St. Dominic's in Wisconsin - reason for concern?

[Elzee]

Anybody know anything about St. Dominic’s parish in Sheboygan, Wisconsin?

I received an email from a friend of mine who is excited about this parish she just joined. She loves it because everybody sings and it’s* ‘progressive and alive in the Spirit’.* Before the priest reads the gospel the congregation raises their hands and says a prayer over him. She thinks this is just awesome. This isn’t allowed, is it? I’m concerned about the orthodoxy of this parish, even though I know this isn’t much information to go on.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jaypeeto4]

It is perfectly fine and praiseworthy to pray for your priest.
But NOT during the Liturgy. And NOT like that.
The Liturgy is designed the way it is, in order
to teach the truths of the Faith. It’s structure is deliberate.
It is not a “service” to be
“celebrated” in schizophrenic free-form.
The kind of behavior you describe is gravely
against the rubrics of the Mass.

Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

I don’t know if asking a blessing over the priest by the congregation prior to reading theGospel is OK or not. I know that if the deacon is going to read the Gospel, the priest blesses him; and if a priest is in the presence of a bishop, and the priest is going to read the Gospel, the bishop blesses the priest.

Having reviewed the web site, to me, and this is just my opinion, this is a “progressive” parish, but not in schism or performing any major liturgical abuse, a part of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I have a bone to pick with their description of Confirmation, though. I don’t like their description of EMHC as “Ministers of the Bread and Cup” because that’s not bread they distribute (They do however, in the bulletin divide the EMHC by “Body” and “Blood”). They obviously have a connection to the charismatic movement, which is not necessarily a bad thing. They seem to tend toward guitars, et al. I am not a fan at all of Children’s Liturgy of the Word. They are trying to encourage stewardship. I have a problem with any Catholic parish helping the Salvation Army bell ring, which is a religion, and I know that the Salvation Army sees abortion as a viable alternative. I think their efforts might be better aimed at St. Vincent dePaul.

All that said, what can you do if your friend goes there? She likes it. They are a part of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Are you anywhere near there?

And I’m not sure we should be mentioning parishes by name.

 

[uwwhitewater84]

I live in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Apparently parishes across the diocese run from the traditional and conservative, to liberal and progressive. I’ve been in parishes that don’t kneel (even with kneelers on the pews) and I’ve heard of priests speaking publically in favor of the ordination of women.

I guess it just depends where you are.

Archbishop Dolan now has a weekly television series called “Living our Faith”. I hope he does a show about the history of the Mass and why it is imporant to our spiritual identity as Catholics to follow what the rubrics say on how the Mass should be done. If you live near Milwaukee and can get the station, I recommend checking it out if you haven’t already!

 

[Elzee]

All that said, what can you do if your friend goes there? She likes it.

My experience has been that parishes that wander from the rubrics of the Mass are also those that tend to wander from orthodox Catholic teaching. Since she doesn’t know her faith well, she could easily be led astray by incorrect teaching and if this parish has a history of being unorthodox (which, as I stated, I don’t know if it does or not but the modification in the Mass I described in my original post made me wonder), I could let her know that, and then she could decide for herself what to do. I’m quite sure she has no idea that the congregation raising their hands and praying out loud over the priest before he reads the gospel is not allowed.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

My experience has been that parishes that wander from the rubrics of the Mass are also those that tend to wander from orthodox Catholic teaching. Since she doesn’t know her faith well, she could easily be led astray by incorrect teaching and if this parish has a history of being unorthodox (which, as I stated, I don’t know if it does or not but the modification in the Mass I described in my original post made me wonder), I could let her know that, and then she could decide for herself what to do. I’m quite sure she has no idea that the congregation raising their hands and praying out loud over the priest before he reads the gospel is not allowed.

OK. You could do the research and send it to her. That makes sense. You could ask the apologists if they’ve ever heard of it and relay the message. As I said, from the web site (which I sent you in a PM), it does look progressive but may not be considered illicit by the Archdiocese.