THE TAOS TATLER.

San Francisco de Asis Mission Church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico

(Photos taken from various internet sources)

There are many historic churches in New Mexico dating back to when the state was a viceroyalty of New Spain. San Francisco de Asis Mission Church is a standout among them, a splendid example of Spanish Colonial architecture.

Erected between 1772 and 1816, the church has seen continual use to this day. It is largely unchanged, save for diktats coming out of the Second Vatican Counsel, “reforms” requiring inter alia freestanding altars, removal of altar rails, and of course the dumbing-down of the mass and it being said in the vernacular.

Those dubious reforms aside, the church is in fine repair and well-cared for.  Like the other Catholic churches in Taos, there is no organ, which probably owes to the difficulty of porting those instruments two-centuries ago through the wilds of the Wild West, thus setting a precedent which continues. The music of the mass, as with so many Catholic churches, is awful, and there is no early mass anymore (banned by our ethically challenged archbishop), where one could escape it.

Complaints aside, San Francisco de Asís is a wonderful, holy place in which to pray and worship our Lord.

San Francisco de Asis Mission Church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico

There are many historic churches in New Mexico, which date back to the days when the state was a viceroyalty of Spain. San Francisco de Asis Mission Church is a standout among these churches, a gorgeous example of Spanish colonial architecture.

Erected between 1772 and 1816, it San Francisco has seen continuous use to the present. The church is largely unchanged, save for dictats stemming from post-counciliar, Vatican 2, “reforms,” requiring the freestanding altar, the removal of the communion rail, and of course the dumbing-down of the mass and use of the vernacular.

Those two dubious reforms aside, the church is in fine repair and well-cared for.  Although, like the other Catholic churches in Taos, there is no organ, which probably owes to the difficulty of porting the instruments  200 or more years ago, thus establishing a president. The music of the mass, as with most Catholic churches, is awful, and there is no early mass anymore (banned by our ethically challenged archbishop), where one could escape it.

Complaints aside, San Francisco de Asís is a wonderful, holy place in which to pray and worship our Lord.

From the NY Post: “Southern California mayor says he wants to ‘purge’ homeless population by giving them ‘all the fentanyl they want'” He continues,

“I made it very clear I was talking about the criminal element that were let out of the prisons that have now become 40 to 45% of what’s referred to as the homeless population,” Parris told the outlet.

“They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least half of our murders,” he added, without offering proof or data to support his claims. “There’s nothing that we can do for these people.”

Though the proposal of Mayor R. Rex Parris strikes your Tatler as more of an attention getter than anything else, it comes as no surprise his comments have caused a wee bit of upset among the usual suspects, who have labeled his comments as “cold” and much worse.

Mayor Parris will face a barrage of criticism for his remarks, but he should stick to his guns, as it is becoming more and more obvious to the majority in this country, most defenders of criminals, druggies and illegal aliens are members of the monied class, especially those in the entertainment industry and in Hollywood particularly. Their tortured rationalizations for deplorable behavior increasingly falls on the deaf ears of normal people, i.e., those who elected Donald Trump president.

“Pray for the repose of his soul. He was so tired.”

–Fr. Rolfe, from his novel, Hadrian the Seventh.

Maybe he’ll stick around this time. Stay tuned.

At the risk of being obvious, your Tatler has returned. Expect more folderol shortly.

Bickerstaff

*John Gielgud in Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.

To my readers,

I am sad to report this will be the last post for the indefinite future. The blog has never had a large number of readers, but their numbers were high enough to provide motivation to keep posting. Unfortunately, lately the numbers have dropped to near or actual zero, so it seems pointless to continue writing posts when my time would be more profitably spent practicing the organ.

I will not delete any posts and the blog will remain on WordPress should I ever choose to resume posting.  Grateful thanks to those readers who stuck with the Taos Tatler. May God bless you all.

A refreshing change from the mealy-mouthed utterances of our current president. From the New York Post:

President-elect Donald Trump warned Monday there will be “all hell to pay [in the Middle East if Hamas does not release every one of the remaining hostages in Gaza before his inauguration next month.

Also, from another source, the New York Sun: “The president-elect threatens to ‘hit’ those responsible ‘harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.’

A prediction: should Hamas inexplicably show some sense and release the hostages before Trump is sworn in, President Biden will claim credit for it, and his trained monkeys in the media will back him up. No mention will be made of Trump’s very believable threat.

Presidential Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the President’s pardon of his convicted felon son.

No. Read the president’s statement. Seriously, read the president’s statement. He said he believes in the Department of Justice. He does. He says it in his statement. He also believes that war politics infected the process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.

From Louis Carol’s Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found there:

Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

Much similarity to Ms Jean-Pierre, though the Queen is far more likeable, albeit fictional, than the Presidential Secretary.