Could someone please remind Fr. McFarland about the SSPX 2012 Declaration. It is as if he missed that memo. He accuses the FSSP of the very same thing of what the new SSPX has done. He is spot on, on describing the principles of the FSSP. But fails to recognize that is what the SSPX has become.

https://youtu.be/u-OvhNwZE3w

Quote:

Our Lady of Paris: The 850-year-old cathedral that survived being sacked in the Revolution to become Europe's most-visited historical monument

Intrigued by tales of Quasimodo, fascinated by the gargoyles, or on a pilgrimage to see the Crown of Thorns said to have rested on Jesus' head on the Cross, more than 13 million people each year flock to see Europe's most popular historic monument.

The 12th century Catholic cathedral is a masterpiece of French Gothic design, with a cavernous vaulted ceiling and some of the largest rose windows on the continent.

It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its 69m-tall towers were the tallest structures in Paris until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

It survived a partial sacking by 16th century zealots and the destruction of many of its treasures during the atheist French Revolution but remains one of the greatest churches in the world and was the scene of Emperor Napoleon's coronation in 1804.

The foundation stone was laid in front of Pope Alexander III in 1163, with building work on the initial structure completed in 1260.

The roof of the nave was constructed with a new technology: the rib vault. The roof of the nave was supported by crossed ribs which divided each vault into compartments, and the use of four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant the roofs were stronger and could be higher.

After the original structure was completed in the mid 13th century - following the consecration of the High altar in 1182 - flying  buttresses had been invented, and were added to spread the weight of the mighty vault.

The original spire was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and finally was removed in 1786.

During a 19th century restoration, following desecration during the Revolution, it was recreated with a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire spire weighed 750 tons.

At the summit of the spire were held three relics; a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by the Archibishop Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm.

The Crown of Thorns was one of the great relics of medieval Christianity. It was acquired by Louis IX, king of France, in Constantinople in AD 1239 for the price of 135,000 livres - nearly half the annual expenditure of France.

The elaborate reliquary in which just one of the thorns is housed sits in the Cathedral having been moved from the Saint-Chappelle church in Paris. The thorn is mounted on a large sapphire in the centre.

The crown itself is also held in the cathedral, and is usually on view to the public on Good Friday - which comes at the end of this week.

During the 1790s with the country in the grip of atheist Revolution the cathedral was desecrated and much of its religious iconography destroyed. It was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and 28 statues of biblical kings - wrongly believed to by French monarchs - were beheaded. Even the great bells were nearly melted down.

Napoleon returned the cathedral to the Catholic Church and was crowned Emperor there in 1804, but by the middle of the 19th century much of the iconic building.

It wasn't until the publication of Victor Hugo's novel - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - in 1831 that public interest in the building resurfaced and repair works began.

A major restoration project was launched in 1845 and took 25 years to be completed.

Architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc won the commission.

By 1944 the cathedral was to be damaged again and during the liberation of Paris, stray bullets caused minor damage to the medieval stained glass.

This would be updated with modern designs.

In 1963 France's Culture Minister, André Malraux, ordered the cleaning of the facade of the cathedral, where 800 years worth of soot and grime were removed.

Notre Dame has a crypt, called the Crypte archéologique de l'île de la Cité, where old architectural ruins are stored. They span from the times of the earliest settlement in Paris to present day.

The cathedral has 10 bells, the heaviest bell - known as the boudon and weighing 13 tonnes - is called Emmanuel and has been rung to mark many historical events throughout time.

At the end of the First and Second World Wars the bell was rung to mark the end of the conflicts.

It is also rung to signify poignant events such as French heads of state dying or following horrific events such as the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. 

The three stained glass rose windows are the most famous features of the cathedral. They were created in the Gothic style between 1225 and 1270.

While most of the original glass is long gone, some remains in the south rose which dates back to the last quarter of the 12th century.

The rest of the windows were restored in the 18th century.

The south rose is made up of 94 medallions which are arranged in four concentric circles.

They portray scenes from the life of Christ and those who knew him - with the inner circle showing the 12 apostles in it 12 medallions.

During the French Revolution rioters set fire to the residence of the archbishop, which was around the side of the cathedral, and the south rose was damaged.

One of the cathedral's first organs was built in 1403 by Friedrich Schambantz but was replaced in the 18th century before being remade using the pipe work from former instruments.

The Cathedral is also home to a Catholic relic said to be a single thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross.

The Angelus - January 1981

Quote:"the old Church would quietly expire without them....So long as the Church seemed to be on her death-bed, Cecil was content to cut off the necessaries of her life and leave her to die in peace. Deprived of the sacraments, England would be lost to the Faith in a generation. But as soon as the young priests, now patiently conning their textbooks abroad, began to appeal to the old loyalties that lay deep in the heart of the people, to infuse their own zeal into the passive conservatism over which the innovators had won a victory too bloodless to be decisive, the character of the government would change."

Quote:By 1990 one third of the parish clergy in the Birmingham Diocese will be aged over 70 and up to a third of the 231 parishes could be without a resident priest.

Archbishop Dwyer of Birmingham quotes these figures in an ad clerum to his clergy. During the next ten years only about three ordinations are expected annually in the diocese. Birmingham clergy are considering how the diocese is to remain viable in the face of the priest shortage at deanery meetings.

Quote:Today, vast numbers of the truly faithful are suffering anguish of heart at what is being done to the Catholicism they love. What would our martyrs have thought of the "faith" which is preached and practiced by many ardent "renewalists" today? A faith in which "leading catechists" tell parents to instruct their children that the Mass is "Jesus' jolly tea-party"? A faith in which "leading liturgists" invite an adult congregation to hop, skip and jump around the altar as a "meaningful thanksgiving" at the end of Mass? A faith in which "leading theologians" reject solemn declarations of the Holy Father, because, "the matter is still under discussion"? All these aberrations I have personally witnessed—and many more.

Quote:Ambiguity is also an important part of the technique: if applied skillfully it becomes possible to talk and write about essential doctrines in a manner quite unrelated, or even contradictory, to anything taught by the Church. The golden rule is to avoid all clear and explicit statements.

Quote:I shall stress the fact that the Council steadily refused to give exact definitions of the matters under discussion. It is this rejection of definitions, this refusal to examine philosophically and theologically the questions under discussion which meant that we could do no more than describe them, not define them. Not only were they not defined, but very often in the course of discussions on the subjects, the traditional definition was falsified. I believe that we are now confronted with a whole system which we cannot accept, manage to grasp and can keep in check only with because the traditional definitions, the true definitions, are no longer accepted.2

Quote:We are over-tender in dealing with sin and sinners. We are deficient in jealous custody of the revealed Truths which Christ has left us. We allow men to speak against the Church, its ordinances, or its teaching, without remonstrating with them. We do not separate from heretics, nay, we object to the word as if uncharitable.3

Quote:Ours is the one, true Church; the only body in the world which has a mandate to preach the Gospel. Outside this Church there is no salvation. According to the divine intention there are, outside the full visible Catholic Communion, only individual human beings (I exclude from consideration those who are not yet morally adult), for each of whom entry into the guaranteed sphere of salvation is by the unique door of personal adhesion to the one Catholic Communion. Moreover, the only authorized form of public worship is that of the Catholic Church, performed under her mandate. Her claims are not of her own making; they are an expression of immutable divine law. She cannot compromise.

Quote:If I should go inside your church, I should sin against God and the peace and unity of the whole Catholic Church, exclude myself from all the holy sacraments, and be in danger to die in my sins like a heathen. But although I am but a poor lad, I have a soul to save as well as any other Catholic.

Quote:It is absolutely forbidden for a Catholic, whatever his social standing may be, to take part in or even be merely present at the religious rites of non-Catholics . . . The fundamental reason behind this prohibition is that for a Catholic to take part in, or even be present at, the religious rites of non-Catholics whilst at the same time giving internal voluntary approval, would be tantamount to denying that the Catholic religion is the one true religion, the only form of religious belief and practice which as a religion has been revealed and is here and now willed by God.

Quote:God is calling you through us, to be open to his Spirit's power and joyous conviction, so that the people of your area may see, hear and understand that the one Church of Jesus Christ has good news indeed to share with you all.

Quote:Hence, by a fresh act of impiety, unknown even to the very pagans, governments have been organized without God and the order established by Him being taken at all into account. It has even been contended that public authority, with its dignity and its power of ruling, originates not from God but from the mass of the people, which considering itself unfettered by all divine sanction, refuses to submit to any laws that it has not itself passed of its own free will.

Quote:Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether individually or collectively, are under the dominion of Christ. In Him is the salvation of the individual, in Him is the salvation of society.

Quote:During October the liturgical year is not yet over and three or four Sundays remain. This signifies the reign of Our Lord over our time, over all peoples, over all nations. The feast has been transferred to the end of the liturgical year. What does this signify? That Our Lord will reign—certainly He will, oh yes! certainly... He will reign—but at the end of time. Not now. Now, it is not possible.

I will be accused of exaggerating. No; I do not exaggerate. I'm sorry to have to say this. Why? Because I heard it directly from the mouth of a papal nuncio to whom I had said: "You are in the process of suppressing all the Catholic states. You have collaborated in their suppression." Then I asked the nuncio: "And what will you do about the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ?" He replied: "That is no longer possible today." That is what a nuncio told me, the representative of our Holy Father the Pope. "The social reign of Christ the King is no longer possible today."

Quote:Formerly, it was celebrated on the last Sunday of October, close to the Feast of All Saints; now it is celebrated at the end of the ecclesiastical year, to make the "eschatalogical"4 meaning of the feast. Christ will be King of the World at the end of time."

An Easy Method of Mental Prayer
By Father Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P.

Quote:1. Adoration of God present in your soul: My God, I believe that Thou art present with me and within me, and I adore Thee with all the affection of any soul,”

Be watchful,” says St. Alphonsus, ” to make this act with a lively faith, for the remembrance of the presence of God is a great help to keep away distractions. Cardinal Carracciolo, Bishop of Aversa, used to say that distractions are a sign that the soul has not made a lively act of faith.”


2. Sorrow for sin, our sins preventing union with God in prayer: O Lord by my sins I deserve now to be in hell; I repent, 0 infinite Goodness, with my whole heart of having offended Thee. I am sorry for sin from the bottom of my heart; have mercy on me.


3. Ask for light: 0 Eternal Father, for the love of Jesus and Mary, give me light in this prayer, that I may profit by it.


Then add a Hail Mary, an ejaculation to St. Joseph, your Guardian Angel, and your holy patrons.