Denver, Colo., Jul 25, 2019 / 02:35 pm (CNA).- NFP, or Natural Family Planning, is an oft misunderstood thing.
So much so that, to kick off NFP Awareness Week, one user joked in the “Catholic NFP TTA” Facebook group on Tuesday that she was celebrating the week with a drinking game.
“Take a shot every time a commenter opines about grave reasons. Another shot for when someone jokes that they’re bad at NFP. What would you take a shot for?” she asked. The joke struck a chord, and other group members chimed in with more than 100 additional comments.
“‘How far is too far when you’re abstaining?’ EVERYONE DRINKS” one commenter proposed. “Take a shot whenever someone claims Marquette is the perfect method for postpartum/everyone. Take another when someone argues with that person,” suggested another.
This post, and its comments, illustrate not that NFP users are proponents of binge drinking, but rather that they are accustomed to being misunderstood – even, sometimes, by their fellow users of NFP – and that they’ve developed a sense of humor about it.
NFP is the umbrella term for a host of natural methods used to plan and space children that rely on charting a woman’s menstrual cycle and related symptoms, including basal (resting) temperature, cervical mucus and hormone levels, among other things. The methods can be used to either achieve or avoid pregnancy, and are considered the only moral method of family planning by the Catholic Church; thus, many NFP users are Catholic.
So when The Outline, a secular, online publication, published last week an NFP article entitled “The Facebook groups where Catholic women shame each other about sex,” women who use NFP were disappointed, but not surprised, they told CNA.
“Women join these groups to find support as they navigate the complicated and sometimes conflicting rules around family planning as Catholics, only to be met with judgment or contempt when they admit they may be struggling,” wrote Mary Meisenzahl, the author of The Outline piece.
“NFP groups, as you might imagine, are also where women go to police each other’s bodies and sexual lives.”
The article included no interviews with NFP users, instructors or Facebook group administrators, and proffered a handful of posts from only one NFP Facebook group – a secret, private group entitled “NFP: Catholic Style” – as proof that the culture of Catholic NFP is one of shame and judgment.
It concludes with a recommendation that the Catholic Church change its teaching on sexuality and contraception, “as many members of these groups are getting their feelings of shame directly from the church.”
CNA spoke with multiple Catholic women and users of NFP who felt differently.
The only place where NFP is talked about freely
“These Facebook groups, as flawed as they may be, are the only places we may feel safe and open enough to simply talk about all things NFP in respect to our faith,” Virginia Pride, an administrator for “Catholic NFP TTA” Facebook group, told CNA.
“TTA” is an abbreviation in NFP for “Trying To Avoid”, and refers to couples abstaining from sex to avoid a pregnancy during the fertile windows of a woman’s cycle.
Pride told CNA that since the article was published, some women have been afraid to post openly in groups they had previously assumed were friendly to NFP and all that it entails.
“Many women in our groups now are afraid to share information with other members and admins; this in turn affects how much help they receive. Knowing how little support NFP users already receive in the real world, and you have a serious case of isolation on our hands,” Pride said.
“Perhaps Ms. Meisenzahl felt that she is doing Catholic women a favor by attempting to ‘liberate’ us from our own beliefs on sexuality and family planning, by way of intruding our communities for nefarious reasons, and using our stories and experiences without our consent for her biased articles,” Pride added.
“Whatever the case, her blind acceptance of anti-NFP and anti-Catholicism has only furthered the difficulties that Catholic women face, rather than help alleviate the issue,” she said.
A grain of salt and a sense of community
Laura Golden is a registered nurse and mother who lives in northern Minnesota. Golden has practiced the Creighton model of NFP for several years, and is training to become a Creighton NFP instructor. She told CNA that she credits the method for helping her achieve two pregnancies after experiencing difficulties.
While Golden is not an administrator of any NFP Facebook group, she said she is a member of two – one that is Creighton-specific, and the larger, more general Catholic NFP group referenced in Meisenzahl’s article. Golden currently instructs 13 couples in their use of the Creighton model – some Catholic, some not.
Golden said that she relies more on the Creighton-specific Facebook group; each NFP method comes with it’s own “jargon”, she said, and it can be easy to confuse the different terminology.
She also cautions those she instructs to take what is said in the Facebook groups with a grain of salt.
“I tell them, if this is causing you anxiety, then delete it. If you need to turn off the notifications because it’s just too much in your face, do that,” Golden told CNA. She said that for couples trying to achieve pregnancy, these groups can be overwhelming, since waiting each month to find out whether a pregnancy has been achieved can already lead to stress.
However, she added, these groups can also offer an important sense of community to NFP users who live in remote areas, or who do not personally know other NFP users.
“I live in a really small town and there’s probably three couples in our parish that are of childbearing years and are using a fertility method that I’m aware of at least,” Golden said. “So if you’re having an issue, you do feel really isolated because maybe you don’t know anyone else that has that issue or is even using a method that’s remotely familiar to you. And so when you are a part of this group, it does give you a lot of community.”
The article also missed the mark when describing the accuracy of NFP methods, Golden said. It cited a statistic from the Department of Health and Human Services, which states that NFP carries with it about a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant. However, it does not state the efficacy rates of each method of NFP, and it does not list the sympto-hormonal method of NFP (used in the Marquette Method, for example), on its list of method types.
In a study published by the National Institutes of Health, researchers tracked 204 women of childbearing years using the Marquette method of NFP over the course of a year. There were 12 pregnancies total in that year. The study found that the efficacy of the Marquette Method of NFP for avoiding pregnancy was 99.4% effective with “correct use”, and that it was 89.4% effective with “typical use” per 100 users.
To compare, birth control pills are about 93% effective with typical use, while condoms are about 87% effective with typical use, according to the CDC.
The “contraceptive mentality” and “just reasons” to avoid pregnancy
Mikayla Dalton is a Boston Cross Check method instructor and an admin for the Clearblue Monitor Methods (MM) NFP group on Facebook. She told CNA that her group has commenting guidelines that caution users against certain kinds of comments – those disparaging of others, those that attempt to start theological debates, those that are off topic, or those that encourage other users to go against the prescribed protocols of the Marquette Method, among other things.
The group tells members that any comments that go against the guidelines may be deleted, and that users may be muted or blocked if they are found to be hostile to the group. Dalton added that they also include a warning, telling women that while the group is closed, members are only lightly vetted, and that they should proceed with caution sharing personal sexual or intimate information in such a context.
“This warning strikes me as poignant now, after a person joined a group with the intent of surveilling its membership, to report on “the other,” having concealed – or not been upfront about – their identity and purpose in gathering information,” Dalton told CNA.
“Having a woman break the trust people had put in each other in the group, to get some kind of journalistic ‘scoop’ is disheartening. Accusing women of shaming other women… while shaming swathes of women… is ironic,” she added.
One kind of “shaming” comment in NFP groups that Meisenzahl mentioned in her article are those that accuse NFP users of using the methods with a “contraceptive mentality” – in other words, that they are using NFP to avoid having children for selfish or unserious reasons.
The term is incorrectly applied against users of NFP, Dalton said, and when she sees such comments in her group, she and many other members are quick to offer corrections.
“This particular phrase was used by Pope John Paul II in Evangelium vitae to refer specifically to a mentality arising from the use of contraception,” Dalton said, and he uses it in contrast to those who are following God’s plan for marriage and sexuality, under which the use of NFP falls.
Meisenzahl added in her article that: “Humanae vitae refers to ‘serious reasons’ and ‘just causes,’ for avoiding pregnancy, but the preferred translation among the more extreme members of the Facebook group is ‘grave reason.'”
“The Church doesn’t give a list of specific circumstances that are valid for avoiding pregnancy. For some Catholics, this means, as one user put it, ‘God understands your reasons. It’s up to Him to judge. What is in your heart?’, so each couple can make the choice that they feel is right for their specific situation. For others, though, a lack of concrete reasons means an opportunity to police and shame women who are actively trying to avoid children.”
Humanae vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and published in 1968. The document was written to explain Church teaching regarding sexuality, contraception and marriage, and upheld NFP at a time when many within the Church were calling for the Church to change its teaching and accept contraception.
Dr. Janet Smith is a Catholic professor who holds the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and has written and spoken extensively on Humanae vitae. She has written about many different aspects about NFP, including the “contraceptive mentality” and the reasons Catholic couples may legitimately use NFP to avoid pregnancy.
“The best description for the kind of reasons needed is ‘just reasons’ and the best understanding is that the couple needs to take into account their current and foreseeable duties and obligations. Succinctly stated, the reasons must not be selfish,” Smith told CNA.
“Having another child is such a great good on so many levels, to seek to avoid pregnancy cannot be made for trivial reasons and should be made only after careful, prayerful discernment. The Church does identify categories of reasons – the couple should take into account the economic, physical, psychological and social conditions in which they live,” she added.
Those reasons could include, for example, “experiencing fatigue and anxiety that predictably impedes one’s ability to function at a reasonable level,” Smith noted.
“Decisions made on such a basis should be revisited regularly. People should be very hesitant to criticize the decisions couples make about their family size; the factors that need to be taken into account are not always accessible to outsiders,” she said.
The beauty of NFP
“You Me and NFP: Joy-filled living” is a website founded and run by four Catholic mothers, one of whom is a Marquette Method instructor. The intent for their website, and their social media groups, was to bring a more modern look and approach to the practice of NFP, some of the founders told CNA.
“We were researching NFP resources and they kind of have like a 1980s, 1990s kind of look to it,” Valerie Kelly, one of the founders, told CNA. “And we wanted to really brand it in a modern way while staying with traditional Church teaching. But we are really sharing it and evangelizing with it. We meet people where they are and are taking them where the Lord wants them to be.”
Their website is clean and pretty, with plenty of millennial pink sprinkled with gold accents. It includes written and video testimonials from women who share why they use NFP, a “FAQ” segment on NFP, and instruction in the Marquette Method through Sarah Tramonte, one of the co-founders.
The group has a Facebook page, but comments are closed. The four women, who are also mothers, said they worried about having enough time to regulate comments in the way they would like, so they decided not to allow them.
Their Instagram page does have comments though, and while they get the occasional naysayer or negative comment, it is by and large positive comments from women seeking advice or understanding, they told CNA.
However, they added, sometimes sharing the truth about the Church’s teaching may make people uncomfortable, even when it is done in a loving way.
“It’s never right to speak uncharitably, but it’s always right to charitably speak the truth,” Anneli Schraufnagel, one of the cofounders of You Me and NFP (YMNFP), told CNA.
“So a lot of these conversations that women are having, I think (they) are trying to, as sisters, come to the truth of their Catholic faith because the truth of their Catholic faith ultimately will bring them joy.”
That is something that can be easy to miss for an NFP outsider looking in – that practicing NFP, as a part of the Catholic faith, is something that brings many women and families peace and joy – even if they complain about some nitty gritty details along the way.
“Sometimes the Catholic Church’s teachings are hard, but sometimes hard things bring us happiness,” Schraufnagel said. “And…the ‘why’s’ behind the Catholic teaching, we need to talk about them.”
Besides some of the physical benefits of NFP, which include avoiding putting additional hormones or medical devices in one’s body, the “Why NFP” section of the YMNFP website includes women talking about the “joy” that NFP brings because of the sacrifices it requires, such as periodic abstinence. They also mention feeling at peace because they are able to plan their families according to what they believe is God’s plan for sexuality and marriage.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat NFP and say that it is all sunshine and daisies because it requires sacrifice and sacrifice is never easy! But the joy that grows out of selfless love, expressed through NFP, is one of the greatest blessings you can give to yourself and to your spouse,” reads one post from Ellen on YMNFP.
“I adore my husband, and by eliminating the pill I’m now so much more able to show him that. We are living, and loving each other, authentically,” reads another quote from Jen, an NFP user.
Couples who practice NFP also experience lower divorce rates, YMNFP notes. According to a study published by the National Institutes of Health, “among the women who ever used NFP only 9.6 percent were currently divorced compared with the 14.4 percent who were currently divorced among the women who never used NFP.” The study noted that the religiosity of the couples who practice NFP may be a contributing factor to the lower divorce rates.
Schraufnagel said the numerous benefits of NFP that she and her cofounders have experienced are the main reasons they started YMNFP.
“That’s a huge aspect of our team at You Me and NFP; we are really passionate because we see how beautiful the Catholic Church’s teachings are and how much joy is brought into our lives because of it, including, our family lives as well. And part of that is our sexuality,” she added.
“So I think it needs to be brought up and talked about in the culture that these truths are beautiful.”
[…]
“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.