Prolific, much appreciated commentator/blogger Fr. Z. smells a rat.

I don’t know about what’s going on in Africa, S. America, etc. However, it seems to me that this is aimed directly at the prevention of the undesirable rise of traditionally oriented religious institutes. I have a strong sense that just about the only new groups that are being founded are, in fact, tradition leaning.

Sad indeed that there’s such suspicion of traditionalists in the higher ranks of Holy Mother Church. Vatican 2 arguably threw out the baby with the bath in its mauling of Tradition via liturgical “reform,” among other matters. Suspicion of Tradition itself, clearly.

These people mean business. Monkey business.

Eye of the Tiber was created in the winter of September 2012 with the gallant and virtuous aim of reporting Catholic news as it happens, when it happens, and before it happens. Since the launch of our hard-hitting, critically acclaimed, and world-renowned news site, we have broken and destroyed some of the biggest news stories in the Catholic world. We were the only Catholic news agency to report that Pope Francis had picked up a midnight shift at McDonald’s to help the poor. We were the first to report that a dissident Legionary was parting his hair in the middle. And readers of our distinguished site were first to learn when the civil liberties organization American Atheists sued to remove the letter’s “G,” “O,” and “D” from the alphabet.

It is our duty as a reputable Catholic news source to cover all stories…

Having fun with the new-mass disasters:

Among my many flaws is a deep appreciation for biting sarcasm. A recent post by Damian Thompson at his blog at the Telegraph is a masterpiece of this form of verbal combat:

“It is 40 years ago today since the New Mass of Paul VI was introduced into our parishes, writes Margery Popinstar, editor of The Capsule. We knew at the time that this liturgy was as close to perfection as humanly possible, but little did we guess what an efflorescence of art, architecture, music and worship lay ahead!

There were fears at first that the vernacular service would damage the solemnity of the Mass. How silly! Far from leading to liturgical abuses, the New Mass nurtured a koinonia that revived Catholic culture and packed our reordered churches to the rafters.

So dramatic was the growth in family Mass observance, indeed, that a new…

One man to decide. Collegiality out window.

According to Pope Francis’ apostolic letter “Authenticum charismatis,” the change ensures that the Vatican will accompany bishops more closely in their discernment about the erection of a new religious order or congregation, and gives “final judgment” over the decision to the Holy See.

The new text of the canon will go into effect Nov. 10.

The modification to canon 579 makes “the preventive control of the Holy See more evident,” Fr. Fernando Puig, vice dean of canon law at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, told CNA.

“In my opinion, the base [of the law] has not changed,” he said, adding that “certainly the autonomy of the bishops decreases and there is a centralization of this competence in favor of Rome.”

Cautious fellow, conceding his about bishops’ autonomy almost as afterthought.

From his Memoirs, here gathered by the prolific Joseph Shaw. The widely published Bouyer was in on the process from the start of Vatican 2. He refers to the concilium, or commission, charged with concretizing liturgical reform according to guidelines given by council’s document. Italics are added here.

Wrote Bouyer:

I should not like to be too harsh on this commission’s labours. It numbered a certain number of genuine scholars and more than one experienced and judicious pastor. Under different circumstances they might have accomplished excellent work. Unfortunately, on the one hand a deadly error in judgment placed the official leadership of the committee in the hands of a man who, though generous and brave, was not very knowledgeable: Cardinal Lercaro. He was utterly incapable of resisting the manoeuvres of the mealy-mouthed scoundrel that the Neapolitan Vincentian, Bugnini, a man as bereft of culture as he was…

By Ann Barnhardt:

Every Mass could be your last on earth. Between today and the next Mass, it may become impossible to ever go to Mass again. We simply cannot take it for granted any longer.

Every sacramental Communion could be your Viaticum. You might not survive to receive Holy Communion again. Remember this possibility. Be conscious of it.

As war is upon us, we must live with death present in our minds, “keep death daily before our eyes” as St. Benedict put it.

Pray the Fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, and remember its fruit: the grace of a happy, holy, provided death. If you stay in a state of Grace and contemplate each reception of the Eucharist as possibly your Viaticum, then even in the chaos of war, a good, holy death can be possible.

Simply:MEMENTO MORI.Remember your death.

. . . anniversary of Benedict’s decree enabling him and other Anglican priests and congregations to cross the Tiber en masse.

… the eleventh Anniversary of Anglicanorum coetibus, the first successful initiative in the field of Christian Unity since, I think, some Eastern Rite Christians in India entered into Full Communion with the See of S Peter in the 1930s. (Orthodox may, of course, see things differently!) Or have I forgotten somebody …

God bless our former Holy Father Joseph Ratzinger; and I ask your prayers for the Three Ordinariates. And for all who are in the process of joining them

And those who are contemplating doing so.

I shall write a little more about the Anglican Patrimony on November 9, dies obitus [death date] of John Richards, First Bishop of Ebbsfleet.

I love this guy, a Brit of much learning and wit. And if there were…