I raised my hand, "My Lord, Beethoven's 9th reminds me of the Sound of Music."  He shook his finger at me and the seminarians lost it.  Fun days. 

...

So, I've actually never heard directly his condemnation of "Sound of Music".  If someone has audio/video, I'd love to hear it.  Boy this roiled Trads everywhere more than even his saying women shouldn't wear pants or go to university or hold down jobs.  In fact, he would have caused less turmoil, controversy, and "scandal" had he come out as a full-blown foaming-at-the-mouth dogmatic SV who held that it's mortal sin to attend una cuм Masses, became "Feeneyite", and moved in with the Dimond Brothers.  I imagine it was because he felt it was too sappy and emotional.  I see his perspective, since the treatment of her vocation (or lack thereof) was not handled very well, making it seem like various emotions tugging her in different directions.  But he should have appreciated your comment because he acknowledges that Beethoven is a Romantic and admits that he's his "guilty pleasure."

I don't care much for Beethoven (more of a Haydn and Vivaldi fan, with my guilty pleasure being Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano ... though I don't like anything else he wrote except maybe Piano 2).  So, the one exception I make is Beethoven's Violin Concerto.  I took my oldest son to see Jewshua Bell performing it, and he was amazing, so I had to give the devil his due.  I also like Gil Shaham-stein.  I do think Stern and Perlman were massively overrated due to being Jews ... IMO they outright sucked, with next-to-no actual expression in their playing (were in it to earn shekels primarily).  But for anyone to say that would be like exposing the proverbial Emperor for having no clothes, so no one would dare ... just like they're afraid to say that Einstein was an idiot and a fraud.

That reminds me also that I was in Chicago at Loyola University (undergraduate before I went to STAS) and got tickets for a buddy and myself to see Stern play with the Chicago Symphony.  So I walk in there with this guy and we're both rather "underdressed" it would appear, since everyone else were wearing tuxedos and $1,000-dresses.  As we walked past, I could hear a lady with this incredibly snotty tone that movie actors would offer as caricatures, except she was serious:  "How did THEEEY get tickets to see Isaac Stern?"  I told the guy I was with, since he had heard her also, rather loudly, so that I hope she heard it, "Yeah, wait until I tell her I got them for eight bucks each."    I was on some student promotion from the Chicago Symphony where they reserved a certain number of seats (obviously nosebleeds) for students at very low/affordable prices just to get future generations interested.  We were rather broke so we couldn't afford much more, and that's also why we couldn't match their wardrobes.  Those where the days were a few of us in the dorm would scrape up pocket change to order a $4 pizza.

Just curious about how many here know about that.

Yes "Hell" was still a thing 2000-2003. It wasn't "The Hell Room" but more like "Hell". I was in that room a few times. Very cozy.
In fact, during a particularly busy Priest Meeting, I think Mass was even offered in that room. Imagine that!

BTW I was in the Library department. My main department was Audio Room where I ended up Prefect very early (Feb 2 of my First Year, right after taking the cassock), then Library, and I was in the Schola. My 3rd Year, Fr. Doran thought I wasn't busy enough so he put me in Grounds dept as well.

Ironic, because those are the things I ended up being into for life -- including Grounds! I hated the addition at the time, but today it's probably my favorite activity (physical stuff, working and being outside, controlling nature in various ways).

Yes "Hell" was still a thing 2000-2003. It wasn't "The Hell Room" but more like "Hell". I was in that room a few times. Very cozy.
In fact, during a particularly busy Priest Meeting, I think Mass was even offered in that room. Imagine that!

... yeah, awesome.  I'm glad I left SOME "legacy" there ... Hell -- though to be fair I did mostly deal with good books.  I had a key (since I worked in library and would occasionally have to consign books there ... some of which I was secretly tempted to read, having endured about 8 years of Modernist Jesuit education) ... and so I too would occasionally hide out in there if I wanted to avoid some noise and business.  I recall even going in there to study a few times.  Finally, my brother Steve (God rest his soul) and I would go in there to have secret conversations, attempting to determine if some priest who showed up out of nowhere had in fact been conditionally ordained.  But mostly we were goofing around going in there, pretending to be secretive.

LOL, Mass in "Hell" ... yeah, we hadn't gone there yet.  I do recall a side altar in the library somewhere else when I had to serve and the priest didn't speak English and I didn't speak French, so I we had a brief conversation in Latin (I just hoped that he was fluent, and he was).  I would think that Mass in Hell would set the books in fire, well, unless it was an NO transfer with doubtful Orders. 

LOL, I occasionally recall consigning a book or two from some pre-Vatican II theologian (even though it had imprimatur and nihil obstat) into Hell, since they became open Modernists later.

How'd you get a "D", man?  God exists but without essence, as God's essence is His existence.  Butterflies have existence and essence.

That was part of my answer, don't know how in the hell I got a "D."  

And here you have Fr. Paul Robinson burning POUNDS of incense before the modern Science religion. VERY MUCH concerned about the modern world and what it thinks of him.

I think the non-infiltrator Modernists (i.e. those who start off with good-will but gradually drift into error) do so for the main reason of....A genuine attempt at wanting the world to "better understand" catholicism.  They think most people just 'don't get' our religion, and if they did, they would convert.  It's a very noble belief, even if very naive. 

The number of people who 'don't get' catholicism (and are OPEN to learning) is a VERY SMALL % of people.  Because, as the old saying goes, most people reject catholicism NOT for reasons of faith or lack of understanding; no, most people reject catholicism for MORAL reasons.  As Our Lady of Fatima said, most people go to hell due to sins of the flesh.

V2's "sales pitch" was to "open the doors of the Church to the world".  The same, flawed, sentimental thinking as above.  The problem is not doctrine; the problem is morality.

So, (formerly good-willed) Modernists put too much emphasis on watering-down doctrine, in an attempt to "reach converts".  AND then they double-up their error by being lax on morality and not challenging people to "do better".  V2's response to the rampant fornication, divorce, adultery and remarriage is...."Well, God is merciful and loves everyone.  Just keep going to church."

So by watering-down doctrine and going soft on immorality, what kind of catholicism is this?  A limp-wristed, feminized version.  Which is why the V2 church appeals to women and not men.  And also why, converts don't feel the "need" to convert...because there's nothing left in V2 catholicism which is worth admiring; no lofty goals of sanctity, no immutable/timeless doctrines, and no moral standards worth fighting for or aspiring to.

Sorry for the off-topic response.

I arrived late to the seminary in October 2001 because of 9/11. Later in February 2002 as a proud Irishman I had discovered that Ireland beat England in the rugby 19-13 so I hauled myself to his office to tell his Lordship that Ireland beat England to which he replied “Oh shut up”. I went off chuckling.
On another little anecdote this one not as a seminarian. I was serving Confirmations in Cork. When the ceremony was over His Lordship, Fr. MacDonald and I genuflected. My trousers were stuck to my legs, so when I genuflected the leg of my trousers ripped from top to bottom, but I continued the ceremony as nobody knew. After the ceremony was over I approached His Lordship requesting to keep the cassock on because my trousers had ripped. To which he replied “Oh no, not another split in the Resistance”. I hope you have a good laugh at my expense.

😂Priceless!

Speaking of the library, I often went to study there, and I tried to be a good seminarian where I obeyed the rule strictly.  Well, one day I dozed off in the library.  It was literally the ONLY time that had happed my entire time there.  And who pops out from behind a bookshelf, "Well, well, well" (with thick French accent) but Father Pierre Delaplace.  I was jarred awake and never did THAT again.

We used to imitate Father Delaplace jesting that we would go into town (allowed from time to time) and Fr. Delaplace would fly overhead in a helicopter with a megaphone, "Ah, do you have perMISShen?"

Fr. was a strict guy, almost borderline Jansenist, and so my scrupulous mentality gravitated toward him and picked him for my spiritual director.  Now, surprisingly it was Fr. Delaplace who instantly cured me of scruples by ordering me to never confess another sin or refrain from Holy Communion unless I could basically swear to him that I had committed a mortal sin.  He told me to do this under obedience (a good form of obedience) and that if I was wrong, the fault would be his.  Literally instant cure, as I could definitely have imagined myself spiraling out of control with scruples for years.  Never had a problem with it since that moment.  Even when I wasn't under his direction anymore, this command properly adjusted / formed my conscience for the rest of my life, so I owe him a debt of gratitude.

Sadly, Father has left the priesthood (been laicized by the Novus Ordo) and is living in the US, now married with children (or at least last I heard).  It was a sad affair, and I pray from him all the time, but imagine my surprised "not!" that Fr. Delaplace ended up in a career as ... one guess ... a corrections officer.  ... where he's right at home, running the place like he ran STAS as the Vice Rector there.

But please do pray for Father.  He probably cracked due to his excessive strictness.

I see him with some regularity. Last I spoke with him was probably about a year ago. He attends the FSSP parish in Scranton, PA. I believe is is retired now. His children are grown and married I think. He visited our chapel a few times when Fr. Kevin Robinson was our pastor a few years back.