WOMEN IN THE PULPIT: COMING TO A CHURCH NEAR YOU

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The strategy around the scandal of Liturgies of the Word substituting for Holy Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North, was revealed this morning at Mass (aren't we  just the lucky ones!) by Father in his homily. 

It’s intended as an example for people in the likes of Eketahuna, Dannevirke and Waipukurau to emulate.

Our congregation was softened up for the imminent likelihood of a similar fate. Father warned a hushed congregation of the need not just for Liturgies of the Word, but the need for Someone to give 'Reflections'. Certain people sat up ram-rod straight, eyes front, hoping no one was looking in their direction. 

I'm inclined to think that Father postponed the news about forthcoming Liturgies of the Word with 'Reflections' until he'd received my letter telling him I'd come to the conclusion that as a female I have no place in the sanctuary. He must have heaved a sigh of relief. Imagine how my 'Reflections' might have sounded … how they would have gone down ...

For the umpteenth time we heard about the lack of priests and were warned that Father can't go on for ever. Father shared the received wisdom of  Bishop Owen Dolan, gleaned at yesterday’s ordination of Fr Vui Hoang, that our new priests are coming from places (like Vietnam, like Fr Hoang) where the people have suffered. 

Hardly a revelation. New Zealanders have been spoiled rotten. God gave us Godzone and all the good things of this life, but for a long time now we've been taught next to nothing about the good things of the life to come. Why would a normal Kiwi boy want to be a priest? We don't cherish the priesthood. With hardly anyone attending weekday Masses and Sunday Masses not much better, this parish does not deserve a priest.

I console myself with the reflection that as our suffering increases – with the passing for example of the iniquitous Seymour Bill and new revelations of predatory, homosexual satanic sex rituals involving the deceased Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago – the attraction of our refuge in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus becomes so much more appealing, and even necessary. 

And priestly vocations will rise.


Linda Clarke says: Oh, Oh, Oh, X 3 million times!

It reads like a horror-story.    I LOVE your last comment, and I say

"Amen"!   

People aren't going to be hoodwinked forever.   Some of us

have brains / hearts / minds that we lift to God in grief.     Satan
will not triumph over His Glorious Body!    What a rise up it will be
Julia....hang in there!




Leo Leitch says (in regard to MORE ON THAT WOMAN IN THE PULPIT AT ST BRIGID'S):

'Retired priest?' Fr James Lyons?!!! For goodness' sake, he'd be only a year or two older than me. The priesthood is not a career, it's a vocation. It lasts for life.

I say:

I don't know how old you are, Leo, but I agree completely. The priesthood is for life.  In fact, "for ever, according to the order of Melchizedek". I think retirement for priests and bishops is an invention of  'the Spirit of Vatican II' (puts me in mind of Scrooge's Ghost of Christmas Past).

Sharon Crooks says:

Perhaps your parish priest could print copies of your blog posts and distribute after Mass. Better than most reflections and more educational than some homilies.

I say:

Are you damning me 'with faint praise'???