Friday, November 16, 2012

He`s not Vatican 2

This is two years old but I`d not seen it before. Sounds somewhat familiar.Pity about `orientam`.

4 comments:

James said...

Thanks for the amusing and informative video. However in defence of "Spirit of Vatican II" people it should be pointed out that Mass Facing the People, Communionm in the Hand etc. are sanctioned / permitted in official Church documents issued since Vatican II and so however regretable they may be, they cannot be considered abuses. Even the dodgy translation which mercifully we have just been delivered from came about partly as a result of translation guidelines which came from the Vatican. We just have to admit that these are blunders which for whatever reason or however well intentioned have their origin in official Church directives, and we cannot really blame obedient priests or Bishops, still less the laity for simply doing what they were asked or encouraged to do.Its unlikely that this situation will change unless and until there are official documents/instructions reversing them. Even Pope Benedict who (as Cardinal Ratzinger)is on record as saying Mass facing the people was a mistake, continues to say Mass in this way,presumably because he thinks that trying to reverse this would at the moment at least, do more harm than good.

Fr Michael Brown said...

Thanks James. Good points. I always thought of this more as an apologetic for those who wish to use the `ad orientem` option rather than saying that it is normative.

Woody said...

Thank you for this very good pst, Father. Perhaps a further anecdote will be useful here, too: when my wife and I were visiting the Blue Mosque in Istanbul a year or so ago, after being shown the prayer hall and the place where the imam is positioned, I asked the guide, "excuse me, but when the imam leads the faithful in prayer, which way does he face?" The guide replied, "why, towards Mecca, of course." "Oh, and do the people think he is turning his back on them?" I asked. "No, of course not." he replied, "why do you ask this silly question?" "Just a Catholic thing", I answered.

ServusMariaeN said...

"....Issues like Communion in the Hand and altar girls are especially troublesome because they first began as acts of disobedience (that is, they were never approved yet bishops and priests were implementing these abuses within their local churches against the practice of the Church) and so it is important for the Church to put an end to these abuse to correct the current mindset that disobedience leads to approval and is therefore a good that must be safeguarded."

http://www.ecceagnusdei.blogspot.com/