Will transfer this post to Live Journal later, but since I don't have as many readers here, I don't mind letting my mind just fall out on here. Anyway.
So my 21st birthday is this Friday, but I'm going to be in Michigan then with the Veritas campout. My parents' 25th anniversary is this Tuesday, but that's during the week, and have fun getting ahold of a priest then. =-P They wanted to run into and talk to the priest who married them, baptized me, and confirmed my dad. He's at St. Bede's, on the south side of Chicago. Their former pastor is in jail. Poor parish. However, I was really psyched to see the old style of confessionals and a COMMUNION RAIL!!!! ^_^ However, according to my parents, now that Fr. Bill is their pastor, within 5 years all of that will probably be gone and the parish will be thourghly "modernized." And they talked like this was a good thing!!! This poor parish has suffered enough lately, and now this priest is going to take away their sense of their Catholic heretage.
On another peg, Fr. Bill considers Mother Angelica, from EWTN, to be the worst thing that has happened to the Catholic Church. This after giving a whole long lecture on how we should accept everyone's opinions, even if we don't agree with them. And my family thinks I'm a hypocrite. This is also the same priest who told my parents that it was OK to use contraception. Know how that makes me feel, as the oldest child? Like an egg that just happened to get lucky. Ick. No child should grow up feeling like that. This priest also thinks everyone, Catholic and not, should recieve communion, not discerning the Body and Blood of Christ at all. THIS IS NOT A COOKIE AND SODA!!! IT'S THE BODY, BLOOD, SOUL, AND DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD!!! Fr. Bill basically thinks I'm an idiot, but seems to think I'll "grow out of it" or some junk like that. My parents were impressed, though, that I bit my tougne. WANTED to go after his jungular vein. Priests like him do grave harm to the Body of Christ. My family was all like, "He can get anyone to come back to the Church." Hardly. He just tells them they're still in the Church, whether they believe it or not. And I thought St. Julie's taught bad theology.
Since it's almost 2AM CDT, I'm going to end this for now. My only parting comment is that the cantor couldn't sing for a darn. Ah well. And the altar server oufits were ugly. Ah well again. Can we just all go back to the Tridentine Mass or something, where people didn't horse around anywhere NEAR as much. Oye.
Guten Nacht!
About Me
- JesusFreak84
- 23, Theology major, female. Prone to random bouts of randomness. This is my main 100% public blog.
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Monday, August 08, 2005
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3 comments:
At first glance I read, "And the altar servers were ugly."
Nice. =-P
Dear Janet,
If the priest did all the things you mentioned-- recommended artificial contraception, offered communion to all without exception, condemned poor Mother Angelica (with her Catholic television and radio network, seminary and order of priests and brothers, new order of nuns, etc.), and plans to deconstruct a beautiful church-- then I very much share your sentiments of disgust. There are still too many dissenters among the clergy, albeit aging, in the Church.
As for the Mass, it is true that the Tridentine liturgy when well said can be quite beautiful and moving. However, I should quickly add that if done badly, it was far worse than the Mass promulgated under Pope Paul VI (if done correctly). The Tridentine liturgy in special nostalgic videos and so often offered at indult churches on weekends and by the Fraternity of St. Peter are often well done and inspirational.
It must be said, however, that prior to Vatican II, priests more so than not did not offer the liturgy in such a polished way. Prayers were mumbled and rushed, altar servers often had crinkled and unwashed cassocks and surplices, and even worse, the Latin responses were garbled or replaced by thoughtless murmuring by those who had forgotten them or who did not recall how to pronounce the Latin. The Tridentine liturgy is complex and yet it was almost universal practice to rush through the prayers on weekdays. I recall one good pastor who offered a 5 AM Mass (yes they were also earlier!) who could get through the Tridentine Mass in 12 minutes. When Mass was permitted in the vernacular, it was conceded that trying to say the Tridentine liturgy in English at such a speed would further damage it, at least so that people would notice. That is why the second eucharistic prayer is so short, for weekday use when people have to get to work.
I am not happy with some of the current translations but have high hopes that Cardinal Arinze in charge of liturgy and the new Pope, Benedict, will remedy matters while giving more freedom for priests to use the old ritual if they should want to do so.
God bless and keep you,
Father Joe
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