Thursday, October 04, 2007
PRIESTLESS PARISHES - SCHISM IN THE MAKING
NOR has linked a Chiesa story about the Dutch Augustinian friars and the Holland Dominicans that is eye-popping/jaw dropping.
When Vibrant Parish Life was instituted in my diocese and I attended the parish meetings early in the process, I was stunned to learn that one of the team leaders believed that a parish could function quite nicely without a priest.
Those of you who have lurked here for a while know that I have great distrust of the Hosts which I have not seen consecrated with my own eyes, and also distrust of Hosts consecrated by a liberal priest. I'm sure most of you have concluded that I was sort of tilted on this issue. Please think again.
Sandro Magister's story is titled "In Holland, They're Inventing Their Own Mass - Copyrighted by the Dominicans". Truly the article must be read to be believed.
From the article:
** In Nijmegen, Holland, in the church of the Augustinian friars, each Sunday the Mass is concelebrated by a Protestant and a Catholic, with one presiding over the liturgy of the Word and the sermon, and the other over the liturgy of the Eucharist, in alternation. The Catholic is almost always a layperson, and is often a woman. For the Eucharistic prayer, the texts of the missal are passed over in favor of texts composed by the former Jesuit Huub Oosterhuis. The bread and wine are shared by all....(emphasis mine)
** Also in Holland, the Dominicans have gone even farther, with the consent of the provincials of the order. Two weeks before the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" went into effect, they distributed in all the 1,300 Catholic parishes a 9,500-word booklet entitled "Kerk en Ambt", "The Church and the Ministry," in which they propose to make into a general rule what is already practiced spontaneously in various places.
The proposal of the Dominican fathers is that, in the absence of a priest, a person chosen from the community should preside over the celebration of the Mass...
** In some churches, the faithful clearly understand the distinction between the Mass and the substitute rite. But in others they don't, and the two ceremonies are thought to be equal in value, entirely interchangeable. Even more, the fact that it is a group of the faithful that selects the man or woman who leads the celebration of the substitute liturgy reinforces among the faithful the idea that their selection "from below" is more important than the sending of a priest from outside of the community, and "from above." ...
** The words of consecration are often replaced during the Mass by "expressions easier to understand and more in tune with modern faith experience." In the substitute rite, it often happens that non-consecrated hosts are added among the consecrated hosts, and all of them are distributed together for communion.
There is a link over there that will take you to an English translation of the Dominican's booklet.
If this is allowed to stand, the Church in Holland is doomed to collapse. All of the pious talk about the gates of hell not prevailing won't save it. If it is allowed to stand, it will come to the U.S. with the help of the nuns and other women who have already had themselves "ordained."
Have mercy on us, Lord!
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
