Fresh from Mass. Pondering what the substitute priest said:
- Church isn't here in this big fancy building, it's at your house. God said so.
- You are the church, you the people. Not me, the priest. That's where my bosses, the bishops and the popes, are wrong. Their priorities are all messed up.
- The only reason we come here is because we can't all fit at one person's house, it would be too crowded.
- People are too attached to old drafty buildings with statues and paintings because we are materialistic.
- God doesn't live in the tabernacle, He lives at your house, and my house, and black people's houses, and Muslim's houses, and Buddhist's houses, because the Holy Spirit breathed life into everyone, and that continues after the body is dead. Why do we even have bodies?
- God doesn't care what religion you are. He made us all in his image. He doesn't only care about Catholics, we don't have an exclusive relationship with God because we call ourselves Catholics.
- There are as many, if not more, bad Catholics as good Catholics.
- People get too hung up on what is said and what is done or not done at Mass.
- We are racists and bigots if we think it's ok to have fenced yards or build walls to keep people out of anywhere they might want to go to find a better life, and if we live in a nicer house than anyone else but don't invite them in or give them enough of what we have so that they can live in just as nice a place as we do.
- We, as Americans, as Catholics, sponsor terrorism right here at home in America because we do these things to the less fortunate. We don't help them enough, so we help keep them down.
- No one will tell you the truth about these things. Not our Bishops, our Popes, or Mother Angelica, because it is too uncomfortable for them, so they focus on the materialistic and ritualistic, which is meaningless.
- If we leave the building today unwilling to share all that we have, we are sinners, because we are racists and bigots and we are not following God's commandments.
- As racists and bigots, we're in for a big shock on election day, one way or another.
- The issue on election day boils down to one issue. We have to pick between a woman...and a black man who has experienced racism and bigotry all his life, but is an example of overcoming and transcending all of those things to bring his message to the world. "Sound familiar?"
- You can do what is most comfortable at the consecration, the Our Father, and the Lamb of God. Sit if you want, you don't have to kneel, just be comfortable [about 1/4 of the people - of all ages - were thrilled with this advice and stayed on the pews]. AND:
- (this is my own query) Is there an annotated version or one with commentary to be recited during the consecration? "This is my body...you know, the one that God gave me here on earth...that I'm now giving up for you. Because that's what God sent me here for." And so it continued.
What has he loosed on the parishioners today?
I don't think I went to Mass today. Maybe a Unitarian Universalist meeting or a Communist political rally? The Beloved, the Princess and I kept looking at one another, jaws dropping, wondering what the heck was going on. We did one of my pet peevey things - we took off out a side door after Communion.
It's not so much a matter of validity or licit-ness of the Mass. The form was [loosely] followed, but the substance wasn't there - just a lot of leftist ranting. The new ponytailed deacon did not concelebrate - he and his wife did the guitar, handclappy and swaying thing (which the priest swayed along with) in place of the atrocious but well-meaning choir, which usually starts back up after Labor Day.
I have had such an emotionally, physically, and now spiritually draining week. I just want to curl up and hibernate with my tea, my vast collection of Brit Lit DVD adaptations, my Butler's and my breviary for the foreseeable future.
