Hi Everyone:
Minor business: Well, something big happened in Canada. For the first time in decades, a bishop publicly spoke out against (or more like weakly discussed) a critical social/political issue that would affect faith and morals. I'm just trying to find the video source and I need time to make the big post, which I won't get till tomorrow after night shift.
Major Business: Here's some "awesome sauce" from Dorothy Cummings McClean (a.k.a. Seraphic of Seraphic Singles) on who nice Catholic girls and nice Catholic bachelors should avoid when pursuing dating and a potential marriage
By the way, there is something seriously wrong with chastity education when all we tell girls is to look out for guys who just want sex. We should also be telling girls to look out for guys who just want a security blanket (e.g. seminarians who date), or who just want a friendly smokescreen (e.g. gay guys who date girls), or who are too cheap to pay for a therapist (e.g. cute guys who meet up so they can tell you about other girls) or who are looking for the non-sexual perks of marriage without having to get married first (e.g. guys who "need" help with their laundry/cooking/cleaning).
And no doubt guys should be warned against NCG who aren't really interested in marriage right now as much as they are in emotional adventures and the rush of falling in love and the thrill of lover's triangles and all that powerful operatic crap girls read about in books.
Just some add-ons though Seraphic: how about NCBs avoid girls who are simply "gold diggers", superficial "hotties" and for Catholic ones devoted to their faith, to avoid lukewarm Catholics who just want the Church for theirs and their children's major milestones, and won't put in the time to truly educate, and show example to, their kids?
See the full post here:
http://seraphicsinglescummings.blogspot.ca/2012/05/be-my-girlfriend-but-you-should-know.html
YCRCM.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
``Yes, Lord: You know that I love you`.` Reflection on a Gospel from a Novus Ordo Mass for Friday, Seventh Week of Easter Cycle 1/Year 1 at Lunchtime
Hello Everyone.
It's kind of exciting that I'm getting 20-50 page-views per day now. Gives me a little hope now as things aren't exactly peachy keen in my personal life.
Any ways, I decided to go on my lunch break Friday to a parish that is a 5-minute walk from my workplace. The best part is that because it is a parish whose priestly order has a charism that focuses on redemption and the offering of sacraments that was contrary to the challenges in the Church at the time of its foundation. So They offer confession before almost all their major masses and every one on Sunday (Thank the Lord! Here's an order and a parish that knows about the worthy redemption of the Sacrament of the Eucharist!!!!!).
So obviously I went for confession, but also I stayed for Mass because I wanted to offer prayers and my spiritual work of being there to the Lord concerning an intention in a minor, but personal important spiritual conflict I am having, and feel that I know what the outcome will be based on a key statement.
The homily was given by the chaplain from my workplace. The Gospel reading for Friday, May 25 in the Novus Ordo from the CCCB lectionary for Canada, was from John 21:15-19. Nutshell version: Jesus wants Peter to be a leader and step up and spread the mission of His Church but also he hints that he will die not by his own hands or naturally (that is he will undergo the Passion, Death and Resurrection). He does a well-known reversal of when Peter denies Christ 3 times in the Passion: Christ asks him 3 times ``Do you love me?" and of course Peter says yes, but Christ replies "Feed my lambs."
The chaplain decided to focus on this famous reversal, speaking about the theme of Love. His ending on the topic was a little weak, and personally I felt that the priest could have gone a bit more into explaining about the virtue of Charity (which is also called Love) or explaining more about the highest level of Love which the trinity expressed perfectly: Divine Love, or Caritas. You can read Pope Benedict's Encyclical on that Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) with regard to that.
However, what struck me from that day's homily, was that he likely used a recent tragedy as a literary device in order to emphasize a point about the Love of Christ. The summation is that a young man, who fell in love with a woman, was rejected. He then proceeded with a firearm to her, threatens her or someone else, and in the end he shot himself. I thought I heard "students" or "student" in the homily so after an internet search, this is the story that matched the most times in links. The news item is from India and it is fairly recent, having happened last week involving young university students:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/man-shoots-self-in-girls-hostel-after-being-rejected-by-woman-211348
After relating the story, the priest said that yes, the man "loved" the woman, but is this really love? That question, got me thinking a bit, and I can conclude that, no it's not. Love should not end in a person shooting one's self, and further love cannot be present in forcing another person to do one's bidding or express emotions not there. Instead, all that is present is submission to a more dominant person, fear, and unhappiness. The main point that I remember the priest speaking from this, is that the love of the Trinity has to be present at the core of us as Catholics (I think he used the Holy Spirit. It would make sense as some priests and a doctoral student I know has said that the Holy Spirit is Love.). If our actions are devoid of true, Christian love, well .... I cannot remember what the priest said about that, but I can say that obviously if faith without works is dead, the reverse can also be (and in Catholicism must be,) true. If part of our faith is that our Trinity expresses the most perfect form of love, Caritas, and we ourselves are vessels for the Holy Spirit from Baptism and must carry out God/Christ's Love as part of our Catholic life, then yes, Love/the Theological Virtue of Charity/Caritas must be at the very core of what we do as Catholics (how we do it, though, and how this teaching has been misapplied, is another kettle of fish).
It was a nice little piece of mind that day, concerning that conflict I had and still do on my mind. I pray and hope in that conflict that the Theological virtue of Love will be present. It was definitely my verbal spiritual nourishment, in addition to the ULTIMATE spiritual nourishment found in the Eucharist of our Blessed Lord as his Glorified body present on Earth.
Hoped you enjoyed what I have shared, Pax. YCRCM.
It's kind of exciting that I'm getting 20-50 page-views per day now. Gives me a little hope now as things aren't exactly peachy keen in my personal life.
Any ways, I decided to go on my lunch break Friday to a parish that is a 5-minute walk from my workplace. The best part is that because it is a parish whose priestly order has a charism that focuses on redemption and the offering of sacraments that was contrary to the challenges in the Church at the time of its foundation. So They offer confession before almost all their major masses and every one on Sunday (Thank the Lord! Here's an order and a parish that knows about the worthy redemption of the Sacrament of the Eucharist!!!!!).
So obviously I went for confession, but also I stayed for Mass because I wanted to offer prayers and my spiritual work of being there to the Lord concerning an intention in a minor, but personal important spiritual conflict I am having, and feel that I know what the outcome will be based on a key statement.
The homily was given by the chaplain from my workplace. The Gospel reading for Friday, May 25 in the Novus Ordo from the CCCB lectionary for Canada, was from John 21:15-19. Nutshell version: Jesus wants Peter to be a leader and step up and spread the mission of His Church but also he hints that he will die not by his own hands or naturally (that is he will undergo the Passion, Death and Resurrection). He does a well-known reversal of when Peter denies Christ 3 times in the Passion: Christ asks him 3 times ``Do you love me?" and of course Peter says yes, but Christ replies "Feed my lambs."
The chaplain decided to focus on this famous reversal, speaking about the theme of Love. His ending on the topic was a little weak, and personally I felt that the priest could have gone a bit more into explaining about the virtue of Charity (which is also called Love) or explaining more about the highest level of Love which the trinity expressed perfectly: Divine Love, or Caritas. You can read Pope Benedict's Encyclical on that Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) with regard to that.
However, what struck me from that day's homily, was that he likely used a recent tragedy as a literary device in order to emphasize a point about the Love of Christ. The summation is that a young man, who fell in love with a woman, was rejected. He then proceeded with a firearm to her, threatens her or someone else, and in the end he shot himself. I thought I heard "students" or "student" in the homily so after an internet search, this is the story that matched the most times in links. The news item is from India and it is fairly recent, having happened last week involving young university students:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/man-shoots-self-in-girls-hostel-after-being-rejected-by-woman-211348
After relating the story, the priest said that yes, the man "loved" the woman, but is this really love? That question, got me thinking a bit, and I can conclude that, no it's not. Love should not end in a person shooting one's self, and further love cannot be present in forcing another person to do one's bidding or express emotions not there. Instead, all that is present is submission to a more dominant person, fear, and unhappiness. The main point that I remember the priest speaking from this, is that the love of the Trinity has to be present at the core of us as Catholics (I think he used the Holy Spirit. It would make sense as some priests and a doctoral student I know has said that the Holy Spirit is Love.). If our actions are devoid of true, Christian love, well .... I cannot remember what the priest said about that, but I can say that obviously if faith without works is dead, the reverse can also be (and in Catholicism must be,) true. If part of our faith is that our Trinity expresses the most perfect form of love, Caritas, and we ourselves are vessels for the Holy Spirit from Baptism and must carry out God/Christ's Love as part of our Catholic life, then yes, Love/the Theological Virtue of Charity/Caritas must be at the very core of what we do as Catholics (how we do it, though, and how this teaching has been misapplied, is another kettle of fish).
It was a nice little piece of mind that day, concerning that conflict I had and still do on my mind. I pray and hope in that conflict that the Theological virtue of Love will be present. It was definitely my verbal spiritual nourishment, in addition to the ULTIMATE spiritual nourishment found in the Eucharist of our Blessed Lord as his Glorified body present on Earth.
Hoped you enjoyed what I have shared, Pax. YCRCM.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Quickpost: A fun thought from Seraphic AKA Dorothy Cummings Mclean of the Catholic Register
Here's a fun little quip I found online from a blog called Charming Disarray, in response to a post called "The Wrong Kind of Modesty" by Seraphic of her blogs (a.k.a. Dorothy Cummings Mclean of the Catholic Register):
" .... Perhaps Trad communities in the USA would profit from knowing that Trads in western Europe have less paranoid standards of female modesty. We are also laissez-faire about mantillas. We also drink hard spirits to a certain extent."
lol! Now that's my kind of TLM/EF/TC female! Where do I find a young spirited lass like that whose not taken already???
Musing and charmed, YCRCM.
" .... Perhaps Trad communities in the USA would profit from knowing that Trads in western Europe have less paranoid standards of female modesty. We are also laissez-faire about mantillas. We also drink hard spirits to a certain extent."
lol! Now that's my kind of TLM/EF/TC female! Where do I find a young spirited lass like that whose not taken already???
Musing and charmed, YCRCM.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Quickpost: Fr. Z. on the Sacrament of Reconciliation Formula. PRIESTS PLEASE READ.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/05/quaeritur-you-are-absolved-of-your-sins-instead-of-i-absolve-you/
Cause I am anti-liturgical and anti-sacramental abuse. "Say the black and do the red" please, for the sake of our souls.
YCRCM.
Cause I am anti-liturgical and anti-sacramental abuse. "Say the black and do the red" please, for the sake of our souls.
YCRCM.
Quickpost: Finally CCCB try to stay ahead of the Curve
Here's a quick post to acknowledge my bishop's conference actually doing something right:
http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/Freedom_of_Conscience_and_Religion.pdf
This is a pastoral letter about freedom of conscience, inspired by Obama's reign of political enforcement on Catholic's consciences with the contraception issue. It's also going on here in various provinces, but most well known in Ontario with McGuinty proposing his anti-Catholic Bill 13 disguised in the form of an "anti-bullying" bill or should I say a selective protection/discrimination bill.
Anyways a small round of applause to the CCCB for TRYING. However two notes:
1) This is really "dead on arrival" like the other pastoral letter to young people on sexual mores. Unless this is talked about in Joe Catholic's church pulpit by his average to somewhat liberal minded/heterodox pastor, or distributed by the parishes, this will once again have no effect on the average Catholic.
2) Mixed blessing: Pro is that they are footnoting the key Vatican II documents and a lot of JPII and B16. The bad thing is that freedom of conscience and relations with the state and governments, as well as social doctrine, has already been covered in depth by prior popes and there is not one single reference to one of those pre Vatican II popes. CMON CCCB!!!! JPII and B16 are not the ONLY good popes out there to speak on this. Really. much better research could have been done.
Regardless, READ THE DOCUMENT!!!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!! Perhaps we, the Canadian Catholic Blogosphere can keep this thing alive a little more and put it on life support vs needing the crash cart and declaring this letter "clinically dead."
YCRCM.
http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/Freedom_of_Conscience_and_Religion.pdf
This is a pastoral letter about freedom of conscience, inspired by Obama's reign of political enforcement on Catholic's consciences with the contraception issue. It's also going on here in various provinces, but most well known in Ontario with McGuinty proposing his anti-Catholic Bill 13 disguised in the form of an "anti-bullying" bill or should I say a selective protection/discrimination bill.
Anyways a small round of applause to the CCCB for TRYING. However two notes:
1) This is really "dead on arrival" like the other pastoral letter to young people on sexual mores. Unless this is talked about in Joe Catholic's church pulpit by his average to somewhat liberal minded/heterodox pastor, or distributed by the parishes, this will once again have no effect on the average Catholic.
2) Mixed blessing: Pro is that they are footnoting the key Vatican II documents and a lot of JPII and B16. The bad thing is that freedom of conscience and relations with the state and governments, as well as social doctrine, has already been covered in depth by prior popes and there is not one single reference to one of those pre Vatican II popes. CMON CCCB!!!! JPII and B16 are not the ONLY good popes out there to speak on this. Really. much better research could have been done.
Regardless, READ THE DOCUMENT!!!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!! Perhaps we, the Canadian Catholic Blogosphere can keep this thing alive a little more and put it on life support vs needing the crash cart and declaring this letter "clinically dead."
YCRCM.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Quickpost: Lahey is laicized
Hello All.
Many of you have probably heard of the case of ex-bishop Raymond Lahey who was caught in Canada in possession of kiddie porn on his computer. I've mentioned it briefly in other posts when I've ranted. My country's "wonderful" bishop's conference, the CCCB, just published this:
http://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/statements-a-letters/3338-cccb-statement-on-raymond-lahey
In a nutshell, the only thing this guy can do now is administer reconciliation in dire straits of death if there is no valid priest around to do so or is heavily impeeded. THANK GOD that the virtue of justice has been held to an extent in the Catholic Church, that this guy cannot hold ANY office in the Church ever again. What he has done is irreprehensible and only fueled further the fire to the critics who lash out at our Church, saying all our priests in the Church are sexual predators.
Now, I do take some excpetion to those violated by these sick ephebophiles who used the cover of the Church and priesthood to carry out their sick homosexual tendencies. I understand the damage psycholgically that can be done in such acts and they are right to their anger at being violated in many different aspects. Worse, those who abuse the priesthood to do these acts are twisted and ruin the majority of priests who don't engage in these acts. If you are going to live a homosexual life or one with same sex attraction (SSA), DO NOT abuse a position of authority and respect to do so, on behalf of your fellow homosexuals and those in the position of power you serve (even if they aren't homosexual).
As for the legal punishment, well I do not think there will be much justice as the liberal justice system is corrupt in Canada, between abuse of the liberally constructed (under Pierre Elliot Trudeau in the 60's as prime minister) Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and also our lax judiciary representatives, who only give out major or near maximum/max sentences for heinous crimes like sexual crimes with pedophilia and/or associated murder (e.g. the Rafferty likely rape and certain murder case of Tori Stafford). Even regular old murderers get their 1st degree sentences reduced due to "time spent in custody" and I've even heard of a stupid 2-for-1 rule for those in the Don County Jail in Toronto, Ontario, because the conditions are horrible there!
That's why I'm glad that Lahey is getting what he deserves for his crime. He has shamed the Church, shamed the priesthood, those he was serving in his Maritimes diocese, and also too, those with SSA. Yes, them too he has shamed and misrepresented and NOT shown what the Catechism teaches about them: that they too are beings created in the image of God, to be treated with the same diginity and respect as any other created human being, like those of other races, nationalities, colour, etc. Not to mention most people, likely even those with SSA, find kiddie porn and kiddie acts irreprehensible (save the minority of those involved in NAMBLA. I won't even say what that is. Go do an internet search).
All I can say henceforth now, is that we pray for a number of things:
1) To the Lord in reparation for the atrocities that we commit as a concupiscent human race, via our prayers, acts like First Fridays and rosaries and indulgences.
2) To the Lord in defence of the clergy, that the majority of those who do not do these heinous acts be protected highly from attacks by the Devil.
3) For those who have been ravaged and scandalized in any way by Lahey's actions, be it directly or as a pastor bishop of a diocese, etc.
4) For all those with same-sex attractions, that they be graced and blessed in their daily struggles in life.
5) Lastly, for ex-bishop Lahey, that he will realize the sinful devastation he has brought on to multiple parties (Church, those with SSA, his former constituents of his diocese), as well as for himself. For as a priest, his soul has been further consecrated with a 3rd indelible mark after baptism and confirmation. His judgement in the afterlife will be that much more harsh due to his status and this surely will be weighed heavily on the integrity of his soul by our Lord. May he come to a true and full repentance for his sins and by the grace of God, and find someway to function in this world with his priestly faculties stripped, in reparation for his crimes.
Sad and spent, YCRCM
Many of you have probably heard of the case of ex-bishop Raymond Lahey who was caught in Canada in possession of kiddie porn on his computer. I've mentioned it briefly in other posts when I've ranted. My country's "wonderful" bishop's conference, the CCCB, just published this:
http://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/statements-a-letters/3338-cccb-statement-on-raymond-lahey
In a nutshell, the only thing this guy can do now is administer reconciliation in dire straits of death if there is no valid priest around to do so or is heavily impeeded. THANK GOD that the virtue of justice has been held to an extent in the Catholic Church, that this guy cannot hold ANY office in the Church ever again. What he has done is irreprehensible and only fueled further the fire to the critics who lash out at our Church, saying all our priests in the Church are sexual predators.
Now, I do take some excpetion to those violated by these sick ephebophiles who used the cover of the Church and priesthood to carry out their sick homosexual tendencies. I understand the damage psycholgically that can be done in such acts and they are right to their anger at being violated in many different aspects. Worse, those who abuse the priesthood to do these acts are twisted and ruin the majority of priests who don't engage in these acts. If you are going to live a homosexual life or one with same sex attraction (SSA), DO NOT abuse a position of authority and respect to do so, on behalf of your fellow homosexuals and those in the position of power you serve (even if they aren't homosexual).
As for the legal punishment, well I do not think there will be much justice as the liberal justice system is corrupt in Canada, between abuse of the liberally constructed (under Pierre Elliot Trudeau in the 60's as prime minister) Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and also our lax judiciary representatives, who only give out major or near maximum/max sentences for heinous crimes like sexual crimes with pedophilia and/or associated murder (e.g. the Rafferty likely rape and certain murder case of Tori Stafford). Even regular old murderers get their 1st degree sentences reduced due to "time spent in custody" and I've even heard of a stupid 2-for-1 rule for those in the Don County Jail in Toronto, Ontario, because the conditions are horrible there!
That's why I'm glad that Lahey is getting what he deserves for his crime. He has shamed the Church, shamed the priesthood, those he was serving in his Maritimes diocese, and also too, those with SSA. Yes, them too he has shamed and misrepresented and NOT shown what the Catechism teaches about them: that they too are beings created in the image of God, to be treated with the same diginity and respect as any other created human being, like those of other races, nationalities, colour, etc. Not to mention most people, likely even those with SSA, find kiddie porn and kiddie acts irreprehensible (save the minority of those involved in NAMBLA. I won't even say what that is. Go do an internet search).
All I can say henceforth now, is that we pray for a number of things:
1) To the Lord in reparation for the atrocities that we commit as a concupiscent human race, via our prayers, acts like First Fridays and rosaries and indulgences.
2) To the Lord in defence of the clergy, that the majority of those who do not do these heinous acts be protected highly from attacks by the Devil.
3) For those who have been ravaged and scandalized in any way by Lahey's actions, be it directly or as a pastor bishop of a diocese, etc.
4) For all those with same-sex attractions, that they be graced and blessed in their daily struggles in life.
5) Lastly, for ex-bishop Lahey, that he will realize the sinful devastation he has brought on to multiple parties (Church, those with SSA, his former constituents of his diocese), as well as for himself. For as a priest, his soul has been further consecrated with a 3rd indelible mark after baptism and confirmation. His judgement in the afterlife will be that much more harsh due to his status and this surely will be weighed heavily on the integrity of his soul by our Lord. May he come to a true and full repentance for his sins and by the grace of God, and find someway to function in this world with his priestly faculties stripped, in reparation for his crimes.
Sad and spent, YCRCM
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Quickpost: FSSP in Ottawa, Ontario, moving to new parish
Hello All,
Just a quickpost right now. Here's some news from Ottawa on the Church's personal Latin Mass Ordinate, the Fraternal Society of St. Peter (FSSP), who has a parish that is moving to a new church building:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/With+Latin+mass+parish+secures+future+drawing+from+past/6562537/story.html
YCRCM.
Just a quickpost right now. Here's some news from Ottawa on the Church's personal Latin Mass Ordinate, the Fraternal Society of St. Peter (FSSP), who has a parish that is moving to a new church building:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/With+Latin+mass+parish+secures+future+drawing+from+past/6562537/story.html
YCRCM.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Study in America Magazine: Why People Leave the Catholic Church and What They Want
Hello All.
Still need to get myself to hunker down and change the posting on the SSPX part II. Unfortunately it won't be until a bit later this week. I just finished 4 straight days of shifts and 3 of them are night shift (booooo!!!) and I got only a brief respite till tommorow's night shift. Those just kill me and I sleep in for 5-6 hours immediately after the following day. I might as well conisder the whole day lost.
Anyways I was scouring the blogs I usually read last week, and I found this link from a friend of mine on another Catholic blog (sorry, can't reveal the blog else it's obvious who I am. I don't think he knows I blog under a pseudoname, but I want to keep it that way):
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13347
This article has a bishop who did a study in his American diocese in Trenton, New Jersey, from fallen away parishoners. Hopefully he asked a lot more people than the Jersey Shore Snookis and Situations out there. lol! ok it was a corny Jersey Shore joke. Then again, maybe it would be interesting to ask each of them about their collapsed faith lives. We do know Snooki a.k.a. Nicole Polizzi was an altar server as in a Youtube Video on her personal channel, she said she "used to hold the candles and the book for the priest."
But I digress. While reading the article above, I couldn't help but read the articles featured reasons as to why they fall away from a few direct statements in the survey. There were many more items to break apart in the 2nd half of the article with regard to what people want in the Church, but I chose to focus this post on the first 1/2 with reasons why those people left the church, and my commentary in blue text. As always, this is from the viewpoint of a young adult, Roman Catholic, male layperson in Canada who received a private Catholic high school education (more truer to Magisteriam Teaching) and has been a Catholic revert for 2.5 years now.
Reason 1: The Church hierarchy is corrupt and evil!
".... One respondent wrote: “I separated my family from the Catholic Church and turned to an alternate religion for a while and then returned knowing I had the right religion but the wrong people running it.” Several chose to specify that they separated themselves from “the hierarchy....”
Alright, here we have a case of "I left the Church cause the idiots running the show are corrupt." First let's get the rough stuff out of the way. Yes, the instiutional Church has screwed up, as you have seen some occasions here on YCRCMB. What I meant by the institutional church is: the liberal or weakly-catechized teachers of Catholic schools, the numerous lax or liberal priests, the religious brothers and sisters (Fr. Z. will sometimes refer to the sisters and the "Magisterium of Nuns"), your parents, etc. Many people in the wake of the "Spirit of"/misapplication of Vatican II" took all sorts of liberties with their positions in power. Furthermore, yes we've seen priests in financial and even sexual scandal or bishops who have failed to uphold even Canon Law. Disgraced and likely lacized Raymond Lahey is the most recent example to mind here in Canada. So sorry if you sadly got one of these priests, teachers, or even your parents, who failed to teach you the authentic true tenets of the Catholic Faith.
Now, does this mean that the whole Church is bad???? No. As a whole, Christ in Matthew 16:18 vowed to Peter when he infomred him he would have His teaching authority (knowing he would die on the Cross), that ``the gates of Hell shall not prevail against [the Church] when it comes to providing us the means of spirtual salvation. Further when we look at the individuals in the Church in positions of power, when they screw up or are corrupt all the way to the Popes themselves (e.g. the Medici line of popes), the Church will still be there for us and theologically and spiritually remain intact till His Second Coming (a.k.a. the end of all existence). If it has survived corruption before, it will continue to survive, and be the spiritual link to our salvation despite what happens in its physical walls and organization.
In addition, all throughout our salvation history including the Old Testament, God (and Jesus once the Word Made Flesh existed) used ordinary, sinful men, to carry out God's love and desire for our selves to unify us with him. In the OT, think of for example, king David, whom was one of the most, if not the greatest, king(s) of Israel of all time. He sent poor Uriah to die in battle to claim his wife for himself (Uh David? hello? I think there is a commandment of those big 10 about coveting your neighbour's goods???). Once a prophet came and chided him did he finally realize "Oh no!!!!". Yes even this great king was flawed. And look at the Apostles themselves. They were all sinners, heck Matthew was even a reviled tax collector, and they were the big 12 who carried out Christ's authority and began what is the awesome Catholic Church. Also don't forget, of those sinful apostles, two of the four Gospels were written by a member each, including that reviled tax collector.
Reason 2a, b, c: Female roles, Peer involvement, and Spiritual Mentorship
" One 23-year-old woman said: I felt deceived and undervalued by the church. I didn’t understand certain things and found no mentors within the church. I just stopped going because my community of friends and family were no longer in the church ...
2A, "DEPRECIATION OF WOMAN": Man, this is a much larger kettle of fish when you deal with the Church and feminism. I won't tackle the ideaology in depth, other than to say that thanks to 2nd wave radical feminism, it has misled both sexes (incl. men in supporting this) to believe in more than just human rights and true equality for women, including misandry (man-hating) and a passion to rule the world and punish all men or those who won't go along with their agenda. Now this woman is by no means shown to be a radical feminist, or a feminist at all for that matter, but I have to adress her deception and undervaluing. I also am sorry for this young woman, that with the liberal wave of the "Spirit of Vatican II" came a lie in the form of women infiltrating every crevice of the Church and taking over it like a rebellion, and the poor examples of conduct shown by her role models of both sexes. Maybe even being told of things like womynpriests and even a woman pope.That was not the truth and you should have not been even led to believe such a thing. Blame our stupid higher ups and the "Magisterium of [pantsuit] Nuns" for that one, and us laity for just going along with that.
I will say, however, that the Church does have many positive roles for women. One of the better fruits of Vatican II was the opening of liturgical "ministries" once held by minor orders to the Laity. This young woman, and yourselves too any female readers, can actively get involved in the Liturgy. Because of an indult (indults are supposed to be "special priviledges" not the norm in the Church) that got widespread to a point, Pope John Paul II had to be prudent and for the sake of civility, he made altar serving available to women in Churches and dioceses that allow it (some bishop's don't or pastors in their parishes don't and the bishop OKs this.) So one could be a female altar server. There are other lay ministries in the Mass, like extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, and lectors that PROCLAIM the Word of God. Also there are female sacristans, directors of religious education/catechists, and even pastoral associates. If you want to be somewnat more valued as a young person in the Church, show them you mean business!!!! Turn the tides and show them you love your Mother Church and the Holy Father and Want to make a good, positive, orthodox difference in your parish and keep it alive! Also as a side note, there have been many female saints and some powerful writers such as St. Joan of Arc, St. Hildegard of Bingen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen), Mother Theresa, and Alice Von Hildebrand who've made their mark so to speak on the Church's history as key figures (and Saints!). A modern day Catholic phenom or example is Dr. Janet Smith. Also, John Paul II has adressed this modern state of Women in the Church in a very heartfelt letter here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_29061995_women_en.html
2B, "No Mentors": I partially disagree with the respondent on this one. Where I disagree is that there are many good mentors in the Church, even if they are not in traditional roles. We tend to think of mentors as simply the priests, bishops, or nuns. While laity cannot provide traditional spiritual direction or deep counselling (high school and hospital chapliancy seems different from that,) mentors or role models in the church can extend to people we don't think of normally: the sacristan, the head of a ministry such as lectoring, the youth minister, maybe even the parish secretary or humble Ms. Lumen Christi who goes to her weekly Mass, prays the Rosary daily, and has her wits about her with regards to the true teachings of the Catholic faith while looking after her children and grandchildren in her spare time! Just because there aren't a lot of clergy to look up to, or a lack of clergy who are traditional and don't espouse worldly values, it doesn't mean there are a lack or good mentors out there. Also if its true Church knowledge you are looking for, there's laypeople doing apologetics and teaching it right (e.g. Catholic Answers, Fr. Z) on the Internet, and maybe even your own diocese (though that can WIDELY vary according to what your bishop ``allows`.`) If it really is that bad, then thanks to today's technologies, go out there and find out the Truth for yourself! Thanks to the marvels of the Internet and other technology and cheap printing, the true Catholic faith in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium or other good solid literature is one Amazon.com order away, or one is just a click away from the Vatican's/Popes of present and pasts' major writings on www.vatican.va/. Also, you are not alone. There are lonesome good faithful Catholic youngsters out there too if you know where to look. They are also amonst the pews. I'm sure they'd love a friend like you too and also to feel not alone out there. That's what I did myself to revert, though a youth ministry helped me start to get there. And if you have the guts, go be that mentor! Go get the training and form that youth minsitry (a lot of hard work required though, so be firm in commitment!) Change the outlook on things! Finally, there are more traditional orders of nuns and priests springing up in correlation with the New Evangelization, and even the average seminarian or priest of the John Paul II and Benedict XVI generations is becoming more sound and reliable as spiritual mentors. Why if your local seminary allows contact with those seminarians outside of the parish in their practicum year, maybe a seminarian could be your mentor! They are relatively young too!
2C: Peer Involvement: I 100% support this woman's statement on it. For high schoolers, and even more so young adults who aren't married, the institutional Church overall, sucks, when it comes to reaching this age group. It seems still the big focus is: Getting those sacraments pumped into kids` spiritual veins like some sort of vaccine up to Confirmation age, Marriage, and seniors. They are the institutional Church`s biggest "clients/consumers" to use crude business terminology. Sadly this approach makes it much harder for youth to appreciate the Church, and when their parishes or communities (including univerisities) have nothing to offer or what is offered is rather POOR and uninviting like my univeristy years were, it`s either tackle the world alone with whatever little Catholic Faith you got, or ``join the party`` of the secular, amoral, hedonist culture of the world and do whatever you want (and hopefully nothing serious will befall you .... ). However, there are efforts being made to incorporate youth into the Church`s daily life again. In the wake of declining parish populations and a slow but steady revival of Church theological and spiritual orthodoxy, parishes and dioceses are waking up to realize this group needs to be sought out as they are LOSING the youth to the world, flesh, and the Devil (if priests even acknolwedge his existence to begin with). Numerous parishes are even getting in there and dealing with pre-teens as, to paraphrase the EDGE (TM) youth ministry program that deals with Gr. 6-8 pre-teens: These kids are at a precous stage in their physical, mental, and especially spritual development as young Catholics. They are metaphorically ``on the edge`` and if we don`t reach out to them in this ever increasigly aggresive secular world, we may lose them forever and they won`t remain in the Catholic Church .... and likely never desire to come back. This idea even extends to the teenage years and especally for young adults prior to marriage years. Even good young Catholic men and women like myself, can fall after that stage, even if they got a `better upbringing` in their youth and teens. Once they hit university, if they aren`t strong enough to hit the wall of secularism that smacks them in the face, or stay within a supportive Catholic parish/community, well you get the picture. Therefore, youth ministries of varying degrees are emerging. Now, not all ministries are equal. Some are organized programs like LIFETEEN(TM) and EDGE (TM) needing large bodies of people in a core team (priest, youth minister, leaders), while others are one to few person gigs with a less structured focus meeting less frequently. Also, not all ministers are theologically conservative, depending on their background, personality, and even what they are studying in their post-secondary Catholic school. This is where you gotta do your research and find one that will help you to love the Church (including its teachings) and also enhance your personal spirituality. However, for this survey respondent in particular, it was even much harder for her, as those people she looked up to bought into the secular culture of the world and gave her poor example to live up to as a Catholic. Sometimes, you just gotta bite the bullet and go against the grain of those you know, and YOU be the shining example of the faith, that ``light of the world, the salt of the Earth`` to your family and friends. You be the catechist, you be the ``New Evangelization`` in your actions and knowledge of the faith and maybe you will call your friends and family back to the spiritual arms of Mother Church (she is a mother in a sense, the ``Bride of Christ.``). As a last note, do look around your city and parish for youth ministries and even singles communities of Catholics, or even Catholic dating services, if you are seriously considering marriage yourself. Just be careful which one you use. Ì recommend the one promoted on Catholic Answers, www.catholicmatch.com/ as that one is not a secular dating site, nor is it geared towards extreme ultra/rad-trad Catholics either.
Reason 3: THE LITURGY!!!!!!: ``“I tried different Catholic churches in the area because I just didn’t seem to be getting anything out of the Mass, especially the homily.” Another person said, “I stopped going regularly because the homilies were so empty. And whenever the church wanted to raise money, they dropped the homily and talked money.” There were many complaints about the quality of homilies as well as about poor music at Mass.`` [My text is now red colour as I'm going into Fr.Z rant mode]
Homiletics/Catechesis
AHHHHHH!!!!! If there is any one thing that ticks me off as to making people leave parishes, it's this. Priests and higher clergy (Deacons included), the homily is not the time to express your wishy-washy liberal sentiments or to promote social justice causes. It is also not "me" time to say something that makes you feel good nor joke around (though I'd make an exception for using it as a literary device to introduce your topic of necessity). The homily is the time to make sense of the Liturgy of the Word's readings to the congregation, to tell "the moral of the story" as it were from the mouth of Christ himself, and even to relate Christ's teachings to modern day life, and that may include reiterating Catholic teachings (yes, of THAT CATECHISM) and even apologetics as well. People crave those good, solid homilies they can take home, even just one nugget of spiritual umph to nourish their souls and minds, geared towards the objective truth of the Lord. They also are in a world of constant flux and are relying on YOU to tackle those issues, like that YouTube kid who says he loves Jesus but hates organized religion. We hate when you abuse the message of Christ to promote your latest church fundraizing campaign DURING THE MASS (unless you also teach us a theological lesson about the necessity of a parish building and its centrality to our faith) or even replace the homily with a "guest speaker" from the local diocesan charity that also deals out money to pro-abortion side arm divisions (knowingly or unknowingly). If you have to announce this stuff due to the commands from the bishops (an every Mass this Sunday kind of thing), the proper place in the Ordinary Form is before the dismissal, and in the EF prior to the "continuation of the Gospel" before the Homily. However you could also have people optionally listen after a Mass, and you don`t waste time with the uninterested early self-dismissal people either.
Finally, your homily might be ALL the Catechesis that a kid or adult will get in their whole week. No, you CANNOT TRUST the separate school systems as they are under the thumb of the government who gives them most of their funding or teachers who teach under the guise of ``tolerance`` and ``anti-bullying.`` They must obey whatever the government dictates or suffer financially, and that might include promoting social justice causes that contradict Church teaching. Worse, not all your teachers that work in those systems are Catholic. And the ones that are? I dare you to quiz them on their basics: What is the Trinity? What is the Mass? What is the Eucharist? What are the 7 Sacraments? Do they know what Sin is? Is there such a thing as Sin? Many would not be able to give a straight answer I'd bet you. Also, if the school administration and teachers are brainwashed socially and liberally beyond reasoning, the minute you step foot and mention SIN of any kind or a teaching on the big issues like papal infallability, abortion, euthanasia etc. I guarantee you will likely not be let back in to that school. Therefore clergy, you got only one shot a week to teach these people something about the true Faith. If you don't want to and espouse a "Jesus loves everybody" message, they'll find NOTHING UNIQUE about the Catholic faith vs. the other faiths out there, or worse will think you aren't serious about your position and are just "sucking on the power teat" as it were. Now if they like that kinda "lukewarm" thing, fine, but maybe you should look ahead to the future 10-20 years down the road when your donating parishoners die and the collection baskets thin out because the next generation isn't giving a lot and not having enough children (or none if they are contracepting), and the next two generations are leaving/have left the parishes after Confirmation. Just saying!
In fact, I'm personally switching my parish for the Novus Ordo, as this above is one of the reasons. At least at the new N.O. parish I'm seeking has priests that give good traditionally-minded hiomilies, one of them leaning more on solid catechesis and spirituality while another excels at applying the Gospel and LOTW to the modern world. That's the stuff I crave baby!!! And it seems this young woman does too.
The Liturgical Music
Now to tackle music. Music's purpose in the liturgy is outlined here in the Papal Instruction Liturgicam Sacram " 5. Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it" (I, 5). In other words, it is used as an accompanyment to help lift your soul and help you be in a prayerful mood for the Mass and be able to particilate in it more fully. This document, BTW, was issued by the Vatican II pope, Paul VI. Let's look further into this document: "60. The new melodies for the vernacular texts certainly need to undergo a period of experimentation in order that they may attain a sufficient maturity and perfection. However, anything done in churches, even if only for experimental purposes, which is unbecoming to the holiness of the place, the dignity of the liturgy and the devotion of the faithful, must be avoided." (V, 60) I post this with regard to that fodangled new pop-ish stuff and those tunes of the 60's and 70's in your parents' days where pop hits were turned into Churchy songs (or in the worst cases even used) as well as some of the new genres like "praise and worship." What can we take from this? Look, there is leeway for experiementation and development of new sacred music in Church history. But that does not give you the right to incorporate whatever music you like in the liturgy, just to be "in with the times." If we want secular garbage we'll get that off YouTube and we don't need it elsewhere. We young people can't stand when adults try to "cramp our style" so to speak.
Also accompanying that paragraph is this: " .... Musical instruments can be very useful in sacred celebrations, whether they accompany the singing or whether they are played as solo instruments. "The pipe organ is to be held in high esteem in the Latin Church, since it is its traditional instrument, the sound of which can add a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lift up men's minds to God and higher things." "The use of other instruments may also be admitted in divine worship, given the decision and consent of the competent territorial authority, provided that the instruments are suitable for sacred use, or can be adapted to it, that they are in keeping with the dignity of the temple, and truly contribute to the edification of the faithful."[43]" (VI, 62) Secular instruments and elements might be okay, but have to be assessed as to whether they are or are not geared to the liturgy. Also, just by their sound/nature, some instruments are clearly poorly suited or not at all for the liturgy (e.g. drums, electric guitar when it's not electrically changed by an amp to sound acoustic, and even acoustic guitars to some extent) should be either cautiously used or not at all. The Church, the choir loft, and especially the sanctuary, is not suitable for a rock concert! Sadly there's that territorial authority thing (cough, bishops, cough) so em if you get a liberal one, well don't be suprized to find the aging hippie band or the folk choir with a guitar at the parish. As for the LIFETEEN/EDGE rock group bands, well I'm mixed. I say the best thing is, well fine let them have their band playing P and W music (if they have to have a band at all for those Masses) but do introduce them to Gregorian Chant and other better Church music to see the gamut of "allowable" music and read to the youth the document above, as well as some of the Vatican II stuff that also speaks with regard to the liturgy. Practically, Is there a schola or a choir school/cathedral they can take a day/eve trip to see? Maybe a secular choir that performs classical/baroque pieces out of musical respect or reverence?
Now you might say, what about the corny music that passes for liturgical ``hymns``? Well likely they got by thanks to your bishop cause of this: "54. In preparing popular versions of those parts which will be set to melodies, and especially of the Psalter, experts should take care that fidelity to the Latin text is suitably harmonized with applicability of the vernacular text to musical settings. The nature and laws of each language must be respected, and the features and special characteristics of each people must be taken into consideration: all this, together with the laws of sacred music, should be carefully considered by musicians in the preparation of the new melodies. The competent territorial authority will therefore ensure that in the commission entrusted with the composition of versions for the people, there are experts in the subjects already mentioned as well as in Latin and the vernacular; from the outset of the work, they must combine their efforts." (V, 54). So in a nutshell, if the bishop is lax and lets this stuff by, well too bad if your pastor okays it use. This is where you have to let your bishop and pastor know you don't like what they do. If they don't listen, you have every right to walk and register at another parish that does respect the Church's liturgical tradition and has music that elevates your soul in the liturgy of the Mass. You also have the right to take your money and put it into the hands of competent musical ministers or choirmasters, and withhold it if your parish is screwing with your ability to truly worship Christ in the Mass in a proper, liturgically correct, manner. It is your hard earned money after all. Also one can protest with their feet: The Church CANNOT deny you your sacraments as long as you are not excommunicated (with exception to reconciliation likely at the hands of the bishop), so you can go to any Catholic Church and attend their Mass, including ones with all the smells and bells and Gregorian Chant if your home parish keeps singing "Gather us In" from that Gather hymnal and "Send down the fire".
My point is, well, the lady has a valid point! Not all this kind of modern stuff is liked by our generation, and we do like the traditional uplifting Church music. We want music that lifts our souls to participate more fully in the Mass, and if you aren't doing it parish X, we have the right and we will go to parish Y that has that unless we are, like "whatever." though we likely won't come back for a long time or never if we have that attitude. You can't deny us our sacraments and kick us out for our liturgical musical preferences. Furthermore, not everyone is moved by your type of music (though not everyone, even some faithful young Roman Catholics, are moved by Gregorian Chant and actually are moved by Praise and Worship or other forms of liturgical music). My point is, move with your feet and your wallet if you can't stand the bandstand.
Alright rant mode OFF. Unfortunately the liberal/mainstream media has made a mess in the minds of many average people with this one, Reason # 4: ".... The scandal surrounding the sexual abuse of minors by clergy was mentioned often. One man said that what did it for him was “the bishop’s refusal to list pedophile priests on the diocesan Web site and his non-support of the effort to lift the statute of limitations for bringing sexual abuses cases forward in the courts"
Well I cannot stand for this person's diocese. However, generally, those priests and bishops who have done anything like this, you've made the Church worse and you deserve the criminal and civil and Church penalties you get. Even Canada is not immune. It is generally known that some of the nuns and priests who took care of Native Canadian reserve school and residences, treated the Natives with abuse of multiple kinds. Also, recently a bishop from the Maritimes, Raymond Lahey, was found with pornography with his computer in 2009. So there's no shortage of stories even for Canada. However, generally, as a whole, the majority of Church clergy do not engage in this kind of activity. In fact this can be applied to every major profession in modern society. The expression is "a few rotten apples spoil the bunch". Now, I will not perform apologeitcs on the Church sex crisis in this post in detail as it's been extensively covered by other Internet and media apologists. For Canadians, the best arguments I can recommend are found in the works of Michael Coren of Sun Media TV, especially "Why the Catholic Church is Right." He tackles the issue with a whole chapter RIGHT FROM THE START of his book. As for the rest of you viewers you can also view Michael Voris' video series on this matter in his little 6-10 min daily faith blurb called "The Vortex" on youtube. Search for Michael Voris, Vortex, and sex scandal or crisis in Catholic Church. I believe he did the weeklong series at the beginning of September in 2010 when the 2nd wave of the crisis hit or was still at high tide?
And this is where I will retire. I could spend many a day on this portion of the survey and more, but this mind has other things he'd like to devote his time to. Enjoy the read, and as always, my blog rules are in effect, so think before posting.
Pax Tibi Christi, YCRCM.
Still need to get myself to hunker down and change the posting on the SSPX part II. Unfortunately it won't be until a bit later this week. I just finished 4 straight days of shifts and 3 of them are night shift (booooo!!!) and I got only a brief respite till tommorow's night shift. Those just kill me and I sleep in for 5-6 hours immediately after the following day. I might as well conisder the whole day lost.
Anyways I was scouring the blogs I usually read last week, and I found this link from a friend of mine on another Catholic blog (sorry, can't reveal the blog else it's obvious who I am. I don't think he knows I blog under a pseudoname, but I want to keep it that way):
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13347
This article has a bishop who did a study in his American diocese in Trenton, New Jersey, from fallen away parishoners. Hopefully he asked a lot more people than the Jersey Shore Snookis and Situations out there. lol! ok it was a corny Jersey Shore joke. Then again, maybe it would be interesting to ask each of them about their collapsed faith lives. We do know Snooki a.k.a. Nicole Polizzi was an altar server as in a Youtube Video on her personal channel, she said she "used to hold the candles and the book for the priest."
But I digress. While reading the article above, I couldn't help but read the articles featured reasons as to why they fall away from a few direct statements in the survey. There were many more items to break apart in the 2nd half of the article with regard to what people want in the Church, but I chose to focus this post on the first 1/2 with reasons why those people left the church, and my commentary in blue text. As always, this is from the viewpoint of a young adult, Roman Catholic, male layperson in Canada who received a private Catholic high school education (more truer to Magisteriam Teaching) and has been a Catholic revert for 2.5 years now.
Reason 1: The Church hierarchy is corrupt and evil!
".... One respondent wrote: “I separated my family from the Catholic Church and turned to an alternate religion for a while and then returned knowing I had the right religion but the wrong people running it.” Several chose to specify that they separated themselves from “the hierarchy....”
Alright, here we have a case of "I left the Church cause the idiots running the show are corrupt." First let's get the rough stuff out of the way. Yes, the instiutional Church has screwed up, as you have seen some occasions here on YCRCMB. What I meant by the institutional church is: the liberal or weakly-catechized teachers of Catholic schools, the numerous lax or liberal priests, the religious brothers and sisters (Fr. Z. will sometimes refer to the sisters and the "Magisterium of Nuns"), your parents, etc. Many people in the wake of the "Spirit of"/misapplication of Vatican II" took all sorts of liberties with their positions in power. Furthermore, yes we've seen priests in financial and even sexual scandal or bishops who have failed to uphold even Canon Law. Disgraced and likely lacized Raymond Lahey is the most recent example to mind here in Canada. So sorry if you sadly got one of these priests, teachers, or even your parents, who failed to teach you the authentic true tenets of the Catholic Faith.
Now, does this mean that the whole Church is bad???? No. As a whole, Christ in Matthew 16:18 vowed to Peter when he infomred him he would have His teaching authority (knowing he would die on the Cross), that ``the gates of Hell shall not prevail against [the Church] when it comes to providing us the means of spirtual salvation. Further when we look at the individuals in the Church in positions of power, when they screw up or are corrupt all the way to the Popes themselves (e.g. the Medici line of popes), the Church will still be there for us and theologically and spiritually remain intact till His Second Coming (a.k.a. the end of all existence). If it has survived corruption before, it will continue to survive, and be the spiritual link to our salvation despite what happens in its physical walls and organization.
In addition, all throughout our salvation history including the Old Testament, God (and Jesus once the Word Made Flesh existed) used ordinary, sinful men, to carry out God's love and desire for our selves to unify us with him. In the OT, think of for example, king David, whom was one of the most, if not the greatest, king(s) of Israel of all time. He sent poor Uriah to die in battle to claim his wife for himself (Uh David? hello? I think there is a commandment of those big 10 about coveting your neighbour's goods???). Once a prophet came and chided him did he finally realize "Oh no!!!!". Yes even this great king was flawed. And look at the Apostles themselves. They were all sinners, heck Matthew was even a reviled tax collector, and they were the big 12 who carried out Christ's authority and began what is the awesome Catholic Church. Also don't forget, of those sinful apostles, two of the four Gospels were written by a member each, including that reviled tax collector.
Reason 2a, b, c: Female roles, Peer involvement, and Spiritual Mentorship
" One 23-year-old woman said: I felt deceived and undervalued by the church. I didn’t understand certain things and found no mentors within the church. I just stopped going because my community of friends and family were no longer in the church ...
2A, "DEPRECIATION OF WOMAN": Man, this is a much larger kettle of fish when you deal with the Church and feminism. I won't tackle the ideaology in depth, other than to say that thanks to 2nd wave radical feminism, it has misled both sexes (incl. men in supporting this) to believe in more than just human rights and true equality for women, including misandry (man-hating) and a passion to rule the world and punish all men or those who won't go along with their agenda. Now this woman is by no means shown to be a radical feminist, or a feminist at all for that matter, but I have to adress her deception and undervaluing. I also am sorry for this young woman, that with the liberal wave of the "Spirit of Vatican II" came a lie in the form of women infiltrating every crevice of the Church and taking over it like a rebellion, and the poor examples of conduct shown by her role models of both sexes. Maybe even being told of things like womynpriests and even a woman pope.That was not the truth and you should have not been even led to believe such a thing. Blame our stupid higher ups and the "Magisterium of [pantsuit] Nuns" for that one, and us laity for just going along with that.
I will say, however, that the Church does have many positive roles for women. One of the better fruits of Vatican II was the opening of liturgical "ministries" once held by minor orders to the Laity. This young woman, and yourselves too any female readers, can actively get involved in the Liturgy. Because of an indult (indults are supposed to be "special priviledges" not the norm in the Church) that got widespread to a point, Pope John Paul II had to be prudent and for the sake of civility, he made altar serving available to women in Churches and dioceses that allow it (some bishop's don't or pastors in their parishes don't and the bishop OKs this.) So one could be a female altar server. There are other lay ministries in the Mass, like extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, and lectors that PROCLAIM the Word of God. Also there are female sacristans, directors of religious education/catechists, and even pastoral associates. If you want to be somewnat more valued as a young person in the Church, show them you mean business!!!! Turn the tides and show them you love your Mother Church and the Holy Father and Want to make a good, positive, orthodox difference in your parish and keep it alive! Also as a side note, there have been many female saints and some powerful writers such as St. Joan of Arc, St. Hildegard of Bingen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen), Mother Theresa, and Alice Von Hildebrand who've made their mark so to speak on the Church's history as key figures (and Saints!). A modern day Catholic phenom or example is Dr. Janet Smith. Also, John Paul II has adressed this modern state of Women in the Church in a very heartfelt letter here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_29061995_women_en.html
2B, "No Mentors": I partially disagree with the respondent on this one. Where I disagree is that there are many good mentors in the Church, even if they are not in traditional roles. We tend to think of mentors as simply the priests, bishops, or nuns. While laity cannot provide traditional spiritual direction or deep counselling (high school and hospital chapliancy seems different from that,) mentors or role models in the church can extend to people we don't think of normally: the sacristan, the head of a ministry such as lectoring, the youth minister, maybe even the parish secretary or humble Ms. Lumen Christi who goes to her weekly Mass, prays the Rosary daily, and has her wits about her with regards to the true teachings of the Catholic faith while looking after her children and grandchildren in her spare time! Just because there aren't a lot of clergy to look up to, or a lack of clergy who are traditional and don't espouse worldly values, it doesn't mean there are a lack or good mentors out there. Also if its true Church knowledge you are looking for, there's laypeople doing apologetics and teaching it right (e.g. Catholic Answers, Fr. Z) on the Internet, and maybe even your own diocese (though that can WIDELY vary according to what your bishop ``allows`.`) If it really is that bad, then thanks to today's technologies, go out there and find out the Truth for yourself! Thanks to the marvels of the Internet and other technology and cheap printing, the true Catholic faith in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium or other good solid literature is one Amazon.com order away, or one is just a click away from the Vatican's/Popes of present and pasts' major writings on www.vatican.va/. Also, you are not alone. There are lonesome good faithful Catholic youngsters out there too if you know where to look. They are also amonst the pews. I'm sure they'd love a friend like you too and also to feel not alone out there. That's what I did myself to revert, though a youth ministry helped me start to get there. And if you have the guts, go be that mentor! Go get the training and form that youth minsitry (a lot of hard work required though, so be firm in commitment!) Change the outlook on things! Finally, there are more traditional orders of nuns and priests springing up in correlation with the New Evangelization, and even the average seminarian or priest of the John Paul II and Benedict XVI generations is becoming more sound and reliable as spiritual mentors. Why if your local seminary allows contact with those seminarians outside of the parish in their practicum year, maybe a seminarian could be your mentor! They are relatively young too!
2C: Peer Involvement: I 100% support this woman's statement on it. For high schoolers, and even more so young adults who aren't married, the institutional Church overall, sucks, when it comes to reaching this age group. It seems still the big focus is: Getting those sacraments pumped into kids` spiritual veins like some sort of vaccine up to Confirmation age, Marriage, and seniors. They are the institutional Church`s biggest "clients/consumers" to use crude business terminology. Sadly this approach makes it much harder for youth to appreciate the Church, and when their parishes or communities (including univerisities) have nothing to offer or what is offered is rather POOR and uninviting like my univeristy years were, it`s either tackle the world alone with whatever little Catholic Faith you got, or ``join the party`` of the secular, amoral, hedonist culture of the world and do whatever you want (and hopefully nothing serious will befall you .... ). However, there are efforts being made to incorporate youth into the Church`s daily life again. In the wake of declining parish populations and a slow but steady revival of Church theological and spiritual orthodoxy, parishes and dioceses are waking up to realize this group needs to be sought out as they are LOSING the youth to the world, flesh, and the Devil (if priests even acknolwedge his existence to begin with). Numerous parishes are even getting in there and dealing with pre-teens as, to paraphrase the EDGE (TM) youth ministry program that deals with Gr. 6-8 pre-teens: These kids are at a precous stage in their physical, mental, and especially spritual development as young Catholics. They are metaphorically ``on the edge`` and if we don`t reach out to them in this ever increasigly aggresive secular world, we may lose them forever and they won`t remain in the Catholic Church .... and likely never desire to come back. This idea even extends to the teenage years and especally for young adults prior to marriage years. Even good young Catholic men and women like myself, can fall after that stage, even if they got a `better upbringing` in their youth and teens. Once they hit university, if they aren`t strong enough to hit the wall of secularism that smacks them in the face, or stay within a supportive Catholic parish/community, well you get the picture. Therefore, youth ministries of varying degrees are emerging. Now, not all ministries are equal. Some are organized programs like LIFETEEN(TM) and EDGE (TM) needing large bodies of people in a core team (priest, youth minister, leaders), while others are one to few person gigs with a less structured focus meeting less frequently. Also, not all ministers are theologically conservative, depending on their background, personality, and even what they are studying in their post-secondary Catholic school. This is where you gotta do your research and find one that will help you to love the Church (including its teachings) and also enhance your personal spirituality. However, for this survey respondent in particular, it was even much harder for her, as those people she looked up to bought into the secular culture of the world and gave her poor example to live up to as a Catholic. Sometimes, you just gotta bite the bullet and go against the grain of those you know, and YOU be the shining example of the faith, that ``light of the world, the salt of the Earth`` to your family and friends. You be the catechist, you be the ``New Evangelization`` in your actions and knowledge of the faith and maybe you will call your friends and family back to the spiritual arms of Mother Church (she is a mother in a sense, the ``Bride of Christ.``). As a last note, do look around your city and parish for youth ministries and even singles communities of Catholics, or even Catholic dating services, if you are seriously considering marriage yourself. Just be careful which one you use. Ì recommend the one promoted on Catholic Answers, www.catholicmatch.com/ as that one is not a secular dating site, nor is it geared towards extreme ultra/rad-trad Catholics either.
Reason 3: THE LITURGY!!!!!!: ``“I tried different Catholic churches in the area because I just didn’t seem to be getting anything out of the Mass, especially the homily.” Another person said, “I stopped going regularly because the homilies were so empty. And whenever the church wanted to raise money, they dropped the homily and talked money.” There were many complaints about the quality of homilies as well as about poor music at Mass.`` [My text is now red colour as I'm going into Fr.Z rant mode]
Homiletics/Catechesis
AHHHHHH!!!!! If there is any one thing that ticks me off as to making people leave parishes, it's this. Priests and higher clergy (Deacons included), the homily is not the time to express your wishy-washy liberal sentiments or to promote social justice causes. It is also not "me" time to say something that makes you feel good nor joke around (though I'd make an exception for using it as a literary device to introduce your topic of necessity). The homily is the time to make sense of the Liturgy of the Word's readings to the congregation, to tell "the moral of the story" as it were from the mouth of Christ himself, and even to relate Christ's teachings to modern day life, and that may include reiterating Catholic teachings (yes, of THAT CATECHISM) and even apologetics as well. People crave those good, solid homilies they can take home, even just one nugget of spiritual umph to nourish their souls and minds, geared towards the objective truth of the Lord. They also are in a world of constant flux and are relying on YOU to tackle those issues, like that YouTube kid who says he loves Jesus but hates organized religion. We hate when you abuse the message of Christ to promote your latest church fundraizing campaign DURING THE MASS (unless you also teach us a theological lesson about the necessity of a parish building and its centrality to our faith) or even replace the homily with a "guest speaker" from the local diocesan charity that also deals out money to pro-abortion side arm divisions (knowingly or unknowingly). If you have to announce this stuff due to the commands from the bishops (an every Mass this Sunday kind of thing), the proper place in the Ordinary Form is before the dismissal, and in the EF prior to the "continuation of the Gospel" before the Homily. However you could also have people optionally listen after a Mass, and you don`t waste time with the uninterested early self-dismissal people either.
Finally, your homily might be ALL the Catechesis that a kid or adult will get in their whole week. No, you CANNOT TRUST the separate school systems as they are under the thumb of the government who gives them most of their funding or teachers who teach under the guise of ``tolerance`` and ``anti-bullying.`` They must obey whatever the government dictates or suffer financially, and that might include promoting social justice causes that contradict Church teaching. Worse, not all your teachers that work in those systems are Catholic. And the ones that are? I dare you to quiz them on their basics: What is the Trinity? What is the Mass? What is the Eucharist? What are the 7 Sacraments? Do they know what Sin is? Is there such a thing as Sin? Many would not be able to give a straight answer I'd bet you. Also, if the school administration and teachers are brainwashed socially and liberally beyond reasoning, the minute you step foot and mention SIN of any kind or a teaching on the big issues like papal infallability, abortion, euthanasia etc. I guarantee you will likely not be let back in to that school. Therefore clergy, you got only one shot a week to teach these people something about the true Faith. If you don't want to and espouse a "Jesus loves everybody" message, they'll find NOTHING UNIQUE about the Catholic faith vs. the other faiths out there, or worse will think you aren't serious about your position and are just "sucking on the power teat" as it were. Now if they like that kinda "lukewarm" thing, fine, but maybe you should look ahead to the future 10-20 years down the road when your donating parishoners die and the collection baskets thin out because the next generation isn't giving a lot and not having enough children (or none if they are contracepting), and the next two generations are leaving/have left the parishes after Confirmation. Just saying!
In fact, I'm personally switching my parish for the Novus Ordo, as this above is one of the reasons. At least at the new N.O. parish I'm seeking has priests that give good traditionally-minded hiomilies, one of them leaning more on solid catechesis and spirituality while another excels at applying the Gospel and LOTW to the modern world. That's the stuff I crave baby!!! And it seems this young woman does too.
The Liturgical Music
Now to tackle music. Music's purpose in the liturgy is outlined here in the Papal Instruction Liturgicam Sacram " 5. Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it" (I, 5). In other words, it is used as an accompanyment to help lift your soul and help you be in a prayerful mood for the Mass and be able to particilate in it more fully. This document, BTW, was issued by the Vatican II pope, Paul VI. Let's look further into this document: "60. The new melodies for the vernacular texts certainly need to undergo a period of experimentation in order that they may attain a sufficient maturity and perfection. However, anything done in churches, even if only for experimental purposes, which is unbecoming to the holiness of the place, the dignity of the liturgy and the devotion of the faithful, must be avoided." (V, 60) I post this with regard to that fodangled new pop-ish stuff and those tunes of the 60's and 70's in your parents' days where pop hits were turned into Churchy songs (or in the worst cases even used) as well as some of the new genres like "praise and worship." What can we take from this? Look, there is leeway for experiementation and development of new sacred music in Church history. But that does not give you the right to incorporate whatever music you like in the liturgy, just to be "in with the times." If we want secular garbage we'll get that off YouTube and we don't need it elsewhere. We young people can't stand when adults try to "cramp our style" so to speak.
Also accompanying that paragraph is this: " .... Musical instruments can be very useful in sacred celebrations, whether they accompany the singing or whether they are played as solo instruments. "The pipe organ is to be held in high esteem in the Latin Church, since it is its traditional instrument, the sound of which can add a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lift up men's minds to God and higher things." "The use of other instruments may also be admitted in divine worship, given the decision and consent of the competent territorial authority, provided that the instruments are suitable for sacred use, or can be adapted to it, that they are in keeping with the dignity of the temple, and truly contribute to the edification of the faithful."[43]" (VI, 62) Secular instruments and elements might be okay, but have to be assessed as to whether they are or are not geared to the liturgy. Also, just by their sound/nature, some instruments are clearly poorly suited or not at all for the liturgy (e.g. drums, electric guitar when it's not electrically changed by an amp to sound acoustic, and even acoustic guitars to some extent) should be either cautiously used or not at all. The Church, the choir loft, and especially the sanctuary, is not suitable for a rock concert! Sadly there's that territorial authority thing (cough, bishops, cough) so em if you get a liberal one, well don't be suprized to find the aging hippie band or the folk choir with a guitar at the parish. As for the LIFETEEN/EDGE rock group bands, well I'm mixed. I say the best thing is, well fine let them have their band playing P and W music (if they have to have a band at all for those Masses) but do introduce them to Gregorian Chant and other better Church music to see the gamut of "allowable" music and read to the youth the document above, as well as some of the Vatican II stuff that also speaks with regard to the liturgy. Practically, Is there a schola or a choir school/cathedral they can take a day/eve trip to see? Maybe a secular choir that performs classical/baroque pieces out of musical respect or reverence?
Now you might say, what about the corny music that passes for liturgical ``hymns``? Well likely they got by thanks to your bishop cause of this: "54. In preparing popular versions of those parts which will be set to melodies, and especially of the Psalter, experts should take care that fidelity to the Latin text is suitably harmonized with applicability of the vernacular text to musical settings. The nature and laws of each language must be respected, and the features and special characteristics of each people must be taken into consideration: all this, together with the laws of sacred music, should be carefully considered by musicians in the preparation of the new melodies. The competent territorial authority will therefore ensure that in the commission entrusted with the composition of versions for the people, there are experts in the subjects already mentioned as well as in Latin and the vernacular; from the outset of the work, they must combine their efforts." (V, 54). So in a nutshell, if the bishop is lax and lets this stuff by, well too bad if your pastor okays it use. This is where you have to let your bishop and pastor know you don't like what they do. If they don't listen, you have every right to walk and register at another parish that does respect the Church's liturgical tradition and has music that elevates your soul in the liturgy of the Mass. You also have the right to take your money and put it into the hands of competent musical ministers or choirmasters, and withhold it if your parish is screwing with your ability to truly worship Christ in the Mass in a proper, liturgically correct, manner. It is your hard earned money after all. Also one can protest with their feet: The Church CANNOT deny you your sacraments as long as you are not excommunicated (with exception to reconciliation likely at the hands of the bishop), so you can go to any Catholic Church and attend their Mass, including ones with all the smells and bells and Gregorian Chant if your home parish keeps singing "Gather us In" from that Gather hymnal and "Send down the fire".
My point is, well, the lady has a valid point! Not all this kind of modern stuff is liked by our generation, and we do like the traditional uplifting Church music. We want music that lifts our souls to participate more fully in the Mass, and if you aren't doing it parish X, we have the right and we will go to parish Y that has that unless we are, like "whatever." though we likely won't come back for a long time or never if we have that attitude. You can't deny us our sacraments and kick us out for our liturgical musical preferences. Furthermore, not everyone is moved by your type of music (though not everyone, even some faithful young Roman Catholics, are moved by Gregorian Chant and actually are moved by Praise and Worship or other forms of liturgical music). My point is, move with your feet and your wallet if you can't stand the bandstand.
Alright rant mode OFF. Unfortunately the liberal/mainstream media has made a mess in the minds of many average people with this one, Reason # 4: ".... The scandal surrounding the sexual abuse of minors by clergy was mentioned often. One man said that what did it for him was “the bishop’s refusal to list pedophile priests on the diocesan Web site and his non-support of the effort to lift the statute of limitations for bringing sexual abuses cases forward in the courts"
Well I cannot stand for this person's diocese. However, generally, those priests and bishops who have done anything like this, you've made the Church worse and you deserve the criminal and civil and Church penalties you get. Even Canada is not immune. It is generally known that some of the nuns and priests who took care of Native Canadian reserve school and residences, treated the Natives with abuse of multiple kinds. Also, recently a bishop from the Maritimes, Raymond Lahey, was found with pornography with his computer in 2009. So there's no shortage of stories even for Canada. However, generally, as a whole, the majority of Church clergy do not engage in this kind of activity. In fact this can be applied to every major profession in modern society. The expression is "a few rotten apples spoil the bunch". Now, I will not perform apologeitcs on the Church sex crisis in this post in detail as it's been extensively covered by other Internet and media apologists. For Canadians, the best arguments I can recommend are found in the works of Michael Coren of Sun Media TV, especially "Why the Catholic Church is Right." He tackles the issue with a whole chapter RIGHT FROM THE START of his book. As for the rest of you viewers you can also view Michael Voris' video series on this matter in his little 6-10 min daily faith blurb called "The Vortex" on youtube. Search for Michael Voris, Vortex, and sex scandal or crisis in Catholic Church. I believe he did the weeklong series at the beginning of September in 2010 when the 2nd wave of the crisis hit or was still at high tide?
And this is where I will retire. I could spend many a day on this portion of the survey and more, but this mind has other things he'd like to devote his time to. Enjoy the read, and as always, my blog rules are in effect, so think before posting.
Pax Tibi Christi, YCRCM.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
SUPPER DEE DUPER quickpost: Churchy feel good liberals, BEWARE!!!
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
So I was just checking my rotation of blogs, and this showed up:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.ca/2012/04/for-record-latest-tornielli-fellays.html
This is pretty significant. I certainly thought Fellay and the SSPX were going to be stubborn louts and ruin it. This is a game changer and will certainly strengthen the powers of TCs and TPs everywhere!!!! If things become finalized and canonically valid INCLUDING SACRAMENTALLY all their "sacraments" outside the Mass (quotations to be removed in future), the Church will regain 500+ priests and their army of servers, MCs, and such can aid us who have stayed true and loyal to the Magisterium/Vatican in our cause of the EF/TLM!!!! Once I get the canonical OK from Pater Benedictus XVI, I might explore them .... but I won't go that far in my Traditional Catholicicsm. I've got too much invested currently with the Novus Ordo Church and my regular TC/TP effots.
Anyways, Now that this announcement has been unleashed, I will have to align my Part II post quite a bit. While I am glad for the sake of the EF/TLM that SSPX seems to be on their way to full canonization, I have my concerns about them extra-liturgically (e.g. psychologically/sociologically). That will be where my criticism lies in the Part II post.
Keeping my eyes peeled on this one,
YCRCM.
UPDATE Tues Apr 17, 1035pm EST/2235h:
I think I jumped the gun here. Obviously the only acceptable source of Yes or No is the Holy Father Himself. Read here:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/st.-pius-x-society-gives-mixed-response-to-vatican
Let us all pray Fellay didn't make the response so screwed that B16 rejects SSPX. Let's hope the "modifications" are acceptable. It's up to him to accept or reject B16's offer and unify with the Church, not the other way around.
YCRCM.
UPDATE Sun May 6, 2012, 444pm EST/1644h
Those pro-SSPX supporters at Rorate Caeli picked this up from a news source somewhere:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/05/rome-sspx-very-relevant-popes-decision.html
So it sounds like this month, the be all and end all for the Society will occur, and the Papal satellite cannon will either fire it's ultimate schiz-Or beam at the Society, or the abort codes will shut the satellite down on itself and finally, we'll be welcoming 500+ priests and numerous adherents to the Society home. That, and canonical and licit sacraments will finally be offered by them. Keep praying guys, cause this will either bestow a powerful bunch of TC allies to the cause, or will deal a severe blow to the Latin Mass/EF initiatives worldwide and allow liberals in the Church to mock us sympathetic to TC/TPs more.
YCRCM.
Update Mon May 21 (Victoria Day in Canada), 2012, 1020 pm EST/2220h
This has been making the Circuit on the blogs as Fellay himself while in Vienna spoke about the negotiations:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/05/rome-sspx-fellay-speaks-in-vienna-words.html
I'd like to highlight some points of the text:
So in short, all this YCRCM can say, is we must keep our ears peeled, and if Fellay isn't stupid enough to do what his predecessor, +Lefevbre did (yes he was a validly consecrated bishop in the Church, and key name in the Vatican II accounts), we my friends will have reinforcements for the sake of the Latin Mass and many more clergy, servers and the like to revive this spiritual transfusion in the Church. However, I still have doubts, which reminds me to get to work on part II of my big SSPX post .... I might just do that this week with some time off if I don't get emergency work calls or give aways ... sad thing is I'll have to take them as the taxman killed me this year, even with a job and an accoutant.I lost 1.5 - 2 paychecks worth of my hard earned, already taxed doe to Stephen HARPER!!!! (angry tone. sigh).
YCRCM.
So I was just checking my rotation of blogs, and this showed up:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.ca/2012/04/for-record-latest-tornielli-fellays.html
This is pretty significant. I certainly thought Fellay and the SSPX were going to be stubborn louts and ruin it. This is a game changer and will certainly strengthen the powers of TCs and TPs everywhere!!!! If things become finalized and canonically valid INCLUDING SACRAMENTALLY all their "sacraments" outside the Mass (quotations to be removed in future), the Church will regain 500+ priests and their army of servers, MCs, and such can aid us who have stayed true and loyal to the Magisterium/Vatican in our cause of the EF/TLM!!!! Once I get the canonical OK from Pater Benedictus XVI, I might explore them .... but I won't go that far in my Traditional Catholicicsm. I've got too much invested currently with the Novus Ordo Church and my regular TC/TP effots.
Anyways, Now that this announcement has been unleashed, I will have to align my Part II post quite a bit. While I am glad for the sake of the EF/TLM that SSPX seems to be on their way to full canonization, I have my concerns about them extra-liturgically (e.g. psychologically/sociologically). That will be where my criticism lies in the Part II post.
Keeping my eyes peeled on this one,
YCRCM.
UPDATE Tues Apr 17, 1035pm EST/2235h:
I think I jumped the gun here. Obviously the only acceptable source of Yes or No is the Holy Father Himself. Read here:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/st.-pius-x-society-gives-mixed-response-to-vatican
Let us all pray Fellay didn't make the response so screwed that B16 rejects SSPX. Let's hope the "modifications" are acceptable. It's up to him to accept or reject B16's offer and unify with the Church, not the other way around.
YCRCM.
UPDATE Sun May 6, 2012, 444pm EST/1644h
Those pro-SSPX supporters at Rorate Caeli picked this up from a news source somewhere:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/05/rome-sspx-very-relevant-popes-decision.html
So it sounds like this month, the be all and end all for the Society will occur, and the Papal satellite cannon will either fire it's ultimate schiz-Or beam at the Society, or the abort codes will shut the satellite down on itself and finally, we'll be welcoming 500+ priests and numerous adherents to the Society home. That, and canonical and licit sacraments will finally be offered by them. Keep praying guys, cause this will either bestow a powerful bunch of TC allies to the cause, or will deal a severe blow to the Latin Mass/EF initiatives worldwide and allow liberals in the Church to mock us sympathetic to TC/TPs more.
YCRCM.
Update Mon May 21 (Victoria Day in Canada), 2012, 1020 pm EST/2220h
This has been making the Circuit on the blogs as Fellay himself while in Vienna spoke about the negotiations:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/05/rome-sspx-fellay-speaks-in-vienna-words.html
I'd like to highlight some points of the text:
".... This structure that is being offered to the Society is in fact entirely appropriate. That is, if it actually takes place, you will feel absolutely no difference between now and afterwards. We will remain as we are, so to speak ....
So it seems that the SSPX, according to this statement, is being likely offered an ordinate like the Anglicans under A. Coebitus. I am thinking it is less likely a personal prelature, because the latter would imply that they must be adherent to ordinary bishops of dioceses, and well many of them would say no to the SSPX cause they are liberal heterodox thinking types still from the pre JPII and B16 generations. An ordinate would, like the Angilcans, mean that they are physically separate from the dioceses and can own their own properties, and be directly under the command of B16 himself. The key words are underlined leading me to think as such is more likely. Do not forget, the SSPX hierarchy`s biggest fear is that they`ll end up like the FSSP or other organizations, forced to set up shop in little hidey holes in the country they are in, treated with contempt by the mainstream Catholic society and just another "act" under the big circus tent that is the modern INSTITUTIONAL Catholic Church.
".... It could happen that, in the upcoming days, weeks - it is very hard to ascertain this - the Pope will decide directly.... That is the current status."
So it's likely that this month, the Satellite canon will either be launched or the abort codes on the SSPX will be unleashed by Benedict, metaphorically speaking.
Some others on the Catholic Blogosphere have noticed a pattern that Benedict tends to do pretty big things on Church solemnities/feast days, so perhaps, maybe Pentecost or the vigil of it, something BIG is going to happen. And would it be appropriate!!! It is often said that it is by the Holy Spirit that conversion to Catholicism happens, so I wouldn't be suprized if the big announcement occurs on Pentecost.
So in short, all this YCRCM can say, is we must keep our ears peeled, and if Fellay isn't stupid enough to do what his predecessor, +Lefevbre did (yes he was a validly consecrated bishop in the Church, and key name in the Vatican II accounts), we my friends will have reinforcements for the sake of the Latin Mass and many more clergy, servers and the like to revive this spiritual transfusion in the Church. However, I still have doubts, which reminds me to get to work on part II of my big SSPX post .... I might just do that this week with some time off if I don't get emergency work calls or give aways ... sad thing is I'll have to take them as the taxman killed me this year, even with a job and an accoutant.I lost 1.5 - 2 paychecks worth of my hard earned, already taxed doe to Stephen HARPER!!!! (angry tone. sigh).
YCRCM.
Quickpost: Spike in pageviews again
Hi all,
My record got broken again. at 17:00 according to the blogosphere, I got 19 hits! Checking the day stats for the whole dayy (0000h - 2359) 18 of those are from the Netherlands. I am not 100% sure whether this means there are some hungry Catholics there seeking knowledge, or someone's fishining for information, or some kind of internet bot is spying on me somehow. Hmmmmmm.....
YCRCM.
My record got broken again. at 17:00 according to the blogosphere, I got 19 hits! Checking the day stats for the whole dayy (0000h - 2359) 18 of those are from the Netherlands. I am not 100% sure whether this means there are some hungry Catholics there seeking knowledge, or someone's fishining for information, or some kind of internet bot is spying on me somehow. Hmmmmmm.....
YCRCM.
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