Taking Christ out of The Stations of the Cross? (Earth instead)

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What congregation of religious sisters came up with this? This is bizarre. :confused:
 
novusCatholic said:
I’ve been introduced to a “Stations of the Cross for the Earth”, that was developed by a congregation of religious sisters. They are promoting these stations for parishes to use during Lent.

The stations place the Earth in the experiences of Christ. Examples of the titles of the stations…

The Earth Is Condemned To Death
The Earth Carries Her Cross
The Earth Is Nailed On The Cross
Earth Dies On The Cross

I understand the Stations of the Cross to be a devotion to help us to focus on the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord. It just doesn’t seem appropriate to me to instead focus on the Earth while seemingly trying to compare a suffering planet with a suffering Jesus. Some of the text also seems a bit “new age” to me and talks about how we are one with the universe and the Earth, sharing one origin and destiny.

Some of the commentary and phrases used:
  • “Jesus lived in that consciousness…”
  • “Earth, the Body of Christ, is suffering…”
  • Talks about how the Earth has cared for us, provided for us, and nourished us…
  • Refers to us a Earth’s children
  • “Creator Mother God”
  • "Earth’s Death is our own death. What happens to Earth, happens to us the children of Earth. Let us contemplate these words spoken by Earth/Christ on the Cross today:… Forgive them for they know not what they are doing!”
  • Christ Jesus, you speak today from the cross: “Earth, these are your Children. Humans, this is your beloved Source, your Life as her children.”
  • Mother God weeps for her unraveling creation
  • THE HUMAN SPIRIT / THE EARTH SPIRIT – THE ONE SPIRIT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST!
I’m uncomfortable with the whole concept and would like the forum’s opinion. Am I overreacting?

Thanks.
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Reminds me a bit of the Anglicans that distributed cupcakes instead of ashes on Ash Wednesday.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
Reminds me a bit of the Anglicans that distributed cupcakes instead of ashes on Ash Wednesday.
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Srsly? :eek:

Googles *rolls eyes :rolleyes: *

Yep, it’s true.

Actually nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to heresies and kooky “liturgical” improvs.
 
Just a quick point of clarification.

The Stations of the Cross for the Earth that I mentioned to begin this thread is not the same as the one from the link that is in the second post. That link is for a different one from 2008. Very similar themes and phrasing, though.
 
nick347 said:
What congregation of religious sisters came up with this? This is bizarre. :confused:
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Looking at the link earlier from Fr. Z’s blog, it appears that it was a congregation of Franciscans based out of California.
 
powerofk said:
Exactly. I mean, when St. John Paul II asked people to change the Stations of the Cross, they were to events that explicitly happened in the Bible (such as “Jesus forgives the good thief” and “Jesus is seen by Herod”, etc.). And though Pope Francis wrote about care of the environment in Laudato Si, it was not about worshipping the Earth, it was about realizing that damage that is done to the environment (especially through wastefulness) most affects people in poor countries - and realizing that these people who we never see, yet could be the most affected by our actions, are also created in the image and likeness of God, as are the unborn, the elderly, and the terminally ill. Nowhere does he ever suggest that we should give the creation (as the Earth was created by the triune God) the worship due to the Holy Trinity alone.
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Yes, and in the case of St. JPII he was still on the subject of Jesus, just with different scenes from His life. He didn’t try to steer things in the direction of a different topic or put them in a different religious framework.
 
Pope Francis asked that this season of Lent in this Jubilee Year of Mercy be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy. He expressed his hope that we would use this time to reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Instead, all of this time and effort was used to develop and promote Stations of the Cross for the Earth?

Priorities…
 
Usige said:
This goes way beyond silliness. It turns the focus of the passion of our Lord into a eco-political statement. Christ’s passion is turned into nothing but a stage prop to frame prayers to Mother Earth, serpents and naturalistic religion.

Yes, they need our prayers, but not for wasting time, but in degrading the passion of Christ to make a political statement.
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Wrong. It’s lamentable, dissenting silliness. Their superiors should immediately suppress this garbage and that should be the end of it.

This thread of comments allowing people to vent their spleens and give their interpretations of what the garbage means does more harm than good. Obviously it’s no good! Be done with it. Save the gossip!
 
JuniperoSerra said:
Wrong. It’s lamentable, dissenting silliness. Their superiors should immediately suppress this garbage and that should be the end of it.

This thread of comments allowing people to vent their spleens and give their interpretations of what the garbage means does more harm than good. Obviously it’s no good! Be done with it. Save the gossip!
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And this is exactly how bad catechisis is allowed to propigate; “It’s not too bad, just look the other way and maybe it will go away.”

Sorry, I will never stand by and ignore the sacrifice of Christ being degraded as a “harmless bit of silliness”.
 
Usige said:
And this is exactly how bad catechisis is allowed to propigate; “It’s not too bad, just look the other way and maybe it will go away.”

Sorry, I will never stand by and ignore the sacrifice of Christ being degraded as a “harmless bit of silliness”.
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👍
 
Usige said:
And this is exactly how bad catechisis is allowed to propigate; “It’s not too bad, just look the other way and maybe it will go away.”

Sorry, I will never stand by and ignore the sacrifice of Christ being degraded as a “harmless bit of silliness”.
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👍
 
This is an extreme example. You might say in your parish or diocese we would never tolerate anything like that. But many parishes and schools removed the crucifix from a prominent place in the church, to a remote location, or totally out of the church. In my former parish, they announced they were starting an adoration chapel (excellent!). When they were finished, the adoration chapel was down the hall from the “church”. They had removed the only crucifix, and the Blessed Sacrament from the church, and put them there.

Some churches replaced the realistic crucifix with a “crucifix” that shows the Risen Jesus, rising off painlessly. Other churches have what they call a “Resurrection Crucifix” which looks suspiciously like a bare cross. Most often they have what’s called “The Risen Christ”, a painless statue sort of floating against the back wall. I am sure most children for instance have no idea what the significance of this is, what He is “risen” from. Other parishes use the Stations of the Cross, but add an extra station at the end, which is Easter. But they use that extra station not on Easter, but throughout Lent.

A college chapel near me got rid of the realistic stations, and replaced them with kind of abstract stick figure stations. In other words, kind of an abstract representation of a representation, not a reminder of the painful crucifixion. In my diocese, thank God, the younger pastors who have taken over in recent years have been much more orthodox than the liberal pastors who retired, who installed those things. But many of the bad things have endured through inertia. People are used to it. In my former parish they exalted the Risen Christ as the symbol of the parish, forgetting the Crucified Christ they removed.

If laypeople had not been so quiet when the real crucifixes/stations were being removed/stylized/symbolized/sterilized/etc - moderate abuses - we would not have seen the extremes described in the thread. So if this is an issue locally, bring it up to someone in your parish.
 
Usige said:
And this is exactly how bad catechisis is allowed to propigate; **“It’s not too bad, just look the other way and maybe it will go away.”
**
Sorry, I will never stand by and ignore the sacrifice of Christ being degraded as a “harmless bit of silliness”.
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I never said (or inferred that.) You did.

Nor did I suggest this was a “harmless bit of silliness.” Again, you did.

What I did say was “It boils down to nothing more than very sad silliness. I think it’s best simply to ignore it and pray for the pour souls who spend time coming up with these sorts of things.” I stand by that. Do you know the definition of “silly”?

silly
[sil-ee]
  1. weak-minded or lacking good sense; stupid or foolish:
  2. absurd; ridiculous; irrational.
It’s obviously wrong. It’s something that should obviously be terminated – by whomever is in charge and not the keyboard jockeys on this thread. Whatever groups push this sort of garbage should indeed be ignored. Yet we ruminate about it here as if there was something redeeming to argue against. There obviously isn’t even at first glance. It’s an example of very sad silliness.

Perhaps the worst part are those who use such an example of the very sad silliness of others as a means to puff themselves up. To proclaim they “will never stand by and ignore the sacrifice of Christ”!

How utterly transparent…
 
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