Mass at Holy Communion Evangelical Catholic Church in Bend, Oregon, in November 2019 (NCR photo/Peter Feuerherd)
One difference is a projector, illustrating the lyrics of the hymns, which feature praise music with a repetitive beat, a feature usually part of evangelical Protestant megachurches. The congregational participation in singing is stronger than in most American Catholic churches.
Another difference is the prayer mentioning the local bishop. While Pope Francis is prayed for, an Evangelical Catholic bishop takes Cary's place in the Mass prayers.
"We pray for Pope Francis at every Mass," said Radloff. "We love Pope Francis."....
The praise music gives the Sunday liturgy a somewhat evangelical feel. Yet the congregants emphasize that they see themselves as Catholics, albeit frequently with a story featuring alienation from mainstream Catholicism, frequently over marriage and sexuality issues.
Cathy Hendricks, parish administrator, spent 28 years in a Methodist congregation, before returning to what she described as her Catholic roots at Holy Communion. As a child of a divorced mother, she said she didn't feel comfortable growing up in her Catholic parish. She credits Holy Communion for being welcoming.....
.... But not all is so welcoming, or lay-led, at Holy Communion, said former associate pastor Mark Hebert. Formerly a priest of the Phoenix Diocese, Hebert, now married, moved to Bend and began working at Holy Communion. Most of Holy Communion is based on the personality of Radloff, he said.
"A lot of his leadership is about manipulation," Hebert said, noting that Holy Communion has undergone massive shifts in its pastoral council in its short history. Radloff, he said, dominates the decision-making process and will lash out at anyone who disagrees. "Father Jim calls most of the shots."
Radloff, he said, presents an image of "a young, hip priest who is very friendly, and on the surface, he is a warm and caring guy. Behind the scenes with lay leaders it is another story."
7 comments:
That congregation looks "youthful" in stark contrast to the typical EF congregation
Bee here:
In my own life I have found that when it comes to faith, where the rubber meets the road is whether you can accept, believe and live the doctrines of the Catholic Church as they are given to us by the Church, and not some adaptation of them that doesn't conflict with your inner self. Because the doctrines of the Church conflict with sinful human nature for everybody. Everybody.
"Yet the congregants emphasize that they see themselves as Catholics, albeit frequently with a story featuring alienation from mainstream Catholicism, frequently over marriage and sexuality issues." Alienation from mainstream Catholicism means one cannot accept the teachings of Christ. It means the person will not accept the crucifixion of some part of themselves that they find is in opposition to His teachings. They will not convert and give up some part of themselves because it is painful, and against their human nature. They remind me of the people of Jesus' own time who really liked a lot of what He said and were ready to follow Him, but then they hit a wall, because one or another of His teachings would mean they'd have to (figuratively) pluck out an eye, or cut off a hand, or drink His blood, and they wouldn't. Not that they couldn't. They wouldn't. Because it would mean they would lose some part of themselves they were very attached to, that they thought was essential to their very identity and very selves. The point of what Jesus had to say is that you have to change yourself and give up sin. Period. Then He tells you what sin is. And that's where people turn away.
It's no different today.
So the issue becomes for each of us, just as it always was and always will be, how much do you love God? Would you cut off your hand for Him if it was the problem? Would you cut off your desire for sexual gratification and live a chaste life for Him? Would you accept that if you have been married and are divorced you can never marry again, or even have romantic companionship? Would you give up sexual attraction for Him, same sex or otherwise? Would you pass up that great economic opportunity that is immoral, or unethical, for Him? Would you accept an untimely pregnancy for Him?
Even while Jesus was alive, although many people liked what He said about some things, and felt the love of God from Him, at some point the conditions He laid out for becoming one with Him were beyond the price they wanted to pay. Isn't that what these churches, and some of the heterodox among Catholics, are really doing? They water down the gospel and doctrines of the Church because they are "too hard." Some theologian tackles the issue by "revisioning" the gospel to find some loophole. And the people who do not want to convert themselves to God leap through it, and celebrate that they can eat their cake and have it too. Yeah. Right. Good luck with that.
The priest in this offshoot church is wrong. The issue is not whether we can belong to a church where "...you will get spiritually fed" but whether we eat the food God gives us and find we actually live on that.
Catholicism is not for sissies.
God bless.
Bee
With respect to the old”schismatic” label on the SSPX, see this analysis by Fr. Z.
https://wdtprs.com/2020/04/ask-father-whats-the-truth-about-the-sspx/
Bee,
Beautifully stated. I pray you are able to enter St. John Cantius soon!
I am with Woody in caution as to bandying about of the schismatic label applied to the SSPX as a whole,... although its membership clearly includes some vocal true schismatics and off the wall conspiracy believers...as do many non-schismatic more liberal Catholic churches contain true and vocal schismatics. Both stripes are both the Church's, and their own, worst enemies. A properly and reverently celebrated Novus Ordo Mass with time for true recollection can be far more spiritual than any quickie old-school Tridentine, and vice versa.
The writer makes the same false assumptions as do most orthodox parish leadership...that the church is a cash cow bred to support large churches and associated schools, often filled with non-Catholics.
The church is supposed to be a place where individuals encounter God, and if successful in that, then they may found a school centered primarily on that goal as well, for their children, while providing an education powered by that same Christian vision.
Where they, as a parish can turn to each for all needs from likewise committed parish members, and them be one huge Catholic family, caring out of own parish member expertise for medical, legal, financial aid, care for elderly with no family, where nobody should need to turn anywhere else in any need, whatsoever.
We are so far from such a vision today that it utterly ridiculous to most. How most members are known today in any parish is strictly by how much money they represent, and the more money changing hands, the greater the representation, and that money spent on anything and everything but teaching its members how to experience God, and vast majority of spending going outside the parish to non-Catholics.
We had two of those churches here in Louisville though one of them seems to have faded away with no notice. They are oddities with little of note, worshiping in adjacent parts of protestant churches. They support the usual litany of liberal changes and seem quite satisfied to be outliers. The local newspaper does list them among weekend services as catholic but not Roman Catholic. All in all a bit of contemporary oddity not easily defined or explained.
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