Tradition? To hell with it! Part Two

Is divorce a sin? No, the Tridentine Mass is...

One could have thought in the previous article that Fr. Martin Cilia's M.S.S.P. 'love' of tradition interview was a once in a lifetime occurrence. Or that the media had manipulated his words. Unfortunately this is not the case. The same priest, when the divorce referendum was such a hot topic in Malta last year, thought that the Lenten preach he delivered on Malta's Radju Marija should target the Tridentine Mass - the cause of all evils in these sunny islands it seems.

Hey, you're not looking at us!

He had said - on that blessed 13 April 2011 - that it is an insult for the people when the priest turns his back to the people as is done in the Latin Mass. Apart from the abysmal lack of knowledge of why the priest faces the tabernacle and not the people in the Latin Mass, Fr. Cilia then said that the Maltese have difficulty in understanding Mass in Maltese, let alone the one in Latin!

So, this priest considers the Maltese as being an ignorant people and therefore we have to believe all that he says. And obviously he is not an idiot... but my logic says that if the Maltese are ignorant and the priest shouting from the microphone on Radju Marija is Maltese then .... he must be an idiot too!

I was a Russian Altar boy not a Santa Claus.

In fact, thanks to Fr. Cilia I learnt that Karl Marx was a Russian who was an altar boy and afterwards he turned against the Catholic Church. I must throw away all the books that say that Marx was a German.

It is not usual of me to be sarcastic but today I cannot help it. The worst part is yet to come though.

As President of Pro Tridentina (Malta) at the time, I had written to the Director of Radju Marija, the M.S.S.P. Motherhouse and the Maltese Curia seeking an explanation for this.

It goes without saying that no one bothered to answer, chi tace acconsente as the Italian saying goes.

Thankfully, the Holy See's Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (PCED) takes things more seriously as the Maltese Curia's postman surely knows...

Tradition? To hell with it!! Part One

Fr Martin Cilia in his modern-looking and colourful oratory. (Photo: Matthew Mirabelli, Sunday Times of Malta)

Last Sunday, the Sunday Times of Malta carried an interview with Fr Martin Cilia MSSP.

At first I thought it might make interesting reading. In a way it was, for the wrong reasons. In order not to pain you with it unnecessarily, I will select the most memorable parts of this article, and my comments will be in blue.

1. Fine things, tasteful décor, aesthetics and art top the list of Fr Martin Cilia’s priorities ... and Jesus?!?

2. “We do not need to be surrounded by rubbish,”  ... so St. John's Co-Cathedral and Malta's wayside chapels are? Yeah, right. Rubbish!

3. “The Church is selling product Christ, but if it is wrapped in the old, traditional way; youngsters, young couples and those still searching can refuse the content for the covering...” ... same old story with those who are so afraid of Latin. It's all tradition's fault. But reality in Europe and America is very different.

4. “One of the major problems of the Church is that Mass does not offer a sense of community. It is like a supermarket – no one knows each other.” ...oops, this is not fair. Why should a priest speak so negatively about Mass in MALTESE?!?


5. The environment is vital and “mood manipulative”, Fr Cilia believes. So among his mini “revolutions”, he has changed the church structure, pushing the altar into its midst to ensure the priest is not separated from his congregation. ...  hmmm, to ensure the priest (not Jesus) is not separated from his congregation...

6. Mass is not always the best experience, he admits. It can be “so boring” – all the more for children. Asking them to remain quiet for an hour is asking for the impossible, Fr Cilia believes. In fact, during his homily, the young ones leave for their own liturgy, which even includes activities they then demonstrate to their families back in the church. ... I recall having read that St. Dominic Savio, St. Mary Goretti, the Fatima seers and other young children all getting bored during the Mass in Latin. Yeah, pull the other one ...

7. “Things are changing and fast – but the Church is moving slowly. It is too tied to tradition, and faith is too tied to religion. But the Church is not just religion and doctrine; it is an experience.” ... and an experience can be good and bad ...

8. But it also faces criticism from the community’s older members, who are only concerned with tradition. “I hope those who come because of their faith influence those who come for tradition. They are like two different religions,” he says. ... again, to hell with tradition! And while we're at it, how about dumping the Bible and Jesus? After all they are so traditional!!!