How this looks is very much like the worst liturgical abuses in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Wreckovations of churches abound, and worse, the liturgies in some is so tacky, such a left-over of the worst of the seventies and eighties that I feel like I am back in university at some chaplaincy Mass. At one Stations of the Cross, a woman was Christ in the dramatization. I have not seen this since Notre Dame in the early eighties. At another Church, music is played on CD players after Communion with country-western style hymns which are so bad I wish I could hear the St. Louis Jesuits. At a third Church, (these are all Catholic), some sort of semi, or para-liturgical action involving praying for the dead meant that those in the congregation could place candles representing prayers on the main altar. Really, none of these things have any connection to the continuity of Tradition. I have been in many, many Churches and only one has had a Communion rail. But, what is a travesty of false ecumenism is the schedule for the Eucharistic Congress here in the summer. Here is the link for the main events, the theme, and the speakers. How the organizers could confuse unity in the Eucharist with some sort of outreach to non-Catholics is beyond understanding. That the Eucharist brings together Catholics is obvious, as we share, hopefully, in belief and practice. But, to pretend that inviting Protestants, who do not believe, or have the Real Presence, to speak at the Congress, which should be celebrating the Real Presence, reveals a callousness about the Catholic Faith and the ugly head of relativism.
Real ecumenism acknowledges differences in theology and practice. Real ecumenism calls for the unity of Christians in upholding the common morality of the Old and New Testaments, something which few Protestant denominations believe in at this time. The fake ecumenism is a false overture based on prejudice. Only true love in Christ and a commitment to the Gospel, and the belief that the Catholic Church is the one, true, Church could possibly change Ireland.
How sad that such an opportunity is being wasted on denial and lies. That the Catholic Church is in denial here about the status of most Protestant denominations shows a sad dismissive ignoring of the real practising Traditional Catholics in Ireland, who, frankly, feel left out of the Congress. How odd that the Pope's visit to Great Britain was the most ecumenical action of the Church in recent times, a visit which was the largest nod to the Truth of the Catholic Church at the State level in modern times. The Pope pulled no punches as he stood on the very spot in Westminster where St. Thomas More was condemned. Here, in the land of saints and scholars, no such triumphant blast of truth will be heard, as the ecumenical fallacies of compromise take centre stage.
And, this false ecumenism represents the shot in the head to the ailing Church here. What Irish Catholicism needs more than anything is unabashedly Catholic Teaching, loud and strong, from the pulpits and in catechesis. Instead, what is heard is the lukewarm teaching of a clergy and the leaders from among the laity who want to be nice, who want compromise over commitment, who desire a false unity, which is the heresy of eirenism, the forgotten heresy. Warned by several Popes, the Modernist heresies of immanentism and indifferentism, as well as eirenism, are alive and well in the sick man of Europe, Ireland. For definitions, see my several posts below on Modernism. I did not expect such a flood of falseness here in Eire. For proof, look at the new anthem, which is the official song of the Eucharistic Congress. See link above.
