What People Are Commenting
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Errors to Resist & Privileged Altars
Privileged Altars
I have just been reading your piece on Gregorian Masses in which you mention privileged altars.
The Church I attend was given an altar some time ago by a benefactor.
It was acquired from a convent that closed down, as far as I know. There is an inscription in Latin on the bottom of the altar stating that it is a privileged altar. Do you know if the privilege belongs just to the altar, or is it also associated with the place? In other words, did it lose the privilege when it was moved?
I would be most grateful for a clarification of this.
I would also like to say I find your website a great source of sound information. Thank you for keeping it going.
Ave Maria,
U.W.
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TIA responds:
Dear U.W.,
We believe the privilege that is granted to altars is linked materially to the altar and not to the church in which it is placed or was placed before. For more on this topic, please read here.
We are glad that you have found our website of assistance to you. This corresponds to our goal: to help Catholics in this time of general disorientation.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
Wearing a Crucifix in Public
Three questions: I was received into the Church about 2 years ago; since then I have always worn a traditional crucifix and I am considering buying a larger one.
First question: Should a crucifix been worn visible as a witness?
Second question: Would a 3-inch crucifix be considered inappropriate for a layman?
Third and most important question: As I was received into the Church using the new rite (in February) am I actually a member of the Church?
D.B.
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TIA responds:
Dear D.B.,
We will answer you in the same order you placed your questions:
1. A crucifix can be worn either as a spiritual protection for the person or as a witness to the faith. In the first case, it can be of small size and worn on a chain at the neck, on the Rosary in one’s pocket or purse or other similar usages. Nothing can be said against having on your person a 3-inch crucifix as a personal protection in a non-ostentatious way.
In the second case, to give testimony of one’s faith, the crucifix can be either small or large in size. It is not rare for Catholic ladies to wear ornaments with a cross embedded with precious stones on the lapels of their dresses or as necklaces.
In the good old times, Catholic warriors placed crucifixes on their swords or guns. In the Crusades the warriors wore the cross over their habits on their chests; in the Vendée the fighters used to sew a badge with a cross and the Sacred Heart on their coats or hats. It was a laudable custom in the honorific military orders to decorate their members with insignias in which the cross was featured in the central place on collars, badges and clasps. This practice became common and still remains in many secular armed forces of the world.
Also, in the Catholic Monarchies of the past the cross was always featured on the royal regalia – the crown, scepter and orb. Again, these symbols are still used in monarchies that are no longer Catholic.
All these cases are included in the genre of witnesses. It was a way to give testimony that one is Catholic and is proud of it. It was also – and principally – a way to glorify Our Lord.
2. Regarding the use of a showy cross, let us distinguish: If you are part of a large group that decides to adopt and wear the cross you mention, it is quite explicable. In response to questions, you can say: I am part of group X and we took this cross as our symbol.
It would be also understandable for a layman to use the cross you mentioned or even a larger one over his dress on special occasions such as a religious procession or a Holy Week ceremony. If he is a member of a Third Order, when he is wearing the habit of the Order it would also be comprehensible to wear an extra large cross.
However, as an individual in normal circumstances, the use of a 3-inch cross over your attire in public and on a daily basis, even if the size is not too large, could be a constant source of questions and jokes from the public. Instead of giving testimony to your faith, you may be confused with either a sanctimonious maniac or a Protestant.
This reaction is caused by the fact that there are many crazy Protestant preachers who go everywhere in public wearing crosses screaming the name of Jesus and pressuring persons to enter their sects with their end-of-the-world warnings. Because of this bad company, if you wear a large cross you may be confused with one of them.
So, we would not advise you to wear a cross of an unusual size on your neck or over your attire, except in one of the aforementioned situations.
3. There is one imprecision in your message. You do not specify how you were “received” into the Church. The Catholic Church has different ways “to receive” new members: One is through the Baptism, if the neophyte comes from paganism, Judaism or Islamism; another is through a conditional Baptism if the neophyte comes from a Protestant sect; another is an abjuration of errors if the person was in apostasy or heresy; another is with the repudiation of previous secret oaths if the person comes from Freemasonry or other occult organizations. We surmise you were coming from Protestantism and received a conditional Baptism.
So, if you are referring to a ceremony of conditional Baptism made by a Novus Ordo priest, we believe it is valid and, therefore, you are a member of the Catholic Church.
We wish you to be an exemplary Catholic with great devotion to Our Lady.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
Posted March 21, 2017
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The opinions expressed in this section - What People Are Commenting - do not necessarily express those of TIA
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There are those of us in God’s Church who find your Resistance the only common sense position to hold in these dark times.
Your invaluable guidance is yet another great grace granted through Our Lady.
Perhaps you could point out, if you’ve not done so already, in a nutshell, a ‘list’ of the points of progressivist errors we should actively resist.
In particular I’m interested in responding to those in compromised traditionalist institutes [False Right] who refuse to talk about Vatican II and tell me there is nothing wrong with the Novus Ordo.
This would be very helpful for those of us who have the courage but not yet a firm grasp of the facts to more confidently warn and enlighten the faithful.
Pardon me if I overlooked this upon your site which I devote time to and view daily.
G.A.
TIA responds:
Dear G.A.,
Thank you for your consideration and kind words on our Resistance position.
Thank you also for your suggestion. We will keep it in mind to make a list of points to resist. It is a list that, unfortunately, has to be updated every six months, given the numerous new fronts the Pope and the Vatican open to promote the Revolution in the Church and in the State.
At this moment we have other works we are doing, but we shall follow your suggestion when we have some spare time.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk