Just time for a quick post on the visit so far: Happy-looking Pope - beautiful welcome from the President (when will he become a Catholic? - according to the Sainted Pastor of Park Avenue, a personal friend of the Commander-in-Chief - "when the Bishops become Catholic!)
Beautiful Vespers - good words to the Bishops. Washington Mass (!!) - let's be charitable - apart from the Altar, it was not what the Holy Father has written about/asked for - Fr. Neuhaus was very witty on EWTN - bongo drums during the Veni Creator! The serious point is - you cannot mix all those cultures and expect an organic unity - imagine making a supper with one dish, and putting Mexican, English, African, Chinese etc, etc, into one pot - it would be very unsavoury - because all the tastes would clash. We most certainly can celebrate diversity - but this did NOT work! Great homily - very strong on "Catholic identity," - passing on the Faith - and - very powerful (can't remember the exact words) - something about the real future of the US Church coming from a re-discovery of Penance. Still - these are glory days with our Holy Father among us - in beautiful sunshine!
8 comments:
My quick review while trying my utmost to be charitable would be:
Everything H.H. did was good, Placido Domingoes singing of the Panis Angelicus was also good.
Everything else was dire and should never ever be repeated.
Overall the Mass was lost from sight hidden in a bizarre mix of ill thought out performances by people who really need to learn how to reign in their ego.
Father,
I just happened to catch the last half of the mass on EWTN myself. I was quite amused by the comments on EWTN as well, and it was good to hear them voiced so that all the faithful watching the mass on TV know that this was NOT what liturgy should be like. I think this may help the New Liturgical movement more than hinder it, since EWTN is backing up the Holy Father.
The Holy Father's homily was inspiring, I believe the text you were speaking of is below:
"In today's Gospel, the risen Lord bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and grants them the authority to forgive sins. Through the surpassing power of Christ's grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the Church is constantly reborn and each of us is given the hope of a new beginning. Let us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes"
The website http://www.uspapalvisit.org/ has wonderful coverage.
It's too bad that some people can't even give the pope what he wants in a liturgy. No wonder it's so hard for the rest of us. I rather suspect that it's the aging hippies among us who never did do very well at listening to the voice of authority. Unfortunately they got legitimate authority all mixed up with illegitimate authority and simply decided to question everything except their own authority... It felt like a smack in the face to the pope and a way of saying that they would outlive him. Hopefully he will put people in place who will continue to carry on the reform of the reform and let the aging hippies simply fade away into the history of bad ideas abandoned.
Volpius Leonius has said exactly what I was thinking.
I'm interested to see what now happens at the Yankee Stadium, New York.
If it is anything like as bad as Washington, then I think it will speed the end of these liturgical extravaganzas.
BTW, Fr. Owl... I see you've been snapped by Fr. Longenecker! You look younger than you blog (or maybe it's me getting old, like seeing young policemen!!)
Aging hippies would be correct. Our parish instituted a once per month charismatic Mass. I popped in to see the mess and all I saw was grey hair and people with knee repacements shaking thier booty. Ugh!!!
As a result of leaving, because I started to experience a full blown panic attack, we are headed off to a 7:30 pm Mass in the city.
The St. Patricks Mass as well as Yankee Stadium took some of the sting out of that mess in DC.
I don't know. Without trying to sound superior, I was actually at the D.C. Mass sitting on the field, 13 rows back from the altar and from Pope Benedict XVI himself. The music did not upset or impinge on what transpired happened there. Nor did the nuns, some dressed like Mother Theresa, standing on their chairs cheering and waving their papal flags for Pope Benedict (nuns are quite wild in the Pope's presence). I should think it would have been quite silly of me, even ungrateful, had I let it.
All in all it was marvelous.
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