Posted on 04/09/2004 2:25:01 PM PDT by madprof98
About 70 men and women stood outside the Cathedral of Christ the King in Buckhead on Thursday to protest Archbishop John Donoghue's recent instructions that only men should be allowed to take part in the solemn rite of foot washing.
Donoghue sent a letter to parish priests last month telling them that men were to be selected for the ancient ritual, which takes place on Holy Thursday as Roman Catholic parishes observe the Last Supper of Jesus. Women and children have been included in the rite in metro Atlanta for years, but who can participate is ultimately up to the local bishop.
"This is not a women's issue, this is a justice issue," protest organizer Lalor Cadley told the demonstrators, some holding towels and basins that they later used for a foot-washing ceremony of their own in front of the cathedral.
Some church members obviously didn't agree with the protest, shaking their heads in disapproval as they made their way into the cathedral for evening Mass. At least one heckled the demonstrators.
"They are disobedient and disrespectful," said Coretta Alexander. "They care more about their cause than Christ."
Moments later, Donoghue had words for the protesters when he delivered the evening's homily to a packed house.
"Does it benefit us to make this a pretext for protest?" the archbishop asked. "Some would say yes, but I do not think so."
His words reflected the varied reaction to be found across metro Atlanta on Thursday, where some churches ignored the issue while others ignored Donoghue's edict.
At the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, both in downtown Atlanta, men and woman took part in the foot-washing ceremony, although the ritual at Our Lady of Lourdes was held prior to the regular service.
"I'm glad that some priests in the archdiocese have backbone," said Shrine member Katie Bashor.
Many other churches simply dropped the ritual.
At Transfiguration Catholic Church in Marietta, where the foot-washing ceremony had been a tradition for years, eight women and four men carried towels up the aisle and placed them around the perimeter of the sanctuary. The congregation sang a meditative piece, after which the 12 returned and retrieved the towels. There was no actual foot-washing ceremony.
And at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marietta, where there was also no foot-washing ceremony, new converts — who will be formally joining the church during the Easter Vigil on Saturday — each received a bowl and a towel as a gift during the Holy Thursday Mass.
In Peachtree City, unlike last year, there was no ritual foot-washing at the children's Mass at Holy Trinity Church. In recent years, a dozen girls and boys have participated in the foot-washing in addition to acting as ushers and Scripture readers at the 4 p.m. Mass. The ritual's absence and sparse attendance — there were only about 150 worshippers — were the only noticeable differences from last year.
And then there were people like Joe O'Farrell, a member of the cathedral.
"I'm faithful to the pope and I'm faithful to the archbishop," O'Farrell said. "If you are a Catholic, you accept that there are rules. It's not a democracy."
LOL!! Of course he did.
For ten years!
A valid point, and one that has often crossed my mind.
I do not adhere to SSPX, and disagree with their strategies, but it seems to me that the dissenters within the formal Church are at least as disobedient as most of the so-called "schimatics" in SSPX.
Yet, the SSPXers are treated as pariahs, while the liberals are handled with kid gloves.
The fact that Lefebvre and his Society didn't get excommunicated for this:
We refuse, on the other hand, and have always refused to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.
really says it all concerning the laxity with which the Roman Pontiffs treated the SSPX.
I'm talking about the run-of-the-mill SSPX types.
It just seems like traditionalist dissenters are promptly and harshly dealt with, while modernist abuses are winked at, at least to some degree.
For the humor impaired: yes, it's satire.
I am indeed happy to reaffirm my deep affection and esteem in our Lord Jesus Christ to all the Catholic sons and daughters of the great and illustrious Chinese family. With all the ardour of my heart I feel spiritually present among them, and I assure them that I am especially close to those who have remained faithful to Jesus Christ and to his Church in the midst of difficulties of all kinds, and have testified and continue to testify, even at the cost of deep and prolonged suffering, that the principle of communion with the Successor of Peter, whom the Lord constituted his Vicar and the ' permanent and visible source and foundation of unity of faith and fellowship' (Lumen gentium, n. 18), cannot be renounced by a Catholic who desires to remain such and to be recognized as such. (John Paul II, Letter to Cardinal Tomko)
The CPA was excommunicated already by Pius XII. If it were to have been founded during this Pope's reign, I am sure he would have excommunicated them.
I do not adhere to SSPX, and disagree with their strategies, but it seems to me that the dissenters within the formal Church are at least as disobedient as most of the so-called "schimatics" in SSPX.Yet, the SSPXers are treated as pariahs, while the liberals are handled with kid gloves.
Look, as far as the SSPX is concerned, they are a part of a much larger Catholic Church. They know it is the Church Christ founded that carries His guarantee, not any particular order within the Church. They know, they are not the issue, God's Will is. (They often don't ACT like they know they are not the issue, but they do know that.) Is it conceivable that God's Will include child molesting priests being aided, recruited, enabled and protected by the Weakland's of THIS world? The reality is that the leadership of the RCC in America is demonstrably FAR more swift to punish in every way possible ORTHODOXY in defense of Tradition than they are HETERODOXY in defiance of the same.
Can anyone explain that in a way that makes sense?
The only explanation I can offer is that we have too many bishops that are enamored of the ways of the world. That is why so many of them embrace political correctness, and every goofy liberal cause that they stumble upon, yet reject orthodoxy, piety and obedience to the Magisterium.
They need to remember that they if they are teaching in a way that is easily accepted by secular society, there is probably something wrong.
Depends on when they took place. If they occurred before or after the Mass, they would not be prohibited.
Ah, Sink. Such hypocrisy from a DEATH PENALTY guy...
Prior license to disobey does not constitute grounds for continuing disobedience.
You've become a troll, Sink.
The old "switch the topic to something totally irrelevant" technique.
Clumsy, Sink.
He says, with a troll-like remark.
Argue the point.
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