Monday, July 29, 2013

Second Largest Traditional Order in Ecclesia Dei Banned from Saying Immemorial Mass of All Ages

Update: while it does sadden us to see such heavy-handedness on the part of the Curia, which is frankly happening to other traditional orders, like the Good Shepherd, it doesn't necessarily mean an abrogation of Summorum Pontificum as Vox points out.

Edit:   Is this a sign of things to come?  There are also reports from Mumbai, India that the Traditional Latin Mass will be abolished in that Archdiocese, allegedly because there are no priests proficient in Latin.

As reported by at Sandro Magister and Rorate Caeli, the Mass of All Ages is being forbidden within the tremendously successful Franciscans of the Immaculate.  They are the second largest Society under Ecclesia Dei to offer the Mass of All Ages.  They don't offer it exclusively, and from now on, it appears they may not be allowed to offer it at all as of August 11th:
"In addition to the above, the Holy Father Francis has directed that every religious of the congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate is required to celebrate the liturgy according to the ordinary rite and that, if the occasion should arise, the use of the extraordinary form (Vetus Ordo) must be explicitly authorized by the competent authorities, for every religious and/or community that makes the request.”
It's not known whether giant puppets, bad folk music or Jesuit dance will be required.

There are a couple of things that come to mind in the face of the recent issue with the Franciscans of the Immaculate.  First of all, and most important to our mind, is that, barring any revelations of real wrongdoing on the part of this order, they have had a lot of success and have been growing nearly exponentially in the post-Conciliar age.

It's actually unheard of.  They're not like any of the decadent, moribund, withering, archaic, folksy, dinosaur Benedictines or other irrelevant societies who cling to fossilized forms of a bygone era of the 1968 as Pope Francis opined at World Youth Day, from CFN:
"The Pelagian solution. This basically appears as a form of restorationism. In dealing with the Church’s problems, a purely disciplinary solution is sought, through the restoration of outdated manners and forms which, even on the cultural level, are no longer meaningful. In Latin America it is usually to be found in small groups, in some new religious congregations, in (exaggerated) tendencies to doctrinal or disciplinary 'safety'. Basically it is static, although it is capable of inversion, in a process of regression. It seeks to 'recover' the lost past."
In a way, it's a good sign that they are being unjustly persecuted, because in the post-Conciliar Church, a sure sign of success is being treated unjustly by one's superiors.   Of course, as one corresponded reports, not even the evil Marciel Maciel's   order, the Legionaries of Christ has been dealt with so roughly.  The Franciscans of the Immaculate are being assigned a governing board and the past leadership, those who have made the order as successful as it is.

Secondly, this is the result of a small clique of embittered hostiles who've been given an ear in Rome, which has provoked this shakeup.  It brings to mind another shakeup more than a decade ago with Protocal 1411, which many predicted back then, would be the end of the FSSP.  Some will remember that a letter was sent from a small number of society members accusing it of being divisive, rigid and so forth, which provoked a ruling down from Rome that despite the Society's original founding charter, that its priests would only say the Mass of All Ages, that this would be overruled and priests of the Society would therto be permitted to say the Bugninine Liturgy.

At present, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the 80 year old Franciscans of the Immaculate founder, is currently being replaced along with his board while a Capuchin visitor.

The troublemakers are said by a source known to us as being Americans who've been vocally critical of the "Gheradini line" of loyal criticism engaged upon by Immaculate members.


27 comments:

Vox Cantoris said...

http://www.voxcantor.blogspot.ca/2013/07/what-does-summorum-pontificum-really-say.html

Tancred said...

This looks like more harassing fire.

Tancred said...

And like you say, I don't think it amounts to the abrogation of SP.

Geremia said...

Who's the biggest and third biggest of the Ecclesia Dei groups? thanks

Tancred said...

The Biggest is the FSSP, the third is the Institute of Christ the King with 50.

Anonymous said...

After I saw the crowd of dancing bishops in Brazil, and Pope Francis saying he's not in a position to judge gays and lesbians, but yet can go after and smash Catholic traditional religious Orders and suppress the Tridentine Latin Mass...the only Mass of all time which has brought many Graces to this Vatican II desert....I say the "H" with Pope Francis and his liberal agenda.
The Greek Orthodox Church looks great to me now!!!!

Geremia said...

That's what I thought. How about the 4th biggest? thanks

Geremia said...

Or even just Eastern Rite Catholic churches

Tancred said...

Joining the Orthodox hasn't appealed to me in ages. You see, they have the same kinds of problems, apart from being schismatics, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/greek-monks-defy-eviction-with-molotov-cocktails-8737233.html

Tancred said...

It's a toss-up between Fontgambault, Institute of Good Shepherd and Campos.

Anonymous said...

Sigh seems that some Rorate commentators believe erroneously that Cardinal Burke was uninformed or at the very least will intervene. Not a chance. One of the Americans is very good friends with the good Cardinal and when the Cardinal finally heard how his friend was treated he was furious. Sure there were other internal spats involved but it should never ever have come to this juncture. Now we will all suffer! The enemies of TLM were just waiting for this opportunity. The FFIs have many enemies in the states, in Italy, and so on. This a double prong attack on TLM and on a traditional Order. The FFIs are big on obedience and often quote St. Pio (Fr.Manelli's spiritual director) "disobedience is from the devil." My prayers are with the FFIs and waiting with bated breath to see if they try to change the Rule.
Fr. Manelli like St. Alphonsus, St. Francis and many others is undergoing a cruel Calvary.

Anonymous said...

Well if the Pope isn't going to do anything about "Gay" ahhahaha "Guys" ahhahaha at least he's doing something about Pharisees and Pelagians.

Tancred said...

I doubt he'll do anything about the Jesuits, EWTN or LCWR.

Anonymous said...

Let's put aside the TLM I believe that the very existence of teh FFI's is at stake. Unprecedentedly both founders removed from Office and the whole governing board taken down. Does the Holy See believe it was another personality cult or something? hello Kiko?

If this Capuchin just tweaks the Rule alittle this way or that or tries to put in one of the Americans as Superior...i fear for the very survival of this Order. I hope i am wrong.

Anonymous said...

Yeh. It seems any confusion about who was referred to as Pharisees has been cleared up.

Anonymous said...

You know very well this is a very special case. You are right, that the Orthodox have their own problems, BUT their bishops do not dance to silly tunes on festivals, their nuns don't ride buses advocating the killing of unborn children and their not afraid to publicly discipline politicians.

P.S. Last, but not least, their liturgy is essentially the same as in in times of St. John Chrysostom.

Tancred said...

Abortion? They allow it. No thanks.

Tancred said...

It's one of those projection mirror things.

susan said...

...and divorce (at least one).

Woody said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tancred said...

Are you pro-abort and pro-birth control as well?

Anonymous said...

Fr. Z mentioned "clericalism" many overlooked this statement:

"If that is the case, then this move could be a manifestation of the sort of clericalism that Pope Francis seems to want to diminish."

After pondering this it appears that Fr.Z has been in touch with the American faction. No other way around it few knew the internal disputes. Fr. Z knows far more than what he is saying. But to bring down a whole Order?

Anonymous said...

http://maryvictrix.com/2013/07/29/the-fis-and-pope-francis/

I wonder what "holy popes" of the last "fifty years" they are thinking of?? Yikes!

vscs said...

So if it was 80% (I honestly don't know, just asking), then why not just issue a letter saying they have the right to say the New Mass if they want, instead of making the 20% go through a indult-ish process? That is, if reports are correct and I'm understanding it all correctly.

This whole thing is weird and I just don't know what to think. I guess there's plenty more we don't know yet. I'll just hang back and watch.

vscs said...

But then again, there already seems to be a few hoops for religious orders to jump through under SP, as Vox points out. Ah, heck, who knows...

I guess we'll see how this plays out.

Geremia said...

Can't the traditional members of FFI break off and form their own order, or are they afraid Rome will deny them that because they'd apparently side-step Francis's decree?

Tancred said...

Roberto Mattei advises them to ignore the ruling, because it's trumped by a higher law.