Pope Benedict to Curia - Vatican II

[Ham1]

It seems that many here are waiting for the Pope to make some sweeping change that will rapidly fix all liturgical abuses and errors. I have to believe that this will not happen this way. The Pope will continue to urge his fellow bishops to correct abuses. He will continue to make sure that documents like Redemptionis Sacramentum are issued. He will continue to appoint good holy orthodox Bishops. In short, he will continue to do what has largely been done over the last 10 years within the Church. It seems clear that he does not view his role as reversing a trend but rather continuing on the GOOD trend of the last 10-15 years. This will all take time. Time for the new good young priests to take over parishes and time for the old bishops and priests to retire.

But don’t expect any action beyond what has already been occuring.

That’s my 2 cents anyway.

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

Ham1:

It seems that many here are waiting for the Pope to make some sweeping change that will rapidly fix all liturgical abuses and errors. I have to believe that this will not happen this way. The Pope will continue to urge his fellow bishops to correct abuses. He will continue to make sure that documents like Redemptionis Sacramentum are issued. He will continue to appoint good holy orthodox Bishops. In short, he will continue to do what has largely been done over the last 10 years within the Church. It seems clear that he does not view his role as reversing a trend but rather continuing on the GOOD trend of the last 10-15 years. This will all take time. Time for the new good young priests to take over parishes and time for the old bishops and priests to retire.

But don’t expect any action beyond what has already been occuring.

That’s my 2 cents anyway.

This sums up my feelings as well, which is why I say it will be a good couple decades before the “changes” are really visible. They won’t be changes in direction given by the Church, but eliminating the loopholes that have enabled people to slip this or that in that aren’t to the true intent of Vatican 2.

I also believe that with the clamping down on seminary filtering out of orthodox young men, the ranks of orthodox young priests will grow and from this pool more orthodox pastors applying the norms in all their simplicity. Decades, I say, but we are seeing the fruits already of RS, imho in some areas. I know in two of my former parishes, I watched as they brought their liturgy in compliance with RS, but the pastor is a simple, orthdox priest, versus the progressive monsignor whom he replaced. This is a prime example of what I’m talking about.

 

[Ham1]

Lux_et_veritas:

This sums up my feelings as well, which is why I say it will be a good couple decades before the “changes” are really visible. They won’t be changes in direction given by the Church, but eliminating the loopholes that have enabled people to slip this or that in that aren’t to the true intent of Vatican 2.

I also believe that with the clamping down on seminary filtering out of orthodox young men, the ranks of orthodox young priests will grow and from this pool more orthodox pastors applying the norms in all their simplicity. Decades, I say, but we are seeing the fruits already of RS, imho in some areas. I know in two of my former parishes, I watched as they brought their liturgy in compliance with RS, but the pastor is a simple, orthdox priest, versus the progressive monsignor whom he replaced. This is a prime example of what I’m talking about.

And I think that anyone would have a difficult time arguing that the Church in America has lost Catholic identity in the past 15-20 years. I think there are many signs that the Church is growing stronger as each year passes. It seems that the worst of post-Vatican II abuses bottomed out 15-20 years ago. I believe it is this upward trend that is now called the new evangelization. Things may change faster than you think. It is amazing to see what 1 good priest can do in a parish or 1 bishop in a diocese.

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

Ham1:

And I think that anyone would have a difficult time arguing that the Church in America has lost Catholic identity in the past 15-20 years. I think there are many signs that the Church is growing stronger as each year passes. It seems that the worst of post-Vatican II abuses bottomed out 15-20 years ago. I believe it is this upward trend that is now called the new evangelization. Things may change faster than you think. It is amazing to see what 1 good priest can do in a parish or 1 bishop in a diocese.

I too agree that the worst is behind us. RS was a big help and the letter which followed to reign things in. I think many parishes have tried their best to be compliant and that there are still pockets of “resistance” where the pastor or even bishop looks at the GIRM and RS as something that takes us back to pre-V2.

In Michigan, I’ve heard a lot of complaints coming from the west side of metro Detroit, moreso.

 

[Elzee]

Ham1:

A It is amazing to see what 1 good priest can do in a parish or 1 bishop in a diocese.

This is a good point. We have had 3 younger priests in our area assigned within the last 2-3 years (by ‘younger’ I mean they look to be late 20’s early 30’s.). All are very orthodox, give fairly good homilies (still a lot of fluff, but better than the ‘older’ priests), and celebrate a reverent Mass. They all actaully genuflect before the tabernacle, bow their heads at the name of Jesus, and say the words of consecration slowly with head bowed. It’s so inspiring. One priest is the chaplain at one of the schools in our town and has done amazing things with the kids there. He is teaching them Scripture, the Catechism, and even apologetics! And, more remarkably, some kids are even going to monthly confession and weekly Benediction - not a lot, but it’s a good start. But it takes time. It will be several years before these ‘younger’ priests are assigned as Pastors as opposed to Assistant Pastors where they can REALLY make a difference in the Catholic identity of their parish. I read an article recently that young priets who are assigned a Pastor role too quickly tend to leave the priesthood - they just don’t have the experience for staffing, budgeting decisions, etc. , their prayer life suffers, and they leave. Let’s all pray for our new priests.

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

Elzee:

This is a good point. We have had 3 younger priests in our area assigned within the last 2-3 years (by ‘younger’ I mean they look to be late 20’s early 30’s.). All are very orthodox, give fairly good homilies (still a lot of fluff, but better than the ‘older’ priests), and celebrate a reverent Mass. They all actaully genuflect before the tabernacle, bow their heads at the name of Jesus, and say the words of consecration slowly with head bowed. It’s so inspiring. One priest is the chaplain at one of the schools in our town and has done amazing things with the kids there. He is teaching them Scripture, the Catechism, and even apologetics! And, more remarkably, some kids are even going to monthly confession and weekly Benediction - not a lot, but it’s a good start. But it takes time. It will be several years before these ‘younger’ priests are assigned as Pastors as opposed to Assistant Pastors where they can REALLY make a difference in the Catholic identity of their parish. I read an article recently that young priets who are assigned a Pastor role too quickly tend to leave the priesthood - they just don’t have the experience for staffing, budgeting decisions, etc. , their prayer life suffers, and they leave. Let’s all pray for our new priests.

AMEN :bowdown: