this before. Every year I ask, and every year no associate or deacon is assigned here. It is possible that the Bishop has, on the sly, sent deacons to check us out, to see if they would like to be assigned here. I have had a number of deacons and their wives come here and get their first taste of the Traditional Latin Mass. Perhaps they were just curious about the TLM or perhaps they were scoping us out and decided against this as an assignment. I don’t know for certain. But I do know that having an associate or deacon who is not on board with Tradition would be worse than not having one in the first place, as they could/would undermine everything being done here. For instance, one deacon who came here for Mass with his wife approached the altar rail and both of them stuck out their hands to receive Holy Communion. The wife was the first I came to and the altar boy did as he is trained to do, for many first-timers don’t know that they can’t receive in the hand. He simply put the paten over her outstretched hands and under her chin, and as I moved the Host toward her face she opened her mouth and received. Her deacon husband, witnessing this, proclaimed as I moved to his spot, “I am a deacon of the Diocese of St. Petersburg and I will receive in the hand!” I had to whisper to him that we must follow the 1962 rubrics and therefore must give only on the tongue. “For the sake of the Eucharist, I will receive under protest!” he replied as he stuck out his tongue. He never came back to introduce himself and I never saw him again. Imagine if he was assigned and never wanted to adjust his understanding of what we do and why. The old saying, “Beggars can’t be choosers” certainly doesn’t apply here, for if this beggar isn’t choosy about which clergy to accept, the results could be disastrous. Anyway, I didn’t sit down to write about this but I had to answer emails before getting around to this article. One of the emails was from the diocese and included a list of all of the associates (also known as parochial vicars, assistant priests, etc.) currently active in the diocese, including those belonging to religious orders and those from foreign countries. There were only 51 in total. We have more than 80 parishes. It isn’t personal. There are not enough “extra” priests to go around. As for the deacons, I think there are probably many of them looking for a parish where they can be useful as they fulfill their diaconal duties. But realistically, most deacons are retired before they even begin their formation and are quite past the time of life when learning a whole new rite and a new language would look achievable let alone rewarding. The deacon must be able to chant (another thing to learn) the Gospel in Latin. If he is to baptize, he must be able to read the entire ritual in Latin. Even in a simple marriage ceremony without a Nuptial Mass, there are a few parts he must do in Latin. It is a formidable. Fortunately, it is Lent, and we can all offer up the inconvenience of a full schedule due to a packed church. It is certainly better than a clear calendar and empty pews! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Works of Mercy for Lent and for the Bishop Now that Lent is underway and all Catholics of good will are striving for holiness even more than “normal” a small snippet from Pope St. Leo the Great comes to us through the Liturgy of the Hours. It is taken from a sermon he gave on the value of the Lenten practices of fasting and almsgiving. He spoke about almsgiving in a manner not quite like is normally heard nowadays, for he did not even mention giving money as the means of giving alms. I will explain shortly, after this brief quote with my bolded emphasis. Dear friends, what the Christian should be doing at all times should be done now with greater care and devotion, so that the Lenten fast enjoined by the apostles may be fulfilled, not simply by abstinence from food but above all by the renunciation of sin. There is no more profitable practice as a companion to holy and spiritual fasting than that of almsgiving. This embraces under the single name of mercy many excellent works of devotion, so that the good intentions of all the faithful may be of equal value, even where their means are not. The love that we owe both God and man is always free from any obstacle that would prevent us from having a good intention. The angels sang: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. The person who shows love and compassion to those in any kind of affliction is blessed, not only with the virtue of good will but also with the gift of peace. The works of mercy are innumerable. Their very variety brings this advantage to those who are true Christians, that in the matter of almsgiving not only the rich and affluent but also those of average means and the poor are able to play their part. Those who are unequal in their capacity to give can be equal in the love within their hearts. Did you notice how St. Leo says that giving alms, rather than the standard giving of money to the poor, is rather doing “excellent works of devotion” which he also calls “works of mercy”? He points out how doing these works (almsgiving) with good intentions and love levels the field, so to speak, between rich and poor. Those who are rich can give monetary alms but those who are poor obviously cannot give an equal amount. Yet both rich and poor can perform loving acts of mercy and devotion equally, for both can love with the love of Jesus Christ, which itself is infinite. In other words, giving $10,000,000 to a charity may be seen as an extraordinarily generous act of almsgiving but few are able to give that amount. Plus, the money may not have been given out of love but out of pride, a desire for attention or adulation, or a tax write-off, for instance, and may not merit any heavenly reward for the gift giver. But a simple act of mercy can be made by anyone at any income level, and, if done with the love of God and love of neighbor on account of the love of God, it bears fruit a hundredfold and is as beautiful in God’s eyes as the widow’s mite of the Scriptures. With that in mind, I want to remind you of (or introduce you to) Bishop Gregory Parkes’ Works of Mercy Challenge. Although it is for the whole year and not just for Lent, this is a perfect time to participate in this challenge and hone your virtue through “excellent works of devotion” and innumerable “works of mercy.” Here is an introduction to the Bishop’s Challenge. We are excited to announce the long-awaited roll out of the 1,000,000 Works of Mercy Challenge (part of the Pastoral Plan, Called to Conversion, and a 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope initiative). Bishop Parkes is challenging everyone in the five counties of the Diocese to renew their understanding of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and then together complete one million works of mercy by Advent 2025. More information, including a parish/school toolkit and other resources, is located at our diocesan website www.dosp.org/Jubilee2025/MercyChallenge/toolkit/. Each parish and school is encouraged to have their parishioners record their works of mercy at the official diocesan website: www.mercy2025.org. Parishes, schools and youth groups who complete and record their acts of mercy by December 15, 2025 will be eligible for a grant for their pastoral care, outreach, and mission-trip ministries. Follow the links above or the QR code (below this post) for more information on how to count and report the number of works of mercy you complete toward his stated “One Million Works” goal. If you sign in as an Epiphany member, it also shows the support the parish gives to the Bishop in this spiritual initiative. There are 7 traditional Corporal Works of Mercy (oriented toward the body) and 7 traditional Spiritual Works of Mercy (oriented toward the soul), although the lists vary slightly in numbering and wording from one source to another. The Corporal Works of Mercy are: feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; harbor the harborless (or shelter the homeless); visit the sick; ransom the captive (or visit the imprisoned); bury the dead. The Spiritual Works of Mercy are: instruct the ignorant; counsel the doubtful; admonish sinners; bear wrongs patiently; forgive offenses willingly; comfort the afflicted; pray for the living and the dead. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka  From the Pastor: Lenten Alms For Vocations
Every year just as Lent is beginning I write a bulletin article explaining several things about Lent. Some are unique to our parish, such as our annual Twenty Dollar Bills for Sisters and Semmies Fundraiser (I have adjusted the title of this fundraiser to keep up with inflation!). Sometimes the Lent information applies to all Catholics throughout the world. Still other information deals with quirky practices canonically “legal” only in certain areas. All three types of information are important and at least somewhat helpful and/or entertaining, and it is hard to determine which is most needed every year. Because we have so many more people attending Sunday Masses this year than last, I certainly need to explain the fundraiser we do for those from our parish who are in the “formation process” to become Priests, Religious Brothers, or Religious Sisters. Fortunately, we had room on another page of the bulletin to (re)introduce you to the four women and 6 men from our families who will be the recipients of your spiritual and monetary generosity. Just look for the page with the headline “Hundred Dollar Bills for Sisters and Semmies” to see what this is all about (talk about inflation soaring quickly!). Two of our seminarians, each taking a much different vocational path than the other, have recently sent letters thanking benefactors and promising prayers for all who have and will support them in whatever way possible. One wrote in part, “The Seminary is a seven-year process, and the cost yearly is $10,000. [Note: that is much, much lower than our own diocesan seminary costs!] Therefore, I am asking in your generosity if you would consider becoming a benefactor for me and assist in paying my tuition cost...” It is very humbling to have to ask others to pay for one’s schooling, yet seminarians are unable to work their way through seminary as they would be doing at a “regular” university. [Second note: Diocesan seminarians in the major seminary have tuition paid through CMA contributions although personal expenses aren’t covered.] I will quote the second seminarian’s letter more extensively here because it shows that our donations don’t always do exactly what we thought they would be doing but rather may be used for an even greater good. I want to thank all of you who were so concerned for us during and after the hurricane. By the grace of God, we were not affected as much as others, which by God’s providence allowed us to be at the service of our neighbors... Our power was out for a month, though we found it a nice change of pace. The first few days after the hurricane were spent working to open the roads and private drives for emergency response personnel, since the road was completely blocked by many feet of silt, down trees, power lines, and even a house. Because of the equipment that many of you have helped us to acquire with your donations for our building project, we were able to open the road up in a matter of hours, even demolishing the house that was in the road with our excavator (though we will be building that family, who were present as we destroyed their home, a small timber frame for their next home). The most beautiful thing about it was that Our Lord used this disaster to be our first real introduction to our neighbors, none of whom are Catholic, except the occasional “recovering Catholic”, as they call themselves. In the mountain they say, “A little goes a long way” and ever since the hurricane seemingly everywhere we go the locals will take us aside and thank us for “all you did for those people.” When we first arrived here the people were suspicious of us, not knowing what to think of these “Catholics”, but since the hurricane, they now know that we love them. Though they don’t see us much, since our life is a life of prayer and more hidden, they now know that when they need us we are here for them Of course much of this thanks has to be given to the many people, hidden as you may be, that made our response possible. If not for that equipment we would have been standing there wringing our hands like everyone else not knowing what to do... If you would like to see the entirety of the two letters quoted, I will either have them posted in the social hall or available in the sacristy, based on display space. This doesn’t leave much room for the other information that I also want to put here, but have no fear, I believe that can condense the rest. As for the universal Lent requirements, there are major differences between the 1962 rules and the current requirements. Although we are only bound to those currently in force, many people wish to keep to the older traditions. I can’t write them both out for you here but doing a web search for “Catholic Lent requirements” yields many sources for the current obligations. Adding the word “Traditional” to the search bar leads to a mixture of both the current and the traditional (1962) practices. If you want even older practices, you will have to dig a bit further into the results. Finally, regarding the quirky things only found in several dioceses, I have written before that, although all Catholics are allowed to eat all of what is commonly thought of as seafood, reptiles, and amphibians during the days of abstinence, some places also allow the eating of muskrats, beavers, capybara, puffins, whales, porpoises, and/or seals. There are probably more exceptions to the “no meat” restrictions but these are the ones I have found in the past. Strangely enough, I have yet to have a parishioner offer to bring in any of these delicacies for our Friday Stations and Soup potlucks. Maybe this year will be different... With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: The Seal Of Confession Under Fire Again
Someone with political “power” wants to force Catholic priests to reveal what is said in confession. This type of evil comes up on an occasional but regular basis. It usually happens, at least at this time in history, supposedly “to protect the children.” I hate to point out the obvious, but once again it is a Democrat, Washington Senator Noel Frame, who has introduced such an evil bill. Why do I bring up his party affiliation? Because Democrats officially support killing children by the millions through abortion. They hardly have a moral leg to stand on when crying crocodile tears about how they want to protect the children that escape their mother’s wombs alive. They also openly accept and stridently defend those groups most often committing abuse against children. They are also the party that currently fights most vociferously against anything to do with unchangeable morals (that is, true and eternal distinctions between “good” and “evil”) and the God Who gives us knowledge of them as well as the grace to uphold them. Senator Frame has introduced a bill that, on the surface, is not aimed primarily against Catholic priests hearing confessions, for in it he includes as mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse “any minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder, or leader of a religious community” if the knowledge of ”suspected” child abuse is uncovered or discovered during their regular duties. Yet it is the Catholic priests, and out of this list only they, who have a moral obligation to keep secret anything that is heard in the confessional. None of the other “ministers” have anything even remotely similar to the Seal of Confession. The other “ministers” may each have something similar to the seal of confidentiality imparted to lawyers and their clients, spouses, and victims advocates (three groups, by the way, explicitly excluded from mandatory reporting in this bill). That is, they all have “jobs” or positions in which confidentiality is expected and which has been upheld in our laws and in our courts. But none of them has the Sacrament of Confession, something instituted by Our Lord Himself within His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church for the forgiveness of sins, the expiation of faults, the reconciliation of the sinner to God, the healing of the soul, and so much more. Therefore, claiming that all religious leaders are being treated equally is a far cry from the truth, even though it is also immoral for them to break the lesser degree of confidentiality. Questions on this topic come up on a regular basis from Catholics. Why is it bad, evil, or demonic if a Catholic priest reveals what he learns in Confession? Why worry about such a law unless you are a child abuser? Wouldn’t it save a child from further abuse if we did report child abuse of all sorts? I have, and I assume all of my brother priests have the same experience, answered these types of questions many times over the course of my priesthood. As a short explanation of how devastating it would be if Catholic priests—even if just a few—reported sins brought to them in confession, just think about this. Would you ever confess your sins to a priest again? “Sure,” you might think, “because if only a tiny minority of priests reported sins to the public authorities, chances are really good that MY priest won’t. He will, like most of the priests, go to jail or withstand every other civil injustice in order to protect the seal of the confessional. Besides, even the ones who broke the seal only reported sins that I have never and will never commit.” But who is to say that your priest won’t break the seal? Just because he hasn’t so far doesn’t mean he won’t. After all, maybe it is just that nobody has confessed anything that the law says must be reported. And remember that the law can be amended at any time to force him to report other sins as well, not just the ones it started with. Perhaps adultery will be added, with the caveat that it only needs to be revealed if a divorce trial is getting nasty. Or maybe cheating on taxes might be added to the list of sins that he must mandatorily report. Or use of drugs, or driving while intoxicated. Or, to “protect the children” maybe priests need to report homeschooled children if they confess to cheating on homework or lying to mommy about something. Oh, the list of sins later added to the mandatory reporting law could be endless. The law could also be retroactively applied, meaning priests would be forced to reveal what you confessed before that particular sin was inserted into the law. Perhaps they could also outlaw real confessionals like we have, in which the priest cannot see who the penitent is. Maybe mandate government-monitored audio and video recording devices inside the “reconciliation rooms” so there is proof of who committed the crime and even check to see if the priest reported it. Artificial Intelligence could monitor all priests 24 hours a day to uncover lapses in reporting if they hear confessions elsewhere. Does this sound like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory? If so, please tell me how it would be different if the law passes. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Fruits Of The Holy Ghost
Last week, in preparation for Confirmation, I wrote about the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. How many are there? What are they? Why are they given to us? How do they help us? These and similar questions were the basis for the tests given to the youth before they received the sacrament. Their relationship with each other is important to understanding why the Lord gives them to us and how we are to use them to grow in holiness. They build upon each other, strengthen each other, and enlighten each other. This week I will show you a little peek into the supernatural results of using these Gifts properly, those things commonly called the Fruits of the Holy Ghost. Scripture and Tradition list 12 Fruits that are produced by the 7 Gifts. Charity (Love), Joy, Peace, Patience, Benignity (Kindness), Goodness, Longanimity (Long Suffering), Mildness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Continency, and Chastity. Unlike the Gifts, the Fruits don’t necessarily build upon each other in a particular order. All can be “harvested” as needed, so when circumstances change the crop of Fruit can sometimes change as well, or at least the manifestation of the Fruits might be more or less obvious to oneself and those around you. For example, Longanimity or Long Suffering, which preserves patience over a long period of time, especially when there seems to be no natural end to the suffering, is a Fruit that some people seem not to need for at least most of their life simply because they don’t have a lot of suffering to endure or because what suffering they do have has a foreseen natural end. Suffering the pain of a broken arm, for example, doesn’t require Longanimity, for one can be assured that it will be at least mostly healed in a matter of weeks or months. One suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, on the other hand, sees that without Divine intervention, there will only be a progressively worse effect on the body until death finally occurs. Longanimity is definitely a Fruit needed unless the one suffering wants to make themselves and everyone around them miserable until the last breath and beyond. In such a situation, it is important to go back to the Gifts of the Holy Ghost and take an inventory. One must ask, “Do I have the Fear of God?” Without it, I will perhaps “curse God and die” as Job was counseled to do. “Do I have the Gift of Piety?” If so, I will see that prayer is even more available to me as my body shuts down, for my mind is still sharp. I can call upon and unite myself to God and His Saints more often—even continuously—for I can no longer fill my day with physical activities. This can proceed all the way up to the Gift of Wisdom and, having now focused not on the things of this world that are out of reach, I can long for union with God both on Earth and in Heaven and strive to love Him above all things. With this Gift, I can see how blessed I am for being able to still use all of my mental faculties so that I may join my will to God’s and offer up my suffering along with the suffering of Christ on the Cross. Too many people today see this disease as the worst of all diseases for that very reason. They would prefer to lose their minds than lose their bodies. They see no value in keeping a sharp brain confined in a wasting body, for they see no value in prayer itself, or perhaps have never thought it through. Remember that to the extent that you have lost your ability to think properly, you have also lost the chance to merit further grace, to repent of and confess sins, and even to love with real love (for real love is an intelligent act of the will, not an emotion). But by examining each Gift and asking for both the desire and ability to use them properly, even one with ALS can see the Fruits in all their splendor and strive to manifest such Fruit in their lives, especially that of Longanimity. Naturally, or, rather, supernaturally, other Fruits will more or less manifest themselves in such a scenario. Charity, or love of God, will control each action (remember, prayer and purposeful mental activity are all actions!). The person will find Joy, Peace, and Patience and radiate them to family, friends, and caregivers. Not only will the Joyful sick person exhibit Kindness and Goodness to others at this stage, but he will also most likely receive such Fruits in return. His Mildness will be well-noted when he does not harbor or express any ill will to God for his condition or to others for their reaction (good, bad, or indifferent) to his constant need for care. Faithfulness, Modesty, Continency, and Chastity will all be assumed long after those Fruits can be shown if Longanimity has been the constant way of life in the midst of such trials and tribulations. Ultimately, this all leads to a happy death, for sanctifying grace has been multiplied many times over during this ordeal. Plus, it does untold good to all who witness such an acceptance of suffering. Many souls could easily be won for the Lord or be given an increase in graces all by this one Fruit being seen in abundance. That is just one example of how the Gifts bear Fruits and the Fruits bear witness to faith in Jesus Christ. If you have been missing any of the Fruits of the Holy Ghost and you have read this far, perhaps God is leading you to a more “Fruitful” way of life today! If you have been confirmed you can produce an abundant harvest no matter what situation you find yourself in. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Were You Taught This?
On Wednesday I will, having received a letter of Delegation from Bishop Parkes, confer the Sacrament of Confirmation. Before any of the children receive the sacrament they must learn (or at least recall what they have already learned) the basics of the Faith. The Baltimore Catechism #3 explains why: “We should know the Chief Mysteries of Faith and the duties of a Christian before receiving Confirmation because as one cannot be a good soldier without knowing the rules of the army to which he belongs and understanding the commands of his leader, so one cannot be a good Christian without knowing the laws of the Church and understanding the commands of Christ.” As you see, the Catholic Faith is not composed of pacifist members who “think good thoughts” and “play nice with others” but rather soldiers ready to fight for and alongside Christ, to battle demons, to stand up for Truth, to be bastions of both mercy and justice, and to sacrifice anything of this world to bring souls (their own and others’) to Heaven. With the basics understood, the children were then pressed to understand the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which they will receive from this sacrament. Not just to memorize a list of seven words, mind you, but to understand what the purpose of each one is and how they build on each other. Naturally, the next thing was to look at the Fruits of the Holy Ghost and see how they are produced in one’s life if the Gifts are being used properly. Most of the parents who sat in on the “interviews” learned more about the Gifts and Fruits in a short time than they ever received in years of the so-called “religious formation” they received in their younger years. In case you need a refresher yourself, I will try to briefly show what the Gifts are and how they relate one to another. All of this is taken from either the Baltimore or Pius X Catechisms. The first and foundational Gift upon which all of the others depend is the Gift of Fear of the Lord. This Gift makes us respect God and fear to offend His Divine Majesty. It detaches us from evil while inciting us to good. Once we unwrap, so to speak, this first Gift, it just naturally leads us to venerate and love God and His Saints, and to preserve a pious and benevolent mind towards our neighbor for the love of God. It allows and encourages us to love God as a Father, and obey Him because we love Him. Once we begin truly loving Him, we desire to know more about Him. Knowledge is a Gift enabling us to estimate created things at their proper worth, and to learn how to use them rightly and to direct them to our last end, which is God. We receive the Gift of Knowledge to enable us to discover the will of God in all things. At this stage, we need Fortitude, a Gift that inspires us with valor and courage to observe faithfully the holy law of God and of the Church, by conquering all obstacles and all the assaults of our enemies. We receive the Gift of Fortitude to strengthen us to do the will of God in all things. Some know the will of God--what they should do--but they have not the courage to follow the dictates of their conscience. For example, a person goes with bad company: the Gift of knowledge will teach him that he should give it up; but the Gift of fortitude will enable him to do what his conscience shows him to be right. Counsel comes next. It is a Gift by which, amidst the doubts and uncertainties of human life, we are enabled to recognize those things that redound more to God's glory, to our own salvation, and to that of our neighbor. We receive the Gift of Counsel to warn us of the deceits of the devil, and of the dangers to salvation. The devil is much wiser than we are, and has much more experience, being among the people of the world ever since the time of Adam--about 6,000 years. He could therefore easily deceive and overcome us if God Himself by the Gift of counsel did not enable us to discover his tricks and expose his plots. When at times we are tempted, our conscience warns us, and if we follow the warning we shall escape the sin. Counsel tells us when persons or places are dangerous for our salvation. Counsel leads to Understanding, a Gift that facilitates, as far as this is possible to mortal man, the understanding of the truths of faith and of the mysteries of God, which we are unable to know by the natural light of the intellect. We receive the Gift of Understanding to enable us to know more clearly the mysteries of faith. "Mysteries," truths we could never know by reason, but only by the teaching of God; and the Gift of understanding enables us to know better what His teaching means. The Apostles heard and knew what Our Lord taught, but they did not fully understand the whole meaning till the Holy Ghost had come. Finally, we come to the greatest of all the Gifts—one that we cannot fully possess unless we properly use all of the others—Wisdom. Wisdom is a Gift by which the mind is lifted up from earthly and transitory things, enabling us to contemplate things eternal, that is to say, God Himself, the eternal truth, and to relish and love Him, in which consists all our good. We receive the Gift of Wisdom to give us a relish for the things of God, and to direct our whole life and all our actions to His honor and glory. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Why Is Communist China AI More Catholic Than Ours?
The majority of this article is taken from Fr. Z’s Blog. In case you don’t know of him, he is a prolific writer of all things Catholic, but became most well-known for translating the Novus Ordo Mass prayers from their original Latin into English and then comparing his translations with the “official” translations put into the Missal used by the USA and some other English-speaking countries. Those responsible for giving us the original English translation of the New Mass did a truly terrible job, yet those bad translations were in use for 30 some years before finally getting reworked by people who seemed to know not only both English and Latin but also prayer! When they were finally re-translated Fr. Z continued his witty and insightful writing but moved on to other topics for his Catholic commentary and continued commenting on some not-so-Catholic commentary from supposedly Catholic sources. No matter what he presents, it is worth reading. Here is something he recently published after a reader sent it to him and it is so incredibly Catholic that you would think an honest-to-God real old-timey Jesuit priest or Doctor of the Church wrote it. But no, it came from the Artificial Intelligence program developed by the Godless Communists in China. It is essential to stress that they are officially atheists and yet they programmed their AI in such a way as to give a great “understanding” of at least this very important part of the Mass. There is no way our own AI could come up with this even though people often proclaim that we are a Christian Nation, for, if you remember my 2023 Chat GPT article about welcoming Catholics to Easter Mass included instructions on the importance of wearing masks and social distancing! Atheist AI beats Woke AI in this battle. Enjoy. Posted on 29 January 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf This is from a reader…. I just asked the brand new Chinese AI “DEEPSEEK”, about the priest’s posture during the consecration in the Traditional Latin Mass-- It’s Reply….. Leaning over the elements and speaking the words of consecration—carries deep symbolic and theological significance. This posture can be understood as a profound reflection of divine action, particularly when compared to God the Father breathing life into Adam in Genesis 2:7. Here’s how the two are connected: 1. **Divine Humility and Intimacy**: In Genesis, God stoops down to breathe life into Adam, demonstrating His intimate involvement in creation and His desire to share His life with humanity. Similarly, the priest, leaning over the bread and wine, embodies a posture of humility and reverence, reflecting Christ’s own humility in the Incarnation and His willingness to offer Himself for humanity. This leaning posture signifies the priest’s role as an instrument of Christ, bringing divine life to the faithful through the Eucharist. 2. **The Breath of Life and the Words of Consecration**: Just as God’s breath in Genesis imparts physical and spiritual life to Adam, the priest’s words of consecration—”This is My Body” and “This is My Blood”—bring about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The act of speaking these words while leaning over the elements can be seen as a symbolic reenactment of God’s life-giving breath. The words themselves, like the divine breath, are transformative, changing the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. 3. **Creation and New Creation**: The priest’s posture and actions during the consecration also evoke the themes of creation and new creation. In Genesis, God’s breath initiates the first creation, while in the Eucharist, the priest’s words, through the power of the Holy Spirit, participate in the new creation brought about by Christ’s sacrifice. The leaning posture signifies the priest’s role in mediating this new creation, bringing the life of Christ to the Church. 4. **Sacrificial Offering**: The priest’s leaning over the elements also reflects the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. Just as Christ offered Himself on the Cross, the priest, in persona Christi, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice to the Father. This posture of leaning over the altar can be seen as a gesture of offering, presenting the gifts of bread and wine to be transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. 5. **Mystery and Reverence**: The posture of leaning over the elements underscores the mystery and reverence of the moment. The priest’s physical closeness to the bread and wine signifies the profound mystery of the Real Presence and the sacredness of the act being performed. It is a moment of deep communion between heaven and earth, where the divine life is made present in the midst of the congregation. In summary, the priest’s posture of leaning over the elements and speaking the words of consecration during the Traditional Latin Mass is rich with symbolic meaning. It reflects the humility, intimacy, and life-giving action of God in creation and redemption, drawing a parallel between the breath of life given to Adam and the transformative words of consecration that bring Christ’s presence into the Eucharist. This posture highlights the priest’s role as a mediator of divine life and the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life. [Fr. Z’s words] So, those were Chinese AI answers. I am curious to know what books that information was mined from, or what sites. I’d like to have those books. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Christmas Ends Next Sunday, Candlemas
When does the Christmas Season end? Many people seem to think that Christmas is already over on December 26. Others assume that the Season extends until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, since the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” would take us to that date. But once I became a priest I “knew” that the Baptism of the Lord, a movable feast, ends the Christmas Season, for that is what the liturgical calendar said. But then I started using the older liturgical calendar and new, ancient insights were presented. It shows the Season of Christmas continuing for 40 days rather than for a meager few hours or days. It can be a strange season, in that the vestment colors, rather than remaining white for the whole season, change quite often. Martyrs’ feasts are kept in red. Epiphany is white, but beginning the Second Sunday after Epiphany the Sunday color becomes green. And, during the years when Septuagesima overlaps Christmas, we even see violet vestments on Sundays! But none of that detracts from the celebration of Our Lord’s Birth. True God coming among us as also True Man is, after all, of absolute importance for our Salvation. Man sinned and so man must make amends. But from the very first sin against God, Who is infinitely deserving of love and obedience from His creatures, man owed Him infinite reparation, something of which finite man was incapable. It seemed as if all hope of repaying such a debt was lost until the Incarnation. By taking on our human nature without losing anything of His Divinity, Jesus, fully God and fully human, set the stage for man’s sin against the infinite love of God to be justly repaid. He, and He alone among men, could offer an infinite, perfect sacrifice of human passion and death, a perfect act of love. Pity the poor heretics who deny either the humanity of Jesus—for without His humanity, man did not make the necessary restitution owed—or the Divinity of Jesus—for if He was just a “great, holy, wise man” but not also God, He was unable to make a perfect sacrifice, substituting for it instead just a relatively pathetic “great” one. In the words of that often-quoted (by me) Dom Gueranguer, “The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of our Saviour’s Nativity by a feast or commemoration of forty days’ duration is founded on the holy Gospel itself; for it tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending forty days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfil, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel, when they became mothers. The Feast of Mary’s Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus’ Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of forty days as one continued Festival has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church.” Ahh, Tradition! He traces this now-changed and almost lost tradition all the way back to Mary’s Purification. How did anyone dare to shorten such a treasured season after two thousand years of its celebration? Oh, the hubris of man! But that’s enough history for today. Now for some practical instructions. The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also called “Candlemas” due to the long-held tradition of blessing candles before the principal Mass of that day. A long, multiple-prayer blessing is said over the candles and then the people should all proceed from their parish to another neighboring chapel or church where the Mass of the Purification would be held. We used to bless candles in the rectory chapel and have Mass there, so small were we 9 years ago! Perhaps by the second or third year (my memory fails) the daily Mass crowd became so large that we had to move the blessing outdoors near the chapel and process from there to the main church for Mass. Each year more and more people come bringing more and more candles, and it has become a logistical hardship (not quite nightmare status!) to get the people’s candles into place for the blessing before it is time to begin. This year, since the candle blessing falls on a Sunday and we expect 10 times the number of people attending compared to a weekday Candlemas Mass, we will not have a congregational procession. I am rather asking you to bring your candles to the parking lot side of the church and place them under the shade of the large oak tree there. Clearly mark your boxes, bags, trunks, carts, wheelbarrows, and other candle containers with your name so that you can claim your own blessed candles after Mass concludes. I plan, weather cooperating, to bless all of the candles in that area in place of the Asperges sprinkling rite prior to the 10:30 Mass. I will do so from the side doorway while the congregation remains in the pews. The only procession will be the short one done by the altar boys and priests from that door back to the sanctuary. I cannot stress enough that it will be necessary for you to arrive with your candles much earlier than you think is necessary. People really do bring multiple boxes loaded with heavy candles and need to carry, haul, drag, or pull them into place, probably blocking traffic as they do so. It may take a lot longer than normal just to get to a parking spot. A word of warning: I will only bless those candles that are in place before we begin. It is a long blessing and will not be repeated until the same feast day next year! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Thank You!
Last weekend we celebrated our Parish Feast Day and I give thanks to Almighty God for the wonderful weather He sent us! Some years it has been too hot, other years, too cold. One year it was wet. This year it was just about as perfect as an early January Sunday afternoon could be. The ancient boiler had been cranked up before the 7:30 am Mass to take the chill out of the air and then turned off once Mass started. Everyone was warm and toasty. Later, some group of frozen people convinced the sacristan to start it back up again before the 10:30 Mass, complaining that they weren’t penguins. I sweated the whole time I was celebrating the Mass, the ushers in the back opened the doors because they said it was sweltering back there, too, and when I gave my homily I saw some people fanning themselves and still others wearing parkas and scarves as if they were sitting on an iceberg. Yet when we made it outside for the banquet after Mass, I didn’t hear a single complaint about it being the wrong temperature. The gelato cart had longer lines than we had anticipated, indicating that it wasn’t too cold. Nobody got a sunburn while waiting for a scoop of that deliciousness, nor did the gelato melt before it could be eaten, indicating that it wasn’t too hot, either. Yes, we had Goldilocks weather: it was just right. Thank You, Lord! I also wish to thank the Epiphany Council of Catholic Women (ECCW) for putting it all together. The amount of planning, wheeling and dealing, purchasing, calling, writing, begging, and other labors of love they put into it again this year paid off. We have all been blessed by the hard work and dedication of the ladies in the guild. Thank you! I believe that there will be a separate article somewhere in this bulletin thanking many of the people who worked so hard at the festival so I will refrain from naming them individually or by group with one exception. I want to thank all of the parishioners who encouraged us to put it on again this year and who showed up to make it a joyful experience. After all, having the best workers in the world doesn’t make for a good festival if nobody wants it or shows up to enjoy it! For those of you who were so unfortunate as to be out of town or otherwise indisposed and couldn’t attend our celebration, Let me try to paint you a word picture of what marvels you missed. To begin with, we had most of our seating outdoors this year but those who wished to have a little shelter from the incredible weather could choose to sit at tables inside the social hall or in the classrooms. A dozen or so tents were set up to provide shade and, fortunately, were not necessary as rain shelters. Waiters and waitresses passed through the crowds with plates of Beluga caviar, Wagyu Beef tartare, Foie Gras Torchon, and Oysters Rockefeller. The Orchestra played in the background while the people sipped complimentary glasses of Dom Perignon. For the main meal there was a choice of a 32 ounce Tomahawk Ribeye steak, jumbo stone crab claws, or piles of kielbasa and pierogies. No, wait, that is the menu for next year. Sorry about that. My mistake. Getting back to reality, though, let me share with you how an old church bulletin described our very first Epiphany Festival (01/06/2016) after I became the pastor. ...The parish feast day, as I mentioned, fell on a Wednesday. We had a low Mass at 9:00 am which was attended by 20 people. That’s not too bad a turnout for a daily Mass in a place where the average travel time is approximately 45 minutes each way! But the big celebration at 6:00 pm was the real test, and a test that was passed with flying colors. Sixty eight families showed up for the High Mass and potluck which followed. Think about that for just a moment. Having a Mass start at 6:00 pm on a weeknight makes it difficult for everybody (except the priest!). Those who got off work at 5:00 had to battle rush hour traffic. The Sung Mass lasts about an hour and a half, so those who have trouble driving at night knew they would need assistance getting home. Those with children in school knew that they would be dealing with hungry kids who would be losing a night of homework and study time. Everybody had to plan a potluck meal (which might, of necessity, mean a trip to the Publix deli between the workplace and the church, as there would be no way of cooking!). The schola members had to get to church early enough to get settled and rehearsed before Mass. The altar boys (and their families) had to be there early to get everything set up. And, far from insignificantly, people had to spend the day getting everything beautified in the social hall to make the grand ball truly grand! Yet more than 60 families showed up for a non-obligatory weeknight Mass! Normally we count people rather than families but this time the family count was easier to get accurately. For after Mass I handed out to each family an Epiphany home blessing kit consisting of a paper explaining how to do the Epiphany home blessing, a piece of blessed chalk to mark the door lintel with 20+C+M+B+16 and, of course, exorcised and blessed Holy Water (with exorcised and blessed Holy Salt dissolved in it).... We have come a long way since then! Ad Multos Annos! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions are generally pretty standard self-improvement lists people put together for themselves. Some who make such lists are serious about making several positive changes in their life, while others have no real resolve to change but make the list anyway, just because it is traditional to do so. Because I belong to that first group and have resolutely resoluted resolutions for 6 decades I have finally achieved perfection in my life. So, with nothing left to improve and, hence, no list of my own to write, I decided to look at what the poor slobs who still need such things have listed. Google, of course, led me to a huge cache of online New Year’s Resolutions from the best of sources, namely, whichever media company paid for the top spots in the search results. These lists, rather than being from real people who make the list for their own benefit, are written by Karen-journalists who love telling other people what they need to put right in their pathetic lives. The top suggested resolution from obnoxiously highfalutin taxpayer-supported National Public Radio (npr.org) was (and I am not making this up): “This year, I want to... Try something fun—Get my first tattoo.” Seriously? This is what our tax dollars are used for? I suppose it could have been worse. After all, NPR is militantly leftist so the first thing on their list could have been, “Try something fun--Get my first abortion; or, Chemically castrate my 4 year old boy and call him Suzie; or, Swoon over the man who shot a CEO.” Anyway, reading that single first resolution was enough to make me turn away from the search engine and come up with my own list. Not a list of things to better myself but, following NPR’s witless lead, I came up with a list of bad resolutions for others to do. Please don’t try any of these yourself but feel free to share them with any lefties in your circle of acquaintances. They will probably already have done most of them, so you don’t have to worry about leading them astray.
Anyway, that’s quite enough Resolutions. Seven is a good number to end on. Arguably, the first one might have been two too many! May your authentic New Year’s Resolutions be much more sensible and help you achieve great holiness, good health, and true happiness this year. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Epiphany Eve Blessing of Holy Water and More!
At 2:00 pm on Epiphany Eve—January 5, (today if you are reading this during the Sunday homily)--we will have the traditional Exorcism and Blessing of the Holy Water. If you brought your own salt and 5-gallon water jugs filled with water, we will bless those as well. If you brought smaller water containers with you, you can fill them up from either of the two 125-gallon containers we will bless specifically for this purpose. If, on the other hand, you completely forgot about this being the Big Blessing Day, don’t fret, for we expect to have Epiphany Holy Water left over and you can get some later. It will be available only until we run out. Last year, for the first time, we still had water available all week long, including the following Sunday. Several people had asked, “Don’t you exorcize and bless salt and water every week? What is different about this salt and water, then?” The answer to the first question is, yes, because we use a lot of Holy Water around here! I make Holy Water every week for the parish, for parishioners, and for others who just come by to get some “real” stuff. The “new,” post-conciliar blessed water, is often just “made” by a priest or deacon making up words of blessing, or, worse, using the non-blessing blessing from the “new” Book of Blessings. The “new rite” “Holy Water” does not use salt, does not exorcize the water, does not ask that God sanctify the water, does not ask for demons and other evils to be driven away, does not do much of anything except ask that those sprinkled be “refreshed” and “renewed.” Heck, the priest doesn’t even make a single sign of the cross over the water as he prays this ridiculous prayer! Our “regular” Holy Water, on the other hand, requires that the priest first exorcize salt and then bless it. Then he exorcizes water and blesses it. Then he says a prayer as he pours the salt into the water. Finally, he offers yet another prayer, each prayer building on the others and asking that the water and salt will be sanctified, that it will drive away all sorts of evil spirits and physical evils, bring blessing to things and people, and even that it protect, nourish, and heal those who would use it. The power of the “old rite” Holy Water is apparent when compared to the “new rite” “holy water.” Still, this powerful “old rite” Holy Water pales in comparison to the “old rite” Epiphany Holy Water! For exclusively on this one day, the choir chants beautiful hymns, psalms, and prayers. The priest adds additional exorcisms preceding the “regular” exorcisms and blessings. He even chants all of his prayers (recto tono, or in a single tone, probably because priests generally won’t be able to chant as well as the choir!). It will take just about an hour (instead of the usual 4 minutes) to complete this solemn blessing, giving some idea of how much more effort and ritual goes into making this a special offering to God. The more we faithfully and solemnly exert ourselves in such rituals, the more generously He bestows graces! Our parish feast day, Epiphany, January 6, is the day following Epiphany Eve, not that you needed it spelled out. We will celebrate Masses of Epiphany of Our Lord that morning at the regular times of 6:30 and 8:00 followed, if anyone has brought in the following items, by the special Epiphany Blessings of chalk, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The chalk will be used to mark the door lintels of the church, rectory, and, of course, your homes. Because we are not a parish where everyone lives within walking distance of the church, I will not be able to visit your houses to bless them. But we will once again give out a sheet of prayers asking God’s blessing upon your home and those who live there. Pray the prayers, mark the doors with the blessed Epiphany chalk (20 + C + M + B + 25), sprinkle the house and family with Epiphany Holy Water, and you should be protected for another year! Please note that I will not be blessing other items that morning, so please don’t bring other articles. Next Sunday, January 12, we will celebrate the External Solemnity of Epiphany. That day, instead of the normal Sunday Mass, we will celebrate the Mass of January 6 as an “External Solemnity,” which the 1962 liturgical books allow for several big feasts during the year, including parish feast days. We will have our annual luncheon following the 10:30 Mass for those who reserved tickets in advance. For those who forgot or who waited beyond the last moment to see if anything better showed up on their social calendar, I am sorry to say that, since caterers need a headcount to prepare the right amount of food (and to charge us properly for their services), we cannot accommodate those without tickets. For those of you who plan ahead a few weeks, February 2 brings us the blessing of candles on Candlemas Day. Monday, February 3, brings us the Feast of St. Blaise, at whose Masses we bless throats plus bread, wine, water, and fruit to be used for the relief of throat ailments. Due to my misreading of the prayer of blessing in the past, I have sometimes encouraged you to bring in candles for blessings on that day, but I need to rectify that with the reminder that the only candles blessed that day are those to be used for the throat blessing. So be sure to bring in your candles for the blessing on the Second! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Christmas at Epiphany
Merry Christmas to you all! The 40 Days of Christmas have begun and the Glory of The Lord is being made manifest to the entire world. Not that everyone will appreciate the Infant Jesus’ Gift of eternal life, mind you—for there are men NOT of good will who do not even desire temporary Peace on Earth, let alone forever in Heaven—but nobody has been excluded from entering the Stable to worship and adore the life-giving Babe. That some would choose someone, something, anyone, or anything instead of gladly accepting what God has offered may seem strange or even impossible, but reality shows that it happens more frequently than not. Now that you are thinking about that, what do you do with such bad news? Rejoice! You have job security! As long as there are people out there in danger of losing their souls, we, dear Christians, have work to do! It’s time to save some souls! “But how do we do that, exactly? Do we put up billboards?” Yes, some people from the parish have, in the past, put up billboards encouraging Life. Those planning on having an abortion because they have been told that they have no other option, were exposed to the option of the trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “But I can’t afford a billboard. What else can I do? I can’t exactly stand out on the streetcorners and evangelize.” Why not? Some parishioners do that exact thing, either in front of abortion mills or even in front of the church during national Rosary Rallies. A public witness to God through the Blessed Mother’s intercession is a nearly cost-free means of evangelizing. “But I can’t stand long enough; the heat/cold is too much; I live too far away. There isn’t any way for me to show lost souls how to know, love, and serve God.” Sure there is! Do you eat at restaurants or friends' houses? Simply praying Grace before meals is quite an easy yet effective witness to your Catholic faith. Most people won’t notice but the ones who do will be affected by seeing you make the Sign of the Cross. You may edify and comfort those who have faith or are pondering the faith. You may prick the consciences of those who are lapsed. You may even anger those fighting against God, but that inevitably leads them to argue with themselves and/or others about their reasons for such unjustified anger, giving God (directly or through intermediaries) an opening to change their minds and hearts. “But I thought this was a ‘Christmas at Epiphany’ article! Why are you writing about saving souls? I want to read about Christmas and Aunt Irma!” Right you are! This is about Christmas at Epiphany, as the title states. Saving souls is what Christmas is all about. The entirety of the human race would be lost to hell were it not for the indescribable love of the God Who created us in His image and likeness. Our sins, by which we lost His Sanctifying Grace, had to be expiated if we were to return to Him even temporarily, let alone eternally. Therefore, in the fullness of time, God the Father sent His Son into the world so that “as many as received Him, He gave the power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name.” The Son, humbly accepting this mission, became Incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that He may show us in visible form the invisible God. He was to suffer death to conquer sin and death in us. Yet the Holy Trinity did not carry out this plan of Salvation alone. No, God employed His created beings to fulfill His goal. He created Mary to be a worthy Mother of God, giving her a singular grace of purity, being Immaculate from the moment of her conception. But even so, it was an angel, Gabriel, who was chosen by God to reveal this plan and to obtain her fiat. Joseph also accepted his salvific role and followed the angel’s directives in order to protect both Mother and Child. God sent multiple angels to the shepherds, who, upon hearing, seeing, and believing the message, Adored the Christ Child and revealed the Savior’s presence and mission to all who would listen. Wise Men journeyed from the East to also Worship and Adore the tiny Baby, even though the full import of His Godhead was not yet in their grasp. Upon returning home, they each prepared their people for God’s salvation. I could continue with other biblical examples of God using angels and men to evangelize others, but let me bring this explanation to today’s time and place. The beauty, reverence, and prayer all of you saw and displayed at the Masses of Christmas not only brought grace to your own hearts, minds, and souls but also to all of our visitors and to each and every person prayed for at Mass. The spiritual work and preparation of Advent, along with all of the physical work and preparation needed for the Masses (choir practice, building and grounds maintenance, decorations, seemingly endless work done by staff and volunteers, and even your choice to dress in modest yet beautiful clothing) all pointed to God’s love of man and man’s in-turn love of God. You were evangelists without even noticing it! You were “recruited” by God to bring family, friends, and strangers—either physically or spiritually—to the Manger. You did a great job! I am proud of you. As for Aunt Irma, for some strange reason, she only shows up when the bulletin has to be printed before great Feasts occur. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Fourth Sunday Of Advent
Here it is, all too soon! The 4th and final Sunday of Advent is upon us. That means that Christmas is right around the corner. Tuesday, December 24th, we have a Christmas Vigil Mass in the Novus Ordo rite at 5:00 pm. Later that night the church will fill up for the first Mass on Christmas Day. Yes, people will arrive on Tuesday but Midnight Mass starts at Midnight, which makes it a Wednesday Mass. If history repeats itself, many people will look at our online calendar, the schedule listed in the bulletin, or the Flocknote announcement, and, scouring the Tuesday schedule for the Midnight Mass and not finding it there will panic. The hysterical phone calls, texts, and emails will start pouring in sounding something like, “AAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!! What happened to the Midnight Mass? Aren’t we having one this year?” Of course we are! You just looked at the wrong day. Please look at the first item listed on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25th, and voila! There it is! Midnight Mass. At Midnight. On Christmas Day. Not 6:00, 8:00, or 10:00 pm on Christmas Eve. It will be a candlelight Mass. It will be peaceful, prayerful, and beautiful. It will last for an eternity but will seem to be too short when it is over. The people will stay afterward to gather in the social hall as they do on Sundays. This year the altar boys and their families will stay and clean up the mess in the church (I am amazed that people will hold a candle for 90 minutes and then somehow forget to take it with them to deposit into the baskets and/or boxes set out for that purpose). I will probably get to bed just in time to get back up to pray the breviary before heading over for the 7:30 am Mass. Fr. Mangiafico will probably drive back to his house in Largo and get to bed shortly before dawn then return for a second Mass. Many choir members, parish staff, sacristans, and other volunteers will probably also pull double duty, so to speak, and come back for one or both of the two morning Masses. Many adult parishioners attending the Christmas daytime Masses will have also lost a lot of sleep due to family gatherings the night before, last-minute preparations for the Big Day, or being kept up by sleepless children and grandchildren. The children who kept the adults up all night will also be exhausted but will be making up for it with the energy that comes from exuberance. And the Masses will be glorious in spite of it all. Or because of it, as we gather to celebrate the birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ. All that I wrote above is simply a prelude to a simple request that I have for all of you. I ask that on Christmas you keep one eye on the tabernacle and the other eye on those around you. Sounds weird, I know. But on Christmas there are often Catholics (and sometimes non-Catholics) who come to Mass for the first time in months, years, or even decades. Those returning Catholics at the Novus Ordo Vigil Mass might not even know that the Mass responses changed a dozen or so years ago from, for instance, “And also with you” to “And with your spirit.” Those who show up at the Traditional Latin Masses may have expected Mass to be a Novus Ordo (without knowing the meaning of that term) in either English or Spanish (we sometimes get people who mistake “Latin” for “Latino”) and are so completely lost that they even wonder if they are attending a Catholic church or not. Please be on the lookout for them. Not because they are a problem but because they are in need. They will need someone to assure them that this is Catholic. That this is the Mass that the great Saints attended or celebrated. That not understanding the language is not the same as not understanding that Christ is offering His Life on the cross for our salvation. No matter what Mass these “newcomers” attend, they will benefit mentally, emotionally, and spiritually if someone shows them some kindness, offers a few whispered words of assurance, or helps them somehow just feel welcomed home. To their eternal home. Please don’t let your lack of sleep or your overexcitement make you grumpy or terse toward the person or family who took “your” pew, who dressed for the beach rather than for Mass, who talked incessantly before Mass or is doing so even during it. Please don’t let your desire to celebrate Jesus’ birth as perfectly as possible make you overly critical of those who don’t know why they (or you) are there, but who seem to be just doing the bare minimum “Catholic thing” that they think that they can get away with. Instead, open wide your heart to them, as Jesus opened wide His Most Sacred Heart to the soldier (and now Saint) Longinus as he thrust his lance into His side as He hung upon the cross. Remember that you, too, once were not the perfect Catholics (cough, cough) that you are now, and treat them in such a way that they wish with all their heart to return to the Lord, to come to Mass regularly, to become fully, faithfully, and joyfully Catholic, as you are now striving to do. What a great Christmas present that will be, when you present to the Holy Family the gift of a newly converted or reconverted soul to the Divine Infant, simply by being nice and helpful! It might even, were it possible, outshine the gifts the Three Magi will bring on Epiphany. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: The Oplatki Are Here!
Many years I write something about an ancient Polish Christmas Eve Tradition. Some sources claim it goes back to the 9th century, while others insist on the 17th century as the origin of this tradition. That simply goes to show that you cannot trust everything on the internet! Yet I am going to reproduce below an internet-sourced story about Oplatki instead of simply reprinting what I have written in the past. I would like to give credit to the author, but, as I said, you cannot trust everything on the internet and I found this exact same story on two different websites, attributed to two different authors. Aletia, a Catholic news site, attributes it to Philip Kosloski, while the site CatholicSay attributes it to Raphael Benedict. Both sites use the same photos, too, although I will not reproduce them here. Whoever wrote it, thank you! The beautiful Polish tradition of breaking bread on Christmas Eve —by Philip Kosloski or Raphael Benedict or Someone Else but not by Me The oplatki tradition is one rich in spiritual symbolism, and can even help heal family division. In many Polish homes throughout the world, a most beloved family tradition is the breaking of the oplatek on Christmas Eve. The oplatek (oplatki is the plural form) is a thin wafer similar in consistency to a communion host that is often stamped with an elaborate Christmas scene. Historically these would be distributed by religious to parishioners' homes during the Advent season. Blessed Bread It is related to an Eastern tradition of giving out "blessed bread" after the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. This bread is not consecrated, but blessed by the priest as a way to extend the fruits of the Mass into the home. The oplatek is meant to remind families of the Eucharistic bread at Mass and makes a further connection between Christmas and the gift of the Eucharist, the presence of God among us. On Christmas Eve, the family eagerly awaits the first star in the night sky, recalling the star of Bethlehem that signaled the birth of the Savior. Once the star has been spotted, the Christmas Eve meal begins. The table is traditionally covered with straw and a white cloth. In some homes this is reduced to a single plate, upon which rests the oplatek, as a symbol of Christ in the manger. Reconciliation The father (or eldest member of the family) begins the ceremony by taking the oplatek and breaking a piece off of it, giving it to his wife. When he does so, he may say what he is thankful for, wish her good health, or ask for forgiveness. According to author Sophie Hodorowicz Knab, "My father used to say, 'OK, I'm not the best, but I'll try harder'... My mother would always say, 'You work so hard and I appreciate you for that' ... The sharing of this unleavened bread with another person is sharing all that is good with life ... It's a time to tell each other, 'I love you, I care about you.' And you do it in an open area, where everyone else can see you." After this initial sharing, the oplatek is then shared with each member of the family in a similar manner, starting with the oldest down to the youngest. It is a touching ceremony, one that can help heal hurts from the past year. After the breaking of the bread is completed, a small meal is served that eagerly anticipates the Midnight Mass, which many Polish families would attend on Christmas Eve. The tradition has survived the test of time and is still celebrated in many parts of the world by various families, including many who come from a Slavic ancestry. It is a beautiful tradition, one that keeps the true "spirit of Christmas," and unites a family to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. End of Story and back to Father’s words This year there are plenty of Oplatki available in the back of the church and in the social hall for you to take home and share with your family members as you gather for the big meal on Christmas Eve or Christmas or whenever you are able to get together. The ritual of sharing the blessed wafer is not a Liturgical Rite, so there is no exact ritual that must be followed. Feel free to use the above example or something similar that fits your family’s needs. Generations from now your relatives may still be passing around the Oplatek and offering love and mercy to each other all because you picked up a simple piece of blessed bread and a church bulletin this week. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka These are the two links to the original stories I found online. Click on them to go to the sites for this and many other Catholic articles. https://aleteia.org/2018/12/19/the-beautiful-polish-tradition-of-breaking-bread-on-christmas-eve https://catholicsay.com/th-beautiful-polish-tradition-of-breaking-bread-on-christmas-eve/ From the Pastor: 2 Big Masses This Week!
This is the beginning of the second week of Advent and a quick look at the calendar shows two very “big” Masses which you should put on your calendar. The first is the biggest of the big Masses. Monday is a Holy Day of Obligation (transferred from Sunday the 8th to Monday the 9th): The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (I have already written about how this year the Immaculate Conception was not and yet now is a day of obligation. Look up past articles if you missed that drama.) To help you fulfill your obligation we will have our regularly scheduled morning Masses at 6:30 and 8:00 plus an additional evening Mass at 7:00 pm. Just as a “heads up” for anyone new to Catholicism, the Immaculate Conception is not Jesus’ Conception! This feast comes just a few weeks before Jesus is born and oftentimes new Catholics think that it is strange that we would celebrate His Conception right before we celebrate His Birth. But the feast of His Conception is named the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary—which really confuses the newbies since it names Mary and not Jesus! But a few seconds of thought put into it and it all makes sense as on that day the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that she was to conceive the Savior, she said “Fiat” and, Lo and Behold, Jesus was Conceived in her Immaculate womb. Our Lord’s Conception was celebrated nine months (not just a few weeks) before His Birth, on the 25th of March. At this week’s feast, we celebrate the conception of Mary, who was given the singular grace to be preserved from even Original Sin from the moment of her conception, hence, the Immaculate Conception. Her birth will be celebrated nine months after the Immaculate Conception, on September 8. The second big Mass, while not of obligation, is a very beautiful Mass that, similar to the Immaculate Conception, honors the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Saturday, the 14th, we will celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass at 6:30 am. [Note that there will not be an 8:00 am Mass that morning!] Except for those who are new to the parish or to the Traditional Latin Mass, by now I think that everyone knows that the Rorate Mass is a Votive Mass of Our Lady in Advent. It can be celebrated on any Saturday during this short season but we only do it once, since it “messes up” our regular schedule. leaving those who forget about the change without Mass that day. So, as we heard from St. Paul just last week, “now is the hour for us to rise from sleep”! For some of you living far away, you will have to rise very early, but “now our salvation is nearer than when we believed” and the early start to the day will be worth it! All of the altar boys, schola members, and sacristans will have to get there even earlier than you and they are the ones begging for this Mass every year! So set your alarm right away so you don’t forget. It is worth getting up early on the one day a week which you might normally get to sleep in a little! The Advent Rorate Masses are celebrated in darkness, with only candlelight to illuminate the altar. As the Mass continues, the daylight grows stronger, as if the signified Light of the World, Jesus Christ, is finally dawning upon us. The Savior is bud forth in the East (or Orient, which, as an aside, is why the term ad orientem—to the east—is used when the priest faces at least liturgical east, the same way the congregation is facing, all looking expectantly to the Orient for the return of Our Lord in His Majestic Glory), the land is blessed, and the Christians are set free from the dark captivity of sin. He came to save us from our sins; to bring light to those in darkness. He came through—and is magnified by—the Blessed Virgin Mary, without whom we would find no Savior, and merit no salvation. Rorate Caeli (or Coeli) desuper et nubes pluant justum, aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior) are the opening words of the Introit of the Mass. They are taken from Isaias 45:8 and have, quite naturally, been seen as a prophecy about Our Lord’s birth. One last thing about the Rorate Caeli Mass that I wish to point out to you is the Postcommunion prayer. Maybe you have prayed this, perhaps even three times a day, and never knew where it came from. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts: that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Yes, this is the final prayer of the Angelus, traditionally prayed at 6:00 am, 12:00 noon, and again at 6:00 pm. The church bells would ring out at those three times and, in a Catholic town, at least, everyone would stop and bow their heads and pray the Angelus. Not having grown up in a small Catholic town, I never experienced that myself, but in old stories it seems that everyone would stop, pray, and even genuflect in public as the church bells pealed. It was a “Catholic thing” that even the non-Catholics showed reverence to. Now, even the priests don’t know it. Sigh. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Liturgical Mess re: Obligations
Our Lady, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, has been the patroness of our country for longer than most of you have been alive. The first Bishop of the United States, John Carroll, placed the diocese of Baltimore, which comprised the original 13 colonies, under her protection in 1792. By 1846 the number of dioceses had increased, as had the population, and the Bishops, gathered in Baltimore for their 6th Provincial Council, placed the entire nation under the Immaculate Conception’s care. The next year this was approved by Pope Pius IX. The Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8 and it is supposed to be a Holy Day of Obligation. But this year, since the Eighth falls on a Sunday (next Sunday), the Novus Ordo calendar calls for it to be transferred to the following day, Monday, December 9. And, while you may think that the US Bishops would be pleased, nay, eager, to at least promote that transferred day as a Holy Day, they instead shrugged their collective shoulders and declared that, since the Feast was transferred to a Monday, and they can’t expect people to attend Mass two days in a row {shudder}, the obligation was lifted. Even our Patronal Feast Day wasn’t worth the trouble of taking the day (or even just a few hours) off work, or so it seemed to imply. Fortunately for those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass, that whole thing was avoided because in the 1962 liturgical calendar, the Immaculate Conception Feast “trumps” even the Second Sunday of Advent. So on our Sunday calendar we had planned, as the Ordo properly showed, to celebrate the Mass of the Immaculate Conception and join to it (called a “commemoration”) the three proper prayers of the Second Sunday of Advent (the Communion, Secret, and Postcommunion prayers). Monday, December 9, was then to be the normally scheduled feria (daily) Mass of the Monday of the second week of Advent. Until the following happened... One of the US Bishops, Paprocki by name, thought that (I am speculating on his reasons, here) it was ridiculous to ignore our Country’s Patroness on her Feast Day, so he asked Rome to clarify. Here is the response, as shown in a news article by Kate Quiñones of Catholic News Agency which is easily accessed online. The Vatican has clarified that Catholics in the United States must still attend Mass on holy days of obligation even when they are transferred to Mondays or Saturdays, correcting a long-standing practice in the U.S. Church. In its complementary norms, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) stipulates that when certain feast days fall on a Saturday or Monday, the obligation to attend Mass on that day is “abrogated.” Dec. 8 is typically a holy day of obligation celebrating the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, but this year the feast day lands on a Sunday in Advent. As a result, the USCCB transferred it to Monday, Dec. 9, according to the 2024 USCCB liturgical calendar. In its complementary norms the USCCB does not list the Immaculate Conception as a solemnity to which the abrogation normally applies. Nevertheless, the bishops’ calendar this year stated that “the obligation to attend Mass … does not transfer” to Monday, Dec. 9. Yet the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts, in a Sept. 4 letter to Springfield, Illinois, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, stated that all of the feasts in question “are always days of obligation … even when the aforementioned transfer of the feast occurs.” Paprocki, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, had in July written to the Holy See seeking clarification on whether an obligation transfers when the feast itself is transferred. Archbishop Filippo Iannone, the prefect of the legislative text dicastery, told Paprocki that “the feast must be observed as a day of obligation on the day to which it is transferred.” Iannone noted in the letter that certain feast days are established by canon law as days of obligation. These “must be observed” and “the canon does not provide exceptions,” he noted in the letter. Iannone clarified that if someone is unable to attend Mass for a “grave cause” such as illness or caring for an infant, then they are excused, as “no one is bound to the impossible.” Several U.S. dioceses are already stipulating that Mass attendance is obligatory on that day... I will stop quoting the article at this point because, although not mentioned explicitly, Bishop Parkes has sent word to us that in the Diocese of St. Petersburg we will be observing the Immaculate Conception on December 9 as a Holy Day of Obligation and celebrating the Mass of the Second Sunday of Advent on the 8th. TLM communities were, years ago, informed that we were to follow the Novus Ordo calendar as to which days were Obligatory. So for the upcoming dates in question, it seemed that at the TLM we would be celebrating the Immaculate Conception on Sunday yet have an obligation to attend Mass on Monday even though that Mass would not be the one of the Feast! Instead of that weird scenario, I have changed our liturgical calendar at Epiphany to basically follow the Novus Ordo calendar. On Sunday, December 8, we will celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Advent. On Monday, December 9, a Holy Day of Obligation, we will celebrate the transferred Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Another Fine Mess. Oh, wait, that was from just two comedians, not a whole Conference full. (Only the elders will get that reference. Sorry.) With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Where’s Father Emmanuel?
Those of you who attended the TLM at St. Anthony back in the day, as well as those who were at Epiphany when the TLM first started here in August of 2015 will most likely remember Fr. Emmanuel Ndecihiro. He was from the diocese of Dodoma in Tanzania and came to the States to study advanced Mathematics at St. Leo University. I offered him a room at St. Anthony’s rectory and we became close friends over the years. He also stayed at Epiphany for a while before he finally had to return to his home diocese, where he has since been in charge of several parishes, missions, and schools. He has been trying to make it back here for a short break from all that has been heaped upon him and was expecting to arrive here this week. I planned on running this article (from long ago at St. Anthony) for his first Sunday back, both as a memory for him to recall and because I didn’t expect to have much time to write because we needed to do a lot of catching up. Unfortunately, he is not yet able to come, but here is an old story of his first Thanksgiving. Enjoy! Fr. Emmanuel’ 1st Thanksgiving Several weeks ago Father Emmanuel asked me what “Thanksgiving” is. I explained to him about the history of the celebration and that, in practice, it is the most religious of all secular holidays we celebrate. We give thanks to God quite openly on this day, when we seem to be almost apologetic for mentioning God at Christmas or Easter. Then I told him about the great feast he could expect at a typical Thanksgiving meal. After spending the day (following morning Mass, of course) watching football games, drinking wine, beer or soda, snacking on chips, salsa, veggies, fruits and cheese, the real food would come. Turkey and ham, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, squash, rolls, cranberry sauce, stuffing, salad, green beans and carrots. His eyes were wide as I listed all of the food. (In his limited vocabulary he didn’t understand “turkey” or ‘ham” until seeing photos on the web.) But I hadn’t even gotten to the dessert. Apple pie, pumpkin pie and pecan pie, all topped with ice cream and whipped cream. “Wow! How do you eat that much?” he wondered in amazement. We simply loosen our belts a notch or two and stuff ourselves more than anyone could possibly imagine. Father’s response was to tell me of feasts in his home village. But there they have a saying that goes something like this: “You can only eat until your stomach touches your ribs.” Boy, would I be in trouble! My stomach passed by my ribs many years ago and does not seem to have any intention of ever going back into its proper place again. Anyway, last Thursday was Father’s first Thanksgiving and he got to celebrate it with my family. You know what craziness is when you read about my family get togethers, especially when I write about them before they occur. This year my brother-in-law took his boys out hunting before Thanksgiving and shot a wild hog for the main course instead of the traditional ham and turkey. Father Emmanuel, who grew up hunting for most of his meals back home, thought this was the best way to ensure good, fresh meat and was excited when he saw the large boar they got. It made him a little homesick but I didn’t know what he was going to do to alleviate that down and out feeling. Without telling anyone, he made a blowgun and snare and went hunting himself, as we found out Thanksgiving afternoon. We were roasting the pig in a large pit after burning logs down to hot ash and at one point Father Emmanuel placed his surprise catch in with it when nobody was looking. Not realizing there were hunting seasons and regulations, he had gotten up early in the morning and caught a wild turkey. He cleaned it and seasoned it and placed it into the firepit and waited with great excitement for our reaction when we would finally eat. Fast forward a couple of hours and dinner was ready. All the fixin’s were on the table, the first couple of football games were over and everyone was called in to eat. The boys had retrieved their hog and sliced it up nicely but when they did, they noticed a foul odor that they couldn’t quite place or explain. Meanwhile, Father Emmanuel had stealthily removed his turkey from the pit and kept it off to the side to spring on us once we were all gathered at the table. Once we said grace he asked us to wait and he brought in his surprise. It was a beautiful bird, with golden brown skin looking like something from a Normal Rockwell painting. But it was also the source of the obnoxious odor. As we would find out in just a little while the odor was so pungent that it permeated even the boar it was cooked with and made it inedible. The aroma was not from the spices he used. And the bird was, indeed, very fresh, yet it still smelled very strongly of what we now recognized as week old road kill. Father learned a very valuable lesson on his first Thanksgiving Day. There is a big difference between a turkey and a turkey buzzard. At least we still had vegetables to eat. With prayers for your holiness, Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: A New Look!
This week the church will be in a bit of turmoil but for a very good reason. The morning Masses will be held in the social hall and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be moved to the rectory chapel. Confessions will probably be heard there as well. We shall see as it all plays out. We have a Nuptial Mass scheduled for Friday afternoon, so the church will have to be put back in order before the wedding and the bride and groom will be the first to experience the new look. Many of you already have a general idea of what the wall behind the altar will look like when we are done, for we have had a rough mock-up of it hanging in the office for several months now, plus some rough sketches of the artwork in the sacristy for anyone interested enough to take a peek at. But most of you will probably not be aware of what has been in the works for quite some time. A world-renowned artist, who just happens to attend Mass at Epiphany, has offered to loan us a crucifixion scene and two large angels as a triptych to be displayed as long as we are allowed to celebrate the TLM here. The style is along the lines of that of the great 15th-century Dominican Friar and artist, Fra Angelico. I think you will be quite pleased with it. We will have to do some more work later to fully incorporate it into the church, but this week at least the first stage will be completed. While we are working to bring beauty to the church, giving even more glory to God and edification to His people, such is not the case in all parts of the Church. The Vatican has announced a new “mascot” for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. “Luce” has blue hair, is dressed in a yellow raincoat and hat with green galoshes splattered with brown mud, wears a rainbow rosary around his/her/its neck, and carries a witch's stang-like walking stick. Her (how are we to know what gender this thing has? Do they expect us to all be biologists?) eyes have pupils shaped like scallop shells (the symbol of those who have completed a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela). She has several friends, Fe, Xin, and Sky (all of which sound like trans pronouns), and a dog named Santino (“little Saint”). This/these figures are the work of an “artist” whose company’s anime-inspired toys include plenty of “pride” toys and (ahem) “adult” toys in the form of child toys. It is presumed that Rupnik was unavailable for the job. I have two serious questions for those who dreamed up this mascot idea. 1) If you really think that a toy pilgrim is going to evangelize the young, couldn’t you have at least found an artist who is not already known for scandalous “works of art”? 2) Or was scandal, rather than Faith, the whole “hidden” idea behind your choice? Going further into things that don’t glorify God or edify His people, this week (as I write this article, not as you read it) the Bishops of the United States are gathered for their Fall meeting. What is on their agenda? I do not know. But something reportedly not on their agenda ought to be a priority for them: Catholic hospitals have been performing mutilations on children in the name of “trans therapy.” How many? According to the National Catholic Register, “As the Register reported last month, on Oct. 8 a medical watchdog organization called Do No Harm released a database finding that about 150 Catholic hospitals in the United States provided “pediatric sex-change services” between 2019 and 2023, including 33 Catholic hospitals that performed so-called gender-reassignment surgeries on minors... More than 520 minors received treatments in Catholic hospitals in about 40 states during that five-year period, according to the data. More than 150 had surgeries to alter their appearances to resemble the opposite sex, while more than 380 children were given puberty blockers or hormone therapies.” Make no mistake about this, not a bit of this gives glory to the One True God but rather makes a mockery of Him. None of this actually edifies His people, even those mentally ill enough to claim that the children benefit from doctors “correcting” God’s “mistakes.” Every parent, doctor, nurse, and other “official” involved in these actions should be judged in this world, not just in the next. And the Bishops (who have all been made aware of the above-mentioned report), for the sake of their own souls, need to immediately remove the “Catholic” moniker from any hospital doing such evil and excommunicate all “catholics” involved, from the hospitals’ top dogs (even if—no, especially if—that means excommunicating all of the Religious Sisters who officially own and/or run so many “catholic” hospitals) down to the “ethics department” staff as well as those actually doing the dirty deeds. And the parents who subject their children to such mutilations of both body and soul. And the politicians who champion such causes. And the list goes on... Those “catholics” who think that the above examples of ridiculousness and sickness are real Catholicism will hate the paintings going up at Epiphany this week. To them, the crucifixion of Jesus is a stumbling block, for they are, at best, looking for salvation without the Cross, without the Savior, without God. In the coming weeks you will have an opportunity to hear from our faithful Catholic artist an explanation of the who’s, what’s, and why’s of his work. You will be edified. God will be glorified. Epiphany will be beautified. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka |
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