Keep awake!
I came across some posts in different blogs as well as some articles in online newspapers, which all sort of hinted towards the same problem. It is a problem well known and lots of much smarter men that me already thought about it and commented on it. I still want to bring it up.
Lets start with a post I found on Throne and Altar. The author describes the terror that overcame him while visiting a Novus Ordo Mass. Everything was there, from versus populum, a fat lady placing the Eucharist in a Tabernacle situated on a minor side altar, the same lady handing out the Eucharist while the priest took a brake, "fellowship" and "community" galore up to body-snatching (That's what we call the practice of grabbing the Eucharist with your fingers).
Next, take a look at Traditio's gallery of Novus Ordo Masses and their comments on that. I can't say I agree with their blatant slander of the "Newchurch" (as they call it) and the "Novus Ordo Mess" (as they call it). I just wanted to point toward the existence of the page and of the masses photographed and described.
Next, read the short article "Surplice for requirement" on the Sydney Morning Herald's page.
Next, take into consideration the existence of such groups as the Traditio or Voice of the Faithful (TM).
What am I trying to say? I don't really know. I just get a very uneasy feeling when I think about the different forces affecting the Church from different directions. Especially since there appears to be a lot of acid, ignorance, self-righteousness, anger and stubbornness, "I told you so" and "It's my way or the highway" involved. On the one hand, liturgical dance experiments and "come as you are"-masses seem to point towards a virulent mental imbalance among the catholic clergy. On the other hand, the harsh and vitriolic condemnations of these practices leave a lot to be desired as well.
True, there's not much room to maneuver when it comes to the truth. On the other hand, there's not much room to maneuver when you are cornered, either.
Common sense demands that you think about the contents of whatever you say before you say it. So how smart is it to "Keep the Faith but Change the Church (TM)", as VOTF (TM) demands? What sort of progress is to be gained by the assumption, that wearing a cappa magna is merely "Dressing up" as well as "a sign of the clerical culture being fostered, establishing a priestly class that is 'other', drawing a line between priests and people", as "onlinecatholics.com.au" comment on cardinal Pell wearing the nice long red thing. What common ground is left, when you call the Novus Ordo Mass unCatholic, sacrilegious, irreverent, scandalous, blasphemous, idolatrous, and conclusively invalid, as "Traditio" does? How are priests and laypeople supposed to unite in a way most profitable for the church, when on the one hand laypeople with hardly any theological substance comment on everything priestly (although they probably never would go to a dentist that didn't study medicine), while priests run around in jeans and shirts and therefore do not even offer the laity a chance to recognize them as priests and on the other hand defenders of the tridentine rite often regard anybody connected to anything post-VCII as some kind of satanic agent, who is infiltrating the last remains of true Catholicism.
What are we? Are we Christ's people on Earth, giving their best and trying everything to make the Church one again in order to allow more people to bathe in the only light there is? Or are wee street ruffians, constantly looking for lesser beings to hiss at or asses to kick?
In the light of this Sunday's gospel I think it is not only our duty to keep awake. Speaking from a strict slave point of view I am of the opinion that it will be most beneficial for us if there is peace in the house before the master comes home and if the house is clean, beautiful and literally smells of great hope and joyful expectation. I might be a bit over-optimistic here, but I hope to live to see the day, when the laity and the priests from both sides swallow their pride and join hands to make the Church open, great and beautiful again.
Okay, now that you have read all this and still didn't fall asleep or run away, here is a little reward: A nice shot of Jusztinián Cardinal Serédi, archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary from 1927 to 1945. I mean, after all, this is still "The Far Sight", right? (Thanks to Athanasius for the information!)
Lets start with a post I found on Throne and Altar. The author describes the terror that overcame him while visiting a Novus Ordo Mass. Everything was there, from versus populum, a fat lady placing the Eucharist in a Tabernacle situated on a minor side altar, the same lady handing out the Eucharist while the priest took a brake, "fellowship" and "community" galore up to body-snatching (That's what we call the practice of grabbing the Eucharist with your fingers).
Next, take a look at Traditio's gallery of Novus Ordo Masses and their comments on that. I can't say I agree with their blatant slander of the "Newchurch" (as they call it) and the "Novus Ordo Mess" (as they call it). I just wanted to point toward the existence of the page and of the masses photographed and described.
Next, read the short article "Surplice for requirement" on the Sydney Morning Herald's page.
Next, take into consideration the existence of such groups as the Traditio or Voice of the Faithful (TM).
What am I trying to say? I don't really know. I just get a very uneasy feeling when I think about the different forces affecting the Church from different directions. Especially since there appears to be a lot of acid, ignorance, self-righteousness, anger and stubbornness, "I told you so" and "It's my way or the highway" involved. On the one hand, liturgical dance experiments and "come as you are"-masses seem to point towards a virulent mental imbalance among the catholic clergy. On the other hand, the harsh and vitriolic condemnations of these practices leave a lot to be desired as well.
True, there's not much room to maneuver when it comes to the truth. On the other hand, there's not much room to maneuver when you are cornered, either.
Common sense demands that you think about the contents of whatever you say before you say it. So how smart is it to "Keep the Faith but Change the Church (TM)", as VOTF (TM) demands? What sort of progress is to be gained by the assumption, that wearing a cappa magna is merely "Dressing up" as well as "a sign of the clerical culture being fostered, establishing a priestly class that is 'other', drawing a line between priests and people", as "onlinecatholics.com.au" comment on cardinal Pell wearing the nice long red thing. What common ground is left, when you call the Novus Ordo Mass unCatholic, sacrilegious, irreverent, scandalous, blasphemous, idolatrous, and conclusively invalid, as "Traditio" does? How are priests and laypeople supposed to unite in a way most profitable for the church, when on the one hand laypeople with hardly any theological substance comment on everything priestly (although they probably never would go to a dentist that didn't study medicine), while priests run around in jeans and shirts and therefore do not even offer the laity a chance to recognize them as priests and on the other hand defenders of the tridentine rite often regard anybody connected to anything post-VCII as some kind of satanic agent, who is infiltrating the last remains of true Catholicism.
What are we? Are we Christ's people on Earth, giving their best and trying everything to make the Church one again in order to allow more people to bathe in the only light there is? Or are wee street ruffians, constantly looking for lesser beings to hiss at or asses to kick?
In the light of this Sunday's gospel I think it is not only our duty to keep awake. Speaking from a strict slave point of view I am of the opinion that it will be most beneficial for us if there is peace in the house before the master comes home and if the house is clean, beautiful and literally smells of great hope and joyful expectation. I might be a bit over-optimistic here, but I hope to live to see the day, when the laity and the priests from both sides swallow their pride and join hands to make the Church open, great and beautiful again.
Okay, now that you have read all this and still didn't fall asleep or run away, here is a little reward: A nice shot of Jusztinián Cardinal Serédi, archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary from 1927 to 1945. I mean, after all, this is still "The Far Sight", right? (Thanks to Athanasius for the information!)
posted by leo at 5:49 AM
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