In thinking of the problems of building Catholic community in two countries, America and Great Britain, some factors which did not exist in the past have impacted on the lack of such.
Judging from conversations for three years on and off in England and in America for years, I have to list the problems with community building among Catholics.
1) The individualistic member of the Anglo-Saxon mind-set opposes living with others and sharing, or taking help from others, is difficult.
2) The lack of large families in the last two generations (Gen-X and the Millennials) means that children do not learn how to live in family communities. The one and two child families have not learned to share, give in, sacrifice daily.
3) Catholics are not used to praying together outside of monasteries or church. They have not adopted the recommendation that the laity say Daily Prayer, or the rosary together.
4) Catholics are not aware of the imminent need to gather into supportive communities, for the sake of the children and the sake of women, the elderly, and other vulnerable people.
5) The idea of being a sign of contradiction in the world is hindered by the pursuit of the falsity of the culture, the need to belong and the willingness to compromise. Catholics need to change the culture, not give in to it.
6) Too many parents compromise for the so-called sake of the children. Children need to grow up to be saints, not to be just one more member of the secular society.
7) Simplicity of lifestyle is not seen as part of the way to perfection, which it is.
8) Putting pagan and irreligious family members first, rather than setting up loving communities which would draw them in, is not understood. Catholic friendships need to be the priority over families. "See how they love one another".
More later--to be continued...
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Monday, 27 January 2014
To Be Lay
I was sent back out into the world last year to be a lay person for sure.
God did not want me in Tyburn, which broke my heart, but it was clear to me, after a second time, and after hearing God loud and clear to go out and pray and write, that I was to be lay.
But, too many Catholics do not embrace the baptismal call of being lay. They either want the clericalism of careerism or they want to be clergy themselves.
Our role is to be leaven in the world. We are to learn, to preach, to teach over coffee, at work, finding people who are open, ready to hear the Gospel.
Be lay, and stop being clerical. But, read my post below on learning to be lay saints.
If we are not evangelizing daily, we are not being Catholics living up to our baptismal promises and duties.
Please pray daily as to how God can use you in your life to save souls.
Save souls.
.
The age of the lay person should be the time of lay evangelization.
Remember the remnant will be very, very, very small. Very.
Doctors of the Church and Perfection Series
Within the long perfection series, I remind readers that there are over 235 posts on the Doctors of the Church.
I have re-posted some in the past few weeks, just as a reminder, on some of the feast days of these great saints.
I have re-posted some in the past few weeks, just as a reminder, on some of the feast days of these great saints.
Doctors of the Church 2:54
St. John Chrysostom lived for a while in the very area in Syria now ravaged by civil war.
http://boyerwrites.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/oldest-christian-monasteries-in-syria-under-attack/
He had an interesting take on monasteries. He thought that if one could become perfect in the world, as God had called all Catholics to become, one did not have to enter a monastery.
The monastery was created because it was getting too hard to become perfect while in the world.
St. John Chrysostom had to leave to go to Antioch and serve the Church at large.
Here is one commentator on this desire for finding perfection in a monastery:
Chrysostom's preference is not a contradiction to his teaching that Christian perfection is also possible in the world, because the superiority of virginity is not ethical but rather in its way and method. The sacred father concludes this from the following: Because life in the cities has been equated with the "goings on of Sodom", and because the prevailing corruption has eclipsed the necessary conditions to exercise Christian perfection. Because cities have, in his opinion, ended up in a satanic fire, a monastic community is safer. It was a prayer for Chrysostom to have a perfect society, so that monasteries were not necessary; that is, if society identified with the Church and the world identified with the kingdom of God. That is, if monks ruled, or kings "philosophized", there would be no need for monasticism. Worthy critics of the situation as it is in reality are not the monks, but those who make cities a rugged terrain of the virtues.
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/09/saint-john-chrysostom-and-syrian.html
and more here
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0Zexm_OPxRZqoreHLj5RZjbyEryUwfbMkWUZ5rGzQE0UE4qIEwT6YSUPcMyriY19oCcM7ZmQ7GtzySDhTCxPjQHpQb1RuAETUH2vyACWdLDU8DHQ57-vgPU3-Ok2CbJrXaVsJt4QMC4/s400/chr+sar.jpg
Sober Thought from St. John Chrysostom Doctors of The Church 2:53
'I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many bishops are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.'
St. John Chrysostom, Doctor and Father of the Church
Doctors of The Church 2:52
For parents some advice from St. John Chrysostom
His strengths were his great classical education and his intelligence, which coupled with faith brought about two mighty weapons against chaos-his oratory and exegesis of the Scriptures. We still use his sermons and insights today. Of course, all Byzantine Catholics owe him great gratitude for the sublime Divine Liturgy he wrote. It is beautiful. I have been in this church pictured below.
Here are two quotations from this great saint for parents.
Children must be instructed in the Scriptures, beginning with the learning of psalms and hymns. "But now your children will utter songs and dances of Satan, like cooks, and caterers, and musicians; no one knows any psalm but it seems a thing to be ashamed of even, a mockery and a joke. There is the treasury house of all these evils. For whatsoever soil the plant stands in, such is the fruit it bears; if in a sandy and salty soil, of like nature is its fruit; if in a sweet and rich one, it is again similar. So the matter of instruction is a sort of fountain. Teach him to sing those psalms which are so full of the love of wisdom. When in these you have led him on from childhood, by little and little you will lead him forward even to the higher things" (Hom. IX On Colossians)
On the importance of instructing children in the Holy Scriptures. "Do you wish your son to be obedient? From the very first, "Bring him up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord." Never deem it an unnecessary thing that he should be a diligent hearer of the divine Scriptures. For there the first thing he hears will be this: 'Honor thy father and thy mother'. So then, this is for you. Never say, 'This is the business of monks'. Am I making a monk of him? No, there is no need he should become a monk. Why be so afraid of a thing so replete with so much advantage? Make him a Christian. For it is of all things necessary for laymen to be acquainted with the lessons derived from this source, but especially for children. For theirs is an age full of folly and to this folly are added the bad examples derived from the heathen tales, where they are made acquainted with those heroes so admired amongst them…[A child] requires therefore the remedies against these things. How is it not absurd to send children out to trades and to school, and to do all you can for these objectives, and yet, not to "Bring them up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord?" And for this reason truly we are the first to reap the fruits, because we bring up our children to be insolent and profligate, disobedient and mere vulgar fellows. Let us not then do this; no, let us listen to this blessed Apostle's admonitions "Let us bring them up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord". Let us give them a pattern. Let us make them from the earliest age apply themselves to the reading of the Scriptures…..Study not to make him an orator, but train him up to be a [Christian] philosopher. In the want of the one there will be no harm whatever; in the absence of the other, all the rhetoric in the world will be of no advantage. Tempers are wanted, not talking; character, not cleverness; deeds not word. These gain a man the kingdom. These confer what are benefits indeed. Whet not his tongue but cleanse his soul. I do not say this to prevent you teaching him these things, but to prevent your attending to them exclusively. Do not imagine that the monk alone stands in need of these lessons from Scripture. Of all others, the children just about to enter into the world especially need them." (Hom. XXI Ephesians)
TROPARION 4th Tone
for the Feast of the Mother Sophia and Her Children shown above
The Church celebrates and is truly happy over the
newly born children and their happy mother. Like the holy wisdom, she gave birth to three children equal to the three theological virtues. In the company of these wise virgins, she gazes on the Word and chaste Groom. We join her in her happiness and sing: O triple triumph - Faith, Hope and Charity - make us firm in faith, hope and charity! |
On Knowledge and God
Through-out my life, I have had a love affair with truth. I love teaching logic and reading essays, encyclicals, and documents which follow exquisite rational discourse.
Our faith embraces reason and rationality. We are made in the image and likeness of God and our intellect and rationality are part of that image and likeness. Along with the will and the immortal soul, reason marks each one of us as human, made for eternity.
When I try and speak with youth, especially, or the Gen-Xers on faith being reasonable, I find that there is a resistance to the idea that we can reason out many truths in our religion. The sign of an adult faith formation is the use of reason with regard to doctrine and spirituality.
But, the world, the flesh and the devil conspire to deny the use of reason with regard to the Faith. The over-emphasis on the appetites, the sensual, the idea that religion is always primarily "experiential", stop people of all ages of appropriating an adult faith.
I have written on this many times under the label "thinking like Catholics", which many of you have read.
Why logical reasoning has been denigrated has partly been for political reasons, partly because of the "Protestantization" of some Catholic circles, and partly because of laxity in the training of young minds.
Without reasonable discourse being trained in schools, at home, and even in the workplace, the ability to reason atrophies and one becomes either the cog in the machine or a emotionally reactive person, only.
This is what satan and his minions want; non-thinking Catholics, Catholics who only react, never reflect, do not read, do not study the Faith and do not want to apply the principles of religion to themselves. The unthinking Catholic cannot form a correct, right conscience and cannot critique the deceit of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But, none of the intellectual capacities truly "work" with grace. Grace purifies and hones the intellect. The Benedictines have known this since the beginning of the Rule. The love of learning in the abbey schools was always connected to the desire for God, as one of my favorite books explained to me so long ago when I first read this masterpiece.
Since I started my blog in 2007, I have been referring to this book, but even though one may not read the book, the ideal is presentable is a simple phrase.
If one desires God, one will seek Him in learning.
Simple, really.
When St Anselm, in order to renew the seminaries, introduced the classical Trivium and Quadrivium into the training for the priesthood, he got his ideas from his own Benedictine order. Included in those studies were geometry, astronomy, music, art, mathematics, grammar. The study of the Scriptures, the Doctors of the Church, and other Catholic literature, as well as philosophy, theology, and logic, brought alive the intellect to be cleaned from the cobwebs of the world in order to shine forth for the building of the Kingdom of God.
Some of the oldest libraries in the world are monastic.
What are you reading?
What are you studying?
Are you learning to think like a Catholic?
Ask yourself today, why this is more important now than ever before in the history of the world.
Oh, my soul, how much longer do you wish to be so stingy with Jesus? Why so negligent towards Jesus who made You? Why so lazy towards Jesus who redeemed you? Who do you want to love, if you do not want to love Jesus? St. Gemma Galgani.
To know is to love and to love is to want to know. The pursuit of knowledge, using logic and reason, brings us closer to the One is Knows Himself and knows us intimately. There is a great mystery in learning and remembering, in that one creates, as Henri Gilson notes, a sort of metaphysical background to the soul"
Slowly, through the Dark Night, when one's intellect and soul are cleansed, one comes to the real knowledge of self and God, as much as He reveals Himself this side of death.
This knowledge become a huge oasis, or universe surrounding one with the omnipresence of God, as Gilson notes, with the growing knowledge of the Indwelling of the Trinity.
Except for the chosen few mystics, like St. Gemma Galgani, or the young saints like St. Therese, the Little Flower who have infused knowledge, for most of us, the way through the years and years of learning and seeking, through the Dark Night into the Illuminative State is one of intense suffering and pain.
Those Catholics who refuse to start on the journey of learning, cannot get to the mystic places they believe come through experience, and this is the tragedy of so many good people who do not grow in holiness
They do not desire God enough to get out of their comforts zones in order to really learn, use the reason God has given them, and not only for themselves, but for the world, which is starving for reason.
 |
| Brno Capuchin Library |
Those who deny themselves the time, or waste time instead of pursuing the knowledge of God may one day stand in heaven and see the great saints they could have been, if they had responded to the grace of learning.
Only in the Dark Night of the Soul is one then allowed to die to memory and understanding, as God takes that which has been learned and changes all into the infused knowledge of sheer grace.
This can only happen after the purification of the imagination and memory. Do not waste any time. Read, study, think, reflect, pray, act.
Be a Catholic. Think like St. Bernard below....from On Loving God.
There is no glory in having a gift without
knowing it. But to know only that you have it, without knowing that it
is not of yourself that you have it, means self-glorying, but no true
thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why
glory in God. And so the apostle says to men in such cases, What hast
dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? (I Cor. 4.7). .. .....
The apostle shows how to discern the true glory from the false, when he
says, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, that is, in the
Truth, since our Lord is Truth (I Cor. 1.31; John 14.6).
We must know, then, what we are, and that it is not of ourselves that
we are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly, either we shall not
glory at all, or our glorying will be vain. ...
And this is right. For man, being in honor, if he know not his
thou know not, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock' ..
own honor, may fitly be compared, because of such ignorance, to the
beasts that perish. Not knowing himself as the creature that is
is own true glory which is within, he is led captive by his curiosity
distinguished from the irrational brutes by the possession of reason,
he commences to be confounded with them because, ignorant ...
and... concerns himself with external, sensual things. So he is made to
resemble the lower orders by not knowing that he has been more highly
endowed than they.
A Meditation on Today's Gospel
There are many people who are committing the most serious sin, that of blaspheming the Holy
Spirit. Some are atheists, some are pagans, some are those of man-made religions, some are Catholics.
Some Catholics daily blaspheme the Holy Spirit sit next to us in Church, live in our families, teach in Catholic schools, speak from the pulpit.
What does it mean to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit? The CCC notes, 1864 "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven."136 There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
What does this mean? Why is this sin so serious?
This sin is the absolute rejection of salvation, the total rejection of repentance and accepting Christ as Savior.
This sin is the non-acceptance of forgiveness, thinking that one's sins are too horrible for forgiveness.
It is a sin which is based on obstinacy, despair, envy, resistance to Truth, Who is a Person.
Why is this sin so serious? Because all people are given grace to repent. All. No one is not given grace sufficient to repentance.
It is a serious sin, as it denies Christ Himself as Savior, as King, as Messiah, as God.
Pray for those around us who are tempted or even living in this great sin. Pray.
Mark 3:22-30
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
22 And the scribes who were come down from Jerusalem, said: He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casteth out devils.
23 And after he had called them together, he said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan be risen up against himself, he is divided, and cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house.
28 Amen I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and the blasphemies wherewith they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin.
30 Because they said: He hath an unclean spirit.
Please pray for the protection of this young man
The National Security Agency is involved in industrial espionage and will take intelligence regardless of its value to national security, the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has told a German television network.
In text released ahead of a lengthy interview to be broadcast on Sunday, the public broadcaster ARD TV quoted Snowden saying the NSA does not limit its espionage to issues of national security and citing the German engineering firm Siemens as one target.
“If there's information at Siemens that's beneficial to US national interests – even if it doesn't have anything to do with national security – then they'll take that information nevertheless,” Snowden said, according to ARD, which recorded the interview in Russia, where Snowden has claimed asylum.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
A Reminder from The Catholic Encyclopedia
Degrees of heresy
Both matter and form of heresy admit of degrees which find expression in the following technical formula of theology and canon law. Pertinacious adhesion to a doctrine contradictory to a point of faith clearly defined by the Church is heresy pure and simple,heresy in the first degree. But if the doctrine in question has not been expressly "defined" or is not clearly proposed as an article of faith in the ordinary, authorized teaching of the Church, an opinion opposed to it is styled sententia haeresi proxima, that is, an opinion approaching heresy. Next, a doctrinal proposition, without directly contradicting a received dogma, may yet involvelogical consequences at variance with revealed truth. Such a proposition is not heretical, it is a propositio theologice erronea, that is, erroneous in theology. Further, the opposition to an article of faith may not be strictly demonstrable, but only reach a certain degree of probability. In that case the doctrine is termed sententia de haeresi suspecta, haeresim sapiens; that is, an opinion suspected, or savouring, of heresy (see THEOLOGICAL CENSURES).
Excellent Sermon on The Site Noted
http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2014/01/fr-perrone-personal-holiness-heroic.html
Thanks to Diane.
I do think that saints can win the day–even now. The Church, you know, will never go down. It’s an unsinkable ship. But there’s no telling how few there may be left in the final rundown.
Thanks to Diane.
I do think that saints can win the day–even now. The Church, you know, will never go down. It’s an unsinkable ship. But there’s no telling how few there may be left in the final rundown.
The Vocation of The Priest's Wife and The Three Marys
Because for many months, I was close to some Ordinariate priests and met and talked with some of the wives when I was in England, even briefly, I observed a key to the mystery of the married Ordinariate priest which I would like to share. I have also met other women in the role of "priest wives".
The Catholic people on the whole are not accustomed to the vicar's wife. Indeed, when we lived in Petersfield years ago, it took the parish several months to accept a married ex-Anglican, now Catholic priest for a pastor. The objections were all based on ignorance and prejudice and in the end, the priest and his wife were not only happily accepted, but greatly loved.
The problem with the normal person in the pew is that these Catholics do not understand that if the husband, who is a Catholic priest has a vocation, his wife has a vocation as well. I understand this vocation of the priest's wife, which is more than being the wife of a man who happens to be a priest, and a mother to his children.
The vocation of the priest's wife consists of the greatest sacrifice a woman can give to the Church, her husband to take on another Bride, the Bride of Christ, which is the Church
The priest's wife is not the first woman in the priest's life She is the third woman in the priest's life, and yet, a great support to his ministry, a point to which I shall return.
The First Woman in the heart of the married priest is the Bride of Christ, the one, true, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. He is her protector, her guide, her spouse as he is alter Christus.
The Second Woman in the heart of the married priest is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the Mother of us all. The priest takes her guidance and love and honors her above all women.
The Third Woman is his wife. And, this wife is the servant of the servant. If she is a stay-at-home mom, she organizes the life of the priest so that he can maximize his day of service to the Church. She is not first, ever, and must be scheduled, and disciplined.
If the Third Woman has a job out of necessity, in order to help support the priest and family, as so many now must after losing their pensions, houses, and other goods by converting to the Catholic Church, even having to go back to work to make ends meet, this job is the gift she gives to not only the family, but to the Church, easing the financial burden of a diocese or the Ordinariate.
If the Third Woman is called to be active in the daily workings of the Church, especially if the children are grown and gone, her relationship with the parish will demand her time and gifts, and she will support the work of her husband as he sees fit. I know one priest's wife who does so many things that she is just as busy as he is.
A priest's wife has been called by God to give her husband to the Church, and to the world. She knows that she is called to serve, and to sacrifice the normal comforts of married life.
She will not be rich, or have the normal aspirations of a married woman in the world of the laity, because even though she is lay, she has a vocation to be in the world, and not of the world in a direct manner.
Her world is one like the women who served Christ and His apostles, so that they could live out the vocation of the apostolic call.
I greatly honor the wives of the priests of the Ordinariate and other priest's wives who have come in via different manners into the Catholic Church. May we honor them as we would honor those women at the foot of the Cross.
Like the married women, a mother of a priest sacrifices the time and attention of a son, grandchildren and all the protection and love a son would give to a mother is he were not married to the Bride of Christ. Mothers of priests should understand priest's wives from the perspective of giving up a natural relationship for a supernatural one, as these sons and these husbands do not belong to us, but to God.
"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary [the wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." We call these women, Mary Salome, Mary wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene, the Three Marys, or the Three Maries. Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee and mother of the "Sons of Thunder," James and John, aided Christ and His apostles and stood watching the horror of the Passion and Death of Our Lord. Like Mary the Mother of God, she is one of my models
These women ministered to Christ, set aside their own status, their own resources, their own lives for the sake of the Gospel.
So, too, do our sisters who are the wives of our Catholic priests.
Mass in the Age of the Barbarians and the Satanic Based Teen Culture: or Mass in the Age of Peter Pans and the Lost Boys
I worked both in high school, college, and university ministry. Some people may be surprised, but it does not work on the whole.
The creation of so-called age-appropriate settings for Liturgy never existed before the early 1970s. The false dichotomy and the creation of the "youth culture" meant that worldly and even sinful aspects were introduced into the Liturgy. We have seen the abuses at World Youth Day.
I saw all this happening, especially after the NO came into being.
Why does this type of pandering to youth not work?
First, a statistic.
And, of course, I cannot find the poll online after all these years.
A huge falling off of Notre Dame graduates from weekly participation in the Mass on campus, when they graduated, was discovered in a poll some years ago. This poll revealed that those Catholic students who had been active in the weekly Mass were not so after graduation.
The main reason given, in a honest appraisal at the time, was that the students could not make the transition between their "specialized" students Masses and those in the parish.
Why should they? For four years, their sensual appetites for worship centering on them were not only allowed, but encouraged. True worship and the virtue of religion were not taught. Appealing to sensuality and the manipulation of emotions has nothing to do with Sunday worship. Their Masses were "all about me".
The second problem was that these students had not learned to pray. They had active, participatory Masses without the needed learning of reflection and deep prayer. There was a disjoint in the activity of weekly worship and daily prayer-and if there were prayer meetings, again, they were geared not for teaching the six levels of prayer but for "good feelings".
When I was active in both high school, college, and university ministry to students, I learned that the best way to incorporate students into the Church was to teach them proper worship. There could be some slight changes in the non-essentials of the Liturgy, such as in the prayers of the Faithful, but not in the essentials.
One of the most amazingly successful Masses I organized in Canada as the liturgical minister working with the priest chaplain was a Remembrance Day Mass (not done in the States) with the local Catholic Natives singing the songs praising the veterans and giving glory to God for their service. To this day, I have never experienced a more fitting honor to vets than at that Mass. This was not a novelty but an expression of true worship in a culture with Natives.
But, to have something like that as a regular "treat" would not be appropriate.
The entire teen culture is an evil construct of the 20th century. Before the dissolution of our classical school systems, and the too long, dragged out years of useless preparation for adult life, young people were expected to grow up and assume adult responsibilities by 16 in some countries, and 18 in others. They were apprenticed to either their dads or others. They learned to make a living, get married and have children, learning fatherhood and husband-hood in the family.
We have created an underclass by giving in the satan's design to weaken the culture by putting off adulthood too long. I am convinced that youth culture is founded on satanic principles of indulgence, lack of discipline, and the emphasis on emotions. We make all kinds of excuses for this long adolescent which now goes until the thirties and is a false construct of modern society. Satan applauds the huge numbers of peter pans and unmarried youth who only think of themselves.
Two close friends of mine were from extremely wealthy families. But, their fathers made them work in a factory, one in a cookie factory, during the summer, to learn the work ethic. This was not the father's business. They were good Catholics and saw the need for helping their boys grow up and accept responsibility. We must do the same in real worship.
Social scientists and false psychologists want us to believe that young adults are less than capable of responsibility. They have done the same with small children and those of you who have read my Montessori posts and the virtue posts know that young children are capable of high concentration skills and even holiness.
The satanic based teen culture is denying youth the time to become saints. It might be the only time they have to become saints. To be a saint is not to indulge in the feelings and consolations of religious experience. On the contrary....
We have created this false paradise for them and then wonder why they become self-centered adults who do not know how to sacrifice, or be part of a larger community.
Teen Masses and university chaplaincies do not prepare the youth for the word of the Church Militant.
I had three very good priests who worked with me at the high school and university level when I was in ministry. Two saw the rot of the training of chaplains to never really challenge youth, but provide "youth events" which never mentioned sin, the last four things, hell. They deplored with me, and this was in Canada, the introduction of New Age religion into the high schools, and saw the acceptance of the homosexual clergy.
Of course, as I was in charge of retreats, I planned the "real deal" on repentance and salvation.
I did this, and was called into the office, and was told I had no right to talk about sin to my high school students, who attended a wealthy school. Many were on drugs and most were no longer virgins. The administration did not want to save souls, only make money, and keep up the pretense of Catholic education.
I could not be a real Catholic thing, but only "Catholic-Lite". Of course, my days were numbered.
A minister or a teacher can only help was is happening in the home at that age, and not take over the real responsibilities of the parents. The parents will answer before God for not having the domestic church. What we can do in those positions is also teach the adults to take responsibility for their own children.
The other priest I worked with in London, an eminent psychologist, and I could see the danger of "youth Masses". He refused to do them, as he saw, as I did, the damage to the soul and mind of so-called age appropriate Liturgy. It was grow-up time in the Catholic Chaplaincy.
I learned all this the hard way. Notre Dame did as well. Whether the chaplains changed their approach or not after that survey, I do not know.
But, there is only one proper worship for God, and we sin seriously in not teaching this at an early age.
I shall go to the TLM later today, and there are at least 15-20 children under the age of 16 or so. They all behave beautifully. They are not being taught that they are the center of worship, but that God is the center of the Mass.
The last point I want to make is that the Mass is not for evangelization. What I mean is, we do not create an atmosphere of emotional manipulation at Mass in order to bring people to God. This is a Protestant mind-set. Nor is Mass entertainment, and sadly, much new Catholic music is entertainment, not true worship.
The Holy Spirit, through the Mass of the Ages, leads us all to God.
We do our youth a disservice with youth Masses. They will cling to a childish view of themselves and God and not enter into the virtue of religion. We are not preparing saints for the world, but "spiritual children" who have not learned how to stand up to the greatest time of evil ever seen since the days of the barbarians.
One more point. We missed our regular Mass one Sunday in California and had to attend the only one we could find in the evening. We had been travelling. It was a Life Teen Mass. It was horrible.
It was an abomination before the Lord. God forgive me for not knowing what it was all about-this was in 2007.
To see and hear people at the sacredness of Mass in flip-flops, halter tops, and sing Protestant songs was a shock to me. To see and hear the priest speak of feelings and emotions as if he were a summer camp director was disgusting.
God forgive us. This is just plain evil. Tell me what this has to do with the Triune God? This is all entertainment and emotional manipulation and our youth will be swept away by the times to come.
I remind people that the Pope Emeritus said no singing or instrumentals during the Consecration, and that the guitar and piano were not liturgical instruments. Think of why....
And, as clergy and laity, what right to we have to manipulate and impose our sinful natures on to the glorious Mass, the Sacrifice of Christ, the center of our prayer? Think of how we shall be judged for mocking God, for wanting to be God.....
The creation of so-called age-appropriate settings for Liturgy never existed before the early 1970s. The false dichotomy and the creation of the "youth culture" meant that worldly and even sinful aspects were introduced into the Liturgy. We have seen the abuses at World Youth Day.
I saw all this happening, especially after the NO came into being.
Why does this type of pandering to youth not work?
First, a statistic.
And, of course, I cannot find the poll online after all these years.
A huge falling off of Notre Dame graduates from weekly participation in the Mass on campus, when they graduated, was discovered in a poll some years ago. This poll revealed that those Catholic students who had been active in the weekly Mass were not so after graduation.
The main reason given, in a honest appraisal at the time, was that the students could not make the transition between their "specialized" students Masses and those in the parish.
Why should they? For four years, their sensual appetites for worship centering on them were not only allowed, but encouraged. True worship and the virtue of religion were not taught. Appealing to sensuality and the manipulation of emotions has nothing to do with Sunday worship. Their Masses were "all about me".
The second problem was that these students had not learned to pray. They had active, participatory Masses without the needed learning of reflection and deep prayer. There was a disjoint in the activity of weekly worship and daily prayer-and if there were prayer meetings, again, they were geared not for teaching the six levels of prayer but for "good feelings".
When I was active in both high school, college, and university ministry to students, I learned that the best way to incorporate students into the Church was to teach them proper worship. There could be some slight changes in the non-essentials of the Liturgy, such as in the prayers of the Faithful, but not in the essentials.
One of the most amazingly successful Masses I organized in Canada as the liturgical minister working with the priest chaplain was a Remembrance Day Mass (not done in the States) with the local Catholic Natives singing the songs praising the veterans and giving glory to God for their service. To this day, I have never experienced a more fitting honor to vets than at that Mass. This was not a novelty but an expression of true worship in a culture with Natives.
But, to have something like that as a regular "treat" would not be appropriate.
The entire teen culture is an evil construct of the 20th century. Before the dissolution of our classical school systems, and the too long, dragged out years of useless preparation for adult life, young people were expected to grow up and assume adult responsibilities by 16 in some countries, and 18 in others. They were apprenticed to either their dads or others. They learned to make a living, get married and have children, learning fatherhood and husband-hood in the family.
We have created an underclass by giving in the satan's design to weaken the culture by putting off adulthood too long. I am convinced that youth culture is founded on satanic principles of indulgence, lack of discipline, and the emphasis on emotions. We make all kinds of excuses for this long adolescent which now goes until the thirties and is a false construct of modern society. Satan applauds the huge numbers of peter pans and unmarried youth who only think of themselves.
Two close friends of mine were from extremely wealthy families. But, their fathers made them work in a factory, one in a cookie factory, during the summer, to learn the work ethic. This was not the father's business. They were good Catholics and saw the need for helping their boys grow up and accept responsibility. We must do the same in real worship.
Social scientists and false psychologists want us to believe that young adults are less than capable of responsibility. They have done the same with small children and those of you who have read my Montessori posts and the virtue posts know that young children are capable of high concentration skills and even holiness.
The satanic based teen culture is denying youth the time to become saints. It might be the only time they have to become saints. To be a saint is not to indulge in the feelings and consolations of religious experience. On the contrary....
We have created this false paradise for them and then wonder why they become self-centered adults who do not know how to sacrifice, or be part of a larger community.
Teen Masses and university chaplaincies do not prepare the youth for the word of the Church Militant.
I had three very good priests who worked with me at the high school and university level when I was in ministry. Two saw the rot of the training of chaplains to never really challenge youth, but provide "youth events" which never mentioned sin, the last four things, hell. They deplored with me, and this was in Canada, the introduction of New Age religion into the high schools, and saw the acceptance of the homosexual clergy.
Of course, as I was in charge of retreats, I planned the "real deal" on repentance and salvation.
I did this, and was called into the office, and was told I had no right to talk about sin to my high school students, who attended a wealthy school. Many were on drugs and most were no longer virgins. The administration did not want to save souls, only make money, and keep up the pretense of Catholic education.
I could not be a real Catholic thing, but only "Catholic-Lite". Of course, my days were numbered.
A minister or a teacher can only help was is happening in the home at that age, and not take over the real responsibilities of the parents. The parents will answer before God for not having the domestic church. What we can do in those positions is also teach the adults to take responsibility for their own children.
The other priest I worked with in London, an eminent psychologist, and I could see the danger of "youth Masses". He refused to do them, as he saw, as I did, the damage to the soul and mind of so-called age appropriate Liturgy. It was grow-up time in the Catholic Chaplaincy.
I learned all this the hard way. Notre Dame did as well. Whether the chaplains changed their approach or not after that survey, I do not know.
But, there is only one proper worship for God, and we sin seriously in not teaching this at an early age.
I shall go to the TLM later today, and there are at least 15-20 children under the age of 16 or so. They all behave beautifully. They are not being taught that they are the center of worship, but that God is the center of the Mass.
The last point I want to make is that the Mass is not for evangelization. What I mean is, we do not create an atmosphere of emotional manipulation at Mass in order to bring people to God. This is a Protestant mind-set. Nor is Mass entertainment, and sadly, much new Catholic music is entertainment, not true worship.
The Holy Spirit, through the Mass of the Ages, leads us all to God.
We do our youth a disservice with youth Masses. They will cling to a childish view of themselves and God and not enter into the virtue of religion. We are not preparing saints for the world, but "spiritual children" who have not learned how to stand up to the greatest time of evil ever seen since the days of the barbarians.
One more point. We missed our regular Mass one Sunday in California and had to attend the only one we could find in the evening. We had been travelling. It was a Life Teen Mass. It was horrible.
It was an abomination before the Lord. God forgive me for not knowing what it was all about-this was in 2007.
To see and hear people at the sacredness of Mass in flip-flops, halter tops, and sing Protestant songs was a shock to me. To see and hear the priest speak of feelings and emotions as if he were a summer camp director was disgusting.
God forgive us. This is just plain evil. Tell me what this has to do with the Triune God? This is all entertainment and emotional manipulation and our youth will be swept away by the times to come.
I remind people that the Pope Emeritus said no singing or instrumentals during the Consecration, and that the guitar and piano were not liturgical instruments. Think of why....
And, as clergy and laity, what right to we have to manipulate and impose our sinful natures on to the glorious Mass, the Sacrifice of Christ, the center of our prayer? Think of how we shall be judged for mocking God, for wanting to be God.....
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