Abbey-Roads2

St. Stephen’s in Minneapolis.

I checked out the parish of St. Stephen’s website,  looking for the name of the priest who had been assigned to the church before the recent announcement of Fr. Joseph Williams as pastor.  (I was curious as to who would have been responsible for the mess there.)  The website doesn’t list any priest, in fact, there is hardly any indication the church is Catholic. 

Who knew it was so bad? 

I called the church and spoke to a woman.  I asked if they had a priest assigned to the parish, and she told me they haven’t had a priest assigned for over four years.  She mentioned they have a deacon.  (For those of you who don’t know, St. Stephen’s is centrally located in a residential area of downtown Minneapolis - there are priests around.)   So obviously the women have been running the church all of these years.  According to my sources, much of the para-liturgical stuff they were doing in the gym, and sometimes in the church, were in fact “eucharistic” celebrations conducted by women - some of whom are Sisters of St. Joseph.

Who let it get so bad? 

Does anyone  else see anything wrong with this picture besides the inmates running the asylum?  Where the heck was Archbishop Flynn these past several years?  And Archbishop Roach before him? 

Photo credit: Gymnasium gathering at St. Stephen’s.

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Liturgical anarchy.

I never could figure that out - why after renovation of a parish church to look like a gym, parishioners chose to worship in the school gym anyway?  That is what they did at St. Stephen’s - they made up their own liturgy and held it in the gym.  The “spirits” guiding these folk discourage liturgical  rubrics, rules of order, and obedience to the Magisterium.  Naturally, to be Roman Catholic, a parish is obliged to follow the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), that isn’t too much to ask.  Unless elements within the worshipping community are not Roman Catholic, in that case, the honest thing to do would be to go elsewhere for worship.

In the Gospel, several followers left Jesus after our Lord revealed himself as the Bread of Life, proclaiming, “if you do not eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” (Jn. 6)  “From this time on, many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer.”  (Jn. 6)  Just so, some of the parishioners at St. Stephens have found the integrity to move off Church grounds to celebrate worship services which accord with their personal piety elsewhere.

Some of the protestors chose to remain behind in the school gym to conduct their eucharistic celebration, an act of “holy resistance” - as the above photo demonstrates.  The woman performing the ‘elevation’  of the wine at the end is a Sister of St. Joseph.

Thankfully, the new pastor, Fr. Joseph Williams, is a very kind and holy priest, he will be an immense blessing for those in the parish who hunger for authentic worship, in spirit and truth.  He arrives on the Sunday after Easter, supported by the faithful of the archdiocese and much prayer.

(Topmost photo:  Laetare Sunday Procession of protestant Catholics leaving the school gym for their new “underground” church.)

Links:

Photos and story of the migration: The Wild Reed

All the background you need on the ruckus:  Stella Borealis

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…in the archdiocese of MPLS/ST. PAUL

Curt Jester, via one local blog to another…  Big news!   Some crackpot writing for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune - it’s a local newspaper few people read  - writes a story about a “crack down” on a dissident parish in South Minneapolis, St. Stevens.  And the blogroll rolls.  Of course, every orthodox Catholic comes out of the closet to cheer-lead the supposed crackdown.

There is no “crackdown” - That is media hype - the archdiocese is simply asking all of the parishes in the area to follow the rubrics - same term for “rules” - and that is all.  Archbishop Harry Flynn, together with his coadjutor, Archbishop Nienstedt have directed the effort. 

Some people spotlighted in the dissident parish are a little verklempft - but they are trying to cope, mostly by moving to another facility for whatever it is they do do for worship.  They can do that.  It’s not such a big deal, really.  As I commented on another blog: 

“I see all of this as a wonderful blessing and opportunity for reconciliation… as for the transition to using the GIRM and following the teaching of the Church in faith and morals, it seems to me our Lord is gently admonishing them; “All of these you should have practiced without neglecting the others.” - Matthew 23:23.  (Truly, many are the works of mercy the parish of St. Stephen’s did not neglect.  As a parish, they have led the archdiocese in ministry to the poor and marginalized.)

And sending such a good priest as Fr. Joseph Williams  to reclaim what was lost seems to me to be a beautiful sign of God’s mercy, the realization - nay, the materialisation of Jesus’ words, “How often have I yearned to gather your children as a mother hen gathers her young under her wings.” - Matthew 23:37

That’s all.

Links: 

The link to the Strib doesn’t work, for the article check out Stella Borealis. 

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