Interesting read..As an Episcopalian, and lord knows we have enough on OUR plates..it would seem to me that with all now going on in the Catholic church, this is akin to arguing if the prime rib was rare, or pink..
Still, many longtime St. Anthony's parishioners reject him because he is an archdiocese priest, officially placed on loan to the chapel by the archdiocese. >>>
The full priesthood is contained in the bishop, they should be honored that a priest assigned to a bishop is there and the archbishop himself extended an olive branch to bring the parishioners back into the fold.
You can't be Catholic and have your own private little church. What's wrong, are they afraid they will have to contribute to the bishops annual campaign?
From what I understand the board is still in control of the church building and parish finances.
Well we've finally done it. St. Anthony's has finally made the papers!
What is this talk of a VFW mass in Fairfield? Is that being said by the SSPX? Is that a regular mass?
Are people actually driving all the way to St. Jude's in Eddystone, PA to go to mass? I have seen Jersey license plates in the parking lot there, but I had just assumed that they were all from South Jersey. Come on though, that's a really long drive, around 2 hours from North Jersey. If you want to go to a Society mass there is one in NYC which is pretty close to the North Jersey area or even the Society's church in Ridgefield, CT is closer than the Eddystone Chapel.
I go to St. Jude's from time to time when I'm back at College, which is outside of Philly.
Of course, he did! Fr. Wickens said that Fr. Perricone was the most desirable choice and that the hardcore traditionalists would not be happy with the compromises necessary to bring Fr. Perricone to St. Anthony's. Fr. Wickens had asked Fr. Perricone a number of times even before he knew of his cancer to come to St. Anthony's. He knew and respected Fr. Perricone's position that he wouldn't leave the archdiocese to go to an independent chapel. Fr. Wickens understood that the compromises necessary to bring Fr. Perricone to St. Anthony's involved the archdiocese. And he accurately predicted the response of the hardcore traditionalists.
ping
Catholic Tradition and Counterrevolution
Hi RF, DM, GS et al ;-)
The Church is "divided"? What a shocker. "Independence" does that. It sows the seeds of division and helps cultivate a spirit of autonomy.
Reading the thread and associated posts I was struck with how similar it all seemed to some of the situations which my Protestant friends have described to me when their Church picks a new pastor. The factions, the arguments......"we want this guy"....."no, we want somebody like the previous guy"...."no, let's ask the people"......."etc, etc
Paddling your own canoe is not an advisable exercise in the spiritual life, no matter how convincing the excuse may seem to be.
I believe most everyone is missing the point of the Traditional Catholic movement. This movement started as a result of the changes brought about by Vatican II. The changes that were made to the Mass, the Sacraments and the basic outlook of the Roman Catholic Church have been radically altered from what they have been for almost 2,000 years. The tradionalists are not still attending the Latin Mass out of some nostalgia. We are attending the Latin Mass for the Faith, values and morals that are preached from the pulpit. The Catholic Church in today’s world is sadly lacking in all of these areas. The Bishops around the world have become very soft regarding the Catholic Church’s stand on issues such as abortion and homosexuality. The Catholic Church’s teaching on these and most of today’s issues are very clear yet the Bishops around the world are not speaking up out of some misguided “political correctness”.
The Latin Mass has never been outlawed. The Traditional Catholics around the world are not “schismatic” or “outside the Church”. The Bishops would like for you to think so, but it is not true. We are the ones holding true to the Catholic Faith and this is a bee in the bonnet of the Bishops. They do not like being reminded of what the Catholic Church should be. They seem to be intent on the destruction of the Catholic Church.
With this said, the situation at St. Anthony of Padua Chapel in West Orange is a little more complex than meets the everyday Catholic eye. The Archdiocesan tie is the part of the new arrangement that has caused most of the trouble. If Father P. had come without these ties there would have been far less trouble than there is now. Had Father P. come as an independent priest most of the parishioners who left would still be in the pews every week. The Archdiocese has been fraught with troubles - sex scandals and victim payoffs and such. This is not the Catholic Church that Christ founded. This is where the problem has arisen at St. Anthony’s. The infection that has taken hold of the Archdiocese could spread to our little chapel. St. Anthony’s has been around for 20 years with little trouble. Father Wickens himself spoke out against the Archdiocesan hierarchy on many occasions.
We need to look at the state of our world today. Why is it in the state it is? Can we pinpoint when it started to fail? I believe if we look, we can see that our societal decline has followed the decline in the Church since Vatican II. Our society today has very little in the way of morals and values. The value of a human life has been degraded to such a state that millions of innocent lives are thrown in the garbage. Promiscuity is at intolerable levels. The guiding principle in our world today is “me first”. The Catholic Church began its decline and society has followed. The Catholic Church has been losing vocations, attendance, and facilities at a high rate of speed. Churches are closing due to lack of attendance and lack of priests to staff them. This is an epidemic problem. There needs to be some drastic measures taken to correct the problem. There needs to be a return to the true Church that was founded by Christ.
The Bishops within the Church today are not the proper people to fix this problem. They are part of the problem.
Interesting. I wish there were a traditionalist Roman Catholic Church in the Boston/South Metro area. Aside from the folks in Still River, I don't know of any.
What's going on in West Orange now? Word is that the Board of Directors have ousted Fr. Perricone.
who is Father Murphy, please?