Thursday, May 08, 2008

Geriatric Mass


This is one of the saddest things I have seen for ages. Someone has brought their grandson along, but practically everyone here is over seventy, and they want to "sing a new church into being", most will be dead inside a decade.
Don't you just want to tell the dancers to sit down, stop showing off and behave.
As for the creepy mask people... is it escapism or something more sinister?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

In fairness, a few of the older attendees did not look very comfortable with this mockery. The black speaker reeked of the angry, domineering iron fistedness of the militant fascist left. As regards the liturgical prancers, beastly puppets and the Bishop - the whole thing is nauseating, literally nauseating.

If faced with this nonsense what would be the best course of action?

A) If the Mass is valid is this a case of Jesus being mocked and spat at as he sacrifices himself for love of us? If so, is it better to stay and endure this kind of liturgy and pray at the foot of the cross with Mary rather than protest and run away like most of the disciples?

If the Mass is not valid and a person does A) thinking it is valid, is he unknowingly committing idolatry?

If the Mass is the sacrifice of Christ and those that attend it are your "faith community" what does it mean to be in communion with a group of people who seem to have completely different beliefs than you. Is it better to stay and to add your different voice or to seek out a group of people with whom your are in communion?

Ma Tucker

PeterHWright said...

Those sinister masked figures seem to derive from prehistoric pagan art.

I thought of the giant stone statues on Easter island, and pagan artefacts from Africa.

Perhaps it was just an attempt to preserve a pagan element in the liturgy.

A propos a recent post, what this Mass does prove is that indoor celebrations are not necessarily more dignified than outdoor celebrations.

JARay said...

Well, I've heard of these abominations and now I've seen one!
Not all were over seventy Father. The backing group were early twenties I would say. I noticed that there was a muttering of the words of Consecration from the "congregation" just to emphasise, I suppose, that priests are not really necessary because the "congegation" is a bunch of priests and they can do it just as well. I couldn't help noticing the final prayer in which Fr. Potatohead was assisted by his lady assistant. She had also given the "homily".
And the "Blessing" was no blessing at all because the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were left out of it!
JARay

Jeffrey Smith said...

Interesting. I'd never seen anything like it, either. That's because this sort of nonsense is incredibly rare.
There seems to be a bit wishful thinking, in the blogosphere's reaction, though. At least half of the congregation, if you can call it that, is under 60, and about a fifth of them under forty.
If I had to guess, the big heads, which well reflect those of the participants, were lifted from the sort used at carnival parades and some of the stranger festivals; Catholic in origin, but not used at Mass in their original habitats.

Volpius Leonius said...

Another good reason why we need a Pope, but the Pope needs servants to help him.

Paulinus said...

This is the nearest I've seen to a Black Mass it is so full of sacrilege.

I never want to see its like again.

Unknown said...

In its own terms: Pedestrian, childish, fundamentally unimaginative, dull, joyless, embarassing.

Anonymous said...

The good bishop, ( that's ironic btw), has his own website and it makes interesting reading. I don't know how to link but it's www.remiderooo.com.

gemoftheocean said...

I don't know who I wanted to slap more.

I have to say that I think the young server, holding the book at the consecration is showing signs of hope. Normally I would call "lack of focus and attention" on a server who had wandering head/eyes during the consecration .. but in this case I think the kid was looking for an escape route.

Anonymous said...

I did hear a rumour that eddie waring and Stewart Hall were commentating on this "mass" ....or is it Its a knockout?

Phil said...

Lex orandi and lex credendi. This explains a great deal about their view of "being Church", doesn't it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what's up with the puppets, but, here we go again...

This one comes from the controversial St. Joan of Arc Parish in Minneapolis, Mn. U.S.A. (on Palm Sunday).

Since posting the original "Mr. Potato Head Mass" 3 weeks back the video has ripped through the world reaching all shores and swamped my blog and other's.

Something must be done, and I believe the laity must assist in ending such offense...

Smoke of Satan indeed...

Video at:
http://fratres.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/the-alienated-jesus-fratres-blog-news/

Peace and God's Blessings to you all.

james mary evans

Anonymous said...

Father ray,

Here is the full pictorial story on St Joan of Arc creaturefest on both Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday in Minneapolis, Mn.

How about a puppet Jesus as Eucharistic Minister distributing Holy Communion for starters...

Unbelievable is all I can say about this story, beginning to end.

Here's the link:

http://fratres.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/in-honor-of-the-beast/

Please pray for us, it's spring, and we've gone bloomin mad...

God's Blessings and prayers.

jme

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