Posted at OkieTraditionalist.Blogspot.com
Friday, December 30, 2016
Folks, you can’t make this stuff up. I would much rather be blogging about Christmas meals and winter outings, but if there was any benefit of the doubt still maintained (by a few) about the new direction of the Tulsa diocese, under the new Francis/Cupich-appointed Episcopate, common sense would now conclude otherwise. I’d think.
Looking for a verifiable microcosm of the Francis revolution at the level of the Local Church? Look no further than here in the Oklahoma, USA.
Strike One: Doloran Fathers Latin Mass exorcist society ended in diocese LINK: http://thehirschfiles.blogspot.com/2016/09/pope-francis-new-tulsa-bishop.html
Strike Two: Mother Miriam’s Daughters of Mary (also devoted to Latin Mass) ended in diocese LINK: http://okietraditionalist.blogspot.com/2016/12/newly-ordained-tulsa-bishop-konderla.html
Strike Three: Cathedral Traditional Ad Orientem Mass/Vespers Ended
As Reported by Laramie Hirsch over at The Hirsch Files
Here’s the scoop. Recently retired Bishop Slattery restored a practice in his cathedral, for several years, of offering the main Sunday Mass “ad orientem,” facing East towards the altar, with parts of the Mass sung in Latin, with sacred music commonly in Gregorian chant and Sacred Polyphony.
It was effectively a kind of “Latin Mass,” if you will, offered according to the missal of Paul VI, in an attempt to use it in accord with the bimillenial tradition of the Roman rite, not to mention the document on the liturgy of the Second Vatican Council.
Many families of the cathedral came together for several years to form a sort of community in the parish around the bishop’s 10 am traditional liturgy. An Okie Traditionalist correspondent reports that the church was commonly packed for this Mass, men often wearing suits and ties, women often wearing the chapel veil and modest dress. The atmosphere was palpably solemn and reverent.
On the subject of Mass Ad Orientem, +Slattery wrote (emphasis mine)
Unfortunately this change [ed. Mass facing the people] had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects. First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition. Secondly, it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of liturgical stage….Even before his election as the successor to St. Peter, Pope Benedict has been urging us to draw upon the ancient liturgical practice of the Church to recover a more authentic Catholic worship. For that reason, I have restored the venerable ad orientem position when I celebrate Mass at the Cathedral. (New Liturgical Movement blog)
Likewise Bishop Slattery restored the practice of Sunday Vespers at the cathedral.
Both practices were established in the cathedral for several years.
Yet, as reported by Laramie Hirsch the other day, shortly after the new Bishop Konderla was ordained last summer and became the new bishop, these two traditional customs were ended.
Is this for real, Okie Trad??
Bishop Konderla on Mass “Ad Orientem”
In the comment box over at Hirsch’s blog, a local Catholic disclosed Bishop Konderla’s publicly stated policy regarding priests of his diocese facing ad orientem (emphasis mine):
Bishop Konderla was asked when he spoke at “Wednesday’s at the Cathedral” if he would follow Bishop Slattery’s lead on ad orientem and he said no, but there are places you can go in the diocese if that is your preference, particulary the TLM. Also said he prefers uniformity in the diocese in that the priest should face the people.
Parishioners attached to this now discontinued “Latin Mass” within the cathedral parish would be forced by these changes to leave the parish if they wanted more authentic liturgy in accord with our Catholic tradition.
So there you have it Tulsa trads, under the new Tulsa Diocese, at the church that represents the diocese itself, 2 traditional restorations were suppressed, and a THIRD “Latin Mass” devoted community was effectively ended.
Time for an Exorcism:
Before the Doloran Fathers leave town, if they haven’t already, I hope they can find a hill overlooking the city and perform an exorcism. There’s actually a really good elevated spot a block west of the downtown OSU campus, with a panoramic view of downtown and the cathedral.
http://okietraditionalist.blogspot.com/2016/12/strike-three-tulsa-diocese-reverses.html