Posted on 07/15/2008 7:59:55 AM PDT by Pyro7480
The Eucharist was stolen Friday from the tabernacle at Corpus Christi Cathedral on the 500 block of North Upper Broadway, police said.
Corpus Christi Police Lt. Raymond Lara said the Eucharist, the consecrated bread used in Catholic Mass, was taken after someone entered the church through an open door. The exact time of the theft has not been determined and there have been no arrests made in the case, Lara said.
Corpus Christi Cathedral officials would not comment when reached Monday.
The college student, the professor (who reportedly has acquired a consecrated host), and now this.
Well, they know what they’re doing when it comes to this thought process: “break/open tabernacle, take Host, turn around, run away, commit unspeakable sacrilege with said Host.” But they sure don’t seem to know the eternal consequences! Or, at the very least, they haven’t got a clue that they’re on the “wrong side,” and that the very Book inspired by the self-same Triune God they seek to violate in the Eucharist makes it clear that they will lose out in the end.
Agreed, but I think they have made their choice and serve their master well. I pray they change before it is too late.
Hmmmm....wonder if it’s somebody responding to PZ Myers’ internet call to kidnap one and send it to him, so he can photograph himself doing naughty things to it?
CNA had good coverage of this outrageous and provocative gesture:
A Minnesota professor and science blogger has said he will personally desecrate the Eucharist and publish photos of the desecration on the internet if any of his readers acquire a consecrated Host and mail it to him. Ill show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare, he has written.
Paul Zachary Myers, an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota at Morris, made the threat while commenting on a University of Central Florida incident in which a student senator stole and held hostage a consecrated Host from a June 29 Mass.
...
Professor Myers criticized the incident in a derisive July 8 post on his science blog Pharyngula, hosted at scienceblogs.com. He also solicited his readers to acquire consecrated Hosts.
Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? Myers wrote. if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, Ill show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I wont be tempted to hold it hostage but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web.
Don’t they lock their tabernacles? I’ve never been in a parish that didn’t. Considering the value of some of the altar containers (if for nothing else), it only makes sense.
That is generally not the case. Unless Eucharistic Adoration is going on - and the Church must not be unattended in such an event - it is extremely likely that a church may be unlocked and unattended. Perhaps the increase in these desecrations points to new realities, and volunteers - gathered largely from the ranks of retirees with the time to do this - might be needed to "watch and pray" in the churches in order to keep them open all day, every day.
For many years, it has been true that most inner-city churches have kept their doors closed when no Mass or other scheduled event is going on. That's an awful shame; when my own parents were young here in Boston, virtually every Catholic Church was open 24/7. Except for a few shrines where there is a more-or-less guaranteed, continuous flow of people coming in and out all day, this is no longer the case. Even the cathedral is shut tight except when Mass is going on! It will be even worse if Catholic Churches "everywhere" have to bolt the doors, too.
It is a miracle of forbearance that Our Lord stays His Hand!
Well, they may have broken into it with tools. Or they might have picked the lock. Many older tabernacles have a lock that is simple enough that only a skeleton key is needed to open them. Or...you’re right, and no one bothered to lock the tabernacle that day, or simply forgot to.
In addition to locking the Tabernacle, the Knights of Columbus have Volunteered to watch all communicants that receive the host to make sure that none of them make off with it.
Perhaps other parishes might start something similar.
How could they get into the locked tabernacle?
I am not sure if my Church locks the door at night. Not long ago, one of the Priests mentioned either it had started or was going to start.
God has an interesting ability to make something good out of an otherwise bad thing or situation. Perhaps the ease with which people can do these things while receiving Communion in the hand will lead to the abolition of the practice. And, even though it’s a lot harder to preserve the Eucharist intact once It’s in a person’s mouth, it still might not be a bad idea to get the K of C (or a similar group) lined-up to do what you suggest in every parish! ;-)
I hope they have their swords at the ready...yes, I know they are probably not in their regalia, but I like the idea of them being dressed in their KoC uniforms while on duty.
My husband's just a 4th kyu aikidoka (so that ain't him in the pic - in his dojo you're not entitled to wear the hakama til you get to 2nd kyu) . . . but he's a whiz with that stick. And he used to be head usher at our old Episcopal parish. And he's 6'6" and about 240#.
I'd hate to have to spare him from the choir, but it would be a pretty reckless little college boy who didn't do exactly what the old man told him to . . . .
. . . . and then of course there's our rector, who is a little fireplug of an Irishman who is built like a middleweight boxer . . . . and our parochial vicar, who is ex-military . . . . .
All in all, not the sort of parish that you would want to mess with, particularly.
They don’t call it the Church Militant for nothing.
The whole country has gone insane?
What motivates them?
Arrogance.
Further, their arrogance is fed by their insulation from life’s realities.
Unlike the real world, they have tenure.
PZ got a host? Hmm.. I honestly thought that nut job didn't have the guts.
Pray for him. As I have said in other threads I have chatted with someone claiming to be him on another blog site. He is a very angry and said man, who is trying to punish God for something. Pray that he might find peace.
Satan
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.