@Contra Mundum@ Volume XIII, Issue 2 September 2010 The Congregation of St. Athanasius A Congregation of the Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II for the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite http://www.locutor.net NOTES FROM THE CHAPLAIN

MONG those who are expected minds about all sorts of things. De- place in Canada) describing portions Ato use words carefully and with sensitization is the goal of all this of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as hate precision is the preacher. Sometimes barrage. Two Harvard-trained social speech. this gift is an affliction! I was put in scientists, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Beyond jamming there is conver- a grumpy mood recently by the term Madsen, put it well in 1988 when sion. Kirk and Madsen call it “con- “biological parent.” Of course the writing about the homosexual game version of the average American’s phrase has become pervasive. I think plan they opined “if straights can’t emotions, mind and will through it rankled me because it appeared at shut off the shower, they may at least a planned pychological attack, in the same time as some other reading eventually get used to being wet.” the form of propaganda fed to the crossed my desk and had me think- After the deluge comes the scare nation via the media.” Conversion ing about social engineering. tactics phase. Paul Rondeau, writ- rejects Holy Scripture as completely “Biological parent” is redundant! ing in a 2002 issue of The Regent outdated and therefore discredited, The simple word parent means the University Law Review, calls this and marginalizes any Christians left child is the offspring of that man or “psychological terrorism meant to standing as intransigents. woman. Parent comes from Latin silence expression or even support Pope John Paul II probably never parere “to bring forth.” So “parent” for dissenting opinion.” The popular read Kirk and Madsen. But about already is biological! Everything nickname of the phrase is “jamming.” such tactics the Holy Father wrote else is a qualifier or modifier. We use Think of jamming down your throat (in Veritatis Splendor) “If there is “grandparent,” “foster parent,” “sur- intimidation. When activist-actress no ultimate truth to guide and direct rogate parent,” “step-parent,” even Jane Fonda (in her pre-Christian political activity, then ideas and con- in loco parentis , i.e. other than the days) confronted Anglican Arch- victions can easily be manipulated (natural) parents, as we grapple with bishop Michael Ramsey on the for reasons of power.” the complexities of life. But a child late-night Johnny Carson Show and cannot have two male (or female) proceeded to debunk the Gospel ac- Our Lord’s direction is to be as wise parents. You have to call it some- count of the Resurrection of Christ as serpents and gentle as doves. It is thing else. I am not the “biological and then ask “You don’t really be- a colorful and memorable descrip- parent” of Rebekah, Jonathan, and lieve all that stuff, do you?”, she was tion, but difficult to put into practice. Jessica Bradford. I am their parent. ridiculing in advance any opposition The similes of serpent and dove were So there! to the atheist agenda. The 1960’s favorites of the Old Testament rabbis. audience thought she was rude, and They have their origin in the Genesis Everyone of us is aware that we story of Adam and Eve in the garden, are subjected to a daily barrage of when the archbishop simply replied yes and said nothing more he was and in the love poetry of The Song super sophisticated tools of social of Songs. engineering to help us change our cheered. But in the 21st century we will have legislation (already in At any rate, the instructions of our Page 10 Contra Mundum Lord Jesus anticipate opposition boring. That is because it goes against TACKY LITTLE to the gospel and the active per- God’s creation. In that creation there secution of those who attempt are many ways to express love, but CROSSES to live it and promote it. Seem- only limited ways to hate. I know the T THE BEGINNING of my ingly without resources, and un- hateful things get the headlines, but Aministry in 1970 I used to armed, Christians are as helpless the winning ticket is Christ. So take carry an envelope of tacky little as sheep among wolves, Jesus life as He offers it: strive to be wise Crosses with me as I made my says. So instead of fighting back, as serpents and gentle as doves. hospital visitations. The problem Christians must be prudent and Father Bradford was that the Protestant hospitals tactful like the shrewd serpent in most of my parishioners used did the Garden of Eden, and innocent not have Crucifixes in the patients’ and free from wrongdoing like rooms. (I did not have that problem the gentle dove. when I visited the Alexian Brothers’ Saint Paul echoes our Lord’s Hospital in Des Plaines, Illinois, or teaching in the great Epistle to the the Saint Francis Hospital in Evan- Romans where he says, “I would ston.) They really were tacky little have you wise as to what is good Crosses, not because they looked to and guileless as to what is evil.” be in poor taste, although they were Of course, living up to this stan- inexpensive. But these Crosses could dard is impossible without God’s be pressed against a hospital room grace. But part of the Gospel wall and the sticky stuff on the back good news is that love can flour- would adhere. ish in God’s creation. Our souls To a person lying in a hospital bed were created for this very thing: there is more opportunity given than to live in conformity to God’s law, to the rest of us for quietly gazing at and when we do we are going to a Cross, day and night. The Cross is enjoy the Christian life. That is a wonderful sermon preached to the what Jesus promises. eye, a sermon that speaks to us of The world’s new religion tells Holy Cross Day the wonderful love of God. Such a sermon speaks volumes in hospital us that the pursuit of virtue ends Tuesday, September 14, 2010 rooms. up in a boring and dull uniformity. Today there will be the Ordination But that is a lie! The Christian of two auxiliary bishops for Boston It is not easy to believe in the love virtues inspire a thousand dif- of God. We need less proof of His Father Peter Uglietto ferent ways to realize the good. power or of His Wisdom. The evi- and In point of fact it is not good dence is all around us. But much of Father Arthur Kennedy. actions that produce routine or the time the evidence for God’s love uncreative predictability. It is The service is at 2:00 p.m. is found only in one place, in the rather the vicious habits that Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Cross of Christ. In that Cross we see produce a familiarity with evil that God, in giving us His Son, gave that narrows a person’s creative UT as for us, it behoveth us His all. And we need to know that, ability to love. Just ask anyone us to glory in the Cross especially when in hospital our body who lived in eastern Germany be- of our Lord Jesus Christ; doesn’t seem to be worth much. tween 1945 and the tearing down in whom is our salvation, Father Bradford of the Berlin Wall. After a steady our life and resurrection: by whom diet of such narrowness all vice we were saved, and obtained our ¶ This is an excerpt from a sermon preached looks the same to the sinner. It is B by Father Bradford on Holy Cross Day, freedom. September 14, 2008. the sinner’s life that is dull and Contra Mundum Page 11 THE PLACE ing overtly hostile to religion and religious influence. Sometimes one OF THE LAITY hears people say, “Before Vatican II, IN THE CHURCH Catholics in this country were very different. They didn’t divorce, prac- OSES showed real insight tice artificial contraception, or have Minto what it means to be a abortions.” In response, I concede religious nation when he prayed that Catholics didn’t do such things, that all the Lord’s people would be as I hasten to point out that almost no prophets. He knew that he could one in our country did those things. not do the job alone and that even Catholics, in other words, were not the seventy elders would just begin offering any special courageous to scratch the surface of the work witness. What is called for today is THE NATIVITY OF THE of proclaiming God’s Word and indeed special and courageous. Liv- BLESSED VIRGIN MARY functioning as a living challenge to ing out our baptismal commitments [SEPTEMBER 8] the oftentimes warped values of the means being a counter-sign, a sign of The Collect people. Yes, it was important that contradiction, like Christ Himself; it every single committed Hebrew ALMIGHTY God, who didst means swimming upstream, against see it as his or her own personal endue with singular grace the the current. In doing so, however, we O responsibility to be a prophet. Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of save our own souls and we make an our Lord: Vouchsafe, we beseech Jesus felt the same way about effort to contribute to the common thee, to hallow our bodies in purity, the situation, as can be seen from good by offering an alternative to the and our souls in humility and love; today’s Gospel passage in which lunacy that has afflicted our society through the same our Lord and He informs His disciples that they for the past forty years. Which is to Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. should not be envious of others say, we make possible genuine hap- using His name; on the contrary, piness in the here and now, as well Wednesday, September 8, 2010 they should rejoice! And to the as in the hereafter. Most parishes offer a daily Mass. present day the Church has taught In my own ministry, so often people At St. Theresa of Avila Masses are and believed that every Christian is thank me for having the courage to at 6:45 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. called to be a prophet in the midst say things that they think need to be of the world as a way of living out said. While I appreciate their kind one’s baptismal commitment. This comments, I sometimes ask myself HE Ember Days are four se- work is not restricted to the clergy where they are in their own minds Tries of Wednesdays, Fridays, or Religious; they may have to lead and actions. I often get the feeling and Saturdays which correspond to the way and show the laity how to that while they are behind me all the natural seasons of the year. The be prophetic in the world today, but the way, that is just where they are Ember Days follow the Feast of the they never take the laity’s place. At content to stay—behind and in the Holy Cross in September, St. Lucy’s the same time, one must also add Day in Advent, the First Sunday of background completely. Don’t get that being a prophet is not easy me wrong: I don’t object to being Lent, and Pentecost. The English since it calls for commitment and title for these days, “Ember,” is de- a leader and providing food for guts, and surely opens one up to rived from their Latin name: Quat- thought and action, but my role as uor Temporum, meaning the “Four heavy criticism. a priest can never exonerate you of Times” or “Four Seasons.” The Em- Christian prophecy is not for- the responsibility to do your part as bertides are periods of prayer and tune-telling; it is forth-telling. It a concerned Christian. A century and fasting. The Book of Divine Worship demands of us a counter-cultural a half ago, someone asked the soon- has special prayers for these days witness in an increasingly secu- to-be Blessed John Henry Newman beginning on page 498. larized society, which is becom- Continued on next page Page 12 Contra Mundum

Continued from page 11 the place of the laity in the Church. NEWMAN WATCH Characteristically, he quipped, “We’d look rather silly without them!” The great convert-cardinal was right. And we do look “rather silly without them.” The non-involvement of the average Catholic layperson in promoting the Kingdom vision of Christ and His Church is a source of immense embarrassment, and it leaves a gaping hole in the Church’s overall witness and effectiveness. An Evangelical preacher once said A STINGING DENIAL that in front of every abortion clinic HAVE NOT had one mo- I do hereby profess ex animo, and so-called “adult book store,” Iment’s wavering of trust in with an absolute internal assent there ought to be a sign which reads: the Catholic Church ever since and consent, that Protestantism “This instititution functions with the I was received into her fold. I is the dreariest of all possible explicit permission of the Christian community of this city.” He, too, hold, and ever have held, that her religions; that the thought of was right. Sovereign Pontiff is the centre of an Anglican service makes me unity and the Vicar of Christ; and shiver and the thought of the An so, a few questions: When I have ever had, and have still, Thirty-nine Articles makes me clergy and Religious fail to be the signs of commitment and challenge an unclouded faith in her creed shudder. Return to the Church of they should be, where is your voice? in all its articles; a supreme satis- England! No! “The net is broken When the media mocks the Church faction in her worship, discipline and we are delivered.” I should and sacred things, where is your and teaching; and an eager long- be a consummate fool (to use a voice? When Catholics have their ing, and a hope against hope, that mild term) if in my old age I left rights ignored, especially in refer- the many dear friends whom I “the land flowing with milk and ence to obtaining economic justice have left in Protestantism may be honey” for the city of confusion for the maintenance of their own partakers of my happiness. and the house of bondage. schools, where is your voice? When the sacredness of human life is vio- This being my state of mind, to I am, Sir, lated through abortion or euthanasia, add, as I hearby go on to do, that Your obedient servant, where is your voice? I have no intention, and never John H. Newman On occasions like these, I pray with had any intention, of leaving the Moses: “Would that all the people of ¶In July 1882 the Stamford Morning Catholic Church and becoming the Lord were prophets!” Advertiser, followed by the Globe a Protestant again, would be trumpeted the announcement that Father Peter Stravinskas superfluous, except that Protes- because John Henry Newman had ¶ The Very Revd. Peter M. J. Stravinskas is tants are always on the look-out just left the Brompton oratory there- one of the nation’s leading apologists, and for some loop-hole or evasion fore he was about to return to the has been a regular visitor to our congre- in a Catholic’s statement of Church of England! Newman wrote gation over the years, indeed even before we were a Catholic congregation. Father fact. Therefore, in order to give the above Letter to the Editor of the Stravinskas preached this sermon to us on them full satisfaction, if I can, Globe. Sunday, September 27, 2009. Contra Mundum Page 13 SHORT NOTES Ñ During the last month of the Gahles and his family into the Catho- growing season you are invited to lic Church. The service took place in contribute altar flowers for -Sun northern New Jersey. day use. We have vases of various Ñ Under the heading of “sorting things sizes or you may bring your own. out” our guest preacher at Stonehill Two matched arrangements for College on Sunday, September 26th, the high altar can come from your Bishop Brian Marsh, is affliated with yard, your florist, or even from The Traditional Anglican Communion, the supermarket. Sign up list is at a worldwide group which petitioned coffee hour. the Holy See for guidance and direction Ñ INQUIRERS’ CLASSES will on corporate reconciliation with Rome. begin in the Fall, date and time The response was Pope Benedict XVI’s to be arranged. There is already apostolic constitution Anglicanorum fatherland. Instead, alas! we see interest. A syllabus is available coetibus. It was a generous response him struggling convulsively to take now. Topics are based on The indeed, and now we are all awaiting possession of the earthly paradise, Catechism of the Catholic Church. developments. forgetting the great disillusion- The course may be part of prepara- ment, the tragic experiment which Ñ Steve and Laurie Cavanaugh ob- tion for reception into the Catholic stains with tears and blood the served and celebrated their silver Church, or simply used as continu- first chapters of the Divine Book. wedding anniversary in early August. ing education. Contact the chaplain Ever since the failure of that first Congratulations. They live in Brock- for details. experiment, when man’s will, free ton and are the parents of three grown and sacred, was turned to license Ñ An EVERY MEMBER CAN- children, the younger two still in col- and falsehood, the story of man- VASS will be conducted this Fall lege. kind has been a long alternation of for the financial support of the wretchedness and recovery. parish program. A mailing will go out to everyone on our list. Pledge RETURN TO The wretchedness is of men aban- materials will also be available at doned to themselves, to fallacious St. Lawrence Church. THE VERTICLE knowledge and the prodigies of technical skill that is undoubtedly Ñ Thanks to Deacon Michael J. PERSPECTIVE admirable and powerful, but not Connolly for assistance at vari- OW to put a stop to this internal conducive to the triumph of the ous services during the summer Hcorrosion, the stripping of the Spirit; the recovery is due to the months, especially Evensongs on supernatural element from the mind Lord, with the collaboration of Sundays and Holy Day evening and customs of modern life in all its his priests and saints, in whom the Masses. aspects—this is undoubtedly the cen- apostolate of the Church is per- Ñ Congratulations to Wilfrid tral problem of the religious apostolate petuated, according to the promise Veldkamp on the occasion of of our day. It is equally necessary to of Jesus, who assured us of his the wedding of his daughter (in restore to their rightful place and honor presence with us until the end of Sweden) in early August. And to the Christian principles contained in the world. Ryan Gibbard who successfully the Gospel, for the most part unknown Blessed John XXIII defended his doctoral thesis in to the world or set aside, and here and late July. there, even in our own land, treated as Days of Devotion, 1967 absurd or discreditable, or relegated to ¶ Pope John XXIII went to God in 1963 Ñ In early August Fr. Stravinskas dismal oblivion. and was beatified on September 3, 2000. presided at the reconciliation and reception of Anglican pastor Tim Man’s destiny is to seek his heavenly Page 14 Contra Mundum

Solemn Evensong & FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL Sermon AND ALL ANGELS Wednesday, September 29, 2010 Sunday, September 26, 2010 7:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. Thirteenth Anniversary of the Anglican Use in Boston Chapel of Mary Procession, Solemn Mass & Sermon Stonehill College, Easton, Saint Lawrence Church, Chestnut Hill Mass. a reception will follow the service The Rt. Revd. Brian Marsh, preaching ¶ This is the joint annual evensong sponsored by Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, Brockton and the Congrega- LABOR DAY is a holiday which recognizes the tion of Saint Athanasius. Our right of the laborer to a proper return. It also sets our work within the context of the common good guest preacher is Bishop of and the rightful aspirations of other workers. In the Diocese of the North- economic hard times this “day off” ought also east, The Anglican Church in to arouse our concern for those who are out of America. work. Always a Monday, this year’s Labor Day is September 6th. Contra Mundum Page 15 British Martyrs

VER the years 200 men and Blessed William Way Owomen have been beatified for Priest and Martyr (1561–1588) their heroic witness to the Catholic Faith in the British Isles during and after the ORN near Exeter, England, Protestant Reformation. Here we con- BWilliam Way left his native tinue brief mention of some of these land to study for the priesthood on individual martyrs. the continent during the ongoing persecution of English Catholics Blessed Christopher Robinson under Queen Elizabeth I. Follow- Priest and Martyr (†1598) ing his ordination in Laon, France, HRISTOPHER Robinson, of in September of 1586, Father Way On September 11, 2010, Dea- CWoodside, England, journeyed returned to England in December of con Oliver Vietor of Phoenix, to Reims, France, to study for the the same year. By June of 1587, less Arizona will be ordained to the priesthood in the English College. than seven months after beginning Sacred Priesthood. Please keep Following his ordination in 1592, his priestly labors in England, Fa- Oliver and the nascent Anglican he returned to England and served ther Way was in prison, having been Use Community of St. Paul’s in Catholics in the regions of Cumber- captured by the Elizabethan regime. Phoenix in your prayers. land and Westmoreland. In 1594 he His incarceration continued for over was present in Durham to witness the a year. He was remembered for the martyrdom of a fellow priest, Saint austerities he imposed upon himself. John Boste, and wrote a detailed When in August of 1588 trials were account of the terrible sufferings of convened to condemn Catholic pris- The Congregation Father Boste on the scaffold. Father oners, Father Way was dismayed that of Saint Athanasius Robinson himself was later arrested he was not called to stand trial, and The Revd. and imprisoned for his faith and asked to go to confession, weeping Richard Sterling Bradford, priesthood. An Anglican bishop at the thought that God had found Chaplain repeatedly came to debate with him him unworthy of martyrdom. When in his cell, pressing him to obtain a month later he was summoned to Saint Lawrence Church clemency by “conforming” to Queen trial, he seemed beside himself with 774 Boylston Ave. Elizabeth’s state religion, but the joy. Father Way was condemned to Chestnut Hill, Mass. priest stalwartly refused. Condemned death simply for being a priest. On (Parking lot behind to death for being a priest, Father September 23, 1588, he suffered church.) Robinson evinced such a joyful and death by drawing and quartering in unwavering disposition on the scaf- Kingston-on-Thames. Sundays 11:30 a.m. fold that many who witnessed his Sung Mass Reprinted from Magnificat, September death were converted to the Catholic Fellowship and Coffee in faith. 2009, Vol. 11, No. 7, p. 328. With permis- sion of Magnificat® USA, LLC, Dunwoodie the Undercroft after Mass - 201 Seminary Avenue, Yonkers, New York Reprinted from Magnificat, August 2004, 10704 or Web site: www.magnificat.net. All Vol. 6, No. 6, p. 285. With permission of rights reserved. Rectory: Magnificat® USA, LLC, Dunwoodie - 201 Seminary Avenue, Yonkers, New York 767 West Roxbury Pkwy. 10704 or Web site: www.magnificat.net. All Boston, MA 02132-2121 rights reserved. Tel/Fax: (617) 325-5232 http://www.locutor.net Page 16 Contra Mundum

St. Lawrence Church, 774 Boylston Street (Route 9). Park in the church parking lot behind the Church, off of Reservoir Rd. Chestnut Hill Directions by Car: From the North or South: Route 128 to Route 9. At signal for Reservoir Channing Road Road, take right; Church parking lot is a short Eliot St. Av distance on left. e From Boston: From Stuart/Kneeland St., turn left onto Park Plaza. Drive for 0.2 miles. Park Plaza Boylston St. (Rte 9) becomes St James Avenue. Drive for 0.3 miles. Lee St. Brookline Turn slight left onto ramp. Drive for 0.1 miles. Go Reservoir straight on Route-9. Drive for 3.5 miles. Turn left Reser voir Rd onto Heath Street. Drive for 0.1 miles. Go straight Heath St. on Reservoir Road. Drive for 0.1 miles. Parking . lot is on your right. Directions by Public Transportation: Green line to Kenmore Square terminal. Bus #60, has a stop Low in front of the Church. The Church is a 15-min- ell Lane ute walk from the Cleveland Circle Green Line St Lawrence Church station. On weekdays and Saturdays only the #51 bus route which runs from Cleveland Circle to Heath St. Forest Hills via Hancock Village is a 3-minute bus trip from Chestnut Hill/Reservoir, which stops at Lee St.

Contra Mundum The Congregation of St. Athanasius 10 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132