A WOMAN IN THE PULPIT AT ST BRIGID'S - AND JIM CAVIEZEL

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At St Brigid's, Pahiatua, in the absence of the late, much-lamented Father Bryan Buenger, parishioners are treated instead of Mass to a 'Liturgy of the Word', led by a woman who "gets up into the pulpit". 

My informant has seen many, many priests come and go in Pahiatua - and in Eketahuna too, where the priest at the time of Father Peter Cullinane's ordination as Bishop of the new Diocese of Palmerston North was obviously, given the evidence of the fruits of +Cullinane's tenure, invested with the gift of prophecy.

Our PP said last Sunday, in tones that indicated this was an accolade, that "the cathedral is now responsible for every parish from Dannevirke to Pahiatua". 

He meant that the cathedral is having to supply priests for Sunday Masses in all those churches, but in reality 'the cathedral' or the bishop, has always been responsible for all those parishes and the fact that they are now unpriested speaks volumes about the way the bishop has met his responsibility. It is a terrible scandal, it is simply wicked, that so many faithful Catholics are now without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

My informant, a deeply pious long life-long Massgoer, said of the woman mounting the St Brigid's pulpit, "I didn't like that". It's probably the most uncharitable remark she's ever made. 

Is St Brigid's perhaps regretting that they found fault with their priest while they still had one? 

A convert of 15 years' standing, Linda Clarke, has weighed in with the following comment on my confession, in A FEMALE IN CIVVIES GETS OUT OF THE SANCTUARY, that I've only recently realized women have no place in that male domain. Linda says:

"I'll tell you what really spoke to me re the head-covering and silence issues. Seeing the live-streamed Mass of St. Anthony's, Whanganui (Society of St Pius X, SSPX).    

No women were visible, no women spoke or were in the sanctuary. I suddenly saw that it's a man's world.

There is no temptation of women's wiles there. They are fully able to be engrossed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The reverence of even the little altar boys makes me cry.    

Oh, what a tragedy, all the levity, and the what-not for the children these days. Let us women keep to our women's world and respect God and the males in their holy roles.

Another woman in her 40s, says: "It's been such a messy time for the Church during this post Vatican 2 'renovation'. 

I was born after V2 so never knew the Traditional form of the Mass till recently. So many changes neatly tucked in over the years, to make them seem now almost like two different faiths! So many people have been swept up by the 'progression' of change. And feeling sadly bereft now as they realise what has been lost."

But I myself believe the loss has been so insidious, so gradual, that most people in the pews have forgotten what they once had: Benediction, Confessions, devotion to the Sacred Heart, to the First Fridays, to the Immaculate Heart and First Saturdays, encouragement to attend weekday Mass, recitation of the Rosary before Mass, 40 Hours' Adoration, Retreats, Missions, nuns arranging flowers on the altar, altar boys popping out of their robing room as if by magic. Just about all gone.

As the renowned Father Richard Heilman https://www.romancatholicman.com 
has said, the Sacraments and the sacramentals are our primary source of grace. They are our weapons in the battle against Satan and his demons, who as Fr Heilman says, have angelic minds infinitely superior to ours. Because since Vatican II we have dropped these weapons and shed our armour - which is the state of grace - we've lost the upper hand in the perennial war against evil, especially in the Church.

Even if we don't have the Mass, as is the sad case with St Brigid's Pahiatua, we have the Rosary. We have Our Lady's Fatima promise, that her Immaculate Heart will triumph. 

As Father Heilman says, "If you're not praying the Rosary daily, you're not fighting".

Linda Clarke says:

If it hadn't been for the (pre-Vatican II) writings of Maria Valtorta (Poem of the Man God) in the 1950 Notebooks re Adam and Eve, I would possibly not have seen the subject of no women in the sanctuary or sacristy or involved in the Mass in the same way.   

It's a huge subject, but once you 'get it', you see that there is a need for this sort of segregation. A husband has his wife, and the wife, her husband. The priest is to be honoured as the one who offers the holy sacrifice for us, and his role to be revered. He's not just a friend to be chatty with."

I say: 

I somehow doubt that Cardinal (call me John) Dew would agree with you. The Church of Nice says 'putting priests on pedestals' was a bad habit, and now tries to knock those pedestals from under their feet by encouraging them to wear civvies (even monks, in public!) and suggest to the faithful that they shouldn't call priests 'Father'.

Just where are their heads at? Or their hearts? Jesus Christ said that: "No one puts a light under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it might shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5,15) - an instruction so important He repeats it in the other synoptic gospels.

In the Divine Office for today, the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the whole Church prays, "Lord Jesus Christ, you sent the Paraclete from the Father's side to be your witness: make us also your witnesses before men".

So why do the hierarchy, in NZ at least, want priests to go round in disguise, in open-necked shirts and jeans like any Tom, Dick or Harry, and now suggest they be addressed likewise? You tell me.  

Bishops and priests, you above all, please heed the words of Catholic actor Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, and who dedicated his life and acting career to Our Blessed Mother:

"At Fatima, Our Lady promised that, “"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph… and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” Let us trust in these words of Our Lady. Let us pray, especially before our Eucharistic Jesus, for true and lasting world peace through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of All Peoples.

She will keep her promise, but we must do our part.  As St. Bernard has written, and as I have seen in my own life: “You will not go astray if you follow her…; you will not get lost if you call to her.  If she is holding you by the hand you will not fall.  If she is protecting you, you have nothing to fear.  You will not grow weary if she is at your side.”  But you must reach out to her."

'Anonymous'  says:

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 says:

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 ...

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 Reid adds:

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:

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.
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.
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.

Leo Leitch says:

Well, if you can't get to Sunday Mass, the obligation doesn't apply, does it ? Adelie's reference to testicles being a distraction in church is somewhat provocative, isn't it ? I can't imagine that any girl or woman has ever spotted testicles in church, let alone been distracted by them !!