Omaha: Custodian destroys Mary Poppins mannequin, Buddha on display in Cathedral (Cath Caucus)

I think the custodian is right.

Only completely neutral symbols and Christian symbols should be in a Christian church;Buddhas belong in Buddhist temples and homes NOT in Catholic cathederals.

The Catholic Church in trying to be too inclusive,like too many Protestant churches AND the Republican Party,has wandered away from that which is good .

Fr. Gutsgell needs to reflect on the meaning of the word "consecration". When a church is first built it is "consecrated". This means that it is set aside for the sacred, the worship of God, the celebration of the Divine Mysteries. Flower shows, Mary Poppins displays, even hootenanies.....they may be harmless in themselves but the Church is not the place to hold these things.

There's a time and a place for everything as my mother used to say.

While the local bishop has some leeway, I think “a night at the movies” is not in keeping with the intent of the governing canon:

Can. 1210 Only those things which serve the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion are permitted in a sacred place; anything not consonant with the holiness of the place is forbidden. In an individual case, however, the ordinary can permit other uses which are not contrary to the holiness of the place.

But the sad fact is this is just a building. God’s new dwelling is us. And the application is the same.

You are correct but missing the point.

The vast majority of people are at their core simple people weak in their faith. They go to church once a week at most and if you are lucky pray once a day at the evening meal. These people need all the help they can get to maintain what little faith they have.

For the common parishioner keeping their church a pristine place of utmost respect, a place only for the worship of God is of utmost importance to maintaining their faith.

The Church must remain devoid of any distraction from its focus on the Holy. For the outside world to intrude on the Church’s purpose of bringing people to the recognition of man’s sinfulness and God’s mercy is unacceptable.

The Church must have one purpose to bring us earthly mortals to the recognition of the Glory of God. Any distraction from God puts human souls in jeopardy of damnation.

Every day people are leaving the church because they have been distracted by earthly matters and do not see the need to go to church. People focused on Earthly matters do not see the need to worship God or to pray for the forgiveness of their sins. How does it help them to see that need if when they go to church and see a Mary Poppins dangling from the ceiling?

Solemnity, dignity, reverence and sacred are words that should describe a Catholic Cathedral and not just another building.

Cultural rot has no place in church. There are plenty of places in the world for that sort of thing. God’s house is not one of them.

What is that saying. If you put a clean boy and a dirty boy in a room, does the dirty boy get clean.

Having thought about this I might say yes if the clean boy has the stronger personality.

But I would say in general, (and I think it illustrates my core point rather strongly) that the clean boy will become dirty.

Most people at their core are lazy and it is especially true with boys. People will do the minimum required of them. Two things combat this and they are necessity and peer pressure. If your neighbors keep a nice lawn you feel peer pressure to keep your lawn nice.

If you go to church and you see the trappings of secular life hanging about the church why go to church, you have those things at home.

Working from your analogy; the people of Church is the Clean Boy and the Dirty Boy is worldly things. Don’t bring the Dirty Boy (worldly things) in to the Church because he will provide an impetus on the Clean Boy (the people of the church) to backslide and become dirty.

The Church is for sacred things and the world is for everything else.

The cathedral is not an auditorium or a concert hall. It’s consecrated space where Christ resides in repose in the Tabernacle. The Cathedral grounds probably include a church hall or other public meeting space. That is where you put your movie-themed display, and have fun with the Flower Festival.

I’m with the custodian on this one. I’m sorry he did this the “activist” way, not by rallying the congregation to his cause, but he is right.

Just about every Catholic Church has festivals and fundraisers. None of them have the party in the Church itself.

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