DAVAO- The Catholic Traditions are on the march in Davao! St. Joseph Priory in Davao is a blessing to the Philippines. I heard my first Latin Mass in Davao at St Joseph's Priory Monday night at 6 pm.While waiting for Mass to begin I though to myself, this how my Dad heard Mass growing up in Davao over 70 years ago! This is the Latin Mass Dad heard when the Japanese occupied Davao during the war. This Traditional Catholic Faith was the most important thing his grandmothers had to pass on to him. This is how he heard Mass going to College in Manila praying to God to help him in his studies. Not only is the Latin Mass and the Traditional Sacraments the faith taught to my Dad by his grandmothers, the Traditional Catholic Faith was the faith of our whole family in the Philippines. The Cirineo family in Davao and Toril, the Cirineo's in Dagupan and Devencia family in Dagupan all Christian in One Faith; One Traditional Catholic Church. Since I have returned to my Dads place of birth, where he was raised, I wonder why is there only one Latin Mass in Davao? I wonder how many Latin mass there were everyday in Davao when my dad was in high school, maybe 50-60 masses a day? How do you go from 50 Latin Masses to 1 Latin Mass in 70 years? In a Catholic Church that treasures its traditions so dearly, what happened to the faith of the people in 70 years. I have not yet looked for the Catholic Latin Mass in the smaller town of Toril just outside of Davao. Nor have I asked the Local Bishop where I can attend the Church of my Grandparents and hear the same Latin Mass that they brought my Dad and his siblings to. Maybe I can use the same confessional that my Grandfather used or the same confessional that my Dad made his First Holy Confession in. Well I know the priest who gave my Dad his First Holy Communion is not around anymore. If he was around I wonder what he would be doing today. I wonder if he could answer my questions what happened to the Traditions that he spent his whole life teaching. Does the Church teach the same Catechism and is it centered around the Sacraments and Celebration of the Eucharist, is it the same Faith?
I am now 78 years old, just a little younger than the Dad the writer of the comment above remembers. I do not remember how it happened, just that that when the realization that the Church I knew as a boy had changed radically sunk into my full consciousness, it came as a shock! Maybe it was the hymns that changed almost every Sunday to the next; maybe it was that the Priest no longer genuflected before the altar, that the altar was no longer stone, but wood, and that he was facing the congregation, instead of the Tabernacle, which was no longer even in the traditioal place of worship; or maybe it was because the public worship had no longer the deep sense of solemnity that I remembered, marked mostly by clappings, noisy clamors, and even rowdy jokes that seemed misplaced in a Roman Catholic Liturgy. And most of all, the Holy Mass was celebrated in English, and even the vernacular. Where was the communion rail? Why were people receiving the Blessed Sacrament in their hands? Where had reverence for the Holy Eucharist gone to? Don't people believe anymore that it was the most Sacred Body of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity? And so began for me a search that led to a discovery of the Second Vatican Council, the Novus Ordo, the shenanigans of Pope Francis, the reality of a diabolical disorientation of the Church, and eventually knowledge of the struggle of a handful of faithful souls to cling to and fight for the restoration of Catholic traditions, especially in the Liturgy . The Alas, the thinkers were right, I was among the frogs who did not know that it was being cooked alive, having become accustomed to the novelties introduced by fifty years of Vatican II. Now, I pray earnestly for the restoration of the traditions that I grew up in, remembering as I do that solemn Mass I attended at the Benedictine Church in Mendiola just before entering the bar eamination rooms in 1964. Most of all, I thank the Holy Spirit for guiding me to the one Church in Davao City celebrating the traditional Latin Tridentine Mass. God be praised!
ReplyDelete