EcceAgnusDei,
I am afraid, Brother JR, that the same human reaction will be occurring in the relatively near future, but in the opposite direction, when it is the traditionalist who is the bishop.
This is a very well thought out and lucid response. I see your frustration. Seriously, it is a good post.I can concede all of that. I believe it. But, no where does it say not to question them, nor does it talk of when they tell us wrongly. A single Bishop is not infallible and certainly we can agree that many Bishops throughout the history of the Church and even in the modern Church are and have been scandalous. We are to be obedient, yes! By your citation here we should just discard things like the scandal, not be involved in fact finding or judgement. Which we can all agree we are! The point of the above citation in its most simplistic is to take the good and leave the bad. But the problem is that we have to discern what is good and what is bad. And to do that we have to question, learn, and judge.
If a guy is seen running from a bank with a ski mask and a bag of money and a gun are we to apply Charity to the point of foolishness and assume he is saving the money from a bank that caught fire, even though there is no smoke? No, Charity is love, and love is Holy, but foolishness is unholy. Sometimes the line is fine. I Charitably believe that my Bishop has some kind of reason for his resistance. It does not change the reality and frustration of living with the situation with insufficient or no reasons given. (which is his right) He doesn’t have to justify himself to me or any other laity. But it just seems prudent and illogical to not offer a reason that might stem the frustration and speculation of His flock.
We are called to be obedient and I intend to be. This subject is not life or death, it isn’t all that important. The Bishop is not telling us to sin. There is every reason to obey. But there is also every reason to be frustrated.
Priests who want to say the TLM
People who want to go to the TLM
Masses in English Portuguese, African, Basque, Polish, Spanish, some of which have a smaller “audience” than a TLM would.
A TLM offered by a FSSP Priest 5 hours and hundreds of miles away from the population in a rural outpost. (this to satisfy The MP)
Priests saying 3 or 4 Masses on a Sunday to half empty Churches.
Almost every parish has a designated Mass for “teens”
A full SSPX nearby along with many people like me who do not attend out of obedience.
If charity is anything like “reasonable doubt” it is getting harder and harder to squeeze through that door. But squeeze we must, through the narrow door and eye of a needle.
I just need a little empathy about the situation sometimes.
Thank you.
Here’s my take on the whole issue…
I have lived in both. I have lived in a diocese like you describe and one that was worse than my current one. You could probably describe our current diocese as a lukewarm one with a progressive Bishop who is using restraint. It is also run by a group of religious that has recently come under scrutiny. I have lived in one in the Northwest that was absolutely leftist loony but recently has a awesome Bishop and Archbishop. and I have lived in one that was traditional.
This is a good post, Tim. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. At the end of the day we have to work with what we’ve got in the best way we can with the grace of God to help us through. Thanks again.
I need to have more of that attitude.
But priests learn Spanish (or another modern language) not just to say the Mass, but to minister to their parishioners. They must be able to hear confessions, prepare couples for marriage, teach RCIA, offer counseling, console the bereaved. If he only has so much time for study, a language that will help him with his parishioners will likely come before Latin.
Yes, it does. Also, the present difficulty re. Latin lies basically in disobedience.
When he gets a little older you can introduce your son to this guy!!Yes, if more of us brought our children up to be open to a religious or priestly vocation we would have more priests available for all the needs of the Church.
My 6 year old wants to be a priest and a paleontologist! He wants to be a priest on the weekends and a paleontologist during the week.
Let me make a practical case for Candyland glasses, not one from charity. We all deal with passive-aggressive people who stonewall us, or somehow do us injustice while all the time keeping an innocent air. What happens when such people are approached directly? They seldom will admit that you have them all figured out. Avoiding confrontation is why they act passive-aggressive to begin with. The will:
Some of us have been doing just this for about fifty years. We are a bit tired of being told to be patient.
When he gets a little older you can introduce your son to this guy!!
Let me give you a little insight. Three young men went through the process to enter seminary training at the age of 13. This was in 1957. Prior to this, two other young men entered the seminary. Both left severly traumatized by their experience, one was a cousin of mine.The jist of it was that the young men and the mothers could where flabbergasted by what was being taught and the atmosphere of the seminary.The phones began to ring. The outcome was that the three young men were not allowed by their parents to enter the seminary! Two vocations were lost and one of these young men was ordained at the age of 50 and is to my knowledge still a parish priest! What in the “heck” was going on back then that this happened and since it did, I have to believe that it was not an isolated incident across the board. One has to wonder what kind of priests’ came out of that atmosphere. I’ll leave it there. I have my own opinion.Thank you for the clarification. I knew it had nothing to do with me.
Also, thank you for the compliment. I was born in 1950 and was educated by Capuchin Franciscan Friars beginning from 1955. Though the churches and music were beautiful, the situation inside the rectories and religious houses was horrific. It was unhealthy and out of compliance with the Church’s vision of priesthood and religious life. When you open the floodgates, the frustration and the need for air sends people in all kinds of directions, some of them not so good.
The laity could not help much, because the average lay person had no idea what went on in these houses. The very few that did, could care less as long as their wants were met. Most lay people were caught in the middle, since most did not know where these men and women were coming from.
We truly need a balanced view of the past. Some of the things were real losses and some things had to go, because they were supports for situations that were not good.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
Watch the language that you’re using here. This is a good example of the kind of language that does not endear the Traditionalists to the bishops. First of all, it provocative. Secondly, it’s offensive.
He must believe that he was wrong, because he self-corrects in 2007. In the cover letter that came with Summorum Pontificum. He said.