THE STATUE, THE CHAIR AND THE CHURCH

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A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been ordered out of the sanctuary of St Columba's Church in Ashhurst. By the Bishop Emeritus.  +Peter Cullinane.

The statue normally resides in a niche to the right of the sanctuary, that being the BVM's time-honoured position in very many Catholic churches. But for Holy Mass and Rosary in the month of May (Mary's month), parishioners decided she should be placed more prominently, on the extreme right of the sanctuary, and given a silk-draped frame illuminated with lights.

Bishop Cullinane waited till after the last Sunday of May before issuing an edict that it be removed from the sanctuary because - wait for it - it obscured The Presidential Chair.

I asked whether, at their Sunday (Vigil) Mass, their little church was ever full to bursting. "Oh well, it's usually pretty full," they said. But not apparently so full that any unfortunates would be forced to sit right in front of the statue and look at Our Lady instead of  The Presidential Chair - and its occupant, who more often than not happens to be Bishop Cullinane. 

+Cullinane has a reputation for statue-shifting. Another statue of the BVM, much loved by at least some of the congregation at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, was banished years ago to the bowels of that church and replaced by a modern wooden version which is loathed by the same 'some of the congregation'. I can't offer an opinion on its aesthetic appeal because to me, seen at a distance as I come and go it does not invite closer inspection. Quite the contrary.

I'm told that in fact, +Cullinane prefers his churches bare. Stripped of ornamentation, like Protestant churches. +Cullinane is famous also for instigating the do-we-stand-or-do-we-kneel-or-do-we-sit contretemps which still divides and confuses this Diocese. 

The standing fashion, I note, runs out at about Hastings; in Napier at St Patrick's they kneel. (Except when they're told by the Marist priests there, at Requiems of  life-long faithful Catholics, "you're invited to sit" - for the Eucharistic Prayer! Is that noxious modern Jesuitical influence now affecting the Marist Order? More of that another time, perhaps.)

I suppose it was also +Cullinane who relegated the only indult Traditional Latin Mass in the diocese to an out-of-the-way, tiny country church; the TLM which is a bulwark, standing between what remains of the Catholic Church and the globalists' designs for a New World Order and a New World 'Church'.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the other bulwark defending the holy, Roman Catholic Church from the insidious Protestantism of our modern churches and liturgies, and from the Freemasonry which declared its hatred for Our Blessed Mother in Fatima following her apparition to three shepherd children, in persecution and psychological torture by the local mayor, a freemason. 

For the worldly-wise who pooh-pooh any criticism of freemasonry ("freemasons are lovely people, they do a lot of good"), I reference the words of St Maximilian Kolbe, who witnessed the violently anti-Catholic celebrations of Freemasonry's 200th Anniversary in Rome in 1917:

"Satan will rule in the Vatican and the Pope will serve him in the uniform of a Swiss guard, and other things of that kind. This mortal hatred for the Church of Jesus Christ and for His Vicar (is) a systematic action proceeding from the principle of Freemasonry: Destroy all religion, whatever it may be, especially the Catholic religion."

I think the statue of the BVM in St Columba's Ashhurst may be that of Our Lady of Fatima. Even if not, what real reason can there be for the removal from the sanctuary during Holy Mass of a statue of Our Lady? 

To suggest it on the grounds that it obstructs the view of The Presidential Chair - and upon It, Bishop Emeritus Peter Cullinane - must surely be specious?  

'Unknown' says: 

This ties in with what a priest told me soon after I moved to the Dannevirke parish a few years ago: The aim of the Palmerston North hierarchy is to remove from the Catholic churches everything that is Catholic. A good example of that in St Joseph’s, for example, is that you won’t find any religious paintings hanging inside the church; they hang in the church foyer only. 

At the Catholic Schools Day Mass in St Joseph’s last Tuesday the Blessed Sacrament was somewhat stripped of reverence too. Communicants were starting to join the Communion queue when the celebrant changed his stance and allowed all of the children, row by row, to FIRST come forward for a blessing! I was so incensed that I immediately left the church. 

What can we do about all these changes? You can’t complain to the Bishop or the Liturgy Office as they rarely answer emails, from my experience. 

I say: 

Who was the celebrant? He did this publicly and you are 'unknown' so no reason for us to be coy. If we're forewarned about certain priests' abuse of their liturgical office, we're forearmed.

'Unknown' replies: 

The celebrant was Monsignor David Bell.


Paul Collits says: 
Great post, Julia.


'Anon' says:

Julia, surely its nothing to do with the presidential chair.  Surely the issue at Ashhurst is two groups having to share the same church, a Novo Mass group and a Latin Mass group. 

Surely the issue is who is in control of the church?  From what I have seen there is massive infighting in some parishes over everything, and that's with only one group in residence.  Put two groups in the same church and you have to expect bedlam.

Surely the correct response is to have the good bishop, in the spirit of love and mercy, mediate the relationship between the two groups, perhaps over coffee.  An edict letter looks like a sledgehammer and mismanagement to me.

'Anon' then adds:

The Mary statue in the cathedral seems to be a modern feminist statement.  Mary is normally portrayed in statues (and the Bible) as the humble handmaiden (Her words from today's Gospel) offering to serve God.  

The wooden Mary statue in the Cathedral turns most every previous image of Mary on its head.  The wooden Mary seems to me a strident, self assertive figure.  It shouts, 'look at me!'  What is the motive for this? 

 I can only guess.

'Anonymous' says:

Most excellent post. Correct, and critical. It's a pity they are impervious to criticism, because they are dictators. And the clerics have dictated the corruption of the Mass and our church furnishings since V2. Of course, they cannot corrupt the Faith, but they do impede many of the NO faithful practising it.