Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland

His Excellency Archbishop Edwin O'Brien has posted his homily from the Chrism Mass in his weekly column entitled, "Thoughts on Our Church," in the Catholic Review Online . Here is a part of his homily: Good Catholic people – and I humbly address all of you and all whom you represent – deacons and consecrated sisters and brothers, seminarians and laity at every level of diocesan and parish leadership: I know that I speak for your priests, here in such impressive numbers, in expressing our thanks for your indispensible collaboration in preaching the love of Christ and promoting the life of the Church in this great Archdiocese. And I pray that you will see in this Mass a significant opportunity to demonstrate your love and appreciation of your priests. If it be God’s will, may the intended priestly focus of this Chrism Mass stress the uniqueness of ordained priesthood and generate the graces so necessary to encourage many more priestly vocations of the kind we see here. A

George P. Matysek, Jr. of Catholic Review Online has a summary of the upcoming trip to Rome by Archbishop Edwin O'Brien to receive his pallium . Here is a snippet from the article: As Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien prepares to travel to Rome to receive his pallium, he views the occasion not so much as a personal honor, but as a way of celebrating what the Archdiocese of Baltimore represents. Pope Benedict XVI will confer the pallium, a white woolen vestment worn over the chasuble, on Archbishop O’Brien June 29 at St. Peter’s Basilica. In the Latin rite, the pallium symbolizes the office of a metropolitan archbishop. As archbishop of Baltimore, Archbishop O’Brien is the metropolitan of the Province of Baltimore, made up of the Baltimore archdiocese and the suffragan sees of the dioceses of Richmond, Va.; Wilmington, Del.; Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va.; and Arlington, Va. “It will be a great privilege for me to represent the great people of this archdiocese,” said Archbishop O’Brien. “I

The Chrism Mass was held Monday, March 17th in our Archdiocese at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore . Today, His Excellency Archbishop Edwin O'Brien in his column, " Thoughts on Our Church " writes a beautiful column for his brother priests and for all of us . Th e last several years, as each very special Chrism Mass approaches, I have found food for the soul in a 2002 Chrism Mass homily offered by Baltimore’s proud native son Bishop Victor Galeone of St. Augustine. I thought I should share it with you and am grateful to my good friend, the Bishop of St. Augustine, for permission to do so: "I’d like you to come back with me to the spring of 1974 – back to the town of Andahuaylas, high in the Andes Mountains. At the time, I was serving as a missionary in Peru. This particular Sunday afternoon, I was visiting our sick parishioners in the town hospital. In the men’s ward, I came across Oswaldo – a Lutheran minister who was visiting from Lima. He had taken i

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien posts his weekly column in the Catholic Review Online called " Thoughts on Our Church " on the subject of "A Consistent Culture of Life. " His Excellency discusses the subject of capital punishment in Maryland and in Society as a whole. Here is a part of this essay: Pope John Paul II said, “Man’s life comes from God. It is His gift, His image and imprint, a sharing in His breadth of life. God, therefore, is the sole Lord of this life. Man cannot do with it as he wills.” In the hearing before a Senate committee last week, representatives of the Church testified that our Church recognizes the right of legitimate government to resort to the death penalty, but it directly challenges the appropriateness of government’s doing so in a society that is capable of ensuring the public safety. If non-lethal means are sufficient to protect people’s safety from an aggressor, we believe that public authority should limit itself to such means, beca

George P. Matysek Jr. of the Catholic Review Online files this story : Calling it the “main preoccupation” of the seminary to “create priests after the heart of Christ,” Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien celebrated Mass with the board of trustees, seminarians, administrators and members of the St. Mary’s Seminary community in Roland Park, March 3. The archbishop held up the example of the royal official in the Gospel of John who sought Jesus and asked for a cure for his son. Christ told the man to return home, and on the journey the son was cured. “What confidence in Christ he showed as he turned on his heels and headed back,” said Archbishop O’Brien. Believers today must show that same kind of confident faith, the archbishop said. They must not be like the Pharisees who witnessed what Jesus did but did not know who Jesus was, he said. “We think we know Christ – but how deeply?” Archbishop O’Brien said. “We think we want to do his will, but how full are our prayers of ourselves and our will

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien writes a weekly column for the Archdiocesan paper, The Catholic Review . This week's column concerns a support group called "EnCouragement." It is a moving essay and is well worth reading. EnCourage is an offshoot of “Courage,” founded in 1980 and now worldwide, to present and promote faithfully the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and to give every support to Catholics seeking to live up to those teachings. Recently, I was pleased to celebrate Mass for a group of EnCourage members who meet monthly in the Archdiocese of Baltimore under the guidance of one of our priests. Most of the members of EnCourage are parents who have homosexually active children. I sat in on their discussion which followed the Mass, and I came away deeply impressed by the strength of their faith. All the participants are making every effort to maintain a strong, loving relationship with their children. They are committed to the Church’s consistent teaching that h

George P. Matysek Jr. reports in The Catholic Review Online that the Maryland March for Life will be March 13th . Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien will kick off the March by celebrating Mass at St. Mary's in Annapolis at 6:00 PM. "Pro-life supporters from across the state plan to use the upcoming March 13 Maryland March for Life in Annapolis to build support for crisis pregnancy centers and defeat a bill they say would hinder outreach to expectant mothers. Their efforts will be focused on Senate Bill 690/House Bill 1146, a measure that would require crisis pregnancy centers to tell women they are not required to provide factually accurate information to clients. The measure is designed to raise suspicions about pregnancy centers, according to Deacon Richard “Monti” Montalto, co-chair of the Maryland March for Life and coordinator of “Pro-Life Initiative Baltimore.” For more information, read the article or visit the website Maryland March for Life .

NB : A kind poster on WDTPRS pointed out that I had "shortchanged" the Archbishop "one" seminary; he was actually Rector of two seminaries . My comment below should have reflected that. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf deals with an email he received from someone in the Western part of Maryland concerning the TLM in the Archdiocese of Baltimore . The email reports in part (bold and red were added by Fr. Z. for emphasis): [...] I live in western Maryland (Hagerstown) and we have been trying to get a TLM in this area since the MP was released. At my own church, we presented the pastor with a 40 signature petition, but without success. I have written the Archdiocese of Baltimore twice and never received a response. Because my pastor really had little interest, I joined a larger group in the next county. It is well organized with almost 100 people. They found two priests and church willing to offer the TLM to us but they refused to do so without the OK of the Archdio

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien posts an article on Confession in The Catholic Review online for this week, February 15th . [...] Through the centuries, the form in which the Church exercised this commission of the Lord has evolved, as has the practice of the faithful in celebrating this unique gift from Christ; older generations will recall the day that individuals would receive Holy Communion on Sunday only if he or she had gone to confession the Saturday before. How the pendulum has swung! It comes as news to no one that there has been a serious decline in individuals going to confession. Is there little urgency to confess, because there is confusion or even denial in some quarters on the very existence of mortal sin as well as the existence of hell? Unfortunately, yes. The Catechism is so very valuable in clarifying Church teaching in matters such as this and should be studied at home, taught in schools and preached from our pulpits. All the faithful who are aware of serious sins com

The Sitemeter indicates that some visitors are wondering who the Archbishop of Baltimore might be? The Archbishop was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on July 12, 2007 and was installed as Archbishop on October 1, 2007. The Archbishop had previously been Archbishop of the United States of America Military Archdiocese. The marvelous website, Catholic Hierarchy, has the full details on his links to the Apostolic Succession and includes his Consecrator (John Joseph Cardinal O'Connor) and Co-Consecrators as Bishop in the Archdiocese of New York in 1996. www.Catholic-Hierarchy.org