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L e t t e r s
LITURGICAL NIGHTMARE
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WELL, it finally happened. We were in Sarona, Wisconsin, for the weekend and were looking forward to going to Mass at a little country church (St. Catherine's). I should have known something was up when the priest shouted from the back of the church "Let's get this show going."
He told everyone to sit down and gave his "homily" first, a story about when he was in seminary and took a theater class. He shouted at people, "Amen? AMEN? I didn't HEAR anyone!" and walked up and down the aisle touching people and making jokes.
We tried not to look at him. His stole was bright blue with balloons embroidered on it. No chasuble. I kept telling myself, "I'm here for Jesus." During the course of the exhibition he bemoaned the fact that there aren't women priests and that he couldn't have a wife, and he made three derogatory references to "people who write to the bishop."
When it came time for Communion, he was sloppy with the bread and wine, did not elevate them, left out the blessing of the bread, and cracked, "Remember when you had to ring that awful little bell?" During Holy Communion he told a woman who received on the tongue "Oh, we don't do that here. Ha ha!" He held a handful of consecrated Hosts, passing them out like tiddly winks. He ran out halfway through and said to the next person, "Well, we're all out. Sorry [big laugh]. Oh, I'm just kidding," and he went up to the tabernacle and got "some more."
I was in agony. My children were scandalized. I received Holy Communion without looking at the man. So did Marty (trying to concentrate on Jesus), and the priest didn't even say, "The Body of Christ" to Marty.
But this was not the worst of it. After everyone had received, the priest consumed the remainder of the Precious Blood, then yelled at a server, "Can you get me some water?" The boy brought water, and the priest poured some into the chalice. "This isn't the Blood of Christ, is it?" he asked the congregation. No one said a thing. "I said, this isn't the Blood of Christ, is it?" Someone in the front row said, "No." The priest said, "Do you know what this is? It's dirty dishwater. Do you drink dirty dishwater? Neither do I," and then he poured the contents of the chalice into a PLANT and made a joke.
It ruined our day, believe me. That priest was malicious and frightening, not to mention disrespectful and irreverent. At several points during the service he obviously embarrassed people in the congregation. We were so sad leaving there. We had a good discussion with the kids about how the personality or obedience of the priest doesn't affect the Eucharist, that we need to pray for priests who love Jesus and obey the Holy Father. We talked about the Corinthian Christians and Paul's response to them. We talked about how sad it must make God when people forget how much it cost him to die for our sins.
I am still reeling. I dreamt about it all night. We have paid such a high price to convert to Catholicism, and to have to sit through that awful display of ego was very painful. Marty said we need to pray for that priest, but, to be honest, I could hardly bring myself to do so.
My question is, is there anyone I should tell? Any committee against liturgical abuse? And does it do any good at all? I feel like I'm in mourning.
Kris Franklin
Hibbing, Minnesota
"I Confess!"
MY parents and I attended a Catholic church near their new retirement home. On the way out, after a somewhat normal and orthodox Mass, we took home the weekly bulletin. It made no reference to a schedule for the sacrament of penance. My mother called the parish the next day and was informed that confession was available only once a month on first Saturdays and then for only forty-five minutes. By not so subtle implication, the sacrament must not be considered an essential foundation of the Christian way of life at this parish.
We began "church shopping" the next day and found two parishes with normal (at least weekly) schedules for confession. Along the way we met a very orthodox but somewhat disenchanted deacon, who told us that the pastor at the church we had attended was orthodox in his faith and "very holy." It was just that "no one" shows up for confession there and that attendance was not much better at his own and neighboring parishes with weekly schedules for the sacrament.
I hope to use my study of Catholic truth from Catholic Answers' materials and from several other dependable sources to combat this and similar maladies of spirit in the Church. In some small way I want to do my part to help reinvigorate an interest and devotion to the faith.
Carl A. Greco
Leominster, Massachusetts
Editor's reply:
A few years ago I arrived early for dinner at a rectory in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. All four priests were gone. "Did I come on the wrong night?" I asked the housekeeper.
"No," she smiled. "They're all in the church, hearing confessions."
"But it's Thursday."
"At this parish we have confessions every day."
And so they did. That Thursday there were more than fifty penitents, apparently a slow day.
"How do you manage to do this?" I later asked the pastor.
"Easy. We tell people what sin is, that they commit sins, and that they need to go to confession, so they go. They know we're always available at convenient times."
"Unlike other parishes," I inquired, "where confessions are on Saturday afternoons from 4:00 to 4:05?" He smiled
Cancel, Cancel, Cancel!
ENCLOSED are three invoices for subscriptions. Cancel all three and send appropriate refunds.
The main reason is the bizarre articles by Russell Ford (February- April 1996). They would have been better published in the "letters to the editor" section in shortened form, as they contain statements and attitudes typical of convicts.
No, the military actions at Nagasaki and Hiroshima did not detract from the basic justice of the Allied cause in World War II. No, American GI's were not the killers in Vietnam he portrayed them as being. Yes, Mr. Ford has what is often called "value inversion," a syndrome I love to refer to as "jailbird mentality."
I am glad he is where he is, off the street and unable to harm society. His words reflect a desire to strike back at society for having justly imprisoned him. Some of his words reflect a desire for conversion, but the overall effect of the article is to degrade society. Maybe someone can convert him by patience, perseverance, and the grace of God.
I bought the article's premise that a prison ministry should work steadily for the conversion of convicts, but rejected the statements based on jailbird mentality. There is too much bad mixed in with a few good statements.
Edwin A. Lofquist, Jr.
Tacoma, Washington
Editor's reply:
Russ Ford said the U.S. lost the moral high ground when it vaporized tens of thousands of non-combatants at Hiroshima and Nagasaki-an opinion held by many orthodox Catholics (such as the Pope).
"No doubt it was a tough decision for Mr. Truman, over which he must have lost many hours of sleep," wrote Ford, who thinks it was the wrong decision morally, even if one could argue that it was the right decision militarily. He argued that the dulling of the moral sense in World War II made possible such tragedies as My Lai.
With this opinion you of course are free to differ, but your difference should be framed in terms of issues-it's unseemly to resort to the ad hominem argument that Ford's ideas are merely consequences of a "jailbird mentality." (You seem to think that jailhouse conversions aren't possible.) Let's skip pop psychology and stick with the issues, please.
As a Change of Pace . . .
I JUST got my latest issue of This Rock -you did a fabulous job again! I especially wanted to tell you how impressed I was with Russell Ford's article. It was a real blessing. I don't know if you are thinking along the same lines, but I think this series would make a great book, or pamphlet. It really was outstanding!
John McIlroy
Toronto, Canada
"Idol Worshipers"
I'D like to thank you for sending the articles, but more so for responding to my spiritual needs so promptly. A lot of times we reach out [from prison] and no one listens, but trusting in the Lord, patience, and the heart of good Catholics is always a welcome and humbling experience.
Anything that you send me I will share with the Catholic brothers. I don't believe the [Protestant] chaplain will buy anything. This afternoon, as soon as I received my mail, there was a downpour.
I went into the chapel and showed him the [Catholic Answers] catalogue, and he just said they weren't purchasing anything. Soon another inmate walked in and said we were receiving a baptism of God (from the rain). The chaplain quickly said it couldn't be a Catholic baptism, since they only sprinkle.
I admit it's funny, but he was totally serious, and that is the attitude around here. The worst thing is that some of the older-timers don't know or want to know the Bible, and no young folks want to be associated with the "idol-worshipers."
Name withheld
"Sister Hell"
I JUST wanted to let you know that I have just read "Sister Hell" (May 1996) in This Rock (actually someone cross-posted it to a list I read) and was deeply moved by it.
I am a recent convert (Christmas Eve, 1995). My own conversion took place on and through the Internet, with the aid of some wonderful Catholic people. I have become a Catholic at a time when I know some of the upheavals and turmoil in the Church. I believe it to be the locus of the fullness of the Body and Presence of Christ, and I can do nothing but be a Catholic.
But even where things are not so bad as you experienced on Sister-L, the Church is not the Church I had- well, not hoped for, for I came into the Church with my eyes open-but perhaps wished might exist. Liturgies are flaccid, there is little clear, authoritative teaching given by the clergy or expected (or desired!) by the laity.
But I am unable not to be a Catholic. I believe that Christ will keep his promise. The gates of hell-even "Sister Hell"!-will not prevail against that Church which he gave his life to purchase. May he truly revive it in our day, and bring us into that wide place that is his desire for us!
Thanks for your article. Though it was a cry of pain, it helped me.
John Jensen
Auckland, New Zealand
Sister Lost in Modernism
I READ, with interest, "Sister Hell." I had a very good friend who joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. She and I had gone to grammar school and high school together. In all candor, I was surprised when she entered.
A number of my friends entered the convent upon graduation, but all the others had a strong spiritual life. There was something missing with her. There was no deep love of the Mass, or adoration, or the rosary. I had always suspected that her decision to enter was prompted more from a need for "family" and career than to be a bride of Christ. (She came from an emotionally cold and sterile family).
For the first time, I understand the passage in Scripture about our Lord's bringing a sword of separation. My friend has visited us through the years, and I've watched her drift further into an abyss of confusion.
My oldest son had roomed with Ronda Chervin's family when he was attending Loyola Marymount. One day, Ronda, the sister, and I were visiting together. It was the strangest feeling to realize that Ronda and I, lay women, were arguing with a Roman Catholic sister, and the sister was on the radical side of every issue.
One day when she was visiting us, the usual arguments started, and my son asked her, "Why do you stay in the Church if you disagree about dogma and Tradition?"
She responded, "For the sacraments, of course."
I resent those who are selling out the Church. I've seen that many traditional Catholics are paralyzed with resentment. They are on the defensive, when they should be on the offensive. The Modernists are beautifully networked.
We orthodox need a page on the Web which lists the brave things that Catholics (bishops, priests, religious, and lay people) are currently doing, so that letter, phone, e-mail, and fax campaigns can be implemented to support them-and to let the NCCB know of our support.
Patricia Villaescusa
Rogue River, Oregon
New Cuban Capuchin
JUST a quick note to thank you for publishing my letter (February 1996), but specially a strong "hug" for those who answered my S.O.S.
I only regret to have been targeted by Bill Jackson and company (Christians Evangelizing Catholics). They seem to be a group of starving vultures looking for Catholics. I have included them in my prayers, and please continue telling the truth. I recently was accepted in a Capuchin community and plan to join them next month.
Emilio Alvarez
Holguin, Cuba
Missing Out
HAS my subscription run out-or have you stopped casting your pearls before Protestants? My Catholic boyfriend got his latest copy, but I haven't. Please check on it for me.
Susie Powell
Baltimore, Maryland
Cover Charge
I JUST received the latest issue of This Rock. I like the new cover! Classy!
Sean Hadley
Murray, Utah
Rock Alive
JUST wanted to congratulate you on a great new cover. It makes This Rock come alive esthetically-it has always been alive in substance.
Lenny Gonzalez
@asys.dt.navy.mil
Reminder
COLOR is nice, but have you telephoned home recently?
Mom
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