stuff in my head

Commissioning vs. Volunteering

I was in the archdiocese of Los Angeles recently. I had the privelidge of meeting with some of the lay leaders in the diocese. The ratio of priests to laity is some crazy number like 1 to 5000. Anyway, one of the places that the diocese is trying to fill the gap is in the ministry of berievemement. That’s great, right?

Well, the diocese is training people to go to the funeral home and hold services that look very Catholic. One person described it to me. Opening Prayer, Old Testament, Psalm, Second Reading, Gospel, then a reflection that ties the readings together as well as pays tribute to the deceased. Then intercessions, then a closing hymn.

I thought, wow that sounds like the liturgy of the word. That could cause confusion. And, by whose authority do these folks go forward to preach? I’m a little alarmed at this. Here’s why.

The format is great. But, that is the Liturgy of the Word. That is presided over by the ordained. This type of situation in the LA diocese needs help, but at the expense of blurring the lines of the Priesthood of Jesus? I don’t think so.

The most alarming part is this. In the Liturgy of the hours, which is for all, there is an office for the dead. Why didn’t they think to use that instead? This would empower the faithful to fulfill their confirmation and baptism in the lay priestly commissioning.

Does this make sense to you? Our Church needs help. We are forgetting the very structure that is already in place.

the liturgical mess

i’ve been helping give a parish mission the last three days.

i really like my job.  i help people pray.

anyway, this morning, at 8 we had a morning session for the parish.  i ran it.  i did morning prayer with them and then after explained a little bit about it.  

it went well.  at the same time, i sat in awe at the lack of catechesis that there has been about the prayer of our Church.  i’m rather astounded that really good Catholics with beautiful hearts have learned so little about prayer. 

if we don’t pray, we’re in big trouble.  the blessed Mother has reminded us time and time again - pray! pray! pray!

and, if we aren’t praying as a Church, we’re in big trouble.  in our day and age, most of the Catholics are removing the notion of prayer from the liturgy.  most of the Catholics are removing the notion of prayer from our tradition.  we’re making up our own methods to prayer.  and look at where that’s leading the Church.  

we must pray.  we must pray as the Church teaches us.  it will save us.  

the inner healing schism

i was talking to a friend earlier and she told me about a conversation that she had at Church today.  she was sharing that she was sad about the loss of her cat with someone at Church.  that person replied along the lines of “well, did you lose someone early on in childhood that this is tapping into?”  don’t you think that’s weird?  

my friend asked this person, “why’d you ask me that?  are you taking some type of inner healing classes?”  and the person replied to her, “well, yes. i am.”  

ok….so, that’s not good.  there’s this whole movement of inner healing that is assigning guilt to people for feeling grief or sad emotions.  beware of them.  they are wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing.  grief is part of life.  so is sadness.  being sad all the time is unhealthy.  but, experiencing sadness is human.  grieving all the time is depressive.  but, experiencing the depression of grief and grief itself is just part of life.  

this is my first use of tumblr.  i think this is going to be a place for me to share my own personal experience about things of our faith.  i believe whole heartedly in everything our Church teaches.  by the Grace of God, I will never waver from the teachings of Holy Mother Church.  but, you won’t find me putting my opinions about the state of our affairs out there - except to those who know me.  i think that is what i’ll use tumblr for.

anyway, please pray for those inner healing movements.  a lot of them are really whacko.  they’re screwing with people in their heads.  and they’re doing a lot of damage to already hurting people.  ughhh.