Tired of hearing "We don't do that anymore"

[Elzee]

This reminded me… In my church, to begin the mass, the first reader announces “Welcome to Our Catholic Family Celebration”…

Does that sentence end with ‘of the Mass’? That would at least make it palatable. Geesh.

 

[kangnamdragon]

I heard one woman tell me that everything before Vatican II is “pre-Jesus”. This woman is about 70 so I don’t know why she thinks she is older than Jesus.

 

[Margaret33]

Does that sentence end with ‘of the Mass’? That would at least make it palatable. Geesh.

Nope… ends with celebration… and then the announcement of the reading commences…

 

[Margaret33]

I heard one woman tell me that everything before Vatican II is “pre-Jesus”. This woman is about 70 so I don’t know why she thinks she is older than Jesus.

lol… maybe just a tad bit of senility setting in there

 

[jmcrae]

This reminded me… In my church, to begin the mass, the first reader announces “Welcome to Our Catholic Family Celebration”…

I just finished a conversation with someone who would consider such an announcement to be “unwelcoming” to non-Catholics and people who are not currently living with their family.

I consider it ironic, because I assume this person means to portray herself as “welcoming” when she says this.

 

[chevalier]

1. Do any churches exist where you can go to confession when you need to, or are they all just one scheduled hour of the week to wait in line?

In my church, during mass, first Fridays before mass also, special accommodations for busy periods.

1. Do any Catholic churches leave their doors open during non-mass times for parishioners to come in and pray privately in a pew or light a candle? Or speak to a priest without making an appointment?

I’ve seen the doors open, but don’t know about appointments or lack of them.

1. My church has dropped the word ‘Roman’ from all outside signs, bulletin, and any reference to ‘Catholic’ or ‘Catholic Church’. I could swear it was there just last year (please don’t think me an idiot, I’ve only been back a few years after having been away from the church for some years). Is this a decision instituted by a Pope past or present? If so, why?

We’re Catholic rather than the Church of the Roman Empire. “Roman” may be a bit restricting. Still, I sometimes say “Roman Church” myself.

1. ‘Purgatory is no longer measured in time’ and therefore ‘Indulgences are a thing of the past and have been considered obsolete in prayer and practice’.

Indulgences are still there. There are many opportunities to obtain them. True, though, that there’s no more measuring in years. Frankly, who would know? It doesn’t seem accurate to attribute earthly categories of time to Purgatory. Doesn’t make indulgences obsolete.

1. If I refer to anything which took place prior to Vatican II with those who work in the church, I always feel a bit of disapproval for bringing it up and am quickly told “That was pre-Vatican II” and it is dismissed without discussion.

I dislike that talk. Some people seem to believe that before Vatican II, we were a bunch of misled idolaters or some such.

I guess I just have a certain sentimentality towards older customs, and am just wondering why it is so wrong to have any reverence for the past at least in the slightest way… what is it that I’m not getting?

I guess some people are just desperate to hold to some of the new ideas and don’t really want discussion. This comes from a person who has never been to the tridentine mass, just so you know. I’m worried by the progressing liberalisation of discipline and secularisation of liturgy, as well as the general trend to make things Lite. I’m seriously saddened, worried and generally distressed with people whose desire seems to be modern. Since when is modern or not modern of any relevance to whether something’s good or bad?

 

[Swiss_Guard]

Purgatory never was measured in time. The “300 days,” etc. you see attached to old prayers was supposed to be figurative language. Today, in order to avoid confusion, the term “partial indulgence” is used instead of “indulgence of n days/years.”

Maria

The 300 days, 1 year, 3 years, etc. language was not figurative. It meant that saying a prayer or performing an act was equivalent to the amount of good works done in that time period.

For example, if it says after a prayer 3 years indulgence, it meant that you would have to do 3 years of good works to get the same indulgence.

The amount of time listed had nothing to do with the amount of time removed from being in purgatory.

People misunderstood this so the Church changed it. People didn’t misunderstand it 50 or 60 years ago when priests still talked about purgatory.

 

[jmcrae]

The 300 days, 1 year, 3 years, etc. language was not figurative. It meant that saying a prayer or performing an act was equivalent to the amount of good works done in that time period.

Actually it relates to the early penances of the Church; not to good works.

Part of the reason that the number of days no longer makes sense is that our penances are a lot shorter, these days. (The longest one I’ve ever been given was seven days, and the majority take less than five minutes.)

 

[Margaret33]

Actually it relates to the early penances of the Church; not to good works.

Part of the reason that the number of days no longer makes sense is that our penances are a lot shorter, these days. (The longest one I’ve ever been given was seven days, and the majority take less than five minutes.)

As I thought… Thank you for clarifying

 

[daeve]

Strange that you should mention this… although the candles are still there, the crucifix has moved from the central rear wall to a wall slightly off to the side of the altar… (a year or so before the signs changed)

That has been bothering me for some time now.

I’ve seen this referenced here, but I’ve never walked into a Catholic Church anywhere that didn’t have a Crucifix as a focal point right up front. The one in my church is a huge hanging cross above the altar. I go to several different churches here for Mass and they all have crosses and stations and all that good stuff.

As for confession, even in the 60s in that bastion of Catholicism, South St. Louis, we didn’t have confession everyday. During the Mass the school children attended there was confession a couple days a week, then for most of Saturday. Here, most parishes seem to have confession for a while on Saturday afternoons before the 5pm Mass. That’s when I usually go. But my parish also has it after the 8am Mass on Saturday. After Mass, we have a group rosary and the two priests have confession for as long as it takes. One of them says Mass at a nursing home at 10:30, but the other one will stay until there’s no one waiting.