My First Stations of the Cross-Kind of Dissapointed

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carlos19 said:
I attended my very first Stations of the Cross at my parish. I was so looking forward to it as a spiritual devotion. I went by myself without my wife and children. It was held a bit late so I went alone to pray it.

The devotion was held by our parish’s social justice committee. As I said, I was disappointed because each meditation at each station was basically a reflection on a perceived social injustice from should I say the left wing side of politics. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I just expected much more spirituality. Specifically, reflecting on Jesus’s suffering and his love for us.

The meditations was how bad the American criminal justice system was, the inequity of the sexes, global warming, that kind of thing…

to each his own but again, I expected different.

What really did not feel right is when the leader prayed
“we adore you O Christ and we praise you”

we responded, by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.

I don’t know, maybe I am wrong but it felt shallow and not spiritual.
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This is why I think when lay people are leading the Stations of the Cross, they really need to run their program past the Pastor, rather than just going ahead with whatever they feel like doing.

I’m sorry you had to experience this. 😊
 
I can absolutely see how you would be disappointed at what occurred. We are so rich in our traditions and with good reason do we have standard prayers for certain times/occasions. This is one of them. As others have mentioned, the St Francis of St Alponse meditations are beutiful and are not drawn out and do not stray off topic. They are truly Christ/Passion centered. St Francis’ in particular gets me sensing how that walk on the road to Calvary was.
Do continue to use your Catholic sense and stay away from this nonsense. Perhaps find a church that is opened at an oppurtune time for you and your family and have private meditations if you cannot find a reverent, traditional one. Tan Books and others have the Way of the Cross booklets for short money and are all you need.
Like others said, don’t foist this mediocrity and shallowness on your loved ones.
While penance is necessary during Lent, events like this are not what the Church has in mind, if I may say so.
God bless you.

Joe
 
carlos19 said:
I attended my very first Stations of the Cross at my parish. I was so looking forward to it as a spiritual devotion. I went by myself without my wife and children. It was held a bit late so I went alone to pray it.

The devotion was held by our parish’s social justice committee. As I said, I was disappointed because each meditation at each station was basically a reflection on a perceived social injustice from should I say the left wing side of politics. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I just expected much more spirituality. Specifically, reflecting on Jesus’s suffering and his love for us.

The meditations was how bad the American criminal justice system was, the inequity of the sexes, global warming, that kind of thing…

to each his own but again, I expected different.

What really did not feel right is when the leader prayed
“we adore you O Christ and we praise you”

we responded, by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.

I don’t know, maybe I am wrong but it felt shallow and not spiritual.
Click to expand...
Umm yeah, I can see how that would be a less than desired experience. You can always make the stations by yourself (it would be a great thing to do for a holy hour)…I do that and it helps me to stay recollected. I’ve done it as a group before in my parish but did not like it as much.
 
Sounds like a case of good intentions run amuck. Don’t judge what can be a very beautiful and moving Lenten devotion (or year-round privately, for that matter) by what was hopefully an isolated although someone off-the-wall experience.
 
carlos19 said:
I attended my very first Stations of the Cross at my parish. I was so looking forward to it as a spiritual devotion. I went by myself without my wife and children. It was held a bit late so I went alone to pray it.

The devotion was held by our parish’s social justice committee. As I said, I was disappointed because each meditation at each station was basically a reflection on a perceived social injustice from should I say the left wing side of politics. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I just expected much more spirituality. Specifically, reflecting on Jesus’s suffering and his love for us.

The meditations was how bad the American criminal justice system was, the inequity of the sexes, global warming, that kind of thing…

to each his own but again, I expected different.

What really did not feel right is when the leader prayed
“we adore you O Christ and we praise you”

we responded, by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.

I don’t know, maybe I am wrong but it felt shallow and not spiritual.
Click to expand...
I think your take on it is dead on. What you described sounds like ridiculous and blasphemous treatment of Christ’s Way of the Cross. If you arrange for a brief, polite talk with the Pastor, you could tell him what you actually heard and find out if he knows this. If he does and he’s alright with it, then go to plan B. Stations of the Cross is not the appropriate place for the Committee to air their list of perceived social injustices. It just isn’t.
 
On the one hand–the tampering with traditional words and politicising of spirituality deeply offends my traditionalist Catholic sensibilities. On the other hand–I’m happy to hear that at least SOME liberal Roman Catholics are actually PRAYING, rather than what I hear, f’rinstance of the local St. Louis Catholic Worker House–where a regular attendee friend tells me that spirituality and God-talk are pretty well excluded, and most participants are pretty openly agnostic or unbelieving. Or as I’ve heard said in other contexts–folks who don’t believe in God, but go along with believing-in-believing.
 
flameburns623 said:
On the one hand–the tampering with traditional words and politicising of spirituality deeply offends my traditionalist Catholic sensibilities. On the other hand–I’m happy to hear that at least SOME liberal Roman Catholics are actually PRAYING…
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but that’s just it - they’re not praying. They’re using the meditation as a stage for their own group of social ideas, and rogue theology; “…by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.” :eek:
.
 
carlos19 said:
I attended my very first Stations of the Cross at my parish. I was so looking forward to it as a spiritual devotion. I went by myself without my wife and children. It was held a bit late so I went alone to pray it.

The devotion was held by our parish’s social justice committee. As I said, I was disappointed because each meditation at each station was basically a reflection on a perceived social injustice from should I say the left wing side of politics. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I just expected much more spirituality. Specifically, reflecting on Jesus’s suffering and his love for us.

The meditations was how bad the American criminal justice system was, the inequity of the sexes, global warming, that kind of thing…

to each his own but again, I expected different.

What really did not feel right is when the leader prayed
“we adore you O Christ and we praise you”

we responded, by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.

I don’t know, maybe I am wrong but it felt shallow and not spiritual.
Click to expand...
I felt the same way and I’ve said many a station of the cross. In our parish we had one like you are describing, a social theme. I didn’t object so much to the theme as I did to how it was said.
It sounded like a “scoulding” or lecturing us on the blame we should feel that the social order is in such bad shape. It was like having a big finger pointing right at us and saying “see what you did.” Like we are responsible for the mess the whole world is in.

I believe that theme could have been done with “taste” and been effective. But the way it was done was defeating. I didn’t go back because I felt resentment and that was the opposite of what I should have felt.

Just a thought.
 
Cable said:
but that’s just it - they’re not praying. They’re using the meditation as a stage for their own group of social ideas, and rogue theology; “…by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.” :eek:
.
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sigh…it happened again on Good Friday. I was at the Basilica of San Juan Capistrano in Orange County California.

We wanted to attend the Good Friday service there. We missed the English service and decided to attend the Spanish service. (The basilica by the way is extremely beautiful)

It started with the stations of the cross. The reflections was about the evils of this society because of its immigration laws, and racism.

I understand that this kind of thing has its place. I get it. But by God, Christ’s sacrifice was not the center of this meditation. He was not. Even my wife who is liberal, was troubled by this. We went expecting that the sacrifice of our Lord was going to be honored. What we got was a political speech cloaked with a faux meditative prayer.

Maybe I am being too sensitive about this.
 
What the OP described sounds like a mockery of the stations. It also sounds like liberation theology - God came down upon earth to help improve the social status of the poor!

I’d suggest finding a better church.
 
Thanks for the correction EricFilmer. The brain quit working. Our church was St. Francis Xavier and you are correct about the rest too.

Yesterday, Good Friday, we went to our FSSP parish where they did the old St. Alphonsus Ligouri Stations, which I like much better. I am not “into” modern stuff at all.

I’m afraid I would have left the church if they had done the social justice thingy. Not my “cup”.
 
corsair said:
I’m afraid I would have left the church if they had done the social justice thingy. Not my “cup”.
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Me too. It detracts from the whole point of doing the stations, remembering Our Lord’s sacrifice.
 
carlos19 said:
sigh…it happened again on Good Friday. I was at the Basilica of San Juan Capistrano in Orange County California.

We wanted to attend the Good Friday service there. We missed the English service and decided to attend the Spanish service. (The basilica by the way is extremely beautiful)

It started with the stations of the cross. The reflections was about the evils of this society because of its immigration laws, and racism.

I understand that this kind of thing has its place. I get it. But by God, Christ’s sacrifice was not the center of this meditation. He was not. Even my wife who is liberal, was troubled by this. We went expecting that the sacrifice of our Lord was going to be honored. What we got was a political speech cloaked with a faux meditative prayer.

Maybe I am being too sensitive about this.
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No, you are not being too sensitive. It’s … it’s horrible, it’s wrong. :eek:

I am almost afraid to ask, but was this second one led by a priest?
 
Cable said:
I think your take on it is dead on. What you described sounds like ridiculous and blasphemous treatment of Christ’s Way of the Cross. If you arrange for a brief, polite talk with the Pastor, you could tell him what you actually heard and find out if he knows this. If he does and he’s alright with it, then go to plan B. Stations of the Cross is not the appropriate place for the Committee to air their list of perceived social injustices. It just isn’t.
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While that particular one may not have been a good thing – with overpopulation and its ‘contraceptive’ mindset – not all Stations of the Cross need be the Ligouri version. There are many different versions of the Stations and, just as the number of stations has varied over the years, so have the reflections that went with them.

The Maryknoll Fathers put out a set of Stations a few decades ago whose reflections call us to “love each other as I have loved you”. I certainly wouldn’t opt to use those every Friday in Lent, but OTOH, I wouldn’t reject them out of hand because they do make us realize that Jesus didn’t die for us so that we could maintain the status quo but so that we might be better people and help our fellowman. If reflecting on Jesus’ Passion doesn’t change anything in the way we deal with others I would say that we are the ones who are shallow.
 
carlos19 said:
I attended my very first Stations of the Cross at my parish. I was so looking forward to it as a spiritual devotion. I went by myself without my wife and children. It was held a bit late so I went alone to pray it.

The devotion was held by our parish’s social justice committee. As I said, I was disappointed because each meditation at each station was basically a reflection on a perceived social injustice from should I say the left wing side of politics. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I just expected much more spirituality. Specifically, reflecting on Jesus’s suffering and his love for us.

The meditations was how bad the American criminal justice system was, the inequity of the sexes, global warming, that kind of thing…

to each his own but again, I expected different.

What really did not feel right is when the leader prayed
“we adore you O Christ and we praise you”

we responded, by your Holy Cross HELP US SAVE the world.

I don’t know, maybe I am wrong but it felt shallow and not spiritual.
Click to expand...
I can’t blame you for being frustrated.

I always hate it when interest groups twist traditional devotions, such as Stations or the Rosary, to their own ends. Whether or not I agree with the ends is not relevant.
 
carlos19 said:
sigh…it happened again on Good Friday. I was at the Basilica of San Juan Capistrano in Orange County California.

We wanted to attend the Good Friday service there. We missed the English service and decided to attend the Spanish service. (The basilica by the way is extremely beautiful)

It started with the stations of the cross. The reflections was about the evils of this society because of its immigration laws, and racism.

I understand that this kind of thing has its place. I get it. But by God, Christ’s sacrifice was not the center of this meditation. He was not. Even my wife who is liberal, was troubled by this. We went expecting that the sacrifice of our Lord was going to be honored. What we got was a political speech cloaked with a faux meditative prayer.

Maybe I am being too sensitive about this.
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You’re not, but that’s what some would have you feel so that you’re neutralized/bland/without flavor/ - not salty, and then this type of blasphemy can continue on it’s merry way. Actually, you nailed it. Someone needs to step up to the plate to return Jesus to his proper place of honor and worship.
 
carlos19 said:
sigh…it happened again on Good Friday. I was at the Basilica of San Juan Capistrano in Orange County California.

We wanted to attend the Good Friday service there. We missed the English service and decided to attend the Spanish service. (The basilica by the way is extremely beautiful)

It started with the stations of the cross. The reflections was about the evils of this society because of its immigration laws, and racism.

I understand that this kind of thing has its place. I get it. But by God, Christ’s sacrifice was not the center of this meditation. He was not. Even my wife who is liberal, was troubled by this. We went expecting that the sacrifice of our Lord was going to be honored. What we got was a political speech cloaked with a faux meditative prayer.

Maybe I am being too sensitive about this.
Click to expand...
No, you are not being too sensitive.
 
Our stations were all 10 mins+ centered on the priest’s own life and his very loose interpretation of the stations to fit. He tries his best, but I really can’t stand the nonsense around Holy things that goes on in this damn country anymore. It really isn’t good enough.
 
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