Venting about watching my church break communion with Rome

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legaleagle

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Hi, I just wanted to vent because I’ve been watching things unfold at my church since a new priest arrived and now I am going to have to quit my local parish church. I’m heart broken over it. This is the church where I became a Catholic at the Easter Vigil a couple of years ago. It’s the church where I used to pray in front of the Tabernacle while I waited to become Catholic because I longed for Communion.

Long story short, it started with the new priest rarely wearing the chasuble and using gender-neutral language (ie. referring to God as “God” instead of “He”). I tried to be patient and put up with this because I didn’t want to be critical. But then the priest started ad libbing to the prayers from the Missal. He started adding “other denominations” after praying for the Pope, Bishop, etc. during the prayers at the altar. Recently, he started saying “Father and Mother” at every reference to “Father” in the Creed. Plus, everything is always a big joke. I brought my Protestant father to Good Friday with me and I was embarassed. The priest made jokes multiple times in the Good Friday service! Plus at Easter, he said the Church was excluding women. I was planning to leave over the “Father and Mother” Creed stuff but as if that wasn’t enough, I’m wondering if the Mass was valid yesterday . . . in the homily, he compared Communion with the presence of Christ to going to the nearby pub where sharing a table there is also sacred.

Anyway, I suppoed this isn’t shocking to most because you’ve probably experienced this kind of stuff occasionally but for me, I’m so sad because I left Protestantism because the one true Church is also the one Church that actual has rules and order and while I knew that some priests might have lightweight or left wing homilies, I didn’t expect them to be so bold like mine is being.
 
If you are relating the situation accurately, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, I would suggest going straight to your bishop. Ordinarily, it is considered prudent to speak to the pastor first, but with the situation you described, I don’t think you would get anywhere with him.

I would probably also go to Mass somewhere else in the meantime but that is up to you.

Peace,
 
You may want to call your diocesan Office and report what’s going on.
 
PeterJohn said:
You may want to call your diocesan Office and report what’s going on.
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I second this. Call and ask for an appointment with the Vicar General. Give as much specific detail as you can.

It would be a good idea to also ask the priestabout why he is doing these things. If what you say is accurate, I doubt he can come up with a convincingreason. But you will want to be able to tell the diocese that you asked him.

Pray for him! and for your bishop!
 
Mrs_Sally said:
I second this. Call and ask for an appointment with the Vicar General. Give as much specific detail as you can.

It would be a good idea to also ask the priestabout why he is doing these things. If what you say is accurate, I doubt he can come up with a convincingreason. But you will want to be able to tell the diocese that you asked him.

Pray for him! and for your bishop!
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Exactly. It’s always best to go to the priest first, even if you don’t expect any results. At least you’ll have tried, and your Bishop should appreciate that.
 
We tend to throw around the “contact your bishop” line here a lot. But you really, really, really need to contact your bishop for this one, and as soon as possible. Be objective and report facts. And do it quickly. This isn’t just liturgical abuse, it is plain heresy.
 
I, sort of, understand what you are talking about.

Our pastor was away for a week and we had a “fill-in” for the “fill-in,” lol. Our homily drifted into something along the lines of projecting human characteristics on God vis-à-vis his judgment in the Old Testament.

I was following along in the missal and when we came to the Eucharistic Prayer there was a lot of ad-libbing. To tell the truth, he glanced at me because he saw me with the missal.

I didn’t say anything – I just smiled and shook his hand after Mass. 👍
  1. A homily (with a less than wonderful comparison) does not make a Mass invalid. Everyone has heard something in a homily they disagree with. Relax on that point.
  2. Talk with your priest. He is your priest. Talk with him about your concerns.
    Chances are you are not the only one. Be respectful. Be charitable. And, whatever you do, do not be condescending.
  3. Whatever you do – only contact the bishop/diocesan offices as last resort.
 
YoungTradCath said:
We tend to throw around the “contact your bishop” line here a lot. But you really, really, really need to contact your bishop for this one, and as soon as possible. Be objective and report facts. And do it quickly. This isn’t just liturgical abuse, it is plain heresy.
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Agreed.
 
If you do contact the bishop, you should provide some evidence for what you say if you can. This is not to say that what you say isn’t true. I would think a signed letter could be better than simply phoning.
 
The Church should have an 911 emergency phone line for reporting this stuff!

“This is the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith, what is your emergency?”

" Yes sir, stay on the line, help is arriving shortly"

😃
 
The Bishop has to be made aware of this priest’s behavior. Ask the priest what made him decide to be a priest. If nothing changes, find another parish.
 
NickVA said:
The Church should have an 911 emergency phone line for reporting this stuff!

“This is the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith, what is your emergency?”

" Yes sir, stay on the line, help is arriving shortly"

😃
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I know, right!! 😛
 
NickVA said:
The Church should have an 911 emergency phone line for reporting this stuff!

“This is the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith, what is your emergency?”

" Yes sir, stay on the line, help is arriving shortly"

😃
Click to expand...
You aren’t kidding…
 
I used to get upset about this sort of thing. But I stopped. Life is too short to get embroiled in politics and struggles. This liberal priest must be within the pale of orthodoxy, or else this priest’s boss, the bishop, would remove him. The person you are really accusing of evil is not this priest, but bishop who oversees this priest.

But far, far, far, far better is you and I not to be angry and not to pass judgment on either this priest or on the bishop who supervises him.

Far, far, far, far better is for you and I to pass judgment on ourselves according to the standards set in the Teachings of Christ.

Just take this standard for instance:

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Are you and I loving others–neighbors, co-workers, rivals, relatives, customers, bosses, clients, enemies, strangers and sinners as we ought to be?

Are you and I the saints that we ought to be?

We feel peace and enjoy other spiritual fruits when we judge and correct ourselves.

We feel chaos and anger when we judgment and wish to correct others.

Go to another parish if you want. But you and I must see ourselves as greater sinners in the eyes of God than this liberal priest. Otherwise, we go down the path of the spiritual Pharisee, who prayed this:

Luke 18:11: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

Jesus:

Matthew 20:16: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
 
I can empathise. I once attended a parish that refused to say “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you…” but instead said “Lord, I am READY to receive you…”.

When the Auxillary Bishop came to visit, all he said was “oh, you guys are the WORTHY parish”.
 
etmom said:
When the Auxillary Bishop came to visit, all he said was “oh, you guys are the WORTHY parish”.
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But he made his point didn’t he? 😉

At my parish, the former priest called the bishop by his first name when he came.
This Bishop’s response was: “It’s bishop to you.”
 
NickVA said:
The Church should have an 911 emergency phone line for reporting this stuff!

“This is the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith, what is your emergency?”

" Yes sir, stay on the line, help is arriving shortly"

😃
Click to expand...
:nunchuk::knight2:

Yes, wouldn’t that be great?!

OP, yes, PLEASE report this to the Bishop, as soon as possible! This is definitely way, WAY off the reservation!
 
Bartolome_Casas said:
I used to get upset about this sort of thing. But I stopped. Life is too short to get embroiled in politics and struggles. This liberal priest must be within the pale of orthodoxy, or else this priest’s boss, the bishop, would remove him. The person you are really accusing of evil is not this priest, but bishop who oversees this priest.

But far, far, far, far better is you and I not to be angry and not to pass judgment on either this priest or on the bishop who supervises him.

Far, far, far, far better is for you and I to pass judgment on ourselves according to the standards set in the Teachings of Christ.

Just take this standard for instance:

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Are you and I loving others–neighbors, co-workers, rivals, relatives, customers, bosses, clients, enemies, strangers and sinners as we ought to be?

Are you and I the saints that we ought to be?

We feel peace and enjoy other spiritual fruits when we judge and correct ourselves.

We feel chaos and anger when we judgment and wish to correct others.

Go to another parish if you want. But you and I must see ourselves as greater sinners in the eyes of God than this liberal priest. Otherwise, we go down the path of the spiritual Pharisee, who prayed this:

Luke 18:11: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

Jesus:

Matthew 20:16: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Click to expand...
This is not a matter of being “liberal.” It’s wrong to use that word as a catch-all of what is bad. Unorthodox, heterodox, dissident, yes. “Liberal?” Not based on the information the OP provided.
 
Yes, I agree with most of the posters in asking you to contact those your priest is in submission to. It must be dealt with as this is serious. Perhaps God brought you to this parish for just this?!! I believe you were. Never doubt that our wonderful Lord will use ALL things for His glory:) My prayers for you, your parish and your priest.

mlz
 
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