Denver, Colo., Apr 2, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Dawne Mechlinski was a parish music minister for 41 years.
When she was 12 years old, when she was asked to be the organist at her parish in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. She agreed, and added organ lessons onto her piano lessons. After attending Westminster Choir College, she’s been a full-time director of music since 1988 in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey.
Mechlinski, now 53, is the kind of parish music minister who sticks around – she’s only ever served at three different parishes, including her childhood parish. She’s been at her current parish, St. Mark’s in Sea Girt, since 2006.
That is, until the coronavirus pandemic struck.
At first, Mechlinski said employees of the parish took their own social distancing and health precautions, but for the most part, “everything was normal. Then on the weekend of the 14th and 15th (of March), I had questions from parents of choir members.”
The parents were wondering if choir practice was continuing, and if so, what it would look like. Mechlinski, who directs four choirs, decided to cancel choir for the weekend. Instead she played the organ while one person sang for all four Masses.
Attendance was low, Mechlinski noted, as social distancing was already catching on throughout the United States, but the collection basket wasn’t hit too hard, as many parishioners have moved to online donations.
Later that week, on Thursday, March 19, Mechlinski played the organ again for a funeral Mass. That evening, she got the call.
“We’ve decided you’re furloughed,” the parish business administrator told Mechlinski.
“I even had to question really what that meant,” she said. “I thought that was a military term, to be honest. I wasn’t prepared. I actually thought she was calling to give me protocol, how we would be handling things, what would be going on down the road.”
“And the business administrator just said, ‘This is what everyone (in the diocese) is doing, this is how we’ll handle it.’ She was reading me this letter. And that was it. She said, ‘You will be paid until tomorrow,’ which was Friday. I’m off on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that was it.”
Bishops across the United States have suspended public liturgies and closed church buildings in the past few weeks in response to state-issued public safety policies, and Catholic leaders have warned of an immediate revenue shortfall. Consequences of that shortfall include staff reductions, furloughs, and decreased hours.
The furlough came as a shock to Mechlinski, who noted that her parish is located in a “very affluent” area. Music ministry has been her life-long passion, it’s also her career: the primary source of income for a widowed mother to four children, two of whom still live at home and have significant medical needs.
Mechlinski said she tried to ask some clarifying questions, but as of now, things are “not real clear.” She’s unsure what will happen to her health insurance or her life insurance. She was told that her parish had not been paying into unemployment insurance, so she’s not sure what she qualifies for as far as any kind of aid right now.
“I am…a little alarmed that they don’t have something in place for their employees as a protection,” she said. “I’ve asked for a letter of furlough explaining (the details) and I have yet to receive it. I’ve asked for it a couple of times just to have something permanent rather than a phone conversation.”
Linda Rosa, the business manager at St. Mark’s, told CNA that the parish had been in a deficit even before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“We weren’t in the best shape to begin with. We were just trying to get out of it and all of a sudden, there’s something that happens,” Rosa said. She said she has been in touch with employees and with the diocese as the parish has had to make difficult financial decisions to furlough or lay off employees.
Rosa added that as of April 1, no full-time employee of the parish had yet gone without pay. Rosa said Mechlinski was still receiving pay for any personal or sick time off that she had not yet used in the year, as were the other employees. She said Mechlinski and all other employees’ benefits will be covered by the parish for the duration of the pandemic.
“We’re just continuing to pray for all those that have been affected,” Rosa said.
Rayanne Bennett, director of communications in the Diocese of Trenton, told CNA that furloughs were an “unfortunate necessity” due to the coronavirus pandemic, as the drop in donations at the parish level also affects the financial stability of the diocese.
Bennett said that the diocese will pay for the health insurance of all furloughed employees for three months “at minimum,” and has advised all furloughed staff to apply for unemployment benefits through new federal coronavirus benefits.
“We are doing all that we can and will continue to give this our best effort. While there is great uncertainty at this time, it is our hope that we can restore our parishes, schools and diocesan operations to full staffing once the current emergency has passed,” Bennett said.
Mechlinski said she’s unsure of what comes next. She’s hoping that the terms of her furlough become more clear, and she plans to look into what federal aid she may qualify for. A friend of hers, who was recovering from coronavirus with his wife, set up a GoFundMe page to support her.
“He really stepped out and said, ‘Listen, I need to do something for you.’ So he put together a GoFundMe, which I thought was really sweet,” she said. “It’s going to be the angels among us that are all going to help us to get through. The community that continues to lift everyone up, and whatever means of support that people find in their hearts is a blessing.”
Ministry is also a passion for Emily Davenport, 23, who served as a full-time missionary with LifeTeen last year in Georgia before moving to Sandusky, Ohio in September for a job as a youth minister.
The position had been vacant for about a year and a half, Davenport said, and she’s spent most of this year building a youth program back up from scratch.
But now, she’s back home in St. Louis, living with her parents and her 19 year-old seminarian brother, after she was laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“What we have been told is that we’re laid off until Sunday Masses resume, so as far as we know, the plan and the hope is that we’re all rehired,” Davenport said.
“But I also know that shortly before we got laid off, we were told nobody was going to get laid off. And so it’s like everything feels very unpredictable,” she added.
Davenport said she doesn’t have hard feelings about being laid off, and that her pastor handled the situation well.
“Our pastor is fantastic, for the record,” she said. “He’s a really wonderful man. He’s really… trying very, very hard to be prudent for the future of the parish. And so almost as soon as public Masses were canceled, most of our parish staff was either laid off or (had) hours cut. He was an accountant before he was a priest, so he has a lot more managerial foresight than I think…a lot of pastors do.”
Davenport said when her pastor called to tell her the news, he explained to her how she could apply for unemployment benefits.
The parish is also covering Davenport’s health insurance for the pandemic at no cost to her, and because Davenport had been living in parish-provided housing, and has now moved back home with her parents, she doesn’t owe rent anywhere.
“I see them trying to do everything they can. It’s just a sucky situation,” she said.
Fr. Monte Hoyles, the pastor of the Catholic Parishes of Sandusky, the tri-parish conglomerate where Davenport had worked, told CNA he hoped that he could bring his staff back as soon as possible.
“I mean, (laying off staff) is not something you want to do. Who would want to do that?” he said.
“But with very little money coming in and salaries to pay…until we can get back (to public Masses) this was the only way to ensure that we’re able to continue what things we can do for right now,” Hoyles said, adding that the parishes are covering health insurance for all laid-off employees who qualified for it.
“I told my employees from the three parishes and also our cemeteries…I want to bring you back as absolutely soon as I possibly can,” Hoyles said.
Davenport said she feels blessed because she has her family as a safety net, and her dad’s job is pretty secure. But she still has bills to pay, and she doesn’t want to rely on her family for long.
“I was on ‘operation trying to be an independent adult’, but at least for now, I’m trying to take care of my cable bill, and the other things like…car insurance and my car payment,” she said.
“Maybe the bank will be able to let me wait a month or two before paying car payments, in the hope that my job would be back and I’d be able to just pick up where I left off,” she added.
She said she hopes to return to ministry, but that all depends on how things go in the near future with the Church and the pandemic.
“I know I’ll be okay for a few months, but after those few months, I’d have to start finding other ways to take care of those bills.”
Cassandra Tkaczow is another Church employee facing a layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tkaczow was in her second year as an assistant campus minister at Alfred State and Alfred University in New York until March 18, when she was laid off.
“The students were on spring break when everything really started to explode here in New York state,” Tkaczow said. One of her students called her to explain that she wouldn’t be coming back for the semester, but the school’s official policy had not yet been decided.
A few days later, Alfred State College and Alfred University announced that the students would be allowed to come back to campus to collect their belongings, but that all classes would be taking place online.
At first, Tkaczow said, it seemed like she would be getting paid through the end of the semester, and she would just be moving her ministry online. Just days after that plan was discussed, she was laid off.
“Both of us (Tkaczow and her boss) had a suspicion, with the bankruptcy of the diocese in Buffalo that we would not be coming back for the next semester, but we didn’t expect it to be this soon,” she said. The Diocese of Buffalo filed for bankruptcy last year due to sexual abuse lawsuits.
According to a statement from the Diocese of Buffalo provided to CNA, the coronavirus pandemic accelerated diocesan plans of financial reorganization.
“While we deeply regret the very personal impact that this process of realignment will have on dedicated employees of the Catholic Center, we must assess how best to deploy the resources of the Diocese in ways that reflect responsible stewardship and which offer the greatest benefit for our parishes,” Fr. Peter Kalaus, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese, said in a statement.
“We anticipate that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will have a severe impact on parishes and exacerbate the financial challenges that the Diocese is already confronting. It is why we are accelerating our plans to better align the functions of the Catholic Center with the needs of our parishes,” he added.
According to the statement, 21 employees have been laid off or furloughed and 3 people moved from full-time to part-time. Health insurance will be covered by the diocese through April, after which time employees will either need to find different insurance or pay premiums directly to the diocese.
Tkaczow has since moved back home with her parents, who also live in New York. Like Davenport, her housing had been provided, and so rent is not a worry right now.
Tkaczow said while she understands from a financial standpoint why her position was eliminated, she feels bad for her students.
“I also couldn’t help but think, how could they do this to the students? Because they just completely got rid of the campus ministry program, because of the bankruptcy. And with it being this early, how could they do that to them? How are they going to go forward in the coming semesters and years?”
For now, she’s been continuing to minister remotely to her students even without pay. She’s leading a rosary and social hour on Thursdays, and on Mondays she’s leading a Bible study.
While Tkaczow has a degree in computer science, she said her passion is for ministry, and while she may have to find another job to pay the bills for a time, “if God calls me to be in campus ministry or youth minister again, I would not hesitate in saying yes.”
The small parishes of St. Mary in Bloomfield, New Mexico and St Rose of Lima in Blanco New Mexico, in the Diocese of Gallup, have fared slightly better in the coronavirus fallout.
Fr. Josh Mayer, pastor of both parishes, told CNA that he expects to be able to pay his employees for the next six months or so, even if extreme social distancing measures for the pandemic continue.
“Our parishes are in a very blessed position to be able to take care of our staff for a while,” Mayer told CNA.
Mayer said due to canceled Masses, regular tithes to the parish are down to about a third of what they normally are. That could pick up slightly as more parishioners adjust to online donations, but for the most part, a lot of his parishioners haven’t taken to that in recent years, he said.
But the parish is still in a position to pay its staff for a while, and Mayer said he has plenty for them to do.
“I’ve got lots of projects I can give our people to do. Our maintenance guy has to come in and work on stuff here…even when buildings aren’t being used, they need upkeep,” he said.
“And we’re figuring out…how our parish kind of shifts some of our activities to different categories I guess. I mean a lot of stuff that we do with parishioners, we can still do. It just has to look really different,” he said.
Mayer said he was touched by the generosity of his financial manager, Sally Bales, who took a look at the books and the decreased donations and offered to donate her salary back to the parish for the time being so that other staff could remain on payroll.
“We’re just hoping that we can keep everybody employed in the meantime, so something like what Sally did is a huge boon for that,” he said.
“It definitely helps take care of the other parishioners or the other staff and helps ensure that we can keep them employed.”
Bales told CNA that because she and her husband are retired, she decided to donate her salary back for a while, to help younger staff members who are raising families and are relying on their jobs as their main source of income.
“The other staff members are younger, of course, than I am, and that’s their sole income, so it’s a lot harder picture for them than it is for me,” she said.
Bales, who manages the finances of both parishes, said that one of the parishes has a significantly higher percentage of online donations than the other.
“The parish that had more involvement online has not been as adversely affected as the one that people typically give cash at Sunday Mass,” she said.
“That’s one thing I shared with Father, so that he can maybe encourage people to do more online giving. Our expenses don’t change much whether we have Mass or not, and yet our donations are definitely volatile whether we have a physical gathering or not,” she added.
Some parishioners have been mailing in donations, Bales added, and staff have been calling people to encourage them to move to online giving, since “we don’t really see an end when this is going to wrap up.”
Bales said she’s grateful that the parishes had some money set aside, so that they are not relying on the current week’s donations to pay staff salaries.
“As it happens, the parishes that I support have been very conservative and have some money set aside. It’s not like we have to have the money this week to pay the next week salary, so that’s wonderful,” she said.
Bales added that while she and her husband will miss her income from the parish for the time, they realize it isn’t something they need as much as other people on staff do.
“It’s money. It would delay things we would want, but not things that we need. I think that’s the difference,” she said.
“I think that actually, people that are retired or are in a better position to support the parish than the young employed people that are losing their jobs or having their time cut back,” she said.
“And so I think it’s a time for people that do have a regular income coming in to step up their donations. Usually, you think of someone on a fixed income is on the short end of the stick, but in this situation, we’re really in a better position than someone who’s currently earning their keep.”
[…]
“Some social media commentators were deeply offended”. REALLY??? And so were some ordinary Catholics. And these folks have been moving out the door for some time because of inappropriate experimentation and the abandonment of traditional Catholic teaching. This will increase exponentially if this “anything goes” experimentation and refusal to set standards of truth remains in play for the church. Its fine to appreciate other cultures and learn about their beliefs. But when you grant them access and put them on the same footing, dont be shocked when a great deal is permanently damaged. Why are we not shocked that some in the church no longer believe in the real presence? Think that it is ok to bless homosexual unions? Native American belief is very interesting to me culturally, but would never be placed on the same footing as my Catholic belief. Treating people of different beliefs with respect is NOT the same as granting them equivalent legitimacy where your religion is concerned. Going down this road hoisting the banner of diversity and “niceness” is much easier than turning back around. In some cases we will be SO far down the road that turning back will no longer be possible.This Mass was a grave, grave error and if the Pope lacks the gumption to say something, I hope other Cardinals and Bishops do so. And make it clear an episode like this is not to be repeated. Maybe the church should also stop giving so much “latitude” for “adapting the liturgy” to local cultures and stick to what is standard. Nobody is forcing you to be a Catholic. Accept it as is, or continue on your search elsewhere.
I wouldn’t want to be the messenger who has to tell Pope Francis that the Vatican’s Pachemama statue didn’t arrive in San Bernardino in time for the opening diocesan Synod Mass.
They did manage to make do with what they have.
Who needs the Pachamama if you have the Aztec demon taking her place?
Reminds me of when King Mannaseh when he placed the Asherah pole in the temple. Babylon followed.
Good one.
I found TLM 10 years ago like mant others, and have rarely looked back except in anger and pity LJ. Pity for all the honest folks who have had their inner sancturies smashed to smitherines since that fateful Conclave of 1958, and anger that my vocation along with thousands of others was smashed by the movements and networks that have poisoned the Church, her seminaries, her Parishes from the network of Rampolla, down through the P2, and landing at rock bottom in the Sankt Gallen Lavender Wolves today. Take Heart. Summorum Pontificum is not killable, whilst the living Pope who wrote it survives! And as he is a living Doctor of the Church, it will be restored and framed by a future fully valid Pope. In the meantime, find the real Latin Mass and once again find yourself leaving a Catholic Church with the wonderful sense of having lived the Holy Mass. Treat yourself and your soul to the Real McCoy! The transition phase takes a few months, then the latin prayers take hold of you and carry you through the storm. You once again look forward to Sunday Mass, knowing whats going to take place! An end to the bolderdash fluffy pastry homiletics too…
Francis is the valid pope, whether one likes it or not. Perhaps instead of questioning that, you should pray for him instead?
Believe me, I do, so do my many fellow parishioners. But I only see him now as Bergoglio, not the pope, nor the Vicar of Christ (which he refuses to identify himself as anyway).
“The Synod on Synodality”?
“Prayer to the Four Directions”?
This is a joke, right? I mean, do these people even listen to themselves?
I agree with all you say, LJ. What has occurred here is not only “a grave, grave error” but also a hideous sacrilege and blasphemy. However, isn’t the real problem with it that most of the people in the “Diocese” of San Bernardino had already ceased to be Catholic before this act of mass apostasy occurred? Survey after survey over the past 60 years has shown that huge majorities of “Catholics” do not believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist and gladly accept contraception, abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, and transgenderism. Is it really surprising then that they and their hireling “Bishop” introduce the Aztec jaguar-demon Texcatilpoca as part of their “Mass”? Calling on them to accept the Church as it is fails to recognize that for years now they have “continue[d] [their] search elsewhere”. And moreover, I ask how can you and I somehow be in communion with them?
I have only one question to you all dear readers and cwr staffers:
What have this anything to do with the Holy Catholic Church?
Wake up people!
I mean it, wake up!
And yet I see again today, in another forum, sedevacantists and other “rigorists” being savaged for a host of relatively minor flaws, while the cesspool that our church has become is stirred by pagans, atheists, and perverts of every description, with no end in sight. But gee, at least it’s a unified cesspool. That’s what counts.
This is not Catholicism. This is paganism. It is worship of false gods. It is in violation of the very 1st Commandment. We have a Church run amok.
Seems like a concerned start to Frances Synodal Path right off the blocks? “Margins of Society” is a slippery term to me. Partisanship will most likely end this process in the end. Maybe some good result, I don’t know. If it can last that long and in the end I feel it will run off the rails, out of energy, lose interest.
If this is any inclination of the start, good luck
What did anyone believe would transpire when theological illiterates and far worse emerge to give the Church into the hands of a thinly veiled Marxist proletariat? And then we have the modeling of the Supreme Pastor venerating, reverencing, a deity from the confections of pantheism. Wait until Romper Room Katholicism ends its Synod on Synodality. Many are convicted that we will be rescued from this abomination in the short term. We are generations away from bringing the corrective to this abomination. The Bergoglian Captivity is with us for a few more generations at least and when it terminates Jerusalem will be found in utter ruin.
When the Son of Man returns will He find any faith on the earth?
Don’t worry, the chastisement promised by Our Lady of Akita is coming.
Yes, thankfully ours and most CWR readers. We have to be united, we have to be strong and courageous, passionate and powerful. We know Who is in charge, definitely not Bergoglio.
Good people walking in a tomb of cosmic dimensions. But they are walking together.
Vatican II opened the floodgates for changes to Mass protocol so I wouldn’t get too excited over this. What about the hippie style masses.
My first thought was that if Jesus had come to North America he would have made many friends with the Indians.
Is that before or after they scalped Him? Before or after they threw His bones to the four corners of the winds and shrunk His head into their totem pole?
This act of pagan worship follows in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who on October 4, 2019, attended an act of idolatrous worship of the pagan goddess Pachamama as a special prelude to the opening of the Amazon Synod, allowing the idolatry to take place in the Vatican Gardens where he blessed a wooden image of Pachamama.
Nothing more reflects the condition of the Catholic institution (not the Church) than these all-to-common “ceremonies” worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. Remember the “Catholic Churches” that held gay pride masses in 2019? This, too, reflects a “Catholic” people worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.
This is the spirit of the worldwide synodal path initiated by Pope Francis.
Read Romans 1:18-32. It is worth noting that when man exchanges the truth about God for a lie and worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator (idolatry, paganism), the first indication that God has given them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity is that they dishonor their bodies by exchanging natural same-sex relations for unnatural relations (Rom 1:26-27).
The continued silence from Rome is nothing less than acceptance, permission, support. Whether intended to be such or not.
In the weeks following Francis’ blessing of Earth Mother idol and granting her a place of honor in a side alter at St. Peter’s Basilica, from Wuhan, China, the Coronavirus began to spread throughout the world. Francis followed his egregious first idolatrous act by denying priests use of those same side altars to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Next, the Vatican and worldwide Episcopate locked Church doors and dispensed everyone from the sacraments. Francis said Easter Mass to an empty basilica.
If anyone feels the need to scratch his head about this chain of apostatic cause/effect events, I’ve got land in heaven to sell.
I pray that whatever repercussions there may be from this may be confined to San Bernardino. We already have our own problems in San Diego.
You and “merion” make the obvious point very well: this abomination differs little from the travesty that occurred at the Pachamama synod and bears the stamp of approval from the Francis Vatican. Those crude and simplistic social media commentators who CNA deplores correctly observe that this goes well beyond being liturgically abusive; it amounts to nothing less than pagan idolatry at a Catholic Church with a bishop presiding. Perhaps a well credentialled seminary professor will make an appearance and explain how we uncharitable rubes have it completely wrong.
Also, as others here remind us, these people want to suppress the Latin Mass while mockeries like this are allowed, or rather, encouraged, to flourish. They don’t only want to kill the Latin Mass, they also intend to destroy Bendict’s reform of the New Mass as well. This is total war and the other side will settle for nothing less than unconditional surrender.
Pagan prayers are allowed but the traditional, Latin Mass is not. The Catholic culture of the past is replaced by the pagan and savage culture of the future. Diversity exists for everyone except Catholics attached to the Church founded by Jesus Christ and his disciples.
I’ve attended ethnic masses, the beauty of the Catholic mass is in it’s variances. Church to church, city to city, state to state no two are identical. My only question in this instance would be, are the performers members of the congregation? If so, then it’s an expression of the church community. If not, were they hired to provide a colorful backdrop to the the political statement the Bishop wished to make regarding Synod.
Frankly, there are not supposed to be “variances” in a Catholic Mass. This is not a “fly by the seat of your pants” service. Some Protestant services are “flexible” but ours are not. There is a grave danger in letting people improvise whatever they wish in the name of cultural diversity during Mass. Do you recall the recent case of a priest who saw the taped version of his baptism and realized he was never validly Baptized because the priest who conducted the Baptism improvised the words of Baptism? Meaning all his subsequent sacraments, including his ordination and thus all the sacraments HE had administered as a priest (weddings, confessions, last rites) were also not valid. It was an awful mess.The church has enough problems with sex abusing Priests who violate both the laws and their vows, politicians who trade on their catholicism, and a church hierarchy so fearful of public backlash they refuse to talk about sin in any way.They dont need worship services that wing it.Again, this is like people wanting to join a club and then change all the rules to suit themselves.
May the backlashes continue!
It might be that it’s the backlash and not open-minded synodality itself, that will be the real working of the Holy Spirit. As G.K. Chesterton put it: “Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”
And, about synodality as an “endless journey” now possibly in all four directions!—Instead, this from Pope Leo XIII, Divinum Illud (May 4, 1897) and Mirae caritatis (May 28, 1902):
“The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28);” and “…The Eucharist, according to the testimony of the holy Fathers, should be regarded as in a manner of continuation [!] and extension [!] of the Incarnation.”
So, as for our bishops as successors of the apostles, this too from G.K. Chesterton:
“Those runners gather impetus as they run. Ages afterwards they still speak as if something had just happened. The have not lost the speed and momentum of messengers; they have hardly lost, as it were, the wild eyes of witnesses….[the message] is not pessimistic; it is still as optimistic as St. Francis of the flowers and birds [and Francis’ planet earth….] For these men serve a mother who seems to grow more beautiful as new generations rise up and call her blessed. We might sometimes fancy that the Church grows younger as the world grows old” (“The Everlasting Man,” 1925).
And, as for the unconverted Pachamama and now the Aztec jaguar-demon Texcatilpoca—eat your hearts out! But try not to be so literal about it…
Modern attempts to “include” and “respect” various cultures seem to be unaware that the thousands of people who converted to the Catholic Faith throughout history had no problem embracing the Catholic faith without all of these concessions to pagan practice. They converted despite vast differences between their culture and the cultures of those who brought the faith to them. Wake up!!! The current, modern approach isn’t respecting them, it is denying them true inclusion.
A return to the sixties liturgical silliness. After Pachamamma on the grass worship Vatican style most are gun shy. Franciscans in our Southwest where I served had ages to do it right. What they learned is that the forbidden traditional Mass appealed more to the transient raider Navajo, Apache, the Pueblo [village people] Laguna, Acoma centuries earlier. Christ’s revelation presented faithfully in the Mass touched their inherent interests. What we all have in common. Matteo Ricci SJ was a revolutionary in China whose innovative use of the vernacular and customs caused back and forth papal sanctions. San Bernardino’s unhappy experiment will hopefully take the same route back to a liturgy that appeals to faith in Christ rather than ethnic adoration and the religion of diversity.
It’s time Catholics started thinking and acting like Jesus. Seems the church is awash with those who like the Phillistines are searching for ways to attack those that reach out to welcome and embrace those marginalized and sinners. Why do we expect any difference when it happened while Christ was himself accused by those who prefer to keep the letter of the law while ignoring the heart of it.
‘…letter of the law.’
Really?
You are equating the Sacrifice of the Mass to a welcoming orgy of cultures in real time? There are so many opportunities to welcome ‘marginalized’ people or cultures in the parish outside the Mass. By combining both you seriously denigrate the Mass and take the concentration of those attending away from the worship of Christ to a feel good nothingness. And the marginalized realize the Mass can be interrupted and cannot be all that solemn.
Where is the Scripture verse or in Acts is there any mention whatsoever of the spirit versus the letter of the law in regard to the Last Supper? Where is the evidence in the first few centuries of the Church that the Mass was indeed the vehicle for the presentation for that which never belonged there in the Rite from the beginning?
Indeed. The essence of the Last Supper and the Passion and Death of Christ which the Mass continues is the taking, thanking, breaking and giving of the Bread of Life. The ‘marginalized’ are all sinners; all are equally lost, found, and loved by Christ. To attend, during the Mass, on only one subgroup of Mass participant is to discriminate and exclude the others. IT IS NOT ABOUT any one’s culture. It is about what HE has done for every person of every culture, every last marginalized one.
Betty, let me better state my poorly expressed intention above. Where I’ve served in missionary settings the Southwest and East Africa there were many instances of incorporating indigenous music, drumming, sometimes dance. African sisters chanted softly, rhythmically shuffled to receive the Eucharist. At a Kiowa funeral Mass I offered the liturgy was supplemented by traditional mourning chants and drumming, among the Jicarilla Apache similar [one deceased Apache chief’s face was painted red in accord with custom]. Similar liturgical supplement to the liturgy among the Maasai added to the principle Catholic liturgy. Although in one instance at a Franciscan Mass with Zuni a shaman sprinkled blue corn powder as a spirit blessing. That posed an issue because our faith in Christ and manner of worship while it may be supplemented cannot be replaced. The same allegiance to Christ holds true regarding the heart of the Law. Faith in Christ reveals the heart of the Law, which is to love the Father in spirit and in truth. Merciful love was absent among Pharisees who observed the letter but lacked that merciful love for sinners, and for anyone. As a priest I often intermingle with persons called sinners. Although, if, as a priest I decline to teach repentance for the remission of sins then it is no longer love of Christ that I teach, rather love of self and accommodation of sin. The heart of the Law compels us to conform our life to Christ, and remove from our own life that which offends him. Anything else is a religion of self gratification. Meditate on what I say and ask whether the love of Our Lord actually means to live and act just as he did.
Our faith in Christ can be supplemented?
Christ needs to be supplemented? Really? No wonder the Church is going down the gurgler.
I’ll stand by my witness to Christ in the missions, and your insults a blessing.
Fr Peter, with deep respect, surely the trick of the Vatican II infiltrates was to equate the sacred liturgy with colonial behaviour in order to sack Rome? “Taking people where they are at” is for after the Sacred Mysteries, not during… Hymns allowed for vernacular expression, and that was sufficient. The sledge hammer used to smash the church drew honest priests down the protestant liturgical circus invention avenue. And Catholics must be kind: priests had to be in that mould to get ordained… But since Summorum Pontificum things have changed. And now with 60 years of aftersight, the wreck is painful to behold. The Protestant movement itself was, afterall, part of the 400 year Masonic attack on Christendom. The Council of Trent recognised what Christendom was up against and took action. Vatican II caved in to the Rampolla network – the woodworm that had burrowed its way into the heart of the Council chamber like rarely before… That does not mean masses apeing protestantism have given no spiritual fruits, nor that the sincerity of worship was not pleasing to the Lord. The harm done was structural and historical to the Universal edifice: and that was the aim of the Sankt Gallens of your day. Freemasonry is built on the systematic destruction of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a cruel reality we are all waking up to. Many intelligent, sincere, loving priests were hoodwinked on board for the Transform the Church trip in a Yellow Submarine. I hope no offense willbe taken. Aged 50, I have to accept that I too was hoodwinked by the Vatican II coup d’état in my youth.
I think you’d be happier attending a clown mass or this nonsense, Betty. Thinking that Christ would be pleased with the growing frequency of liturgical abuses and the worship of pagans is indicative that you really don’t comprehend Jesus Christ at all.
“Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:17
Gary, The video posting actually contains two signs of hope:
1) Most of the participating 100 or so clowns had gray or white hair;
2) Youngsters numbered about 5-6.
“Philistines”? The people known as the Philistines were long from the region of Philistia before the time of Christ. Perhaps you are talking about people who are hostile to art and culture. However, these “philistines” wouldn’t necessarily be people who hold to the letter of the law or attack people who reach out to sinners. Surely you intended to say “Pharisees”.
It will be noted that none of the innovations noted in this piece are present in the Latin Mass. Performers? Really?
The lack of innovation in the TLM may in fact be the real reason the papacy of Francis has severely restricted its celebration. Modernistic practices and abuses have no place in TLM rubrics.
Requiring a priest to request Vatican permission before he celebrates the TLM is like requiring a kindergartener to obtain a pass before he may visit the bathroom.
Have you ever heard the Album “Missa Luba?” That was a reverent Latin Mass which incorporated indigenous tribal music forms. Beautiful and inspiring. However, it sounds to me like this Riverside Mass was not that but deliberate infusion of pagan theology.
“ It’s time Catholics started thinking and acting like Jesus …”
Right. Because Jesus wove rituals to Baal and Mithra into temple worship.
When it comes to the synod on synodality, this sort of thing is a feature not a bug.
The point is to subvert Catholicism and real religion.
Show it the contempt it deserves.
A bad sign of the times that is happening now. The best description of San Bernardino’s Synod Mass is that it is a WOKE joke. None of the performers’ featherly recitations to some god(?), or wearing indigenous WOKE clothing should ever be part of the Holy Mass; especially in today’s world.
These abuses and demon idol worship garbage must stop. Protestants are mocking us over this and using outrages like this to paint us as non-Christian pagans, to insult and denigrate our faith. It’s discouraging young Catholics worldwide and making them question their faith.
Protestants are doing nothing of the sort, and saying so is disrespectful and slanderous. Protestants have seen the same activities in many of the mainline denominations as they have slid into liberalism. It’s now a faith without faith. What’s happening in the RC Church is just a symptom of the broader spiritual decay permeating the culture.
So, shall the San Bernardino diocese now be called simply “The Joke”
I am sure a more miserable excuse for a Catholic diocese can be found but at the moment I am stumped.
And they wonder why Catholics don’t believe in the True Presence of the Eucharist! What a clown show.
Fr Peter, with deep respect, surely the trick of the Vatican II infiltrates was to equate the sacred liturgy with colonial behaviour in order to sack Rome? With TLM hindsight, “Taking people where they are at” is for after the Sacred Mysteries, not during… Hymns allowed for vernacular expression, and that was sufficient. The harm done was structural and historical to the Universal edifice: and that was the aim of the infiltrates. Freemasonry is built on the systematic destruction of Rome.
This has less to do with synodality and more to do with syncretism. Christ has already given the Church her mission. It is called the Great Commission:
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The Commissioning of the Disciples
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16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 RSVCE)
Since we are an offshoot of Judaism, I think we can borrow a lot from our Jewish sisters and brothers. I learned from an acquaintance why he is Orthodox. His father is a rabbi and explained that, all throughout history, there have been factions who wanted to eradicate Jews. So, if they started out with a watered-down version of the faith, those people may have succeeded.
Sounds very familiar to me as we seem to keep diluting that which I grew up with!
This post was truly worthwhile to read. I wanted to say thank you for the key points you have pointed out as they are enlightening.