On the Tiber's shore

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You know, to me, that’s not about validity, even though I am fully aware that from a Catholic point of view, we don’t have a valid confirmation (it is not even a sacrament for us).

It is about watching a church I still love deliberately taking a way that brings it ever further from Christ and to a washed-down version of the Gospel which will end up, as has already happened in other Swiss Reformed churches, in a place where it is doubtful wether it still can be called Christian.

We will end up with money as our king, performing baptisms where not a single prayer is said before water hits the baptized’s forehead, having “Sunday services” where the word “God” is never spoken, and generally behaving like any NGO. I am not exaggerating, this is how it already is in quite a few German Swiss churches.

I love my church. I want it, as a whole, to go back to the full communion of the Catholic Church. And I am standing helpless as it takes the opposite way. It hurts so much.
 
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OddBird said:
I love my church. I want it, as a whole, to go back to the full communion of the Catholic Church. And I am standing helpless as it takes the opposite way. It hurts so much
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Are you familiar with the life of Fr Richard John Neuhaus? He was a Lutheran minister who spent quite a while working towards Lutheranism going back into full communion with the Catholic Church. He ended up converting to Catholicism and becoming a priest. He was the founder of First Things magazine. His book Catholic Matters is really good.

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Mat...john+neuhaus&qid=1569257472&s=gateway&sr=8-12
 
Reading Neuhaus was an impetus for me to start to look back to the Catholic Church.

His statement, quoting someone else, that “A Lutheran must ask himself every day why he is not Catholic” stuck with me just as much as it stuck with him.
 
On a completely unrelated topic, I have a question (now that I have confessed my love for casual wear on the “How do non-Catholics dress for church” thread) : would you dress up to meet with a bishop ? I honestly have no idea of what is expected. It is going to be just him, my priest and me.

If it is any help, what I usually wear is pants (but I have only one pair of slacks which I keep for funerals 😅), a tunic or longish blouse, and a cardigan.
 
I don’t know what else to say other than to say I’m close enough that if you have a question I would be ready to help.

Don’t worry about being worthy. Nobody is truly worthy of the goodness of God. I"m not worthy to go to communion, I’m not worthy of His forgiveness, I’m not worthy of my ministry. What makes us worthy is Him. He calls us as His children. He wants us to come to Him.
 
TARRAT said:
I don’t know what else to say other than to say I’m close enough that if you have a question I would be ready to help.

Don’t worry about being worthy. Nobody is truly worthy of the goodness of God. I"m not worthy to go to communion, I’m not worthy of His forgiveness, I’m not worthy of my ministry. What makes us worthy is Him. He calls us as His children. He wants us to come to Him.
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I appreciate it. I’m in a great place now and I thank God for it. When I’m done with RCIA, in all likelihood I’ll be transferring to St Joe’s. I live within walking distance. I may get my work schedule changed soon so I can attend the daily 7:30 am mass. Do you know roughly how long they are? I start work at 8 but I can start at 8:30 or 9 depending on how long the mass is.
 
Daily mass is typically about 30 minutes, from what I have seen…

Does not always happen that way, though. Sometimes, the priest will give a 15 minute homily and it runs 45 minutes.
 
Lenten_ashes said:
Daily mass is typically about 30 minutes, from what I have seen…

Does not always happen that way, though. Sometimes, the priest will give a 15 minute homily and it runs 45 minutes.
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Thank you. Franciscan has a daily mass at 6:30 am so I’ll have to figure out my morning plans and decide between the two. I want to start waking up earlier so I can have time to do Morning prayer, workout, and daily mass before I go to work. That way I’m starting off each day on a firm foundation. I have to incorporate that slowly though, I have a tendency to jump into things head first and then burn out.
 
Very, very wise to do so in both cases. Great for spiritual and physical health!
 
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You sound like me…jump in with both feet, hands, legs, arms, and torso.

Then I burn out.

If I may offer one suggestion…if you are doing none of those three things right now, start with one. Then once it becomes ingrained as a habit, add another, and once that becomes a habit, add the third.

Taking that approach has worked for me. Taking the “jump in with everything I’ve got approach” has worked for me…for a couple weeks or a month at best.

Peace and God’s blessings.
 
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Glennon_P said:
You sound like me…jump in with both feet, hands, legs, arms, and torso.

Then I burn out.

If I may offer one suggestion…if you are doing none of those three things right now, start with one. Then once it becomes ingrained as a habit, add another, and once that becomes a habit, add the third.

Taking that approach has worked for me. Taking the “jump in with everything I’ve got approach” has worked for me…for a couple weeks or a month at best.

Peace and God’s blessings.
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Yeah, right now I’m focused on RCIA, Sunday Mass, and a daily rosary. I read when I can but not pushing myself too much.
 
To the kindly supporters of the CAF Tiber Swim Team:

I have been reflecting on this since Mass.

A bit of background.

There was a new Cantor at Mass Saturday evening. They frequently were noticeably off-key and had inconsistent volume. Now, while I will confess that I do not like sentimental hymns, I can tolerate them for the Mass. The Cantor’s performance, however, was such that I had a hard time focusing, and left Mass with a severe headache. I also had difficulty participating in the sung portions of the Mass (not including the hymns, which I just gave up on out of discouragement).

I intend to confess my lack of focus and imperfect participation during my next Confession.

How can I manage this? I can’t go to a different Mass because of work. I can’t go to another parish. I certainly can’t offer to replace them, since I know I can’t do much better. Because of my own inability, complaining to Father or anyone else at the parish I think is inappropriate. I’m not saying that anything should change, but rather asking: how can I, in the pew, manage things as they are in order to participate properly? I tried praying when everyone went up to receive, but the only words that came to me were those of the Jesus Prayer.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for complaining. And thank you.
 
MiserereMei said:
There was a new Cantor at Mass Saturday evening. They frequently were noticeably off-key and had inconsistent volume. Now, while I will confess that I do not like sentimental hymns, I can tolerate them for the Mass. The Cantor’s performance, however, was such that I had a hard time focusing, and left Mass with a severe headache. I also had difficulty participating in the sung portions of the Mass (not including the hymns, which I just gave up on out of discouragement).
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afaik, Mass should either have:
  • Great music
  • No music
I would MUCH rather have a Mass with no music at all than one with music that draws my mind to its poor quality. I’m worse than most on this because I’m a semi-professional musician so I have a good ear, but still.
 
Offer it up?

I will comment that if a mother can learn to tune out the whining and crying of her children, I bet you could learn to unhear the bad singing? It may take time but sounds like it would be worth the effort to enjoy the full Mass!

I don’t suppose you wear hearing aides…they have volume controls…😂😂😂
 
Well, there is the perennial “Offer it up”, which may sound trite but does mean something. However, I would suggest bringing this issue up with the priest. If the Cantor is genuinely that bad, to the point of not being able to concentrate and causing headaches, then the problem needs to be addressed.
Query: Are you educated in music? I.e., you actually know how to sing? Because if you aren’t educated or really picky, then being noticeably off-key is a problem for the entire congregation. On the other hand, if you are a good singer, then I would recommend volunteering to sing sometime (if you can).

I regularly sing in my parish’s choir; we are said (frequently, and by visitors) to have the best choir program in the diocese, and people like it because our music augments and accents the Mass. Which is why we get away with singing songs by modern artists- we pick songs that go with the readings and sing very well, mixing old and new.
 
HopkinsReb said:
I would MUCH rather have a Mass with no music at all than one with music that draws my mind to its poor quality. I’m worse than most on this because I’m a semi-professional musician so I have a good ear, but still.
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This is difficult even those of us who do not have a good ear however, it does speak more clearly than the announcement before Mass that says: “…and we are still in need of choir members”. 😁

Peace!!!
 
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