FATHER IS FURIOUS AND THE BISHOP IS BAILED UP

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"I can see you all, you know, and I can see you're not praying! You're not listening to the Readings! None of you are (sic) praying the Mass!'

It was the Sunday before Christmas, the Fourth Sunday of Advent - last Sunday, to be precise. Father was not in a good mood, and that's putting it mildly. 

It was all because, after the Filipino Christmas Novena Mass on the preceding Friday evening, he'd been told the reason why those adorable Filipino children were nowhere to be seen until the time for Father's blessing was, someone had complained the previous night that they'd made a racket and run around the church, and they shouldn't be allowed. So on Friday night, those Filipino parents being as humble as they are, the children were banished till blessing time.

On Sunday morning - different congregation, different church even - Father was "very, very angry" with whomever had told the Filipinos their children shouldn't be allowed to attend Mass. He'd tossed and turned till 2 a m on Friday night, he said, because those children "are my children! They are my spiritual children!" 

To my knowledge, 'im indoors and I were the only people at Mass that Sunday morning who'd been present at the Filipino Mass which occasioned the complaint, which made his remarks particularly pointed. The rest of the homily doesn't bear repeating, but the remark quoted above  was very telling -almost as much as his Parthian shot, which was, "If you don't become like little children, you will go to Hell!   

"YOU WILL GO TO HELL!"

It was the first time in living memory that Father had uttered the 4-letter word which was not rarely on the lips of Jesus Christ. I nearly did what my father did many many years ago, for the first time ever in St Joseph's Waipukurau: I nearly clapped. (My father had clapped because the PP of his day had made favorable mention of Malcolm Muggeridge.)

I was glad also that Father had reminded the congregation, who were probably somewhat stunned, that a priest is a spiritual father to his flock. However, Father neglected to add that a priest is also responsible to God the Father of all for leading his spiritual children to Heaven.

To do that he must spiritually feed his children, or their souls will sicken and die on the rough and sometimes cruel path through the perils of this world, and yes, they will go to Hell.

Not only must Father provide food for the souls of his spiritual children, he must also care for those souls who are sick. Even Pope Francis seems to subscribe to this idea; he's described the Church as 'a field hospital'. But what happens when the doctors and nurses who staff the 'field hospital' are sick themselves?

I have slowly come to believe that the priest's task of feeding and nursing souls is almost Mission Impossible, mainly because our basic diet - the Novus Ordo ('New Mass') - is a subsistence diet, and our priests who are provenders and doctors for the soul are severely malnourished themselves, to the point of sometimes being sicker than their patients.

In Palmerston North Diocese, for example, there's no bishop feeding our priests or 'nursing' them, and no prospect of one for at least a year, which is apparently the length of time it will take for the Pope to pick a new one.

A reader of this blog asks, "Why? What's so hard about appointing a bishop? Why can they elect a new pope in three weeks and it takes a year to pick a bishop? It smacks of an agenda.

"Why don't they just choose Monsignor Brian Walsh (Acting Diocesan Administrator)? He is very reassuring in his manner. Or they could use one of the more forthright and orthodox priests who could do a very good job for a very long time. There's no reason why we should be in this state of suspended animation and co-dependency on the Pope and Cardinal (Dew). We know it's the norm, but why should it be this way when there are obvious candidates?

"We don't trust Cardinal Dew's promises regarding Fr Joe Grayland (that he will not be made bishop). The fact that he has been promoted to Cathedral Parish Priest is a clear indicator that this is a Fabian tactic; they're just biding their time, knowing full well that Fr Grayland is the man to implement the Pope's heterodox church as his bishop."

So, why are we in this parlous state? What was the reason for Bishop Charles Drennan's resignation? Why are the people of Palmerston North Diocese humiliated by their former bishop being hunted down, bailed up, covertly photographed (collarless of course) and depicted in the media like some sordid criminal?

Bishop Drennan proved incapable of living by his priestly vow of celibacy, probably for pretty much the same reason our PP is incapable of detachment from his spiritual children, and Fr Joe Grayland is incapable - by reason of his preaching heresy - of the role of bishop, and Pope Francis is incapable of delegating the role of appointing bishops.

Obviously Bishop Drennan fell for the modernist clerical idea that sexual pleasure is a right, to be indulged by priests more or less sub rosa, often with the unofficial blessing of their bishops. And please don't tell me that in the early Church priests were married and so, a la the 'Shamazonian Sin-od', they should be allowed to marry now.

In the early Church priests were married, yes, we know that from Scripture for a start, but they were married and celibate (however impossible that may sound to the modern sex-maniacal mind).

Okay: as a Proddy friend of mine told me, in connection with +Drennan, "women have always screwed priests", and there have been times in Church history when that was almost a given, when the 'concubinage of priests' was 'a plague' -
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/famed-catholic-historian-refutes-argument-that-priestly-celibacy-is-merely-church-discipline

- and that was when the Mass was celebrated in the usus antiquior (Traditional Latin Mass). So it seems there must be another factor at play in the failure of priests and their people to follow Christ in His way of the Cross, and of course there is.

But if you ask me, that factor is the best-kept secret of Catholic tradition. Or rather, it's known by some, "but is also widely ignored, for it contains an otherworldly wisdom that this world does not welcome" (Thomas Dubay SM, Fire Within.)

This is the the prayer of contemplation. St John of the Cross, significantly called a Doctor of the Church, tells us that works or apostolates carried out without prayer can actually cause harm, and as another reader of this blog says, in her opinion (and mine), "he is not talking about the Divine Office, Rosary or communal prayer, but that interior, lowly, contemplative prayer that transforms and transfigures the soul!

"Vatican II is clear on this point: bishops and priests are to share the fruits of their contemplation with their people (Decree on the Priesthood, num 12). Their first duty then is to teach them to pray."

"St Teresa of Avila says "One must drink from the source of the living waters of contemplation. This experiential loving knowledge of God is divine wisdom, which gives the soul a dark, luminous knowledge of God as He is in Himself. I know that this one loving blind desire for God alone is more valuable in itself and more pleasing to God and the saints, more beneficial to my own growth and more helpful to my friends, both living and dead, than anything else I can do.

"I texted these words to Fr Brian (Walsh)  to counter the askew theology on contemplation of his PP Fr Grayland. One has to fight fire with fire, so to speak, with the sword of  Truth, with the science of the great masters of prayer."

It struck me very forcibly that if Father were praying the Mass ad orientem (paying attention to God, as in the Latin Mass, instead of the people  as in the 'New Mass') he would not be distracted and exasperated by the congregation "not praying the Mass". 

But they don't know how to pray the Mass; they haven't been told. And the Mass they don't know how to pray is a mere shadow of its former self (the Latin Mass). Maybe also if Father were praying the Mass ad orientem he wouldn't have been so worked up about people 'not praying' as to forget to announce the time for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the only Advent session, with the result that only two parishioners showed up.

Also very telling is the testimony of a friend who has attended the Latin Mass at St Anthony's SSPX in Whanganui with the school children. In regard to those adorable Filipino children running around and making a racket, she says: "Is anyone thinking about the children's poor training in that holy place (the church)? It would never happen at St. Anthony's, at the Latin Mass. The children seldom look around, and do not smile all over the place and are watched and corrected, as it is a holy space and the majestic God of Heaven is there."

As Dr Peter Kwasniewski comments  - https://onepeterfive.com/priest-crisis-conscience/  -  
"The Church is passing through a crisis that can be surmounted only by heroic faith. Good people will be pummeled and shaken up, yet by this means the chaff will be drawn away and the fat of wheat prepared as a sacrifice to the Lord. 

This, too, is one of the works of Our Lady, through which she will bring to birth a purified clergy and a purified Church."

Bob Gill says:

Regarding Father's observation that his congregation is not listening to the readings, I hope his church doesn't suffer from a problem we have in St Joseph's Dannevirke - a large church with a high ceiling where the audio system is loud enough, but most readers' speech reverberates and is mostly inaudible to some of the congregation.

We have two readers, obviously aware of the problem, who compensate by speaking slowly which reduces reverberation somewhat but things are marginal. I suspect that many don't clearly hear the readings. A local audio expert advised me that because the speaker output system is situated in the high ceiling an additional speaker on each side wall, nesrer the congregation, would probably overcome our problem.

I say:

No, Bob, I don't think we can blame the audio system in St Joseph's Waipukurau for the congregation's apparent inattention. As long as the sacristan has remembered to turn it on, there's no problem. But remind me to write a post on Proclaiming the Word ...

Father Nathaniel Tat Brazil says:

 Pray for a faithful Bishop for our Diocese. God Bless you and Merry Christmas.

I say:

Amen to that, and thank you Father.

Teresa Coles says:

Many prayers are needed for the Palmerston North Diocese at present and for a holy Bishop, one who will guide people back to their Faith...

We were so saddened when we visited Central Hawke's Bay for Christmas Mass by how few parishioners were present, maybe they went to the Christmas Vigil? Nearly 13 years since we left the Palmerston North Diocese.The church used to be overflowing,where are the young people? The times are sure changing and not for the better.

Bob Gill says:

·       Prayers indeed are needed for the Palmerston North Diocese, especially for the priests who refrain from incorporating orthodox practices into their Masses and who also continue to ignore the actions of their lay ministers who touch people while giving a blessing and who then plunge that same hand into the ciborium to grab another Host for the next communicant, thus contaminating the Blessed Sacrament.

In my book, a candidate for Bishop must be orthodox and have the utmost respect for the Blessed Sacrament. Nobody in the Mother church, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, has the credentials to be Bishop of our diocese, as I see it.

Teresa Coles says:

We are certainly taught differently..When giving a blessing we do not ever touch a person's head,but hold the hand above the head..A Bishop should always have respect for the Blessed Sacrament, you are so right Bob.

Bob Gill says:

Father Brian Buenger was taught to hold the hand above the head too by the good Bishop Thomas Olmsted when he returned to the States. Some lay ministers have latched on to doing it in St Joseph's Dannevirke, but others drift back into the old ways. 

As the NZ Bishops Conference meets mid-February, I have asked Bishop Lowe to raise the matter for discussion in the hope we can end up with a standard national practice.

1

·         Donna Te Amo says: Christmas eve was packed. And heaps of young people. 

     Angela Annear says: And families.

·         Philippa O'Neill  says: 

      

     The young people find many of our services naff and embarrassing... especially If they have no understanding of the real presence...without this then what is the point. Nothing to inspire them. Terrible music... screechy singing... no mystery etc. Sigh.

·         Kirsty Taylor  says:

     Many of us went on Christmas Eve - and Donna is right. It was bulging. Lots and lots of children - I was amazed at the number of children. It was a beautiful service, and one I look forward to yearly. 
     
     Philippa O'Neill says: Exactly. shame that it's yearly.

·         Bob Gill  says:

     If you’re referring to the huge number of children present at the Cathedral at a Christmas service, does this equate to a similar number present at a normal Sunday Mass there? If the number is about the same, then would somebody please share the secret. Philippa O'Neill says: Same with our cathedral at Midnight Mass. Lovely to see so many new faces ... look forward to seeing them at the next cathedral Mass I attend.

e 
I    I say:   

·       

·        

      They're referring to the number of children present at St Patrick's Waipawa (Holy Trinity Parish CHB). It's good to know they and their families turned up then. 

     Bob Gill adds:

Not that many children at St Joseph’s Dannevirke on Christmas Day either. If they don’t go in large numbers on a Sunday, though, why should it be any different at Christmas? 

You’re right, Philippa, there’s nothing to inspire them, and I have seen little ongoing evidence during school Masses that they have actually been taught about the Real Presence. I noticed most of the school teachers at the Christmas Mass and, just like they do during a school Mass, only one of them bothered to genuflect on entering the church. Interesting, though, that most people make the Sign of the Cross on entering, but many of them don’t genuflect. Could this be a local tradition, I’m wondering? I must ask my teacher friend (the one who demonstrates she believes in the Real Presence).

Philippa O'Neill says: 

Um.. they would be genuflecting to an altar anyway .. not the tabernacle, most kids take no notice of the tabernacle.. I mean, what's that!!! Was at Mass recently when the priest bowed to the crucifix before reading the Gospel... why not bow to the tabernacle where Jesus actually is present was my thought. Brian Holdsworth sums it up beautifully/sadly why so many parish Masses are missing our teenagers or young adults.

same with the Cathedral at midnight Mass. Lovely to see so many new faces......look forward to seeing them at the next Cathedral Mass I'm at.