Posts Tagged ‘mass’

Yes to the FBI at Latin Mass

Posted: February 9, 2023 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, catholic, catholic devotions
Tags: , , ,

Penny: Can I ask you a question?

Sheldon: Given your community-college education, I encourage you to ask me as many as possible.

The Big Bang Theory: The Robotic Manipulation 2010

At first glance this story is a rather sinister thing:

 An intelligence analyst within the Richmond Field Office of the FBI released in a new finished intelligence product dated January 23, 2023, on Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVE) and their interests in “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” or RTCs. The document assesses with “high confidence” the FBI can mitigate the threat of Radical-Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources within the Catholic Church.

If there is a better illustration of Bishop Fulton Sheen’s famous quote…:

There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.

….I can’t think of it.

Ed Morrissey who linked the story at Hotair had a bit of a chuckle too:

 It’s not as if some extremist Christian sects haven’t presented a real domestic-terror threat in the past, either, but the “rad trads” are mainly extremists entirely within the context of Catholicism, not in the sense of secular threats. The Traditional Latin Mass is going to be a major disappointment to FBI agents ‘infiltrating’ it.

And the extent of the rad trads “extremism” is the rejection of the vernacular mass (what is called the Novis Ordo) as illicit which the majority of those who regularly attend the Latin mass do not. Of course to the Fr. James Martins of the world and their allies in the church the affirmation of Catholic doctrine of subjects like homosexual sex, gay marriage and transgenderism is what makes an “extremists” so a Biden FBI run by the left would likely be considering Catholics as a whole (well except for that school in Canada that kicks out and arrests students who dared to say there are only two genders) extreme.

My own reaction is slightly different. If you tell me the FBI are sending people to attend Latin Mass or even the venacular Mass, either weekly or daily my response can be articulated in one word:

Good!

I can think of no group of people who more desperately need to be attending Mass than the folks at the FBI. Furthermore the even if they come with the intent to observe and report they will still be hearing the word and be part of the prayers and in the words of Screwtape:

Wherever there is prayer, there is danger of His [God’s] own immediate action

Give the Holy Spirit an opening to a soul and you can bet your bottom dollar he will dash in.

So to paraphrase Sheldon’s response to Penny: Given what the FBI has become over the last few years I strongly encourage every field agents and analyst in the bureau to attend as many Masses of any type as humanly possible.

What I missed, what they missed

Posted: February 15, 2011 by datechguy in catholic, special events
Tags: , , , , ,

Up early today and noticed Stacy McCain’s post on festivities at CPAC. There were an awful lot parties and I missed nearly all of them but Stacy has a ton of pictures.

Despite getting back to my Hotel in Largo at 3 a.m. one thing I didn’t miss was mass. The last time I was at one of these national events the next week I went to confession. I had been struggling with a particular sin and was rather pleased at my progress (spiritual pride, very dangerous) and was able to confess that my big sin was only missing mass.

Long shot National Cathedral


Fr.Bob looked at me and told me bluntly, “You had time for this event, that event, you made time to see the monuments and historical sites but you couldn’t find one hour for God?”.

I was deflated really fast and was determined that I would not make that mistake. My friend Steve who now lives in the area told me he would pick me up at 8 a.m. for at 9 a.m. Mass at the national cathedral.

If you’ve never been (and I hadn’t) you can’t imagine the place. By the time I was on the steps I could physically feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Once I was inside my jaw spent the majority of its time on my chest.

One of the many sights above

.

By arriving early I had time to gape at the chapels inside the church where mass can be celebrated. I was very taken by the individual displays of the mysteries of the Rosary.

The Annunciation

The Mass itself had a dozen celebrants and the ushers were all members of the Knights of Columbus. The cantor was incredible and the sermon was pretty solid. I love to sing and I really let myself go but I also found myself choking up a bit.

After Mass we had breakfast downstairs (it was incidentally the best meal I had in DC) I was a bit surprised to see speaker Gingrich eating at the table next to mine and was also able to grab a replacement Angelus prayer card in the gift shop.

Steve and I after mass

One thing that struck me as important. Just before you get to the Cathedral there is a small church (St. Anthony’s). For all of the presence of the holy spirit for all of the emotional and spiritual reaction I had in the Cathedral one must never forget the mass down the street is the same mass, the presence of Christ in the blessed sacrament is no less holy. The difference between empathy and saintliness is the ability to feel the presence of the spirit in the small church like the still small voice. That is the goal.

If I can afford CPAC next year maybe I’ll see about getting making a regular trip and arranging a trip to Mass for Sunday Morning Mass for bloggers who want to come. I don’t know how many I’d get but it would be fun to find out.

Meanwhile here is a slideshow of all the shots there:

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