Saturday, August 6, 2011

Quote for Today:

"The sickness of a family member, friend or neighbor is a call to Christians to demonstrate true compassion, that gentle and persevering sharing in another’s pain."  ---Pope John Paul II


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

CHANGE and MORE CHANGE?

As a Catholic Returning to the Church after 25 years in the Evangelical Church, I find myself ‘missing’ the reverence I had experienced as a young Catholic.  So many changes and experiments have been tried in so many dioceses across the United States.  There has been the use of crystal rather than gold for patens and chalices.  There were modern music experiments, removal of kneelers, moving of the tabernacle to less obvious places or to small adoration chapels completely.  I have not seen ALL of these changes here in my own dioceses, but have witnessed them as I travel around the State and the south of the US.

One of the first things I noticed with my return was the number of people who no longer genuflect or even bow before the tabernacle prior to entering the pew or passing by the front center, naïve of the church.  I have witnessed a few parents doing it, but their children walking right past them to hurry into the pew before them.  IT seems the only people who reverence the Alter and tabernacle these days are our Priests and Deacons, and of course the white and gray haired members.  Why don’t we ALL follow their example?

There has been much debate about this in the American Church and I do not think it is will end anytime soon.  I expect it will continue to come up especially when people see the changes coming to the Mass this fall with the New Roman Missal.  I applaud the changes, but I must admit I wish there were more changes coming with it.  I would consider it a ‘missed opportunity’ to NOT simultaneously implement additional changes that many Faithful Catholics long to see.  With the New Roman Missal, it would be a PERFECT opportunity to restore the reception of the holy EUCHARIST on the tongue and kneeling.  SO many of us receive it as if it is a ‘lunch line’ and especially the young people who probably have little or no idea what ‘reverence’ is.  Re-establishing the practice would highlight the importance, reverence and respect that so many seem to be missing in their experience.  It would re-establish for us a ‘teaching moment’ for all times.  Children will ask, "WHY do we kneel?"  Why on the Tongue?  Do YOU know why?

I had mentioned in a previous blog that the Church in the US has a kind of ‘variance’ in receiving communion.  Pope Benedict presently and rightly administers the sacrament of the Eucharist to communicants who are kneeling and on the Tongue.  In the US, our Bishops voted and sought for a variance several decades ago.  Although the OFFICIAL CHURCH teaching and practice is that we should all receive it kneeling and on the tongue.  IN the US, with the coming new Roman Missal we will find changes in the liturgy that re-establish original intentions and wording that the Church in her practices has changed.  In hindsight, it was a mistake to make some of these changes and therefore ‘corrections’ and tweaking… if you will… are restoring original meaning and intentions.  Again, I wish that we could restore the practice of receiving our Lord at the Eucharist while kneeling and on the tongue at the same time so that we have complete continuity with the rest of the Catholic Church and especially our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.    

What do you think?  I would be interested to hear some of your thoughts.