If we're correct in assuming that our local Ordinary – His Grace, the Most Rev. Malcolm McMahon OP – was fully consulted about (as he should have been) and then approved the recently televised, radio-broadcasted and cyber-relayed liturgical scandals, Eucharistic abuses and sacrileges that occurred in these parts, all of which can objectively be proven by video evidence, then it's perhaps appropriate to now revisit footage of another event held earlier this year.
We refer to the publicly available recording of a gathering, as publicised in early summer on Liverpolitanus, which had been held in February 2015 far from this archdiocese. On the west coast of the USA, in fact. We chose not to comment fully about the footage at that time. Rather, we felt that the actions purposefully caught on camera – indeed promoted on YouTube for worldwide witness, no less, presumably with some intent towards "evangelisation" – were best left to speak for themselves.
For a while.
We know from site statistics that the film in question – of a so-called "Australian Culture" Mass, but which was confusingly "celebrated" in Los Angeles, at which His Grace was an active participant, indeed having flown some 5,200 miles to be there – has been well watched and also linked to.
Call it an eye-opener.
A brief note: we'll now revert to referring to that "Australian Culture" Mass in the more perversely fitting manner we've adopted in earlier posts: "The Didgeridoo Mass".
We could, of course, refer to it as "The so-called Australian Culture Mass which disgustingly featured an array of near-naked young men, save for some strategically placed loin cloths, lumbering around a so-called Catholic sanctuary, all the while carting didgeridoos along as they droned out the typically dull bass noises associated with them, prior to the ensuing of a comedy liturgy (jokes, always jokes) replete with liturgical dance (floaty girls, you must have floaty girls – especially to counter-balance the near-naked blokes) and what passes for Aussie-Rock-Gospel (more "Fools at Work" than "Men at Work") all of which laid the toxically-fertile ground for some of the most sinister (right word, no pun) abuses of the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament you're ever likely to see."
But we'll just keep the catch-all shorthand "Didgeridoo Mass" for now.
For the last few months, then, we've just let readers digest the vile evidence for themselves. We always intended to make further comment when appropriate. Therefore, "in light" (though perhaps "in darkness" is more apt) of the other recent events last month, that did actually happen in our archdiocese, that time is now.
Because smaller pictures build into bigger ones.
It's also timely to run a general status check, a full eight months after we started this blog, as to how our short-term concerns for this archdiocese are panning out.
Whether we were correct to start our chronicles, basically.
Regular readers know that we have an ongoing series entitled "Searching for the Archbishop..." in which we're seeking to achieve a fair and balanced understanding of His Grace. For he is not an easy read. That is an understatement. Some may regard that as a good thing. "Keeping us all – both progressives and Traditionalists – on our toes" and all that. We don't. Call it naivete, but we believe that it shouldn't be left to the laity to try to fathom the minds of our bishops. It should be as simple as knowing with docile confidence that our shepherds follow Christ's and the Church's teaching unquestioningly and consistently. Always. For example, what are we to make of His Grace's stated desire that Eucharistic doctrine is "developed" at the Synod on the Family? We're not soft, we can guess all right. But we don't know, for certain. And in any case, why does the Church's teaching need to be "developed" in this matter? Is it somehow faulty or inadequate as things stand?
Anyway, as the general substance of this post is not concerned with something that His Grace has specifically initiated or directly implemented himself, this is not a further episodic instalment in our series. Primarily because we've actually already flagged-up the sickening Didgeridoo Mass under that series title when we first alerted readers to that scandal. However, this post is also to comment on a spectrum of broader matters, e.g. the aforementioned recent scandals in the archdiocese (again, our blogsite stats are very telling) which we know – notwithstanding the reality that it is of course true to say that ultimate responsibility for the liturgy in this territory rests with His Grace – quite clearly bore the progressive signature hallmark of his Auxiliary, His Lordship, Rt Rev. Thomas Williams, whose liberal mindset is well known, with the perverse "benefit" for us being that at least we know what to expect there (and we also know and appreciate that it was entirely understandable for him to have been the appointed celebrant at that event, given certain aspects of his local connections).
This post, instead, is something of a general overview. Some end of summer thoughts. Some deliberately delayed observations. Before we undertake another period of research (as said in many previous posts, we have quite a backlog to clear – but we've got the time – and it's growing via the feeds that are reaching us; also we are committed to that other key strand of this blog which has been quite hampered of late – that of recording for posterity some rare historical material, especially that of our series of excerpts from the volumes of the "Catholic Who's Who & Yearbook" of circa 100 years ago, with the intention of highlighting the beauty and richness of the Faith that we have so wantonly squandered these last 50 or so years).
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For those who haven't yet seen footage of the Didgeridoo Mass, we'll embed it again (just below) to enable greater understanding of the rest of this post, which again, as per the post immediately prior to this one, will deliberately drill its focus into certain micro-actions. At this point, we'll also recount the same video time-cues that we highlighted in our initial post. However, we encourage you now to watch as much of this evil scandal as you can – no matter how hard it is to stomach. If you do feel intense pain at the insult delivered to Christ in the footage below, then consider how deeply is the wound felt by our Creator and His Blessed Mother in her Immaculate Heart.
19:20 (as His Grace is afforded a full verbal welcome to the Mass)
48:07;
57:50;
58:41;
01:04:00;
01:07:13;
01:18:00;
01:19:00.
If you've now watched the above – or enough of it, at least – you will know that we have not been exaggerating when we have used words like scandal or sacrilege. Once again, though, as has been amply shown in other video footage links previously embedded on Liverpolitanus, such blasphemous occasions not only leave the door wide-open for serious abuses of the Blessed Sacrament but they positively usher them in. If you leave the ramparts of the Faith unmanned then Satan and his gang don't need a second invitation to stroll right through the gaping apertures whistling mayhem as they go.
We could list scores of abuses captured in the above film but we will micro-focus on one in particular: i.e. that moment captured in the photo-still at the very top of this post. We would direct you to watch the film from 57mins until 58mins 42secs. It is at the end of that 1min 42 sec phase that the still photo is captured. It shows the hand-wiping gesture of a priest who has spent the last minute or so casually and arrogantly tearing apart an oversized consecrated Host – the very Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Christ – with all the reverence that one would show when separating a book of cloakroom, raffle or tombola tickets. In arranging the separated Hosts into a bowl with as much holy fear as one would reserve for the aggregation of a dish of tortilla chips, his priestly attention seems to be focused anywhere other than on the precious matter at hand. Insouciantly, he glances left and right as though checking his rear view or wing mirrors, he engages in matter-of-fact interaction with another person, and generally conveys an air of total arrogance and unholy detachment from the supremely monumental action he is performing. After he has complacently plenished the bowl before him, he then performs the crowning scandal that our still photo has captured. He swipes his palms together in order to dust away the Particles of the Body of Christ. Horrendous. He does so with all the perfunctory awareness that a mechanic might have in wiping away motor debris, or a baker clearing away flour excess.
Here, a true Modernist would counter-claim: "Yes, but he was careful to do so within the exact air-space above the bowl, so that everything is caught safely below." Balderdash. If that's your defence, then there's little that can be said to convince you of just how deeply inappropriate the hand action of the priest was in that supposedly sacred moment, other than to ask you to consider this: how convinced do you think Christ Himself would be that every human effort had been employed in that precise moment in order to protect the Blessed Sacrament? Watch it again at full speed. See the staggering nonchalance.
We're no scientists, but we've got a decent enough grasp of physics and so we'd hazard a guess that the priest would be horrified (well, we'd hope so) if that whole hand-dusting action was to be subject to an ultra-violet light experiment, which would surely show with harrowing reality the spread of Sacred particles through the air.
Truly, you are left to wonder if even Pilate wiped his hands of Christ as vigourously as the priest in the above footage.
Just how have we allowed ourselves to degenerate, in less than 50 years, from the reverence of a priest holding closed his thumbs and forefingers after the consecration to the abhorrence shown at the top of this post?
As with our previous posts concerning liturgical scandals or outright abuses of the Blessed Sacrament, it's really not difficult to fathom how the LA scandal occurred. Quite simply, if you stage what is meant to be Holy Mass inside a secular arena (the 8,000 seater Anaheim Convention Centre) and then invite half-naked men playing the didgeridoo to perform some sort of deranged entrance ceremony (leaving aside the jokes and dancing girls and "Gospelrock") then any good Catholic sense and sensibility has been left on the concourse outside...if it even got that far.
The whole occasion was a travesty and a deep insult to the Almighty. As indeed is the entire modern premise of LAREC (Los Angeles Religious Education Congress), the annual gathering of all ages and many nationalities – which has long been shaped in the image of His Eminence Cardinal Roger Mahony (say no more) – which the Didgeridoo Mass was an integral and showcase part of. Not for nothing does Fr John Zuhlsdorf refer to LAREC each year as "three days of darkness". Hip Hop Mass, Jazz Mass, Urban Fusion Mass - the fearlessly farcical list is extended every year. What next, "Eskimo Mass" or "Heavy Metal Mass"? We again refer our readers back to our first post about LAREC and the Didgeridoo Mass which provided several backgrounder links about the history of the annual event and its reputation; also, more pointedly, to its long-standing links to the ACTA (A Call to Action) group of openly dissenting Catholics. However, here's one we missed, from as far back as 2010.
So, should we be concerned that our Archbishop has wilfully travelled to this event several times over the last decade or more? Especially knowing exactly what to expect? Indeed that he went as recently as recently as February of this year – i.e. just four months after openly welcoming ACTA to the Archdiocese of Liverpool for its annual "National Conference", as staged in the month of October 2014 which was just as infamous a period in terms of certain local events (which as yet have gone unreported on this site) as it was across the worldwide Catholic Church (i.e. the first part of the "Synod on the Family" - at which His Grace was expecting "great things" and to see Church teaching and doctrine, concerning Eucharistic matters, be "developed"?)
[N.B. We will be putting the local events of October 2014 into chronological context in a future post. Save to say, however, at this point, that whilst one group of Catholics in this archdiocese were left in huge distress throughout the autumn of 2014, another group of so-called Catholics were overjoyed to have received an overt pastoral embrace from His Grace –– i.e. those who support same-sex marriage, the ordination of women as priests, the relaxing of Church teaching on the issues of abortion and contraception and, oh, you know, the rest of the usual and tiresome dissent-bingo list...basically ABC: Anything But Catholicism. Suggestion: rather than hanging around and agitating in the Catholic Church, whose teaching you clearly don't believe or value, simply go and join one of the 30,000 or so, and counting, Protestant sects – for there's surely enough choice and scope to cater for everyone's tastes...or is that just too easy?]
Of course we must be concerned. Furthermore, we think we're meant to be concerned. For we believe that more than an obvious hint is being dropped to us and we're expected to pick up on it. Stupid of us if we weren't to.
But hang on, aren't we overlooking something? Or some things?
• That His Grace has shown clear good will to those who are attached to the Traditional Mass, especially given the invitation to this archdiocese that he extended to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) who are to assume duties at Warrington just a week from now?
• Also that the Archbishop has been known to have celebrated the Old Mass on several occasions?
• Further, that he has demonstrated a deep love and respect for Traditional liturgy – as evidenced by the sublime foreword he wrote as recently as 2010 for the Leicester Dominicans' Lay Missal?
• And that there have been other very encouraging signs that we have pedantically included in our series "Searching for the Archbishop..." (which we hold shouldn't be casually overlooked in the confusing grand scheme of things)?
Well, to answer our own straw man, we're certainly not overlooking those matters, which is precisely why we've listed them for balance in our ongoing search for a clearer understanding of His Grace.
However, on the first of the above points, we should stress that when the FSSP commences its very welcome ministry at Warrington (Deo gratias) the number of locations where archdiocesan Catholics can find Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary Form will still be exactly the same as that when His Grace arrived in the Archdiocese of Liverpool: four. There's a reason for that.
Secondly, there is no denying that there has been a temptation amongst very many Catholics attached to the Traditional Liturgy in England and Wales to reduce most things down to one trumping question, regardless of all other matters, concerning the matter of our bishops and the Old Mass.
"Has he ever celebrated it, especially since Summorum Pontificum?"
If so, then all is good. It's a dangerous line, and not a few still follow it for a good measure. We did to begin with, upon hearing of His Grace's appointment. Very many others amongst the Traditional network in the archdiocese still do. Naturally there are a growing number who are watching a bigger and utterly confusing picture unfold. Whilst it may certainly be true that the general "has he ever celebrated the EF?" test is indeed a reliable indicator of the outlook of a certain (small) number of our bishops, it's far from being a reliable light concerning several others. Furthermore, it is becoming quite obvious to a growing number of Traditionalists that a discernible policy of "bone throwing" is afoot. All the online clues are there for those who wish to find them easily enough (and we'll join the dots in a future post). For now, though, let's just say that a picture is beginning to emerge that many of their Lordships, again with a few notable exceptions, have cottoned-on to "the pushover and push on". In short: celebrate the occasional EF Mass, publicise it, make sure several photographs can be easily found on the Internet, and so become the darling of the all-too-easily pleased and pushover Trads, and then push on with the business of re-shaping the Church fit for the modern world.
You may think that's a cynical outlook.
Some of the above would explain a lot – well a fair bit, at least – about how to reconcile His Grace's obvious desire to fly 5,000 miles plus to attend "liturgies" (we use the word very loosely) like the Didgeridoo Mass whilst also having been a known celebrant of the Old Rite Mass as recently as 2013. But, all the same, we admit to being deeply confused by the quite beautiful and stirring words he penned for the aforementioned Dominican Lay Missal in 2010; for that script does not bespeak of a priest who would be comfortable even for a second at a Didgeridoo Mass, or one that would be inclined to openly welcome a group like ACTA to his archdiocese.
While we're at this precise juncture, let us crystallise the early period of 2013 here for a specific purpose. In mid-February of that year (the final week of the papacy of H.H. Pope Benedict XVI, as it happened), His Grace, who was then the Bishop of Nottingham, attended the annual LAREC conference. The liturgical style was every bit as dreadful as that which we've already highlighted from the 2015 event (the scandals do seem to worsen by degrees each year). Here is a still of His Grace in attendance at the closing Mass of that conference.
The above photograph was captured from the 22mins 25secs point of the proceedings. Here is the video embedded below, and we would direct you to fast-forward to that precise time-point and listen to the sheer cacophony that is ringing out when he appears in the film frame (n.b. any suggestion that His Grace may have been caught unawares by the Didgeridoo Mass of 2015 can be swatted aside by the evidence of the 2013 closing Mass [he didn't attend in 2014] which was every bit as sacrilegious as that two years later – in fact, the "Liturgical Dance" on show in the 2013 liturgy was excessive even by LAREC's Hollywood Mass standards; fast forward throughout the video and you'll be horrified and astounded in equal measure).
Just five weeks after having attended that unholy racket, His Grace, seemingly very contentedly, celebrated Pontifical Mass of the Annunciation at Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, for the Latin Mass Society's Annual Priest and Server's Training Conference, photos of which can be found here.
We just don't get it.
If we're somehow meant to understand it all, then we admit abject failure.
Is it any wonder, then, that a great many Traditionalists in this archdiocese are at best confused by His Grace and at worse downright terrified of what may lie ahead for us?
We dare say that the crew at ACTA may be just as confused (although we doubt it, for we have very good reason to believe that they know exactly what is afoot...for as we said up above, we're well aware of the so-called "pushover and push-on" factor, which is not our term but rather one we have pointedly used for the eyes and ears of those who coined it; as said - we're not daft!).
We are also aware that the next six months could actually bring some more welcome news for those attached to the Old Rite in this archdiocese (it is prudent to leave it at that). But will it come at a cost?
It's a space we'll watch.
Whatever the reality, it is clear from the recent events in this archdiocese that were broadcast to the world, and gave rise to some of the very worst abuses of the Blessed Sacrament, that the fears we laid out in our very first post were well grounded.
The type of events at the Metropolitan Cathedral in January 2013, as also overseen by His Lordship Bishop Williams, that were a tipping point for many, didn't lead to a "line drawn in the sand" moment after all.
As we feared.
For the events of the last month have proven that even further depths are still being locally plumbed.
We had hoped, following the appointment of His Grace, that such heinous capers on our sanctuaries would be stamped out for good by a new shepherding that, if not exactly Traditional, would be at least conservative-light in its tenor (as we also said in our very first post, we're not hung up about the usage of labels – they're useful, albeit sad, narrative tools for our times; being accused of labelling people is frankly the least of our worries).
But here we are, a few weeks on from the wreckage of the events in Woolton and it seems clear that most of this archdiocese is still in self-congratulatory mode, not only for having overseen "a job well done" but also for having helped with the New Evangelisation...by showcasing a new outreaching, all-inclusive, sympathetic, empathetic, false-mercy-driven and rainbow-hued Catholicism fit for the demands of the 21st century.
A bit like LAREC.
Rather, make that a lot like LAREC.
(Recess)
