Horses in Cathedral & Cemetery Traditions

TIA,

I hope you will enjoy seem a short film on Leo XIII. The link is here.

I send you my blessing,

Fr. P.S.

TIA,

The last 10th of May, during the "Nuit des Cathédrales" ("Night of the Cathedrals", a cultural all night event displaying this religious building in France during a weekend in the month of May), there was a circus performance in the Cathedral of Besançon with horses and women in the sacred space...

You can read in a Fench local newspaper about that (Est Républicain, 11 mai 2014, édition de Besançon) and also see the pictures I am sending to you!

A website spoke about the event here.

And also the Cathedral of Besançon Website.

     Best regards !

     L.D.

Dear TIA,

With Memorial Day recently past, I have been wondering what Catholic Tradition obligates mothers of young children to do on this secular 'holiday" with regard to the graves of family members who are in the vicinity. My husband's family has several graves that are within a 10 minute drive from our home, with others about 40 minutes away.

My thinking is that we don't necessarily have an obligation at this time of year to visit those graves, and that the more important visits should be made in November during the season of All Souls.

Please advise if I am right or wrong with this perspective.

Thank you very much for clearing the path for those us who wish to be faithful to Catholicism, as opposed to the secular environment in which we live.

     E.M.S., Ph.D.


TIA responds:

Dear Dr. E.M.S.,

Thank you for your kind words on our daily work.

To properly answer your question, we must distinguish between visits to graves of relatives who did not die defending the United States and those who died offering their lives for this purpose.

Regarding the first, you are perfectly correct in your judgment. Memorial Day is not a replacement for All Souls Day, a Catholic feast day traditionally dedicated to honor and pray for loved ones who have passed away.

However, it is a good Catholic custom not to restrain oneself to visit the graves of dead relatives only on All Souls Day. It is normal to occassionally visit their graves, leave some flowers there in honor of them, and spend some time in recollection, praying for the eternal rest of their souls.

Regarding the second group, those who die in wars or in dangerous actions to defend our country, they deserve to receive a special honor on this day. So, if you have any relative who meets this criterium, do make an effort to visit his grave to honor him and pray for the eternal rest of his soul.

We hope this will provide parameters for Memorial Days in the future.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

Here is another tragic consequence of Vatican II. The 22 nuns of the famous old gothic Stanbrook Abbey are leaving the old structure to move into this “environmentally sensitive home” in North York Moors National Park. They call it “an investment for the future, a monastery for the 21st century.” It is a monastery for green nuns who announce themselves concerned about “sustainability” in their mission statement. No longer a convent, but an eco-friendly nunnery…

The old abbey goes back to the 1600s. See it here.

The beautiful chapel, here.

The new monstrosity looks like a communist headquarters, here and here.

The supposedly meditative new interior courtyard… here.

The stripped new chapel, here.

A video of the move, with the nuns trying to justify it with ecological "arguments" can be seen here.

T.R.     

Dear Sir or Madam,

Is it permissible to receive communion at a Traditional Latin Mass that is offered by a priest from the local diocese in a church with a Novus Ordo table and that has the Novus Ordo said in it a few hours earlier?

This is not a regular habit of mine. I prefer to receive communion at an independent chapel.

     Cordially,

     M.R.


TIA responds:

Dear M.R.,

We believe that, in principle, it is “permissible,” that is, legitimate, given that the Mass and the Sacraments are supposedly valid and you may benefit from them to fulfill your obligations or to provide for your needs for Confession and Communion.

The fact that a Novus Ordo Mass was said there a few hours earlier characterizes the situation as gravely inconvenient, not illegitimate. It also does not annul the validity of the Sacraments.

We agree that there is something relativist about going to the Tridentine Mass in a place where the Novus Ordo normally is said as if it were normal. It is not normal, but gravely inconvenient. It becomes legitimate only in face of the present day crisis of the Church when it is very difficult to find a Tridentine Mass. In order to fulfill your Sunday obligation, have your Confession heard and receive Communion, it becomes legitimate – salus populi suprema lex – the salvation of the faithful is the supreme law.

These inconveniences are present in almost all “indult” Masses and those authorized by the Summorum Pontificum. They are often said in churches that also have the Novus Ordo Mass.

In these Masses we recommend our readers to attend only for the Mass and Sacraments. Never engage in the parish life or socialize with the Novus Ordo attendees.

If you have other options, like the validly-ordained independent priest you mentioned, you may go there without the above mentioned inconveniences.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondent desk

TIA,

Regarding this new report on less that 40% of high school seniors being academically prepared for college.

As a retired member of the research faculty of Penn State working as a engineering mathematician at a lab doing underwater acoustic research for the Navy, my teaching colleagues related horror stories on how incoming freshmen couldn't read, write, speak, reason or do math coherently, no doubt receiving worthless "straight A's" in the process of their education, with remedial courses required before they had a prayer of doing college work.

This is what happens when Marxist Socialist indoctrination masquerades as education giving us future generations of Obamunists which is the goal of COMMIE CORE!

     Gary Morella

TIA,

I have read one of your articles and am writing a paper myself on homosexuals. I was wondering if it was possible if I could obtain a list of your sources. I realize that they are listed at the bottom but I’m having difficulties finding some of them. If you could give me direct URL addresses to your sources it would be greatly appreciated.

The article I am referring to is Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals by Frank Joseph, M.D.

     Thank you for your cooperation!

      A.S.

TIA responds:

A.S.,

The mentioned article by Dr. Frank Joseph was written in 2005 and only gives sources up to 1996. For more recent statistics and sources on the topic, please follow the links indicated in this index page.

We hope those links will help you to write your paper.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk