Argh! Why must some priests mislead?

[Sir_Knight]

Sometimes there is a disconnect between what the Priest said and what the person in the pew heard. I’d suggest your friend ask her Priest to clarify what he said in the homily.

I would suggest writing to the Bishop asking HIM to clarify this “new” church teaching.

 

[Seatuck]

I would suggest writing to the Bishop asking HIM to clarify this “new” church teaching.

No the first step would be to ask the priest. The person may have misunderstood and he was talking about something else like limbo for instance.

 

[Cinette]

Not getting the connection between my post and your comment. Can you help me here? I was responding to the post that said the people celebrate. We do not. We participate or assist at Mass. The priest is the celebrant.

You are absolutely correct. Sorry! I clicked on the wrong button. Of course my response could not have been in regard to your comment.:nope: :nope: :imsorry: :imsorry:

 

[RobbyS]

Such beliefs among many priests is common and has been for a long time. It is neither new nor particularly unusual. You will also find that generally speaking they do not believe in the existence of Hell, which is seen as primitive, of punishment, and of judgement because as they are fond of saying Gid doesn’t judge me, of the divinity of Christ, the Virgin birth, both inventions of the early Church to lure pagans in with a man/god having attributes they were familiar with, the Immaculate Conception that Christs death was salvific, instead proclaiming it to be mere martyrdom, in the Holy Trinity or in any of the miracles attributed to Jesus.

We see the last particularly in the torturous ways they try to assign rational explanations to the various miracles and remove anything miraculous from them,

In essence what they believe in is not Catholicism but liberal Christianity with a few Catholic trappings. They have reduced Christianity to:
The Historical accuracy of the man Jesus
The dignity of mankind
The importance of love
Ethics

It sounds like this priest is possibly in that group.

Add to that a fear of being outed, because few will admit to these beliefs, yet they inform everything such men do say.

 

[bflochica5]

In essence what they believe in is not Catholicism but liberal Christianity with a few Catholic trappings. They have reduced Christianity to:
The Historical accuracy of the man Jesus
The dignity of mankind
The importance of love
Ethics

It sounds like this priest is possibly in that group.

If you think about it, a case could be made that this isn’t even liberal Christianity, but rather beliefs specific to no particular religious group at all. After all, both Jews and Muslims accept that there was an historical Jesus, and as far as I’m aware, they also embrace the other three beliefs you mentioned as well. I once knew an atheist, in fact, who believed the same things. It’s a sad situation.

The saddest part for me in all of this is that when friends have written to the bishop in similar situations with other priests in the past, they have gotten no response at all and nothing has been done that we’re aware of. In fairness, we don’t know whether the bishop spoke to the priest in private…but if so, it had no effect, as the priests continued teaching their inaccuracies.

Then there’s the bishop who is of a certain city I once lived in (about 10 years ago, but he’s still there), who apparently was once quoted as saying that he looks at the Pope like he would his own father–he loves and respects him, even if he doesn’t always agree with everything that the Pope believes. What recourse does the average believer have when someone like that is leading the diocese?

I pray so much, all the time, for a massive conversion of so, so many in our Church today…as well as for blessings on those who are well-informed and truly good leaders who help set the bar where it should be.

 

[bflochica5]

No the priest is the celebrant. The laity assist or participate.

Oops. Sorry, I misspoke (miswrote?). I guess I’ve accidentally become influenced by various people who speak of such things as though we’re all equal in the Mass. That, and that the Mass is just one big party, a grand old social event to unite all of us as a parish family.

 

[whatevergirl]

So my Catholic co-worker informed me this week that at the place she celebrated Mass last Sunday, the priest spent his homily informing people that “There’s no such thing as purgatory” and that “Beliefs ought to come from the pew, not the pulpit.” Ugh! I fail to understand why, if this man feels so strongly about these kinds of beliefs, he doesn’t just go hang out at the Protestant church down the street (it’s a free country, after all). In the meantime, the typical poorly catechized Catholic goes home from Mass on Sunday saying, “Wow, I didn’t know the Church changed its belief on that!” Seriously, why do men become priests in the first place if they don’t really believe in the Church’s teachings??

(FYI–I have been to this same church on occasion. On my last visit, I didn’t particularly appreciate this priest’s jokes near the end of Mass, nor his practice of putting unconsecrated hosts at the door for each person to pick up and take inside before Mass–it was unexpected and confusing for us as visitors, not to mention somewhat unsanitary, and it struck us as just a wee bit irreverent.)

What??? What was the purpose of that? (unconsecrated hosts at door?)

 

[kage_ar]

What??? What was the purpose of that? (unconsecrated hosts at door?)

It is to avoid consecrating many more than will be consumed at Mass. In the foyer or back of the Church is a place with unconsecrated hosts. Those who will recieve at Mass place one in the container, those are brought up for consecration.

It is NOT an abuse of any way, shape or form.

 

[Seatuck]

You are absolutely correct. Sorry! I clicked on the wrong button. Of course my response could not have been in regard to your comment.:nope: :nope: :imsorry: :imsorry:

No problem. I was just wracking my brains trying to figure out how I could have restated my comment. I don’t always communicate effectively.

 

[Seatuck]

Oops. Sorry, I misspoke (miswrote?). I guess I’ve accidentally become influenced by various people who speak of such things as though we’re all equal in the Mass. That, and that the Mass is just one big party, a grand old social event to unite all of us as a parish family.

Well, to be fair the concept of solemn celebration is there. It just isn’t proper to say that the laity celebrate. Christ’s resurrection is certainly something to celebrate! Woo Hoo. Ok we’ll save all that partying for Easter.

 

[Seatuck]

It is to avoid consecrating many more than will be consumed at Mass. In the foyer or back of the Church is a place with unconsecrated hosts. Those who will recieve at Mass place one in the container, those are brought up for consecration.

It is NOT an abuse of any way, shape or form.

This is the practice for the daily mass I attend on occasion at the Montfort Shrine .I find it to be a very common practice at shrines and smaller chapels rather than larger churches and cathedrals.

 

[bflochica5]

It is NOT an abuse of any way, shape or form.

Maybe not, but I must say, it was the first time I’ve ever seen it done, and I’ve been to a lot of Masses in a lot of places. I attended that day with a group of friends and none of us knew to do it. It caused a lot of anxiety later as we sat there second-guessing what to do–should we get up to go do it after the fact? Tell an usher? Refrain from communion so we don’t “steal” a host meant for someone else? It’s not like there was a sign at the door telling people what to do…not exactly the best way to make visitors feel welcome or to reinforce the idea of the Church being universal no matter where you go.

 

[bflochica5]

Sometimes there is a disconnect between what the Priest said and what the person in the pew heard. I’d suggest your friend ask her Priest to clarify what he said in the homily.

I don’t know whether she has done this or not, but the update I got today is that my co-worker’s friend was at that same Mass and heard the same homily. She too clearly understood the priest to be teaching that there is no purgatory. In fact, she was so upset about it, it became the final straw for her, and she has decided to pull her child out of the parish school. Other incidents from the past with this same woman: she wears a scapular and voluntarily fasts or abstains from meat on Fridays year-round (as the Church leaders have encouraged all of us to do) and encouraged her high school religious ed. students to the same, and the priest in response called her “too Catholic” and asked her to step down from teaching; and when she and my co-worker went on a pilgrimage, the priest told them not to go and called them “Mary chasers.” The woman has already written a letter to our bishop. Please pray for this priest! As is often the case in my experience with situations like these, the priest is very popular. It makes it all the harder to get the true teachings of the Church across in such situations. sigh

 

[santodomingo]

I don’t know whether she has done this or not, but the update I got today is that my co-worker’s friend was at that same Mass and heard the same homily. She too clearly understood the priest to be teaching that there is no purgatory. In fact, she was so upset about it, it became the final straw for her, and she has decided to pull her child out of the parish school. Other incidents from the past with this same woman: she wears a scapular and voluntarily fasts or abstains from meat on Fridays year-round (as the Church leaders have encouraged all of us to do) and encouraged her high school religious ed. students to the same, and the priest in response called her “too Catholic” and asked her to step down from teaching; and when she and my co-worker went on a pilgrimage, the priest told them not to go and called them “Mary chasers.” The woman has already written a letter to our bishop. Please pray for this priest! As is often the case in my experience with situations like these, the priest is very popular. It makes it all the harder to get the true teachings of the Church across in such situations. sigh

As often, the insults of the faithless to us are compliments. If only more of us were “Mary chasers”!! Sounds like the ideal thing to do in life; to run to the Door of Heaven!

 

[zab]

Maybe not, but I must say, it was the first time I’ve ever seen it done, and I’ve been to a lot of Masses in a lot of places. I attended that day with a group of friends and none of us knew to do it. It caused a lot of anxiety later as we sat there second-guessing what to do–should we get up to go do it after the fact? Tell an usher? Refrain from communion so we don’t “steal” a host meant for someone else? It’s not like there was a sign at the door telling people what to do…not exactly the best way to make visitors feel welcome or to reinforce the idea of the Church being universal no matter where you go.

I would have gone up to receive Communion anyway. They probably take into consideration that some visitors upon entering the chapel may not have noticed what they were expected to use tongs to put the unconsecrated host into the ciborium so they plan accordingly. Sometimes in the small chapels where this is done, a regular attendee will notice a visitor and kindly let them know what to do.

 

[bflochica5]

I would have gone up to receive Communion anyway. They probably take into consideration that some visitors may not have noticed what they were expected to do so they plan accordingly. Sometimes in the small chapels where this is done, a regular attendee will notice a visitor and kindly let them know what to do.

I think that’s what we ended up doing, but not before we had a great deal of anxiety over it. Just what we should be obsessing over when we should be preparing our hearts for Mass!

And I do agree that it makes sense for a daily Mass at a small chapel. But this was a regular Sunday Mass, and it’s a rather large parish. Go figure. I got the sense that it was done as much to help people feel like they’re “participating more fully” as it was for the practical reason of getting an accurate count.

 

[bflochica5]

As often, the insults of the faithless to us are compliments. If only more of us were “Mary chasers”!! Sounds like the ideal thing to do in life; to run to the Door of Heaven!

Yes–and if only more of us could be known as “too Catholic”–too much a member of the original, universal Church of Jesus Christ! Maybe I ought to hang out at that church more often; I bet I could earn that compliment pretty quickly, according to this priest’s definition.

 

[Cinette]

Maybe not, but I must say, it was the first time I’ve ever seen it done, and I’ve been to a lot of Masses in a lot of places. I attended that day with a group of friends and none of us knew to do it. It caused a lot of anxiety later as we sat there second-guessing what to do–should we get up to go do it after the fact? Tell an usher? Refrain from communion so we don’t “steal” a host meant for someone else? It’s not like there was a sign at the door telling people what to do…not exactly the best way to make visitors feel welcome or to reinforce the idea of the Church being universal no matter where you go.

You make this sound like some Agatha Christie story!!!

I have seen this done many times at daily Mass. Like this the Priest concecrates the exact number of hosts needed for the Mass. Why should there be anything wrong with that?:ehh: :ehh: :ehh: :ehh: