In West Orange, a church divided

In this article, three hypocrisies of breakaway traditionalist catholics are exposed:

"To say that St. Anthony of Padua, the church Rev. Paul Wickens started nine years ago, is a haven for traditionalists is an understatement. And with his death this year, the search for just the right successor to the old founder has split the parishioners of this unusual West Orange church.

"The current boycotters say they have nothing personal against Wickens' replacement, the Rev. John Perricone, a conservative Catholic in his own right who in many ways seems a perfect fit for St. Anthony's.

"Perricone, who started at St. Anthony's Dec. 1, is founder of the group 'Christifidelis,' which is dedicated to the Latin Mass.

"Still, many longtime St. Anthony's parishioners reject him because he is an archdiocese priest, officially placed on loan to the chapel by the archdiocese.

"At his last archdiocese post, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Orange, Perricone celebrated Mass in the modern way that traditionalists deplore, in English, facing the pews, and letting lay people touch the host.

"'This Perricone, he's on both waters, he offers both Masses -- the Latin Mass and the modern Mass. And we do not accept that,' said Elvira Valdez, who joined St. Anthony's in 1998 and has attended motel Masses."

"We only accept the ancient Mass, the old Mass, the Latin Mass. That's why Father Wickens stayed clear cut away from the archdiocese, because they would make him accept the modern Mass as equal to the old Mass."

HYPOCRISY #1: If you are faithful to the Church founded by Christ, you will be loyal. Indeed, it is the "body of Christ" and these folks are cutting off a fingernail for themselves. Worse, this laity portends to judge this ordained priest and question his committment to the latin mass as if such fidelity alone was the church. This parallels Martin Luther's doctrine of "Sola Scriptura" - all one needs is the Latin Mass..."Sola Latin". That certainly strains the concept of apostolic succession, the concept on which the Catholic Church traces itself directly back to it's founding by Christ. Recognition of that lineage and it's authority is part of Catholic Tradition. Another example:

"At a time when they would rather rally around a new priest, hundreds have boycotted the chapel for makeshift Masses at a Ramada Inn in East Hanover and a VFW Post and the Wellesley Inn in Fairfield."

"Locally, the latest alternative Masses were at the VFW Post in Fairfield Saturday, for Christmas, and Sunday, drawing about 200."

"A similar crowd attended a motel Mass in Fairfield earlier this month, where people knelt on the green patterned carpet of a kneeler-less conference room and received Communion from the Rev. John Fullerton, flown in for the occasion from Missouri.

"Fullerton is with the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, which was founded by French Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated after refusing to the accept the 1960s reforms."

HYPOCRISY #2: So in these traditionalists eyes, it's holier to worship in a place that hosts drunken office parties and comic book conventions than a church whose very existence is consecrated to the worship of God! Amazing. How does the tabernacle play into this - rolled in on a laundry cart? Does the brass rail on the cash bar double as a communion rail? This is nothing more than a Catholic-styled storefront church. Again, the Church has defined what is required of a sacred space, and the Ramada ain't it.

The presence of the Pius X priest is self-explanitory. Excommunicated means a real break with the Church, no matter how adamant they deny it.

"...many who stopped attending St. Anthony's feel the church's three board members, who approached the archdiocese about Perricone, disregarded Wickens' wishes by bringing in an archdiocese priest.

"A week ago, a group of them filed suit in Essex County Chancery Court, saying the statute under which the church was incorporated lets all members, not just trustees, pick the priest."

HYPOCRISY #3: Self-governance. Essentially, this bunch would now be seen as traditionalist-Congregationalist-Catholics!

In these three instances, it's quite clear that by trying to become more Catholic, this misguided souls are actually embracing tenets of protestanism. How ironic. These people are teetering on the edge of sedevacantism, which is the ultimate denial of the chair of Peter. How possibly can this bring one closer to Christ?

A Very Scary Christmas

I knew I shouldn't've clicked on a story with that headline. Yet another installment "Only in Louisiana" from FOX News:

"Plenty of people get upset when they don't get the Christmas presents they asked for. But most of them don't shoot at their families.

"Not so with Cameron Keith Miller of Alexandria, La., according to the Rapides Parish sheriff's office.

"'Cameron got mad because he didn't get what he wanted for Christmas,' Deputy Todd Poche wrote in the official report, which was obtained by The Town Talk newspaper. 'The family gave him CDs and he wanted cash.'

"Following a Christmas-morning argument with his mother, Lael Zickrick, 44, and stepfather, Larry Lord, 43, the 19-year-old stormed out of his parents' home.

"A few hours later, the rest of the family, including Miller's two stepbrothers, got into his stepfather's truck to visit grandparents.

"Waiting by the side of the road, according to authorities, was the aggrieved son armed and angry.

"The truck drove past, but Lord, perhaps sensing trouble, took a look in the rear-view mirror and saw Miller 'step into the road and raise a shotgun out from under his coat.'

"Lord shouted for everyone "to get down" as a gun blast shattered the driver's-side rear window.

"The truck sped away and Lord called 911 from a gas station.

"Police found Miller, along with the gun and a spent shell, at a nearby home where he'd been staying, but had to zap him with a Taser before hauling him in.

"'He wanted to fight the police,' Sgt. Daniel Caldwell told The Town Talk. 'But he didn't win.'

"Miller was charged with four counts of attempted murder, one count of criminal damage, one count of resisting an officer and one count of resisting arrest by violence."

Another year down the tubes!

Here it is, probably the dreariest New Year's Eve imaginable, at least in my world. My grandmother passed away three days ago, after undergoing emergency surgery on Christmas Eve for bladder failure. Tuesday, I came down with flu symptoms. Yesterday, my doctor tells me every inch of my respiratory system is infected and confines me to bed rest (inbetween blogs of course. Something about cabin fever which gets the creative juices flowing). As such, I cannot attend my grandma's funeral, although each of the individuals there - and there won't be many for she was quite elderly and not the sociable type to be sure, God rest her soul - knows that I will be there in spirit. They'll all thank me not to spread my germs to them.

I should be sad, but I am not. Grandma was in pain for the last ten years of her life, and this year was particularly bad. She'd been to the hospital half a dozen times, once for a stroke. We had all known that she was approaching the sunset.

So 2004 ends on a down note. The one positive of any funeral is the gathering of relatives to reminisce. We must have some irish in our family because the laughter was far too loud and boisterous to be tota;;y respectful! Not that I was taking part in it as I was upstairs in bed.

Now if you'll excuse me it's time to "drug up" in hopes of regaining hearing in my right ear. Happy New Year.

FBI Probes Lasers Aimed at Plane Cockpits

I heard this one on the radio three days ago, but it was swept aside by managing editors like a beach chair in a tsunami's path for "more incredible footage!" of the devastation in southeast Asia. Not to get indignant, but this appears to be a growing threat here and now, one not in the collective consciousness of the population.

Rossi won't say it, but I will

Republicans live in a world of rules and principles. Democrats can justify any behavior because, in their eyes, the end truly permits any means necessary. In a situation like the one in Washington state, Republicans are at a disadvanatge when the people charged with interpreting the rules - namely, the courts - are filled with Democrats.

Rossi had this election stolen from him. King County - yes, Seattle is in that area - suddenly finds 150 ballots they just forgot to count. I call bullshit. This was a textbook example of the whittling method, how Democrats steal elections. Whether these ballots were legitimate - who knows?

In a world of rules, those ballots should have been declared null and void, and at the same time the election supervisor should have been severely disciplined for not doing a proper job.

Ban Santa? Here's coal in your stocking

USATODAY.com: "The politically correct craze to ban Nativity scenes, Christmas trees and even the word 'Christmas' from public parades, schools and celebrations this year has gotten completely out of hand. The prize for ridiculousness, though, goes to school administrators in South Orange/Maplewood, N.J., who decided that Columbia High School's brass ensemble couldn't even play 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' for fear of offending someone. Is the wall between church and state not sufficiently thick already?

"I can understand why some folks may not want a picture of Jesus in a public school classroom, as many Catholic schools have. But Santa Claus? Santa is so thoroughly secularized and commercialized today, many people don't even know he is based on the patron saint of children, St. Nicholas, who died more than 1,600 years ago."

Too bad Ms. Oberg said this in the media. It will remind folks that St. Nick has been canonized and is therefore a religious figure.

Will the madness ever end?

Stray Cat Patron Saint

I don't know how this one TOTALLY passed me by. It's from a year ago and it features one of my favorite musicians profiled in my favorite publication's online site. Brian Setzer in National Review Online! This quote was brought to my attention and it made me grin from ear to ear:

"I’m a religious person. I’m a Catholic. But I think any kind of spirituality is good. My chosen spirituality is Catholicism and I believe in Jesus. Now, if I was to say that in Rolling Stone , it would probably either get edited out or there would be some snide comment about that. And that’s what I was talking about in a song like ("St. Jude"): How spirituality or religion is almost something people deride. A lot of the reason is because of the caricatures of religion, people like Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker. Young people see that and say, ‘This is a joke.’ A lot of it is the fault of these people and a lot of it is the fault of the whole left-wing journalism of Spin magazine or Rolling Stone . It’s not ‘cool.’"

Author Steve Beard - whose own site, Thunderstruck.org, is a solid survey of pop culture from a spirit-filled perspective - observes "The heavily tattooed and hot-rod loving Setzer would certainly seem to be an unlikely crusader for Christian spirituality, traditional values, and prayer. Not surprisingly, however, his outspoken musings offer provocative food for thought. But no one should be surprised. After all, he has been blessed with a 20-year career of swimming upstream and making old things new again with fresh pizzazz and style."

Having met Mr. Setzer professionally on several occassions, I can testify that he is also a genuinely nice person. So by ALL of his records, OK?!