News from Diocese of Saginaw, MI

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The posture of kneeling is to be met by Advent 2009, not necessarily the installation of kneelers. Either way, I have don’t have much confidence this practice will be in place by then for any church in the diocese that doesn’t already do it.
 
The rumor mill has it that Fr. Bessert has requested, and Bishop Cistone has granted, that he be relieved from his duties as rector of the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption. Fr. TJ McNamara, the Bishop’s newly appointed vicar general, will be taking his place. It sounds like Fr. Bessert will be on leave from any pastoral duties for a period of time. Please pray for Fr. Bessert, Fr. McNamara, and the Cathedral parish.
 
The rumor mill has it that Fr. Bessert has requested, and Bishop Cistone has granted, that he be relieved from his duties as rector of the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption. Fr. TJ McNamara, the Bishop’s newly appointed vicar general, will be taking his place. It sounds like Fr. Bessert will be on leave from any pastoral duties for a period of time. Please pray for Fr. Bessert, Fr. McNamara, and the Cathedral parish.
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It is an actuality, announced at this Sunday’s liturgies. I will miss Fr. Bessert alot. He had a tough job, Change is hard on everyone. We must keep our eyes on Jesus.
 
MICATH said:
The rumor mill has it that Fr. Bessert has requested, and Bishop Cistone has granted, that he be relieved from his duties as rector of the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption.
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Do we know why?

And where is he going?
 
Today was the day – All Churches, chapels or places of worship are to fully implement the posture of kneeling [during the Eucharistic Prayer] by the 1st Sunday of Advent, Nov. 29, 2009. —

Did your parish in the Diocese of Saginaw meet the directive? Remember, the directive doesn’t say that kneelers need to be installed, it only says that the posture of kneeling should be implemented.

What happened at your parish? Anything?
 
Anything?

The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Alpha and Omega was made substantially present in the Eucharist. As if this was not enough, we, His subjects, His disciples, were not only allowed to worship, praise, and adore Him, we were…gasp…allowed to consume Him!

Beyond that (is anything beyond that?) nothing much happened. Some kneeled, most did not.

In the last Worship and Spiritual Life commision meeting with Fr. Bessert a few weeks ago, we made a request for some instruction, clarification, some directions on how we as a parish might meet the requirements of the GIRM in a more uniform way. Fr. Bessert said he would pass the request (it was written) onto the Bishop. No response yet, but I did think about it today…🙂
 
I don’t know of any parishes that installed kneelers in time, but I do know of one that had a fundraiser a few months ago and is actively working to get them. Personally, I think more than a few parishes saw Bishop Carlson’s re-assingment as an extension of the deadline.

But even so, this part of the State of Michigan has been totally whalloped in the current recession (which Michigan has been in since at least 2004-we were ahead of our time).
The City of Saginaw, where the Cathedral is located, is currently facing over twenty percent unemployment, so I know many parishes are hurting for the cash to install kneelers.

By the way, I was at the Cathedral this week and saw that the Bishop’s Throne is now in what used to be the Sanctuary, facing the people. I’m wondering if the new Rector will move the presider’s chair up there as well.
 
Karl_M said:
By the way, I was at the Cathedral this week and saw that the Bishop’s Throne is now in what used to be the Sanctuary, facing the people. I’m wondering if the new Rector will move the presider’s chair up there as well.
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I’m not sure I follow you - wasn’t it always in the Sanctuary? I was there for the installation Mass and I thought it was slightly back of the altar, along the weird pointy wall, and slightly angled outward.

:confused:

~Liza
 
The Bishop’s chair just went up there last week. As for the presider’s chair, who knows. There are some orthodox people in some critical positions. Fr. McNamara made it clear, he is the rector, and the Bishop is indeed the pastor. We are happy to have both, and the influence of the Religious Sisters of Mercy who are wonderfully orthodox.
 
Ok - I’m an idiot - I’m in Detroit and thinking of Blessed Sacrament. Never mind me… :o:p

~Liza
 
Karl_M said:
I don’t know of any parishes that installed kneelers in time, but I do know of one that had a fundraiser a few months ago and is actively working to get them. Personally, I think more than a few parishes saw Bishop Carlson’s re-assingment as an extension of the deadline.

But even so, this part of the State of Michigan has been totally whalloped in the current recession (which Michigan has been in since at least 2004-we were ahead of our time).
The City of Saginaw, where the Cathedral is located, is currently facing over twenty percent unemployment, so I know many parishes are hurting for the cash to install kneelers.

By the way, I was at the Cathedral this week and saw that the Bishop’s Throne is now in what used to be the Sanctuary, facing the people. I’m wondering if the new Rector will move the presider’s chair up there as well.
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I heard that Maple Grove did install kneelers. That is the only place I have heard of. Bishop Cistone has not given any extensions on the directive that I know of, and in one case has noted that an extension given by Bishop Carlson was no longer in effect.

The directive did not say anything about installing kneelers, only that the posture of kneeling should be adopted. It has been mentioned several times in this thread that kneelers are not required to kneel, although they are more comfortable. The Sisters that reside at the Cathedral convent can often be seen kneeling on the hard floor at the Cathedral. If these ladies can tolerate the discomfort, then certainly most of the congregation could put up with it. What’s missing is the catachesis around the use of the posture.

I noticed the Cathedra had been moved. It would be nice if the presider’s chair were moved as well. It is very hard to see the priest when he speaks from the chair. But, in my opinion, before that is done, they should move the piano and the organ from behind the chairs. It become very distracting to me when the musician is contantly running back and forth in the front of the Church during Mass between the piano and the organ. Just my useless opinion.
 
When Bishop Carlson first put the GIRM into place, there was quite a bit of coverage, but not much since then.

If there are no kneelers, then people, in general, simply won’t kneel. Too many people don’t want to do anything that makes them slightly uncomfortable (including going to Mass in the first place, not to mention arriving on time and staying until it’s over).

But there can be legitimate reasons for not kneeling on the floor. For me, it’s way beyond a comfort thing. In my case, if I knelt on the hard Cathedral floor, they’d have to haul me across the street, and that’s no joke.

At any rate, I thought that when Bishop Reh originally remodeled the Cathedral to its present form in 1978, that it did have kneelers with the chairs. Am I wrong about this? I’m almost sure that I saw pictures and all the chairs had kneelers. If so, where did they go?
 
Karl_M said:
At any rate, I thought that when Bishop Reh originally remodeled the Cathedral to its present form in 1978, that it did have kneelers with the chairs. Am I wrong about this? I’m almost sure that I saw pictures and all the chairs had kneelers. If so, where did they go?
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Well, all that is long before my time as a Catholic, and several years before my association with the Cathedral in any way. There are a few chairs around that do have a kneeler attachment on them, there were in the former Blessed Sacrament Chapel, they might still be there. As for all the chairs having them, I’m not sure they all did. There are people to ask who would remember. I’ll try to remember to ask them…🙂
 
I happened to Mass at St. Helen this morning. I haven’t been there is 20/25 years. The pews with kneelers are still intact, although no one used then during the Consecration. I’m not sure if it is defiance or maybe no one informed Father that the directive around kneeling was to begin a few weeks back. Many did kneel in prayer after receinving Communion. And, it was a guitar Mass this morning. The 70’s are alive and well in Saginaw.
 
Karl_M said:
…At any rate, I thought that when Bishop Reh originally remodeled the Cathedral to its present form in 1978, that it did have kneelers with the chairs. Am I wrong about this? I’m almost sure that I saw pictures and all the chairs had kneelers. If so, where did they go?
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I have it straight from the horses’ mouths, several of them. While there were some special kneelers attached to a few chairs, generally seen in the vicinity of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, there were never kneelers for the flexible-seating chairs in general.
 
Say, what happened to the music program at the Cathedral. I have seen some different folks around lately. Have there been some personel changes?
 
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