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Let us all show our love and gratitude to all the courageous and faithful pastors this coming Good Shepherd Sunday.
April 16, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — To the glorious sacred hymn sung by the parish’s justly celebrated choir, the lone priest appeared and slowly processed down the main aisle to the high altar, unaccompanied by the usual cortege of numerous long-robed altar servers proudly bearing the golden cross and gently swinging the incense burner. “I had tears in my eyes,” said Marie, my friend and fellow parishioner; “he looked like Jesus-Christ walking all alone to the sacrificial altar.” This was the first solemn high Mass, celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, following a harrowing week of frenzied mainstream media attacks against this meek and mild priest, Fr. Gabriel Grodziski, vicar of the parish, and even more so against Canon Marc Guelfucci, the courageous priest-in-charge of Saint-Eugène Sainte-Cécile Church in Paris, France, a parish well-known in the French capital for its beautiful and reverent celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. The trouble all began when a non-Catholic 31-year-old man, who had attended the Easter Vigil Mass at the parish for his brother’s christening, decided that the best way to celebrate such a beautiful occasion was to denounce the parish priests to the journalists of a widely circulated Parisian newspaper.
Denounce them for what, you ask? Well, what apparently shocked him the most was seeing the priest celebrate Holy Mass unmasked and give the Holy Eucharist on the tongue. The media outlet, as anti-Catholic as any other, showed the video of the unmasked procession to the baptismal font as well as the Communion of the altar servers, but replaced the sacred music with their own biased commentary accompanied by pandemic-style background noise. The jarring contrast between the sublime solemnity of the sacred liturgy, so familiar to me, and the odious calumnies and fear-inspiring sound effects, were profoundly painful to see and hear. This video unleashed a week-long firestorm of attacks targeting our priests, on the part of all the mainstream media. But the media lynching was only the beginning of the trouble. It was utterly unbearable to see my beloved parish priests dragged in the mud and treated like criminals and evil-doers, not only by the media, but also by civil and religious authorities.
Imagine the horror I felt when the vicar, whom I venerate as a truly holy priest, sent me a text message early this past Thursday morning, informing me that he and the parish pastor were being taken into custody for a police interrogation that could last up to 48 hours! This good priest was profoundly at peace, quite serene, and even joyful: “Christ is Risen, Alleluia!” was all the commentary he added to his message. Fortunately, the police officers didn’t have the stomach to place these good priests in a prison cell overnight and decided to set them free before nightfall. Needless to say, they have been accompanied by the prayers not only of their parishioners, but of innumerable Catholics throughout France, reciting countless rosaries and novenas for these priests and their parish. And these prayers will continue, for the end of their trials is not yet in sight.
Continued below.
Good Shepherd Sunday: A parishioner’s praise of her two persecuted parish priests
April 16, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — To the glorious sacred hymn sung by the parish’s justly celebrated choir, the lone priest appeared and slowly processed down the main aisle to the high altar, unaccompanied by the usual cortege of numerous long-robed altar servers proudly bearing the golden cross and gently swinging the incense burner. “I had tears in my eyes,” said Marie, my friend and fellow parishioner; “he looked like Jesus-Christ walking all alone to the sacrificial altar.” This was the first solemn high Mass, celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, following a harrowing week of frenzied mainstream media attacks against this meek and mild priest, Fr. Gabriel Grodziski, vicar of the parish, and even more so against Canon Marc Guelfucci, the courageous priest-in-charge of Saint-Eugène Sainte-Cécile Church in Paris, France, a parish well-known in the French capital for its beautiful and reverent celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. The trouble all began when a non-Catholic 31-year-old man, who had attended the Easter Vigil Mass at the parish for his brother’s christening, decided that the best way to celebrate such a beautiful occasion was to denounce the parish priests to the journalists of a widely circulated Parisian newspaper.
Denounce them for what, you ask? Well, what apparently shocked him the most was seeing the priest celebrate Holy Mass unmasked and give the Holy Eucharist on the tongue. The media outlet, as anti-Catholic as any other, showed the video of the unmasked procession to the baptismal font as well as the Communion of the altar servers, but replaced the sacred music with their own biased commentary accompanied by pandemic-style background noise. The jarring contrast between the sublime solemnity of the sacred liturgy, so familiar to me, and the odious calumnies and fear-inspiring sound effects, were profoundly painful to see and hear. This video unleashed a week-long firestorm of attacks targeting our priests, on the part of all the mainstream media. But the media lynching was only the beginning of the trouble. It was utterly unbearable to see my beloved parish priests dragged in the mud and treated like criminals and evil-doers, not only by the media, but also by civil and religious authorities.
Imagine the horror I felt when the vicar, whom I venerate as a truly holy priest, sent me a text message early this past Thursday morning, informing me that he and the parish pastor were being taken into custody for a police interrogation that could last up to 48 hours! This good priest was profoundly at peace, quite serene, and even joyful: “Christ is Risen, Alleluia!” was all the commentary he added to his message. Fortunately, the police officers didn’t have the stomach to place these good priests in a prison cell overnight and decided to set them free before nightfall. Needless to say, they have been accompanied by the prayers not only of their parishioners, but of innumerable Catholics throughout France, reciting countless rosaries and novenas for these priests and their parish. And these prayers will continue, for the end of their trials is not yet in sight.
Continued below.
Good Shepherd Sunday: A parishioner’s praise of her two persecuted parish priests
