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As we head toward the end of Advent and into the glorious season of the Nativity of Our Lord, I would like to share some good news with all my readers. The good news has to do with another “first TLM in 50 Years” occurrence.

Now, this good news isn’t like all the other “first TLM in 50 Years” occurrences which are becoming too frequent to keep track of at present. This unique occurrence has been “evolving” for a few months, but I have been holding back informing all you dear and loyal readers since I didn’t want to rush to any premature conclusions. However, over the weekend, I received confirmation that what I was observing, and what the Deus ex Machina’s Pierce/Ockham pragmatic model (POPM) was predicting, was in fact correct.

Before we start, a few words about the model and about PROCESS.

Starting with the POPM, the manner in which the model is structured is that it scours the Catholic news feeds to identify occurrences that could fall into what is called the “Restoration” bucket. These occurrences are then further scrubbed to see if there are any PATTERNS (a regular and intelligible form or sequence discernible in the way in which something happens or is done) that could be emerging. If a PATTERN is identified, then it is given a separate file and any and all subsequent related information that emerges is lodged into that file. This file is then monitored to see if any of the PATTERNS can be identified as a PROCESS (a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result). Nota bene: What distinguishes a PATTERN from a PROCESS is the “natural phenomenon (…) leading toward a particular result” part. And to finish the story, when we have several PROCESSES that appear to has the same characteristics or are developing along a similar trajectory, we can then form a GENERAL PRINCIPLE of the over-arching PROCESS. Or what Dr. Jordan Peterson would no doubt call a “META PROCESS”. The “Restoration of all things in Christ” is one such META PROCESS.

Actually, the “Restoration” can be considered to be THE META PROCESS, since Western Civilization’s structure and foundation are one and the same as those of the Catholic Church. One example is that Western Civilization is grounded in Natural Law, whose preeminent proponent, custodian and defender is and always has always been the Catholic Church. 

More on this in a future post, but for the time being… please trust me.

So now that the suspense is built-up a bit…let’s roll.

I have a personal sentiment to one particular PATTERN that has been identified taking shape in one Chicago church recently. That church is St. Stanislas Kostka in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago. The reason that this church and parish is of particular interest is that it was my first parish and I attended grammar school there up to the 7th grade. Then my family moved to the suburbs, but my heart never left.

Of further note is that I was an altar boy in 6th and 7th grade, and as it just so happened, these were the years of the destruction of the Catholic liturgy. I remember that episode quite vividly, which by the way, is the most vivid recollection that I have of that period.

Enough of the sentimental stuff… and on to the business at hand.

I have been following St. Stan’s since it started getting a social media presence a few years back. However, St. Stan’s only came across my Restoration radar in early November of this year, when news hit my filters that the Church would be offering its first Latin Mass in over 50 years. A Solemn High Mass was offered for the 150th Jubilee celebration of the Feast of St. Stanislaus Kostka on the 18th of November of this year.

Nota bene: I faintly remember the 100th Jubilee in 1967. The reason being that one of the Church steeples burned down in that year. When looking back at the Centenary Album, I also noticed that the Congregation of the Resurrection clergy who operated the parish already had the coffee table up in front of the High Altar in the upper church. Unrelated coincidence or “God of surprises”? I’ll leave that question open. And excuse the digression…

What makes the appearance of the TLM at St. Stan’s a uniquely interesting phenomenon is that it represents a departure from their “ecclesiastical” and “liturgical” strategy to date. St. Stan’s is a N.O. parish and over the last few years, the parish has introduced what is called the “Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy”. It has to do with Eucharistic Adoration in front of … well... this:

OK, so it was idea…

Anyways, what is of note is that in this “Ark of Mercy strategy”, Eucharistic Adoration is the key component. The church is open 24/7, which is one very positive aspect of this approach.

Furthermore, one can easily suspect (INFER) that it might be the Eucharistic Adoration that is leading the process to the Tratitional Latin Mass, since the TLM IS the highest form of Eucharistic Adoration.

Hold that thought…

Next occurrence that dropped into the PROCESS file was this:

According to this post that appeared on Fr. Z’s blog, we get the following information:

A while back I posted about the first TLM celebrated in decades at a famous North Side Chicago Church, St. Stanislaw Kostka.  HERE

Now I’ve received additional good news about that same church.

They will have ad orientem worship beginning in Advent.

This is a wonderful development.

Wonderful indeed.

And an “organic” development according to our methodology, is now taking place.

What we are witnessing, at a supernatural level (SUPPOSITION) is that Eucharistic Adoration is driving the PROCESS since it has SUBJUGATED, and is FORCING all other “sub-ordinate” liturgical forms present within the church, to conform to this higher requirement.

So what proof is there that the above HYPOTHESIS is objectively correct?

Supporting evidence fell into the St. Stan’s file this past weekend. On the Musings of a Pertinacious Papist blog, we get this information: (see here)

 Chicago Bus Tour Tridentine Mass Schedule

The times of the Traditional Latin Masses on this year’s Chicago Church Bus Tour have been finalized. Everyone is invited to attend these Masses if you will be in the Chicago area, whether or not you are registered on the tour:

  • Thursday, December 28: 3:00 PM High Mass at St. Mary of the Angels Church
  • Friday, December 29: 11:30 AM High Mass at St. John Cantius Church
  • Saturday, December 30: 5:00 PM Solemn High Mass at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church. The parish has asked us to hold this Mass at the time of their Saturday Vigil Mass, to expose their parishioners to the Extraordinary Form.

There are still a few seats left on the bus for those interested in the full tour. Contact Prayer Pilgrimages for more information at (248) 250-6005.

Yes, yes,yes!

Concluding, what we see is a PROCESS of the “Restoration of all things in Christ” transpiring at St. Stanislas Kostka Church. The PROCESS has been set in motion by the adoption of a… lets call is an “business ecclesiastical model” at whose heart is Eucharistic Adoration. Given that the focus post-introduction, became Christ himself, this ecclesiastical model demanded a propitiatory (to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of) element, if for no other reason than to make the model coherent and understandable.

Using an explanation that a clinical psychologist like Dr. Peterson would offer, this propitiatory requirement, due to its higher position within the ecclesiastical/liturgical dominance hierarchy,  in turn began subjugating and ordering the lesser positions within this hierarchy, such as N.O. era liturgical forms.

Or to put it another way, rational human beings do not see puppet masses, clown masses, nor even “liturgical dance” as being neither compatible with Eucharistic Adoration not to mention being pleasing to God. And that’s just the way it is.

Nota bene: One can recognize the outlines of this above mentioned ecclesiastical dominance hierarchy in this post here.

But back to the summary. So the propitiatory requirement has begun subjugating the other liturgical forms, in that it is forcing the participants to rethink what is pleasing to God. This is driving the turning to the East, as per Fr. Z’s post, (see more  here) since this is a more propitiatory form than facing the people.

With the advancement of the restoration of the Mass of All Ages in the wider Church, and given that the largest Restorationist church in Chicago, i.e. St. John Cantius is literally a mile to the south, (and the same Religious Order) St. Stan’s is “organically” being pulled in that direction.

Evidence of this phenomenon is that it has broken through the “neo-Modernist” barricade and has offered the first TLM in 50 years. And on the back of that, the Church is not only promoting the TLM, but is trying to PROSELYTIZE its Novus Ordo flock in an attempt to bring it over into the Restoration mainstream.

It needs to be noted that St. Stan’s is NOT introducing a TLM for a small Latin Mass community in its parish which is stuck in the TLM ghetto, which is usually the case.

What St. Stan’s is doing is trying to bring its Novus Ordo pew-sitters into the Latin Mass community.

And that’s a whole different ballgame.

This is the significant development that makes this PROCESS unique.

Aside, who is it again that said “time is greater than space”?