Monday, July 06, 2009

Reconstructing Catholic identity.

St. Anthony returns to Modesto church.
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A statue of St. Anthony, once removed from the church of St. Stanislaus due to the re-emergence of the ancient iconoclast heresy following the spirit of VII, has now been reinstalled. Read on - as to the reason why the statues were removed in the first place:
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All that is known is that after the reformations of Vatican II were handed down in the 1970s, priests often removed the statues of saints to help parishioners focus on the celebration of the Eucharist instead.
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"Before Vatican II, the Mass was in Latin," said the Rev. Ramon Bejarano, pastor of St. Stanislaus. "Because they didn't understand the Latin, people were praying devotions to the saints or saying the rosary during Mass. Some priests and parishes decided to move the statues out so people could concentrate and have active, full participation in the Eucharist." - Story
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Huh?
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The reformation of Vatican II? People didn't understand the Latin? So they wreckovated the churches in order that people could concentrate and have active participation in the Eucharist? That's what all that was about?
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This past weekend my pastor has taken to enhancing the Mass by adding explanatory prayers before the offertory and other parts of the Mass. After the gifts are brought up and the altar is prepared, he ad libs something like, "As we prepare the altar... let us bring our hearts, our cares our sorrows, etc., joining them to this bread and wine..." I don't know what else. He is a good priest and means well, but I really have to agree with Fr. Z - PLEASE: Just say the black and do the red.

8 comments:

  1. I feel bad for you, Terri, you need to be more in touch with your feelings. That's all it takes. It will take some time, I suppose :))

    I am a convert to the EF Mass but have to attend NO Masses from time to time for lack of weekly EF Masses. The last one I attended did not have balloons or such a thing but to me -excuse what I am going to say- I thought I was attending a TV cooking class without the cameras. I just can't stand the casual air of "setting up the table".

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  2. Terry - you sound like a curmudgeon. You didn't bring your cares and sorrow to the altar, now, did you?? See? I bet you would have felt much better had you done that.

    lol - just kidding!

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  3. I didn't Larry - but there was a lot going on in the sanctuary, the altar girls were fixing their albs and hair, the ladies were carrying the collection basket across my line of vision into the sacristy, and the piano player was removing the dust cover on the piano, then someone ran back to get the children's collection box to bring into to the sacristy. We wre all participating in some way though.

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  4. Terry - I'm sure the nice things you are saying about this priest are true, however......... what he doing is a gross liturgical abuse.

    Now that I'm an old bat my tolerance for this sort of nonsense is at zero and I would get up and leave.

    And.....I'm so dang tired of hearing that worn out old story about people praying the rosary during Mass, blah, blah, blah, and not really participating. It's a bunch of crap!

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  6. Adrienne - I agree - there is more there than I'm telling.

    Belinda - I think the word has been around for a long time.

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  7. Eeeeh! Flee Father Chattypriest!

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  8. Anonymous5:02 PM

    I HATE when the priest gives a commentary of everything that is happening! It says the people coming are STUPID, they don't come often--so need to be instructed, and it distracts from the sacredness of the Mass--oh, I'm steaming just thinking about this.

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