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It May Not Be Realized Yet
San Francisco Faith ^ | STEPHEN FRANKINI

Posted on 03/26/2004 6:47:24 PM PST by Land of the Irish

Helen (a pseudonym) describes herself as devoutly Catholic. She attends St. Anne's Parish Community in Discovery Bay in the diocese of Oakland. Most parishioners there, she says, are excited about the changes in the parish made by their pastor, Father Ron Schmit -- who is also chairman of the art and design committee (formerly referred to as the liturgy committee) for the new Oakland cathedral.

Helen, though, told me a few of the things that bothered her about the parish. For one thing, she said, Father Schmit is very proud that he will be acquiring for the parish a crucifix with a fully naked Jesus. (Another parishioner I talked to joked that perhaps this was Father's way of teaching the pope's Theology of the Body). Another thing that angered Helen happened at Christmas Eve Mass, when two girls, between the ages of ten and twelve, pretending to be Joseph and Mary, danced at Mass to a song with the words, "would you pick some grapes from the tree." Their dresses, Helen said, had slits that went up to the waist.

According to Helen, St Anne's sometimes uses leavened bread for its hosts. "It rose and was sweeter than it should be," she said. "My mother called the rectory, and they insist it's unleavened. They got the recipe off the internet."

Helen is not alone in her confusion about what is happening at her church.

Joyce Davis lived in Discovery Bay for six years, up until 2002, and was a parishioner of St. Anne's. She told me that the pastoral associate, Gail McGuire, reads the Gospel once a month at the Children's Mass and delivers the homily. Davis said she received a letter from Father Schmit in which he said that the reason McGuire does this is that she is "good with children" -- even though the children troop out of the church for the Liturgy of the Word. Once McGuire, said Davis, conducted a Eucharistic service (no Mass) and instructed everyone to bring his chair closer to the altar, thus forming a circle. "Everyone took their own Jesus from the ciborium. I couldn't do it," said Davis. "The Eucharist is something given, not taken."

Joyce also informed me that Father Schmit "pulled the kneelers, and pews out of the church, and had a garage sale." She also said Father Ron wrote in the Contra Costa Times in support of gay marriages. In the March 12, 2000 edition of the Contra Costa Times, Father Ron is quoted as being "saddened" that the bishops supported Proposition 22 banning gay marriages in California. He argued that divorce is also condemned in the Bible, but no one is clamoring to make divorce illegal.

According to Joyce, Father Schmit once said, "the Bible is just a bunch of stories." She said he often uses the term "Spirit of Vatican II" to justify his actions. Furthermore, as if Catholic moral teaching were simply suggestions, she claimed Schmit said, "in a perfect world, we could all follow the catechism".

In early February, Schmit delivered a controversial sermon regarding the nature of the parish as well as the priesthood. At the request of parishioners, within the bulletin he distributed a flier that lists the source material he used for his sermon, which Helen faxed to me. Among his sources was a book written by William J. Bausch, called The Parish of the Next Millenium. According to Helen, Schmit recommends this book to those interested in getting involved with ministry.

Schmit's handout includes the following quotations from Bausch's book: "The parish of the Christian millenium will be lay oriented, with shared and collaborative ministry." "It will be grounded not so much in ordination and office as in baptism and charism, wherein the baptismal call to discipleship binds believers in a common mission, and leadership, conferred with broader input, is respectful of others' gifts and ministries." "It will complete the process of moving from a pyramid to a koinonia (communion) church, with a better balance between male and female spiritualities and influence, greater female representation in decision making; there will be married priests and communion with one another across the earth, those gone before and those to come after." "It will stress the wisdom tradition rather than the intellectual, retrieve the mystical and return to a more holistic spirituality." "It will see a new priesthood within and among the people, a common communion in ministry." "It will move closer to a male-female partnership, a real balance of male-female cooperation and ministry."

After these quotations, the handout has these comments from Father Schmit: "Although these predictions by Fr. Bausch may not be realized as of yet, or as quickly as one might hope, nevertheless they should inspire and move all who minister for Jesus in the daily grind that is our human existence."

According to Helen, Father Schmit's teachings are very well received because, as she put it, many in the parish want to "get away from the authoritarian church" and have "lay people making decisions."

Another handout contained a "psalm," titled, "Do This in Memory of Me," from a book, Psalms for Zero Gravity by Edward Hays (Forest of Peace Publishing). The psalm begins: "Beloved Jesus, Lord of the Meal, I rejoice that a mother and a father, laboring for their family, begin and end each day's work saying, 'This is my body, this is my blood.' An adult child nursing a sick elderly parent with compassion and patient care says 'This is my body, this is my blood.'" The "psalm" then lists a preacher, a singer "forgetting self and the audience, making love out of the music," an artist, teacher, dancer, doctor, auto mechanic, office worker -- and all in their work say, "This is my body, this is my blood." In the last verse of the psalm, we learn that "ten thousand thousand consecrations occur daily, as all heaven's angels chime in, 'Holy, holy, holy,' to the thunderous praise of a thousand silent, silver bells. Listen. Listen."

Father Schmit's handout explains the "psalm" in the following "reflection": "Some theologians as late as the twelfth century held that there was no necessary connection between the consecration of bread and wine into Christ's Body and Blood and sacramental ordination. Gary Macy, chairman of the theology department of the University of San Diego and a scholar of the medieval period, discovered that the first document making a distinction between laity and ritually ordained clergy didn't appear until the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215."

Schmit's explanation continues: "To frequently make a gift of yourself in loving compassionate service is being faithful to Jesus, keeping the memory of his gift alive and doing what he did. While his gift-words are officially restricted to the ordained clergy today, Jesus' last request on the night before he died was restricted to neither time nor place, person nor circumstance. We all are called at every moment to live out that request."

I called St Anne's several times to ask Father Schmit to comment for this article. No one returned my calls.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic
KEYWORDS: catholic; novus
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To: Land of the Irish
These "Irish" prelates really make me proud of my ancestry.

Yes, but we all know that it is the Modernist "anti-Jesuits" that it's REALLY hard to live down!

;-)

21 posted on 03/26/2004 8:45:06 PM PST by Viva Christo Rey
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To: Grey Ghost II
Because it more fully conveys the scriptural truth and theological mystery of the crucifixion. It would have been so cool if Mel had found himself capable of this. Maybe people in general are simply incapable of bearing that much truth all at once. That's their misfortune.
22 posted on 03/26/2004 8:45:52 PM PST by Romulus ("Behold, I make all things new")
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To: Romulus
We can't afford original Michelangelos.

Step across Canal Street, three blocks away, and into the French Quarter. I'm sure you'll find a street artist willing to give you whatever you desire, for a very affordable price. Then donate it to St. Patrick's.

I will be anxiously looking for your donation, when I return to New Orleans.

23 posted on 03/26/2004 8:49:36 PM PST by Land of the Irish
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To: Romulus
Because it more fully conveys the scriptural truth and theological mystery of the crucifixion.

Theological mystery???

Who are you kidding!!?

24 posted on 03/26/2004 8:52:55 PM PST by Viva Christo Rey
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To: Romulus
Christ was crucified naked. That is the reality.

I agree with your sentiments here. The theological reality should not be obscured.

25 posted on 03/26/2004 9:01:36 PM PST by sinkspur (Adopt a dog or a cat from an animal shelter! It will save one life, and may save two.)
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To: Land of the Irish; Religion Moderator
Please spare yourself the indifferentist argument that all human nakedness is pornographic, lest you make our crucified Lord a an obscene exhibitionist. Instead, do me and yourself the honor of a thoughtful response worthy of this deadly serious topic, if you can.

I'll be happy to see you next time you come to St. Patrick's. Perhaps you'll sit in on one of the Advanced Discussion groups I moderate every month, the most recent of which included a display of the same image you find so scandalous. I'm pleased to say it provoked an intelligent and reverent response that might prove enlightening to you.

Here's a little something to leave you with. Cover your eyes!


26 posted on 03/26/2004 9:08:41 PM PST by Romulus ("Behold, I make all things new")
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To: Canticle_of_Deborah
Does Bishop Vigneron get the San Francisco Faith delivered to his door?

Don't know, only met him once at the funeral of my retired pastor. I'm sure someone has sent this to him by now.

27 posted on 03/26/2004 9:09:45 PM PST by pbear8 (no complaining...Thanks be to God)
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To: sinkspur; Romulus; Akron Al; Alberta's Child; Andrew65; AniGrrl; Antoninus; ...

How low will they make Him go?

28 posted on 03/26/2004 9:10:32 PM PST by Land of the Irish
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To: Viva Christo Rey
I'm not kidding. The crucifixion is a deeply theological event. It's precisely Christ's complete gift of self in the crucifixion that makes the nuptial gift of self meaningful at all.
29 posted on 03/26/2004 9:11:26 PM PST by Romulus ("Behold, I make all things new")
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To: sinkspur
Christ was crucified naked. That is the reality.

Didn't John cover his nakedness? I can't find the verse.

30 posted on 03/26/2004 9:12:21 PM PST by Aliska
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To: sinkspur
I agree with your sentiments here. The theological reality should not be obscured.

Thank you. I look forward to your discernment from this to an understanding that marital contraception is wrong precisely because it proposes a lie about the way marriage images Christ's unreserved gift of self to his Spouse.

31 posted on 03/26/2004 9:14:45 PM PST by Romulus ("Behold, I make all things new")
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To: Aliska
Me neither.
32 posted on 03/26/2004 9:15:11 PM PST by Romulus ("Behold, I make all things new")
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To: Land of the Irish
I'm with you on those crucifixes. I read that the twisted crucifix was a medieval witchcraft symbol. I don't know if that is true, probably not, but there was a book written by a traditionalist about it that is hard to find that I got from the library on inter-library loan. Wish I could remember the author but I can't at the moment.
33 posted on 03/26/2004 9:18:16 PM PST by Aliska
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To: Religion Moderator; Land of the Irish
Having been declined the courtesy of a response, be advised that I intend to re-post the image you deleted, unless you restore it first.
34 posted on 03/26/2004 9:20:11 PM PST by Romulus ("Behold, I make all things new")
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To: Romulus
Please spare yourself the indifferentist argument that all human nakedness is pornographic

Why don't you post pictures of the naked Blessed Virgin or a naked St. Joseph and call it holy?

35 posted on 03/26/2004 9:22:27 PM PST by Land of the Irish
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To: Aliska
Wish I could remember the author but I can't at the moment.

Was it by the Abbe' Roux or Leroux - I can't quite remember either but the staff/crucifix was supposed to be a mockery and a symbol of the antichrist.

36 posted on 03/26/2004 9:23:04 PM PST by Viva Christo Rey
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To: Romulus
Well, you can get your naked Jesus calendar here (an apologetic website for a naked Jesus here
37 posted on 03/26/2004 9:23:45 PM PST by Aliska
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To: Land of the Irish
The downward facing crosses are disturbing. Heaven is upward, and the downward positioning is not victorious. Christ is conquering hell, not bowing or succumbing to it.

I see other disturbing theological interpretations which I won't share.
38 posted on 03/26/2004 9:24:59 PM PST by Canticle_of_Deborah
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To: Viva Christo Rey
a mockery and a symbol of the antichrist.

We're on the same page.

39 posted on 03/26/2004 9:26:23 PM PST by Canticle_of_Deborah
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To: Romulus; Religion Moderator
be advised that I intend to re-post the image you deleted, unless you restore it first.

Then be advised that I will ask, again, that it be removed. Name me one Catholic Basilica that displays a crucifix of a naked Jesus.

40 posted on 03/26/2004 9:32:24 PM PST by Land of the Irish
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