Abbey-Roads2

Fr. DeBruycker is back at St. Joan’s.

He was gone for awhile, so he missed some of the fireworks that goes on there.  Ray from Stella sent me a piece Father wrote for this Sunday’s bulletin.  I reprint it here:

Pastors 2 Cents: From Fr. Jim DeBruycker

It’s good to be back. First of all thank you to Fr. Cassidy who made it so easy to get away and for his leadership during our latest crisis. The prayer service of June 25 has been described to me as one of the most moving and memorable services held here at St. Joan’s. Forgiveness and understanding called forward in truly hurtful times are powerful.

Do you know what Mass is? In the Church it is what the sun is in our world, it is the soul of our faith, the center of our religion, the end and center of all the ceremonies, rites and sacraments. In a word, it is the summary of all that is beautiful and good in the Church of God.”

- St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751) This quote, and many others like it on old yellowed paper, were glued to the wall in the sacristy at St. Leonard of Port Maurice. St. Leonard was the father of the ferverino, those short fire and brimstone speeches calling the sinner to repentance with threats of damnation. His fame was built on his preaching repentance through meditation on the sufferings of Christ in the stations and especially the Mass.

“Be now confounded for very wonder, reflecting that the proposition just laid down is indeed most true; a soul assisting with adequate devotion at holy Mass renders more honor to God than that which all the Angels and all the Saints put together render with all their adorations.”

- St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751)When I was first called to priesthood, as with many of you in the congregation, it was this theology which inspired me. The great privilege of serving at and saying Mass. It still is and it is still true at St. Joan’s. If nobody cared, where would the controversy be of who said it, where and how and by whom? At Mass we meet God face to face in the elements of the Eucharist and in the gathered assembly in prayer.

Why bring this up? On Sunday afternoon I made the mistake of checking my e-mails that had accumulated during the last six weeks. There were surprisingly few about the GLBT prayer group, but literally a hundred commenting on a YouTube film of our Palm Sunday Mass with the masks created by our children in cooperation with the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater.

The insinuation was that we were idiots who despised the Mass. Nothing could have been further from the truth. We made sure all of the elements of the Mass were there and used the art of this world renowned acting troop and the art of our children to help deepen the sense of the mystery of the passion. Many commented on how this Mass, more than ever before, made the betrayal and death of our Lord come alive in their hearts. To our detractors; you own no monopoly on understanding or reverence. - Fr. Jim 

So here are my unsolicited 2 cents:

I already forgot about the controversy over the puppet Mass - Father has a point however - probably more valid about 10 to 20 years ago when innovations, along with good intentions, were enough.  While reading his comments,  I realized that the parish actually thrives on controversy - much like a severely dysfunctional family does - living through one crises after another - it is what unifies them as a ‘community’ I think.  As such, they seem to have marginalized themselves into a corner, filled with co-dependent individualists in a state of continuous dissent.  God bless Fr. DeBruycker for his deep faith, heartfelt sincerity, and genuine compassion - he is a good man in a very difficult job.