On Pilgrimage to Starkenburg, 2011...
For those who went on the Starkenburg Pilgrimage, you knew it was a day of obstruction by Jefferson City diocese, Jefferson City, Missouri. Starkenburg Shrine had chains with locks to keep us out, beefy, aggressive female guards at 8:00am in the morning, you know, the usual makings of a sedate, conflict-avoidant group of traditional catholics. After a variety of obfuscations, nonetheless, after 12 miles of penance after being told that we could not have Mass at the Shrine for the first time in 13 years, we did have Mass. The boys from St. Mary's, the Knights of Immaculata, led by Fr. Borbeau, after praying outside the gate, went past the macho but female-gendered, well-prepared guards who were not going to let a few hundred traditional catholics desecrate the the Starkenburg Shrine, dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, by, gasp- having a Latin Mass by 600 faithful who have just walked 12 miles and 5 hrs praying and doing penance. A full afternoon of civil disobediance resulted in young men walking past the uber-scary guards, followed shortly thereafter, by the civilized boys of LaSallette. Oh, so much more could be said, the bottom line is that Mass was said, despite every effort before hand and during to prevent it. The sherrif, a county trooper, and a police SUV, there may have been more, were not enought to prevent what had been done for the previous 13 years.
Is that not enough for you Catholics, simply observing traditional practices, going back centuries- penance, pilgrimage, prayer, Rosaries, Mass, it happens despite modern attempts to prevent it? How could this happen? By law abiding citizens who would never break the law?
However, there is a coda. Most had left the shrine except for some Francisican sisters, including the Mother Superior who is arthritic and elderly. Cars were not allowed to park on the grounds, but only, illegally by Highway P. She could not walk that far, so a minivan, illegally drove onto the lot, to be stopped by the thin, blond official obstructionist, who stopped the minivan by standing in front of it and screaming at the driver. My daughter was asked to go ask the state trooper if he could help in this situation: elderly and incapacitated, unable to walk, but don't let the minivan drive up to get her. She went and talked to him who said, "get in my car". he drove up, picked up the Mother Superior, drove her to the van, in front of the blond, strict constructionist who would allow no trespassing, and let her out right by the door of the minivan, an illegal intruder into the sacrosanct grounds of Starkenburg, defiled by the hundreds of feet of Catholics praying, kneeling, and singing at a Catholic shrine. I realize that this should be more appropriatedly titled "Occupy Starkenburg".
STARKENBURG
The Holy Mass, that cannot die
Was said amidst the oaks
While pin-oak leaves came floating down
Around the simple folks
Who knelt upon the acorn floor
All dotted nutty brown
The acorns cracked and old knees snapped
Yet still there was no sound...
But the tinkling of the golden bells
As the White Host Son rose high
On priestly limbs like mighty oaks
They branched up to the sky
And in that wood I laughed with joy
Amongst the souls bowed down
For the mighty oak was once a nut
That merely held it's ground.
So Christian souls like acorn nuts
Must burrow all around
And be the seed that sprouts new oaks
On consecrated ground...
Where the Holy Mass, that cannot die
Is said around the oaks
While pin-oak leaves come floating down
Amidst the mighty folks!
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