The triumph of the destroying Spirit of Vatican II is neatly encapsulated in this neat little video from Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Menomonee Falls, WI.
As parody, it would be over the top. As reality, it is the synthesis of all banality. Everybody please tell me how things are getting better, please.
Note**Good Shepherd has made private the original video. Fortunately, there is another copy downloaded in anticipation of this happening.
Deacon Sandy has responded to the criticism here. You can read it here.
I have taken down the video. See why here.
Annnd the video is back. See why here.
UPDATE
There are other troubling things on their website as noticed by Matthew Balan
For their gay outreach, they make this statement. “This ministry works to help the LGBT community find and take it’s rightful place within the Catholic community. “
What exactly is the rightful place of the LGBT community in the Church as it differs from the rightful place of any sinner?
And they link to Call To Action, a group where membership is grounds for excommunication in some places.
Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
archbishoplistecki@archmil.org
February 24, 2014 at 3:38 pm
@Kelly, I continue to have this argument it seems everywhere I go. Kelly, please listen. You have put words in my mouth (lacey garments…blah, blah, blah). The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where possible, should be given (as was given to us) the best of all we have at that moment at that location. It is all about following the command of Jesus, about giving the one, Triune God worship (which up until the fuzziness was added in Vat II documents), was consistent and universal. Here are just a few items that may add clarity regarding my concerns: -The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass…is an action divinely living, inexhaustibly fruitful for etrnal life; …is giving God infinite honor and thanksgiving and offering a most worthy expiation, propitiation, and reconciliation (It radiates a most efficacious prayer in which Jesus, bridge between God and man, supplicates for us in a way that is always pleasing to His Father)…is transmitting to us the priceless things Christ bought with His Blood (It sends out to our souls the fire of purification, the sanctifying and saving energy accumulated and stored by Jesus in the Powerhouse of His Cross). Instrumental is the ordained Priest at the altar, who acts in the person of Christ and acts also for the entire Church, His Mystical Body, and for everyone of the faithful. The faithful should endeavor to "have this mind in (them) which was also in Christ" in all humility, adoring, praising, thanking God, offering themselves to Him, as victims, together with the Divine Victim. The prayers and readings of the Missal are their best means of having in truth The Mind of Christ…St Pious X Daily Missal
February 24, 2014 at 4:29 pm
"What exactly is the rightful place of the LGBT community in the Church as it differs from the rightful place of any sinner?" a PERFECT riposte. Their rights are no different from any other sinner of whatever "orientation": Leave your ego and wish list at the door, get on your knees and ask for forgiveness. Unfortunately, that isn't good enough for this supremely narcissistic group of people. There is a whole spate of articles right now by homosexual believers who hope that if they argue long enough, they will turn black into white and change Churhc doctrine. They won't.
February 24, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Actually, this is quite approriate for the way SC and the Vatican II documents were written…. Stop trying to defend the indefencible… Nothing has killed the faith more than that useless council
February 24, 2014 at 6:28 pm
@David Madeley. I'm even more concerned that people might type in Catholic and go to a website or forum where people spend their whole time arguing with each other about the finer points of the rubrics. Did you know that there are whole sites dedicated to liturgical clothes or how the altar is set up? And that people are upset with Pope Francis because of the vestments he wears? A friend directed me to some of these sites. They can get very nasty and people get really angry. I think that it really doesn't make Catholics look good.
@May Child's Mariann. I've never focused on the details like how the altar is set up because I'm too focused on praying to God. I didn't know these things were important to some people until a friend told me that there was a whole sub-culture around them.
February 24, 2014 at 6:34 pm
Hello Kelly,
"Why do you exactly care that others aren't following the rules?"
Because they can lead others into error.
I do not live in or near Menomonee Falls, WI. But as a Catholic, charity demands that I do care when error is being perpetrated on the innocent in the Church's name. Justice requires that the local ordinary takes steps to make sure that these abuses are stopped.
February 24, 2014 at 6:45 pm
@Kelly, You've lost me. What you responded doesn't respond to my response, therefore, I'm lost on what you are trying to say. Unless you are really young, and do not have knowledge of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is the only reason I can understand your lack of understanding of what is Divine and what is happening at the Menomonee Falls parish.
February 24, 2014 at 8:22 pm
I'm only one minute in and I've a;ready puked in my mouth…twice.
February 24, 2014 at 8:40 pm
The parish certainly sounds like they have more than their fair share of cultural practices to go along with a certain amount of liturgical abuse.
I have to take exception though to the judgement that the bread they use is illicit. Our church uses "Substantial Bread" for our Sunday masses and it's perfectly within the rubrics. Made from Wheat Flour and Water alone, but it is thick like bread might be. Perhaps they are adding something else, but there is nothing in the video to determine that they are using illicit bread.
In short, "Unleavened Bread" does not mean "Pressed Wafer".
February 24, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Apostasy, disobedience, etc., name it as you wish but this parish needs major reform and revival in the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. And the deacon needs re-instruction and renewal on liturgy and the whole works. SPEECHLESS!!!
February 24, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Apostasy, disobedience, etc., name it as you wish but this parish needs major reform and revival in the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. And the deacon needs re-instruction and renewal on liturgy and the whole works. SPEECHLESS!!!
February 24, 2014 at 11:37 pm
Similar to st joe's in Ottawa canada.. St-josephs.ca
February 25, 2014 at 12:16 am
Kelly, which sites are we talking about here? I maintain that no-one spends "their whole time" arguing about rubrics – even Bishop Williamson performs marriages, gives retreats, and so on.
You mentioned discussion about Pope Francis' vestments, and discussion about altar cloths. Those are both areas which touch on form rather than matter. No-one is saying that Pope Francis' choice of vestments invalidates the masses he says. The issue here is far more serious – leavened bread is not valid matter for the mass.
February 25, 2014 at 3:29 am
Kelly:
I live in Milwaukee. This parish is not following the rules, and seems determined to make up their own.
David Madeley:
Leavened bread is illicit but not invalid, as it is the normal matter used in the Byzantine and Coptic liturgies. That said, it should be used in the Roman Rite only under the most extreme circumstances (secret Mass in prison, for example).
Dave P.
February 25, 2014 at 5:32 am
Dave P., while leavened bread may "only" be illicit, the bread used in the Mass must only be made of wheat to be valid matter. The good Deacon in the video distinguishes their bread from the normal hosts calling it actual bread. To make that kind of distinction, I think it is reasonable to assume they are not using bread that is JUST wheat, but are getting oh-so-creative with their recipes. I would have to conclude that they are attempting to consecrate invalid matter and their mass is just a simulation. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not take the chance. Invalid matter= no consecration=Protestant.
February 25, 2014 at 5:40 am
GP, you say the parish needs "major reform and revival in the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church." I disagree. That parish simply needs to be closed.
February 25, 2014 at 10:44 am
I stand corrected – but my point was there is a distinction to be made between (a) heated discussions about which liturgical practises maximise devotion and (b) heated discussions about whether the validity of the sacrament itself is being undermined. We'd all like to raise the tone of debate on forums like these, but let's be clear what we're dealing with.
February 25, 2014 at 3:59 pm
Hey, that's Weakland's old diocese!! I bet they miss him!
The liberals want him back, and the devil wants him in. Guess those two constituencies will have to fight over him.
February 25, 2014 at 5:14 pm
All I heard was: "Hi, welcome to Good Shepard, me me me, you you you, we we we, me me me, you you you, us us us, etc…" Nothing about God and His deserved reverence and worship.
February 25, 2014 at 5:18 pm
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
February 25, 2014 at 7:06 pm
David Madeley.. There is a site that I was recently shown called the New Liturgical Movement. There I also another site called Catholic Answers and another one run by what seems to be a priest, Father Z? It seems like there are plenty discussions on these sites about liturgical rubrics. There are also lots of whining about Pope Francis' vestments and really trivial things. It seems me that heated discussions about this are even more damaging to evangelization than Good Shepherd. It confirms the Protestants worst caricatures about us.