From the Pastor: Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone
The following information about our esteemed visitor follows, having been shamelessly lifted directly from his own archdiocesan website, paragraphication edited only to make it fit here. Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone Salvatore J. Cordileone was born in San Diego on June 5, 1956 to Leon and Mary Cordileone, who raised their family in Blessed Sacrament Parish. Salvatore was the second son and the third of their four children. Family history and youth Archbishop Cordileone’s grandparents were from Sicily; his paternal grandfather was a fisherman and his maternal grandfather, Salvatore, a farmer. His paternal uncle, Joe, died in World War II. The Archbishop’s father, Leon Cordileone, was born in San Francisco. He moved with his family to San Diego when he was four. Later, he worked with his three brothers in the family commercial fishing business and later bought his own albacore fishing boat. Mary, the Archbishop’s mother, was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, the oldest of four sisters. In 1947 she and her family moved to San Diego where she met Leon. The two were married on November 13, 1949. Salvatore attended public grammar and high schools and was an active participant in after-school religion classes and high school music programs, including the concert band, marching band and stage band. He graduated from San Diego’s Crawford High School in June 1974. A call to priesthood The following December, during his first year of college at San Diego State University, he was encouraged by a young parish priest he respected to attend a seminary vocation retreat. It was during this first year that the Archbishop discerned his call to the priesthood, entering St. Francis Seminary and transferring as a sophomore to the University of San Diego. Salvatore Cordileone graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in Philosophy. He was accepted to study in Rome and continued in the seminary at the Pontifical North American College. He received an undergraduate degree in Sacred Theology in 1981 from the Pontifical Gregorian University and the following year returned to San Diego to be ordained and begin his first pastoral assignment. From pastor to monsignor to bishop On July 9, 1982, Bishop Leo T. Maher ordained the Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone. Soon thereafter, he became associate pastor at St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa, where he remained for three years. In 1985 he was again sent to Rome, this time to study the new Code of Canon Law. He spent the next four years again at the Gregorian University completing his doctoral degree. Upon Father Cordileone’s return to San Diego in 1989, he became secretary to Coadjutor Bishop Robert Brom, and a year later became adjunct judicial vicar. Pastoral work called to him again in 1991 and he became pastor of Calexico’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, four blocks from the Mexican border. In 1995 he was called to Rome and for the next seven years served as assistant at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest canonical court. On July 5, 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed then-Monsignor Cordileone as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. He was ordained a bishop on August 21, 2002 by Bishop Brom. In addition to serving on the various consultative bodies of the diocese during his years as auxiliary of San Diego, Bishop Cordileone also chaired the Corporate Board of Catholic Charities and was a member of the University of San Diego Board of Trustees, serving on its Academic Affairs and Mission and Vision Committees. The Archbishop of San Francisco On March 23, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Cordileone as the fourth Bishop of Oakland. His Mass of Installation was celebrated on May 5, 2009 at the Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland. Three years later, on July 27, 2012, he was appointed the Archbishop of San Francisco and was installed on October 4, 2012, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. As the new Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of San Francisco, Archbishop Cordileone received the pallium from Pope Francis in Rome on June 29, 2013. Archbishop Cordileone is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and also of its Committee for Canonical Affairs and Church Governance. He currently serves as well on the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, Subcommittee on the Catechism, and Eucharistic Revival Bishops’ Advisory Group. In addition, the Archbishop serves on a number of boards to support Church efforts beyond the USCCB, including the Catholic Benefits Association/Catholic Insurance Company, Cross Catholic Outreach Board of Directors, the Courage Apostolate Episcopal Board, the Governing Board of the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria, and is a founding member of the Episcopal Advisory Board of the Catholic Healthcare Leaders Association. The Archbishop also serves as the Prior of the American Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George. Archbishop Cordileone’s avocations include a life-long interest in jazz music. He also enjoys swimming, hiking and badminton, as well as spectator sports, especially professional baseball and football.
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From the Pastor: St. Patrick’s Day Approaches!
Next Sunday, March 17, although technically “Passion Sunday” this year, is sure to be overshadowed by that great “Irish” Saint, Patrick. And, because most of us are about as Irish as St. Patrick, we will celebrate it to the max here by having a special guest celebrant, one whose family has deep Irish roots, at the 10:30 am Mass. Yes, Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, whose first, middle, and last names are all dead giveaways to his Celtic ancestry, is coming from that most Irish of all Archdioceses in the States, San Francisco, which everyone knows is Gaelic for “another once-holy city destroyed by leftists.” I have heard from respectable sources that he will be wearing his fancy green cassock, which color, believe it or not, was the proper color for all bishops until the 16th century, at which time the anti-Irish backlash from the neighboring country of Amaranthia, which abuts the western border of Ireland, forced the bishops to renounce their honorary, if not actual, Irish ancestry and change their garb from “Irish green” to “Amaranth red.” To not be accused of being “too traditional,” the good Archbishop’s green cassock will have amaranth red buttons and piping, which also serves to poke a good-natured finger in the eyes of all of the leftist Amaranthians, as it naturally brings to mind the colors of another holy day they truly despise, Christmas, which, if lest ye forget, is another very Irish liturgical holy day, for Saint Nicholas is as Irish as green beer. Unfortunately, since it is still Lent, the Archbishop insisted on leading Compline (Night Prayer) and giving a talk on Saturday evening rather than the big shamrock-themed bash I had been planning. I had to cancel the Irish dancers and send back (some of) the cases of Jameson I had ordered. I knew I should have checked the calendar ahead of time! Oh, well, I guess I can blame it on old age now. Before I forget even more things, I had better write that his prayer and talk will begin Saturday night, March 16, at 7:00 in the church. After that, there will be some light refreshments (kale chips, seaweed crackers, and “I can’t believe it’s not real meat-balls” are all probably on the Lenten snack menu) and a little time for informal chats with this holy man. As a reminder for those who have been here for the past couple of Pontifical Solemn High Masses and as new information for those who were not preset, there are a few “odd” things that must necessarily happen on that Sunday. First of all, remember that there will be no confessions that day. The priests will all be busy with getting ready for the Mass and the functions after the Mass. Secondly, after the 7:30 am Mass we will have to ask everyone to please leave the church after just the briefest of prayers of thanksgiving when Mass is concluded. We have to get everything set up for the Mass and we can’t have the people in our way while we work. It also keeps the first Mass from being packed with 800 people who have no intention of really praying that Mass but are simply camping out to get their choice seat at the next one. So bring an umbrella, for you may need one while standing outside whether you are protecting yourself from the driving rain or the beating sun. Third, the coffee and donuts will be served outside behind the church for all of you who didn’t give up either or both of those for Lent. Fifth, after the 10:30 Solemn Pontifical Mass is done, the Archbishop will have a most meager meal (he eats “vegan” for Lent, something you may wish to emulate next Lent, as that certainly is a penance! The hardest part of this type of fast, although I am assured that the Archbishop has managed, with many supernatural graces pouring forth from Heaven, to avoid such things, must certainly be finding yourself, much against your Catholic will, incessantly bragging about the benefits of the poor health and lack of friends that come as the result of the vegan lifestyle, and the inevitable disdain for all of those despicable people who eat “unnatural” things like steaks, that so smugly comes across what’s left of every vegan’s mind as he chows down on his made-in-the-test-tube “Implausible Burger.” But I digress...) After a quick bite of Lenten suffering, Archbishop Cordileone will move to the parish room where he will greet anyone who wishes to come and say a few words of welcome or get a photo with him. To close out this article, and not a bit too soon, I just want to point out to any gullible people reading this that, although the basic information, such as Archbishop Cordileone coming next weekend and the times he will be publicly praying, speaking, celebrating Mass, and greeting the people are correct in the above paragraphs, you had to wade through a whole lot of blarney to get to the essential truths contained therein. After all, this current Sunday is Laetare (Rejoice) Sunday, so don’t take it too seriously! One last thing I forgot to mention (did I tell you that I am old now?) is that we will be taking up a completely optional, or “free will” offering next week as a second collection in case anyone wishes to help defray some of the costs that the Fraternal Society of St. John the Apostle incurs in organizing such wonderfully holy Pontifical Masses. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Dom Guéranger on Lent
One of my most often used books, or, rather, series of books, is Dom Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year. He was the abbot of Solesmes from 1837-1875 and in 1841 he began to write what would become a 15-volume series about the treasures of the, needless to say, Church’s liturgical year. For the past few weeks, I have been fielding many questions about the changes to the Church’s discipline concerning fast and abstinence during Lent. Why did we use to abstain from meat throughout Lent? Were eggs and milk allowed? Why was the fast all day and the one meal only at night? Did we really fast every day except Sunday? Could we eat the “forbidden foods” on Sunday since it wasn’t a fast day? These and so many more are all great questions, and I myself never knew the answers to any of them until I started delving into the differences between current and traditional practices. I still don’t know all of the answers, and I certainly cannot tell you which rules were changed in which years, but Dom Guéranger certainly answers a whole lot of questions like this. I can’t print everything here, but here is a nice little part (he writes much, much more) of his explanation of the disciplines of Lent in his day and in ancient practice. The rest of this article is his. Enjoy! Lent, then, is a time consecrated, in an especial manner, to penance; and this penance is mainly practised by Fasting. Fasting is an abstinence, which man voluntarily imposes upon himself, as an expiation for sin, and which, during Lent, is practised in obedience to the general law of the Church. According to the actual discipline of the Western Church, the Fast of Lent is not more rigorous than that prescribed for the Vigils of certain Feasts, and for the Ember Days; but it is kept up for Forty successive Days, with the single interruption of the intervening Sundays. We deem it unnecessary to show the importance and advantages of Fasting. The Sacred Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, are filled with the praises of this holy practice. The traditions of every nation of the world testify the universal veneration, in which it has ever been held; for there is not a people, nor a religion, how much soever it may have lost the purity of primitive traditions, which is not impressed with this conviction, - that man may appease his God by subjecting his body to penance. St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and St. Gregory the Great, make the remark, that the commandment put upon our First Parents, in the earthly paradise, was one of Abstinence; and that it was by their not exercising this virtue, that they brought every kind of evil upon themselves and us their children. The life of privation, which the king of creation had thenceforward to lead on the earth, - (for the earth was to yield him nothing of its own natural growth, save thorns and thistles,) - was the clearest possible exemplification of the law of penance, imposed by the anger of God on rebellious man. During the two thousand and more years, which preceded the Deluge, men had no other food than the fruits of the earth, and these were only got by the toil of hard labour. But when God, as we have already observed, mercifully shortened man’s life, (that so he might have less time and power for sin), - he permitted him to eat the flesh of animals, as an additional nourishment in that state of deteriorated strength. It was then, also, that Noah, guided by a divine inspiration, extracted the juice of the grape, which thus formed a second stay for human debility. Fasting, then, is the abstaining from such nourishments as these, which were permitted for the support of bodily strength. And firstly, it consisted in abstinence from flesh-meat, because it is a food that was given to man by God, out of condescension to his weakness, and not as one absolutely essential for the maintenance of life. Its privation, greater or less according to the regulations of the Church, is essential to the very notion of Fasting. Thus, whilst in many countries, the use of eggs, milk-meats, and even dripping and lard, is tolerated, - the abstaining from flesh-meat is everywhere maintained, as being essential to Fasting. For many centuries, eggs and milk-meats were not allowed, because they come under the class of animal food: even to this day, they are forbidden in the Eastern Churches, and are only allowed in the Latin Church by virtue of an annual dispensation. The precept of abstaining from flesh-meat is so essential to Lent, that even on Sundays, when the Fasting is interrupted, Abstinence is an obligation, binding even on those who are dispensed from the fasts of the week, unless there be a special dispensation granted for eating meat on the Sundays. In the early ages of Christianity, Fasting included also the abstaining from Wine, as we learn from St. Cyril of Jerusalem [Catech. iv], St. Basil [Homil. i. De Jejunio], St. John Chrysostom [Homil. iv. Ad populum Antioch.], Theophilus of Alexandria [Litt. Pasch, iii], and others. In the West, this custom soon fell into disuse. The Eastern Christians kept it up much longer, but even with them it has ceased to be considered as obligatory. Lastly, Fasting includes the depriving ourselves of some portion of our ordinary food, inasmuch as it only allows the taking of one meal during the day. Though the modifications introduced from age to age in the discipline of Lent, are very numerous, yet the points we have here mentioned belong to the very essence of Fasting, as is evident from the universal practice of the Church. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Oops! And Other Things
It is not a good idea to be one’s own proofreader, but that is a necessary thing most of the time. In my article about the 1962 rules of fast and abstinence, I somehow inserted part of the “partial abstinence” rules into the “complete abstinence” rules. The corrected version with the correction in bold, is this (although I am my own proofreader once again, so I may have to do yet another correction!): COMPLETE ABSTINENCE, which forbids the eating of meat, and soup or gravy made from meat, is required on: all Fridays, Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, the Vigil of the Assumption, and the Vigil of Christmas. (Current: only Ash Wednesday, Fridays of Lent, and Good Friday.) People who read the “oops” version knew something was wrong when “complete abstinence” allowed meat eating! Nicely, they didn’t bring it up to me, probably because those who point out typos and other little mistakes in the bulletin usually hear my response, “Thank you! We need a volunteer with your talent to take on the task of putting the bulletin together each week. When can you start?” That is usually the end of the complaints! Of course, this one was more than a little typo, so I am glad to print a retraction. Don’t eat meat or meat products on days of complete abstinence! On a different topic, some of the newer parishioners didn’t understand the complete intent of the ECCW’s “Prayers and Pennies for Sisters and Semmies” cans which we encouraged them to take home. A few cans came back the first week. One man I spoke with thought that it was just a collection, like the Bishop’s Catholic Ministry Appeal, so he put some money in it and handed it right back. I pointed to the photos on the can showcasing the young men and women from Epiphany Parish who are currently in various stages of formation. Currently, we have four men and five women studying, praying, and discerning their Religious vocation in various Religious Orders. Both the number and the individuals vary year to year as some discern that Religious life is not their calling, others eagerly enter to begin the process, and some “graduate” through ordination or vows. We ask for prayers for them all year but during Lent, we put a special focus on them with these containers. We ask that you place the can in the middle of the dining room table, or your “prayer space” in your house, or wherever the family gathers on a daily basis where they can talk about vocations, pray for those in formation, donate money to their expenses as they continue their discernment, and, while doing so, perhaps even discuss personal vocations among family members. Seeing others joyfully in formation to be Brothers, Sisters, or Priests helps instill a sense of longing to listen to God’s call and answer in a way pleasing to Him. The vocation of most people will be married life. Seeing that as a vocation helps to ward off temptations to enter marriage for the lesser reasons to get married, such as “just doing what everyone else is doing,” or “I never heard of any other options,” or just plain ol’ lust. (It can also remind husbands and wives that their marriage is a chosen vocation, not to be treated lightly or discarded when married life seems too hard) Seeing people from our own parish (and most parishes don’t have anyone at all in formation, so we are very blessed in this regard) who have made the leap of faith to say “Here am I, Lord” and give up all worldly desires in order to love Him above all things, is quite a way of seeing a religious vocation as a blessing to be accepted joyfully! So, pray daily for these young men and women, talk about vocations, and pray that the donation you make for this appeal will help the Church and the world more than any of us can possibly imagine. As an aside, it seems that a good number of cans in previous years never came back. Please remember that we have to purchase these cans, so every lost one has a financial cost. A can returned empty is better than a can thrown away. Since I mentioned the Bishop’s Catholic Ministry Appeal above, now is a good time to once again thank all of you who donated to it last year. We met and exceeded our goal and the Bishop will use that money (for the projects you chose) for diocesan expenses that he explains in the literature he sends to all registered parishioners each year. This year’s CMA is underway already. It is a yearly collection so it never actually disappears. Kind of like an electric bill. And just about as important to pay, I might add, except this one pleases the Bishop more! Our assigned goal, pledges, and donations are listed each week elsewhere in the bulletin. This year’s goal has only modestly increased, to $128,653.00. Allow me to gush over how welcome this is compared to the past few years’ drastic increases, the same way government officials exuberantly tout the current decrease in the increasing rate of inflation. Our increase shows that we are a strong parish. The smallness of the increase shows that other parishes may finally be rebounding from their ghastly (and largely self-inflicted) covid numbers, which is a great relief for everyone who cares about the souls lost due to clerical mismanagement of the Church during those past years. Perhaps the lost sheep are finally returning to the fold. Anyway, your CMA donations can be made online or via the envelopes in the back of the church if you haven’t already used the one sent to you in the mail. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Must I Give Up Something For Lent?
I am constantly asked about rules and regulations for what to give up for Lent. Must I give up something every day? What about Birthdays and Holidays? How about Sundays? If I give up something and then eat it (a food I gave up) or do it (an activity I gave up) is it a mortal sin or a venial sin? Can I get a dispensation for eating/doing something I gave up but didn’t take into account “this” particular day or circumstance? Can I exclude those times/dates/circumstances in my own determination of what I am giving up or is that cheating? I am sure that not only do you get the picture (and these questions are by no means exhaustive) but that you have probably at least thought about asking something similar even if you never actually did ask! This shows one of the problems that arise when traditions are changed instead of being held onto dearly. I have a calendar in front of me from The Seraphim Company, Inc. that has, on the page labeled, “Calendar Guide and Information,” a subheading of, “Fast and Abstinence.’ In this section, they list the traditional rules (1962, I am guessing) and the current rules. Should you choose to read further, where I list them, you will see that the rules changed drastically. You can find the current rules in these three documents: Pope Paul's Constitution Poenitemini, Code of Canon Law (cc. 1249-1253), and the USCCB's Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence. Without space here to quote these documents in full, I will simply reproduce for you the traditional fast and abstinence as listed on the calendar, interspersed with the current one in red, and offer a few comments and suggestions.
You don’t need 20/20 vision to see that the changes have drastically changed Lent by removing most of the former Lenten penance. Yet in the Bishops’ document cited above, they state that with these changes, “we hope that the observance of Lent as the principal season of penance in the Christian year will be intensified. This is the more desirable because of new insights...” Yes, their new insights are that Lent becomes more penitential if it becomes less penitential! While you may keep the traditional practices, you would be without sin if you kept the current practice of doing almost nothing penitential for Lent. But would you be benefitting to the same degree? I think not. And the majority of Catholics in this society instinctively know it. That is why they choose other penitential practices to voluntarily undergo during Lent. Giving up sweets, alcohol, TV, or Social Media, for instance, is not listed anywhere that I know of in the current regulations. So we are all left on our own to figure out how to make Lent (or any other time of the liturgical year, for that matter) more spiritual than the very basic and, dare I say, even pitiable, current penitential requirements of the Church. All of that leads back to the answer to the above questions. Choose something that will make you more holy and do your best. The Church seems to have abandoned you to your own devices, so choose wisely, challenge yourself, and take on whatever penance you think will help your soul conquer your bodily impulses. That is what will allow you to have a good and holy Lent and, ultimately, through the grace of God, to help others and yourself to become Saints. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Battling Demons
The diocese recently offered priests and deacons an opportunity to learn a little about the proper procedure for expelling demons from people and places. It was quite helpful to get clarity on some of the “whats” “whys” and “hows” of demonic obsession, oppression, and possession. Most of the time the priests, deacons, and, I would dare to guess, bishops, have had absolutely no training in any of this and so we just have to wing it when needed. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it can even make a bad situation worse because the demons know the limits of our authority to command them. If we even inadvertently overstep the boundaries of our authority, they cease obeying us. One memorable time when a couple of priests and lay people, in a massive crowd of others who were already deep in prayer, had to “wing it” on the spot took place during a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France in the fall of 2010. The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes just happens to be next Sunday, so I thought that pulling out an old article I wrote about it at the time might be interesting to you today. Last week I told you of the gift of prayer time which our stop at Lourdes afforded us. The Torchlight Marian Procession showed us in a very vivid manner why this time of intense prayer was so essential. Nighttime at Lourdes brings about a very inspirational gathering of all the pilgrims down at the Grotto where the Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette. Pilgrims carrying lit candles are invited to join the procession as a statue of Our Lady is carried along the path leading to the Basilica. The night we first went down to join in this prayer there were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of pilgrims present. There were so many people, in fact, that joining the procession was completely out of the question. We could not even get halfway into the square in front of the Basilica, let alone get anywhere near the Grotto, before we became part of the pack of pilgrims forced to simply stand in one place, pray, and wait for the procession to come to us. Off to our right in the distance, a stage was set up with huge speakers that broadcast the Rosary prayers. Large screens showed videos of some sort every once in a while which I guessed were meditations on the particular mystery upon which we were meditating. Trees were blocking my view so I never got a good look at the stage or screen but I didn’t bother vying for a better spot since I was not there for “movie night.” And, as it turned out, the place I was standing was where I was most needed. Huge gatherings of people reverently praying often bring out evil along with the good. Mentally unbalanced people, looking for attention and knowing pilgrims will treat them with love and compassion, often act out in strange ways. Demons, who cannot tolerate this prayerful love of God and neighbor, also manifest themselves as they attempt to either escape this “torment” or at least disrupt it and discourage people to the extent of their wicked abilities. We were witness to one such case that night. A woman came running through the crowd, which parted much as the Red Sea at the touch of Moses’ staff, wailing, flailing, spitting, cursing, and retching. For no apparent reason, she stopped very near to where we were standing. It seemed that the strength we garnered in prayer was going to be put to the test. I asked the Blessed Mother and St. Bernadette to use the prayers of all of us gathered to help this poor woman. As I extended my right hand in prayer over her, I closed my eyes to try to block out all distractions and began exorcism prayers. It was next to impossible to determine if this woman was mentally unbalanced or truly possessed but either way, she needed our help. I prayed for her deliverance from this spiritual or mental evil that was afflicting her and I could hear several women in our group continually praying the St. Michael prayer. For a long time, she acted like a wild animal in a cage as the hand of God kept her planted in this one place so that we could pray over her. But eventually and quite suddenly she became calm, as if demons had been expelled and she was finally at peace. Less than a minute later the police arrived to find, not a wild, out-of-control troubled woman in danger of hurting herself and others, but rather a rational, peaceful woman at least seemingly joining the crowd in prayer. After determining that there was nothing they could or needed to do, the police quietly left and the woman remained with us and “with it” for the duration of the Rosary. Had she been possessed and was now free of demons? Had she been cured of mental illness? Or was she simply acting and knew when to stop the act so that she wouldn’t be arrested? Though we may never know for sure, without our prior time of prayer the first two of these possibilities may have been impossible to accomplish. With prayers for your holiness, Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Addressing the Pope
Last week I asked the people at the 7:30 Mass to write letters in a way similar to what was done when the parishioners wrote letters of support to Bishop Parkes. Similarly, mind you, not exactly the same way, for the letters to our Bishop were letters of support when he mistakenly thought that we didn’t support him. This week, through this bulletin article, I am asking the people at the other Masses to also take pen in hand and put it to paper. The Bishop to whom these new letters should be addressed resides in Rome. Unlike Bishop Parkes, Francis doesn’t see the value of allowing anyone, not just us at this parish, to celebrate or attend Mass in the Traditional Latin form. For this reason, I don’t ask you to send him letters of support, for he may think you support his desire to take that away from us. But I do ask you to send a letter explaining to him how the Traditional Latin Mass has changed your life for the better. Please don’t make up stories or even embellish your own personal experience with the Mass. Just write a nice letter telling him what it has done for your Catholic faith, for your understanding of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, how it has brought your family more deeply into the family of the Church, or any other way that it has opened your eyes to the Glory of God as expressed in Traditional liturgy. Let me here repeat what I said last week about writing such letters. I don’t know if any of them will get through to him for I don’t know what system is in place to allow some things to pass through and some to be blocked. There must be a system, though, for he cannot possibly read every piece of mail that gets sent to him. But I do know that if any of the “mail sorters” are anti-TLM and they see a nasty, cruel, belligerent letter coming in among hundreds of heartwarming and thoughtfully loving letters, that one horrible letter will be the one that gets placed squarely in the front and center of the desk. Don’t write such a letter! Don’t complain about anything. Don’t whine about anything. Don’t berate anyone. Just say something about how the TLM has helped you to become more holy and loving, more Catholic, and more likely to become a Saint. If even one such a letter gets through it has the possibility of changing his heart. It should go without saying that I am asking you to pray as you write it, pray as you send it, and prayerfully ask your guardian angel to help ward off any demons who wish to misdirect your letter or have it misinterpreted. Maybe the person soring mail will be a friend of Tradition and two hundred or more letters written from this one parish, from mature ladies and teenage girls, from little boys and elderly men, from the pastor and from the newbie who just wandered in for the first time, could all wind up in Francis’ hands. It won’t happen if you don’t send in a letter and you cannot send one in if you don’t write it. By the time these letters get to the Vatican and get processed, we will be down to approximately one year of life left in the parish with a possibility of an extension of this “generous” two-year exemption granted us before we have to cease doing the very thing that brought life back to the parish in 2015. Why not put personal stories out there to be seen by the one man who wields the power? Of course, most people have no idea how to address the letter or the envelope, so here is the proper protocol: The salutation on the letter should be “Your Holiness” or “Most Holy Father”. The complimentary closing should be “Respectfully yours.” The envelope should be addressed to: His Holiness Pope Francis 00120 Vatican City Europe It seems that thousands of packages, letters, and messages get delivered there each day. The chances of our letters getting through seem astronomically slim. Yet I believe that this is a worthwhile endeavor. After all, it is worth it if each of us has to express in writing just how much we have been changed for the better since discovering the Traditional Latin Mass. If we can explain it to Francis, we will better be able to explain it to our skeptical neighbors and friends. It is worth it for those sorting the Vatican mail, too, for certainly they will see their fair share of complaints and gripes, so seeing good news will bring them welcome relief. Finally, to use an image that is well-known to all of us, both young and old, as the Grinch’s heart grew and he fully embraced Christmas, perhaps this prayerful venture will have the same effect on Francis’ heart and he will fully embrace Traditional Catholicism. After all, celebrating the sacraments in their Traditional form, especially the Mass, has given me insights into the priesthood which I never knew I lacked. I am just an insignificant parish priest. I hear stories all the time about how individuals and families have loved God and His Church more fully after embracing the TLM, sometimes after long battles of kicking against the goad! Wouldn’t it be lovely to see the same result in Rome? Get out your best paper, ink, crayons, or whatever writing instruments you own, and get those letters out! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Thank You, God, For Good Timing!
Last weekend was quite different than I had expected, all because of a little issue with (or, rather, without) water. It all started sometime Friday afternoon. We had water shortly after noon when I was washing my lunch dishes. But sometime later that afternoon Fr. Dorvil announced that there was no water coming out of the kitchen faucet. A quick check showed that the entire rectory was without water. I walked to the school. No water there. I checked the church. Again, no water. We don’t know when it went out but we had the JMJ homeschool group here until at least two o’clock and never heard any complaints from them so we assume it was sometime after they left. As I walked back out of the church I heard the sound of cars out front driving through water, which would have been a normal noise had it been raining, but such was not the case. I walked out there to see water gushing out from under the sidewalk outside of our fence. The water was coming from both sides of the slab of concrete with enough force that it was actually pushed up higher than the other adjoining sections and running out onto Hanna Avenue down toward the train tracks. I quickly went back to the rectory and called the water department to report a water main break. The woman on the other end of the phone line said that since it was gushing from under the city sidewalk next to the street, she would put it in as an emergency and a repair truck would be there shortly. A couple of hours later the city repairman got there and, after a long search, finally found the water shutoff valve and meter box under the water in the small strip between the sidewalk and the street. He siphoned the water out of the newly made holes and dug the mud out to reveal the water pipe. Then he gave me the bad news. Even though the broken pipe was obviously outside of our property boundaries, because it was on our side of the meter box, it was our problem to deal with, not the city’s. He was sympathetic to our predicament as he had been watching all of the cars coming in to drop off teens for our youth group meeting. When he heard that our weekend schedule included Saturday morning Mass, Adult Catechism Class, baptisms and another evening Mass, and then another 800 or more people coming in for Sunday Masses and activities, he called his supervisor and asked him to come and see if they could do anything for us. The supervisor did come by a while later but he answer was, “Sorry, but we can’t help you. You’ll have to call your own plumber” I put in a call and left a message with Dyser Plumbing, the best plumbing company I have had the pleasure of dealing with as a priest. Then I sent out a text message and email via Flocknote warning people that we had no water anywhere on campus. I canceled the class but not the Masses and left the baptisms up to the parents. Mr. Dyser called back and apologized that he had allowed his “extra” plumbers to take some vacation time after a long, hard holiday season and had nobody to send. (Mr. Dyser also called again Sunday morning apologizing for “letting us down” and offering to make it up to us. He really is a great man and certainly didn’t let us down by taking care of his employees.) By Saturday morning parishioners were in motion doing things that needed to be done. We had people calling plumbers everywhere from Dade City to Sun City Center, yet none could be found to come to our assistance. Several people managed to find porta-potty companies that could deliver a couple on short notice so that we would at least have minimal toilet facilities before the Vigil Mass began. A plumber (Emory of Emory M. Garland Plumbing, who turned out to be another delightful Christian plumber willing to go the extra mile to get our water running again before Sunday “services”) was finally found by one of our contractors, who also came out with one of his men to cut through the sidewalk to get to the pipe. It turns out that the sidewalk was a fresh slab of concrete put down by the city after they changed the connection of our water pipes to a new meter and a new connection to their water main when they were doing work on the system while putting in the new City Center across the street. It was their newly installed pipe that snapped. We will see if they can reimburse us for our expenses since it seems they installed that section of pipe improperly. Meanwhile, another parishioner brought about twenty five-gallon buckets filled with water so that we could flush toilets if needed on Sunday. The Knights of Columbus, without their knowledge, were going to refill the buckets from Epiphany Arms next door as needed. Other parishioners offered meals for the priests if needed. The coffee and donut people had to cancel our donut order because the deadline came before the plumber did. The website got updates on the progress, as did our farcebook page and flocknote. More people did more things than I could have ever imagined. Thank you all. Finally, about 5:45 am Sunday morning, I turned on the water, flushed out the pipes, and everything held together! But that is not why I titled this column “Thank You, God, For Good Timing!” Just imagine what would have happened if the pipe burst just one week earlier! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Prayers and Thanks
Later this week many members of our Youth Group, along with their chaperones and fearless leader Jamiee, will be making the trek to the March for Life. Please keep them all in your prayers as they spend days on end praying for an end to abortion. When I ask for prayers for them, specifically I am asking for prayers against the demonic forces they will be encountering. Fortunately for them, they will be in a huge group of (mostly) holy people, each of whose guardian angel will be doing much to protect them. But they will also be in the midst of a huge swarm of demons who are hell-bent on keeping our collective USA mindset securely on “practical matters” of this world and completely ignoring the immorality of both the acts leading to “unplanned” pregnancy and the “termination” (a politically correct word if there ever was one) of said pregnancy. And, since child sacrifice, which is what abortion is at its core, is pleasing to Satan, he will send legions of demons, those already surrounding our spineless pro-abort politicians and those who vote for them, as well as many others normally on other “assignments.” Imagine, if you will, the demons brought with carloads of protesters who try to intimidate the pro-life Youth, those accompanying the security personnel waiting anxiously to throw pro-life Youth out of the Smithsonian and other government buildings, those accompanying the pro-abort media (as if there are any other kind) and even those tempting the bishops to denounce their own children when demonic false accusations arise against them, all of which have happened in recent years. Without the good angels accompanying the Youth and adults, without the prayers of the people back home in parishes, without the priests and religious at the March for Life and back home, the children would have no chance of surviving with their souls intact. But with all of the Good, they will not only survive but thrive. They will return more convinced than ever of the need for their own, not just others’, purity and virtue. They will become more and more convinced that demons are real, that God and angels are real, and that the Catholic Church is the only means of salvation. Although they will also realize that it can take years, nay, even decades of prayer and action before enough hearts are converted to make a large difference in the overall mindset of abortion as a “good” or a “necessary evil”, they will also realize that individuals can be converted, can repent, can mourn past sins, and can be reconciled with God just by the seemingly non-productive witness given by the group and by the individuals within the group. Pray for their holiness! Pray for their safety in body and soul! Pray for those they will touch spiritually by their willingness to give this small part of their lives to God. While they are on their March, a group of our Troops of St. George will also be on a trip, albeit one somewhat closer to home. They will be on a campout at Lithia Springs. They can use your prayers as well, so don’t neglect to include them as you pray for the Youth Group. On their campouts, the boys learn a lot about discipline and taking responsibility for their actions and for the well-being of the group. By learning such things as advanced planning, setting up camp, cooking, and many other “manly” activities, they will also grow in their pro-life Catholicism. For when they learn what a real Catholic man is expected to do, how he is to act, how he is to treat others, how he is to pray always and everywhere, these boys will grow in virtues that are rarely talked about, not often seen in family or societal life anymore, and certainly not held in high esteem by a large segment of society. They will, of course, by learning how God expects males to think, act, and believe, then, in turn, treat females as God expects boys to treat girls, men to treat women, and husbands to treat wives. The virtues of chastity and sobriety, of reverence and gentlemanliness, of courage and fortitude will be a natural part of their lives. They will not see the opposite sex (or same sex) as play toys, but will rather see the joy of a life-time commitment to protecting and caring for a wife who will be a mother (after a sacramental marriage, not before) to their children, or how glorious it is to be a Father or Brother in the religious life. They will uphold Traditional Catholic morality rather than despise it or ignore it or wish it would change. And, yes, these camping trips, combined with everything else they learn in this great organization, will set them on the path of holiness or, more accurately, keep them on it. My thanks go out to those who take the time and put in the energy needed to help parents raise holy children by running the Youth Group, Troops of St. George, and all of the other great organizations we have available at Epiphany. And, lest I neglect it, many thanks also go out to those who toiled so much to make our last weekend’s Epiphany Celebration such a wonderful occasion. Our Parish Feast Day brought so many blessings to us, those that we recognized and those that were just “infused” within us, due to the angels and Saints in Heaven watching over us and interceeding on our behalf as well as those saints-in-the-making who did the grunt work here on Earth. Thank you all and keep the prayers rising to Heaven! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Is Epiphany January 6 or 7? Yes!
The Church keeps two main liturgical calendars, one for the Novus Ordo and one for the Traditional Latin Mass. There are also other, lesser known, liturgical calendars followed by other Catholic Rites, and there are some variations within the calendars of various Religious Orders, but explaining all of those would be beyond the scope of this article. Since this is Epiphany of Our Lord Parish and we follow both calendars, I want to explain a little about the date upon which Epiphany falls, since it is one of the many times when the two calendars are not unified. In the 1962 calendar, Epiphany is always celebrated on January 6. This is the 12th day after Christmas. The Novus Ordo calendar, on the other hand, has transferred Epiphany to the following Sunday, regardless of the date. This year, the Solemnity of The Epiphany of the Lord on the Novus Ordo (1970) calendar falls on Sunday, January 7. So our strange calendar situation means that we will celebrate Epiphany on Saturday, January 6 at the TLM and again on Sunday, January 7 in the NOM. “But Father!” you might be thinking, “That’s not right! I read this article during the NOM on Saturday, January 6 and the priest was celebrating the Solemnity of The Epiphany of the Lord. Now I am re-reading it during the Sunday morning TLM on January 7 and the priest is celebrating the Mass of The Epiphany of the Lord today! I think you must have transposed the dates when you were explaining the differences in the calendars.” While I can easily see myself doing such a thing, in this particular case I got it right. I have even checked and rechecked just to be sure since it would be a horrible time to incorrectly write that I am correct even while acknowledging that the people are experiencing Masses being celebrated on the dates that I stated are not the proper dates for their particular calendar. Ohhh, my head is spinning. Yes, the NOM calendar says that January 7, not the 6th, is Epiphany, yet we celebrated it on January 6th anyway and we did so while following the calendar correctly. And, yes, the TLM calendar puts Epiphany on January 6, yet we, following that calendar properly, too, celebrated it on January 7. How now, brown cow? It turns out that there are quirks in both calendars. In the NOM calendar, although Sunday, January 7, is the date for Epiphany, the Vigil Mass, which, in this case was celebrated at 5:00 pm Saturday, January 6, is considered the anticipated Sunday Mass. So the Saturday evening Mass is the same as the Sunday Mass, hence, it was the Mass of The Epiphany of the Lord. If we had a NOM on Sunday, too, we would have celebrated the same Mass both days. As for the TLM, we celebrated it, as the calendar tells us to do, on Saturday, January 6 at the morning Mass. The quirk to this calendar is that it allows parishes to celebrate, as an external solemnity, the parish patronal feast day (Epiphany, for us) on either the preceding or following Sunday in addition to celebrating it on the proper date, if the pastor considers it to be beneficial to the people. I believe it to be beneficial, so we celebrated the same Mass on both days, even though it meant that the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph got bumped from the calendar. Whew! The “backward dates” were correct! Now that we have that straightened out, let me remind you that there was a special exorcism and blessing of salt and water during the evening of January 5. I only blessed several hundred gallons of the Epiphany Holy Water; there may be some left for you to take home if you missed that ceremony. There certainly will be plenty of specially blessed Epiphany chalk for you to take home to mark the lintels of your doors with the traditional Epiphany markings. This year it is written as 20 + C + M + B + 24, which is the current year, 2024, with crosses and the initials of the Three Kings (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) between the first two digits and the last two digits. The CMB also stands for “Christus mansionem benedicat,” or “May Christ bless the house.” The Roman Ritual book of blessings allowed on Epiphany, along with the chalk, blessing of gold, incense, myrrh, and houses. We use frankincense and sometimes myrrh at the high Mass, so I am not giving it out, as I am sure none of you would wish to take anything home that should more properly give honor to Our Lord. And I forgot to purchase a thousand extra gold bars to bless and pass out to everyone. Maybe next year. Finally, everybody has different needs and desires for the size and type of house they want to live in, so I decided not to purchase one for each member of the congregation this year, so as to avoid the great arguments over “who gets what house” that erupted last year when I tried it for the first time. But I did manage to bless each house that you brought in for the blessing. If you missed doing so this year, it is not too soon to start making plans for next year! Happy Octave of Epiphany! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Aunt Irma Gets Blessed!
My Aunt Irma is a hoot. She is willing to do what others just dream of doing. Or wouldn’t ever dream of doing. Nonetheless, she is willing to go through with things others sometimes only wish that somebody would do. This Christmas she was telling us all about her latest plans and, I must admit, what she is doing is being as wise as a serpent while being as simple as a dove. Aunt Irma is courageously combating evil where others much stronger and seemingly capable than her, out of fear, fail to tread. She got her latest idea from Fiducia Supplicans, a document recently published by the Vatican’s expert on kissing. Aunt Irma claims to be a Latin scholar and she translated the title thusly: “'Supplicans' gives us the English 'suppliants' or 'beggars,' and 'Fiducia' is the Latin root for the once-popular dog name, 'Fido.' So a rough translation is 'Begging like a dog.'” She also provided a more vulgar translation, one that those in the know can smugly laugh about at their next “Guess My Pronouns” party and so will not be given here. After droning on for something like 4000 words about what a “blessing” is, the document finally got around to stating its true purpose, which is to give the green light to priests and bishops who pretend that God is pleased with the intimate relations of men/men and women/women whose activities used to be relegated to red light districts. Aunt Irma said that as she was reading it she was astounded by how it contradicted itself so blatantly about how “individuals” are often rightly blessed without demanding to know the status of their morality but then turned around and insisted that “couples” could/should be blessed even if it is known (no prying necessary) that they are living in “irregular” relationships. Of course, she recognized that that was only a pretext for the next logical step taken by the document and the reason it was written in the first place, the blessing, no questions asked or admitted, of unrepentant openly homosexual couples (not individuals). None of that surprised her but it did disappoint her. But when her Bishop came out with a wishy-washy non-commital defense of the document, one obviously written in hopes that he could edify his many “gay” priests and fellow bishops and not get himself “Stricklandized” by Rome, while trying to gaslight his faithful Catholic priests and people into thinking that if they just read the document as he had, they, too, would see that it doesn’t say what it says or mean what it means, she had enough. She immediately conceived her new mission: to show her Shepherd the ramifications of opening up a can of worms by allowing the blessing of evil. The first thing she did was to send her Bishop an edited version of a story found in the 14th chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, re-rewritten in light of (or in the darkness of) Fiducia Supplicans. At that time Herod the Tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus. And he said to his servants: I hope this is another John the Baptist: and therefore mighty works won’t shew forth themselves in him. For Herod had rewarded John and bought him off, and put him into a position of power, because of Herodias, his brother’s wife. For John said to him: It is not lawful for thee to have her. But hey, man, what the heck. Let me give you two a blessing! And having a mind to put him in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, he synoded the people: because they esteemed him as a prophet. But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she being instructed before by her mother, said: Give my incestuous, erotic dancing the blessing of John the Baptist. And the king was struck giddy because of his oath, and he salivated with them that sat with him at table; he commanded it to be given. And he sent for John, who was entertaining a certain American Jesuit priest in the Praetorium. And his blessing was dished up like a sumptuous dessert: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And a New York TImes photographer just happened to be there to capture the whole thing and silence the naysayers. Of course, this was just the beginning. Next, she brought a beautiful Nativity Collection to the Cathedral so that the Bishop could bless it. This Fontanini set was quite stunning, except that the figures of Mary and Joseph had been replaced by two Pachamamas. When he saw that he was being photographed by an NYT reporter and hesitated to impart his blessing, she whipped out a leather-bound copy of his response to Fiducia Supplicans and asked him what the problem was. He quickly gave his non-liturgical blessing. A few days later, she showed up at the chancery with two of her lady friends, each wearing identical wedding dresses and sporting shiny, new rings. The thruple received a blessing in front of a limo with a “Just Married, Married, Married” sign. The ever-present Times photographer was also there because this was almost certainly as non-scandalous and spontaneous a request as could possibly be made. She plans to keep upping the ante by asking for blessings upon ever more disgusting “irregular” unions until the Bishop finally cracks. How long will it take before her Bishop issues a retraction of his initial response and speaks out against this latest divisive document? Stay tuned. And watch for news stories about an old woman with a tuxedo-wearing goat... With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Merry Christmas Vigil
This weekend’s bulletin will be available on the last day of Advent. Since Christmas falls on Monday this year, the rubrics of the 1962 liturgical calendar state that the Vigil of Christmas takes the place of the 4th Sunday of Advent. But the 1970 calendar says that it remains the 4th Sunday of Advent because it changed the definition of what a “vigil” is. I have already written more about that at other times but I wanted to put it in again for the sake of any visitors we may have who are confused about which Mass is being celebrated this weekend. The back-to-back Sunday/Christmas days also mean that we can finally decorate the Church for Christmas. Many of the new parishioners and visitors wonder why we have a Nativity scene out front all year but then no Christmas trees and blinking lights like everyone else has had since the weekend after Thanksgiving. The answer is quite simple. Advent is Advent and Christmas is Christmas. Combining them would be like hiding Easter eggs and eating jelly beans and chocolates all through Lent, celebrating Easter during those penitential Lenten days. Soon enough, there would be no distinction between the two, and the penances of Lent would disappear. Properly done, during Lent you practice the mortifications of fast and abstinence, and you don’t feast until Easter. The same is supposed to be done for these two related but distinct seasons, keeping the season of Advent as a time of preparation and the Christmas season (not just one day) as the time of celebration. But we have seen it morph into one big Christmas celebration and then the entire Christmas season is abandoned as the tree hits the curb on December 26. In the “old days,” Advent used to include daily fasting and Friday abstinence similar to Lent. By the 1962 calendar fasting was reduced to the three Ember Days of the third week, with partial abstinence on Ember Wednesday and Saturday, and full abstinence on all Fridays. The 1970 calendar, as the final nails in the coffin, removed the Ember Days and even abrogated the necessity to abstain from meat on Fridays (another penance of one’s choosing sufficing to replace it). Rather than lose this distinction completely, we try to keep to the tradition, as much as possible, anyway, of keeping Advent pretty low-key and then sprucing (a Christmas tree pun) everything up once Christmas finally comes. We do have to cheat a little on this, however, as getting enough volunteers to decorate the social hall and church on Sunday night just before Christmas Midnight Mass would be quite a challenge. This is a good time to note that if any of you wish to string thousands of lights outside the church in addition to the towering lighted Christmas tree (you might not have noticed it during the daytime but it is there) please feel free to volunteer and we will procure the lights for you. If you can find another huge, inflatable dinosaur with a wrapped gift in his mouth, feel free to bring him in, too, for I sure do miss that big guy! (That’s a joke. Please don’t bring him back!) As for the relatively new Nativity scene (one year ago last October it was installed just in time for Cardinal Burke’s visit) that we keep out front all year, it is not a Nativity scene at all. This is Epiphany of Our Lord parish and that is an Epiphany scene. Notice the Three Kings! If this was St. Denis parish and we had a large statue of a Bishop holding his severed, mitered head in his hands, nobody would ask us if we were decorating for Halloween all year! Well, yes they would, unless they knew the story of St. Denis. But even though people know the story of Epiphany they still don’t make the connection. By the way, if you ever find a nice marble statue of St. Denis, I would be happy to find a place for him somewhere on our grounds! With that out of the way, Merry Christmas everyone! Whew! I thought I would run out of space before I got around to writing those words. Very early Monday morning (midnight, in the old calendar anyway) we begin the Christmas season. But on Tuesday the first non-Christmas Mass of the season is for a martyr. What gives with that? Why are Catholics celebrating the Birth of Jesus with the death of St. Stephen? He was murdered in hatred of Our Lord. Two days later we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents. Those poor babies died when Herod was trying to kill Jesus. We can’t celebrate death, not of a mere man and especially not of innocent babies, can we? Yes, we can and do and should! The Deacon Stephen was the first recorded man who was killed for the Faith. The Holy Innocents were killed for the Faith when Jesus was still a babe. Yet those holy deaths are not to be ignored, swept aside, or even mourned, although the grief would have been profound when these atrocities first occurred. Now we see them as Merry (to use the word of the season) beginnings of new life! We are supposed to be like Jesus in all things, not just the things that are “pleasant” in this world. We are to long to imitate Him more perfectly every day. More prayerful. More loving. More compassionate. If we live like Him we will even lovingly die for Him as the martyrs did and resurrect like Him and be with Him in Heaven! That is what he came for, after all, isn’t it? Don’t miss the meaning of the Christmas Season! It goes far beyond just buying, giving, and receiving toys. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: No Scant Christmas Worship!
Christmas fell on a Monday in 2017, just as it does this year. That year we had the same Mass schedule for both the English Novus Ordo Mass and the Traditional Latin Masses, although with two extra Vietnamese Novus Ordo Masses as well. Now that the St. Joseph Vietnamese Mission has become a parish of its own, complete with its own property and church building, we no longer have two groups “competing” for space on these Holy Days. Thanks be to God, and I don’t mean that in any negative way whatsoever. We both outgrew these accommodations. But, while some things change, others don’t. Such is the case with people trying to attend Sunday evening’s Mass >>only<< and having it “count” as a fulfillment of both the Sunday and Christmas obligation! Thanks be to God again that we don’t have such minimalistic-minded people at this parish (or, if we do, may they read this article and change!). Such people are truly to be pitied, but it is our own Church leaders, in instituting the novelty of an “anticipated” Sunday Mass on Saturday evening, who shoulder much of the blame. Even if they didn’t see it coming, they are most certainly aware after 50 years that the vigil Masses have encouraged a mentality of “Let’s get our obligation to God out of the way so that we don’t have to pray on Sunday.” People usually won’t state it quite like that but they have no problem proclaiming that they prefer the vigil Mass over Sunday Masses because they can go out to eat on Saturday night. They also don’t mind complaining to the priest that if the vigil is not early enough (or if the homily is too long) they have to wait too long in line at their favorite restaurant. I am happy to say that I have never heard any of the parishioners at our vigil speak such nonsense. I credit the priests who came before me and those who normally celebrate that Mass now, for they must all have done and continue to do a great job teaching that the main purpose of the Mass is to worship God as He wishes us to worship, not just to punch the time clock, so to speak. That being said, I have already had multiple people “out in the wild” ask me about the possibility of killing two birds with one stone by attending only their Christmas Eve or early Midnight Mass (oh, the horrors of Midnight Mass being celebrated at either 8:00 pm or 10:00 pm on Christmas Eve!) and having it “count” for both the Sunday and Christmas Mass obligations. Oh, my! How sad it is to hear people trying to get by with minimal effort in worshipping Our Lord, especially on one of the holiest days of the year! “Yay!” I can almost hear them exclaim, “We outwitted God and only had to go to Mass once this week while sleeping in on both Sunday and Christmas. Plus, we fooled the pastor and only had to put one crumpled-up dollar bill into a single collection, not two! Woo Hoo! We are the smartest damned Catholics in the world!” Yep. Damned smart Catholics, if you get my drift. Not that I am so goshdurn holy that I don’t get by with just the minimum (or less) expected of me at times, too, but sheesh, on Christmas? I bet they have a blow-up Grinch in their front yard instead of a Nativity Scene, too. Getting back to how this article started out, the Mass schedule, with the exception of the missing Vietnamese Masses, will be the same this year as it was in 2017 for December 24 and 25th and January 1, which, once again, is not a Holy Day of Obligation because our US Bishops decided that making people attend Mass two days in a row was tooooo haaarrrd on the people. That does, at least, help explain why they haven’t pressed to suppress the “anticipated” Sunday Mass (the Saturday evening Vigil and Masses the evening before Holy Days). We will have a Novus Ordo vigil Mass at 5:00 pm on December 23 which is the Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent on the Novus Ordo calendar; another on the 24th at 5:00 pm, which is the Christmas Vigil Mass and fulfills one’s Christmas obligation. I am working toward full compliance with the Vatican directive that I not publicize the Traditional Latin Mass times in the bulletin, online, or by any other media, which I write as a preface to telling you that something—a “something” that I cannot write about—will happen in the church at the normal Sunday times of 7:30 am and 10:30 am on December 24, either of which will fulfill your Sunday obligation for the old-fashioned Vigil of Christmas as it used to be known, and which supersedes the 4th Sunday of Advent in the liturgical calendar which must not be mentioned from 1962. A first Christmas something will begin at Midnight as December 24 changes to December 25; a second Christmas something will be said silently in the church at 7:30 am on December 25; yet a third Christmas something will be accompanied by the choir at 10:30 am later that morning; any or all three of which will satisfy your obligation to properly worship God on Christmas, though I must leave it to your imaginations as to how that could possibly occur. Please note that there will be no confessions heard after any of the Christmas somethings. The following weekend Mass schedule is as normal, as is the schedule for Monday, January 1st since it is not a Holy Day of Obligation. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Farcebook Needs My Passport!?!?
It has been several months since I logged onto my farcebook account. I know that many of you reading this may be astounded that anyone could survive without such a popular social media platform for such a lonnnnggggg period of time (and it’s not even being done as a Lenten penance!) but I was all too happy to just ignore it and see if somehow the world would continue as normal. Well, looking at what is going on in the world since I stopped posting or reading others’ posts, you might be able to make a case that my ignoring of FB really did cause incalculable problems! Regardless of the cause/effect of my absence, two weeks ago somebody texted me a FB link, insisting that it was worth my time to read, so I clicked. FB refused to open the post unless I signed in. So I tried signing in. My sign-in was rejected. Was my password entered incorrectly? No. Was my sign-in name wrong? No. Everything was correct but FB insisted that, for my safety and security, and to guarantee that it was actually me signing in, I had to send them a copy of my passport, driver's license, birth certificate, social security number, and umbilical cord blood from my firstborn child. Or something like that. I thought that for sure I had been spoofed, that this notice was not really from FB and that somebody, either a prankster or a gangster, thought that I was stupid enough to send such information to them. I opened a “private tab” and tried going directly to FB. I got the same message of strange demands. I tried another browser. Same thing. I tried changing my VPN to another location. I received the same strange message yet again. So I googled “passport for FB sign-in scam” and discovered that it was neither a new thing nor a scam—unless you count Farcebook as the scammer! For years, it has demanded of some people at some time that they send copies of their identification cards, certificates, etc., to them in order to use—or to be used by—FB. I am going to copy and paste (although removing the formatting and italicizing it) from FB’s “help” pages to show you the audacity of FB. Types of IDs that Facebook accepts If you need to confirm your name on Facebook, or if you've lost access to your account, you may be asked to send us a copy of something with your name on it. You have several different options for this, including photo IDs issued by the government, IDs from non-government organizations, official certificates or licenses that include your name or other physical items like a magazine subscription or a piece of mail...(It was the government-issued photo ID that they wanted from me.) You can also learn more about what happens to your ID after you send it to Facebook. Don't digitally conceal ID information To help us prevent fake IDs and other abuses, we don't accept photos that have been digitally modified to hide information. You can also physically cover any non-essential information on your ID, before you take a photo of the document. Government IDs You can send us 1 government ID to confirm your name or regain access to your account. Anything that you send us should contain either: Your name and date of birth, or Your name and a photo. Some examples of government IDs we accept include: (my bold color here, as this is what they were demanding of me) Driver’s license; National identity card; Passport; Birth certificate There was much more information to be found on that page and on others it linked to. For instance, this: What happens to your ID after you send it to Facebook After you send us a copy of your ID, it'll be encrypted and stored securely. Your ID won't be visible on your profile, to friends or to other people on Facebook... Notice that I can send my passport totally unencrypted (that is, open to bad guys stealing that information) at which time they will encrypt it (thanks) and store it securely. Read that again. They will store it. For how long? For what purpose? My ID won’t be visible to my “friends or other people on Facebook” but it will be accessible to FB! Will it, like all other information that they get from me, be sold to all bidders? I am writing this, not because it has anything to do directly with Epiphany or the Church but just as a means of showing how far this social media giant has pushed the envelope as they convince people to give up even the most “valuable” of information to a company that does nothing essential for life, either in this world or the next. Would you continue going to church if I demanded a copy of your passport which I refuse to assure you will not be used for marketing or other thievery? The Church is necessary for salvation, FB is not. Would you continue to buy groceries at a market that demands such ID? Food is necessary for physical life. People must think that FB is even more important or they wouldn’t give up such information. Needless to say, I didn’t send my ID. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Special December Masses, Feasts, and Traditions
Friday, December 8, is a Holy Day of Obligation, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Holy Days” such as this, if you are old enough to remember, used to be joyfully held in reverence and awe, at least as far as I can tell from old liturgical accounts of them. The Catholics of old actually liked having occasional days off of work or school so that they could attend Mass on such special feast days. Traditions grew around these liturgical celebrations so that novenas, litanies, processions, and even special foods were cooked and eaten specifically for the special celebration. Unfortunately for us, it seems that few want to ask for even a couple of hours off of work to attend a Mass of Obligation during the week. HR departments and school admins simply scoff at the notion that a Catholic religious celebration deserves any respect. Thus the US Bishops have acquiesced to the times and either canceled most Holy Days or transferred them to Sundays so as to not inconvenience anyone who worships secularism more than Catholicism. Even so, December still brings us two Holy Days of Obligation, the first being the aforementioned Immaculate Conception on the 8th and the second being Christmas on December 25. So mark your calendars and prepare to show that your Catholic Faith is alive and well. Take those days off so that you can enter more deeply into the Traditional Catholic way of life! While marking your calendar, you may want to put a special mark on the second Saturday from now, December 16. Please cross the 8:00 am Mass off your calendar and insert a 6:30 am Mass instead. This is our annual Rorate Caeli Mass and it, of its very essence, requires an early morning start. Since there are many new parishioners who may not be aware of this Mass, a short explanation is in order. The Advent Rorate Masses are celebrated in darkness, with only candlelight to illuminate the church. 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 East—or at least liturgical East as at Epiphany—along with the congregation, as all are looking expectantly to the Orient for the return of Our Lord in His Majestic Glory), the land is blessed, and the Catholics are set free from the dark captivity of sin. Jesus came to save us from sin, to bring light to those in darkness and the shadow of death. He came through, and is magnified by, the Blessed Virgin Mary, without whom we would find no Savior, and merit no salvation. There may be several reasons to sleep in that morning, but if you make the effort to attend this glorious candlelight Mass, I think you will be hooked and make it a yearly event. Did I mention that there will be food after Mass? You might think that what has already been mentioned is enough for one article. Yet, there is more. Again, for those new to the parish, unless you came from a Polish, Slovak, or Lithuanian family, you may not be aware of an old Christmas Eve tradition of prayer, thanksgiving, and forgiveness entailing the sharing of the Oplatek. An oplatek (plural: oplatki) is an unleavened and very thin rectangular bread, usually embossed with some sort of Nativity-related scene. It is made the same way that traditional Mass hosts are, using only wheat flour and water (although some may contain a small amount of food dye to color them). They are never consecrated, although they may be blessed by the priest, as ours will be. These are meant to be taken home for the Wigilia, or Christmas Eve gathering of the family. Although details of this custom do vary, the basic format remains constant. On Christmas Eve the entire family gathers for a full day of celebrating the end of the penitential season of Advent and the coming of the Christ Child in just a few more hours. This used to be a day of abstinence (though not a day of fasting), so the great evening feast, which consisted of many courses (7, 9, and 13 are listed in various sources but my older sister insists that there must be 12 courses, and she is a better source than most of my other sources!), was completely meatless. Appetizers, soups, fish dishes, and desserts were prepared. The table was strewn with a light layer of straw (reminiscent of the straw lining the baby Jesus’ manger) and covered with a white tablecloth (swaddling clothes). There were place settings for everyone plus one extra in case a beggar or unexpected guest came by. But before anyone dared to touch the food, the father of the family would take an oplatek, break it and share a piece of it with his wife. As he gave it to her he would ask her forgiveness for any harms he had done to her during the past year and ask special blessings for her in the upcoming one. She would then break off another piece from her piece of the oplatek and share it with the child next to her, and do the same. From one to another, each would follow suit. Only after the oplatki pieces were all distributed and consumed was the main meal eaten. (This is, of course, just a short version. Ask your babcia for more details!) By next week I should have the oplatki ready for you to take home in preparation for Christmas Eve. Oh, how fast time flies! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: A Special Guest For Thanksgiving!
Sometimes Thanksgiving dinner at the rectory is just plain unbelievable. And believe you me, you should believe me when I tell you that this year was one of the most unbelievable ones. After all, how can you believe as accurate an account of a family gathering that was written days before it happened so that the bulletin could be printed before the staff left for their holiday days off? Be that as it may, here is a tall tale of Thanksgiving at Epiphany, 2023. This year the family gathering was a bit larger than normal since the family is expanding as “children” from the generation behind me have begun starting families of their own and everyone was in town for this holiday. The plan was for everyone to come to Epiphany for the 8:00 am Mass and then start cooking as soon as Adoration and Confessions were concluded. Two of my in-laws were engaged in a friendly competition to see who could outcook the other, and each one started with two turkeys. My sister Karen’s husband Lee, the reigning champ of all family cookoffs, chose to roast the first of his turkeys over charcoal, and the other went into a smoker with applewood pellets. The young challenger, Fr. Nick Ward (brother to Maggie, who this year married Lee’s oldest son, Ryan) went with a classic cajun turkey deep-fried in peanut oil, and, in a surprise move, decided to concoct a very large turkey rotisserie for his second bird. Other family members were in charge of making fresh buns and bread, cookies, four types of pies, two cheesecakes, cranberry sauce, potatoes cooked three different ways, green beans, various types of stuffing and dressing, and probably more that I cannot now recall. A few volunteered to do the decorating of the hall and the picnic tables, while others were in charge of drinks. And, of course, the children “helped” by getting in everyone’s way and helped even more by going off to play. Of course, plans and reality oftentimes don’t meet when families get together, especially if the family includes Aunt Irma. We never know exactly what to expect from her but this time her “unexpectedness” was actually something wonderful. Too wonderful, as you will soon see, but wonderful nonetheless. She has been traveling quite a bit this year and earlier this month, for reasons nobody really knows, she found herself in Baltimore during the recent United States Bishops’ Conference. The last time she had attended one of these, you may recall, she was protesting their lack of courage in calling out immoral Bishops within their fraternity. Nothing changed, so she gave up protesting outside of their meetings. But this year, completely by accident, it seems, she was in town once again. She was blissfully unaware that a certain Bishop had recently been dismissed from his job because he was doing it too well. All she knew was that she was driving down to Florida for Thanksgiving and there, along the roadside, she spotted a lone Bishop with a backpack sticking out his thumb, hoping for a ride. At first, she thought he must be a fake Bishop because he was in clerics and was neither obese nor a weightlifter. But she took a chance and pulled over for him anyway. It turns out that he had come for the conference of Bishops but was unceremoniously turned away when they learned that he not only knew all of the mysteries of the rosary, but he actually prayed it daily. The papal nuncio had plastered the walls of their hotel with “unwanted” posters of this Bishop and a warning that any Bishop found praying and/or telling the truth would soon meet the same fate as this poor fellow. Undaunted, he simply knelt in prayer for the Bishops of the country and the whole world and started his long, sad trek home. As Aunt Irma had so kindly offered him a lift, he felt “mighty obliged, Ma’am” to accept her offer to spend Thanksgiving with her family. And so he showed up early on Thursday morning. Angels must have spread the news, for somehow hundreds of people knew that he was going to celebrate the 8:00 Mass and they showed up en masse to the Mass. We wound up having a Pontifical Solemn Mass and, although he had never celebrated the TLM before, our altar boys and MCs are so proficient that they were able to make sure he was in the right place at the right time and everything went off without a hitch. He prayed his way through the Mass like an apostle, not just a successor to one. And, sure enough, as soon as the Blessed Sacrament was exposed after Mass, he headed to the confessional. All of us priests heard confessions for two hours straight before the last repentant sinner was absolved. Then the Bishop took all of the priests aside to give us a chance to get to know him and him, us. That, of course, threw off the timing of the cooking and preparation for the day’s feast. Lee had to cook all four of the birds himself so he is still the undisputed king of the competition. We will see if his new son-in-law can handle the pressure of a rematch sometime in the future. Even though most of the crowd stayed and enjoyed the whole day we had enough food, drinks, and prayers for everyone. And right now, as you read this, Aunt Irma is dropping off a canceled Bishop in a place that he used to call home. Unfortunately, none of us thought to ask his name... With prayers for your holiness Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Quite a Week!
Last week was busy around here, and it was a good busy. First of all, our parish mission was a huge success, as measured by the spiritual benefits bestowed upon all who were present for the multiple Masses and conferences. Many thanks to Canon Talarico and Canon Huberfeld for all of the holy insights imparted upon this community! I knew the mission was going to be a great gift to the community by seeing how the demons attacked our AC systems when the priests first showed up and then continued to do so throughout the week. Our rectory AC on the bottom floor, where my office is, as well as the chapel, kitchen, and laundry room, froze up and quit working the day they arrived. We were able to get it working again, but it sure is strange timing. One other time a mission was being held here the upper floor AC went out, making for miserable sleeping conditions in very hot weather. That time the fix took longer to happen. Then, as you probably noticed if you stayed for coffee and donuts last Sunday, the AC in the social hall quit working. Rebooting the system, resetting the breakers, and kicking the units didn’t seem to do much of anything. Then one night, during a “heated” mission talk, I was sitting next to the thermostat and decided to turn the compressors off and keep the fans running. All I accomplished was having the thermostat blink on and off, on and off, on and off, making clicking sounds as it did so, for the next five minutes or so before the screen finally just stayed blank completely. Turning the compressors from “cool” to “off” and the fan from “auto” to “on” should not have had that effect. But the demons seem to love working through all electronic devices, and revel in doing the most ridiculous things to show that, or at least make it seem like, they are in charge. But the next morning, although the system was supposedly shut off, it was freezing in the hall! The thermostat screen was back on, the compressors were on, the fans were on, and, although showing that the temperature was set for 74 degrees, it was also showing the actual temperature of 68! No amount of settings changes made any difference at all. But which is worse for sitting through a mission talk? 82 degrees or 68? Half the congregation likes it hot while the other half likes it cold. It seems that the demons figured that they would negatively affect those who found the previously high temperatures quite nice so as to not allow anyone to enjoy the whole mission in this regard! But what they failed to do is realize that the talks were good enough that everyone was willing to “suffer” (or, more accurately, put up with a very small inconvenience) for a while in order to grow in holiness. By the time this bulletin is published, we may even have the AC working properly again. If not, mildly hot or cold temperatures won’t hurt anyone all too much. Not to be overlooked, we have a new addition to the front of the church building. The Baker family had, many years ago, decades, even, donated the very large wooden cross that was attached to the front right side of the church front. Over the years the wood had not only been weathered by the sun and rain but had also been munched on by termites. (Do you remember the huge black tarps covering the church shortly after we arrived as we exterminated those pests?) It was in need of being replaced and the Knights of Columbus volunteered to take on the project for the parish. They replaced the plain wooden cross with a very nice crucifix. After the 10:30 Sunday Mass last week I solemnly blessed the crucifix in the presence of the two mission priests, Fr. Mangiafico, the altar boys who had just served Mass, and whoever made it out the front doors in time for the blessing. The next time you look up at that crucifix, please say a prayer for the repose of the souls of any of the Bakers who have passed since the original donation and for blessings upon any who are still with us, as well as our Knights of Columbus who worked so hard to make this replacement a truly noble and worthy gift to the parish. I’m sure the Bakers would be proud. One more very notable thing happened last week, and, although it was not at Epiphany, it still is worth noting, as it affects the Church throughout (especially, though not exclusively) the entire US. Bishop Joseph Strickland was unceremoniously and, seemingly at least (to give every benefit of the doubt), without cause, forced out of his role as Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas. Speaking the truth about what is happening in Rome is absolutely necessary for a priest or Bishop’s own salvation as well as that of his flock, and, under normal circumstances, he would be commended for doing so. But at a time when Fr. Rupnik can molest dozens of religious Sisters and still preach a Papal Retreat, still retain his faculties, and even be incardinated into a diocese; at a time when Religious Sisters, priests, and Bishops can openly promote homosexual unions and the blessings thereof; at a time when Bishops and Cardinals bow down in prayer before Pachamama; and when all of the aforementioned evildoers remain in good standing and are even shown approval, the faithful, bold sister, priest, or Bishop who simply does what God expects a faithful servant to do will not be tolerated. Please pray for Bishop Strickland. “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:10) With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Progressive Priests? Not For Long!
A study of a study, with the unwieldy title, “Polarization, Generational Dynamics, and the Ongoing Impact of the Abuse Crisis: Further Insights from the National Study of Catholic Priests” has just been published. If you want my quick summary and then wish to quit reading further, here are three of the main points. 1. The wildly progressive priests are dying or retiring. 2. The priests taking their places are mostly orthodox in their theology. 3. Priests don’t trust their bishop if he is not orthodox in his theology. Here is how the authors described the origin and purpose of this new paper: In October 2022, The Catholic Project at the Catholic University of America released initial findings from The National Study of Catholic Priests*, the largest survey of American Catholic priests in over fifty years. That study involved three primary components: • A survey of 10,000 Catholic priests, receiving 3,516 respondents across 191 dioceses/eparchies (36% valid response rate). • In-depth qualitative interviews with more than 100 priests selected from survey respondents. • A census survey of U.S. bishops, receiving 131 responses (67% valid response rate). Since the publication of initial findings from that survey, researchers at Catholic University and elsewhere have continued to study and analyze the data. This report highlights several themes which have emerged from closer analysis of the quantitative data, as well as careful study of the qualitative data collected from the one-on-one interviews with priests. Here is the beginning of the paper’s insight. My comments will follow. Political polarization in the United States has been a common and growing concern in recent years, as have concerns about growing polarization within religious communities including the Catholic Church. Our data does show a significant divide between the political and theological self-identification of older priests and younger priests. Yet the data also suggests that the American presbyterate is, over time, becoming less polarized. Simply put, the portion of new priests who see themselves as politically “liberal” or theologically “progressive” has been steadily declining since the Second Vatican Council and has now all but vanished. This decline is especially stark theologically. Asked to describe “their views on most matters having to do with theology and doctrines” on a scale from “very progressive” to “very conservative/orthodox,” there are significant cohort differences (Figure 1). More than half of the priests who were ordained since 2010 see themselves on the conservative side of the scale. No surveyed priests who were ordained after 2020 described themselves as “very progressive.” Yes, priests are becoming less polarized for one simple reason. The “progressive” end of the spectrum of priests rarely encouraged vocations and certainly never taught a good reason for anyone to become or remain Catholic, let alone dedicate his life to being a Catholic priest. As they die off, they do so without “reproducing” so to speak. The newer priests, especially those entering seminary after the 2002 major priest scandals, went in to fight for the Truth, not to change it. They looked with horror at the beliefs and actions of the priests making the news and said, “That is not a priest at all. I will be a real priest! I will be faithful in words and actions. I believe what the Church teaches, will live it to the best of my ability, and will proclaim it to the people in its full glory!” The progressives die, and their replacements are really Catholic, so there is now very little overlap, thus, no polarization! Regarding the trust priests have in their bishops, which varied widely across dioceses from 100% trust down to as low as 9% trust, the authors state: If a priest describes himself as theologically conservative, for example, and he believes that his bishop is also theologically conservative, it is likely that he would report a high degree of trust in his bishop. In contrast, if a priest reported that he did not align with his bishop on theological matters, he would predictably report low trust in his bishop’s leadership; a similar line exists for political values. Well, of course. If a priest is orthodox and his bishop is “progressive” (see 2 John 1:9 in the New American Bible Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God) the priest cannot trust his bishop to faithfully teach, preach, and act on Catholic faith, morals and discipline. Likewise, if the bishop politically aligns himself with the party of death, socialist, or communist parties, he must not be trusted, as those political parties are at odds with the Catholic Church on issues with the greatest moral significance! Further insights may also be found in this document, so I have added a link to it on our parish website. Enjoy the good news! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: This is a Big Week!
This weekend, perhaps even as you are reading this (3:00 pm Sunday, October 29), Bishop Parkes is holding a special ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle at which he bestows the St. Jude award to one recipient from each parish. This award is given to somebody who has done much good for the parish, usually behind the scenes and unnoticed by most, without any thought of payment or acknowledgment except for the reward they may or may not receive in Heaven. This year the award is being received by Clara Miller. Although she is just a tad over, ahem, 39 years old, lives in Dade City, and doesn’t drive on the interstate, she has, for years, managed to come to daily Mass at 6:30 am, stay for the 8:00 am Mass and the Adoration which follows, and she sometimes stays even longer if there is a parish function following that. She puts in a full day’s worth of “work” as she spends so much time in prayer! She generally only misses due to inconveniently scheduled doctor appointments or really bad weather. Of course, she also attends Sunday Mass and stays to chat with a group of friends for hours afterward, sometimes long after the coffee and donuts have run out. Congratulations Clara! You are an inspiration to us all. Wednesday, November 1, is All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation. We will have our regular weekday Masses at 6:30 and 8:00 in the morning and another Mass at 7:00 pm. On this special day, we commemorate all of those people who died in a state of grace and, being perfectly purified, are now in Heaven. We do this to make up for any shortcomings in our manner of celebrating canonized Saints’ feasts as well as commemorating the majority of Saints in Heaven who will never be officially recognized by the Church through her canonization process. This is a feast for all of the “secret” Saints in this regard! And, just as it always does, All Souls Day immediately follows All Saints. Thursday, November 2, we commemorate all of those people who died in a state of grace without yet being perfectly purified and are currently undergoing the cleansing fire spoken of in Sacred Scripture. We ask God to grant them—quickly—whatever graces of which they are still in need before they can enter into His Divine Presence. On that day, too, we will have the two regular Masses in the morning (6:30 am and 8:00 am) and an extra 7:00 pm Mass in the evening. People write the names of their departed loved ones and give them to me so that we can offer the Masses for them that day and remember them at each Mass throughout the remainder of the month. If you have not yet done so, don’t procrastinate any longer! The 2nd is also our parish’s second day to pray at the abortuary, so plan on spending some time in prayer there, as well. Sign up if you haven’t already done so. The entire month of November is dedicated to the Poor Souls, as these suffering souls are known, and the Church allows for plentiful opportunities to relieve them of some or all of their torments, especially through a generous octave of Indulgences. From November 1 through November 8, inclusive of both of those dates, a Plenary Indulgence may be gained and applied to a soul in Purgatory simply by visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed. A plenary indulgence is the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to previously forgiven sins, so the soul in purgatory who receives one, through God’s grace and mercy given through His Church, is made perfect and able to enter into the Beatific Vision. You may also receive a Plenary Indulgence applicable to a Poor Soul on All Souls Day by visiting any parish church and praying aloud one Our Father and one Creed. Since you are likely going to be at Mass that day anyway, you might as well get an indulgence while you are there! Remember, though, that you can only get one Plenary Indulgence per day, so if you also visit the cemetery and pray for the departed that day, one of these indulgences may be Plenary and the other partial (removing only part of the temporal punishment). Partial Indulgences are granted to anyone who recites Morning Prayer (Lauds) or Evening Prayer (Vespers) of the Office of the Dead on those days. Partial Indulgences are also available for a poor soul if anyone recites the prayer “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.” To receive either type of indulgence you must be in a state of grace before the indulgenced act or prayer is completed. To get a Plenary Indulgence, you must also confess your sins and receive Holy Communion either shortly before or after the act or prayers (within 8 or perhaps even 20 days), pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and be detached from all sin, even venial sin. Is it difficult to achieve such a lofty goal? It is harder for some than for others, but it is worth it. Plus, habitually living in such a manner as to be worthy to receive the indulgences becomes almost second nature with practice, and soon you will become a living Saint as you help the Faithful Departed become Saints! Lastly, don’t forget that the following two days are First Friday and First Saturday! Be sure to sign up for Friday Adoration and attend to the devotions asked for on both of those days. Is it too much all in one week? Not for Saints-in-training! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: A Reminder of Purgatory
This is a reminder that All Souls Day, is coming soon. There is only one more Sunday before that day (Thursday, November 2) on which to bring in your list of the Faithful Departed whom you wish to have remembered at Mass. Unless and until Holy Mother Church declares any departed person to be in Heaven we rightfully pray for their soul in case they are still in need of final purification before entering for all eternity into the presence of God. Also, remember that the first 8 days of November will bring opportunities to receive, on behalf of a soul in purgatory, a plenary indulgence by visiting a cemetery and praying for the poor souls. In past years I have often written here about the official Church teachings on Purgatory. Today I will instead leave you with just one heart-touching story of Purgatory from an undated work Read Me or Rue It by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan. HOW A GIRL FOUND HER MOTHER A poor servant girl in France named Jeanne Marie once heard a sermon on the Holy Souls which made an indelible impression on her mind. She was deeply moved by the thought of the intense and unceasing sufferings the Poor Souls endure, and she was horrified to see how cruelly they are neglected and forgotten by their friends on Earth. Among other things the preacher stressed was that many souls who are in reality near to their release -- one Mass might suffice to set them free -- are oftentimes long detained; it may be for years, just because the last needful suffrage has been withheld or forgotten or neglected! With her simple faith, Jeanne Marie resolved that, cost what it might, she would have a Mass said for the Poor Souls every month, especially for the soul nearest to Heaven. She earned little, and it was sometimes difficult to keep her promise, but she never failed. On one occasion she went to Paris with her mistress and there fell ill, so that she was obliged to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, the illness proved to be a long one, and her mistress had to return home, hoping that her maid would soon rejoin her. When at last the poor servant was able to leave the hospital, all she had left of her scanty earnings was one franc! What was she to do? Where to turn? Suddenly, the thought flashed across her mind that she had not had her usual monthly Mass offered for the Holy Souls. But she had only one franc! That was little enough to buy her food. Yet her confidence that the Holy Souls would not fail her triumphed. She made her way into a church and asked a priest, just about to say Mass, if he would offer it for the Holy Souls. He consented to do so, never dreaming that the modest alms offered was the only money the poor girl possessed. At the conclusion of the Holy Sacrifice, our heroine left the church. A wave of sadness clouded her face; she felt utterly bewildered. A young gentleman, touched by her evident distress, asked her if she was in trouble and if he could help her. She told her story briefly, and ended by saying how much she desired work. Somehow she felt consoled at the kind way in which the young man listened to what she said, and she fully recovered her confidence. "I am delighted beyond measure," he said, "to help you. I know a lady who is even now looking for a servant. Come with me." And so saying he led her to a house not far distant and bade her ring the bell, assuring her that she would find work. In answer to her ring, the lady of the house herself opened the door and inquired what Jeanne Marie required. "Madam," she said, "I have been told that you are looking for a servant. I have no work and should be glad to get the position." The lady was amazed and replied: "Who could have told you that I needed a servant? It was only a few minutes ago that I had to dismiss my maid, and that at a moment's notice. You did not meet her?" "No, Madam. The person who informed me that you required a servant was a young gentleman." "Impossible!" exclaimed the lady. "No young man, in fact no one at all, could have known that I needed a servant." "But Madam," the girl answered excitedly, pointing to a picture on the wall, "that is the young man who told me!" "Why, child, that is my only son, who has been dead for more than a year!" "Dead or not," asserted the girl with deep conviction in her voice, "it was he who told me to come to you, and he even led me to the door. See the scar over his eye; I would know him anywhere." Then followed the full story of how, with her last franc, she had had Mass offered for the Holy Souls, especially for the one nearest to Heaven. Convinced at last of the truth of what Jeanne Marie had told her, the lady received her with open arms. "Come," she said, "though not as my servant, but as my dear daughter. You have sent my darling boy to Heaven. I have no doubt that it was he who brought you to me." With or without a donation or All Souls envelope, place your list of departed family, friends and even, perhaps, enemies in the collection basket next Sunday. The All Souls Day Masses will be offered for the repose of their souls, plus we will pray for them at each Mass throughout the rest of the month. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord... With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Climate Change Document
While I was at the Convocation last week a new document on “climate change” came out of Rome. I don’t know if any of you follow the writings of William Briggs, a Catholic statistician who writes with clarity about such things. Below is a small smattering of his take on this, which I changed by what he calls “paragraphication.” I pass this on to you mostly because I didn’t write anything while on Convocation and need to fill this spot! But secondarily, I wanted to introduce you to this author, for his ability to use logic and actual science instead of emotion and “models” is quite refreshing. His latest book, “Everything You Believe Is Wrong” is, for instance, truly a good read as he points out the flawed arguments made every day by so-called “experts.” You can find him at https://www.wmbriggs.com/ The Vatican’s New Exhortation On “Climate Change” Has Many Errors BY BRIGGS ON OCTOBER 5, 2023 The Vatican issued a new Apostolic Exhortation, given in the name of Pope Francis, entitled Laudate Deum. The document is addressed “To all people of good will on the climate crisis.” There is no “climate crisis.” It does not exist. It is not so. I (and many others) have spent years and years documenting an enormous number of arguments showing there is no “climate crisis” (a small handful here). Whoever wrote this exhortation has based it on a false premise. And, as Aristotle taught us, from a false premise come the greatest errors. Like this error: “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” Passing by the needlessly frightening “breaking point”, we note that this sentence is not so. The world is not collapsing, not due to “climate change” anyway. The West is collapsing, it is true, but in part because of unnecessary hersteria (effeminate hysteria) over “climate change”. Overreaction like this: “We will feel [climate change’s] effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.” Whoever wrote suffers from a now common inability to imagine changes in the environment that are not bad. Because it is not physically possible that all changes in climate are bad, because some changes are good (like increased plant and crop growth and warmer weather), sentences like this reveal more about the author’s mind than it does about the world. Now for a theological curiosity: “African bishops stated that climate change makes manifest ‘a tragic and striking example of structural sin’.” This is false. Every plant, animal, and even every inanimate object affects the atmosphere, and hence the climate. Is impossible—not unlikely: impossible—that whatever is on earth not to affect the climate. The climate on earth has never been static, and never will be static. It cannot be static. It is impossible to stop climate change. A changing climate is not a sin. Rise up, Peter, kill and eat. Man, like all other animals, must affect his environment to live—and even to die. Certainly there will be, at times, excess; for instance in the over-vigorous production of the tracking devices we insist on carrying with us everywhere. All excess should and must be condemned. Gluttony and greed are not new sins. They are sins. “Climate change” is not a sin. There are many factual errors in the document, which were easy to check, but were not. For instance, “the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident”. The climate is always changing, so that is true, but the one must understand that when the phrase “climate change” is used by the untutored they mean the theory of “climate crisis”; they take this theory as proven. Yet this is not so. It continues: “it is verifiable that specific climate changes provoked by humanity are notably heightening the probability of extreme phenomena that are increasingly frequent and intense.” This is false, and easily seen to be false. All these attribution studies are fundamentally flawed. They are all premised on perfect model predictions, a false premise. Details are at the link. Another: “we are presently experiencing is an unusual acceleration of warming” (and more similar rate-of-change claims later in the document). Not so. Historical data come from models of temperature by proxy, which necessarily smooths values; whereas current values are much more variable because of the increased frequency of measurement. This gives an entirely false picture of rate-of-change if one is not careful. The amount of uncertainty in actual changes is too large to make the claim. Another: “melting of glaciers can be easily perceived by an individual in his or her lifetime”. It has grown warmer (thank God) in some years. What happens to ice when it is hot? It melts. That melting is taken as (separate) proof that the theory for the warmth is therefore true. But there are alternate theories, which make the same, and better predictions. Other, better, rival theories besides “global boiling” or “climate crisis” exist. These are supported by the same evidence of melting glaciers. Another: “Droughts and floods, the dried-up lakes, communities swept away by seaquakes and flooding ultimately have the same origin.” This is false. Droughts and floods are down, not up, and their harms are down, not up. And seaquakes caused by “climate change”? No. These are followed by a surreal claim that some blame “climate change” on the poor, and women. I have studied this subject for decades and have never heard this, from any source, even once. Yet if somebody has made this preposterous claim, they are wrong. Or perhaps this is a mere appeal to pity. ... Anyway, read the rest of his article at the website listed above. He actually has the credentials needed to make such critiques, in case you were wondering, and is not just some Catholic knucklehead with a keyboard and a grudge against the Church or Her leaders. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Follow-ups to Last Week's Items
1) Because this item was the last of four items of note last week, it seems that nobody read it, so here goes one more shot at this. Every year the priests of the diocese get together from Monday afternoon through Thursday afternoon during the first full week of October in what is officially called the Convocation for Priestly Renewal. For as long as the Bethany Center has been open as our Diocesan Retreat Center, we have met there. We pray together, we share meals together, we hear some talks, we shoot the breeze, and enjoy priestly fraternity. Late nights are a given, especially when the Rays are in the playoffs and have night games. Sometimes the people giving the talks and are worth listening to and sometimes not so much, just as in any organization. But the main attraction is just having time to spend with other priests. Many of us only see each other on rare occasions when we are at meetings or large diocesan Masses, when there is no time to do more than just say “hello” or wave a greeting across a room. Some parishes cancel Masses during the Convocation. I choose not to do so. I used to get up early (after the late night) to drive back to celebrate Mass and then drive back for the morning talk. It was not ideal. So I started having parish missions held during that week so that the mission preacher could celebrate the morning Masses and I could more fully enjoy the convocation. Covid threw a monkey wrench into that plan a couple of years ago as the Mission preachers were put under travel restrictions by their Bishop. This year we have our parish Mission already scheduled for November 11-16, so I didn’t schedule a Mission for the Convocation. You may recall that the Bishop wants me to show up at more diocesan functions so I will once again travel back and forth. But I will not be able to stay long enough to offer confessions and Adoration on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. So please note this and don’t call me or the office or write questions about it on farcebook: The Monday and Friday schedule is as normal but on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (October 3, 4, and 5) there will be Mass as normal at 6:30 am and 8:00 am but without confession or Adoration following Mass on those three days, as I must return to the Bethany Center for the mid-morning talks. I highly recommend that you don’t ask anyone in the office if there will be Adoration or confessions next week, for physical harm may come to you as one or more staff members smack you upside the head with a rolled-up bulletin while yelling, “DOESN’T ANYONE READ THIS THING?” 2) Bishop Parkes was at our Deanery meeting this week. (The diocese is broken into “deaneries” much as Florida is broken into counties.) He made a point of telling me in person what he recently emailed, that he is still receiving, on a near-daily basis, letters and notes of support and encouragement from our parishioners, including from our children. He also saw that our parish contributions to the Catholic Mission Appeal are going up and he was pleased with our continuing progress on that. Keep it up! Your letters are allowing him to see that we appreciate his work as our Bishop, not only, but especially, as he works to keep the Traditional Latin Mass to remain at a time when they are being canceled in other places. 3) I wrote about a petition being put forth to change the Florida State Constitution in such a way that all abortion restrictions would be eliminated, making us one of the “abortion tourist destination states” that so many despicable and evil people are desperately trying (and sometimes succeeding) to make a reality. Bishop Parkes and the Florida Bishops’ Conference have been sending out warnings about this, asking people to refrain from signing their petitions to get it on the ballot. It seems that many people sign such petitions without even bothering to read what they are supporting. But the day after I wrote and sent the article to be printed in the bulletin, a parishioner came in and showed me another—polar opposite—petition being circulated to change the Florida State Constitution in such a way that the right to life shall be recognized and protected for all preborn humans. It seems to have been drafted specifically in opposition to the anti-life petition. Should the petition gather enough signatures to be put on the ballot, the ballot title for this one will read, “Human Life Protection Amendment.” Please remember that the evil ballot initiative is called “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.” They are competing with each other as good vs. evil and, if you are not aware that there is a “good” one as well as an “evil” one, you may immediately dismiss the people trying to get you to sign the one protecting the unborn children. A website where you can see the complete petition, sign it yourself, and even print out copies for others to sign is, “https://humanlifefl.com/”. The ballot summary (the short version that voters will see should it make it on the ballot) sums up the proposed Constitutional Amendment thusly, “An amendment recognizing the God-given right to life of the preborn individual. Defines ‘preborn individual’ as a preborn human person at any stage of development. Affirms that life-saving procedures to save the life of the mother shall not be construed as a violation when accompanied by reasonable steps to save the life of the preborn individual. To be added to the Declaration of Rights under Article I of the Florida Constitution.” Be sure to sign the right one! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Odds and Ends
1) Last week I received the following email from Bishop Parkes. He asked me to extend his thanks to you for your “expressions of support and gratitude.” I wish also to express my thanks to all of you who have thus far sent him the notes and letters he references. It shows that he knows that you are paying attention to what he is doing on our behalf, that you really do support him, and that you are not somehow “outsiders” in the Diocese but rather are a dear part of his flock. If you have not yet sent him a card, please do so. One day I hope he becomes convinced that we are not just fairweather friends but faithful Catholics who—of course(!)—support their Bishop in all things Catholic! The parish contributions to his Catholic Ministry Appeal keep growing, too, which, although he is too refined to mention it, is something that I am sure he pays attention to as well. We still only have 23% participation in the appeal, so if you plan to give to this appeal yet have been procrastinating, this is a good time to follow through on your donations as well. Thank you for your generosity! Here is his email. Dear Fr. Edwin, I hope that you are doing well and feeling ok. I just heard that you were recently ill. I wanted to let you know that I have received many cards and letters from parishioners at Epiphany Parish over the past several weeks. This includes notes received from children as well as adults. Almost all have expressed appreciation and gratitude that the Dicastery has granted an additional two years for the celebration of TLM. They are also appreciative of my efforts in requesting this permission. Please extend my thanks to your parishioners for their expressions of support and gratitude. And most importantly, for their prayers. May you have a blessed weekend! Sincerely yours in Christ, + Gregory L. Parkes, Bishop of St. Petersburg 2) Fr. Vincent Capuano, S.J. sent this short but sweet message. The ACU has a women's retreat scheduled for Thursday, January 18 to Sunday, January 21. Manresa retreat house Miami. Same as last year.They asked me to direct it. Send a message on whatsapp to Erik Vieria 352-263-7201 to register. Of course, if you know Fr. Vincent, you know that this retreat will be worth attending, even though it means a drive to Miami. For those of you who may be new here and don’t remember him from his years of assisting here, I can assure you that the initials, “S.J.” after his name are not the scary initials of the (unfortunately) typical Jesuit of this day and age. He is an outstanding Catholic priest. Yes, Jesuit and Catholic. Really. 3) There is an amendment to the Florida Constitution being proposed that needs your attention. Please go to suncoastcatholics.org for more information, but here are some highlights. The “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” is in the petition stage right now, meaning that if enough signatures are collected it will be on the ballot in November of 2024. From the above-mentioned website, here is what will happen if it gets passed. This unGodly amendment will:
4) Our annual Priests’ Convocation is coming up soon. From the afternoon of October 2 through the afternoon of October 5 most of the priests of the Diocese of St. Petersburg will be gathering at the Bethany Center for prayer, meals, and talks. The topic at hand this year is National Eucharistic Revival: A Grassroots Response to God’s Invitation. I will be attending the convocation this year so you won’t be able to make appointments with me that week. The morning Masses will continue as scheduled but more than likely there will not be confessions or Adoration after the 8:00 Masses so that I can get back to hear the morning talks at the convocation. Of course, should there be a need that requires me to be here, such as a Requiem Mass, the parish comes first on my list of priorities. But it would be very nice if you all, as you have been so kind to do in the past, refrain from dying at such a time as to require my presence at Epiphany! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: From 8/16/15 when Epiphany's TLM was new.
Here is a question raised now that Epiphany has become the Center for the Traditional Latin Mass™ in Tampa. Why don’t we (the congregation) make the responses at the low Mass? Answer: Because I said so. Yes, for those of you who are raising children, you know this is a pretty stock answer to any question that you would rather not answer because either 1. you don’t know the answer or 2. the explanation would be beyond the ability of the child to grasp or 3. you are short on time (or patience) or 4. for any other good parental reason. But that is not a very fulfilling answer. So here is a “real” answer. I don’t know the TLM very well. I have no formal training in it and I did not grow up with it. All I knew about it when I started came from books and the insights of several adult altar boys. I think I celebrated the Low Mass for about two years before I could even attend one and see if I was doing it right. While some of the old books I consulted mentioned a “dialogue Mass” in which the congregation responded, it was almost always put forth as a novelty that never really caught on in most places. Exceptions to the “silent Mass” seemed to be mostly limited to places where altar boys were not available, such as cloistered convents and all-girls schools. At such places, one or two Sisters or female students were allowed to kneel outside of the altar rail and make the responses in place of the altar boys (who were themselves, in fact, making the responses in place of additional clergy). Upon seeing that the “dialogue” in the Mass was originally between priests and between the priest celebrant and God the Father, it made sense to me that the congregation remained silent. Altar boys (men) who helped train me came from a TLM which was a “silent Mass” and the first TLM which I finally attended was also a “silent Mass” so I naturally started with and continued with a silent Mass. I have a respected How-to-TLM type of book by Rev. J.B. O’Connell in which he writes, “At low Mass, in which the people are not participating by common prayer or song...” and contrasts it with a “sung Mass.” This is a pretty clear indicator that at the low Mass the people are silent, neither responding to the prayers, joining in with the responses, nor singing. But later he adds an appendix on “the active participation of the people in the Liturgy.” In this section, he gives directions to be followed if the people are to engage in a “dialogue” Mass. He first states that “participation” in the Mass is already achieved when the people “spontaneously share in the Mass by due attention to its principal parts and by their external behavior” (in other words, by silently praying, sitting, standing, kneeling, striking the breast, making the threefold sign of the cross on the head, lips and breast at the introduction to the Gospel, dressing appropriately, keeping custody of the eyes, etc.). Then he gives other ways of participating. “If possible, they ought to follow the Mass in a Missal--at least in a small Missal arranged for the use of the laity--but if they cannot do this they should meditate on the mysteries of Jesus Christ and say prayers in keeping with the sacred rites. Better still they should pray aloud and sing hymns in common--prayers and song in accord with the different parts of the Mass at which they are used. Such common prayers and hymns should not, however, be said or sung when the celebrant of Mass is reciting aloud important parts of the Mass, especially the presidential prayers (such as the Collect, Preface, Postcommunion). And silence is desirable from the Consecration to Pater noster.” Whew! So in the low Mass the congregation can “better participate” by praying together the rosary or stations of the cross, for instance, as long as they know when to shut up? Yes! Now I have to ask those who attend the Low Mass: would you be able to understand and pray the Mass more fully if everybody started singing hymns and/or praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart together at some point and then abruptly became silent and then started again somewhere along the line? I don’t think so. O’Connell goes on to explain four different methods of “dialogue Mass,” each getting “more complete,” and ends by stating, “[I]t is not of obligation, nor is any one of the four possible forms imposed--it is for the rector of the church to judge which of these is feasible at any time--but if it is used it must follow one or the other of these forms and other parts of the Mass may not be recited aloud.” So if and when I decide a “dialogue Mass” is going to be used I believe I must first teach you all four forms and be sure you do not mix them. Without going into detail but giving you simple examples of how the four forms differ, it is not allowed for you to respond at a “form 2” Mass (at which you say aloud only the altar boy parts) but also pray aloud the Pater Noster as in the “form 3” Mass. Want to say the Domine non sum dignus? Not in form 1 or 2, you don’t! Can’t recite the Introit and Offertory in Latin? Too bad, but you just lost out on the number four form! Too confusing for my blood. So, at least for now (and still in 2023!), I simply tell you to remain completely silent throughout the entire Mass. Why? Because I said so. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka |
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