When the Deacon's Bench is on the same page with Rorate Caeli concerning the liturgical abuse and disaster of this priest's OF Mass below you know we have problems! And think of these high school boys from a pricey swanky Catholic school who attended this wet and in bathing suits poolside what it does to their sense of Catholic spirituality and liturgical piety not to mention seriousness of Catholic liturgical reverence.
To the priest celebrating Mass this way I say Really! Are you serious?
From the Deacon's Bench:
24 comments:
This looks like fairly normal stuff for youth and young adult ministry. I've been called upon to offer Holy Mass in all kinds of places and with all sorts of arrangements for such groups. While I share this deacon's sentiments, perhaps he needs to get out more so he can understand what's been going on in the real world since the late Sixties.
"This looks like fairly normal stuff for youth and young adult ministry. "
WOW, that thinking pretty much explains a great deal of the problems in the Church today.
Sancrosanctum Concilium clearly states " no one, not even a priest may add, remove or change ANYTHING in the liturgy of their own accord". That is what Vatican II stated. Not the so called spirit of the council, but the council itself. Nowhere in the GIRM is what's happening in that picture permitted. This is clericalism at it's height.
The Mass is the re presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary. At every Mass we are with Our Lady on the slopes of Calvary at the crucifixion of the Savior of the world. Our Lord's sacrifice deserves better. That picture was taken in 2014 in a VERY wealthy suburb of Philadelphia. I'm sure there was a church available. There was no reason for this.
This is nothing more that a modernist priest who thinks the liturgy belongs to him and he can do whatever he wants with it. Arrogance, pride, clericalism.
AND.....on a totally different level........for the last ten years the Church, the priesthood has been dragged in the mud because of sexual sins committed by priests and excused/covered up by bishops. Why is a priest surrounding himself with half naked young men? Why?
And before the liberals start with Christ being naked on the cross, just stop. That is a completely different matter. Christ suffered completely on the cross for us which is a completely different thing than a priest getting his jollies by being around half naked young boys. It's sick, and the the archbishop should address this.
I agree! The yuck factor with half naked adolescents at Mass poolside, given the facts of clerical sexual abuse figures into this blatant liturgical abuse and one wonders if there isn't a connection between the two in terms of a priest's mentality, ie clericalism!
This liturgical abuse took place in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at a school called La Salle. The priest celebrating the "mass" is Fr. Tony Janton. The ordinary of this diocese is Archbishop Charles Chaput. Here is his public email address that he encourages the laity to use to contact him. He will respond back to you within 24 hours. If anyone would like to express your concerns to the bishop, here is the address.
shepherd@chs-adphila.org
"This looks like fairly normal stuff for youth and young adult ministry. I've been called upon to offer Holy Mass in all kinds of places and with all sorts of arrangements for such groups."
But, Fr. JBS, I assume you do not commit the abuse of celebrating Holy Mass sans chasuble, wearing only alb and stole. (Just to mention the most visible abuse in the photo, without imagining what more serious liturgical abuse may have occurred in this travesty.)
Seriously, I wonder how those staging "youth and young adult ministry" Masses can be so far out of touch with today's youth as to assume the prehistoric (to them) foolishness of forty years ago would appeal to today's generation.
More seriously, I wonder how in an archdiocese with a highly regarded ordinary, such stuff as this fails to get a priest's faculties removed.
Had I been there I would have had no compunction about pushing 'Father Tony' into the pool, tea-tray and all.
So...JBS...the guy who campaigns against us who sign on as "anonymous", wants proper I.D. for all, is not only "anonymous" himself (JBS, Anon, same thing) but is a priest. I'm not a priest. I don't know why all of the priests here, and I'll bet there are quite a few, do not identify themselves as such.
I wonder if it could be that they fear that what they say here may not sit well with other priests? OR Bishops? Come on everybody...fess up...man up.
As a corrective, here are some pictures of a very reverent looking OF mass, celebrated yesterday by Guido Marini at the Basilica Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime, Syracuse:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.560225754082602.1073741837.425400630898449&type=3
Or for that matter children in football/soccer uniforms at Mass pending the afternoon games. This was not Mass at Mount Suribachi. The kids not only could have, they SHOULD have been able to at least dress accordingly to show them how to prioritize their lives. This is fitting the Mass into the convenience of our lives, rather than fitting our lives into the Church and following Christ. Mass for coal miners, yes, mass for the poor labour ears in sweatshops, yes. Mass at poolside so I can get in a quick dip, NO!
"JBS, Anon, same thing"
Wrong. "JBS" is a handle that identifies the writer from one of his comments to another.
"Anonymous" provides no such identification. Rather, confusion between the various different commentors who have no identifiable handles.
So you miss the point entirely. Those of us--including me--who "campaign against those who sign on as Anonymous", don't care in the slightest what is the real life identity of a commentor. We just want to see an identifiable handle that correlates different comments by the same blog persona.
Thus, as I've remarked before, "anonymous137" is an acceptable blog signature, while "anonymous" is not. Get it now?
Henry,
I'm afraid my attention was drawn only to the makeshift Holy Altar, rather than to the attire of the priest or congregants.
I have often made do with the simplest of altars, and in my first few years of ordination I even carried an altar stone with me on such occasions. I now have a Russian "corporal" (I forget what they call it) with a relic sewn in, that I can place beneath the Roman corporal. Nursing homes don't always permit candles, so battery-powered ones become necessary. In Mass at apartment complexes and trailer parks, someone stands beside me with an electric megaphone. Jails are a whole other arrangement. Mass and youth events are unpredictable and uncontrollable (if you protest against any of the arrangements, you're never invited back). Etc.
Henry, It is really of little concern to me whether my "blog signature" is "acceptable" to you.
Are you a priest too?
I have to agree with Fr JBS, sometimes we have to make due with the cards dealt...
Maybe someone should donate one of those portable altars for travel for him.
When I was first ordained (1996) I would have had no qualms about celebrating Mass exactly like this, except that I would have been branded, by priests in my diocese, my parish and my seminary, as a right wing conservative priest (and I would have believed it, too, so brainwashed was I!) for having the audacity to wear an alb and stole instead of simply a stole draped over my own swimsuit. Although I started to figure out the truth while still in the seminary, it took me years to unlearn so much of what I was taught while there (and I still find false teachings tucked deeply away every once in a while). Unfortunately, most of those who were in seminary with me, as well as those who taught there and those who owned, ran and are morally responsible for it, have never had the light go on to tell them that this is an abomination. Please continue to pray for priests and, most especially, bishops, for satan has been and continues to attack viciously, most especially through an unworthy celebration of the sacraments. (And for the anonymous whiner, yes, I am a priest.)
Anon, you must be the only person on this blog who did not know that JBS is a priest. He has mentioned it many times and has never tried to hide the fact.
Fr. Edwin,
Yes indeed prayers promised!!
Sorry, anonymous. "Whiner" should have been "writer".
Here's another ministry for youth both Catholic and not that involves sports teams but is showing signs of making a real difference.
http://www.sportsleader.org/about
I happen to know one of the founders and have watched this ministry grow for the past 10 years or so. It's the real deal.
Kids who go through the program are coming out more active in their faith life. Coaches involved are becoming involved in the Church in other ways too beyond sports...
Anonymous at 5:35 pm 8/25,
Just trying to help you. For if you merely "Anonymous", then the substance of your comments is not likely to be given much weight by readers.
In which case the loss is yours, not theirs. Assuming you're not just blowing hot air, but want your opinions to actually "count".
And no, not a priest, I'm rather proud of my lay status, with its privileges, obligations, and contributions quite distinct from those of the clergy. I assume most of the regular participants here know I'm the Henry E. of some other blogs. Just as they know who JBS and Pater Ignotus are, and even what their parishes are.
We're all entitled to an occasional Freudian Slip.
Your Freudian slip is showing ...
Henry, I am quite content to remain "merely anonymous", and for readers to give whatever weight they choose to my comments. I am not here to make my opinions count. As I have said before, I am here as the "loyal opposition, the "devils advocate" and to marvel at and enjoy the sometimes strange, primitive views that are expressed...also (as I have said before) to add a bit of spice to what can be an endless discussion about Latin and lace and tongues and kneeling.
Peace be with you, and thank you for your attempt to help me.
My Freudian Slip remark was for Fr. Edwin Palka.
primative
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