Posted on 05/03/2016 5:22:00 PM PDT by Morgana
IMHO, they will never address the vocations issue without making Catholic education available to more young people. In my area so many of the schools are closed, and CCD is a poor substitute.
Altar girls are a disaster; beyond dangling the false promise of priestesses in front of these young girls, the implementation was ridiculous: Each ordinary would decide whether or not his diocese would have them. How can a new bishop “undo” them when his predecessor implemented them? (Obviously they can’t/won’t...)
Amen!
This leads to vocations to the diaconate and priesthood.
One of the churches in my vicariate has only altar boys. And you guessed right, they also have an ordination of someone from their parish nearly every year.
Proof of the pudding!
I disagree.
Wow. We’re going to Europe in August through October. I’m pretty sure we can find a Mass in Shrewsbury, our first stop. By the following Sunday we will be in Basel visiting a friend and I’ll make him find us a place. Then there will be one Sunday we’re on our own and then to a wonderful conference where we will have Mass every day in a restored monastery. But your comment about abandoned Churches in Western Europe troubles me. We attend Mass in a wonderful vibrant parish here in Eastern Kansas. I am thankful every day for this access to faith.
I was a jittery, but proud Altar Boy back in the 60’s, starting when I was about 8 years old.
It was a good thing in many ways. My duties at the church got me used to showing up on time, and working (or appearing to work) at cleaning the rectory after other tasks were done. That, in effect was my first job outside the home, and for people not family. I also knew any transgression or tale of foolish behavior would be duly tattled to my parents.
Something I definitely did not want. I was not much into sports then, so this was a good activity for me after school.
I even got to practice my Latin, so I’d know when to ring those bells.
The silliest part of this thread is the comment about girls assisting Mass in "ridiculously high heels."
Obviously, Catholic families unclear on the concept.
I was raised in a Catholicism where the rules were clear and simple - you accepted the Church teachings, or you didn't. Your "opinion" didn't matter. Thus, when I reached the point where my opinion didn't agree with the Church, I never felt I had any right to challenge the Church, nor did I necessarily "decide" to leave it. It's more like I just recognized I wasn't in it anymore, with literally no alternative.
And though some here believe this "two distinctly different churches" is a heretical, nonexistent or trivially resolved matter, I saw it rip my own family in half - not over me, but over whether Catholics should have a "say" in the interpretation of Church teachings. The pro-feminist American Catholic Church, which was in open defiance of Rome, was accepted by one parent, while the Traditional Catholic Church was accepted by the other. Then Rome itself started to change, and now we have Francis.
So whether I'm a Catholic remains a mystery, because I still believe the level of choice I have in deciding the matter remains unresolved, because Catholicism itself is now unresolved - unless you feel free discarding the teachings of the Pope, which is a whole issue in itself. That's why this quote, this article, means so much to me - its an acknowledgement of the depth of this rift. Because though it affects millions, and is addressed by Rome in a variety of ways, it is not at all acknowledged as a legitimate problem of conscience BY Rome, even now, even after so many "Catholic" churches have gone their own way.
Also, that people have actually found it necessary to curse me over these observations is something I've found astounding. Especially since we've reached the point where many absolutely "solid" Catholics believe they can call the Pope a heretic! My theory is that these unresolved schisms have driven some Catholics insane - they need it resolved, and so they simply pick a side and then go militant over it. So they're really not into Catholicism, but mere stress relief. As a result, like the liberals many "Catholics" have become, they indulge in brittle aggressiveness to defend their "safe space."
My daughters will never be alter “servers” as they are now referred to. Our cathedral is down for a few years for repairs and updating, so we are at a more liberal church. That is so weird to type because the parish is very conservative Catholic. At the cathedral, father never had female servers.
CCD is impossible, we get them for an hour and 15 minutes after a long day at school and we don’t have it in the summer.
Amen! Amen!
Prayers for you.
Thank you.
“I’m pretty sure we can find a Mass in Shrewsbury”
http://www.shrewsburycathedral.org/
“Basel”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solothurn_Cathedral I wonder how far Basel is from Soluthurn???
My diocese in NJ primarily ordains foreign priests; the few Americans that are ordained are normally middle-aged men. The lack of access to Catholic schools has been disastrous for setting examples for young people (both boys and girls).
I agree; it is too little and not very effective.
Despite strong Catholic faith, my vigilant parents shrewdly shopped parishes, closely controlled after hours school activities, and steered me and my two brothers away from becoming altar boys. In that manner, my parents protected us from becoming victims of the clerical predators operating at our high school and in the area parishes.
Not all of our friends and schoolmates were so fortunate. Might some chatty, observant, and hard to control altar girls have helped ward priestly predators away from the altar boys? I surmise that would sometimes be the case.
Traditional Catholic parishes and dioceses are the major source of new priestly vocations in America. Nevertheless, nested deep in other sectors of the American church, networks of gay priests hold on, discouraging and even blocking vocations by straight, traditional males. With that in mind, it seems that ditching altar girls will do nothing to break the pink Mafia that continues to weaken and subvert American Catholicism.
Another reason every priest needs to instigate adult catechesis in his parish!
Thanks. I’m a fan of Brother Cadfael so was hoping for Mass at the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul.
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