Messages from Canon Benjamin Norman...

External Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Sunday, June 26, 2022


Dear faithful,

We celebrate this Sunday the External Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Pius XII speaks eloquently of the heartfelt love of God for fallen men in his 1956 encyclical, Haurietas Aquas:

"...the Heart of Jesus Christ, hypostatically united to the divine Person of the Word, certainly beat with love and with the other emotions - but these, joined to a human will full of divine charity and to the infinite love itself which the Son shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit, were in such complete unity and agreement that never among these three loves was there any contradiction of or disharmony."

The Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be recited after both Masses this Sunday. We will also take up our annual collection for the Sisters Adorers on this day. Thank you for your generosity towards these sisters who pray for you always!

Would you like to practice the charity God calls us to toward one of your fellow faithful in need of help with chores around the home? Please contact me if this might be a possibility for you.

Bishop Barber has released a statement in support of and in gratitude for Friday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe v. Wade. In part, it reads:

“We Catholics support the Supreme Court decision. We call on our state government to pass laws to help mothers in need to bring their children to birth and care for them, and not just support the abortion industry. Abortion causes pain, regret and a lifetime of psychological and spiritual harm to women and the fathers of their children.”

We thank His Excellency for his continued witness to the importance of building a culture of life, and offer up many prayers of thanksgiving to God for what seemed for many decades an unthinkable development in our nation’s political life. Deo gratias! Bishop Barber’s full statement can be read here:
https://www.oakdiocese.org/news/bishop-barbers-statement-in-support-of-the-supreme-court-dobbs-vs-jackson-ruling.

Our monthly Sursum Corda event for Catholic young adults will be a movie night on Thursday, June 30 at the Chabot Theater (2853 Castro Valley Blvd, Castro Valley) at 7 pm. The film will be St. Barbara: Convert and Martyr of the Early Church. Enjoy a pizza dinner as well! Tickets are limited, so please rsvp as soon as possible to Noe Perez: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Institute’s yearly father-son summer camp (boys ages 6-18), St. Michael’s Patrol, is planned for Thursday, July 28 – Saturday, July 30. Like last year, the camp will be held at the SCCPOA Campground, located at: 24090 Deer Path Rd, Saratoga, CA 95070. It’s a wonderful combination of good old fashioned summer fun (lots of sports and getting out into nature, campfire songs and skits, etc.) and the Traditional Catholic Faith and Liturgy. It’s a part of growing and the Traditional Catholic Faith and Liturgy. It’s a part of growing up! If you are interested, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The deadline to register is July 23.

In addition to St. Michael’s Patrol, there are also the yearly Institute summer camps in Wisconsin for boys and girls of various age ranges, from July 18 – August 22. Please see the attached brochure or this link for details: https://www.institute-christ-king.org/1185-save-the-date-summer-activities. The registration form can be found here: https://form.jotform.com/icksp/institute-summer-camps-2022.

Good news: Thomas and Diana Henriksson would like to express their gratitude to Almighty God and to all those who have been praying for them. On a recent visit to the doctor for heart surgery, it was discovered that despite previous tests indicating a problem, Thomas' heart is in fact in perfect condition. Moreover, the doctors expressed their amazement because false positives in this domain are extremely rare. In addition, the discovery was made last Thursday; the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! Deo gratias!

Finally, First Friday and First Saturday are this week. Devotions for the respective days will follow Mass.

We hope to see you at the regular Sunday reception!

Wishing you a blessed Sunday,
Canon Norman

External Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Sunday, June 19, 2022

Dear faithful,


We celebrate this Sunday the External Solemnity of the beautiful feast of Corpus Christi, known by the delightfully simple term “La Fête Dieu” by French Catholics (the “Feast of God”). There will be the traditional Eucharistic Procession and devotions after the 12:30 Mass. Perhaps nothing so strikingly illustrates God’s absolute dominion over all things as the miracle of Transubstantiation. This term from Scholastic Theology designates the act by which, through the instrumentality of His priests in the Holy Mass, Our Lord works the total change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Let us examine our consciences regularly and have the humility, when necessary, to first have recourse to the Sacrament of Penance in preparation for Holy Communion.

The Institute of Christ the King assiduously trains its members in the Church’s ancient liturgical arts, especially Sacred Music and in a preeminent way Gregorian Chant. We are now pleased to offer our newest CD, Sursum Corda; released very recently. Featuring the chants from the Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it is available for purchase under multiple formats, including Apple Music and Spotify. For more information and to hear samples, click on this link: https://icrss.hearnow.com/sursum-corda.

We recently began our Novena for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, this Friday, June 24. The 6 pm Mass will be followed by the usual Adoration, with also the chanted Litany of the Sacred Heart and the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We will celebrate the External Solemnity of this feast next Sunday, June 26. We will also take up our annual collection for the Sisters Adorers on this day. Thank you for your generosity towards these sisters who pray for you always!

There will be a talk and lunch for our Men’s Group on Saturday, June 25 from 11:30 – 1:30 in Kozina Hall. Please rsvp to Johnny Lazear if interested: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Our monthly Sursum Corda event for Catholic young adults will be a movie night on Thursday, June 30 at the Chabot Theater (2853 Castro Valley Blvd, Castro Valley) at 7 pm. The film will be St. Barbara: Convert and Martyr of the Early Church. Enjoy a pizza dinner as well! Tickets are limited, so please rsvp as soon as possible to Noe Perez: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A reminder that the Sursum Corda National Retreat is taking place from July 8 – 11 in Clarkston, Michigan. Come and meet other Catholic young adults from all over the United States striving to integrally practice their faith in an atmosphere of wholesome summer fun and edifying talks. You can register here: https://form.jotform.com/icksp/sursum-corda-annual-retreat-2022.

The Institute’s yearly father-son summer camp (boys ages 6-18), St. Michael’s Patrol, is planned for Thursday, July 28 – Saturday, July 30. Like last year, the camp will be held at the SCCPOA Campground, located at: 24090 Deer Path Rd, Saratoga, CA 95070. It’s a wonderful combination of good old fashioned summer fun (lots of sports and getting out into nature, campfire songs and skits, etc.) and the Traditional Catholic Faith and Liturgy. It’s a part of growing up! If you are interested, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In addition to St. Michael’s Patrol, there are also the yearly Institute summer camps in Wisconsin for boys and girls of various age ranges, from July 18 – August 22. Please see the attached brochure or this link for details: https://www.institute-christ-king.org/1185-save-the-date-summer-activities. The registration form can be found here: https://form.jotform.com/icksp/institute-summer-camps-2022.

An update from St. Margaret Mary Parish: the parking lot and Kozina Hall continues to be closed for roof repairs from Monday – Friday.

Because of the devotions after the 12:30 Mass, there will be no reception this Sunday.

Wishing you a blessed Sunday,
Canon Norman

Trinity Sunday, June 12, 2022

 
Dear faithful,
 
“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, amen.” With these ancient and venerable words of adoration of the Triune God, Creator of all things, Saint Francis began one of his most memorable sermons for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, Trinity Sunday. These words of praise and adoration crown each psalm of the Divine Office and so many other prayers, and indeed what could be more appropriate? 
 
Perhaps more than any other sentiment, it is gratitude which we owe God for revealing to us the august doctrine of His Trinitarian Being. Could man by the power of reason alone ever have discovered the existence of the Three Persons in One Divine Nature? Certainly not. Dom Guéranger teaches us that:
 
“When the Book of Genesis tells us that God spoke in the plural, and said: “Let Us make man to Our image and likeness,” the ancient Jew bowed down and believed, but understood not the sacred text; the Christian, on the contrary, who has been enlightened by the complete revelation of God, sees, under this expression, the three Persons acting together in the formation of man; the light of faith develops the great truth to him, and tells him that, within himself, there is a likeness to the blessed Three in One. Power, understanding, and will, are three faculties within him, and yet he himself is but one being.”
 
Trinity Sunday marks the formal end of Paschaltide, this joyful season of celebrating Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension. The hymn “Salve Regina” returns today, as well as the thrice-daily prayer of the Angelus in place of the chanted “Regina Caeli.” Additionally, before High Mass on Sunday the “Asperges me” replaces the “Vidi Aquam.”
 
I had an excellent retreat and would like to thank all of you for your prayers, which I’m sure helped a great deal. We had excellent conferences on topics such as the love of the priestly heart for the Holy Eucharist and for Our Blessed Mother, Mary. We were reminded, as we so often need to be, that our effectiveness in reaching souls is largely dependent on the fervor of our interior life and love of God. The retreat closed with Solemn Pontifical Vespers, a true gem of the Divine Office. I was glad to get a week of rest and extra time for prayer, especially heartfelt prayer before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It was also a joy to get to spend some time with confreres I now see only a few times a year, remembering our days in seminary together. 
 
Congratulations to all those who received the Cross of St. Francis de Sales at the Society of the Sacred Heart National Retreat in Wausau, Wisconsin last weekend! Please be assured of our prayers.
 
The Institute’s yearly boys’ summer camp, St. Michael’s Patrol, is planned for Thursday, July 28 – Saturday, July 30. Like last year, the camp will be held at the SCCPOA Campground, located at: 24090 Deer Path Rd, Saratoga, CA 95070. It’s a wonderful combination of good old fashioned summer fun (lots of sports and getting out into nature, campfire songs and skits, etc.) and the Traditional Catholic Faith and Liturgy. It’s a part of growing up! If you are interested, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
 
In addition to St. Michael’s Patrol, there are also the yearly Institute summer camps in Wisconsin for boys and girls of various age ranges. Please see the brochure for details.
 
Would you be interested in doing a bit of part-time volunteer work for the Oakland apostolate, or would you know someone who might be? Putting this bulletin together and preparing it for Flocknote is a task unto itself, and there are certain moments in the year when a bit of extra help would be appreciated. Please contact me by email if you are interested in helping in this capacity.
 
The Feast of Corpus Christi, one of the most solemn feasts of the liturgical year, is this Thursday, June 16. All are encouraged to assist at Mass on this day and give thanks for Our Lord’s gift of His Eucharistic flesh and blood which we eat and drink in every Holy Communion. There will also be the External Solemnity of this feast on Sunday, June 19. There will of course be the traditional Eucharistic Procession and Benediction following the 12:30 Mass.
 
Catholic young adults (ages 18-35) take note! The Institute’s Catholic young adult group, Sursum Corda, is having the National Retreat from Friday, July 8 – Monday, July 11 at the Colombiere Conference and Retreat Center in Clarkston, Michigan. Will you consider attending? It’s so important to cultivate good friendships with peers who share your Catholic Faith, just trying to do their duties and live a full life (including wholesome fun and recreation) in a world growing more and more hostile to the Church seemingly with each passing day. Please see the attached announcement for more information. You can register here: https://form.jotform.com/icksp/sursum-corda-annual-retreat-2022.
 
An update from St. Margaret Mary Parish: the parking lot and Kozina Hall will be open only on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) for the rest of the month of June, as roof repairs are taking place.
 
Wishing you a blessed Sunday,
Canon Norman
 
Marian Antiphons: link
 

Other information...

White cloth attached to the Communion rail: This is a precaution taken to protect the Blessed Sacrament from defilement by falling on the floor. All you have to do when receiving Communion is place your hands together, turn them over palms-up, and insert them underneath the cloth. This way, you form a little covered plateau (like a little altar!) to protect Our Lord from falling.

Blessing of items: Please contact Canon Norman to schedule a time to have your items blessed. 

Leading the Rosary: Men who are interested in leading the Rosary before the Sunday 7am and 12:30pm Masses, please contact Cann Norman at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please arrive at least 30 minutes before mass.

Marian Antiphons:

The Institute’s recent Gregorian chant recording, Gaudeamus Omnes, contains the four seasonal Marian antiphons as part of the Office of Compline, in simple and solemn tones. These Marian anthems can be downloaded individually on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, CD Baby and more. For details and to hear clips of each track, go to:
https://instituteofchristthekingsovereignpriest.hearnow.com/

Cell Phones: Please have your cell phones on silent. 

Prayer Responses during Masses: Low Mass: The altar servers are responding for the faithful so there is no need for the faithful to respond. High Mass: The faithful are welcomed to sing/respond for the Ordinaries. 

Parking Tickets: Please be aware of street parking/street cleaning to avoid parking tickets.