THE MCJ

But watching it did cause me to come up with a very apt phrase to describe it " liturgical masturbation."

Holy Mother of God.

It also raises a very interesting question: I'm nearly almost persuaded that the hosts were invalid matter, because they looked to me more like chapatis, but maybe just technically they were kosher (if you'll pardon the term). However, if the wine was wine (and I was thrown by the difference in colour between the stuff in either set of carafes - one pair was darker than the other, so I was wondering if one set was wine and one set was maybe grape juice or similar for children/alcoholics/non-drinkers?) - anyway, if it was wine, then could this be a case where the Precious Blood was validly consecrated but the Body was not? Is that possible? (I know that the Body and Blood cannot be separated, so receiving under either species, you receive both, but that's not the question).

Those puppets... I will never, ever, ever again complain about the Mass in my local parish church. Even if the altar has been wreckovated to look like a bundle of sticks.

People, that was not a Vatican II liturgy! Laity reading the Gospels? Lay homilist? The very suspect Eucharistic elements? The "Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier" stuff? However bad you may think the 'Novus Ordo' is (and I'd disagree that it's all that bad), it is nowhere near that bad.

I couldn't make the video work, but I don't need to. I ended up at one of these things once (don't ask; long story). The "mass" started in the morning and was interspersed with various activities. Fortunately, we were at a nice riverside encampment sort of place, the weather was lovely, so I just went and played in the river.

Oh, the gray hairs!

I'm on our altar guild - very grateful that noone expects us to dress the altar in that manner!!

As to what was going on, or supposed to be going on, since it bears no resemblance whatsoever to any ceremony I've ever seen, I can't tell you why they did what they did. Ordinarily, when the celebrant of a Catholic Mass processes to the altar, he comes from the sacristy with the acolytes but without a crucifer, and the people stand up. Whenever there is a procession up the aisle with a cross-bearer etc., (and that's only on certain occasions), then people do stand up also.

I liked the candles. The one authentic thing. And the bishop (holy sweet divine, he was a BISHOP!!!!) was vested correctly. And although the prancing dancers sprinkling everyone with what I presume was Holy Water out of water jugs didn't use aspergillums (aspergilla? what's the plural?), I'm cool with using the greenery since that's an old rural Irish custom for Masses in the house. We provided sops of straw or sprigs from the cypress tree for the priest to use when he came to give Holy Communion to my bed-ridden grandmother, and that was back in the 60s with a very, very conservative orthodox old-time priest. So that I can't object to, since it's the only thing I recognise as a legitimate cultural artifact. Otherwise... in the immortal words of Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness", 'The horror! The horror!'.

all about the Barney Mass

Maybe the future Pope Benedict XVI wrote the folks in Plano such an encouraging note because he wishes he could join them and get away from the kooks and spooks hiding in his own henhouse.

Got any wierd Orthodox or Lutheran videos to share with us?

...as in Stuart from Mad TV saying "look what I cab do" and having a spasm...

...how much creative energy went into that contrivance, I don't know, but I'm sure that the talent would have been better spent in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, etc...

...silly "peace and justice" types.

Don't get me wrong, this was truly great horrifyingly awful "worship." I'm going to see those giant heads in my sleep. But you snackeral mappers have a ways to go yet before you can touch us Episcopalians. This...thing was performed by a bunch of elderly Call to Making Complete and Total Jackasses of Ourselves Action hippies in a NoCal meeting room somewhere. That Trinity...thing was performed in one of most historic and influential Episcopal churches in the country and was performed by that church's actual clergy.

The thought that the worship of God as being a source of mockery and shame deeply angers me. Jesus throwing out the moneychangers for desecrating His Father's house is what I think this compares to.

The legislation of the Diocesan Synod, which is in full force, states, "The faithful are prohibited from maintaining membership in any condemned, prohibited, or disapproved societies or organizations. These include the Masons (and their auxiliary organizations), Planned Parenthood, Society of Pius X, Call to Action (in its various forms), Catholics for a Free Choice, the Hemlock Society." Catholics who would disobey this legislation commit mortal sins of disobedience and endangering their faith and they also incur sever ecclesiastical censures which the Synod sets forth in Article 177. Your parish priest can give you a copy of the Synodal laws if you ask him for one.

Cowboy Up and watch it, dammit!

Fuinseoig, chapatis could be valid matter. They are made from wheat flour, unleavened. They might be the only, er, kosher item in the whole mess. On the other hand, pita bread is probably leavened and therefore invalid. We'll never know. It's better that way.

2) The video: yesterday's people striving to be relevant. Whats your guess about the average at least 60 plus. Very few young people.

3) There is a kindergarten feel about the whole "shabang", the dancing, the singing. the paper dolls etc.

The one time I was exposed to liturgical dance was worse than this one, so it was comparatively easy to watch this video. During my last summer in TEC, the pastor was on vacation and the visiting cleric was a man in his mid sixties who insisted on being called "Father Dick". Things went reasonably well until the homily, at which point he took off vestments and danced about wearing a leotard, tights and (presumably) a codpiece. I took a long walk.

The left's versions of liturgical art include horribly disfigured human images (like the aforementioned puppets or the cartoons on the OCP missalettes) more often than not. Just sayin'.

This episode demonstrates again that if you want something really, totally %$&^ed up, you need a Catholic bishop.

"Got any wierd Orthodox or Lutheran videos to share with us?"

I can't speak for the Lutherans, but for the Orthodox, the answer is NO!

(wink)

That, coupled with the Barney mass, makes me wonder what the hey it is about puppets that is so attractive to the left-leaning of my co-religionists?

"I know enough of "contemporary" 'Eucharistic' services (and have heard of worse still) to shun any place that includes 'liturgical dance'!!!" Sasha, this is one thing you and I are in absolute, total, heartfelt agreement on. Preach it, brother! :-)

Maybe Cardinal Kasper has an either/or question for these liberal liturgical celebrants in the RCC as well.

Oh joy! Another reason to be ashamed of my generation. I am so sick of baby-boomers trying to hold onto the sixties. When are they going to figure out that: WE WERE WRONG!!!!

Please help me out here. In all honesty was there anything good that really came out of the counter-culture movement? Was there anything that was even original? How I long for the days when there was shame attached to having a baby out of wedlock or getting divorced. The pendulum has swung way, way too far to the left, which scares me when I think what the center will eventually look like.

That's why it's such a #*%&$#* tragedy when the Church holds up a false Lord or denies Him.

Yes, there are goofy Catholics in California and other places, just like there are goofy everything else.

But the fact that there is goofyness to be found on all sides papers over the very real differences between the churches.

The real and very essential difference between Catholicsm and Anglicanism is leadership and ecclesiology/polity. Where is the leadership going? And does this leadership have the authority to hold to Christian teaching in a wayward world?

The differences between Rowan and Benedict are nothing less than astounding, to say nothing of KJS. Benedict has launched the most significant recovery of tradition in the history of Christianity with the liberation of the Tridentine Mass and all its attendant theological underpinnings. Rowan is floundering in the precise moment the AC needs a solid apostle to lead it out of treachery. Benedict is working to lead the West to her moral and spiritual roots and Rowan is full steam ahead to decay.

Furthermore, even if Rowan were a stalwart of historical Christian teaching, he does not have the apparatus to lead effectively. Anglican polity which is allergic to real authority guaratees that those with the appearance of authority have no real power. This is a problem. This fact alone leads to theological entropy and institutional chaos.

On the other hand, Rome appoints all bishops. Now that is a case where the one responsible is empowered to fulfill that responsibility!

And the Catholic ship, the barque of Peter has been steadily correcting her course since 1978. It takes a couple generations to recover from the errors committed in one single decade (1968-1978). Anglicanism now has the errors of 4 decades to recover from. Hmmm....

So videos of Catholic silliness are non threatening amusement as they do not represent where the Church is or is going. But videos of Anglican silliness reveal the true nature of the present disorder of the Anglican world.

I have never heard that the Mass at which the "Sisters" of Perpetual Indulgence made their appearance was a liturgical travesty, only a moral and ecclesial one. Of course, Catholic blogs have worked over that event ad infinitum, but we will never know if Bishop Niederauer knew what was going on or what.

Oh, I think the bishop knew what was up. If you look at the video closely you see that he raised his hand in blessing over the first "nun" until "she" leaned in and insisted he give "her" communion. I think he felt intimidated by the situation and later felt embarrassed for not having stood his ground. He simply wasnt prepared for having to say: "Give you communion? Not with you dressed like that I wont."

Whatever happened, this case demonstrates the differences between Anglicanism and Catholicism. Nobody is going into Anglican churches to desacrate them on account of their teaching on homosexuality or anything else.

Such desecrations are almost commonplace against the Catholic Church precisely because in her teaching she holds her ground. Remember, Integrity runs TEC General Conventions. Dignity is permanently banned from all Catholic Church property in the US.

I haven't seen the video yet. I screwed up my courage and clicked on the link. This showed up:

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I guess God was doing form me that time!

I do not doubt you have experienced what you report. But, it is not safe to generalize from one's limited personal experience. In my diocese here in Northern Indiana, there were only a couple flaky parishes in the past and they have been regularized. Parishes here are devout, and no-nonsense. This is also true for Catholic Church in the rest of the state of Indiana (with the possible exception of Belleville) and outside of Chicagoland, the Church in Illinois is staunchly traditional in places like Peoria, for instance.

My home diocese in northern Virginia is quite rigidly conservative and the old liberal hold out of Richmond, Va is normalizing rapidly.

To deny that the Catholic Church is in rapid recovery in the US and around the world is to betray a nearly complete unfamiliarity with all things Catholic.

To put quite a fine point on it, even Notre Dame has a weekly Tridentine Mass. I would never have guessed that would happen even a year ago--and I live there!