Just some thoughts.
High church Lutherans look and celebrate the Eucharist just like Catholics do. Or, the liturgical reforms of Vatican II conform to the high church celebrations of Lutherans and Anglicans. Sadly, some Catholic churches look more Protestant than the Protestants.
I don't like that.
I never liked Lutheranism, high or low. My dad was Lutheran and his mother was a die hard anti-Catholic, so I grew up with a lot of tension and a lot of hostility. My Lutheran cousins told me I was going to hell because I 'worshiped' idols, while my Catholic cousins told me my dad was going to hell because he was Lutheran. Since I was devout as a kid, I got it from all sides. I also never liked the interiors of Protestant churches because they lacked images and did not have the Blessed Sacrament - which they didn't believe in. So I couldn't imagine why they even went to church.
As an adult, I grew more optimistic about Protestants, yet never felt inclined to Ecumenical Services, much less attend their Eucharist. That said, I was always hopeful high church groups could easily unite with Rome - especially to receive Christ in the Eucharist. Yep, I know their understanding of the Eucharist is different - and apparently today some Catholics adopt the Protestant understanding as well - but I'm against it.
So. I don't get the rehabilitation of Luther, or reconciling the upheaval caused by the Reformation, or, as some suggest, the Holy Spirit guided Luther. I have no attraction to that kind of ecumenism.
It also saddens me that the Catholic Church has become so Protestant after Vatican II, in some cases, bringing to completion what the Protestant reformers began 500 years ago: Whitewashing churches, removing the Blessed Sacrament, turning altars around, and so on. Likewise, the loss of vocations, priests leaving to get married, nuns secularizing, and so on - everything that happened 500 years ago.
No wonder younger people are so attracted to Traditional Catholicism and the Extraordinary Form of Mass.
Just my opinion - it doesn't change anything.
Happy Halloween.
I knew there was a reason I hated Halloween.
An interesting article: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/what-caused-the-reformation-a-catholic-explainer-90517
ReplyDeleteA good article indeed.
DeleteYou know...not much has changed in 500 years. You have some people with valid concerns and then a bunch of poop disturbers whip up everyone into a lather and next thing you know there is division.
DeleteIf I did not know any better, I would have come away thinking I had read an article about the current state of affairs in our beloved Church.
DeleteI was so crabby yesterday. This was a crabby post. I'm better now.
ReplyDeleteCrabby is fine ... most of the time I'm crabby with little peeks of sunshine in between.
DeleteMe thinks the good Lord loves us most when we're crabby. ^^)
St. Jerome was crabby and look at all that he did.
An old anti-Catholic grandmother of a friend of mine said that “Lutherns weren’t nuthin but Cathlicks that couldn’t get their Latin right." Try to understand their reaction as defensiveness - the rest of the American Prods were always telling Lutherans that they weren’t really Protestants.
ReplyDelete