How's Things In The Parish Where You Are?

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Oi…Yesterday I went somewhere else for Confession and Mass and bumped into another liberal minded Priest. He even tampered with the words of Consecration! I’ve even managed not to drag that parish’s worries home with me to wear me out with trying to figure out how many times they may or may not have had a validly Consecrated Eucharist. I’m not the only person how knows their catechism that was there yesterday.

I went again today to my regular Mass at the parish where I live, and there was a woman on the steps who wanted to talk to folks about the “secular” Francisan order. I asked her why they no longer call themselves “tertiary” and after a quick response, I said thanks but no thanks and left. So here I am at home again, too wound up to take my usual nap, so I thought I’d start this thread.

So, how are things in the parishes where you guys n gals are?

Peace and all good,

Thomas2
 
I heard a Pastor today at Mass speak out on his disapproval of a recient letter certain Bishops relaesed last week. I could deal with a private rejection but not a public contradiction.
 
We have Fr Mitch Pacwa coming to our parish for a 3-day conference next weekend. I neighboring pastor, reading the subjects of the talks (Islam, Wica, New Age, Satanism) determined that Islam and Satanism were being presented as the same and placed an insert in his parish bulletin warning all his parishioners to stay away.

Our pastor answered this action with a kind and considerate offer to anyone to come and listen, then make up their minds on the “value” of each of the topics on their own merit.

The result - 75 more reservations, and numerous phone inquiries just yesterday. Yes some were from the other parish.

So I guess there is still some petty jealousy prehaps when one parish tries to offer conferences, missions. etc.

I look forward to the answer from Fr Pacwa to the question “Is there satanism in Islam”

Over all, our parish is pretty sound. Perpetual Adoration is the key I think. We have 37 undeveloped acres, and just waiting for God to tell us what to do with it.

The Bishop was thumbs down to a monument/masoleum to infants of miscarriage, abortion. I believe it would have been the first. When word first got out, dozens and dozens of supportive families inquired. We had no idea how many agonized over a miscarriage! The local Catholic Hospital volunteered to assist… the Funeral Director/Parishioner volunteered his services, gratis… and someday it will happen. (of course the local secular hospital, Univ of Mich won’t cooperate)

We also have an active ministry in the local boys detention center with weekly Mass and confession, instruction classes, and dozens of baptisms and confirmations - most for the right reason, not just trying to look good to the parole board.

We have a successful annual mission to Mexico to help Fr. Straub, and another to the Dominican Rep, which has already provided many many thousands of dollars of assistance.

If we can get our pastor to quit volunteering on anyone’s board and committee etc, and spend less time away from the parish, we could be awesome.

But after all, he is a graduate of Bob Jones Univ - seriously - but now a priest for 25 years. Praise God - for He works wonders.

I don’t see eye to eye with him on some things, but still love and appreciate his efforts, so maybe a good parish (spiritually, what else matters?) depends on a good pastor. We just can’t all have St. Vianney.

MrShttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gifhttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
in case you were wondering, the pastor now has a 62Roman Missal too… hint hint hint
 
Liturgically speaking, things were absolutely heavenly today. A priest from Atlanta visited our parish and celebrated Mass this morning (his sister is here). Anyway, first he recited the confiteor and INTONED THE KYRIE, made a point of singing everything, nearly celebrated Ad Orientem but for some reason changed his mind about it, sang the Roman Canon IN LATIN, INCLUDING THE WORDS OF CONSECRATION, and was absolutely disgusted with the state of musical affairs at my parish. Yeah, pretty darned cool. I hope it’ll give my pastor and music director a swift kick in the pants, since they seem to like to ignore things like Sacrosanctum Concilium… 😃 😃 :dancing: 😃 😃
 
I am in Naas in Ireland. Really lucky in that we have 5 Priests and all but one are orthodox. So we are doing really well! :banghead: Really well indeed!! :banghead: Well if you exclude the following little blips :o
The one priest I speak about is not so bad really however there are a few areas of the Liturgy that he likes to tamper with.
  1. Omitting the Lavabo from time to time
  2. Changing the words of the prayer during the lavabo to ‘our iniquities’ and ‘our sins’ instead of ‘my iniquities’ and ‘my sins’
  3. Giving the impression that the EMHC are concelebrants
  4. Encouraging the Altar servers to prostrate with Him on Good Friday
  5. Encourages the laity to come to the altar and self communicate with the Chalice
  6. Scant attention to the usual purifications of the sacred vessels
    :confused: Ooops did I say not so bad??? I have just had a rethink.
    We also have about 5 or 6 lectors who are determined to use inclusive language instead of what is prescribed and one or two cantors who sing the hymns with inclusive language thrown in for good measure.
    We have 6 Altar boys and 37 Altar girls
    Oh and a female Pastoral Coordinator who thinks the Pope has pulled the Church 25 years backwards. She also has let it be known to me that she will do her Doctorate in Liturgy simply to make the Parish Priest “c**p in his pants”. (Her words)
    She will always prepare far too much wine on Holy Thursday and after the ceremonials its up to the sanctuary for a right ould shin dig provoding you can get up fast enough for an earthenware chalice to yourself, if not you must share one. Bummer really. Sometimes the Altar servers are even invited to partake of a sup or two.
    We are very proud of our very own Parochial innovation! A closed liturgy committee which is never renewed and never open to new members and members presently involved are sidelined and ignored eventually forced out.
    We have EMHC ‘in perpetuum’ and Lectors ‘in perpetuum’
    No new innovations are allowed especially if they are aligned to Rome or orthodox thinking.
    A Pastoral Council who believe that they have the final say again who set up sub committees by winks and nudges and never invite anyone who may be slightly orthodox or conservative. Most of the members of the Pastoral Council are silent conservatives / orthodox Catholics.
    We have our Tabernacle over at the side of the Church and it is the private domain for our EM’sHC. Priests never go to it during Mass.
    One of our sacristans with the permission of above mentioned Priest gives the blessing with the monstrance after exposition of the most Blessed Sacrament. He doesn’t even wear a humeral veil. :tsktsk:
    Apart from that we are doing really very well indeed :whistle: thanks very much for asking.
May God forgive me for being so filppant but I am really sore to the heart with a lot of what goes on. I have a toothache in my heart.
Just before you ask what I am doing about it? I have made my protests in writing to the Priest concerned and am in the process of writing to the Bishop if I receive no response by the end of August.

Fergal
Naas
Ireland
 
My parish is in downtown Columbus Ohio, it is full of what can be terms, theological/liturgical refugees who got fed up with their territorial parishes. It is ran by priests from the order of preachers(Dominicans).

At my parish you have 2 priests there assigned to it full time, one assigned to it full time on a temporary basis, 2 priests in residence plus many priests who often visit. It was just restored as well, not “rennovated”. Its altar rail is still used. As for liturgical music, the Collegeville hymnal consisting mostly of classic Catholic hymns and some high church Anglican hymns is used. There is confession before every mass as well. Lastly, at most Sunday masses, incense is used.

What wont be found at my parish are the following.

No altar girls, no female lectors, and no EMHCs either. Again, the reason why my parish is the way it is is because it is a non territorial basis, and the parishoners are pretty solid when it comes to the faith, and will resist any attempt to “modernize” the liturgy.
 
Well the worst things that happened at my Mass today was that the priest said a few things in* English, said the Kyrie from the Epitle side of the altar instead of from the middle and forgot the Ita Missa Est.

But given that he is as old as dirt (my age), is just “relearning” the Tridentine Mass and has 40 years of NOM habits to break and that this was only the second time in 40 years he celebrated TLM, I felt no anger, just compassion and thanksgiving that he tried to give us what we wanted. For the most part he did.

*The two rites are not to be “mixed”. Before the Confetior he said in English, Let us Now repent of our sins (in English) and when he read the Gospel in English (allowed) he preceded it with something in English
 
Just this morning after Mass my son, husband, and I commented on how blessed we are to have a holy pastor, a truly inspired associate priest, and a gifted permanent deacon.

Things are not 100 percent liturgically correct at my parish, but they are close. And the thing is, these men ARE gifts from God – they reach out to all in the parish. I have no complaints about any one of them.

Yesterday my son and I went to our weekly Adoration hour and then attended confession with the associate. Our pastor is our usual confessor, and this was the first time my son had gone to confession with the associate. (Confession is Extremely Important to both of us – my son is 14, I am 49.) My son came out just beaming, all excited because the associate had given him a “penance” quite different from the pastor – a Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.

Note: I always wonder why they call it “penance,” when usually the priest tells us to pray – prayer is such a wonderful GIFT, and is not penance at all!

Anyway, things in my parish are good and are getting better all the time! 👍
'thann
 
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thann:
Just this morning after Mass my son, husband, and I commented on how blessed we are to have a holy pastor, a truly inspired associate priest, and a gifted permanent deacon.

Things are not 100 percent liturgically correct at my parish, but they are close. And the thing is, these men ARE gifts from God – they reach out to all in the parish. I have no complaints about any one of them.

Yesterday my son and I went to our weekly Adoration hour and then attended confession with the associate. Our pastor is our usual confessor, and this was the first time my son had gone to confession with the associate. (Confession is Extremely Important to both of us – my son is 14, I am 49.) My son came out just beaming, all excited because the associate had given him a “penance” quite different from the pastor – a Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.

Note: I always wonder why they call it “penance,” when usually the priest tells us to pray – prayer is such a wonderful GIFT, and is not penance at all!

Anyway, things in my parish are good and are getting better all the time! 👍
'thann
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Sounds like Assumption Grotto Parish… there are not too many of this quality. You are blessed

MrShttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
 
Our parish is full of good-hearted people doing their best. The Pastor is a great guy who is often seen praying before Mass and who doesn’t mess with the liturgy. He makes sure there’s a pro-life message in the bulletin every week, as well as a pro-life petition in the prayers of the faithful. The other priest (in residence) is a bit of a wild card, but when he does something wrong, it’s on the more reverent side. He can be a great preacher if he doesn’t get sidetracked, and he’s not afraid to tackle difficult issues. Like almost everyone else, we have too many EMHCs, but the ones we have are the people who are in line for Confession every Saturday. Our altar servers are boys and girls who have received fantastic training, always reverent and careful. They even make the girls put their hair in a ponytail so it’s not in their way or being distracting. Our music director is a fabulously talented organist who’s a little bit afraid to have the choir do a lot of really good music. They do some really good music and some junk, but it’s all done well. We still have and use our altar rail - people kneel for Communion every day at daily Mass and every other Sunday, when only the Host is distributed. On the other weeks, we have Communion under both species. We have a couple of feminists on the Parish Council, one a lector and one a cantor. They would like to be influential, but they are not. When *Redemptionis Sacramentum * came out, almost immediately they corrected their practice of consecrating the wine in a Waterford decanter and then pouring the Precious Blood into the chalices. The wine is now poured into the chalices at the offertory. I was hoping to see the EMHC practices cleaned up, but I think they don’t want to confuse them or hurt their feelings. The other possibility is that they may not have read the document itself. There was a big newspaper article in the diocesan paper stating that all we’d have to do in our diocese was to correct the wine pouring thing - otherwise we’re doing fine. Of course, that’s not true, but reading the article may have given that impression.

All in all, it’s pretty good here, and I’m not inclined to make a fuss about what’s not perfect. Last week I went to Mass in another parish and was absolutely appalled at the abuses, and I counted my blessings when I got home!

Betsy
 
Things are pretty good at our parish. We have a few altar girls and EM’s, but they are used with discretion. Attendence has been good, and we are about as correct as you can get these days. The only problem is that our parish has a fifty-fifty chance of being closed along with twenty some other parishes in the Toledo, Ohio diocese. So as to whining about altar girls and EMs, our main concern right now is to stay open, but that’s out of our hands. There is a study committee with the diocese that will decide who stays and who closes. By the way, is it a sin to pray that some other parish closes and our stays open? I’m praying to keep our church. God bless.
 
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davy39:
Things are pretty good at our parish. We have a few altar girls and EM’s, but they are used with discretion. Attendence has been good, and we are about as correct as you can get these days. The only problem is that our parish has a fifty-fifty chance of being closed along with twenty some other parishes in the Toledo, Ohio diocese. So as to whining about altar girls and EMs, our main concern right now is to stay open, but that’s out of our hands. There is a study committee with the diocese that will decide who stays and who closes. By the way, is it a sin to pray that some other parish closes and our stays open? I’m praying to keep our church. God bless.
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Just pray for God’s will…then pray harder for the bishop to accept it. All should be fine - if you don’t have Perpetual Adoration now, start it no matter how hard it is - either in your parish if it stays open, or in another you may have to join with.

God Bless
MrS
 
We have no EME, no altar girls, no liturgical dancers, no weird music, no Winnie the Pooh Mass, no Big Bird vestments, no Clown Masses, no desecration of the Eucharist, the priests teach the magisterium, they don’t make fun of the Holy Father, they follow our ancient traditions, and we are very happy to be Byzantine Catholics.
 
Mike C:
We have no EME, no altar girls, no liturgical dancers, no weird music, no Winnie the Pooh Mass, no Big Bird vestments, no Clown Masses, no desecration of the Eucharist, the priests teach the magisterium, they don’t make fun of the Holy Father, they follow our ancient traditions, and we are very happy to be Byzantine Catholics.
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Sounds like no WMD at your parish…weapons of Mass desecration.

MrShttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
 
Well, I hope it’s not too late to chime in. 👋

My parish is awesome. We have a rich history of excellent pastors who really grew this parish into a spiritual powerhouse. The Holy Spirit is very present here. Last year, we lost our pastor, a man that we truly loved and admired. We now have a lay Pastoral Coordinator. He is a very holy and humble man. He’s been in full time ministry for 20 years in the church, and is humbled by his current assignment. I believe God sent him to us.

I run the sound for our Life Teen Mass. It is powerful worship experience for me. The music leader does a tremendous job of leading worhip, and keeping the focus on the Eucharist. It is such an amazing experience to recieve Jesus in a parish where people are free to worship in the ancient style of raised hands. 👍

Count me among the truly blessed.
 
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