Thank you for reading my posts. I usually read yours as well (and your wife’s).
I have never seen Masses that are irreverent.
Cat,
I would say you’re lucky (very lucky) to not have observed/experienced any of these things, but can’t you relate just by reading about them? I’ve never encountered several, even many, of the things you list either, but I have encountered these types of things:
- Ignoring certain Vatican directives such as displaying the Divine Mercy image on DMS. In many, probably most, parishes, it is not done and there is not even a mention anywhere during Sunday Mass.
- Lay people preaching the homily instead of or in addition to the priest. (And, of course, it’s always the type of homily you’d expect to hear at a Unitarian church. If you’d ever been to one - which I haven’t!
)
- At least borderline heresy preaches from the pulpit directly: demons probably don’t exist. The Church’s “rules” on contraception are transitory and will likely change. Etc.
- No sense of solemnity whatever for the Mass - no sense, or recognition, that it is, in fact, a Sacrifice, the making-present of the sacrifice.
- The knowledge that a good number of the priests in the diocese belong to an organization that exists to oppose Rome. Their charter says so.
These are the types of things, battled for years, that found my wife & I at TLM. Although, as I always say, I do attend a nice daily OF.
I’m kind of like Richie Rich here–I have no idea how the “lower half” lives.
Again, frankly, you can read about it, although, you’re right - it’s not going to have the same impact, etc.
I might take issue with your praise of LifeTeen; I have NO experience there, but have certainly read a number of disturbing things.
However, in spite of living in the incredibly orthodox diocese that I described above, I have met plenty of Catholics (lay) in the diocese who are what I would describe as “carnal.”
Yes, well, there’s the problem. These groups - Call to Action, etc. - never would have existed had there been NO support by the clergy. But that wasn’t true and still isn’t true.
(You read my Mass Experience thread? The bishop in question is a lynchpin of CTA, which I’m sure is not surprising.)
Er - your statement above implies the Church teaches it’s not Ok to “have sex more than a few times a month” - little confused here.
Yes, this is the point I was making - the point of what many of us consider THE crisis in the Church. How can this not be
the crisis - heresy taught as truth, a huge breakdown in obedience, the majority of Catholics denying basic truths of the faith and the core moral teachings, etc.?
and Catholics still choose the easier road of Protestantism or outright un-churched life.
Nothing we can do about that.
The problem we CAN do something about is the opposite - turning Catholicism into Protestantism or something worse, which is really what everything I’ve been talking about is about, right? These ‘forces’ - I think that is a decent enough word - have, in fact, sought to infiltrate the Church, and change it. This is a fact, right? The Church must be “modernized” by allowing any sexual behavior possible, abortion, woman priests, etc. And, hand-in-hand with that, it must be “decentralized” - meaning the Pope must be ignorable, and ignored. This movement, and this sentiment,
is CTA, and their ilk, and their supporters, and the gay priest movement as well.
I think there are many things that can confuse a Catholic who does not stay close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, avail themselves of the Sacraments (especially Reconciliation),
.
I applaud you for that (suggesting moving). And I totally agree with you about the SSPX, and the fact that the attacks come from
both directions!
(In my apparitions essay, which was removed, I noted how their have been ‘traditionalist’ false apparitions and ‘liberal/charismatic’ false apparitions - both with the same goal - destroy the unity of the Church.)
I’ve experienced some of the confusion myself. I’ve read the claims and become distraught. But then I did the research, thought, and prayed, and realized that we have to “stick with the Pope”. The Pontiff is the Vicar; obedience to the Pope means we are part of the Church.
[This is why I found it so ironic when I first came here and saw constantly the traditionally-minded being attacked as disobedient - usually for simply pointing out blatantly unorthodox or disobedient teaching or practice. It was my loyalty to the orthodox, to the papacy and Rome, to the Church, that so evoked the rising disgust within me for the status quo I saw around me where I live.]
Your very soul is at stake.
This is where the Motu comes in - there should, at least, be a LM nearby, which, frankly, is all but guaranteed to be orthodox and obedient and offer an orthodox and obedient environment top-to-bottom. (Except, of course, where the Motu is being resisted, which apparently is a lot of places right now.)
Of course, if you just can’t take TLM - and that’s Ok - than I guess moving is Plan B.
I realize we’ve strayed a bit off-topic here and this post stepped right up to the edge of Rambling Precipice on an occasion or two - sorry.
