Posted on 01/07/2006 7:35:09 AM PST by Desdemona
ping
I can honestly say that where I grew up we had May Crowning (and it still happens) and Friday afternoon Benediction complete with Monstrance and incense, but there are so many things described here that reflect my childhood. Would that this could be repaired.
And even more vital - would that the people about my age would care enough to learn about it.
Funny you should bring this up. My wife and I are reading the Mother Angelica biography together. We had a good discussion about the post-Vactican II changes this morning. While we were both born after V-II, we were in different parts of the country.
My rural Minnesota parish responded to V-II by using English and turning the Altar around -- but changed nothing else. We experienced the post-Vatican II changes in the late 70s/early 80s. I had a very traditional experience, she had a very "modern" one.
So often when a topic like this one comes up, she cannot identify with why people have a problem with the "new" language and practices.
So many people don't know what they've lost...
Father Rego used to be in Connecticut where he said some Tridentine Masses. Terrific preacher!
Must have been even earlier than that. I have always said "because of your just punishments" and my first Confession was in 1955.
Of course, being taught in the Baltimore Catechism method, I understood exactly what that meant. That would be Hell. Which, if God gave us what was just, would be the final end for everyone. It's only through His mercy that we have any hope of Heaven.
They are still failing. But, that is old news. It has almost always been thus. It is easy to fault others;the Prelates and Clerics,but, the Christian truth is it is Christian parents who have the initial and primary duty to Catechize their children
One MAJOR failing of the Church in America is the way it became Clericalized to the point of destruction; from lack of Catechetical Instruction to the introduction and acceptance of queerdom, to the feminization of Christian men. The "greatest generation" failed in their Christian Catholic duties every bit as much as did the Clerics and Prelates of that generation but we have all been raised to be good liberals and so we blame others.
later read.
Why is she struggling? Doesn't she have a Catechism?
What an excellent article! I was just going to post it!
She can even tell you what the Fruits of the Holy Spirit are.
They found out about 3 days before the Big Event that the new archbishop was coming to our parish to do his Very First Confirmation, and he said he wanted to come early to meet with the kids . . . our parochial vicar and the lady who runs the youth program were beside themselves with anxiety. You could hear the kids muttering the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins to themselves . . . mass consternation!
But it got worse - the archbishop DID come to meet with the kids ahead of time, but didn't catechize them then. Instead, as their sponsors brought them up one by one to the altar, he catechized them individually in front of God and everybody! Fortunately, the kids were all well prepared (he made the mistake of asking my daughter a question about her patron saint, whom she admires greatly, and she probably told him more than he wanted to know . . . ) and I think the folks in charge were relieved.
But our parish is run by an old-fashioned rector who makes sure that things are done right.
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Salvation,Bump.
But as you correctly state, that DOES mean Hell.
Your parish sounds so wonderful!
And we have so much fun! I mean, it's not a gloomy place, it's as cheerful and happy as it can be. We do a lot of traditional devotions - the Forty Hours and the Two Hearts Vigil and First Fridays, but with joy. Our choirmaster is just a delight - he's so easygoing and optimistic and at the same time such an excellent musician. I love going to choir practice and singing on Sunday - wouldn't miss it for the world. Our new Parochial Vicar is adorable, everybody loves him, he's a HUGE young man, almost as tall as my husband (who's 6'6") and can easily give him a hundred pounds. He's well spoken and funny and just dynamite in the pulpit - I would have sworn he was raised A.M.E. because he preaches just like the best of the downtown black preachers, but turns out he's a cradle Catholic. He makes 'em sit up and open their eyes! Our rector is the Faithful Irish Priest from Central Casting - stocky, ruddy-faced, accent you could cut with a knife, sly sense of humor, no nonsense about him but kind as he can be (I love slightly grouchy old guys, they hold no terrors for me after my father in law who was a bird colonel in the USAF.)
Faith sharing bump.
Are you suggesting that the Bishop should deny the sacraments to students who can't publicly recite on demand?
The catechism doesn't cover much of the Catholic life that has been lost, like the May Crownings and other devotions the author mentions. A good Tridentine missal has filled out those areas for me.
I think parents were in the habit of outsourcing their faith education duties to the parish or the Catholic schools, which exacerbated the problem when those went into catechetical decline.
I was really commenting on the anxiety of the kids (actually, mostly of the program leaders who didn't want to look bad in front of the new guy.) As it turned out though, they had done a good job teaching the kids, and they were able to handle anything the Abp threw at them.
If they've been properly instructed in the essentials of the faith (rather than just handed a bunch of touchy-feely stuff with no content), it shouldn't be a problem. Unless you had a kid who was painfully shy . . . but my daughter is about as shy as they come and she had no difficulty (although I'm sure the archbishop was wishing he hadn't asked "Who was St. Martin of Tours?" because he got a two paragraph answer (and she could have given him ten if he hadn't thanked her.)) Remember these aren't the little kids any more, they're confirming them now as high school sophomores or freshmen. My daughter was one of the older students, because we had come in sideways from the Episcopal Church and the poor kid had to get confirmed AGAIN.
Speaking of which, the Episcopal confirmation class was a joke. They didn't learn much of anything about the history of the church, the liturgy, Scripture, or theology. They just talked about their "feelings" for the entire class. I attended a couple of classes, and my daughter and I started counting the times the facilitator said "Faith Journey". We quit counting at 50 because we were laughing so hard people were looking at us funny.
It was a good thing she got reconfirmed in a Church that actually (1) believes; and (2) teaches it to the kids.
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