Thursday 21 March 2013

No, that's not my Church

                            
                        A happy group of traditional Catholics 
                               all laced up and fresh from sniffing incense

I had an opportunity recently, to speak at some length with a Catholic priest of the liberal variety.
One who, by all accounts, likes to strut his stuff on the sanctuary and devil take the hindmost.

I cannot speak in anyway to verify that fact as I am careful to avoid the occasion of sin by never attending a modern Mass.

But he does have every look of the liberal about him. Not quite shell suit and trainers but close.

He spoke to me about puritanism and that had me foxed for quite some time until I realised that he was talking about me - Me! A Puritan?

Not just me, of course, he meant all orthodox Catholics, you know, us Papes who are so hung up on the smell of incense and lacy cottas.

I never, ever, enter into an argument with a liberal. You do not win converts by arguing and it generally ends up with both parties walking away bruised and embittered.

I do stand up for my Faith in a secular arena, provided again, that it is not some dreary, booze fuelled debate over the dinner table.
I am too old a serpent too be drawn by such detractors.

My priest friend droned on and on about how he wished for a dumbed down Marxist type simpler, less ritualistic Church and I only intervened when he blatantly went over the top with his comments.

Just enough for me to show him that I was not in accord with his train of thought but not enough to provoke a blazing row.

Where is this ramble leading?

Ah, yes, two things.
One, it is ignorant and insulting to believe that we traditional Catholics are only interested in the smoke and mirrors side of the Faith.

Yet this view is frequently bandied around by all who are not part of the hermeneutic of continuity.

Two, that there is nothing, absolutely, nothing for me and mine in the Ordinary Form of the Mass as celebrated by the bulk of the clergy today.
Those last nine words are, of course, critical.

There are many good priests who celebrate both forms reverently, ad orientum and in Latin. But by far the majority do as my NBF does and that is make up the liturgy as they go along, dragging the congregation behind them in a weird assortment of antics and pantomime.

That is not for me. I do not even believe it to be Catholic.

It is, in fact, another Church. Maybe it should have a distinct title; something like, the Partly Catholic Church or the Church of Latter Day Omadhauns.

Or am I being un Catholic also?

Any name suggestions will be forwarded to Eccleston Square. Anonymously.

7 comments:

  1. Your liberal priest friend may get his wish on Maundy Thursday.

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    1. If you are called a liberal because you wash the feet of prisoners, then let us be liberal. We are glad to be followers of Jesus who after all, was the first to wash the feet of sinners giving us an example thereby. If you are not willing or can't see the sense in this action then you are not a Christian and should leave the Catholic church forthwith. I am proud to see Pope Francis doing these things.

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  2. Well, at least you weren't compared to the Pharisees during a so-called homily, with the improv artist staring straight at you while he spoke. But then again, you learn more quickly than I do and would have avoided that kind of Mass at all costs because truly, it was a near occasion of sin for me. I have not step foot in the place since and through a series of personal "misfortunes" have been blessed to be able to attend daily Mass in my own parish each day with an orthodox priest who also offers the TLM on Sundays. There is no dreaded exchange of peace, no deviation from the rubrics, and I'm not looked at like I have two heads for kneeling at the altar rail for Holy Communion. I don't think it serves any purpose to argue with priests such as the one I encountered. Besides, that's why I maintain a blog ;) Mr. Collins, the above photo and accompanying caption once again demonstrate the wicked sense of humor with which you've been blessed.
    God bless,
    Joyce

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  3. Aged parent said...

    This is precisely what happened with the disastrous Council and its new Mass: it has created division. The modernists (who are temporarily triumphant) scream the epithet "divisive" at we Catholics who honor the heritage we received from Christ but they are the ones who created the division in the first place. I believe it is time we stopped tolerating this insolence from the modernists and to turn the tables on them by proclaiming their role in the ugly division that now exists everywhere in the Church, even among Catholics of the same family.

    I cannot but believe that the result achieved was the result intended. They wanted division, and they got it.

    We used to be called the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. They've been busy chipping away at the One, and the Holy with great success. We're still Apostolic, yes; but Catholic just barely, unless we put the brakes on their machinations.

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  4. It was so very refreshing to read this posting. You did precisely as Miss Brodie said in your conversation with this priest: “It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white."

    I'm going to be 47 in a few weeks. I have known only this 40+ year wandering in the desert of the Conciliar Church. The "oases" of exceptions to the rule have been few and very far between. Unfortunately, I am limited to celebrations of the Forma Ordinaria for now which are celebrated in a hermeneutic of rupture. It is and shall continue to be "a severe trial" in Evelyn Waugh's words. oremus pro invicem

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  5. You were given two feet...so that you could safely stand on one while using the other to introduce your shoemaker to that "liberal" priest's tailor.

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  6. Father Fashionable sounds like Chaucer's monk:

    The reule of seint Maure or of seint Beneit
    By cause that it was old and somdel streit
    This ilke Monk leet olde thynges pace,
    And heeld after the newe world the space.

    Even in the 14th Century there was an element concerned more with their personal notions of progress rather than with transcendent Truth.

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