Monday, December 19, 2011
Thanks for the comments
I`ve decided to re-instate the ringing of a bell five minutes before the start of Mass again to indicate the start of silent preparation for Mass. I suppose we can`t do anything about the end of Mass. We used to ring this bell but sometimes people thought it was the bell for the start of Mass and even the hymns would start on occasion. It is so hard to try to make a difference in a parish and this isn`t about Latin or ad orientem but simply giving space to let people pray before and after Mass.
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10 comments:
Why not emulate the shrine of Sty Francis in Assisi? All you need is an old gadgee with a gravelly voice and a microphone. In Assisi the old gadgee says 'silenzio' from time to time and it seems to work. Maybe in Forest Hall your old gadgee could say 'haad yer gobs'.
Any possibility of silence after Mass?
May I nominate someone as Forest Hall's 'Old Gadgee', please? I have the ideal candidate in mind.
Father...
I am bereft. You obviously haven't taken on board the new thinking in the Church, the new, open, democratic, all-encompassing multi-equality structures which are struggling to haul a hierarchical male dominated oppressive Church kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
What you should have done was to have called a meeting of the stake holders in the parish, using the existing democratic structures which you surely have in the parish..
The committees - Liturgy,Finance,Property,Cafod, Justice and Peace, Pax Christi, Youth Ministry, Children's Liturgy, Middle Aged Liturgy, Old Gadgees Liturgy, Gay Lesbian and Transvestite Ministry, Amnesty International, Welcoming Ministry, Readers Ministry, Special Ministers' Group, Folk Music Ministry, Fairtrade Coffee Ministry, Ecumenical Group, Churches Together, Hindu/Muslim/Jewish Outreach Ministry, Women's Ordination Pressure Group, Married Men's Ordination Group, Divorced Men & Women's Ordination Group, and other groups too numerous to mention.
A representative from each group would meet, at which meeting you would be able to circulate a paper setting out the pros and cons of silence in Church. (You must not be too restrictive in advocating your own prejudice)
The representatives would then go back to their own committees, who would in turn set up sub committees of the committees to debate the rights and wrongs of silence. The sub committees would then report back to their committees with recommendations for further discussion.
Eventually, having gone through a fully democratic process within each committee, a full plenary meeting of all committees could then debate the merits and demerits of silence. To make certain that all stake holders have had an opportunity to freely and fully debate the silence issue, the suggestion from the plenary committee could be discussed before, during or immediately after the Sunday Worship Session (formerly known as Mass).
Once a consensus of democratic opinion has been reached, then the Facilitator (formerly known as the parish priest)would be informed.
In a truly democratic manner, the Facilitator would be compelled to abide by the will of the people, as expressed by a new body to be called "We Are Church".
You see, Father, you are not sufficiently in tune with modern trends. I could suggest a session or two at the Hans Kung Re-Education Establishment. Did wonders for Bruce Kent.
Don't you think, Father, that all this chattering in church is largely a result of the post-Vat 2 idea of people doing "their own thing" and ruling the Church from the bottom, rather like so many of those "happy-clappy" outfits?
If no priest is brave enough to tell people to shut up (and it seems that that is the case) maybe the priest could wear a pair of those super Bosch Sound Cancelling Headphones (advert.) when he enters the church, when he says Mass and as he leaves the church after Mass as a gentle hint that he wishes to say something to the people?
Perhaps your postings 'Thanks for the comments' and 'I read the pastoral letter on silence and ...' might be merged into one?
Apropos the same subject may it be that sermons (or even homilies, sad to say) are also treated with the same indifference as pastoral letters? Just a thought.
The Septic Believer is obviously suffering from an excess of disgruntlement (if there is such a word). I felt that Fr Brown was developing his thought processes in a public forum, and it was illuminating to observe the process by proxy.
Maybe our Septic friend has been waiting for someone to mention some of his sacred cows (or should that be bullocks?)
He has obviously never got over the experience of riding the trolley bus to the Milvain Club, where he observed the Little Sisters dancing to the John Vianney Orchestra and their Black Potato Shimmy Shuffle.
"That's All, Folks", as Bugs Bunny used to say.
1569 Rising(to the bait) is correct; there is such a word! Good that the old fella is sometimes right'
I do worry about anyone developing his ideas 'in a public forum' (how very Roman it sounds) since I feel it better for the ideas to be developed beforehand so they sound more riveting.
On a point of accuracy, I never did go to the Milvain Club by trolley bus; I had a car in those days (not the one I now have, of course).
Merry Christmas!
The Septic Believer is having us on.
Cars, at least the petrol types, hadn't been invented when he was a lad. It was either a steam waggon or a horse-drawn tram which conveyed the youthful gentleman to his evening trysts at the Milvain.
Anyway, I heard that he used to follow the horses with a shovel and pail - good for the rhubarb, so they say.
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