Dispatch from Amish Country

I just got a really intriguing comment from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.... And the Philadelphian in me is, admittedly, asking, "They have the internet in Lancaster?"

For those new to Planet Earth, Lancaster is the heartland of the Mennonites -- or, as they're commonly known, the Amish. When the President (he who's known to most self-anointed "orthodox" as Archbishop Bush, Primate of the United States) met with a group of Amish in the hustings last year, he told them "God speaks through me."

As Molly Ivins has always said, "I always thought God had a better grasp of subject-verb agreement." But I digress... Here's what Jon had to say.

I recently stumbled on your blog.
Do I find it informative? You bet.
Do I find it "catty?" Meee-ow!

Grazie mille. We're just aiming to make Chico happy. (By the by, I <3 Musum Pontificalis. Tutto cuore, Papa Bear.)

I shudder to contemplate your sources.

Me too.

As for your well-concealed feelings toward the "ad orientem crowd," perhaps last Monday, instead of attending that Sicilian donnybrook at the beach, or sipping lattes, or whatever it was you were doing, maybe you should've attended Mater Ecclesiae's Solemn High Mass at the cathedral in Camden. I did. There was standing room only. There was music and worship worthy of heaven. There was Palestrina. There was Pius V. There was Christ. And thanks be to God, there was the future.

Um, I actually did attend Mater Ecclesiae once. Tridentine Mass in a gym... hmm -- that's like ice cream in a litter box.

It was summertime and I even dressed respectfully (i.e. didn't wear flip-flops to church, as I usually do in summer). The aesthetics were nice, but it just didn't resonate with me. That's an important quality for liturgy, at least in my book. It may resonate for others, and that's all well and good, but it's just not me.

That said, my iPod does love Palestrina. Me love him long time.

Here's praying that Benedict reforms the reform, frees the old Mass, and gives Bernie Fellay a red hat, all for you, just in time for Christmas.

Free the old Mass? Is it locked up somewhere? And if this Pope, in his infinite wisdom, decided to give Bernard Fellay a red hat, I would celebrate. I kid you not -- it'd be a great sign of reconciliation, and I trust B16's judgment completely. (That can't be said of many of his "most loyal fans" who are bent on destroying his trusted Levada.)

Were a Cardinal Fellay to be created, I'd make it a point to attend his salon on Elevation Night, go to his Possession Mass, and gaze upon the bas-relief depiction of the Crucifixion on his cardinalatial ring and remark, "That's just lovely." (Fellay would probably trash the Pauline-inspired ring for some garish bauble of a sapphire and 33 baguette diamonds, because the latter is "more Catholic.")

I promise you all this. And, so that it could be seen by the eyes of the world, I'd bring Arturo Mari (the papal photographer extraordinaire, snowflakes) along to capture the images for posterity. I'm dead serious.

Great hearing from you, Jon. Drop me an e.mail -- would love to chat.

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