I had a surreal experience yesterday regarding this story. I mentioned it to
someone I know, in passing, and she replied, "Where did you hear such a
ridiculous thing?"
I replied, "I read it on the Internet. Why, you don't think it happened? Would you
like to see the photos?"
She said to me, "You can make anything look real with Photoshop."
I replied, "Then why did the local bishop make a public response to the local
newspaper article that described the event? Was the bishop upset about a fictional
story?"
She said, "Okay, what was the name of the city, and who is the bishop, and when
did this happen, as you claim? How do you come up with stuff like this?"
I answered the questions. As for the last one, I said that a lot of abuses go on
every day that you never hear about because the bishops generally pay no
attention to abuse, in fact, they tend to support them. What the bishops DO pay
attention to is
too much tradition in practice. They are generally enemies of
tradition, unless, that is, it's their own tradition that they just started recently.
She still didn't believe it. "It must be a hoax." So I read the Archbishop's letter
in the blog,
Australia Incognita, where he criticized the reporter's style of reporting,
by claiming that he was holding the Catholic faith up to "ridicule" by saying "the
consecrated bread and wine," instead of saying "the body and blood of Jesus
Christ." I explained that this archbishop is pompously taking an extreme position
in defense of dogma here, which he never does otherwise, in hopes, perhaps, that
someone may criticize him for being too dogmatic, and then he can use that as
another excuse for not being dogmatic, because "people have been upset when I
defend the faith." This is how Modernists play the game.
She was getting irritated, and tried to defend the archbishop, saying that he is
going by rules, and that there are some things that shouldn't be done, and
apparently these "Inclusive Catholics" were breaking the rules. "Was this at a
parish church?" I read the article in The Age, that described a priest "on the dole."
All creatures great and small: Father Greg Reynolds leads Mass at the Inclusive Catholics service in
South Yarra, where one first-time visitor brought his dog along. Photo: Angela WylieDissidents preach a new breed of Catholicismby Barney SchwatzFATHER Greg Reynolds wants his church of dissident Catholics to welcome all - ''every man and his dog'', one might say, risking the non-inclusive language he deplores - but even he was taken aback when that was put to the test during Mass yesterday.
A first-time visitor arrived late at the Inclusive Catholics service in South Yarra with a large and well-trained German shepherd. When the consecrated bread and wine were passed around, the visitor took some bread and fed it to his dog.
Apart from one stifled gasp, those present showed admirable presence of mind - but the dog was not offered the cup!
Father Reynolds, a Melbourne priest for 32 years, launched Inclusive Catholics earlier this year. He now ministers to up to 40 people at fortnightly services alternating between two inner-suburban Protestant churches.
Advertisement
The congregation includes gαy men, former priests, abuse victims and many women who feel disenfranchised, but it is optimistic rather than bitter.
Yesterday a woman, Irene Wilson, led the liturgy and another, Emmy Silvius, preached the homily. Two more passed the bread and wine around.
Father Reynolds - his only clerical adornment a green stole around his neck - played as small a role as he could.
Inclusive Catholics is part of a small but growing trend in the West of disaffiliated Catholics forming their own communities and offering ''illicit'' Masses, yet are slightly uncertain of their identities. The question was posed during the service: ''Are we part of the church or are we a breakaway movement?''
Father Reynolds was a thorn in the side of Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart when he preached in 2010 that it was God's will to have women priests. He resigned as Western Port parish priest last August and had his faculties to act as a priest in Melbourne removed.
He is still a priest, though now on the dole. Mary Fenelon, who usually worships in Abbotsford, comes to this Mass because ''these people are forward-thinkers, and the church is going backwards. This is inclusive and welcoming.''
Another member is Michael Kelly, long the public face of the Rainbow Sash movement that sought acceptance for ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs in the church. He finds it a step forward to see a Catholic priest prepared to ''break through the intimidation and threats and oppression of a very frightened institution''. ''People have just had it,'' he says.
''There's a sense of hopelessness and despair when you look at the hierarchy, and nothing one says gets through to these guys. They are wrapped up in their own sense of entitlement.
''Intelligent, educated, adult Catholics have had enough.''
But if there's one thing that unites Inclusive Catholics and the mainstream church, it's their reliance on hard-working women behind the scenes. The volunteer who made the name tags given out yesterday turned 88 during the week.
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dissidents-preach-a-new-breed-of-catholicism-20120805-23nyg.html#ixzz234GkyrfTShe responded that, "See, these people aren't even Catholic! That wasn't even a
Mass!" I retorted that Archbishop Denis Hart didn't say it wasn't a Mass. He was
only concerned that the reporter didn't use exactly the proper words to describe
the Blessed Sacrament. He didn't say it wasn't a valid consecration.
She was really getting all worked up now. "It was not VALID! He's doesn't have
permission to say Mass!" I tried to explain that he is a priest, and once a priest
always a priest, and if he says Mass then he can make a valid consecration, and
if someone gives one of his consecrated hosts to a dog, the dog receives
communion, but the dog isn't capable of knowing what it has done or what has
happened, and it's a sacrilege to give a dog communion. "But the Archbishop was
only ticked off that the reporter didn't do a good job of journalism. He was not
upset about the abuse that happened in this Protestant chapel. There are abuses
like this happening all over the world. Have you ever heard of the
Neo-Catechumenal Way? They have similar abuses, but so far, no family pets at
communion, as far as I know."
Now she was throwing a fit. "You just look for freaks and then you think you've
got something. These people are just freaks!" I said, "What about Kiko and
Carmen, are they freaks? Benedict XVI just approved their un-liturgy, making a
whole list of things they shouldn't do, but they do those things anyway and he
does nothing about it. Looks pretty freaky to me."
Then she started going off about "this Kiko and Carmen," after I showed her
some websites describing the Neo-Catechumenal Way. It was looking pretty
desperate. Then suddenly she recognized his name, and immediately she
calmed down! "Oh ........... this is Kiko Arguello. I know him. We sing some of
his music at Mass."
Then everything was fine. She was entirely at peace knowing that her familiar
name and composer was the guy, so therefore, he couldn't be a freak. "He's a
philosopher. And look, he's also an artist and a poet."