One Year Anniversary

Today is an anni-

versary for me. It's not a pleasant one to remember. It was one year ago today that I was told by my former pastor not to "chase after" and "embarrass" people who walk away from Holy Communion without consuming the Host. I quit on the spot. Usually you don't quit after 37 years all in a shock to the system like that. But I had to do it. Needless to say, the diocesan non-response of just shining it on without an apology is despicable to me. I never thought much of our bishop to begin with, but his non-response/handling is about as bad as the original offense as it condones what the pastor did.

Thankfully, I had already been going to St. Anne's parish in San Diego for frequent daily Mass, it having been close to my work. If not for Fr. Sean Finnegan's visit in the summer of 2008, I'd have been unaware of that new parish being given over to the TLM.

I still go to see the Sainted Fr. S. at his home to assist at his Sunday Mass. [He is not able to drive any longer, due to an eye problem.] But I also frequently make a morning Sunday Mass at St. Anne's, as well as get there for daily Mass when I can.

The TLM still has a few drawbacks for me. I'm no "silent" canon fan. But at least I know that the priest is going to say and do exactly what the Mass calls for. The priest isn't going to ad lib. And for sure he'd like as not personally put someone in a headlock who tried to waltz away with Holy Communion without consuming it. That's probably what I like best about the Latin Mass. Fr. Gismondi [aka "The Amazing Fr. G." on this blog] would follow through on St Tarcisius's example. Sadly, today, some priests would consider him a "meanspirited" naive rube.

Today Fr. Gismondi had a votive Mass for Vocations. Most appropriate. We need more good priests. And also prayers for priests who seem to have lost their way.

Happy 81st Birthday to the Sainted Father S.

Saw him last night for Mass, and then we had his favorite, KFC. [give him two piece, original, wedge potato fries, and a corn on the cob, and he's a happy man] He also got some chocolate fudge last night too for a chaser.

I took this picture this past May. The lemons he grew were almost as big as oranges.

Holding pattern

Ever had one of those weekends where you were going to get things done but didn't but it's okay anyway, because you can do them later, and what you did do was relaxing?

I'm having one of those weekends. Mass shortly with the Sainted Fr. S. His birthday is coming up soon on the 26th of the month, so keep him in your prayers, he will be 81. And say a prayer that the data from one of his hard drives, which just crashed, can be recovered.

In case you are all wondering....

...as no word from the pastor or the diocese, I'm off to attend a very exclusive Mass with The Sainted Fr. S and the Lord, Jesus Christ. And then afterwards, if I know the Sainted one we will be dining chez KFC, his absolute favorite repast.

The Sainted Msgr. S. Celebrated his 55th Anniversary Today

The Sainted Msgr. S. had celebrated his 55th Anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood today.


He will have his 81st Birthday this coming October. Until Last year when he was retired from being our beloved supply priest at our 5:15 Sunday Mass at my parish. A while back I had a more detailed post about him here (smiling!) I had assisted him at Sunday Mass since my own college days - more than 30 years ago myself. I was honored to be able to assist him at Mass again tonight.

He hates posing, but I "made" him before Mass tonight, which was in his home. Father is using a chalice he had made for when he was ordained. He has always used it at his daily Masses since he's been a priest.



There is a beautiful story about this chalice. He did not by any means come from a wealthy family. He'd wanted to be a priest from about age 12, and went in to the minor seminary about age 14-15. For years, the family of his aunt (who was his Godmother) had a big jar where the would add any spare pennies, nickels, and dimes for the him, so that he could have a nice chalice when he would be ordained. When he was in the major seminary, a priest he had for canon law and moral theology had been a priest in Lithuania - and that priest had a bejeweled chalice made in Germany - the jewels were THAT priest's way of getting money out of that Communist country!

Msgr. S. and a classmate of his, both got the name of the German man who'd made their professor's chalice. This German man was delighted to have the work, because in the early 50s Germans were very impoverished from the war and they had little income, and less chance to use such skills. So it was all hand crafted (there is a nice paten to go with it.) If you click on the photo you can get a large picture (or should be able to if I do this right!) Each little grape bunch is slightly different! And all along the rim of the base there are grains of wheat. Also where the fluted curved parts join each other at the base, there are very small "nails" to symbolize the nails on the Cross.

The chalice has a nice heft to it and excellent balance. I'm glad the photo came out clearly.

I've also had a picture taken of the antemension he uses for Mass. This should also enlarge if you click on it.


After Mass, Father and I went out for his favorite treat, Kentucky Fried Chicken! He was amused by my experiences with the Latin Mass - talking about what it was like "back in the day" -- and he also related how Bishop Buddy "of late and happy memory" ;-D could be a real....well, shall I say hard nosed individual to deal with. "Back in the day" (the 50s) everyone and his dog wanted to get into the SD diocese, so Bishop B. would get them to do extra work "as long as you're here I want you to go over to the Immaculata (big parish church on the campus of USD) or the Cathedral and sit in the confession box, [for hours back then!] you don't mind, do you Father?" Fr. Shipley would sometimes have to be the bearer of this particular news! Then he also had fun telling me about the one day the bishop consecrated ALL the altars in the Immaculata (there's a good 12 side altars in that one! plus the main one.

He also related a tip some of you priests may want to know [well, to be fair, maybe it only worked on that bishop.] If you LIKED where you were, you AVOIDED the bishop at all costs!!! If you were "Ready for a change" in that case you went to ALL the bishop's functions and schmoozed as much as possible. Not that you'd SAY anything, but it got the bishop's gears turning [there were a lot of new parishes going up in the diocese then[ and the bishop would say to himself "now THAT would be a good man for X."

Tomorrow when I have some time, I may get a chance to put up some audio of the Sainted Fr. S. which I had captured at Mass about 2 years ago. Thank Goodness the thought had occurred to me then "I've been assisting at this man's Mass for over 30 years and I don't have any audio!!" I think it should be preserved for posterity.

There are more articles featuring him if you click the tag "The Sainted Father S. -- one of which has a *bit* of a pic taken shortly after he was ordained - he vowed to kill me if I published the entire, as he calls it "Little Lord Fauntleroy" pic.)

My Favorite 80 year old priest

...turned 80 today!!!



Haven't written much about him lately, but he's been much in my prayers this last 6 months and is well on the mend and much better after having had his hip joint pop out (and not properly diagnosed as such for two weeks) earlier this year. Hopefully, he'll be driving soon again. I'm stopping by to see him today before Mass. He always whined that he was sorry his mother had let the cat out of the bag some years ago re: his birthday ... but secretly he's pleased when people remember. Click on the tag for more about Fr. Bill.

Happy 80th, Fr. Bill!

Update on the Sainted one

The Sainted Msgr. S. is getting sprung from the rehab center this Sunday. He is looking forward to playing "pirate" again. [Just kidding, the temporary patch is long gone.] I stopped by to see him today and he was showing off being able to walk up and down the halls with the aid of just a cane. He didn't say no to the piece of chocolate fudge I brought him either. I teasingly asked the notoriously un-social butterfly "Did you go to the luncheon in the garden today?" and he said "*how* long have you known me?"

The one good outcome to this is that he finally has a cell phone .... which I and others had urged him to get - me not a week before he fell...[see we toldja.] He'll be haunting Kentucky Fried Chicken before we know it - which is a darn good thing as he'd remarked that he was down to his weight in the seminary which was 130....if he jumped up and down on the scale a little. I think a few buckets of KFC and some more fudge are in order.

Happy 54th Anniversary

today to the Sainted Father "don't call me msgr. , I work for a living" S. who is recovering in rehab after some dingleberry of a doctor didn't catch the fact that when he banged up his knee during Holy Week he also managed to pop out the nifty titanium ball and socket hip joint that he had put in in 2000. X-rays ("gee, skippy, I still hurt like all get out") two-three weeks after the event revealed this. Depending if all is a-okay, he'll probably be released this Sunday or the one after.

The bishop visited him and all that jazz - and a certain parish where he says daily Mass knows, and visited, but a certain pastor at a certain church where until for the last 30 years he's been the supply priest on Sunday until he was sumarily retired without being told doesn't know. I would have told a certain pastor had he inquired, but for right now I'm not saying zip. Except, of course, to the blogosphere. Keep him on YOUR prayer list, because for right now, despite the pastor having initially stated that "he'd fractured his leg" [untrue] it didn't occur to "The powers that be" that perhaps if this really was the case, then perhaps, as a nice gesture, someone (oh, I don't know, say...the pastor) would have put him on the list. Now, it *may* be possible that the pastor in question tried to reach him by phone and couldn't (seeing as how the operation to repair said joint) was done quickly and he didn't go back home for even a toothbrush before admission to hospital ... but, given he wasn't even on the prayer list....from the alleged fracture.....if I were a betting woman....

"30 years of service, and I didn't even get on the 'pray for' list at Mass." Gee, like no one else has noticed.

Update: The Sainted Fr. S.

Hasn't broken anything, or torn anything in his knee. Just keep him in your prayers that his knee heals -- hopefully for this Sunday, but if not by then, surely the next Sunday. Also please pray that I can put enough of a "package deal" to bribe the pastor emeritus, if need be, to do the 5:15 Sunday. That way, everyone gets to live.

Frisbee Hosts and General Absolutions

The former is an abomination, the latter if used under battlefield conditions or imminent plane crash or other such disaster is one thing ... but at Easter Sunday Mass is another.

Please, if you're a priest who does Mass "as it is written" don't break, bruise, injury any major part of your body. The operative phrase is "says Mass as written." Leave breaking, bruising, spindling things to your idiot confreres, so as not to inflict them on the rest of us. Capisce?

And say a prayer for the Sainted Fr. S. that he DIDN'T actually break a kneebone of some sort but "merely" bruised it, because if I have to assist at a certain priest's Mass once more it's going to be "film at 11" after it's been "breaking news." At the very least it's going to be "audio available" with an end-around to Arinze. Why don't these people realize they are not "helping." I like Communion in the hand option. People who insist on using frisbee Hosts will spoil that. I like Mass in English, ad libbers will screw that up too. Thanks, jerks.

(And yes, it took me two days to calm down enough to "edit" down to this much.)

5:15 Gaudete Sunday pre-Mass *ritual* - ICC, San Diego

I suppose every church has their unwritten customs. For the past 30 plus years, I have been privileged to be an active participant in the following pre-Gaudete/Latare Sunday "ritual."

***

The Sainted Msgr. S. hustles in to the sacristy, having prayed on his drive over we will somehow have forgotten this is a "Pink" Sunday. In vain he tries to convince himself it is a "dusky Rose" vestment -- but deep in his heart, he knows this particular vestment is closer to pink. Father comes from a place near Chicago where in his youth, there would have been a guaranteed fist fight should he have appeared in that color in real life.

He puts down his bag and hangs his purple vestment (having brought it, in hopes that the pastor's dog ate the "Rose" ;-D vestment) and his heart sinks as he sees the "Rose" vestment laid out elegantly on the vesting bench. Normally, because he brings his own chasuble, he doesn't get the full vesting bench treatment, there not being enough time - but Gaudete and Laetare Sundays are two exceptions. He eyes the garment suspiciously, as one would a $100 bill bearing the likeness of Malcolm X, rather than Benjamin Franklin. The exchange begins:

The Sainted Msgr. S: Is that thing clean?! I'm not wearing it if it's not clean and it smells!

Karen: Of COURSE it's clean -- why would we give you anything else?

TSMS: [stalks over to the bench, picks it up by the collar, and inhales deeply] Harrump! [much to his disappointment it's clean]

Karen: Offer it up. [triumphant smile, and exchange with all other witnesses, including servers. If male, servers are thinking "ha-ha Father has to wear pink" -- if female, servers are thinking "Father looks just like my stuffed Easter bunny when he has that on. He is soooo cute."]

***

Today is Catherine's turn to witness this "ritual" for the first time as it's her turn to serve. Our other server, Francis, has participated in this before, him being in the sacristy prior to Mass many times before, as his sister, who went off to college, used to serve Mass, and his dad is head usher. Francis's mom will likely also be around to watch the ritual.

A few years back I emailed this exchange to Father's younger brother who lives in a distant state. He said "That's JUST like him!" I've grayed out Father's face in the above photo, because I promised him I wouldn't post him in his Gaudete togs. The photo was taken last year in the sacristy. As you can see, by hand on heart - he is gathering strength.

After Mass, all the ladies will compliment him on how nice he looks. All the men will give him that "better you than me" look of male bonding and have the grace not to say anything. Truth be told it compliments his skin tone beautifully. The garment itself is almost like a watered silk consistency. The true color all over is the color of the collar, the flash makes this garment seem a little lighter in shade than it is in real life.

I said before it isn't often a priest even gets to wear the Rose vestments, so I've always used them mentally to mark the passage of time. Father's been a priest now for almost 54 years. So out of the close to 20,000 Masses he's said in the course of his lifetime, this is "only" the 105th time he's gotten to wear this color. I consider myself very privileged to have been around for a little more than 60 of these Sundays.
.

Of Penance Services, Sharks, and Liturgists

Last night after Mass, as I was walking with the venerable Msgr. S. out to the parking lot, the conversation fell upon the subject of the modern Penance service. I remarked that I hate going to those things, and refuse to go to them any longer, on the grounds that when I committed the sin in the first place, I didn't need anybody's help to commit the sin, so I should be big enough, all by my lonesome to go to Confession on my own.

Father has remarked in the past that he hates those services too - as sometimes things really serious can come up, and something where the "line is expected to keep moving at a rapid clip" isn't what's always what's best for the penitent by a long shot.

We are both in agreement about modern liturgists:

What's the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist.

If a liturgist falls into the sea and is surrounded by sharks, why doesn't he have to worry about being eaten? Professional courtesy.

oh, and:

If a liturgist is riding in a bus, and the bus goes over a cliff, what's sad about this scenario? There was room for 59 other liturgists.
.

Fine Old Customs

It seems to me a certain party who gave a fine sermon last night, was all too familiar with the old custom of Halloween pranks. It was noted that in the past the "yuth" didn't receive the prepackaged treats given to children now. They did get homemade treats. Some of the "yuth," boys in particular, used the night for pranks. Some fairly harmless, some, shall we say, more ... involved. This might have ranged from tying tin cans on the back of cars as they were stopped at a stoplight, to adorning a rooftop with a farm implement. Adventures for the real risk takers may have run the gamut from knocking over a row of mailboxes to full out outhouse tipping. I expect if outhouses were still in numerous supply today, there are a few communities who'd scarce have one standing by the dawn's early light.

Father mentioned how many of the halloween customs, such as the jack-o-lantern derived from the Irish immigrants. Upon further questions after Mass regards his intimate association with pranks, he allowed that he had fallen in with a gang of "yuth" or two in the past. Further queries boxed him into taking the fifth amendment. I think at this remove he is safe from being put in juvenile hall.

Father gave a fine sermon on All Saints, and All Souls. He particularly wanted us to remember that we shouldn't associate purgatory with hopelessness, but that it was actually a very hopeful place, because it gave us a chance to cleanse ourselves before heaven.

79 is the new 59 - Happy Birthday to Msgr. S.

Father was ordained on May 5 of 1954. Father's birthday is on the 26th. He graduated from the major seminary in San Diego county, when we still had one. He later got his PhD in Philosophy from the Angelicum. He's such a smart guy he was able to shave a year off the time it normally takes to get a doctorate - and this was when you had to take all your classes in Latin and do all your tests in same and defend your dissertation in Real Time Latin. He's entitled to one of those fancy schmansy 4 cornered academic birettas with the piping, and he could wear a ring like a bishop just for the heck of it, if he wanted to. But he's not that kinda guy. [Ha-ha, if it was ME, I'd have gone to all the graduations at USD and worn it, just because the bishop doesn't have one of those 4 cornered jobs.]

Years ago, when Father's mother was still living, the ever sociable Mrs. S. let me in on Father's B'Day, which had hitherto been a semi-state secret. Bless her. I recently wrangled a nice copy of a photo of Father taken after his 1st solemn high Mass. Tempted as I am to post what Father calls his "little Lord Fauntleroy picture" I shall refrain, lest one of Father's confreres runs across this blog and taunts him with it. No sense in getting the snot beat out of me. It's kind of hard to ask someone for absolution when he's choking you to death. All I can say is that he DOES look like LLF and no one is smiling. It does look like they've buried a Cardinal or other similarly exalted personage.

Given that Father has said Mass pretty much every day since he's been ordained, I estimate that makes about 19,500 Masses. Adjusting for binations and days off sick, I bet it still works out to at least once a day. Given that saying Mass is the most wonderful thing a priest can do, I'm glad he's done it all those times. I honestly don't know why a priest would NOT want to say Mass at least once a day.

I've also refrained from posting a pic. of him in Gaudete or Laetare vestments. He hates it. The women in the parish love it. The men sympathize. That particular color on him makes us think of a nice Easter Bunny. Father does not relish the compliment. I particularly like those two Sundays. Think about it. How often does a priest get to bust out that color? Twice a year, and it took him 50 years of priesthood to get to 100 times. It's like spotting a prothonatory warbler. [Father's a good singer too, BTW.]

Fr. is a native of Chicago, and is about the most down-to-earth man you'd want to meet. He taught at the University of San Diego since the late 50s and just retired a few years ago. One alum who always took the time to come back and visit is a Saudi Prince he had taught years ago. Father taught close to 3 generations of students. I.E. there were cases of him teaching a man and then that man's son or daughter - and in theory could have taught man A's grandchild.

Father says a Monday through Friday 6:30a.m. Mass at Holy Family in San Diego. And on Sunday he supplies the ICC 5:15 Mass in Old Town. Not to leave out Saturday, he says Mass at home. I've assisted him at Mass one way or another for a little over 30 years. He's taught me so much. I think I finally taught him not to buy software or hardware versions of x.0 anything. He already knew not to draw on an inside straight.

I took this picture of him last month, and I think I've finally caught him with his best, and usual, expression.

Since this blog is, AFAIK under the radar, and I'm not "broadcasting it" around church [at least no one at Mass has said "Yo, I caught your blog"] I will not "name names" as he knows who he is. And Fr. S., if you read this, you might want to give me a shout out back. You could always style yourself "Bill, of the Amazing Wolverine Tribe" and I think I'd figure it out.