Before Covid-19:
After Covid-19 and because of the virus that infected the brain of the pastor, who did it during the shutdown:
At Philly Catholic churches, secret renovations expose rift between traditional and Neo-Catechumenal members
For the last 12 years, Donna Panno, who leads the singing for Sunday Mass at St. Michael Roman Catholic Church in North Philadelphia, sat in the first pew. It was the same pew in which her mother, now 91, fainted as a 6-year-old from a fever.
But while St. Michael was closed because of the pandemic between March and early June, that pew, along with many others, was ripped from the historic church’s hardwood floors, the altar rails removed. The center-aisle marble floor — down which members and their parents before them had marched to be married — as well as the hardwood floors beneath the remaining pews were covered in bright red carpeting.
It all happened under the direction of the Rev. Arturo Chagala, who, since 2014 has led both the traditional Catholic congregation at the church, at Second and Jefferson Streets, as well as the members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, an evangelical ministry that’s been acknowledged by the Vatican since 2008 and that at St. Michael comprises about 10% of the almost 250 parishioners.
Read the rest there if your stomach can take it...
But then this, which is a bit of good news, since the good pastor did not consult with the parish or the diocese and did it in secret when the church was closed during the pandemic, the new Philly Archbishop called the pastor in for a meeting and called him on the carpet and this is the letter the good pastor has written in response the the good Archbishop's orders. I can only produce a photo copy, so I hope it can be read. What do you think of it????
Read the rest there if your stomach can take it...
But then this, which is a bit of good news, since the good pastor did not consult with the parish or the diocese and did it in secret when the church was closed during the pandemic, the new Philly Archbishop called the pastor in for a meeting and called him on the carpet and this is the letter the good pastor has written in response the the good Archbishop's orders. I can only produce a photo copy, so I hope it can be read. What do you think of it????
WOW, I THINK THIS PAROCHIAL ADMINISTRATOR, HE'S NOT EVEN PASTOR, MORE THAN LIKELY CLEANSED WHAT THE ARCHBISHOP ACTUALLY SAID. AND SINCE HE'S NOT PASTOR, BUT PAROCHIAL ADMINISTRATOR, HE CAN VERY EASILY BE REMOVED BY THE ARCHBISHOP, WHICH I AM SURE, WILL BE THE NEXT STEP.
IF A PRIEST IN SANTA FE CAN HAVE IS FACULTIES TO PREACH REMOVED FOR GOING LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES, I THINK THIS PAROCHIAL ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD BE REMOVED IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES? NO?
24 comments:
“The path to irrelevance for the Church is already obvious”...
“The irony of it is – and its demonstrated in the liberal Protestant world, it’s demonstrated in the Catholic world, in Belgium, Holland, Quebec and to some extent in Switzerland and Austria – the more you adapt to the world the faster the Catholic Church goes out of business.”
—-Cdl. George Pell, in Interview August 16, 2020
Cardinal Pell, a real man, speaks the truth!
I am not sure what these two comments above have to do with this post???????????????
But the whole church is carpeted in red, carpeted over marble floors, the wood under the pews as well as ripping out the altar railing, repositioning the pews, and a new altar in the style that the neo-Cathecumenal way celebrates Mass, which is always done independently of the normal parish Masses.
I wonder how much money was spent on all of this, especially if the carpet is to be removed, which I think it will be and the altar railing restored??????
This is unreal. I would almost feel like transferring parishes if this was mine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the interior. It was the 1970s madness was called, and showed up big time. I thought we had matured since the days of covering marble floor with carpet, for Heaven's sake! Apparently not this priest, though. And that new wood "altar"...hideous. If that wouldn't win the award for most-clashing-with-what's-already-there award, I don't know what would. If I were the Archbishop, I would make him rip out everything he put in, immediately, restore the altar rail, and then ask him why in the world, with EVERYTHING going in the Church and in the world, he thought this was worthwhile and important. There's not a thing, aesthetically, in the church that needs rearrangement. He should focus on getting people to come back to Church/mass, not wreckovating his sanctuary.
“I wonder how much money was spent on all of this, especially if the carpet is to be removed, which I think it will be and the altar railing restored??????”
Exactly, Father. And that would be the relevance of my first comment on your post. While the Church continues to struggle with financial inefficiency and outright corruption, more and more laity will see Her as irrelevant. Your post about this current ridiculous waste of money is just another case in point. Parishioners, particularly in this troubled financial time, will quietly leave rather than put up and shut up.
Read Cdl Pell’s interview, and draw your own conclusions which may be totally different from mine, of course.
I was gong to ask what is it with this RED thing? This is the second renovation you have presented that featured it. I think it was Bee who rightly said it reminded her of the fires of hell.......
Likely somewhat cleansed and obviously embarrassing to have to deliver. I only hope that the conference with Abp. Perez and the proposed resulting action turn into actual action. There is a decent chance that little to nothing will come of this for one reason or another ($$$ to be spent to restore, among others). This priest did not have the right to massacre this church the way he did only to advance his personal agenda and please the group (> 60 years old) who would be the principal audience. The replacement altar is uninspiring and unattractive. The priest should be made to scrap up the carpeting himself. To note, I believe this is the way his group prefers to be arranged for liturgy.
There was nothing wrong with this church, there was no problem to be fixed yet, these folks cannot resist tinkering! What is the matter with these people??? Fortunately, in 10 - 15 years time, the biological solution will self-cure most of these sorts of problems.
One additional point, this is a gentrifying neighborhood in Philadelphia. However, most of those new to the neighborhood aren't likely churchgoers so, like most parishes, resources are likely limited to strained. Big picture, what a waste of money. Unfortunately, there is likely little recourse to make this parish whole.
"IF A PRIEST IN SANTA FE CAN HAVE IS FACULTIES TO PREACH REMOVED FOR GOING LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES, I THINK THIS PAROCHIAL ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD BE REMOVED IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES? NO?"
Possibly as, reasonably, questions of trust are raised. If Fr. did something this blatant disregarding established protocols, chain-of-command, misusing funds assuming they weren't personal, what else has he done / could he do? For the good of the parish, one would hope some consideration is given to the aforementioned.
Per Fr. Chagala, "I have a pastoral duty to reach out to all of you and support you in your life of faith. In order for me to do this more effectively, I pledge to take the needed steps to bridge the divide that now marks us, and with your support, to build up the parish of Saint Michael's."
In the first instance, Fr. was totally ineffective so, "more effective" is a poor word choice. Being fundamentally effective probably better to best. Secondly and at present, these words are empty until there's a concrete demonstration that Fr. means them. Last, who is going to pay to restore that which no one requested be altered?
I am neither a canon nor civil lawyer, but I find myself asking: did this pastoral administrator commit a crime? I.e., against the Archdiocese and against the parish?
He destroyed property that did not belong to him, and without authorization; he misappropriated funds that again, did not belong to him.
Something like this could easily cost several hundred thousand dollars, and I doubt this priest has that kind of scratch. But considering that undoing this damage will cost many thousands more, what tangible reparation will he be made to pay?
The next question is to ask, how in the world could this priest be so ignorant of his responsibilities under universal and local church law? Did no one explain to him what proper powers he has, and what the limits are? Did he really think he can write endless checks from the parish accounts with no accountability?
How in the world can he, with a straight face, defend doing all this without any openness to the people whose parish this is? Normally any such work is long in the plans -- you normally can't make these things happen in a matter of weeks. What in the world made him think that the people of the parish had no right even to know about this?
He must not merely be dismissed from this parish; he should face canonical if not civil action for his gross abuse of authority. I'm not sure that he shouldn't be removed from the priestly state.
I get that Neo-Catechumenal Way has its own exclusive way of worship. I get that they are a Vatican 2 phenomenon. I get that they have the right to worship their way as they are an approved community within the Church. What I don’t get is why they were given a traditional and historical parish and church that conflicted with their needs to worship their way. There are an abundance of parishes that have closed, many that were built during or after the 1960’s . Those modern Churches would be perfect for their way. I agree that taking a well cared for historic traditional church and redesigning it is vandalism. I also get that doing it while the church is closed due to a pandemic is deceitful and dishonest. In my way of thinking a priest using deceit to advance his personal agenda is also practicing Clericalism.
Of course at the root of this vandalism is authentic clericalism which treats church property and offertory as the priest's own possession which he is free to do as he pleases. But in terms of wreckovations, this is hardly the worst and in fact is "nicely" done but easily rectified. But costly it will be. That carpet, like it or not, and red in churches has always reminded me of the Passion and the Blood of Christ, looks like high quality carpet and very expensive and covering every bit of the floor of the nave and sanctuary. The new altar may have been homemade. I suspect the neo-cathecumenal way members contributed the time and resources for this wreckovation and they can restore it to rather easily. The priest needs to be removed from the parish, though and in my most humble opinion.
Perhaps undoing the vandalism will be mostly easily accomplished however, please note that the pews were reconfigured, turned 90 degrees so, the floor beneath has likely been damaged as a result.
Agree, for the good of the parish and in my humble opinion as well, the priest should be removed. Trust will be difficult to re-establish with the current administration.
Bee here:
Fr. McD said, "IF A PRIEST IN SANTA FE CAN HAVE IS FACULTIES TO PREACH REMOVED FOR GOING LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES, I THINK THIS PAROCHIAL ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD BE REMOVED IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES? NO?"
It seems to me it depends on the bishop one has. I have no idea if the bishop of Philadelphia leans "progressive" or "traditional" or in-between, but I have noticed some bishops seem to be extremely punitive and harsh in their reaction to what might be considered traditional acts by a priest, even minor things like the number of minutes he speaks in a homily, but very tolerant and moderate in their reaction to a heterodox ones. I don't know if that's the case here, but it doesn't look like he's going to lose his job.
Those of us old enough to remember the implementation of Vatican II will recall this kind of surprise change to the interior of a church was pretty common back then. It never was met with a correction. The priest typically turned a deaf ear, and sometimes became indignant when confronted by parishioners. Taking it to the bishop met with the same response. I guess enough of them have a memory of the long term effects of that sort of behavior (dwindling attendance and donations) that procedures were put in place to prevent exactly the sort of thing that happened here.
The priest should be made to pay for the costs of restoration (or whatever un-doing is decided must be done) out of his own pocket. I know priests don't typically have a lot of money (well, some of them anyway) but it would teach him and others like him a great lesson in responsibility.
Sadly, if it's typical, the parish and parishioners will have to absorb those costs. Given that there are only about 250 of them, it's hard to understand how that will happen. So then, maybe the inside will have to stay as he has made it.
There's a saying, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission." I wonder if that was the attitude of this priest.
God bless.
Bee
Father Fox,
You are spot on!
The "after" looks like a very bad 1960s/1970s wreckovation. The "before" looks like it would after undoing a wreckovation.
Father McD:
I will grant what you say, that the carpeting is probably high quality, and also, this alteration is far from the worst sort of thing. And I certainly feel badly for anyone who was enlisted into this, especially if someone worked laboriously on a new altar. It is simply unjust, however, for this priest (and whoever else participated in this vandalism) to profit by it. That is to say, they should not be able to say, "oops," and then leave the damage.
If I were the bishop (God forbid!), I would direct the priest to undo all the damage, unless the people of the parish themselves allow any of it to remain.
The carpeting, perhaps, could be salvaged and repurposed (or sold), and perhaps some other church would like to have the altar. The pews can be reoriented, and the altar rail restored.
Good God Father McDonald are they crazy?? They wasted all that money to destroy the beauty they had and to see the remnants tossed into trash bins again it is the 1970's all over again, pray for a Pope who can restore the Traditional Latin Mass!!
That is not my parish, but it still feels like a punch in the gut. That which affects one member of the Body of Christ affects us all. This wreckavation is sickening.
And to think of the grief I got from AirBnB for a few broken lamps a golf-cart in the pool!
Fr Fox beat me to it. But I am betting there was at least one probably three or four, lay co-conspirators that helped with the logistics and money. Could be the pastoral council made this recommendation and were shut down by the parish at large.
John Paul II, faced with the collapse of the old religious orders (most notably the Jesuits) turned to more recent movements to revitalize the Church - Opus Dei, the Legionaries of Christ (not a sound choice as it turned out) and the Neocats, to name but three. JP II was a great man, but was prone to spectacular errors of judgement.
The Neocats with their wacky 'liturgy' should have been suppressed and not encouraged.
Wow this church looks very "Hellish" with all the red carpet, the Novus Ordonarians never did have any taste in architecture from "felt" banners hanging on each side of the altar to chairs instead of pews, dinner tables replacing an altar of sacrifice, churches that look like airplane hangers, a risen Christ which by the way is a Protestant look, on the altar instead of the traditional crucifix. They have ruined everything they have touched in the last 50 years, from our Gothic, Baroque, and Spanish style churches to destroying the liturgy as we have known it for 2,000 years and making up one with the help of the Freemason Annibale Bugnini.
Anonymous said..."Wow this church looks very 'Hellish'..."
Google "Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church, Norton Shores, Michigan."
To DJR's point,
Nothing looks as ridiculous as frilly Christmas decorations in a brutalist architectural setting.
https://www.facebook.com/511110385713247/photos/a.511236909033928/911894018968213/?type=3&theater
That said, for a brutalist styled structure, this is one of the more cohesive examples. True, it has the Caesar throne front and high center, our Lord reserved submissively to the side. However, there appears to have been some thought given to style and placement such that it isn't unsettling to view.
DJR,
I was in this horrid Church in Norton Shores when it first opened since it was just a few miles from my Grandmother's house and she wanted to show me what a horrible a Church it was (she was an Episcopal). I never entered it again since I was so shocked and repulsed by it.
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