What Have We Done to Our Children? (Part III) How Catholic children became guinea-pigs

Adoremus ^ | February 2004 | Susan Benofy

[Desdemona]

From my sophomore geometry teacher....

[Desdemona]

ping

Here is part III and one of my pet peeves.

[Dajjal]

It is widely accepted that young Catholics often abandon the practice of the faith in their teens or twenties. Why?

In an interview in the July 2002 issue of Catholic World Report, physicist Dr. Anthony Rizzi describes the results of his own early catechetical experiences:

"Those of us who grew up in the post-Vatican II Church know how little the life of the mind was respected.... In CCD [Confraternity of Catholic Doctrine], for the most part, we made collages and talked about how we felt. So I had evidence, it appeared, that Catholicism was just about feeling." (p. 52)

Furthermore, he writes:

"The new rite had made the Mass somewhat opaque to me; I thought that it was a celebration, a meal. Well, if that's all it was, I had more fun celebrating by playing football or baseball and eating afterwards!"

Only later, after reading some old books, did he learn that the Mass is a sacrifice.

An outraged bump & ping

[Land of the Irish]

Ping

[ultima ratio]

This film by Gibson puts the Crucifixion at the center of things again--and it will have a powerful effect on the imaginations of the young--making the explicit connection between Calvary and the Eucharist.

[Dajjal]

Puppet Masses

An increasingly rare talent is used as a tool to take
the liturgy home to the children’s hearts.

http://www.dioshpt.org/connection/frdoug.htm

A Real Treasure
Father Doug Sweet

Father Douglas Sweet brought Charlie to mass at St. Joseph’s School, Shreveport this past month. Charlie isn’t what you would expect, he is a wooden puppet and is the instrument that Fr. Doug uses to teach the simple, yet complicated, lessons of life, love and faith. He and Charlie, who is named after our very own Father Charles Glorioso, always has a message for the young children. The idea to use ventriloquism in his children’s liturgies came to Father Sweet during his time as a seminarian when he had first met Father Charles. They attended seminary together and are good friends. For part of his degree work, he had to give a series of liturgies to children. It was a challenge for him to come up with a way to present these liturgies in a fresh and new way in which the children would understand and listen to what he had to say. He started out with hand puppets as a way to boost the children’s interests and it has evolved into a wonderful talent.

I had the pleasure of sitting in on one of Fr. Doug’s liturgies with Charlie this past month. He and Charlie discussed the Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila and the Pope’s 25th Anniversary mentioning how both are people of great prayer and we should remember to pray often ourselves. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the reaction of all the small children in church that day. As Gloria Patterson, religion teacher for grades 1-3 said, “There was so much laughter at church by the young and young at heart. The children that I teach say he is awesome, hilarious and so cute. They hope to see the puppet again at Mass.” Susie Brewer who teaches religion in grade 4-5 also added,
“We all love Fr. Doug, he is so full of joy. His puppet Masses are a true delight for everyone. The children get so excited they can hardly stay seated in the pews. The first time Fr. Doug did a Mass with his grandfather puppet was at our grandparent liturgy. You could feel the joy in our church that day. He makes God's love come alive for our children. They remember the message from Fr. Doug’s Homily and they get very excited to tell you about the message. The day he did the Grandparent liturgy one boy turned to me and asked ‘Why is Fr. Doug putting Grandpa in that box’. Fr. Doug was so good with grandpa puppet that he seemed alive to many of our children. Fr. Doug loves these kids and they can feel it too.”

Fr. Doug only uses his puppet shows for special occasions at St. Joseph School as he is very busy with all of his regular ministries at St. Joseph Church. It is wonderful to see such a an interesting way to reach our children with the message of our Lord.

Sherry Swaney Heflin
Editor

[Dajjal]

A Puppet Mass ping to post #6.

(And a tip o' the Hatlo Hat to Mark Sullivan at Irish Elk for bringing what he calls "Mortimer Snerd Masses" to my attention.)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

re: Puppeteer priest

WHAT ???!!!

I thought this kind of silliness went out with the '70s along with pet rocks and mood rings.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

I suggest they send the Puppet to Georgetown University and have him issue public statements to the press on matters of "ethics" and university policy.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1068813/posts Georgetown U Frankenstein Research

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1068614/posts Georgetown Weird Research Continues

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

If only my priest had used a puppet in the 70s I would have had better catechesis. Or not.

Can you imagine being at the foot of the Cross during Mass and laughing? Now I understand just how bad these abuses are.

[Maximilian]

Desdemona, thanks for this series on the travesty of "children's liturgies." As a reminder, Adoremus also did sterling work by exposing the fact that these children's liturgies were composed by pederasts. Yes, hard as it is to believe (NOT), these liturgies which are themselves abuses of children were put together by a committee headed by a defrocked priest. Here is the previous Adoremus article:

Liturgy Commission Plagued by Pederasty Problems

The Rev. Michael J. Spillane, 59, executive director of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC) for sixteen years, had already announced his resignation effective at the end of this year when it was revealed that he had been defrocked in 1991 by the Archdiocese of Baltimore for molesting six youths while working in parishes of the Baltimore Archdiocese from 1969 to 1986. The announcement of Spillane's resignation had appeared in the current FDLC Newsletter (Dec. 2001-March 2002), along with notice that he would receive the organization's 2002 Frederick McManus Award for his "services to pastoral liturgy".

Burton also told the Post that he has since learned that when FDLC officials were informed by the Baltimore Archdiocese of Spillane's abuses, they had decided to keep Spillane in his job "because it was purely administrative and involved no contact with children".

He said that Spillane had brought the FDLC out of debt and made major contributions to reform of the Liturgy - including overseeing a project to rewrite the official prayers for a now widely used Children's Mass.

Father Burton, though he noted Spillane's involvement with the Children's Mass, did not mention the latter's association with the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministers [NFCYM], or his consultation with the homosexual activist organization, New Ways Ministry on the controversial 1997 statement of the USCCB Committee on Family, 'Always Our Children'.

In his comments about Spillane, Father Burton did not allude to last year's pederasty scandal involving his own immediate predecessor as FDLC board chairman, Father Kenneth Martin.

Father Martin, 56, was forced to resign from his BCL post six months later, following his June 2001 arrest for molesting a male student at a high school in Maryland where Martin, a former Xavierian Brother, had taught before he was ordained to the priesthood in 1989.

[ArrogantBustard]

I have no use whatsoever for these "childrens' Masses" or "Childrens' Liturgy of the Word". It serves only to distract ... It makes the Mass "Man centric" rather than "God centric". It's not about us, it's about Jesus.

[fortunecookie]

Creepy, sad and it explains so much. I see the 'prayer services' that come with our rel. ed. books and each new edition seems to get wackier and further out. A few of us try to recall and teach what was not so long ago mainstream Catholicism in addition to the curriculum, but even among our little group that number dwindles each year.

That puppet mass - or so called mass - just creepy. Little wonder some young adults leave - were they ever really there? I think from my education by the nuns (and no, it wasn't a bad thing - as many of the 'Catholics' I went to school with seem to think), how much they taught us about the faith, the little things about saints and trying to model after them and just by their own example. And now, so much stripped away. And even people who recognize it's missing, at least in our area, our complacent or even antagonistic to what was once a great tradition. I could go on...

[Desdemona]

I have no use whatsoever for these "childrens' Masses" or "Childrens' Liturgy of the Word".

At my old parish they do this. I was one of the few who objected and as I am not a parent, my opinion was summarily dismissed.

But then I was considered nutty because I liked tradition.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Unfortunately, Catholic institutions have been targeted for bizarre social engineering projects by deranged liberals. Some of that includes twisted sexual identity issues. Church leaders need to be held accountable for this and the cover-up mentality must end. All those involved should be exposed.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

One would suspect an audit of the commission might reveal some interesting things. Check their credit cards for dining and travel expenses. Note the location (Washington).
The Dupont Circle Brotherhood strikes again.

[lainde]

bttt

[VermiciousKnid]

I'm with you, Arrogant...the "Children's Mass" (oops! "Liturgy") is AWFUL, and I never take my kids to them.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to break my streak, because my son is receiving the Boy Scouts' Light of Christ award this Saturday. It is supposed to be given at the 5:00 "Family Liturgy." He's never been to one of these services, as they are just so...saccharine, I'm afraid I may go into some kind of diabetic shock or something.

Hopefully, it will be a one-time-only thing, and after Saturday, I can put away my tambourine until my youngest gets his Light of Christ award in two years.

Regards,

PS: BTW, when Father asked the boys how we know that God loves us, most of them said things like, "He gave us flowers and trees," but my Billy said, "God showed us how much He loved us when he died on that cross for our sins." Father nearly fainted.

[Desdemona]

Unfortunately, Catholic institutions have been targeted for bizarre social engineering projects by deranged liberals.

The big "thing" here is getting Catholics to recognize that without sounding negative, shrill or otherwise unloving, as those of us who disagree are unually described.

In a way, I think the scandal can be used for the exposing, but not many people seem to be willing to take the initiative or don't see the connection.

[american colleen]

..."but my Billy said, "God showed us how much He loved us when he died on that cross for our sins."

:-)