The Ballad of Summorum Pontificum II

The Ballad of Summorum Pontificum

It was the 7th of the seventh, 2007

"The most beautiful day

This side of Heaven"

The treasure was released

The Mass of all Ages

The Missal was closed

Then a Priest turned the pages

So we kneel down and pray the Confiteor

Are you ready for a 'Culture of Encounter'?

Ad Deum quit laetificat juvemtutem meum

He turns around and the people say give us some more!

For over 50 years

A Mass that lay hidden

Came out of the closet

No moth there had bitten

No dust was upon it

For this Mass was timeless

You could tell when you walked through the door!

You can hear the bells ring out once, twice, thrice at the Sanctus

Turns around and the Priest says "Oratre Fratres"

The Priest and people pray ‘Domine non sum dignus’

And the people say, "give us some more, more, more, more!"

Some more

Summorum Pontificum!

Gimme some more, some more of

The Church's law

Some more

Summorum Pontificum!

Gimme some more, some more, give us some more!

Ecce Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi

When will we hear those words ring out

Every Sunday?

The Latin Mass is back

Put your guitars on the floor

We have Communion kneeling and on the tongue

All ages they pass

All ages they vary

The Latin Mass belongs back

In our seminaries

Our Pope doesn't want it

Oh if only he could

Say "God bless the Pope Emeritus!"

Some more

Summorum Pontificum!

Gimme some more, some more

of the Church's law!

Summorum Pontificum!

Gimme some more, some more

Gimme some more!

The Mass that brings sinners

To the Fountain of grace

The Mass that made martyrs

Embrace their pains

The Mass that brought hope

To the poor and abandoned

Finding in Jesus (bow head)

The perfect Companion

But that Mass is back (back)

To liberal dismay, yeah

Yes, that Mass is back (back)

It could not decay

Yes, that Mass is back (back)

And it makes liberals quake

That Mass is back

Will you find one today?

Some more

Summorum Pontificum!

Gimme some more, some more

It's the Church's law

Summorum Pontificum!

Gimme some more, some more

Gimme some more

(Repeat x 2)

It was the 7th July 2007

"The most beautiful day

This side of Heaven"

 “Your ministry, dear judges and employees of the Roman Rota Tribunal … is a service peculiar to the God of Love, who is close to every person. While you perform your judicial duties, do not forget that you are pastors! Behind every plea, every position, every case, there are people who seek justice”. 

- Pope Francis, 24 January 2014

Yesterday a Catholic priest warned me of the danger of falling into schism. I thank Fr Mark for his admonishment and I certainly take heed of it. I acknowledge that at time I do not, as perhaps I did yesterday, read into the Pope's words a meaning that His Holiness perhaps did not intend. If anybody was scandalised by this then I apologise.

Yet, it is hard to mask a sense of betrayal that I feel as a Catholic whose faith was certainly deepened under Benedict XVI and I would not, could not yet go so far as one Catholic priest, Fr Paul Kramer, who has written that Benedict XVI was forced to resign by ecclesiastical freemasonry and that therefore this means that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, is not a canonically elected pontiff, but fulfills St Francis of Assisi's prophecy which claims him to be the destroyer. I think that is somewhat putting 'the cart before the horse' even if palpable discomfort among those loyal to Benedict XVI is still rife.

Aside from a vagueness and lack of clarity in teaching, the sense of betrayal for me really centres on the treatment of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the scandal of their having been censured over the issue, it appears, of their embracing of the traditional liturgy. I do not require a permit to attend a Latin Mass, or in order to re-record a song I wrote a few years back, but permits are now a huge feature of Franciscan life in the Order of the Immaculate. I ask, just who would join that poor Order now?  I feel increasingly sorry for those lay people who, thanks to Benedict XVI, were able to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form thanks to the Friars of the Immaculate, but who now cannot, since 30 of the 33 Traditional Latin Masses at Churches offered by the Immaculate, have been cancelled.

As men and women of far lower rank in the Church, I would suggest tentatively that we can raise concerns about the current state of the Papacy and implore His Holiness to take into account the deeply valuable theology and work of his predecessor, especially in giving the Catholic Church back the riches of Her Sacred Liturgy and beginning a restorative work to the manner and form in which we worship. Of course, as all can agree we must pray for the Supreme Pontiff and show him charity, loyalty and, unless it pertains to a matter that runs contrary to God's law, obedience.