And this will be a great game show name:
NAME THAT PRIEST!
Monday, October 31, 2022
DOCUMENTARY ON THE MODERN MASS: FACT OR FICTION?
Today we don’t need to worry about one man redesigning the Mass, but 1% of disenfranchised and disaffected and non practicing Christians with a few non believers thrown in, redesigning the entire Church.
We’ll no longer be asking what Vatican II wanted, but what does the less than 1% of the synodal Church want. What the Risen Lord wants is irrelevant….
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Saturday, October 29, 2022
THE LEFT LEANING “ULTRAMONTANE” BLOG, “WHERE PETER IS” INADVERTENTLY LETS THE BIG CAT OUT OF THE CAGE CONCERNING THE BIG TENT CIRCUS OF THE CURRENT SELF-ABSORBED AND SELF REFERENTIAL SYNOD ON THE SYNOD…
Where Peter is , Mike Lewis, has a brief article on the circus, as he calls it, that is the synod on the synod and its current document. He quotes Austin Ivereigh who lets us know that even in the committee writing the synthesis, that there is incredulous shock over what is being suggested by less than 1% of those who responded. Of course, Austin is self righteous and condescending toward these his fellow committee members.
Keep in mind, that some of that less than 1% who were polled are not practicing Catholics, former Catholics and non Catholics and non believers. Incredible to say the least and to call this a good sample of Catholics throughout the world. In fact it is shocking. Those who are “orthodox” though, as the blogger says, who he describes as ideological and “rigid” like our pope describes them, will walk away sad, but those who are gnostic about new teachings only revealed to them and a small group of elite “Catholics” will be happy that the Holy Spirit is working through them. These seems to me to be blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, no?
But here is the money byte from “Where Peter is” blog and blogger, Mike Lewis, quoting Austin Ivereigh’s incredible self-righteousness and condescension toward people who are sound and not insane when it comes to the Church:
Our friend Austen Ivereigh was among the members of the drafting committee who met in Frascati, Italy, to synthesize reports from around the world to create this document. He has a reflection in America about the experience. He writes about the importance that the document reflect the voices of the People of God, and the need to avoid giving into the temptation to theologize or make abstract the concrete words of the people of God:
The temptation to theologize, as if what the people had said could not be allowed simply to stand, was ever present in Frascati, an understandable resistance among highly competent and educated people to the humility our synthesizing demanded of us.
In the groups, I experienced the temptation as a kind of dead weight of dullness and banality, and I found it frustrating. Just let the people speak! This became my prayer and my hope for the document. Cardinal Grech and Father Costa were aware of the temptation, too, and went out to meet it. “We have been summoned here with the task of listening to the people of God,” Cardinal Grech reminded us. “If in our synthesis we do not represent what the people of God are trying to say, then we have failed.”
The message landed. The final document stays rooted in the people. But having experienced the temptation in our groups, I became aware of how hard it is, in synodal processes, to really listen to the people, especially for those of us accustomed to analyzing and opining.
There will certainly be much more dialogue, tension, and conflict in the Church over the next two years of this process. This document, remember, is a synthesis of what Catholics would like to see addressed. But there are many disagreements about how these issues should be addressed. Here comes everybody and all that. And plenty of people, especially those with ideologies and rigid agendas will walk away sad. Others will sense the Holy Spirit at work, experience conversion, and be renewed. Some will finally feel listened to. Hopefully the Church will benefit from this grand experiment. Ultimately it will fall to the Successor of Peter to discern what God is asking of the Church when the circus finally ends.
BOMBSHELL: TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS CELEBRATED IN SAINT PETER’S BASILICA’S “ALTAR OF THE CHAIR” ON THE MORNING OF SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2022–WHAT DOES IT MEAN???????
PHOTOS FROM UNA VOCE:ROME: TRADITIONAL SOLEMN MASS HELD TODAY AT THE BASILIC OF SAINT PEDRO OF THE VATICAN - DEO GRATIAS!
(On the Altar of the Cathedral and with great representation of Spanish faithful)
#sumpont2022 #MisaTradicional #tlm #vaticano
Photos: @ MiL - Messainlatino.it
More pictures: http://blog.messainlatino.it/
BIG TENT CATHOLICISM AND INSTITUTIONALIZING WHAT IS ALREADY PRESENT
The Anglican Tradition, especially the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, has always touted itself as the bridge between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Traditionally, the Anglican Communion has had different styles of being “Church”, high, medium and low. Their high branch is more Catholic than the Catholic Church, at least liturgically. It allows for all kinds of high liturgy, to include what looks like the Tridentine Mass and in Latin, no less.
Then there is the medium Anglican expression, more like the Methodist Church or Presbyterian Church.
Then there is the low tradition, that appears more baptist and with keeping with the time, even non-denominational.
Yet all are a part of the big tent of the Anglican Communion and each “congregation” can live and let live. There is no oppression or suppression.
I think this will have to be the model of the Catholic Big Tent Church that Pope Francis desires, although he’ll have to be more open to the traditional movement for it actually to occur.
Our version will be a bridge between the orthodox and the heterodox and everyone in between. Maybe our version will be based upon the Ordinariate Model we already have for the Ordinariate but expanded.
We could have an SSPX and FSSP Ordinariate.
We could have the Church of anything goes Ordinariate, etc.
In other words, the Catholic Church will have to become more “congregational” and with a particular aspect of the Big Tent Circus, I mean, Church. So any given diocese could have different expressions of Catholicism and liturgy, dependent upon the pastoral council and what it desires, regardless of the bishop’s desire. He simply is a rubber stamp. And the same is true of the clergy, the parish hires their staff, to include the priest, and the bishop simply rubber stamps it.
And all of this could be taking place in the same parish complex!
I think this is a great compromise, no?
THIS IS IRONIC BUT HOPEFUl, HOPEFULLY…
Cardinal Zuppi of Bologna just celebrated traditional vespers as reported by Rorate Caeli. I copy a bit of what they put on their blog below. This cardinal is clearly a progressive, pastoral cardinal, but truly liberal, in his pastoral concern for traditionalists. He has also celebrated the EF Mass in Rome, too.
While he would certainly be more in line with Pope Francis’ pastoral theology, I don’t think he is in line with the kind of polarization this papacy is creating, similar to what happened after Vatican II but now on steroids.
Cardinal Zuppi is thought to be a possible candidate for the next conclave. If it is to be another progressive pope, we need one like this.
This is what Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register says about this Cardinal, who, btw, is also the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. So this gesture is certainly a powerful gesture, given Pope Francis animus towards traditionalists:
(Cardinal Zuppi) “has kept the channels of dialogue open with those who favor the Church’s tradition, and has celebrated the traditional Latin Mass on at least two occasions in the past. He also recently visited the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in Gricigliano near Florence and was impressed by the number of vocations it had attracted.”
Cardinal Zuppi, Abp. of Bologna, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, led Traditional Vespers at the oldest standing religious building in Rome, the Pantheon (Sancta Maria ad Martyres), on this first day of the 2022 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage to Rome.
And Edward Pentin has a good article in the National Catholic Register on Cardinal Zuppi and his paradoxes (press title):
Cardinal Zuppi Celebrates Traditional Solemn Vespers in Rome’s Pantheon
Although the Italian cardinal is more widely known for his social activism and closeness to those on Italy’s political left, he is also friendly to adherents of the traditional liturgy.
Friday, October 28, 2022
IS THE SYNODAL CHURCH A CHURCH ABOUT NOTHING IN THE SEINFELD SORT OF WAY?
The Catholic Church, here comes everybody.
But, but, legend has it that when Pope Francis was being vested in his white cassock prior to going out to the loggia to greet those in Saint Peter’s Square, he refused the Mozzetta that now Bishop Guido Marini was handing him. The pope told him, no, the circus is over, so the legend goes.
But that was a mistake. The pope told him the circus has begun, the big tent circus which leads to the Church about noting as everything is allowed.
No one knows what the synod on synod is, except it listens to everyone. Most people listen to many people and a good Church, meaning faithful laity and clergy, bishops and religious, know how to discern what is garbage and what isn’t. The key to this is Jesus Christ, the Deposit of Faith and the perennial magisterium of the Church to assist people in embracing God’s will for them and conversion from the works of sin, death and hell.
A big tent Church that isn’t about saving souls, here and now and in the hereafter is a Church about nothing. Sadly, unlike Seinfeld and his show about nothing, the Church about nothing isn’t funny.
Thursday, October 27, 2022
A UNEXPECTEDLY STUNNING MORALITY PLAY FROM A RUSSIAN TELEVISION PRODUCTION, YES, A RUSSIAN MORALITY PLAY
I have been cursed with a free subscription to Netflix that comes with my cell phone service. I have never used a streaming service until now.
Of course, I have gotten hooked on the apocalyptic series which, when they end, do not tie loose ends together or conclude stories begun. It drives me crazy.
I just starting watching “To the Lake”. I discovered it is a Russian production made in 2019 and only has seven episodes. I like that. I just watched the second installment.
It is very fascinating from several points of view. It is a Russian production. It is very well filmed and directed. I have never watched a Russian TV show and I am blown away by it because it is so good.
It is apocalyptic. Moscow and presumably the world is suffering from a virus (similar to Covid, btw) that is killing people quickly and causing a shut-down, quarantine and chaos. What is fascinating it that this Russian production was made before the Covid Pandemic! Isn’t that interesting!
In the first episode, there is a news scene on television where a doctor lets the cat out of the bag in terms of how bad the epidemic is, only to be censored and what he is saying cut off as it goes to a commercial break. Later there is a parody from social media mocking the government’s response. Keep in mind this is a Russian show made for Netflix (English is dubbed, btw).
There is excellent character development of the main characters, the good, bad and ugly.
Morality figures into the series too. There are two characters, a teenage boy with autism and a teenage girl with all kinds of moral issues and addictions. Yet, there is already in the second episode a maturation of the girl and her stepping up to the plate to help in a desperate situation.
The ending of the second episode, there is an unseen person speaking to the main characters on a Walkie-Talkie-talkie devise. We don’t see him, just hear is voice and he is dying of the virus. He speaks of his family and joining them (presumably they are dead from the virus too). He asks for prayers and one of the main characters prays a beautiful prayer to Jesus Christ for this man’s salvation which is then taken up by the autistic teenager concluding it with a beautiful Russian Orthodox prayer for deliverance and forgiveness at the hour of death. The prayers are heartfelt and not presented in any mocking sort of way or artificial way just for the sake of prayer.
The autistic boy is shown to have feelings, to be bright, although his mother in the show explains to another character why he can’t read social situations, respond properly to those situations and is aloof from others as well as mostly non-verbal. Yet, he is portrayed in a very positive way, with feelings he doesn’t understand and some normal human responses. I think this is the first time I have seen an autistic child on a series since “Saint Elsewhere” which I loved back in the 80’s. That character, a younger child, has a minor role until the end, when it is revealed that the entire series of Saint Elsewhere was in his imagination! A brilliant conclusion and very apt!
This Russian production delving into so many positive and negative issues in an “apocalyptic” setting has be quite interesting to me. Stunning, no?
WHAT A STUNNING MESS THE SYNDODAL PROCESS IS AND HOW EVIDENT IT MAKES IT THAT TWO OR THREE GENERATIONS OF CATHOLICS HAVE BEEN FED PABLEM AND COLORING BOOK CATHOLICISM
This was included in the just released Vatican summary, thus far of the synodal process. The photo above is from the Crux’s report on it showing the Vatican in a fog, an apt depiction of the Vatican and papacy today:
The inability for some, such as divorced and remarried couples and those in a polygamous marriage, to receive the sacraments was also highlighted as a concern.
My comments first, then press title below my comments for the Crux article. And yes, I believe we are being gaslighted!
Vatican II, for the first time for generations of Catholics, opened the door to change in the Church, which most clergy and laity thought could not happen even if they desired it. Many, it turns out, did desire change and a lot of it, even those fully aware of the teachings of the Church as presented prior to Vatican II.
However, Pope St. Paul VI realized at a certain point by 1968 that not all things were up for change. We were told at that time that discipline can change, human laws can change in the Church but not doctrine, certainly not dogma and not moral teachings.
But the huge mistake that Pope St. Paul VI made as he decided to write Humanae Vitae, is that he consulted with a committee of people both lay, religious and clergy to help him write the document. This committee was open to artificial contraception and that was leaked to the public. Thus, in this era of radical change in the Church and culture, it was fully expected that the pope would change the teaching of the Church on natural law and artificial contraception.
Everything was changing, so why not that! When the pope upheld the traditional teaching of the Church on human sexuality, there was a great polarization and rebellion and many left the Church over it and we are still suffering from it today. This issue was greater than liturgical changes because it was so personal.
Pope Francis is making the same terrible mistake, but this time on steroids, with the synodal process. He is opening up a sense that everything in the Church can change and eventually he or another pope will have to crush this hostile take over of the Church by the devil. Will this pope have the gonads to do so or will he resign and make a way for another pope to restore some orthodox sanity to coloring book Catholics and Catholic snowflakes?
Here is a summary of the Synodal Process just put out by the Vatican. Talk about garbage! This is from Crux on Thursday morning:
New synod doc highlights challenges, but offers few solutions
Though notoriously difficult to define, “synodality” is generally understood to refer to a collaborative and consultative style of management in which all members, clerical and lay, participate in making decisions about the church’s life and mission.
(And even Crux, points out the “gaslighting” effect of what is happening to Catholics today from the Vatican:)
The continental stage document published Thursday gave an overall positive review of the synod process thus far, saying participation globally “exceeded all expectations,” despite the abysmally low participation rates, especially in western nations.
READ THE REST AT CRUX BY PRESSING THE ARTICLE’S TITLE ABOVE and PRESS THE TITLE BELOW FOR THE VATICAN’S REPORT ON THIS REPORT, JUST STUNNING:
Voices of excluded heard in Document for Continental Phase of Synod
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
DON’T RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU HAVE VIEWED IT!
Many people think that pornography helps a person in their sexual orientation. I wonder if the synod on synods is listening to them!
I am sure the head of the synod on synods from Holland would want to bless porn, those who make a living on it and all those who are assisted in their sexuality by it! It is the logical conclusion to the decadent sexuality the Listening Church wants to embrace.
Pope Francis, though, like an enabling great grandfather, playfully chides young priests and seminarians not to use it, even if it helps them because in the long run it won’t help them, at least at this point in the development of the Church’s teaching on it:
Pornography weakens the soul, pope tells young priests, seminarians
DUH! REDUX…
Copied from The Deacon’s Bench:
USCCB: BIDEN ‘GRAVELY WRONG’ ON ABORTION
"This single-minded extremism must end, and we implore President Biden to recognize the humanity in preborn children." CNA reports: President
VATICAN II WAS AND HIS NECESSARY BUT THE INTERPRETATION OF IT THAT JOHN PAUL II AND BENEDICT XVI PROPOSED
Then the author states that in the West, under the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict, there continued decline. What he doesn’t say it that the Church in the west, and Germany is a symbol of this, did not follow the previous two popes and their nation’s Church is on life support, no matter how spirit of Vatican II they are in terms of the liturgy.
Asia and Africa are aghast at the development of moral teachings that the decadent west proposes. This is true too for the Anglican Communion in Africa. While their liturgy is progressive, they are centered on Christ and his teachings not the decadence of the West and their power to think they can be god and come up with a different Church.
George Wiegel gets Vatican II:
The living parts of the world Church today are those that have embraced John Paul II’s and Benedict XVI’s authoritative interpretation of the Council as a summons to evangelize in the fullness of Catholic faith. That’s the empirical fact. And the parallel fact is that the dying parts of the world Church are those that continue to try to make the chimera of Catholic Lite work — which it doesn’t, anywhere.
Read Wiegel’s article on Vatican II and where it is successful and where it isn’t (clue: those places in the West, like Germany and much of Europe are not successful due to their heterodoxy):
Why Vatican II Was Necessary
The Council's many theological and doctrinal accomplishments were crucial to rekindling that radical, Christ-centered faith that would be the source of a revitalized Catholic mission to convert the modern world.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE AND MORAL TEACHINGS: UGH!
If this isn’t an example of the Bizarro Church, that is taking shape under the synod of synod’s leader and the preconceived conclusions looking for a cadre of supporters, post ergo hoc, then there is no example:
Cardinal Hollerich: Church Blessings for Same-Sex Unions Are Not a Settled Matter
My comment: Just to be clear, I think that people in partnerships, not sanctioned by the Church due to sexual ethics not consistent with teachings centered on Christ and the Deposit of Faith, should be treated with respect, compassion and welcome. They too should be respectful of Christ and His mystical body and not flaunt an ethic not consistent with Christ and the Deposit of Faith. There! I wrote it! We should welcome all Catholics to Mass and participation in the Church and make it clear that they have an obligation to attend Mass and Holy Days of Obligation under the pain of mortal sin if they don’t. Oh! We’ve had that for centuries! Never mind!
Monday, October 24, 2022
DUH!
Copied from The Deacon’s Bench:
CHAPUT: ‘BIDEN IS NOT IN COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC FAITH’
From CNA: Archbishop Charles Chaput said on Saturday that Joe Biden “is not in communion with the Catholic faith” and
Sunday, October 23, 2022
DEMOCRATS MARCH IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY SEEKING THE RIGHT TO ABORT CHILDREN
(Of course, it isn’t either/or but both/and, guns and abortion must be regulated as both can kill innocent human beings, to include children as we have seen in abortions and school shootings!)
In Augusta, Georgia on Saturday:
PPhoto credit: Katie Goodale, Augusta Chronicle USA TODAY NETWORK
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES GETS IT! IF ONLY PROGRESSIVE CATHOLICS WOULD…
I just saw an IHOP commercial and the announcer said this:
“THEY SAY, YOU EAT WITH YOUR EYES FIRST.”
Yes!
When it comes to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, true Catholics, or Catholics who get it, usually more traditional in nature, understand that adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, that is, looking and longing for our Lord at the consecrations and outside of Mass is a form of eating, because as they say, “you eat with your eyes first.”
When it comes to the Sacrificial Banquet, using your eyes and mouth to eat the Sacrificial Meal are not opposed to the other, both are eating.
For those with any kind of impediment to receiving Holy Communion in a physical way, spiritual or physical (like an allergy, physical or spiritual) they can receive with their eyes.
Because, as they say, you eat with your eyes first!
Saturday, October 22, 2022
NON RUBRICAL GESTURING TOWARD THE CONGREGATION DURING THE CONSECRATIONS AND WHERE NON RUBRICAL GESTURING TO THE CONGREGATION WOULD NOT BE UNREASONABLE…
One of the liturgical things that drives me to psychiatry is when the priest at the consecrations takes the bread and the chalice and looks at the laity and gestures towards them and all around as he says the words of consecration. Why do I go crazy? Because the consecrations and the Eucharistic Prayer is not a literal re-enactment of the Last Supper, but prayed in the context of a longer prayer to remember the Last Supper and what Jesus did then and now does with the bread and wine, makes them into His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
The consecrations, where by the power of the Holy Spirit and the High Priesthood of Christ, then makes the reality of the real Presence of Christ a reality, the priest, acting in the Person of the High Priest offers Christ to the Father as a pleasing Sacrifice during the “anemesis” following the consecrations, usually the first paragraph after the Mystery of Faith. It is here that the Sacrificial Christ is offered to the Father and He accepts this perfect Sacrifice for us and for our salvation!
The “unbloody” renewal of the One Bloody Sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, anticipated at the Last Supper, is what the Eucharistic Prayer’s doctrinal and liturgical intent is. Not a meal at this point. That comes later!
Gesturing to the people during the consecration makes no sense whatsoever.
But when might it be appropriate?
AT THE EUCHARISTIC BANQUET, the Rite of Holy Communion, which begins with the “Our Father”.
This would be especially true at the “Ecce Agnus Dei”. When the priest says, “Behold the Lamb of God…” it would be thoroughly appropriate within the context of where these words are directed, toward those invited to receive Holy Communion, thus, if people are sitting on three or four sides of the Church for the priest to turn to each of them and with the Chalice and Host would be throughly congruent with the purpose of these words and to whom they are direct!
The meal aspect of the Mass is not the Eucharistic Prayer, but rather the Sacrificial Banquet is, also known as, the Rite of Holy Communion!
WHY THE MASS NEEDED TO BE “RENEWED” DUE TO LITURGICAL ABUSES IN THE TRIDENTINE MASS PRIOR TO THE COUNCIL
I think this historical account of what the Mass was like prior to Vatican II (and still present after Vatican II in the Reformed Mass) is a bit hyperbolic, although it contains truths that I experienced as a young child.
If you got to Mass by the Gospel and stayed until Communion, you fulfilled your obligation. Yes, some came late and left early and they still do! At least they are there for part of the Mass rather than not going altogether. In pre-Vactian II time nearly 90% or more of Catholics attended at least a part of the Mass! Compare that to today’s reformed Mass.
With so many foreign born priests today, no one understands the priest and often they attend Mass which is only in Spanish in this country or a mix of Spanish, English and maybe even other languages making those parts of the Mass unintelligible to the Language they know.
But read the full article by pressing the title, with a money byte below the title:
The Liturgy Prior to Vatican II and The Council’s Reforms
Within this overall pastoral situation, a few particulars must be noted. First, while many priests celebrated Mass in a reverent manner, there were those who did not. The faithful were aware, and often pleased, that certain priests were able to “run through” the liturgy in fifteen or twenty minutes, especially on weekdays. A vivid description of the state of affairs prior to the Council is given in a blog post by Msgr. Charles Pope:
As for there being no abuses before 1970, dream on. All the old guys I trained under for the Latin Mass (back in the mid 1980s) told me that it was dreadful how the mass was celebrated in the old days: mumbled Latin, skipped prayers, half genuflections, not even waiting for the servers to finish before moving on to the next prayer; masses that should have taken a good 40 minutes to celebrate reverently were routinely done in 18 minutes. Communion was routinely distributed in larger parishes by priests, beginning immediately after the gospel, while the priest celebrant went on with the current Mass; sung liturgies were abhorred by most clergy and when they did sing them they were usually done in a horrible and tortured tone with indistinct pronunciation since they were not used to enunciating the Latin, but mumbling it. So when they sang, most just mumbled aloud. I have heard recordings from the time and can personally affirm that homilies were often skipped, even on Sundays. Most of the old guys said the Corpus Domini nostri prayer while they gave communion to as many as five people, mumbling it as a norm. The Liber Usualis had long been abandoned by most parishes and they used recto tono (usually 8th tone) chanting in its place . . . . People came late and left early and had legalistic notions that if they made it by the gospel they were safe. Leaving after communion was epidemic.[2]
BOMBSHELL: POPE EMERITUS I SPEAKS ABOUT VATICAN II IN A LETTER DATED ON THE FEAST OF THE HOLY ROSARY, OCTOBER 7, 2022…
You can read the emeritus pope’s four page letter at this link:
Benedict XVI Letter to Fr Dave Pivonka TOR
Money byte:
“With these considerations I only wanted to indicate the direction in which my work has led me,” he writes. ”I sincerely hope that the International Symposium at Franciscan University of Steubenville will be helpful in the struggle for a right understanding of the Church and the world in our time.”
Friday, October 21, 2022
AN APOLOGETIC FOR VATICAN II’S SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF STYLE AFTER ITS PROMULGATION…
This is a very orthodox and historical account of what Sacrosanctum Concilium taught and what then actually happened after Vatican II in the development of implementing what Pope Paul VI’s committee on reforming the liturgy developed, Consilium. It is a must read document, even if you disagree with this, that or the other. Press the title for the complete article, but I have a money byte quote beneath the title:
The Implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Money byte: Facing Together—Facing Christ
One other liturgical development that took place after Vatican II deserves discussion in its own right: the placement of the altar with the priest facing the people. Although this change was not anticipated by the Council, once it occurred it was fully embraced by the magisterium. Although either orientation is permitted, we hold that the celebration of the liturgy with the priest facing the faithful is pastorally and theologically more congruent with the reality of the liturgy as “an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body, which is the Church . . . a sacred action surpassing all others” (SC §7).[12] Unfortunately, as will be discussed below, many priests took this innovation as an opportunity to wreak havoc in the sanctuary. Here we enumerate some of the pastoral and theological advantages of the priest and people facing one another.
Sacrosanctum Concilium did not address either the position of the altar in the sanctuary nor whether the priest should face the congregation. Nonetheless, once free-standing altars were introduced, it seemed logical that the priest should face the people for the very reason that the Council promoted the liturgical reform—the full participation of the faithful in the liturgy. Thus the 1970 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) prescribed that a church “should have a fixed and dedicated altar, freestanding, away from any wall, so that the priest can walk around it and can celebrate facing the people. It should be in a position such that the entire congregation will naturally focus their attention on it” (262). Likewise the revised 2002 GIRM states: “The altar should be built separate from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible" (229). Unlike altars prior to Vatican II, which were attached to a wall, the altar now is to be “freestanding” in order for the priest to face the people during the Mass. It is to be positioned such that it can be the focus of both the priest’s and the people’s singular attention. On that altar, in communion with Christ the great high priest, the priest and people together celebrate and offer the one saving sacrifice of the Mass
Thursday, October 20, 2022
THIS WILL BE INTERESTING: A REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS MARCH WILL BE ON TELFAIR STREET IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, THE STREET WHERE THE CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY HAS STOOD SINCE 1810…
This march will pass directly in front of my former parish, the Church of the Most Holy Trinity established in 1810:
Downtown Augusta seeing reproductive rights march on Saturday
Miguel LegoasAugusta Chronicle
Traci George of the People's Agenda has been knocking on doors and registering voters. Now she wants to march them down to the polls.
The longtime activist is organizing a "Roe, Roe, Roe the Vote" march on Saturday, starting at the Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School parking lot, then marching a mile down Telfair Street to the Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building, where Augusta's advance voting polls are located.
WE ARE SEEING A POLARIZATION IN THE CHURCH THAT COULD EASILY LEAD TO A SCHISM: THIS SITUATION BEGAN IN 2013 AND IS NOW ON STEROIDS: WHO IS THE BLAME FOR THIS SITUATION AND WHEN WILL THE PERSON TO BLAME TAKE SOME OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT?
Sean Michael Winters who writes about his opinions for the National Catholic Reporter, writes this in this morning’s on-line edition. It has a link to another article in a French Progressive Catholic journal, La Croix International, written by another progressive, theologian Massimo Faggioli, longing for the collapse of the Catholic Church as it was known on the eve of Pope Benedict’s abdication in order to rebuild a Church that is on a death walk similar to what is happening to The Anglican Communion and all liberal forms of Protestantism.
Here is Sean Michael Winter’s commentary. Press La Croix International for Massimo Faggioli’s commentary which is a must-read:
In La Croix International, Villanova University theology professor Massimo Faggioli analyzes both the recent Ross Douthat article about the Second Vatican Council and The New York Times' penchant for highlighting only conservative Catholic voices, most of whom do not know much about the Catholic Church or its teachings. The money quote: "I do not know if this is also happening to other Christian denominations and religious traditions, but it's clear that, if one does not know anything about Catholicism and happens upon these columns in the New York Times, they will find a very eccentric and idiosyncratic view of the Francis pontificate and the Church he leads as Bishop of Rome."
My comments: Theologian Faggioli laments that the “bible” of liberal America, The New York Times, delights in printing stories about the Catholic Church and the current pontificate which are negative to the different Church Pope Francis is trying to create.
What Faggioli fails to acknowledge is that in all polarizations, there is a cause and effect.
I would say we can place the cause of this rather unusual effect of severe polarization at the feet of Pope Francis and his advisors who have hijacked his papacy with the pope willing it to be:
1. Pope Francis portrayed himself as the anti-Benedict starting the very moment of his appearance on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica—this began the polarization immediately
2. After Pope Francis’ near death experience under anesthesia, His Holiness has realized that time is short for him and thus he recognizes that waiting for Benedict to die before he undoes that papacy altogether will thwart his desire for a different Church. Thus Pope Francis abrogates entirely Pope Benedict’s magisterial teachings and allowances for the liturgy of the Church and does so in an authoritarian way. Pope Francis completely disavows Pope Benedict’s request that Vatican II be viewed through the lens of continuity rather than rupture. All this while the emeritus pope is still living to see it happen.
3. Pope Francis touts a listening Church but he has refused to meet with cardinals concerned about his ambiguous and idiosyncratic papacy. He has never met with the dubia cardinals nor responded to them privately or publicly but rather marginalized them.
4. Pope Francis’ idiosyncrasies includes his latest appointment to the Vatican’s Commission on Life. He names an atheist who is pro-choice and in a most vicious way.
Pope Francis has done nothing to throw an olive branch to the young Catholics who were formed under the papacies of Pope St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Rather he is erasing these papacies and the millions of young Catholics who are John Paul II’s Catholics. Pope Francis has emboldened the old guard, those in their 60’s and older, most of whom are on life-support themselves but invigorated by the return of the Church to the divisiveness of the 1970’s, but now a divisiveness on steroids, not even experienced in the 1970’s.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)