This one by a friend of mine's 18 year old daughter, in collaboration with her Dad.
By 'Sarah', Director of the Ecumenism n’ Feels Ministry
One culture within the Catholic Church needing major reform is that surrounding the practice of the Novus Ordo Mass.
In
a previous era, the Latin Mass was merely a uniform and standard way of
celebrating the liturgy in the United States. In the wake of un-needed
reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council, the NO Mass has become
a rallying point for culture destroying aging hippies within the
church.
The
ultra-liberalism, and borderline heresy, practiced by these NO hippies
radical and narrow-minded, despite their claims of tolerance. They
utilize the lack of structure in the NO Mass, along with charges of
“racism”, “colonialism”, “misogyny”, or “being too rigid” to wield
control over believers — particularly the faithful who actually believe
and try to be faithful to the Magisterium of the Holy Mother Church.
Although
it may be offered reverently, the NO Mass fosters disunity, and at
times, sacrilege in the church. The liturgy — spoken in modern local
dialect — ensures visitors of the Faith from other nations won't
understand a flippin' thing. The priest faces the people for most of the
ceremony, reminiscent of family reunions. Instead of occasional
responses, allowing the priest to lead in worship and offer the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, the congregation plays a hyperactive part in
worship, to include clapping, shaking hands, talking, and singing songs
sounding like Gordon Lightfoot covers. The altar rail has been removed
because, you know, expecting people to show reverence and not play
around at the altar is like, rigid or judgmental, or something.
Instead
of a unifying form of worship, the NO Mass has become an instrument of
oppression and a gathering point for schismatic hippies.
Meanwhile,
unlike the rigidity of TLM that’s existed for hundreds of years,
tracing it origin back to the Apostles, the recently discovered NO
"tradition" empowers womyn. Womyn are expected to wear mini-skirts and
booty shorts instead of dressing modestly.
Similar rules exist for the
men, who can often be seen in Birkenstocks and team jerseys, depending
upon which sport is in season. It is asinine and not the type of attire
one would wear to a job interview past 15 years old, and therefore the
misinterpretation of the NO Mass actively endorses irreverence.
In most cases, it
is useless to politely disagree with people in the NO Mass sect. Their
attitude creates blindness — not only to true faith, but to their own
behavior. They treat dissenters with animosity for being pro-life,
believing in the Real Presence, voting for Orange Man (he’s, like, bad),
or even singing part of Kumbaya off-key.
Anyone who may
accuse me of not knowing what I'm talking about — a favorite indictment
of the NO Mass ideologues — would be wrong. My opinion is based on facts
and personal experiences.
Plus, I
grew up in a household who attended our local vibrant ecumenical faith
community. I was confirmed and went to a Catholic high where I never
heard the words “transubstantiation” or “Eucharist”, but that still
makes me an expert in all things Catholic.
The NO Mass rears its patchouli smelling head in this unholy history at
several points. The last NO Mass I went to made no mention of Christ,
the Real Presence, or sin. Instead, it was offered by “Father Jim”
dressed as a Rusty Nails the Clown and riding a Segway.
Needless to say, anything in the church looking remotely masculine,
Catholic, or reverent was completely banished. The people had the
immature humor and reverence of the 3-way love child of Jim Carey, Sarah
Silverman, and Beavis. Between the rambling sermons about “Jesus said
be nice”, the talking and laughter during the Consecration, lack of
reverent attire (yes, I realize that not everyone can afford a suit and
tie/nice dress, but seeing someone’s underwear and butt crack because of
their shorty-shorts is a bit much), we did not feel any closer to God.
Rules,
also, were a strange issue. As in a complete lack of them. I had read
that the altar was supposed to be treated as a sacred area, yet anyone
who wanted to go up there was allowed to do so. In addition, the
tabernacle, supposed to contain the Blessed Sacrament, was moved from
the altar to a corner, like a naughty child. Further, I could never
understand why, if the Eucharist is the Real Presence, i.e. the most
sacred thing this side of Heaven, requiring the priest to cleanse his
hands prior to handling, it would be given to parishioners, I mean faith
community members, in their hands. Especially thinking of all the
dirty things one touches between leaving the house and Communion.
Immediately we stopped going to Mass at that parish.
After almost leaving the church as a teenager, I chose to stay
Christian-ish by practicing my faith as a free agent — belonging to no
church, attending different churches sometimes for Sunday service. On
one instance, a Catholic priest noticed I was showing up semi-regularly
and approached me with a persuasive speech designed to convince me to return to the
Novus Ordo faction — disguising discrimination as encouragement. "You
should come to the NO Mass instead and wear whatever suits you. Womyn
look the most beautiful in church when they dress however their inner
Pachamama inspires them," he tried to persuade. "Birkenstock, booty
shorts, mini skirts, whatever.”
Most disturbing about this conversation was his effort to make
deliberately dressing like a street walker in God’s presence sound
positive. Indignant, I asked him to explain why he thought I should wear
those things.
"Because how else are you going to attract a male to be a potential
husband. Or female, if you’re into that. It’s all good. Jesus said to
be nice. And Pope Francis, the best pope EVER, said not to judge
people," he replied ecstatically.
The priest's attitude towards showing leg and cleavage is typical of NO
Mass cultists. They seem to believe that women look better in church
when their attire leaves nothing to the imagination. They try to sell
all kinds of attire to girls, trying to convince them that showing one’s
ass is the pinnacle of womanhood and throwing off the oppressive yoke
of the patriarchy. They flaunt their “goods” like a butcher would
display steak and chorizos in a Buenos Aires carniceria. Then they get
mad when men stare.
Given such practices, it should come as no surprise that a contingent
of men and womyn active within the NO Mass environment have distorted
worldviews on sexuality. Instead of realizing that men and womyn
complement each other, these types believe men are inferior to womyn
simply because they are male. Or that men can become womyn or vice
versa.
Lemme
give a couple examples, dear reader, that seem to cover what I’ve
experienced at the NO. One occasion that remains burned into my memory
was when I attended Mass at a nominally Catholic university. It was a
busy Sunday and my schedule demanded I attend Mass at a particular time.
I did not know it was a Catholic Mass even after I stumbled over the
doorstep. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a carnival. I was surprised
to recognize some people there. One of them was a professor who was
known to be a rather loud and aggressive person. When I saw her husband,
I was shocked — and suddenly realized the ugly extent of her hatred of
all thing male. Her husband was a mere shade of a man. He carried her
coat and purse, not in an act of love and devotion as one would expect,
but out of what appeared to be fear. As she carried on with her
harpy-like shrieking about patriarchy, womyn’s ordination, and gender
identity, he stood silently behind her, never saying a word. If he
dared to object, or simply ask, nay, beg, permission to go talk to
someone he recognized, she instantly berated him, yelling at him for
daring to oppress her with his micro aggressions of interruptions. He
kept his head bowed and always walked behind his wife, and looked
physically weak — almost ill.
The professor, by contrast, looked swaggering and hearty. She strutted
around and chatted with others in church as he followed him like a pale,
neutered shadow. Seeing this, I believed I had witnessed a very dark
side to the professor's spirituality. Her religion was a mechanism of
abusive control and militant feminism.
My second example concerns an older group of aging Catholics — many of
whom seem to have retained some residue from experimenting ala Timothy
Leary, and had apparently fallen victim to the uber-liberal Liberation
Theology, modernism, and general irrational dislike of anything
traditional which is promoted in and on college campuses. A female
acquaintance of mine, about my age, decided to brave the NO
Catholic/college dating scene — a recipe for disaster, in my personal
opinion. Among the stories I heard from her were of nominally Catholic
males shopping for one night stands, not potential wives, asking her and
other girls, "Are you willing to put out if I get dinner?" before
agreeing to date them. These men did not want to associate with women
whom were seeking more than just physical intimacy. And, to be blunt,
why should they, when most of their modern womyn peers will give them
said gratification with no commitment? And if they should be willing to
commit, what does he have to look forward to? Showing mutual love and
respect toward each other? Or being nagged and belittled as in the case
of the afore mentioned professor’s husband?
It
is very unfortunate that younger generations of Catholics seeking to
deepen their faith are getting sucked into this vortex of toxic,
hippie-esque radicalism. I saw some young families at a NO Mass
recently, although most were in their 70s and up. I arrived early, sat
down, and began to pray my Rosary. Unsurprisingly I found myself
surrounded by yoga pants and mini skirt wearing women who entertained
themselves in between gossip fests by casting disapproving glances at my
veil.
Unsurprisingly, while there I had another memorably bad experience. I
asked to receive Communion on the tongue. Normally, even the most
liberal of priests I'd encountered in my lifetime would give me the
Eucharist on the tongue. Not this pastor. He literally made a scene at
the altar and jerked the Eucharist away from me when I reached out to
receive it — saying something about those “toxic traddy types who need
to get with the program”. After Mass I decided to respectfully address
my concerns to the priests.
His
response to my query could be found in the dictionary next to
“clericalism”. Which the greatest pontiff EVER says is bad. When I
informed an assisting priest that the pastor had been very rude to me at
the altar, why I only receive on the tongue (and preferably kneeling),
and asked that my views be relayed, he replied, "He did nothing wrong,
maaaaan. You’re just being too rigid. Now excuse me, it’s time for
interfaith yoga while listening to “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.””
His
attitude was a trademark example of the culture within the Catholic
Church that encourages abuse. His first reaction was to circle the
wagons around any potential abuse, then lay the blame on the laity.
What I gained from this experience was a deeper recognition of how the
NO Mass foments the clericalist culture within the Catholic Church that
Pope Francis (the bestest pontiff, like, EVER) is actively working to
force down everyone’s throat, whether they want to hear Gordon Lightfoot
at Mass or not. Tradition be damned.
In his homily earlier last month, Pope Francis warned Catholics against hypocrisy. He described hypocrisy as "appearing one way, but acting in another," and said that a hypocritical attitude "always kills."
The intolerant atmosphere of the NO Mass is in lock step with Pope
Francis's vision of how to fundamentally change the Catholic Church
(Change you WILL believe in). "The church is not a fortress, but a tent
capable of expanding and offering access to everyone, except those darn
trads" said Pope Francis.
"Now ‘scuse me while I bestow an honor upon a transgendered lesbian
atheist abortion pimp, whose values are in complete opposition to what
the CCC teaches.“
It would appear that a misguided sense of compassion defines modern NO
Catholicism. The children of the 60s hippie movement that wrought
destruction upon the Church’s cultural landscape forget that while
Christ did indeed call sinners, he also instructed them to “Go, now, and
sin no more.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.