A WOMAN IN THE PULPIT AT ST BRIGID'S UPDATED

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Before Fr Bryan left, he headed a campaign to recruit volunteers for ministries, including Liturgy of the Word.

This, from Sharon Crooks, is one of a string of so many comments on my post A WOMAN IN THE PULPIT AT ST BRIGID'S that I thought they deserved a proper airing.

Sharon continues: 
Fr Bryan was careful to do this training himself and if previous training sessions are anything to go by, we know that reverence was a priority.  He knew all too well the dilemma his absence would reveal: that without Liturgy of the Word his spiritually hungry flock would starve.  

Just as he anticipated, priestly supply would prove problematic.  

Fr Bryan's pastoral heart was evident. His love of the Liturgy is not, now!  

Had the latter been fostered and some of the vociferous baby boomers been hushed, then I'm sure he'd have gone on to offer the TLM in Pahiatua.  

Maybe he’d still be here and maybe the flock would have grown in number and be well-fed on the Word, his Homily, and Our Eucharist Lord.

That woman who mounted the pulpit knows the dilemma of what she is doing; Fr Bryan would have taught her as much.  Many of those St Brigid’s parishioners cannot travel; a handful will not travel. We need to fathom how to do more than simply ushering women to their nearest sanctuary 'exit'! 
  

Mind you, there are those who need more than a gentle nudge to get out, but that’s a different issue.  Instead, these are the women Fr Bryan knew he would have to entrust his flock to, in the interim.  

Whilst I can’t speak for all, many of the elderly in that parish have been told to sit, kneel, stand, and don’t kneel.  Those women have had their heads covered and uncovered.  

They tell of a time when the pews of St Brigid’s held 400+ parishioners; today they hold about 40.  They have the photos to show that it was a Church of extraordinary beauty once; now it’s like a meeting hall. 

Perhaps amid all these changes, many elderly simply learnt to weather the storms that went on around them in parishes, doing as told. With equal docility, they now accept Liturgy of the Word and think nothing of those a generation or two below them ‘mounting the pulpit’ today.   They have their Lord and all the blessings He imparts to them from the previous Mass and that is their main concern, obligation met or not is another story. 

+Charles created this dilemma and I think Fr Bryan did his best to anticipate this and manage it, with the time, energy and resources available to him.  He’d been gone roughly two or three weeks when Joe (Fr Joseph Grayland) convened a gathering for all those who had ‘trained’ in Liturgy of the Word, including those from St Brigid’s and St Joseph’s Dannevirke.  Coincidence?  Hmmm. 

As someone who has both offered Liturgy of the Word out of compassion for the elderly and immobile AND also ran a mile from doing so, I do not envy the predicament those poor parishioners now find themselves in!  

Like you, I pray that in time, more and more will discover the ‘bright lights’ of Ashurst, and the peace and beauty of the Traditional Liturgy. 

I say: 

Grateful thanks Sharon, for sharing your insights. I wonder what the men at St Brigid's are doing? Evidently not leading Liturgies of the Word. Why not? 
I'd also add that when I knew no better, and led Liturgies of the Word (and felt so out of place doing it) I kept out of the sanctuary, unless I had to proclaim the Gospel (fish-out-of-water territory, absolutely).

'Anonymous' said:  

You will be on the black list now.It must take you hours to set up your uploads, but the truth is there. 

Adelie Reid said:

I happen to live in a town where I have the choice of novus ordo or traditional mass. I've been to both, but definitely choose to stay Novus ordo. The lovely ambiguous line you write 'There is no temptation of women's wiles there.' could be interpreted several ways... but ultimately as much as I love the traditional mass, the rites and rituals, and the sacramentals I have no desire to attend a church which will consider my uncovered head a source of distraction.... 

Bollocks if men want to not be distracted they need to get on with being clothed in modesty themselves. In previous articles you have written of people kneeling and seeing women's hips and loins and worse still short skimpy skirts.... 

Do not testicles also hang low, perhaps men should wear skirts and cover their buttocks which can also be alluring and shapely? 

I too like to try and live in a state of grace and no doubt fail abysmally however I should not consider anyone else to be the course of my lack of grace.... so lets stop blaming women for men being distracted.... 

Womens wiles?? Julie honestly The way to end rape is for rapists not to rape.... its nothing to do with victims clothes The way to stop paedophilia is to stop using children to satisfy lust and the way to stop men being distracted in church is to enter their own state of grace.

I say:

I should have explained the primary reason for covering women’s heads in church is to emphasise the beauty and mystery of womanhood. It’s the equivalent of men uncovering their heads in church: a gesture of humility and reverence. It’s a way to emulate the BVM who wore a veil and gave it to her Son to cover Himself on the cross.

The veil is also very flattering … I myself was prompted to wear it by a homily which ridiculed such pre-Vat practices as hats, and as a gesture of reverence to our Eucharistic Lord, so often ignored and generally treated as if He were not there and as if the church were a public hall.

Women wearing clothes that advertise their sex appeal to all and sundry is a bit like leaving your handbag unattended in a bar. You take care of your handbag because it's valuable. So is your body.

Adelie added:

And I actually attend Benediction and Confession, Have a devotion to the Sacred Heart, to the First Fridays, to the Immaculate Heart and First Saturdays, and attend weekday Mass, I recite the Rosary , attend Adoration, and occasionally get on Retreats, or Missions, ..... As for nuns arranging flowers on the altar, no I don't see that, but I see others sharing their talents in that role and I see both altar boys and girls popping out of their robing room but not by magic.

I say (with apologies for the tiny font, of my computer's choosing, not mine):

You and I both owe our mothers hugely, don't we, for the priceless gift of faith they handed on.
The point re nuns is not so much that they arranged the flowers but simply that they were there.
And when girls are wearing servers’ robes, boys are inclined to see them as dresses. Boys of that age prefer to be with boys. Girls do the altar serving thing better than boys. All of which puts boys off, and altar serving at the side of the priest is where future priests are most likely to have their first deep experience of liturgy. As a result, the post-V2 innovation of ‘altar girls’, as Cardinal Burke has observed, has harmed the development of priestly vocations.

Adelie adds more:

I also know you'll be able to outwit me with words ... and perhaps make me appear foolish and even sinful, but honestly God doesn't mind that I'm a woman cause that's how I'm created, I imagine He minds more that his beloved church supposedly minds....

I say: 

Yes, you're a woman because God created you as such. Thanks be to God.

Bob Gill says:

When I first heard about the lack of a priest to say Sunday Mass in Pahiatua, I thought that parishioners would then automatically go to the Latin Mass in nearby Ashhurst. Why, then, would they instead opt to listen to a Liturgy of the Word at home? I know the Liturgy preference fulfils our Sunday obligation, but surely most Catholics would prefer a Mass any day.




I say:

"The Sunday obligation is to assist at Mass. A Communion service can never fulfill that obligation. In other words, if Mass is possible at another time, one is obliged to go to Mass. If Mass is unavailable, one does well to assist at a Communion service but has no obligation to do so". (Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university, Rome.)

Bob Gill responds:

Interesting, Julia. I am sure I have read somewhere, and just recently, that in an emergency situation like when a priest is unavailable to say Mass, the Liturgy of the Word will fulfill the Sunday obligation. You've got me wondering now if this is yet another liberal approach from the Church of Nice.

I say: 

Here we enter a grey area. When there's no Mass in our own parish we have to decide for ourselves, according to our conscience, whether we should attend a Liturgy of the Word (which does not fulfill our obligation) in our parish, or get ourselves to another parish where Mass is celebrated. 

Think of the distances we travel on Sundays maybe just for lunch at some winery, or to a sports fixture or a movie or concert. If we're up to travelling for that, I reckon we're obliged to travel the same distance for Holy Mass.

It depends on your age, your health, and the distance and expense involved, but above all on your love for the Mass and our Eucharistic Jesus.
Bob Gill again: This past week I have been trying to find out why, once again, a priest is available to celebrate a Sunday Mass in Dannevirke, but there is no priest available for the same day Sunday Mass in Pahiatua. A Liturgy of the Word, though, is scheduled for Pahiatua. After reading the comments generated from your headline above, you can imagine what thoughts are now running through my head! I reply:

A Dannevirke parishioner called on the services of Fr James Lyons, a St Joseph's Dannevirke 'old boy', who is obliging.
We must assume that no one in Pahiatua has a priest up their sleeve - or perhaps because Ashhurst is relatively close, St Brigid's parishioners hope those who can drive and can afford it, will go to the Traditional Latin Mass at Ashhurst? As we all know, God draws good out of evil.