Protestant Catholicism
Photo: Sacred Heart Cathedral, Rochester NY before renovation.
Trying to be positive.
As much as I try to be Pollyanna about things - or should I say, forever optimistic about the state of the Church in the United States, sometimes this attitude simply falls apart. I hear things, I read things, and wonder how the Church got so protestant.
Touring various blogs that continually ’piss and moan’ about all the liturgical abuses, bad catechises, progressivist liturgists, joined by modernist bishops and priests, so on and so forth, I must admit, many of the writers have their points, and the complaints are valid. I mean, I’ve known all of that - I’ve lived with this novelty crap for 40 years. I could be likened to a kid growing up in an abusive household, I’ve just been trying to cope, struggling to keep my faith. I get so tired of hearing/reading all the constant bickering.
Since the Council, the modernist reformers in the Catholic Church, sanctioned by Roman Catholic Hierarchy, have acheived - in a stunningly short time - what the original reformers of the so-called Protestant Reformation started out to do in the 16th century.
Blogs of distinction.
Photo: Sacred Heart Cathedral after renovation. Tell me it hasn’t been Protestant-ised.
Salve Regina has a rather objective, albeit revealing post on the wreck-ovations of Fr. Richard Vasko, which clearly demonstrate the influence of Protestant iconoclasm omnipresent in contemporary ecclesial design. It is nothing short of heart breaking.
Bishop Trautman (Erie Diocese), who seems to have his finger upon the pulse of the average Catholic lay person, is in the news with his views on liturgical language. Gerald has done a fine job of presenting the Bishop’s insightful views into the mind of the Catholic faithful, thinking out loud, as he does, for the person in the pew; so check Cafeteria is Closed for his take on things. He of course links to Fr. Z as well as Diogenes for their expositions on the debate. (Most of you probably have already read their stuff,which sometimes is a bit too sarcastic for me to read on a regular basis, though I understand the need for someone to expose this crap.)
The dismantling of the Catholic faith was foreseen before the Council.
Rorate Caeli has a post on Bishop Trautman’s recent statements concerning the Bishop’s opinion regarding new liturgical translations. Rorate Caeli counters these with Dom Prosper Gueranges’ warning regarding liturgical reform, written in the mid to late 19th century. The decimation of liturgical cult, worship, devotion and Church design, begun by the Protestant Reform has finally found pride of place in the Roman Catholic Church - in Europe as well as the U.S. and elsewhere. This is part of what Dom Prosper Gueranger wrote:
“We must admit it is a master blow of Protestantism to have declared war on the sacred language. If it should ever succeed in ever destroying it, it would be well on the way to victory. Exposed to profane gaze, like a virgin who has been violated, from that moment on the Liturgy has lost much of its sacred character, and very soon people find that it is not worthwhile putting aside one’s work or pleasure in order to go and listen to what is being spoken in the way one speaks on the town square.…”- Dom Prosper Gueranger, taken from, Rorate Caeli
On another blog, one commenter challenged another, asking what made her think that Protestantism has crept into the Catholic Church. What kind of a dumb-ass question was that?
That’s all.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:34 am
[…] Some more on all you stupid people who like your quaint traditions and can’t handle a new Mass translation. […]
June 20th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Funny, I was just commenting on Dick (don’t call me Father) Vosko this morning.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Terry, I agree with you but I feel like I have to say - for the record - that were it not for the good Protestants I’ve lived/worked with for the past 20 years, I wouldn’t love my Catholic faith like I do today. What do I mean by that? I mean that I’ve meant more Protestants truly in love with Christ than I have Catholics, and that’s really sad.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Jeron, Please don’t misunderstand this post as being anti-protestant. I admire protestants very much, and agree with you completely that not a few are better Christians than I am, or other Catholics.
The point of this post is the protestantisation of the Roman Catholic Church, not just in liturgy and Church design, but right down to the basics of theology, the eucharist, penance, and Marian devotion.
I want the Catholic Church to be Catholic, if I wanted to be protestant, or worship in a protestant atmosphere, I would attend a protestant Church.
That’s all.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Cheer up. We’re at the tail end of that battle. Vosko’s just about finished. Trautman’s finding no one agrees with him. Just watch the young priests and seminarians, if you doubt it.
That’s not to say a quite different battle, coming from the laity isn’t about to start.
June 20th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
That’s not to say a quite different battle, coming from the laity isn’t about to start.
…HAS started. May Our Lady look after her priests when the buffeting occurs.
June 20th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Gerald has good stuff on Bishop Trautman.
But check out my technical analysis of the Bishop’s personal writing style that takes a college education to understand.
http://northlandcatholic.blogspot.com/2007/06/is-this-prayer -intelligible.html
June 20th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Terry, I have to agree with you that in a lot of ways the last 40 years have not been fun. But I think Jeffrey is right, the worst is over. We have to keep praying, though.
In a perverse way this trying time may have helped me keep my priorities straight. At least I knew I wasn’t going to Mass for the aesthetic experience and the beautiful music; but because it remained the only place I could receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. That much never changed. But it is nice when you don’t have to offer up the experience of being there as a penance.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Thanks for the referral, Terry.
Even if Vosko is on his way out, his monstrosities will stand for a very long time.
June 21st, 2007 at 5:59 am
Priests and other Catholics alike have wondered at my suggestion that the RC New Order has adopted a Protestantism when the Tabernacle is removed off to the side or even placed in chapel of repose adjacent to the church proper. However, I ask, how can we say Jesus is the source and summit of our faith when we remove him to the side replacing him with a man who steps away from the ambo to preach and stands in front of the altar and the often missing Tabernacle?
Enter virtually any Protestant church and tell me what you see front and center? That’s right, the pulpit. Why? Because the “source and summit” of their faith is sola scriptura, the bible alone and by extension then the preaching of it. Even in hip baby boomer and post boomer churches (or meeting places, gather spaces, God help them if they break down and call it a ‘church̵
where a tactile pulpit does not exist (implying what? the range of explanations are too stupid) the person who preaches the word (or gives the talk, the message, or the reflective thought) stands front and center where there would be a pulpit if they were going to be intellectually honest with themselves for even a moment.
So, I want to know why our priests don’t just stay put, in the New Order, at the ambo? Want to connect with the people? Give a better homily; deliver the rubics of the Mass with greater attention, love and respect; be with the people at times other than just the Mass, as in, enter our lives. Do that and you won’t need to stand in front of the people with your butt blocking the alter and the Tabernacle that in most cases isn’t present, no, you’ll do just fine at the ambo. One priest who I am sorry to say has moved on from our parish, never left the ambo during the homily and was (and is where is now serves) a prime example of what I was saying above, the good things that is.
It has been explained to me that in the New Order when the priest is at the ambo it is more respectful because the priest’s aforementioned butt is not blocking the Tabernacle as it would in the Old Order and besides the focus during the Mass is the altar not the Tabernacle. Which I can see to a point. But in the OO the Tabernacle and the altar are one or at least they are something of a piece and the priest’s butt becomes a mute point (regardless of its actual size) because his face in facing the God on behalf of the people as together priests and faithful worship God. Oh sheesh, make me stop…
Well, I should have posted this as a post on my own blog rather than as a comment here but I got all worked up. Sigh.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:21 am
Owen, Thanks for your great comment. I’m glad i wasn’t the only one to get worked up!
June 21st, 2007 at 6:57 am
My parish was rebuilt back in 1988. It went from modern to “bleh.” I do like our king size baptismal tidal pool w/waterfall off to the side of the altar. When the new Church was built, the pastor placed the tabernacle in a chapel off the side of the vestibule and the centerpiece in the sanctuary was the altar w/the priest sitting behind the altar, elevated, on a step. No tabernacle in the sanctuary. Thank goodness there were enough “old-time Catholics” still around in the parish ‘cuz the outcry was tremendous. The priest’s chair was pushed to the side of the altar; a permanent golden tabernacle was constructed on the “elevated steps” behind the altar, and the tabernacle in the chapel remains, as well, where we have adoration 24/7. Now if only people would quit talking in the vestibule during adoration … (and in the nave) …
July 16th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I agree totally with what you say. Our parish priest on vocation Sunday said it was time for the Church to modernize and called for both married priests and women priests. I felt like telling him that this already existed in the Anglican community and maybe he should join them instead. Instead, I complained to the parish council. He has, in the past, referred to God as Father/mother and rarely mentions sin in his homilies, which tend to be fluffy loveliness. “we’re all good people doing what we think is right and that’s all God wants of us”. Hitler must be in Heaven if thats the case. It bugs me no-end that when I do say it to people I find they think the sun shines out of his ….. I’m told to give it a break or that he’s doing no harm, but how many souls is he losing?
I’m sorry if this isn’t the type of comment you wanted but when I googled “Is my priest a Protestant” you were on the first page.