Fr. William V. Blazek, S.J., newly
ordained for the Jesuit Chicago-Detroit province, celebrated his first
Solemn High Mass (Traditional Mass) on June 24 (Nativity of St. John the
Baptist) at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton, MA. Serving as
deacon was Fr. Charles J. Higgins of the Archdiocese of Boston and
pastor of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes. Serving as sub-deacon was Fr.
John Rizzo, FSSP, visiting from his assignment in Australia. The music for the Mass included Mozart's Missa Brevis in C KV 220 ("Spatzenmesse") and full Gregorian chant propers.
The parish of Mary Immaculate has been blessed with then Deacon Blazek's service since last fall and now Fr. Blazek's service until he embarks for a longer-term assignment in the coming fall.
The Traditional Mass is celebrated daily at Mary
Immaculate of Lourdes, including a Solemn High Mass every Sunday at
10:30am
Link (here) to Rorate Caeli
30 comments:
I found this comment at Rorate Caeli to be very interesting:
GQ Rep said...
Even though this new Jesuit priest is a great guy and tremendously brave to swim against the radical liberal tide which has destroyed the Jesuit Order world wide, notice that he's an older man....probably in early 60's. None of the Jesuit new priests were young-in the classical sense of a newly ordained- that is 24-26 years of age.
My late great- uncle was a Jesuit priest. Born in Tokyo in 1903, he and his family (nobility in Japan), visited the USA often. In 1925, he decided to enter the Jesuit Order after graduating from Georgetown University. He was ordained for what I think was(is) the Jesuit New York Province in 1936. He taught in Jesuit highschools until 1951 when he was called to work at the Jesuit curia in Rome, helping in their department dealing with foreign missions, planning new houses, etc. He also worked at the Vatican as an advisor to what was then known as the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (we're too politically correct/ecumenical to use that term now).
He came home form Rome in 1962 and taught at a Jesuit Novitiate. He hated the reforms that started coming in after 1965, and personally disliked Pedro Arrupe who he had known in Japan and knew him as a radical.
Of course, my great-uncle was right about Arrupe. Membership dropped from 36,101 in 1965 to about 26,000 by the time Arrupe was thru. Of course today, it's about 16,800.
But my great-uncle also personally hated the Novus Ordo although he was obedient and used it and celebrated it in public. IN private, he secretly said the Tridentine Latin Mass...and was reprimanded by his superior in 1976 for doing so as his privte Mass.
He retired from active ministry in 1989 and died in 2002.
I didn't know him that well, but whenever I did see/talk to him when I was a kid, I was impressed by his holiness and love of Catholic tradition.
Fifteen years ago, before he died,he gave my Dad his video library (reels that had been converted to VHS and which I made to DVD) of his time in Rome. There's coverage of life in the Jesuit Curia (1951-62) and many.many shots of film coverage of Pope Pius XII and ceremonies at the Vatican.....including a clip of the very last time Pius XII left the Vatican for Castel Gandolfo (1958) where he died shortly afterward. The Pope looked terrible in the clip. I was shocked. Yet he still smiled and waved to the people as the papal car drove slowly thru Piazza St. Peter's and out of Rome. (It was Paul VI who initiated the Papal helicopter to Castel Gandolfo...before that Popes drove thru Rome and down to Castel Gandolfo to the cheers of the people.
But what was especially interesting were the hundreds of shots of St. Peter's Square, and the thousands of friars, monks, and nuns in habits that you could see back then....including dozens of Jesuit seminarians crossing St. Peters during Marian Year 1954. The variety of nuns habits (probaly mostly Italian Orders of sisters), was staggering...impressive and beautiful. One or two had rather ridiculous looking headgear if you wanted to drive a car...but most of these garbs should never have been changed or given up!
None of the clips have sound of course...but it presents a wonderful picture of the awesome Order the Jesuits used to be, and Rome was before Vatican II. There's even a lengthy clip of the Jesuit community in Rome, and another in Milan in Chapel and in refectory eating Sunday meals.
Personally, I think the Jesuits are finished as an Order. There are barely 2,000 Jesuit priests left in the USA and barely 100 brothers. Only about 200 seminarians (close to 4,000 USA Jesuit seminarians before Vatican II and over 12,000 world wide!)
This one priest deserves a lot of credit, and prayers for his bravery. His Order is probably in it's last years, but he is one of their stars!
28 July, 2012 20:37
The History of Religious Life
St. Teresa of Avila and the Carmelite Reform
"...for us, in the 20th century, the reformation of a religious institute is what, is a return to the primitive rule. All right? It is that embarrassingly simple. Of course, in returning to the primitive rule we have got to shovel away tons of criticism of our being well, archaic, preconciliar, old-hat, ancient, stodgy, static, you name it. All right? Remember this, the reformation of any religious institute is either a return to its primitive rule or it is to have that institute disappear.
The history of religious communities is very simple. They started with great men and women of faith. They reached a peak, they declined, after being less fervent, declining, losing members, not getting vocations and having all kinds of learned excuses for not getting vocations but never admitting the one principle reason, a lack of fervor. One of two things has happened, and this is now a thousand years of recorded religious history. They either have got hold of themselves and went back to their origins or they disappeared".
"I can say this for my own least Society of Jesus. You don’t lose ten thousand men in fifteen years in a religious order unless there is something wrong...I make no hesitation, in publicly affirming that the Society of Jesus needs a drastic reformation."
--Servus Dei John Hardon SJ
I had the pleasure to be a classmate of Bill at Marquette University. He is a 86 graduate. Prior to joining the Jesuits, fr blazek is a veteran of the 101 st airborne division and a veteran of the first gulf war. After his sErvice in the army, he obtained his medical degree from rush medical school in Chicago prior to entering the Jesuits. Wish we had more like him
Oh, brother--more flapdoodle from Fr. Hardon.
As for GQ Rep's obituary for the Jesuits: 2,000 priests in the USA & 200 seminarians doesn't sound like an order taking its last breath.
The mod-20th century numbers were unique, hitherto unseen. Get over it.
Fr. Paul Shaughnessy SJ in his review of "Passionate Uncertainty:
"As I get older, I find myself less church centered," says a senior academic. The hero of McDonough and Bianchi's story, the passionately uncertain Jesuit, like a man separated from a wife of thirty years, preserves an icy courtesy in referring to his spouse and fulfills the bare minimum of social duties. He may be convinced that he has arrived at the best possible truce given his rocky personal history; but no young man--at least no young man with real options--chooses to give his life to a truce. It is a lonely senescence. Here and there are rumors of courage, devotion, even faith. But the passionately uncertain Jesuit finds himself enclosed in a small corner of a small world, with the waning consolations of sodomy and single-malt whiskey, tottering down the corridors of an increasingly ominous twilight.
He also indicates that "the number of priests who jump ship each year roughly equals the number of entering novices; the number of Jesuits who die annually is twice as high as either." This was back in 2002.
The calculus alone doen't argue in the favor of the Society. Never mind the Society's predeliction for sodomy.
Please correct me if I am wrong but I believe in 2002 there were 3500 Jesuits. Today there are 2000?. A loss of 1500 Jesuits in ten years?
The Dominican numbers:
Statistics for 1910 show a total of 4,472 nominally or actually engaged in proper activities of the Order. In the year 2000, there were 5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows, 917 student brothers, and 237 novices.[16] By the year 2010 there were 5,906 Dominican friars, including 4,456 priests.[17] Their provinces cover the world,[18] and include four provinces in the United States.
How many Jesuits were there in 1910?
Give me a break, Maria. Are you not aware how QUEER the Dominicans are? Have you never heard of Tim Radcliffe, OP. He even makes Jim Martin, SJ, look STRAIGHT.
OPEN YOUR EYES, MA SOEUR.
I am sorry. I don't understand what it is you are trying to say.
MARIA FINALLY SAYS SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND !!
Such a charming way about you ;)
"I entered as a way to cope with being gay," says a thirty-six-year-old Jesuit, "although that would not have been the way I put it then." He is not alone. Roughly half of the Society under the age of fifty shuffles on the borderline between declared and undeclared gayness. In 1999 the American Jesuits decided to give priority to the recruitment of gays (under the rubric of "men comfortable with their sexuality"), and the majority of American formatores, Jesuits in charge of training, are homosexual as well...
IT WOULD BE an exaggeration to say there is no concern among superiors at what "Passionate Uncertainty" calls--in a memorable phrase--"the gaying and the graying of the Jesuits." But quite clearly they are willing to tolerate the graying in order to expedite the gaying. The pro-homosexual sympathies of men placed in the gatekeeping positions make it especially difficult for heterosexual--and doctrinally orthodox--candidates to survive the selection process. Men of the type regarded as choice Jesuit material in the 1950s are frequently weeded out before they enter the novitiate. Some years ago an undergraduate at Harvard told me, "From my reading of history I had this idea of Jesuits as bright, kick-ass guys who love the Church. So I thought I'd check them out, and went to talk to the vocation promoter. In the whole hour we spoke he never once asked me about my prayer life or anything like that. He just stared at my crotch and kept after me about how often I masturbated. So long to that." So long to you, my friend, and hello to Jabba the Slut."
Paul Shaughnessy SJ
Are the Jesuits Catholic
Surely, fellas, we can all agree. The Society need a new recrutiment strategy, don't you think?
Our diocesan parish priest--a friendly and very conservative gay guy--takes his vacation at a Florida beach known by locals as a gay priests hangout. Then he comes back to our parish and lectures us about sexual morality.
I feel sorry for the fact that he leads a closeted gay life.
Reserve your pity for the congregation.
I do pity us--especially those who aren't conservatives But imagine this poor guy--gayer than evethe bishops--but condemning himself week after week from the pulpit. So much self-hatred.
"Surely, fellas, we can all agree. The Society need a new recrutiment strategy, don't you think"
- first off Maria its 2012 the term " fellas" is not used
- i would prefer quality over quantity for my church
The Jesuits have surgeons astrologers paleontologists artists lawyers filmmakers and authors that serve The church and society more than simpletons in from a trade school or what they call a seminary
i do not need to go over the global preeminence of Jesuit Institutions - they produce countless leaders
the order is not hurting how are those Legionares doing ??
Maria what Jesuit institution did you attend ?
My father and uncle attended Georgetown Prep, Georgetown University undergrad, Georgetown Law, Georgetown School of Foreign Service. All three of my brothers attended Georgetown Prep--7th grade through High School. One brother attended Fairfield.
My nephews attended McQuaid in Rochester. My niece also graduated fron Georgetown Law. I was educated by the Visitandines and also educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
I also have another nephew who attended Georgetown. You get the idea ;)
A niece graduated from Georgetown Law. I think that is everybody ;)
not you -- so get a life and find a hobby
maria it seems you are a DC area native explains alot
SOOOO BORING
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
http://youtu.be/DqlBpSR2__o
MARIA GET A LIFE !!!!!!!!!
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02704944620839677383
The Jesuits are not disappearing.
There is, however, the open question about what they become. It is not correct to believe that their historical focus should remain their current focus. We are expected to cultivate good judgment in this construct, and clinging to a wise decision made at a particular point in time and made in a particular context is not good judgment. (Not every Jesuit who follows this advice will be able to remain in the Catholic Church. But doesn't that reflect the real history of the followers of Christ?)
There are many serious issues facing our world. And I'm not talking about abortion or being gay or church rituals or Radner vs. Thomas.
Prayer is not supposed to solve all problems. We are expected to change. (I am emphatically not discouraging prayer. Praying rather than acting helps God strategize and construct appropriate lessons for a person who might see the world in such a narrow manner.)
I've mentioned before that it would be preferred that the Jesuits stop teaching -- they are ineffective. They are simply reinforcing a broken system, rather than recreating education as would be appropriate. (Schools should teach everyone skills to get a job. That is appropriate for us as a community. Then other education should be available for other skills. And basic education should be provided by those companies with the jobs in conjunction with education institutions. If companies don't provide such education and associated jobs then they cannot release a product. Very pragmatic. Such advice reflects the current point in time and current context.)
There are widespread distortions that prevent us from seeing the world as it actually exists. I speak to Democrats and get the Democratic sound-bites. I speak to Republicans and get the Republican sound-bites. I speak to Catholics and get Aquinas, Plato, or some other sound-bite. We need a "govenment" that we can trust to act in our best interest. In the US we have outgrown our constitution and associated processes. The Jesuits can still make a tremendous difference in the movement toward God. It is their choice.
The society is not dying. The church as a whole is. It's te Jesuits that are keeping them alive
I'm a Mary Immaculate parishioner and attended this Mass. Father has been serving in the parish this summer before going on his first permanent assignment.
In terms of orthodoxy of Jesuit priests, one newly-ordained priest who says the Latin Mass is not going to save the order. We need more Jesuits like Fr. Blazek!
Hello Chris - I agree completely. God bless Fr Blazek; he may just be a "blip" in the system, but he is a welcome and brave man, and now a priest forever.
Maria - I'm a Jesuit University grad, and I couldn't agree with you more. I find it sad (and telling) that someone chooses to anonymously snipe at you personally without any substance or merrit. It does speak volumes as to his character though, doesn't it?
Final point: the Jesuit order has lost its calling/mission since the 60's. It no longer feels the need to be the protector of the Pope or church, but rather on an obsessive, quixotic mission for self-preservation and relevance. When any orders strays so far, it is either destined for a major shake-up or a quiet death.
The only way to save alot of souls, inside and outside of the Society, is for the Holy Father to take the drastic measure of suppressing the order. Nobody has a problem discussing this possibility for the LC's, some even act like there is no moral alternative since things have "gone so far." Heck, how far do you think they have gone in the Jesuits? The LC's are innocent babes in the woods by comparison.
Read anything from 17th, 18th, 19th century literature. Jesuits were already being referred to as corrupt, devious, political. What do you think "jesuitical" means? The order is corrupt with the exception of a TINY (insignificant) minority.
SO WHY HASN'T the Order been suppressed? They are infiltrated throughout the upper echelons of the Church and society and have lots of power. The Pope can't move against them. The last one that tried died in mysterious circumstances at a fairly young age, if you recall! This is not "my opinion" but that of several older, traditionalist (rare) Jesuits I know.
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