In Came Reverence, Out Went Clueless Complainers

The National catholic Distorter (a/k/a The Fishwrap) did yet another hatchet job on a Catholic Parish. OMM takes her own hatchet to it.

From One Mad Mom

In came Latin, incense and burned books, out went half the parishioners

Post-Vatican II North Carolina Catholics seek a spiritual home

by Peter Feuerherd

Note the Nazi reference right off the bat in the title. Creative. Maybe Father was trying to save the parish a little money and burn the books for heat? Just kidding.

Religion scholar Maria Lichtmann felt a strangeness overcome St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Parish in Boone, North Carolina, four years ago.

Fr. Matthew Codd, the then-pastor at St. Elizabeth’s, was joined by a group of seminarians who went through the church’s theology library and removed books deemed heretical, including those of spiritual writers Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton. The books were later burned, she was told by a parish staff member.

James Martin, SJ, had a fit when someone called this article a load of hearsay. He said something about “Sorry, a personal account is not hearsay.” Well, Father, the above paragraph is actually hearsay and so is half the article. As in, she heard a staff member say. Odds are that Fr. Codd, if he actually had the good sense to pull cruddy books out of the library, dumped them in the parish dumpster. Have you ever tried to burn a book? Takes a bit of time. How would I know? I have a silly relative that sends us heretical books all the time. I take a look at them so I can discuss. Know thy enemy and all. But am I ever going to pass them along to some unsuspecting person? Nope. What am I going to do, keep them on my shelves for years to come? So into our firepit they went, well, once. I didn’t realize I’d have to tear one page out at a time. Turns out burning a brick of paper doesn’t work to well.

And why would a priest pull books by Merton and Nouwen? Probably because he’s a darn good priest and these two nuts were quite into New Age-y eastern mysticism. In short, they’re not helpful to Catholics.

My guess, and it’s a guess based on seeing the same scenario over and over again, Is that the lady “religious scholar” probably stocked the library full of her favs. I also wouldn’t be surprised if her own books were also removed, which probably wouldn’t sit well with her. Fr. Codd probably decided to stock the library with books by Cardinal Sarah, Pope Benedict, any books published by Ignatius Press, etc. or others that might possibly educate people in the Faith. I bet that wouldn’t sit too well with her. That would be just a little too Catholic for Maria.

Lichtmann, a retired religious studies professor at Appalachian State University, left the region in part, she told NCR, because of the changes in the parish. She now lives in Georgia.

“I felt it was a lost cause,” she said about St. Elizabeth’s.”

That’s it? She didn’t like the changes to the library?!

The spirit of hyper-orthodoxy in parish leadership continued, noted Lichtmann, after Codd was replaced in July 2019 by Fr. Brendan Buckler.

Nearing 18 months since Buckler arrived, on the edge of Boone, a college town and popular retirement community in the mountain foothills, a few dozen now gather every other Sunday at a car restoration shop shared by a hospitable non-Catholic, the husband of a parishioner.

“Who sent you?” newcomers are asked, in part to assure that the gathering does not grow too large and violate the state’s social distancing pandemic regulations. Another reason is that Massgoers fear that the leadership of the Diocese of Charlotte and of St. Elizabeth’s will make life difficult for two visiting priests who celebrate the Mass or for parishioners who might want to return to St. Elizabeth’s.

Wait, what? They don’t like the new “flavor” of the Church so they’re holding Mass in a body shop? Did the bishop give permission for that? And can we talk about the fact that they might not understand that Mass is a public thing? The Real Presence – should we be relegating Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to a body shop? Hello! I hope this little article stirs the bishop to action on this one. Totally not appropriate for people stomping their feet to do this. Let’s be clear. This isn’t one random Mass. They have set up their own unsanctioned church.

And then a common ritual is repeated. Mass is said, in English, with a priest facing the tiny congregation. A few popular hymns are sung. Communion is distributed in the hand, both because of a safety provision during the pandemic and because congregants like it that way, even if that approach is discouraged at St. Elizabeth’s. Masks for protection in the pandemic are used, much in contrast to St. Elizabeth’s, where the parish website proclaims that while masks are allowed, they are symbolic of anti-Christian attitudes not conducive to authentic Catholic life.

Uh, hi, I looked at the parish website and the past two months of bulletins. Where is that? These are the only things I found on masks:

All Masses are in person and inside the Church. We do not stream Masses at this time. All who come in good faith are welcome to attend and worship. Catholics in good standing may present themselves for Holy Communion. You may wear a mask. Social distancing between family units is suggested. https://www.saintecc.org/

and

Father will be wearing a mask during Holy Communion and will purify his fingers in between family groups. https://www.saintecc.org/general-parish-news—announcements

and

Pandemic Protocol

Safety Protocols for Mass

We are following Diocese recommended protocols for Mass and Holy Communion at this time as follows:

If you are in a high-risk age group, in poor or declining health, unduly fearful, have any illness symptoms, have been sick, or think you may have been exposed, please stay home at this time.

Every other row has been removed to help people maintain the recommended social distancing.

It is permitted that you wear a mask while here. 

Those disposed to receive Holy Communion should approach as a family group. Family groups can form 6 feet apart in the center aisle.  If you wear a mask, please lower it prior to approaching.

The Celebrant will be wearing a mask during Holy Communion and will purify his fingers between family groups.

Hand sanitizer is available in the Narthex and restroom areas. 

Thank you for your attention to this.” https://www.saintecc.org/pandemic-protocol

You’d think she’d at least provide a screen shot to back up her point. Until then, much to James Martin, SJ’s chagrin, it is hearsay. Perhaps Father Buckler was explaining why HE doesn’t wear a mask while celebrating Mass? We’ll never know because she didn’t provide context.

The informal Mass in the auto shop is necessary, parishioner Karen James told NCR, because “people have no alternative,” as the nearest Catholic parish is at least 45 minutes’ to an hour’s drive away. In the hill country, there are relatively few Catholics, and some of those who remain experience a kind of spiritual homelessness. Many parishioners — she estimates about half of 300 active churchgoers who were there when Buckler began — have fled to local Protestant congregations or remain at home, sometimes catching a livestreamed Mass from Charlotte or former hometowns in the Northeast or Midwest. Many Catholics in the Boone area have roots in other parts of the country.

Necessary? No, Karen. They could have stayed and stopped whining. Kind of like we did for decades while ladies danced up and down the aisles burning sage. Deal. Up until this point, the main complaint is the library and for some reason she thinks she can’t wear a mask. She has a spiritual home but she willingly ran away from it and, sadly, some renegades have now decided Christ belongs in a body shop simply because they’re not getting a happy-clappy whatever anymore. Let me tell you, Sis.  I actually drive 45 minutes every Sunday and have for decades. I didn’t decide to form my own private little church and relegate Christ to a garage.  And despite your reporting, there are churches closer to you. Try Jefferson and Linville half an hour away, or maybe Blowing Rock, 15 minutes away, but you just won’t be able to get away from that mean ol’ Fr. Buckler there.

St. Elizabeth’s parish now features three Masses in English each week, one in Spanish, and four in Latin and celebrated in the pre-Vatican II style, with the priest facing the altar instead of the congregation. While some have left, others, enamored of the traditional style liturgy, are now regulars. James notes that many of the cars in the parking lot have plates from out of state or out of the region.

I love how you point out the reverent are willing to drive forever for reverence, as if that’s a bad thing, while you put Christ in a body shop.  Didn’t you stop to think when you gave these quotes? Who’s in it for themselves and who’s in it for Christ?

During his tenure as pastor, Buckler has preached that parishioners had the moral obligation to vote for former President Donald Trump, skirted North Carolina pandemic regulations, and attracted a new set of parishioners from other parts of the diocese who now contribute to the support of what has become a traditionalist parish.

Or could it be that Fr. Buckler said what countless other have said, Joe Biden supports the killing of children? Also, a “traditionalist parish” wouldn’t have Masses in English or Spanish. What you’re describing is a faithful parish, as in faithful to the teachings of the Church. And, yes, there is a great hunger for that.

Buckler is among a number of pastors in the Charlotte Diocese who are dubbed restorationists, traditionalists, or, in some cases, rad-trads.

Dubbed by who? You?

They are often younger than other priests — Buckler was ordained in 2011 for the Raleigh Diocese — and they are trained in a liturgical tradition foreign to most Vatican II Catholics. Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte has invited them into his diocese and they now lead a number of parishes, much to the chagrin of some older clergy, who, mostly quietly, question their bishop’s judgment. Jugis recently opened a junior seminary to help train future pastors in a similar mold.

Did you ever think you might want to listen to the “youngsters” you brutally condemn? I mean, we had to live through your penchants. We watched our friends fall away from the Church at an alarming rate. It certainly wasn’t because there were parishes like Fr. Codd’s and Fr. Buckler’s around. It was because we were surrounded by stuff you loved, which was YOU centered, not by stuff that taught us to put Christ and his teachings first.

The Charlotte  Diocese is not alone. While Pope Francis preaches an accompaniment for all spiritual seekers and castigates clericalism — he once described young priests who put a premium on enforcing church regulations as “little monsters” — seminaries in the U.S. continue to graduate priests for ordination who look not to Francis, but to Pope John Paul II for inspiration. It is a quiet, awkward and uneasy kind of schism in church practice and discipline.

They look to the teachings of the Church. Popes come and go, but the truth in the Church is forever. If the Church is churning out “little monsters” (I find that term super divisive and not very loving towards people who have given their lives to God, BTW) they might want to ask why? The Holy Father might also want to ask why? It might possibly be because your generation kind of stinks, Karen and Maria, and our generation has suffered from it. All of the Peter, Paul and Mary Masses didn’t do a darn thing for our Faith. While you wanted to be super cool and inventive, we just saw you as narcissistic and, well, your folk and show tunes stunk. You thought the generation gap was between us and the real oldies, but it was really between us and you.

Many traditionalist seminarians seek training in regular seminary classes. But on their own time, they follow leaders such as Taylor Marshall and Church Militant, both anti-Francis websites.

You don’t even go to their Masses yet you somehow know what motivates them? Please. Most of the faithful priests and seminarians I know don’t have time for either.

“It’s an alternative magisterium,” Fr. Tim Kelly, a pastor in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, told NCR. Kelly was formerly a teacher of homiletics and patristics at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, where he observed how seminarians, after classes, would flock to social media for instruction on liturgical rubrics and moral doctrine.

Or, Fr. Kelly, they could look to your bishop. Please. You know what I learned about how today’s seminarians find out about rubrics and moral doctrine? They actually read the Church fathers, the documents of the Church and little things like that. They also read things from people like, oh, say, Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sarah. You know, experts who have written about the Mass? What a novel concept!!!

While the faculty at St. Mary’s offers a curriculum much in line with Vatican II teachings, said Kelly, seminarians are often inclined to go online, where they are presented with an alternative vision. There they are told that Francis is failing to proclaim church teaching, that most bishops are lacking in orthodoxy, and that it will be up to new, younger priests to rescue the church from its shortcomings.

“This thing has been coming out of the cult of John Paul,” said Kelly, who noted that many of the seminarians discount the focus of Francis and his efforts to renew the church.

So, you’re saying the JPII was somehow at odds with Vatican II? Interesting. What I find even more interesting is that Fr. Kelly thinks Voris and Marshall are more influential to these young seminarians than the publication to which he’s giving an interview.

Franciscan Sr. Katarina Schuth, professor emerita at the Seminaries of St. Paul in Minnesota, has spent decades analyzing seminarians and authored numerous articles and books on the subject.

She said the faculties of most seminaries now have few professors, much less students, who have a lived experience of Vatican II. That transformation in the church is seen as something for the history books.

Seminary rectors are appointed by their local bishops, many of whom were formed during the John Paul II era. With a premium based on loyalty, many of those rectors were moved up to become bishops themselves during the John Paul and Benedict eras, noted Schuth.

Wow! So much shade thrown on JPII and Benedict. Doesn’t she wonder how these two became different? I mean, they both lived through Vatican II. If they lived through that and were older than, say, James Martin, SJ, how did they come out so differently than the rectors who are, apparently, followers of two men who were front and center at Vatican II? Huh? 

While bishops became more conservative and tradition-minded, so have their seminary students, said Schuth.

“They want certainty. They want answers,” she said, noting that they prefer to gloss over complicated issues of moral theology and other concerns. They also prefer the power granted to pre-Vatican II clergy and look forward to running parishes on their own terms.

LOL! This is a hoot. I’m betting these “conservative and tradition-minded” bishops could quote from more documents of Vatican II than the Cardinal Cupiches of the world could ever do. But, according to sister, they just want power. How much you want a bet sister is still a little miffed she hasn’t been ordained yet?

Today’s seminarians, said Schuth, are part of an overall generational cohort that is more likely to be liberal and secular. These conservative seminarians are set apart in many ways from their peers, with a strong focus on evangelizing their age group members into traditional Catholic ways. They latch on to traditional modes and symbols, such as the wearing of elaborate cassocks. She said they will exert influence on the church as more are ordained.

MY. GOSH. Again with the cassocks? Let it go. They’re back in style. Get over it. Heaven forbid a priest influences the Church, something that was long lost in your generation. Want to know why Catholics left the Church in droves? You.

“It’s a small number, but they are not insignificant because they tend to be active,” she said of today’s more tradition-minded seminarians. They immerse themselves in conservative Catholic media sites such as EWTN, Life Site News and Church Militant.

If it’s such a small number, why the endless articles on them? You know it’s not and it bugs you to death. Seriously, do you know how many articles pop up on National catholic Register when you search “cassock?!?!” ELEVEN PAGES of articles. I repeat ELEVEN PAGES. I realize you’d like to paint them as “obsessive conservative minority” but, again, ELEVEN PAGES of articles listed. Who’s obsessed?

Their politics also tend to the conservative. Many supported former President Donald Trump. Their vision of church social teaching is limited, said Schuth.

“It’s all about abortion, nothing else matters,” she said about their politics.

Really? That’s all they care about? The jobless, men in women’s restrooms, “gay” marriage, religious liberty, pornography and sex trafficking left in its wake – any of that ring a bell? Of course not. It’s just Trump and cassocks. Does it ever occur to you that you’re forgetting about the 74 million Americans, a good chunk of them Catholic, who voted for Trump despite their many concerns? Does it scare you that, just maybe, these young priests and seminarians are a little more in touch than you? Oh yes it does.

Once ordained, they receive support from a number of bishops, including Jugis of Charlotte, who has welcomed priests from outside the diocese to implement a more traditional approach in parishes. Some run into conflicts with their parishioners, used to having input on church ministry. In areas such as metropolitan Charlotte, there is heavy “parish shopping,” as Catholics wander around seeking out a liturgical and church governance style best suited to them, said diocesan priests interviewed by NCR.”

Um, hello. Before Bishop Jugis, the diocese had very few seminarians. Where, pray tell, was he going to get priests to serve his diocese? And, oh BTW, do you realize he now has a record number of seminarians? https://liturgyguy.com/2016/09/16/charlottes-boom-in-seminarians/comment-page-1/ and  https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/charlotte-diocese-opens-new-seminary-to-serve-growing-catholic-population-79546 Sadly, you’d likely want to get rid of every last one of them. Who’s out of touch, again?

I seriously have to laugh at this article. It complains of bringing priests in from other areas but leads off with Mass in the auto body shop with who? Priests from out of the area. Hypocritical much?

In some diocesan parishes, there is a stickler approach to church rules and regulations, far beyond what is normal practice, said one diocesan priest who requested anonymity to avoid a public disagreement with his boss, the bishop. For example: Codd, now pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte, has asked that all who were baptized in his church in recent years be rebaptized because the proper Vatican mandated formula — the preferred saying is “I baptize” — was not used. Previously a deacon in the parish might have used a formula that began “we baptize.”

Um, he is doing that BECAUSE THOSE ARE INVALID BAPTISMS!!! That’s not just a little preference by Bishop Jugis or Fr. Codd. That’s the Vatican!!! https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-baptisms-administered-in-name-of-the-community-are-invalid-27618  Is Peter Feuerherd of the National catholic Reporter really this ignorant? Unbelievable.

But parish shopping is not an easy matter in isolated Boone. Parishioners who seek out the liturgy they have grown up with since Vatican II have few alternatives. A number have joined the local Lutheran and Episcopal churches.

If you walk away from the Catholic Church and Our Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity because of your silly preferences, you’re kind of describing why these priests are doing what they are doing. You’re clueless, have never been taught Truth and are living on a foundation built on sand. The priests who formed you (or rather didn’t) are the problem.

While the complaints largely focus on differences in liturgical styles, they also spill over into disputes about how the parish is run, the role of laypeople, particularly women, and the transparency of financial information about the church. St. Elizabeth’s parish hasn’t released a financial report in five years, said James, and the parish council hasn’t met since Buckler became pastor.

And there it is. Bitter women mad they’re not in charge. It’s ALWAYS them. They are sooooooo obnoxious.

“He is taking us back to pre-Vatican II,” Mary Benson Farthing, a former parishioner, said. She now goes to Mass at another Catholic parish 25 miles away.

For those parishioners raised during the advent of the Mass in the vernacular experienced in post-Vatican II parishes, there is opposition. Farthing was in her 20s during the Vatican II years.

“Having lived through the 1950s, I don’t think I want to go back to that,” she said.

And she didn’t have to as there are TWO Masses in the vernacular in the very parish she left. That excuse just went bye-bye. Oops. Let’s just admit that’s a bogus excuse and move on.

A parishioner who wished to remain anonymous for fear of alienating parishioners supportive of Buckler, said, “There is no joy in going to Mass anymore. So many of our parishioners have left.”

Let me state the obvious. Mass is not about what you get out of it or the joy it brings to you. It’s not a social club. It’s where we go to worship God as he commanded.

Buckler has intruded on the spiritual development of parishioners, Farthing said. A parish Bible study group, using the Little Rock guide popular in many parishes, was told to cease. The series was not orthodox enough, they were told.

Yeah, maybe this will help you understand why the pastor pulled the plug. How about you find one a little less heretical? https://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/193

Jack Hellenbrand came to Boone 16 years ago from Wisconsin. Buckler has disturbed aesthetic sensibilities through his changes, he told NCR. Many older parishioners were part of renovating the church and establishing a simple wooden altar, created to blend visually into the landscape of the Appalachians.

Buckler put in giant candles on the altar, in what Hellenbrand described as a “Counter-Reformation” touch, common in German churches (Hellenbrand, 53, is a teacher of German). “It is not the look of a modern church which melds with the natural beauty of North Carolina,” he said.

“It all goes back to the Counter-Reformation. I have a huge problem with that because I have an historical sense,” said Hellenbrand.”

Historical sense? Bahaha! OK.  How about we try to care more about blending into Catholicism than the Appachian countryside? Honestly, more needs to be done in the re-decorating, but complaining about the proper amount of candlesticks being too tall for any high Mass (not necessarily Latin) is a bit ridiculous. It was hardly an overhaul. And they didn’t even block any windows to the Appalachians so why Jack is whining about those is beyond me. Nowhere did Vatican II call for altars to be plain and bare bones because they’re in the Appalachians.  

Lichtmann noted that Buckler made sure there were no more girl altar servers, and at times he was accompanied by six male servers, setting a sign that pre-Vatican II ritual was to be the norm among the Catholics of Boone.

BOOM! Where does she think the vocations come from? I like this Fr. Buckler! BTW, altar boys are hardly a pre-Vatican II thing. We didn’t have them after VII until some parishes used them without permission. They didn’t pop up in my parish when I was growing up until the mid-80s.

Soon after he arrived, the incense was so intense that the fire department was called as a church smoke alarm got tripped, she said. Lay ministers to the sick and homebound were eliminated, replaced by Buckler.

Oh, the horrors! The priest actually did his job instead of passing it off!

Letters of complaint have been sent by James and other participants in the informal alternative Mass group. Recipients included Jugis, Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer of Atlanta, the metropolitan for the region, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio. No one responded to her letters, said James. Buckler, Codd and Jugis declined to speak to NCR for this article.

Good. They don’t answer to NcR.

Andi Peters, another former St. Elizabeth parishioner, said the parish has ceased to be a friendly, supportive environment.

Might be because YOU ceased to be friendly and supportive because you want things done your way vs. the proper way.

Buckler, she said, “would prefer to speak in a dead language. It was a welcoming place, and it has become an unwelcoming place.” During the pandemic, the lack of masks during Mass has become a kind of cultural symbol, a position popular with some right-wing groups who question methods used to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Insert big rolling eyes emoji. Some people just like to breathe oxygen.

“It shows a brazen lack of awareness that the rules don’t matter, that keeping people safe is not what matters,” said Peters. The preached theology is often strange, said Peters, who noted that one Christmas, Buckler explained that the incarnation did not include Jesus actually being birthed but that he arrived into the world in a non-physical way.

Holy moley! Peters seems to not know what the Incarnation is. I don’t think Father Buckler is confused. I think it’s Peters. The Incarnation has zero to do with Christ’s birth and everything to do with his conception which, indeed, was not the usual physical way. I guess Peter Feuerherd is that ignorant to put that in there. These people are mad at the wrong priests. They need to get angry with the ones who kept them so ignorant.

Not everyone at St. Elizabeth’s is opposed to Buckler’s approach. Parishioner Tom Trueman credited the pastor for being meticulous with liturgy. “There’s more piety that I’ve ever seen shown to the Eucharist,” he said.

Julie Trueman, his wife, said there is too much discord in the parish and there should be more unity shown by those opposed to Buckler. St. Elizabeth’s is the only Catholic church in the community, surrounded by dozens of Baptist congregations of various sorts. Parishioners note that Catholics in the region remain a small minority, despite a growth in transplants from the Northeast and Midwest over recent years.

“The Catholic Church does not need this in this day and age,” she said, citing those who have chosen to worship at the local Lutheran and Episcopal congregations.

Yes, there are likely a bunch of supporters of Fr. Buckler. Glad Peter Feuerherd included a whopping two of them. The idea that people would give up the Eucharist is insane but when you don’t actually know what it is, I guess it makes sense.

Fr. John Hoover, who ministers from a small monastic community in Mount Holly, North Carolina, is one of two priests who occasionally come to Boone to celebrate Mass with those who have fled St. Elizabeth’s. They meet in the garage, amid some half dozen 1950s remodeled cars, gathered around a simple sewing table decorated with candles and flowers. After the homily, Hoover invites participants to talk about their own spiritual struggles, sometimes hearing about the issues raised at the parish. Social distance is maintained and a collection is taken up to pay the expenses for Hoover and another priest, who travel more than two hours each way to celebrate the Mass.

I wonder if Fr. Hoover has been given permission by the bishop to do so? Hmmmm??? I find it hard to believe permission was every given to say Mass in an autobody shop when there’s a bunch of perfectly valid Masses in the same area.

Hoover told NCR the Mass is “a regular Vatican II liturgy with good hymns and a happy atmosphere.” It’s not so happy over at St. Elizabeth’s, he said, as some parishioners choose the garage Mass with its familiar tone over what they perceive as a liturgical blast from a distant past now ensconced in the structure they helped build overlooking the Appalachian hills.

I’m sure it’s a lot happier now that the tantrum throwing parishioners have left.

Peters is among those who miss the community, which she has been a part of for more than 18 years. She now watches a livestream Mass from her hometown parish in Illinois.

“There is no community,” she said about the situation at the Boone parish. “We no longer have that. With the pandemic, it’s another factor of grief in our cap. We have lost our community.”

You chose that, dear.

Lichtmann, from her new home in Georgia, also expressed regret, noting that she needed to escape the region to find the kind of post-Vatican II liturgical life taken for granted in most of the country. That is no longer possible in Boone and in many places in the Charlotte Diocese.

“It’s beyond the one parish,” she told NCR. “It’s the diocese.”

Me? I might have to put the Diocese of Charlotte on my list of possible retirement places when we get there! Thank you, Fr. Buckler, Fr. Codd and Bishop Jugis. Don’t let those bitter oldies change your course!