Priest forced to leave parish after beautifying church, celebrating Mass as normal amid COVID

LifeSite News ^ | May 19, 2021 | Dorothy Cummings Mclean

[ebb tide]

Priest forced to leave parish after beautifying church, celebrating Mass as normal amid COVID

According to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, beautifying the church was part of a ‘pattern of failing to comply with archdiocesan administrative policies and directives from the Office of the Bishop.’

O’FALLON, Missouri, May 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A priest who brought beautiful art and liturgy to his parish has been forced into retirement, allegedly for disobedience. But his parishioners believe that both they and their tradition-loving priest are being punished for celebrating mask-free Masses.

Fr. Ray Hager, now 60, was interviewed by one of the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ own periodicals, the St. Louis Review, in 2018, after he oversaw the renovation of the sanctuary of St. Barnabas the Apostle Catholic Church in O’Fallon, Missouri. As the magazine noted, Auxiliary Bishop Mark Rivituso consecrated the altar, and it had been 37 years since the church had had a “major renovation.”
St. Barnabas before the renovations
St. Barnabas after the renovations

Now, Bishop Rivituso mentioned the beautification of the church as part of a “pattern of failing to comply with archdiocesan administrative policies and directives from the Office of the Bishop.”

[ebb tide]

Ping

[dinodino]

I’m sorry, but it really looks great after the renovation—night and day, actually.

[EC Washington]

The next Pastor or Parish Administrator will rip out everything out and re-paint the walls blank white.

[doc maverick]

This is crap and I am not even Catholic. This antichrist Francis has to go. Pope Benedict never would have done something like this and neither would have Pope John Paul.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Looks like he was celebrating the Latin Mass, too.

That’s a big no-no according to Pope Soros.

[ebb tide]

More importantly, for the first time in seven years, the parish received converts into the Catholic Church. Murphy reported that all five of them were under 30 and regularly attended the traditional Latin Mass.

[ocrp1982]

For a very long time, many many years, the Catholic Faithful have been under ATTACK by Francis and his minions. The Anti-Christian forces backing the Marxist and LGBTQ+ political objectives have been in control of the Catholic Church.
Their INFILTRATION of The Church began in earnest in the 1960’s. It has escalated inevitably ever since.
The Anti-Christians have taken over The Catholic Church. They control The Church. They dominate the upper echelons of The Church’s Hierarchy. We are living in Very Dark Times.
God help us all.

[Slyfox]

Things are happening for a reason.

What God is doing is preparing us like we do when we are blowing balloons. We have to stretch the balloon first then it is much easier to accept our breath.

Like this faithful priest, we all must accept every little thing as God prepares us for the Holy Spirit.

[Steve Van Doorn]

This is Vatican art

[Oscar in Batangas]

The new and improved altar now looks a lot like Catholic Church altars in the Philippines — even in the less endowed parishes.

[Spacetrucker]

What the hell???? Is Francis celebratory of S*tan?

[FreedomPoster]

My reaction to that first picture as well, that it looks like a vision of the innards of Hell.

[Petrosius]

Looks like he was celebrating the Latin Mass, too.

There are no altar cards so he is celebrating the new Mass facing the altar, which is, in theory, allowed.

[livius]

I hate that evil-looking piece of “art” in the Papal Audience Hall. It was done in 1971, under Paul VI and at the nadir of Catholic Church art, but it certainly fully expresses the (evil) “spirit of Vatican II.”

I saw it in person years ago when BXVI was still pope, and seeing somebody so good standing in front of something so evil and horrifyingly ugly made a real contrast. I never knew why somebody didn’t do something to remove it during his reign...possibly cost, possibly fear of stirring up the left, who of course love it.

[Campion]

That hideous building is Paul VI’s fault, not Francis’.

[GreyFriar]

From an austere interior as to be found in Protestant churches to a pre-Vatican II standard Roman Catholic church interior. Just replace the crucifix with a bare cross and one would never guess it was a Catholic church, without seeing the sign out front.

I prefer the renovated interior and see it as an aid to meditation and prayer, NOT a worship of icons.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Yeap. Pope Paul VI allowed Satanist to rule the church which is exactly what Aleister Crowley required for his twisted idea of the reversed Da’at.