Thursday, March 09, 2006
Society of . . .?
In these troubled times, it's heartening to know that there are men of God - soldiers of God, if you will - who defend the faith and take stands against this sinful world.
Or, maybe not.
But really, I can't get all that upset. These geriatric heterodox dinosaurs are a dying breed. American seminaries are full of bright, young, orthodox men who are becoming bright, young, orthodox priests. This fact naturally distresses those "Spirit of Vatican II" priests who see that their attempts to turn the American Catholic Church into just a mere sect of high-church Protestantism has failed. Oh, to be sure they have succeeded in some respects. Every prohibition on kneeling after the Agnus Dei, and every chatty priest who thinks nothing of completely altering the text of the Mass is a reminder that the the infusion of the heterodox dinosaurs in the higher reaches of the Church is quite severe. But their time is at an end.
That's not to say that the liberal element within Catholicism is ever going to disappear. There will always be those who feel that they know better than the magisterium. But there is a growing sense even among this group that the jig is up. The cafteria is closed.
Or, maybe not.
The consequence of not being free is sin. I suspect many in this community have already seen Brokeback Mountain. If not see it; if you have, see it again and reflect on the consequences of not being interiorly free, the consequences of not knowing who you really are and want to become, the tragic consequences and subsequent devastation that comes from only living in a “pretend” world. Watch carefully the price of dishonesty in yourself and with those whom you try to love.Every now and then I feel that despite many years of Catholic education, there's still so much about Catholicism that I don't know. After all, I attended one of the most rigorous high schools in New York, if not the country. And then it hits me - I didn't receive a Catholic education, but instead I got a Jesuit education.
Let this Lent be a Brokeback Lent.
But really, I can't get all that upset. These geriatric heterodox dinosaurs are a dying breed. American seminaries are full of bright, young, orthodox men who are becoming bright, young, orthodox priests. This fact naturally distresses those "Spirit of Vatican II" priests who see that their attempts to turn the American Catholic Church into just a mere sect of high-church Protestantism has failed. Oh, to be sure they have succeeded in some respects. Every prohibition on kneeling after the Agnus Dei, and every chatty priest who thinks nothing of completely altering the text of the Mass is a reminder that the the infusion of the heterodox dinosaurs in the higher reaches of the Church is quite severe. But their time is at an end.
That's not to say that the liberal element within Catholicism is ever going to disappear. There will always be those who feel that they know better than the magisterium. But there is a growing sense even among this group that the jig is up. The cafteria is closed.
# posted by Paul Zummo : 8:26 AM
