The National Catholic Reporter has an excellent article in its April 5th issue about the new clericalism that is rising in the Church. I agree with this article. It really expresses where I stand in the Church. I feel certain most of you do not stand with me... So, you might wish to comment.
Here is the article: Clericalism and the Liturgy by Fr. Paul Philibert, a Dominican friar, lecturer and writer from Raleigh, NC.
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13 comments:
The worst form of clericalism is one that teaches the laity that they have to emulate priests in order to be participating in Mass. As if we simply aren't worthy with our prayer during Mass.
I'll stick with the traditional outlook.
More "spirit of Vatican Two" ideology.
Father Z of the wdtprs blog has commented on this article:
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/04/did-vatican-ii-bring-about-a-new-pentecost-are-we-still-waiting/
i'm against vatican 2. i want to stay sacramentally passive because i love clericalism. let's bring the church back to the good ol' days when women had to cover their heads and weren't allowed on the altar. i'm against women. they shouldn't be allowed to be priests because we're weak and can't lift a heavy cup over our heads.
Well, Father Z pretty much demolished the NCR piece.
I really don't consider Fr. Z's sarcasm as a refutation of the article. Unfortunately, Fr. Z's way of "enlightening" us ends up simply as a rant. Not at all helpful...
Please point us to a different refutation...
I really don't consider NCR's opinion on such things as even remotely authoritative and certainly not enlightening. In fact, I predict the days are number for that publication. It's time has come and gone.
Standing Maryanna:
The author of this article bemoans, among other things, the
"...seminarians and young priests living full time in cassocks...".
The horror.
The entire article reads like a dirge for the passing of an era. I think some of the "spirit of Vatican Two" generation are having a difficult time accepting that things are changing, and control is slipping from their hands.
I don't see what can be gained by refuting, ad infinitum, their old, tired, cliches. Should every tantrum be treated with utmost seriousness?
Clericalism has been on the rise since 1975 when priests and favored laity realized they could remake the liturgy at a whim and impose their creativity on the people. The people now divorced from the heritage of faith were instructed to pray, pay, and obey ... and some did while many others stopped showing up on Sunday.
Legalism coupled with minimalism seems to be married to clericalism in our diocese. The faithful are expected to accept policies informed by this minimalism & legalism. Examples: we are authoritatively told to use a bare cross on Good Friday (minimalism), to bow at the consecration (legalism), deacons told not to genuflect at the consecration (legalism), functional church buildings with minimal ornamentation (minimalism), reduced ritual (minimalism), every Mass is a low Mass with four hymns (the "4 hymn sandwich" never the propers) anchoring the "celebration" (minimalism), sigh....
-Thomas
... isn't it the WOOD of the cross that we are supposed to venerate on Good Friday?
And what about all the rituals that are being added from the past? Not legalism?
Does the wood cease to exist when their is a corpus? Does this really have to be an either-or argument or is their room for both?
How can anyone object to venerating Jesus on the Cross? IT'S ABSURD!
as a people of gathering we have as a veteran eucharistic minister and former r.e. director i just have to correct some of you on your attachments to preconciliar notions. we have to be open to the changes that the spirit is telling us. i refuse to venerate any object of violence. we are a resurrected people, not a crucified people. we are church and as church we are the salt of the earth and nothing can come between us and our creator, not even a cross. the spirit is a movin' all over, all over this land! we celebrate! we believe!
Celebrate/Believe, if I really believed that your vision of the Church reflected reality, I would drop out and become a Unitarian. Fortunately, I don't believe it does.
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