Fellow Catholics...

B-chan ^ | 2002.10.08 | B-chan

[B-Chan]

Fellow Catholics:

Are you tired of modernist impiety, post-Conciliar disrespect, and hippie embellishments at your parish Mass? Are you frustrated at the cavalier attitude that some so-called extraordinary ministers -- or even priests -- have towards the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord? Are you nauseated by Communion-In-The-Round, liturgical Soul Train, Communion-in-the-Paw, and bare-bellied altar girls? Are you sick of being made to feel uncomfortable simply because you don't wish to join hands during the Pater Noster -- or because you are the only person in your parish who knows what "pater noster" means?

Are you tired of AmChyrch's constant drive to be "inclusive" instead of being Catholic? Do you pray for the day when you can go into a Catholic church that looks, feels, and smells like a Catholic Church is supposed to?

Well, your prayers have been answered. Thanks to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, you now have the option of worshipping Christ in a mass that really conforms to the rubrics, where altar chicks, New Age kum-bah-yah, rock and roll "praise orchestras" and liturgical dance are unknown -- a 100% Roman Catholic mass, Pope-approved, and the way it used to be, complete with incense, kneeling at an altar rail, Communion on the tongue, and a judicious and proper usage of Greek and Lain along with a beautiful, traditional English liturgy.

No, you don't have to go to the schismatics, integrists, or sedvecantists for this kind of mass. You only have to go as far as the Pastoral Provision for the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite. Thanks to the Pastoral Provision graciously granted by His Holiness more than a decade ago, Anglican priests and congregations wishing to reconcile with Rome were received into the Roman Catholic Church and allowed to celebrate the mass according to the lovely and dignified Anglican Usage (corrected to conform to the norms of the Church). But these parishes aren't for ex-Anglicans only; any Catholic is welcome to worship at an Anglican Use parish. There, you'll find a traditional mass setting sans modern "improvements": kneelers, processions, approriate music performed on appropriate instruments, traditional vestments worn at the appropriate times, incense, shrines, lovely statuary, the works. You are welcome and encouraged to kneel during the Consecration, genuflect before the Body and Blood, receive Him in both Kinds on the tongue while kneeling reverently at an altar rail, and adore Him at regular and well-publicized Adorations. You can confess your sins in a real confessional , be absolved by a real priest of God who believes in sin and in penance, and say the rosary as often as you like. And all of this without worrying if your priest or bishop is a poofter, a Protestant, or a part of some fringey radical outfit.

Fellow Catholics, if you're tired of being herded to Communion like customers at a fast-food drive-thru window; if you're tired of loopy liturgy, hippie hagiography, and gum-snapping teenagers handling the Body and Blood of Our Lord like Triscuits and Kool-Aid at a middle-school mixer, then do something about it. Visit the Pastoral Provision website for more information or, better still, check out a Pastoral Provision parish in person.

I think you'll be glad you did.

[american colleen]

Can I do anything about this? I am appalled that they are roaming freely to do their damage... confusing the sheep. They are pretty well known, it seems - Fr. John Burchill, OP and Sr. Barbara Metz, SNDdeN, authors of a book on enneagrams, etc. The thing is, they do throw in some traditional Catholic teachings, so it makes what they say regarding "centering" and referring to God as a "She" and the "enneagram method" believable. I was thinking of writing a letter to my parish priest and the Cardinal (Law) documenting some of the stuff that has been recorded elsewhere and also my experiences so far with them. But you know the trouble Cardinal Law is in and my parish priest is the one that let them in the door, he once told me we need to pull away from Rome, so I don't think he opposes them. The pastoral assistant nun is the one behind this and I just realized she is not a nun in the Archdiocese of Boston, she's a Franciscan from the Archdiocese of Providence, RI... I wonder if crossing Archdioceses is allowed? She's also a member of "Voice of the Faithful" and faithfully pushes the meetings each week in the parish bulletin.

Why don't the Bishops and Cardinals do something about these people?

That is so sad you had such a bad experience with that priest. I'm so glad you wrote to his bishop, hopefully something will be done.

[american colleen]

Sadly, I think the ones offended by these people are in the minority. The majority thinks they are fine (from what I can tell) and the rest just don't care.

It's disheartening.

[dsc]

I don't think there's any need to wait for majority approval before taking the trash out.

[Salvation]

My son attends St. Mark's Anglican Church in Portland. But I don't know if it falls in this category.

[Jeff Chandler]

Keeping a holy attitude becomes a challenge when there's a teenage girl in skin-tight pants sashaying around the altar...

Or how about the "Liturgical Dancers", or Altar Nymphs, as I call them.

[dsc]

That can't really be happening, surely.

[american colleen]

You must have wonderul priests and nuns in your parish because I don't think it is that easy to "get them out." It's kind of like the homosexual abusing priests issue - a "bit" of a coverup. I don't see many/any priests brought into the chancery for a talking to... and we have plenty of dissenting priests and nuns in our Archdiocese (home of Boston College, Holy Cross, etc).

The thing is, these guys and gals mix some ortho stuff into their teaching/preaching, so sometimes it isn't anything straight out that you can put your finger on. Like the "centering" prayer talk yesterday - they also mentioned "Lectio Divina," which is a beautiful form of contemplative prayer and mentioning LD had the effect of confusion, but legitimate teaching. Most of the time it is just the horribly watered down/never mentioned things that corrupts the fullness of the Catholic faith and is responsible for the long term apathy or irrelevance outcome that people feel. IMO, of course!

[Snuffington]

The things I've come to understand is that the "dissenters" do not like traditional Catholicism as it was understood before the 1970s.

You're not alone in that observation. I have noticed the same. There is a strong current within the Church of people who hate and despise true Catholic tradition and teaching. And many of those people occupy important positions within the Church hierarchy and bureaucracy. At the very least, that's flirting with apostacy.

That is one of the reasons I'm reflexively leery of those who harp on the "danger" of extending the indult. The Mass practiced by the Church through the centuries by definition cannot be harmful to the faith. But of course, that presumes we're talking about the same faith.

[sockmonkey]

My son attends St. Mark's Anglican Church in Portland. But I don't know if it falls in this category

No, it is not a Roman Catholic Parish. It is part of the Anglican Church in America. I think they are part of the Traditional Anglican Communion, which uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and don't have women Bishops, Priests or Altar Servers.
I guess they are kinda the SSPX of the Episcopal Church.

[Desdemona]

Everything is stripped down to just "ourselves" - and me, me , me is very prevalent. Everything is about love and how much God loves us, very little about sin,

Too much acid and LSD when Nixon was in office? This was the tripe I was taught in HS. This is totally in line with the "boomer culture" take on life. It's the larger culture speaking, not God. I'm younger than boomer and frankly, I'm not really wild about the mess they've made.

The thing is, they appear to be very nice people, have very soothing voices,

Don't ever trust a soft, soothing voice unless you're putting a baby to sleep. People with soft, soothing voices are so...so...I don't think there's word to describe it. They're just trying to lull others to zombism. And they're control freaks, usually, too.

[american colleen]

Don't ever trust a soft, soothing voice unless you're putting a baby to sleep. People with soft, soothing voices are so...so...I don't think there's word to describe it. They're just trying to lull others to zombism. And they're control freaks, usually, too.

This is a riot! Thanks for making me laugh and feel like less of a jerk. I've always felt that way about people with soft, soothing, lulling voices. I wonder if they really have something hidden behind it or if they are just plain nutz. The voices just seem so phony. Lots of "religious" people I know have them, and some of them are definitely nutz. Then I mentally upbraid myself for being so sceptical, but I do usually avoid them afterwards.

[Desdemona]

The voices just seem so phony.

Well, they are. I could go into a whole technical explaination on how they're not using their abdominal muscles to push the sound, but... People with soft voices, I've found, are obsessed with control or use the softness to project a picture of helplessness and thus using others, when they are perfectly capable.

There's also an element of polish, upper-class/upper-middle class, eastern style involved. It's considered mannered by people who don't believe manners are more than skin deep.

[dadwags]

"The Novus Ordo is normative"

---

My understanding is, that the Tridentine Mass is very strict,as to rubrics, whereas the NO has allowance for any combination of vernacular and Latin that best suits the congregational situation . Check out the Mass on EWTN . It is Novus Ordo with lots of Latin and a bit if Greek .
In my Parish, they always sing the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.(during Lent and Advent) Then the cantor chants the Communion Verse in Latin .

[dadwags]

"Voice of the Faithful" sounds a bit oxymoronic to me .:)

[Dusty Rose]

I can't believe that you are still active in that parish! It's time to "shake the dust" and move on. In this case, your prayer for these people will do more than your presence. Please, get yourself and your family into a Catholic community in tune with your values and beliefs. You need to be where you can truly be nourished spiritually, not looking for a barf bag!

[american colleen]

I feel such a relief that my kids won't be in CCD classes this year! I read somewhere that "that which is equally relevant becomes irrelevant" and this is what has happened. You have the type that likes innovation (but the innovations become old and have to be constantly replaced) and then you have the type that sees everything being made relevent, and pretty soon, everything does become irrelevent (which is the major problem the Catholic Church in America has now, IMO), so people bother with nothing, and then you have the ones that cling to Catholic tradition - which never can lead you astray or give you that less than full feeling. But I think the latter group is in the minority.

[american colleen]

Thanks, Des. I learn new stuff here all the time, and your post regarding vocal sound is a valuable lesson for me. I'm not that smart or educated, but thank God, I have common sense and good instinct, I guess.

There's also an element of polish, upper-class/upper-middle class, eastern style involved. It's considered mannered by people who don't believe manners are more than skin deep.

So it is all affected! Thanks, I suspected as much.