CRANMER'S GODLY ORDER

The Destruction of Catholicism through Liturgical Change
----------1976---------

"The Church is at present undergoing what is certainly the greatest crisis since the Protestant Reformation, quite possible the greatest since the Arian heresy. Pope Paul himself speaks of the smoke of Satan having entered the Church . . . vocations continue to decline . . . Mass attendance is plunging throughout the Western world; the most outlandish beliefs are put forward as Catholic teaching . . .There is hardly a traditional belief or a traditional practice which has not been questioned or reversed. Priests who for decades had been telling their people why the Mass must always be in Latin now appear to believe that any of the parishioners who ask for a Latin Mass may be of dubious orthodoxy. Priests who for decades had been explaining why we could never take part in non-Catholic services now insist that taking part in such services is the prime duty of a Catholic. Not only that but our own . . . are coming to resemble those of Protestants more closely, with each successive stage of the liturgical reform . . . An examination of the new Catholic Mass has been changed in a way which comes close to what Cranmer did, and for which he has been censured by Popes, theologians, and Catholic historians. How can changes which have been regarded as reprehensible for centuries suddenly become admirable.

An equally important question is the manner in which these changes have come about. The obvious and accurate answer is-----as a result of Vatican II. But how could this Council have resulted in such a startling breach with Catholic tradition and practice? . . . Must anything coming in the name of Vatican II be accepted uncritically?

[The purpose of this book] is to deal with the Protestant Reformation. It explains what happened and why . . . In order to appreciate the significance of the liturgical changes made by the Reformers it is necessary to have a clear grasp of Catholic teaching on the relevant doctrines-----particularly those of Grace and Justification. In their turn, these doctrines can only be appreciated within the context of the doctrine of the Mystical Body and the Incarnation. A chapter has also been included on Catholic Eucharistic teaching.

------------Taken from the Author's Introduction

Contents:

WHO WAS ARCHBISHOP CRANMER?
WHERE TO PURCHASE THE BOOK FROM WHICH THESE EXCERPTS ARE TAKEN
WHERE TO PURCHASE THE TRADEMARK MASS CARD FROM WHICH THE IMAGE IS TAKEN
ET INCARNATUS EST
THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION
SOLA FIDES JUSTIFICAT
CATHOLIC TEACHING ON THE EUCHARIST
THE MOST HORRIBLE BLASPHEMY
PROTESTANT TEACHING ON THE EUCHARIST, PART 1: REJECTION OF SACRIFICE
PROTESTANT TEACHING ON THE EUCHARIST, PART 2: REJECTION OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION
LITURGICAL REVOLUTION
THE PRINCIPLES OF LITURGICAL REFORM
THE REFORM AND THE MISSAL OF ST. PIUS V
ENGLISH LIFE UPON THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI
AN INGENIOUS ESSAY IN AMBIGUITY
THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE ORDINAL
"GODLY ORDER" OR "CHRISTMAS GAME"?
"BELIEVE AS YOUR FOREFATHERS" & THE OLD LATIN MASS STILL CELEBRATED SECRETLY
THE PATTERN OF COMPROMISE
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES FOR REFERENCE ON ABBREVIATION

Who Was Archbishop Thomas Cranmer?

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI and architect of the "new liturgy", was a master of the theology of the Mass, and hated it. He died an apostate, burned at the stake for heresy under Queen Mary, decrying the Mass to the end. She gave him a chance to repent of his crimes against God and His holy Church, which he did, briefly, then out of his hatred and sheer malice towards the sacred order, he recanted his repentance and chose death at the stake in hideous pride. Cranmer authored the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and is considered a "martyr" by many Anglicans, his spiritual descendants. He engineered the destruction of the Holy Mass under the Protestant kings, very cleverly, with deceit and cunning, so that many Englishmen adopted the changes slowly until they woke up and found themselves avowed Protestants, apostates like their mentor, although they merely thought the revolution was only a reform.

One can become an apostate in one moment of deliberate renunciation of the faith, but generally the process is slow, insidious, barely perceptible to the one who yields to non-Tradition, thinking he is being open-minded about change. Because any change that violates Tradition, and almost always tradition with a little "t" as well, appeals to our sinful side, it is easy for men to convince themselves that what they are changing or accepting in that change is actually a good thing. Men deceive themselves so easily this way. This is why all the Saints, including the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and the saintly Popes have insisted that we must not veer from Tradition, our sure guide in any storm. Many went so far as to add an anathema to the practice of denying or changing Tradition. The humble man accepts the gift of Tradition with awe and thanksgiving, for he knows that to do so is to place all his trust in Almighty God, rather than in the traditions of men. Whenever we see the deprecation of Tradition and Catholic traditions approved and sanctioned by the Church for centuries, we can be certain that we are dealing with someone who is not humble, therefore has little to teach us, but the bad example. Pray for him, but flee as for your very life, your eternal happiness may just depend on it.

--------The Web Master

TO PURCHASE THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Some of the books referred to in the notes have been abbreviated as follows:

CCT Catechism of the Council of Trent, translated by McHugh and Callan (New York), 1934.
CDT A Catholic Dictionary of Theology, ed. J. Crehan, S.J. (London, 1962).
CT The Church Teaches (Documents of the Church in English Translation), translated by J. F. Clarkson and others (Rockford, Illinois, 1973). This is an English version of the Denzinger Enchiridion Symbolorum and references to Denzinger in the notes, indicated by "D ", can be located in this book.
CTD Concise Theological Dictionary, Rahner & Vorgrimler (London, 1965).
CW The Works of Thomas Cranmer (two vols.), Parker Society.
D See: CT above.
DCD Development of Christian Doctrine, J. H. Newman.
DEV Devon, W. G. Hoskins (Newton Abbot, Devon, 1972).
EBCP Edward VI and the Book of Common Prayer, Gasquet & Bishop (London, 1890). In the interests of brevity, only the first of the authors is mentioned when reference is made to this book.
ESR Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Reformation, F. Clark (Oxford, 1967).
FSPB The First and Second Prayer Books of King Edward VI, D. Harrison (Dean of Bristol) (London, 1968).
PHR The Reformation------A Popular History, P. Hughes (London, 1960).
PS Parker Society.
RIE The Reformation in England, P. Hughes (three vols.) (London, 1950).
RMP The Reformation, The Mass, and the Priesthood, E. C. Messenger (two vols.) (London, 1936).
RS The Recovery of the Sacred, J. Hitchcock (New York, 1974).
TCC The Teaching of the Catholic Church, G. Smith (London, 1956).
TE Tudor England, S. T. Bindoff (London, 1952).
TM The Mass, A Study of the Roman Liturgy, A. Fortescue (London, 1917).
TR The Reformation, O. Chadwick (London, 1972).
TUD Tudor Rebellions, A. Fletcher (London, 1973).
VAC A Vindication of the Bull 'Apostolicae Curae', The Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Westminster (London, 1898).

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