New Blog

I've been asked to mention a new blog on the scene called St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage. I'm not sure who it's run by, however I've been informed that it's a Catholic Heritage Association which aims at safeguarding the rich liturgical heritage of the Catholic Church and promoting its use in the sacramental life of the Church in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

The blog will keep you informed of the activities of St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association, and of progress made in implementing Summorum Pontificum, particularly throughout the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

In their own words:

In particular, we’d be glad if you could bring to the attention of your readers the news that there will be a Walking Pilgrimage for Vocations on Saturday, 12th July, 2008, commencing at 11 a.m. in St. Brigid’s Church, Milltown, County Kildare, Ireland, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Missal of Blessed John XXIII) for which the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin has granted, under the usual conditions, the Plenary Indulgence for the Pauline Holy Year.

I'm glad blogs like these are being set up and groups along with them, but again I have to re-state that because of the dioceses (both nationally and internationally) failure to actually stop playing games and going along the happy clappy no substance route that thousands (and I mean literally thousands) of young men are going for traditional Catholicism.

The blog Mark at Rise & Pray set up attracted 5,000 visitors in the first week, now for any blogger a few hundred visitors is good going, but 5,000 in a week. It shows a desire for a faith which actually tells people there is a reason to the whole thing, there is certain rights and wrongs and that there is a heaven and a hell. But at the same times the diocesan seminaries are empty and there are thousands of faithful people being starved of any orthodoxy, any substance and any hope because of this culture in some elements of the Church that constantly wants to make some new, non-patristic, nonsensical religion that doesn't speak to anyone apart from themselves. It's shocking and people should stand up and object!

The thing is, the average Joe doesn't really care weather Mass is celebrated in latin or ad orientem; what matters to them are everyday issues - will I have enough to pay my mortgage? Am I going to graduate? Will I ever meet someone I love? What party am I going to at the weekend? They come to the Church and get rubbish all of their lives about how God is no nice and lalalalalalalala yet they don't ever hear that God is love, but that love is not some nice lipservice, it's:

"a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God..." Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est.

No instead they get nonsense and think well that simply doesn't relate to me and if God is so nice then he'll forgive me if I sin because he is nice and that's that. As long as I'm a good person I'll be fine. Well if that's the Church you want then open the doors a little bit further and you'll see everyone running out and heading for the nearest 'do it yourself religion' which either leads to nonsense weather it be extremism or just plain relativism.

But of course, me saying this just means I'm one of those nutty trads banging on about the old days. Well the blog might be called mad trad but there is nothing 'nutty' about it; all I want is to go to Church and know one that it's Catholic and two that the liturgy is celebrated reverently ans beautifully weather in the ordinary or extraordinary, but most of all that what I am hearing is going to help me in the day-to-day fight which is living a life of faith. Is that too much to ask? Seems it...