Father Longenecker with some more analysis on the divisions in the Church of England which comes down to this:
The clash therefore is between those who believe the Christian religion is revealed and those who think it is relative.
This is part of a post I wrote ten years ago.
Today I am thankful that I can be thankful.
On the Easter Vigil where I came into Holy Mother Church I reflected on the fact that I had literally spent forty years in the wilderness. I had been chasing after false gods and idols and was totally oblivious to the miracles that God had created around me. I would have fit in easily with the hardheaded Israelites, ignoring every blessing and focusing on even the most trite inconvenience. I was suffering from spiritual autism, locked into only the material world and undiscerning of the spiritual world around me. I did not realize that I was afflicted with this eternal life threatening illness, nor did those around me inform me of my malady. After reading Franks Sheed’s awesome book Theology and Sanity I came to see my insanity for what it was. As an atheist the concept of thanksgiving was alien to me, I knew I should be thankful but to whom was I to be thankful to? It is difficult to give thanks to random eddies of atoms coalescencing into a cell. Oh chaos I thank you for we are wonderfully made just doesn’t sound right. How can you be thankful for your flukeness, your undesigned accidental existence. Luckily, as most atheists I did not dwell too much on the actual meaning of these unbeliefs. Thank you God for bringing me into the promised land of your Church.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A church that has offered blended Roman Catholic and Episcopal services for three decades has been told by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond to meet in separate rooms for Holy Communion.
Clergy at the Church of the Holy Apostles were told to devise a plan that allows parishioners to remain under the same roof but worship separately. The plan is subject to approval by Roman Catholic Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo and Bishop Herman Hollerith of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia.
Parishioners told the Virginian-Pilot ( http://bit.ly/Ugpi8P) the blended church has allowed families in mixed marriages to worship side by side and strengthen their community.
The Rev. Michael Ferguon, the parish’s Episcopal leader, said representatives of the Catholic diocese were supportive of the ecumenical congregation at a meeting this week but were firm on some degree of separation of worship. For instance, the use of a combined liturgy in which the priests move to separate altars in the same room was deemed unacceptable, he said.
They instructed the parish to come up with a plan that provides for separate liturgies in separate rooms, Ferguson said.
“What was left in our laps was to develop a way to be together in those parts of the service where it would be acceptable to the diocese for us to be together and then to separate.” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said he is confident an acceptable arrangement can be worked out. “It could have been much worse,” he said. [Source]
I didn’t realize this situation still existed. I had posted on it several years back and thought it would be cleared up after they received their new bishop. Though I did have fun with the idea back then and created a possible bulletin for such a blended church.
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St. Thomas More & King Henry VIII
Roman/Anglo-Catholic Church At each others necks since the 1500s Established 2001 Fr. Joseph Maria Maria Fr. Luther Smyth Calvin |
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Letter from the Pastors
In today’s sermon titled “That they may be Two” we will jointly preach from the Gospel of John on Jesus’ high priestly prayer. Wednesday Night Bible StudyRegister now to start our through the Bible Classes. Exploring the 73 books of the Bible –Immaculate Conception Hall. Exploring the 66 books of the Bible –Tynedale Room Everything you wanted to now about Sacraments, but were afraid to ask. These seven and two week series begin Tuesday at 7 pmThe Seven Sacraments —Immaculate Conception Hall. The Two Sacraments of the Church –Tynedale Room The Last Church Council Come join us on Thursdays at eight for information on the documents of Vatican II —Immaculate Conception Hall. Second Council of Nicea –Tynedale Room Preach the Gospel Sign up for our new door to door evangelization teams. We will canvas the neighborhood proclaiming the truth of why they should become Roman We start by knocking on the door and asking them if they are born again and/or baptized and proceed from there. This Bulletin is made possible by the good folks at: |
This week’s Mass IntentionsMonday. Oct, 6
That Anglicans may convert to the true faith. Tuesday. Oct, 8 That Roman Catholics may convert to the true faith. Wednesday. Oct, 9 For the intentions of the Holy Father Thursday. Oct, 10 For the prayers of the Archbishop of Canterbury Friday. Oct, 11 Anglicans pray that Roman Catholics might have a translation as beautiful as the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer. Saturday. Oct, 12 Catholics pray that we might have a translation as beautiful as the 1662 Sunday. Oct, 13 For the poor souls in Purgatory, that is if Purgatory exists. The Truth about Contraception Now on Fridays at six. Humana Vitae – Why Pope Paul VI was right.–Immaculate Conception Hall. Why the Anglican Lambeth Conference of 1930 was right. –Tynedale Room Confession Confusion Because of problems in the past of mistaken cross-confession we have painted the Roman Catholic Confessional red and the Anglican Confessional blue. Make sure you choose the correct confessional since what might be considered a sin in one might not be in the other. Homosexuality and the Church To help stop the confusion these classes will begin Saturday night. A read through of the document “Considerations regarding proposals Why homosexuality is always sinful –7 pm @ Tynedale Room Why homosexuality is never sinful –8 pm @ Tynedale Room Why homosexuality in committed relationships is not sinful –9 pm @ Tynedale Movie Nights In the joint parish hall we will be showing movies each Oct 17. Luther – The Movie Oct 24. The Song of Bernadette Oct 31. Reformation Day – A new film where Will Smith Fights off illegal aliens who are predominantly Catholic. |
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Advent everywhere you go, Advent trees, Advent hymns – oh wait.
— ➡️Curt Jester⬅️ (@CurtJester) November 20, 2012
While I can’t control Christmas Muzak at shopping areas. I can at least control it at home and with Advent right around the corner I am getting excited about listening to actual Advent hymns.
Well today the album Advent at Ephesus
So the prominent news I have seen today regards the Church of England narrowly voting against women bishops.
Though I might point out that they don’t even have male bishops since they lost apostolic succession. The exception would be if perhaps one of their “bishops” was actually ordained by for example an Eastern Orthodox bishop. See Apostolicae Curae.
Still CoE watching is always rather interesting considering all the factions and the attempt to please everybody by pleasing nobody. Fr. Longenecker has a good short rundown on the competing divisions.
I also find the whole theology by vote interesting. If only we had that before and certainly the Arians would have been pretty happy about that. Not exactly the best of systems, though Barrabas might disagree.
I also wonder about the whole idea of having women priests but not women bishops? A holy order glass ceiling. Once you allow for the other will eventually happen. At least that is true when you realize that this is really seen through a political lens and not a theological one. In some ways I think this should offend feminists much more than the Catholic teaching. It is one thing to say that only men can be priests and another to say women can participate in two levels of holy orders, but no further.
Although I feel pretty much the same with the idea advanced by some Catholics that women can be ordained as deacons. This is similar to me to the Anglican compromise regarding the three levels of holy orders. Supporters of this will say that this is an “Open theological question” which I guess means that it hasn’t been totally ruled out by the magisterium. The constant practice of the Church and the fact that early councils such as Nicea I said that deaconesses were not ordained would lead me to be quite skeptical that this would happen. Still the great thing about being Catholic is that I don’t determine the theology. I take my cue from the magisterium and then try to learn what the Church teaches.
Via Me & Folly
Today Leah Libresco was received into the Catholic Church and received baptism, confirmation, and holy communion. I am so happy for her.
Catholic World Report has a look at the subject through the lens of the University of San Diego cancellation of an appearance by dissident theologian Tina Beattie. Her book is called “God’s Mother, Eve’s Advocate: A Gynocentric Refiguration of Marian Symbolism in Engagement with Luce Irigaray” which is certainly a mouthful or at least full of something.
One of the things I found coming into the Catholic faith is that there had seemed to be a conspiracy against me. Large swaths of history involving the Church were edited out of my education. There was also a bit of self-censorship in the books I choose to read. One of those “conspiracies” against me was keeping G.K. Chesterton from me. I had never heard of him until I kept running into mentions of him while investigating the Catholic faith. There is just so much that is wonderful about now being Catholic and a bonus was thrown in – the writings of G.K. Chesterton. Over the years I have read thousands of articles on the internet and yet I recollect fully the time and place I first read a chapter from Chesterton. It was “The God in the Cave” on PetersNet (now CatholicCulture.org) from “The Everlasting Man.”
Now this conspiracy to deprive me of G.K. Chesterton seems to have been a general conspiracy by academia and the cultural elite to ignore the man. That is why the work of Dale Ahlquist the great Chesterton popularizer and president of the American Chesterton Society is so important. His previous book was In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton
Mr. Ahlquist’s new book is The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton
The book goes on to demonstrate just why G.K. Chesterton was the complete thinker. In this day of over-specialization we come to expect people to have only expertise in one area. It is no surprise that the modern man will refer to someone whose knowledge spans numerous topics as a renaissance man and not a modern man. This concept is one reason I was always attracted to the character of Sherlock Holmes’ brother Mycroft in that he gathered information from multiple disciplines and could see as a whole what the specialists were missing. Chesterton could see the underlying truth in all things and thus was able to talk about all things. Not only have we become accustomed to not seeing the forrest for the trees, but we don’t even see the trees that well. When all truth is relative it is not relative to see the truth.
The chapters of the book cover many areas from the problem of evil, war and peace, sickness and health, abandoning hopelessness, law and lawyers, and many other contrasts. The structure of the topics build on each other and demonstrate all the areas in which Chesterton was more than competent. People are often amazed at how prescient Chesterton was in seeing the roots of problems and where they would lead. The gist of what he says applies equally today because the problems that were evident to Chesterton in his day have only continued.
What this book demonstrated to me is how much to the root of things Chesterton’s vision was. After the recent election and reading again Chesterton’s thoughts on birth control we can see how much the debate has shifted or just plain deconstructed. I was especially intrigued by Chesterton criticism of national health as it was starting in England in his day. His arguments had nothing to do with slippery slope arguments about how such policies can go awry, but cut to the quick about the whole concept in the first place. It is amazing how Chesterton can get you to re-look at something you believed you already understood even when you already agreed with his conclusions.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and there is also an appendix dealing with the Chesterton/Clarence Darrow debate. While sadly a transcript of the debate does not exists there is some information from those who attended and I thought this appendix was quite worthwhile in itself. It is of interest to note that one of Clarence Darrow’s relatives Leah Darrow now works for Catholic Answers.
Now let me get back to my dog-eared copy of Orthodoxy. I wonder what the equivalent is for ebooks – pixel worn?
Ever notice the inverse proportionality between the words relevance and reverence?
Now I am not totally satisfied of this formulation since the reality is that the Mass is of infinite value. Still I find an interesting correlation in the meaning of these two French words.
Reverence – The virtue that inclines a person to show honor and respect for persons who possess some dignity. There are four forms of reverence, corresponding to four forms of dignity: 1. familial reverence toward one’s parents or those who take the poace of parents; 2. civil reverence toward persons holding civil authority; 3. ecclesiastical reverence toward the Pope, bishops, priests, and others in the service of the Church; 4. religious reverence toward any person, place, or object related to God. (Etym. Latin reverentia, awe, respect.) — Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary
As for “relevance” I use it in the way that some people relate it to the Mass in a modern meaning. That is making it “up-to-date”. Perhaps nothing is more out-of-date than something that has been made up-to-date. Another word used to mean the same idea is also popular – contemporary. It is hard for me to imagine something so out-of-date as hymns accompanied in the folk guitar style. They seem to have concentrated on the wrong “Peter, Paul and Mary.” Yet I have heard this called relevant. I guess when autotuned singers is also a past fad it will also become relevant since there seems to be a time-lag of relevance when it comes to sacred music. Folk music and contemporary worship music of the 80s. Hip Hop Mass must be on the horizon. This asks the question relevant to who? It seems I get more and more left behind by those who would make the Mass more relevant. Relevant to faddy liturgists I guess.
It is certainly not only Catholics who have caught the relevant bug. If anything Protestants are further along in the infection, especially in the Mega-church genre. I have seen church signs advertising relevant or contemporary services. Rock bands and light shows replace “on this rock” and “let their be light.” Though I don’t mean to pick on Protestants it is just that they more fully embrace the “I want to be entertained” pew sitter. The whole movement of the modern liturgy/service is away from God and directing the attention to ourselves. “Here I am Lord” being the anthem of this mindset.
At the same time everything is being made more relevant acts of piety expressing reverence are stamped out or just faded away. Funny how Tebowing can be a trend, but forms of Genuflection at Mass have disappeared for many. I have certainly noticed that hardly anybody genuflects anymore. When Jesus is present in the Tabernacle in the form of the Eucharist and the sanctuary light is lit to indicate this very few people seem to note this fact by genuflecting. Or even in the case when the Tabernacle is not present in the sanctuary do you see a profound bow towards the altar done instead. Perhaps an occasional half-curtsy or a nod of the head. Actual rubrics such as bowing during the Creed’s “by the power of the holy spirit…” have also pretty much disappeared. Or how about:
a) A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated. –No. 275 of the General Instruction:
It is interesting that one practice has not slipped away. That is crossing yourself with Holy Water before and after the Mass. There is something about the physicality of sacramentals that appeal to us more and is less prone to being diminished. Anybody who has noticed the swell of Mass attendance on Ash Wednesday can attest to this and to a lesser extent the blessing of the throats on the Feast of St. Blaise.
The area of clothing is certainly an area that has fallen victim to relevance over reverence. The Crescat and others have done a fine job of pointing out vestments that tried to be up-to-date. Relevant and ugly in this case seem to be directly proportional. As for clothing worn by the laity I can not make any discernible distinction between what might be worn to Mass and what might be worn to McDonalds. Casual Sunday seems to be the norm.
Now some might say that all of these practices of piety and dress are just accretions and are unimportant to worshipping God. There is certainly a partial truth in this. Practices of piety can be just totally outward and not an indication of the person who is worshiping God. Outward piety is not always the same as inward piety. Still I think these acts of piety are helpful to the worship of God. I think of many of these things as training wheels and I know I still really need these training wheels. These practices help to constantly remind me of their inner meaning (at least occasionally). There can be a temptation to want to appear to be more pious than others and certainly that has to be guarded against. For example I kneel to receive Communion both as an act of worship and a reminder to myself of whom I am receiving. Still there is a slight embarrassment for me in not wanting to appear super-pious and better than the other persons at Mass. Other pious practices also help me such as crossing myself when passing a Catholic Church. This small reminder of the importance of the Eucharist helps to jog my mind at the wonder of it all. A prayer of thanksgiving and crossing myself before meals even when dining out also help to bring me out of myself and to acknowledge what God has done for me.
Now as Father Z. has constantly mentioned “brick by brick” or I might possibly say “rubric by rubric” and there are positive signs in these regards. Importantly as individuals we can maintain these practices and witness even in such a small way to others.
What practices of piety do you engage in that bring your mind to God and to help you to worship him?
2nd photo credit: nathancolquhoun via photopin cc