Very Upsetting incident yesterday

[ConstantineTG]

Funny, I have not yet had that kind of hostile reaction when I mention leaving my local parish for an Eastern Catholic Church (which is in full communion with Rome).

Curiously, I was talking to a lady shopkeeper of a Catholic bookstore the other day, fellow Filipino. She asked me which parish I belong to and I said I go to the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. She then proceeded to tell me where the FSSP parish was. I think she thinks I’m after a foreign language liturgy, I did tell her I go to an all-english Divine Liturgy.

In my case I find more people who are unaware of Eastern Catholic Churches give me that weird look as if I am a protestant. But I haven’t seen anyone be hostile to the Latin Mass. Unless you’d think their refusal to go to one is hostile, but it not like they’ll say anything bad about it beyond that.

 

[Lormar]

Have any of you dealt with such a thing??

More times than I care to remember throughout the past forty plus years.

Just carry on!

 

[Robert_Burns]

Yesterday I attended a board meeting, at which 12 people were present. Two of them are Catholic & attend the parish I used to. 9 people were non-Catholics. After the business meeting was over, we chatted a bit over coffee & one of the Catholics mentioned that she hadn’t seen me at Mass in quite a while. I just said quietly that I now attended St._____ because they offered a Latin Mass, which I attended. Understand there had been several conversations going on & I sat next to her, so no one heard us UP TO THAT POINT.

She is about 60 yrs. old & she started raising her voice at that point. She told me, as her face got redder & redder in anger, that she had received a letter from her Brother who lives in the Eastern part of the country & he told her “that they had a new priest who wanted to go back to the old times” (whatever that means) & he was “saying the Latin Mass”. She then pronounced, everyone was staring at her by that time, that “my brother left that parish & so did 2/3 of the congregation & here you are falling for it”. I said nothing, just smiled at her & said “to each their own”.The other Catholic present changed the subject.

Now, I’ve been given a “funny look” when I was entering the Church for the Latin Mass & the people from the Novus Ordo held before… were leaving. However, I’ve never faced such hostility as I saw in that person’s eyes & heard in her voice. It created such a bad impression of Catholicism for those non-Catholics present. It has really upset me.
Have any of you dealt with such a thing??

Well if you expect not to be ridiculed for being Catholic - even by some of our own - then rejoice and be glad. Thank GOD Almighty that you are in the right place. I imagine Our lord got quite a few funny looks from the Pharisee’s. Certainly there are quite a few holier than thou’s that attend the EF and the OF and I like to refer to them as Pharisees. The term apparently is apt for our times isnt it.

 

[CradleCath]

**That and much worse. **It is hard not to feel like you are treading on dangerous grounds when bringing up any Papal encyclical or council prior to 1960 in a conversation. One Catholic even said to me “Thats not the proper Bible - thats the “old” language”. I was quoting from the Douay Rheims.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the “wrong bible thing”, but I think I’ll pick “laugh”.

 

[utah_rose]

That and much worse. It is hard not to feel like you are treading on dangerous grounds when bringing up any Papal encyclical or council prior to 1960 in a conversation. One Catholic even said to me “Thats not the proper Bible - thats the “old” language”. I was quoting from the Douay Rheims.

I know what you mean too. I grew up with the Douay Reims Bible (I even downloaded it in my Kindle), and I cringe at some of the translations now, particularly the one used at the NO Mass. We go to both of them, but have to attend the TM one at a different parish.

It’s amazing that that 60 year old lady said those things—I’m a little older than she is (67) and I still remember the trauma of going from Latin to English. The beautiful statues were removed from our Church. I used to sing in the “young ladies choir” where we would sing beautiful Latin Masses, but always sang an English hymn at the end of the Mass.

And how could that “nun” mentioned in a earlier post be pro-abortion? I remember the Notre
Dame nuns that taught us in high school. I didn’t learn Latin but I did know enough from the old Mass to understand some, but we also had Bible History, which shows that some Catholics at least are familiar with the Bible. It’s too bad that some of these nuns are against Catholic teachings. Perhaps if they still want to be “nuns” a better choice would be to join the Episcopal Church where they hold these views and also have nuns. If they are teaching the children this, it is a scandal, but it seems anything goes now, and good Catholics won’t make a peep.

I think I might have said to that lady “If it’s okay for the Pope to say a Latin Mass, who am I to say that it is wrong”?

 

[puzzleannie]

Have any of you dealt with such a thing??

no but I have taken plenty of flak, criticism and judgementalism from people who prefer the Latin Mass and are derogatory of anything else, or of anyone who participates in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. Neither these people, nor the person who spoke to you, are in the least bit Christian in their example so I suppose our response should the same as yours, a soft answer that turneth away wrath. You handled it well and allowed the person to portray herself for what she is, without responding negatively.

 

[georgewithfaith]

She is about 60 yrs. old & she started raising her voice at that point. She told me, as her face got redder & redder in anger, that she had received a letter from her Brother who lives in the Eastern part of the country & he told her “that they had a new priest who wanted to go back to the old times” (whatever that means) & he was “saying the Latin Mass”. She then pronounced, everyone was staring at her by that time, that “my brother left that parish & so did 2/3 of the congregation & here you are falling for it”. I said nothing, just smiled at her & said “to each their own”.The other Catholic present changed the subject.

Maybe fear is playing a role in this woman’s behavior. She probably knows little about the TLM. Although she is 60 she probably was a around 20 when she attended her last TLM and may have forgotten much about it.

Also, she is probably comfortable with the Novus Ordo. Maybe she is a lector or EM and fears that with the TLM unleashed the Pope will eventually ban the Novus Ordo and thus she would not be an EM, lector, receive communion in the hand while standing, and hold hands during the Our Father. These are the customs she may relish and consider Holy.

 

[ProVobis]

Maybe fear is playing a role in this woman’s behavior. She probably knows little about the TLM. Although she is 60 she probably was a around 20 when she attended her last TLM and may have forgotten much about it.

Also, she is probably comfortable with the Novus Ordo. Maybe she is a lector or EM and fears that with the TLM unleashed the Pope will eventually ban the Novus Ordo and thus she would not be an EM, lector, receive communion in the hand while standing, and hold hands during the Our Father. These are the customs she may relish and consider Holy.

It could be that 40-50 years ago we had much stricter rules too. Latin is discipline. So was walking out two by two from class even at recess. So was sitting or kneeling still at Mass and abstaining from meat. Etc. How many don’t like their newfound freedoms, if you don’t mind my calling them that? How many even want to go back to their old neighborhoods and old friends? People get set in their ways and habits (good or bad) are just hard to break.

 

[CradleCath]

Maybe fear is playing a role in this woman’s behavior. She probably knows little about the TLM. Although she is 60 she probably was a around 20 when she attended her last TLM and may have forgotten much about it.

Also, she is probably comfortable with the Novus Ordo****. Maybe she is a lector or EM and fears that with the TLM unleashed the Pope will eventually ban the Novus Ordo and thus she would not be an EM, lector****, receive communion in the hand while standing, and hold hands during the Our Father. These are the customs she may relish and consider Holy.

You know, I think you’ve hit on something. If I remember correctly, this woman IS an EEM. Perhaps she has built her self-image on the fact that she stands in the Sanctuary with the priest, distributes the consecrated Host, etc. I’ve seen this several times before…“I’m up-front & helping Father & that makes me IMPORTANT”. It’s almost an “I’m better that you” attitude. These poor people dont’ know that many of us have been asked to be an EEM. or a Lector & turned it down because we don’t really care for the blending of the laity & the ordained priesthood. It’s different for us in the “House of Bread”. We can hardly get ANYONE to help out there. It’s not at all glamorous, as we cook for & serve the poor, the homeless, the drug addicts & alcholics, I suppose that doesn’t make people feel good about themselves. Our goal in the kitchen, in additon to giving “our customers” good, hot meals is to help them feel good about themselves.

 

[Seamus_L]

People sometimes forget just how liberal many Catholic parishes have become. Any doubts, see the stats that say the higher pct of Catholics, the better chance of pro-abortion, pro-homosexual legislation, at least in the USA. Of course those people want no part of us.

 

[Iotaunum]

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the “wrong bible thing”, but I think I’ll pick “laugh”.

Yes, if only it wasn’t a laughing matter. It is the worst thing in the world to see those who you think are Catholic rejecting what the Church has always held on the grounds that “that was in the olden days” etc. Same with those who will only accept modern Bible translations as valid/accurate.

 

[CradleCath]

People sometimes forget just how liberal many Catholic parishes have become. Any doubts, see the stats that say the higher pct of Catholics, the better chance of pro-abortion, pro-homosexual legislation, at least in the USA. Of course those people want no part of us.

I suppose you’re right Seamus. It’s obvious that we’re resented here on CAF., but I hadn’t yet personally faced such hostility in the “real world”…funny looks, yes, but a scene in front of non-Catholics…NO. Still, I’ll never get used to a Catholic who is pro-abortion or pro-homosexual “marriage”.

I was proud of my daughter, though. When I spoke to her about my classmates who were Pro-abortion, she told me that she’d heard that
“same thing often. People say that some children would have been better off…had they not been born”. Her answer is, “That’s not our decision to make, it’s God’s”. Then she said something that surprised me. She told me to study the stats & I did. They may surprise you, as they did me:

Who’s having abortions (religion)?
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as “Born-again/Evangelical”.

Who’s having abortions (income)?
Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.

Thank God that the Traditional Catholic Churches are growing by leaps & bounds. Pre-Vatican II (& that’s a term used OFTEN by priests who pray the Novus Ordo, exclusively) the church was our moral compass and there was no moral issue in the world that was not firmly addressed from the pulpit. Our churches were built to inspire awe and devotion. Every parish had weekly Novenas and Benediction with great attendance. The period was not perfect, as people are not perfect…but we were taught right from wrong & WHY right was right & wrong was wrong. We have much to do penance for.

Liberalism killing French Catholic Church:
Traditionalists taking over

The Catholic Church in France, among the places where the fashionable “liberalism” of the 1960s and ‘70s has most taken hold, is dying out, with Mass attendance, priestly vocations and seminarians at record lows. **At the same time, the growth of the doctrinally and liturgically “traditional” movements, who tend to be strongly pro-life and pro-family, is continuing, reports Hilary White, **LifeSiteNews.com.
christiantelegraph.com/issue8258.html

 

[maurin]

no but I have taken plenty of flak, criticism and judgementalism from people who prefer the Latin Mass and are derogatory of anything else, or of anyone who participates in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. Neither these people, nor the person who spoke to you, are in the least bit Christian in their example so I suppose our response should the same as yours, a soft answer that turneth away wrath. You handled it well and allowed the person to portray herself for what she is, without responding negatively.

Dialogue. It does a body good.