Apparently the priest decided to "sprinkle" water on the congregation at the begining of Mass. Well the ritual deviated from the usual sprinkling rite. First there was the ritual blessing of the super-soaker (!)
Then we had the filling of the super soaker with holy water and then the "sprinkling" of the congregation with the super soaker. 
Truely if that wasn't strange enough, apparently Father's liturgical color of the day was "tie-dyed." While colorful, it less than impressed the congregation of 20 or so college students who either were laughing through out or muttering under their breath. Of course all this was proceeded by even more loony-tunes stuff:
As Anthony puts it:It was actually worse than the pictures make it out to be. He processed into mass behind the cross wearing the Mickey Mouse hat and a gold masquerade mask. Once the singing stopped, the first thing he did was blow a kazoo and say, "Happy Mardi Gras."
Things like this are not helping attract the youth to mass, nor to the Church. Bishop Clark....are you listening?
21 comments:
And I complained about LA, we're not that bad yet.
Does anyone know who this priest is? The RIT Neumann center website and shows one priest named Fr. Richard D. Hunt. He has a brief video message that you can watch on the website.
That is most certainly Fr. Hunt in the photographs. He is a member of the Jesuits.
GAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Has anyone addressed this pastor about it? Before any action needs to be taken we should pray for him and confront him. Then take it to the higher authorities.
This is worse than some of the things that I have seen by priests here in the Richmond Diocese, but it's close.
A formal apology ought be sought from the pastor. Then action by the bishop if he refuses, then action by the CDW if the bishop refuses to deal with this.
Before taking any of these steps though: pray, pray, pray!
When dealing with the bishop or CDW, make sure to send the pictures along, with the description of the circumstances.
The People of God always have the right to a Mass that is both valid and licit. Only then can it be truly fruitful.
Pray for all of our priests and bishops.
Things continue to worsen at my old home diocese.
Bad, but the worst is the West Coast Call to Action Liturgy, complete with giant paper maché puppets and "liturgical" dancers. Google it and it'll probably come up on YouTube.
I thank God over and over that I live in the Lincoln Diocese, where we never suffer such liturgical abuses wherever/whatever parish we go to for Mass--and we can focus on even further reform such as our Holy Father calls for.
The parish bought him that super-soaker for his birthday, specifically for holy water.
Did he exceed a mandated Catholic fun quota?
Re: Justin's comment - it's tragic when this kind of blatant disrespect for the Mass is seen as "fun."
Do yourself a favor and educate yourself as to what the Mass is really all about. Hint: it's not "having fun."
There are two sentences in the Corning Curmudgeon’s post that struck my attention and have given rise to the response that follows. The Curmudgeon writes: “Truely [sic] if that wasn't strange enough, apparently Father's liturgical color of the day was ‘tie-dyed.’ While colorful, it less than impressed the congregation of 20 or so college students who either were laughing through out or muttering under their breath.”
Here is my question: how can the Curmudgeon know that the students were “less than impressed”? In other words, how can he or she (s/he) know what they were thinking? Admittedly, s/he was not there. His/Her son, Anthony, was there, but he could not know what those students were thinking, either. The minor point to be made is that laughing and muttering may actually be entirely appropriate responses to someone who is trying to be amusing. (At least one thing we do know is that someone found it appropriate to take pictures during mass. It is disturbing that behaviors like this, which would have fit in well in the former Communist East Germany - taking secret pictures and being a tattletale to the Stasi secret police - have made their way to our community.)
The larger point is that the Curmudgeon is claiming to know things that s/he simply cannot know. S/he (and his/her son) cannot know what those students were thinking. More importantly, neither can s/he know how to be an authentic Catholic; at least, s/he cannot know that and still have faith in God.
Does the Curmudgeon not realize that there is a difference between faith and knowledge? I do not have faith that 2+2=4; rather, I know that 2+2=4. Where there is knowledge, there is no need for faith. Indeed, knowledge destroys faith, for faith is believing in that which you cannot know. All of those who know that God exists, who know how to be an authentic Catholic, have lost their faith, and I hope that they find it again.
It would seem that the Curmudgeon is trying to use Fr. Hunt as a scapegoat for all that s/he sees as wrong with the Catholic Church today (that it has lost its traditional values, that it has become too progressive). If that is the case, then my sad conclusion is that the Curmudgeon’s blog is the work of Satan. In his book I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, the Catholic theologian René Girard makes it clear that the mimetic cycle of violence and contagion occurs through the scapegoating of one member of the community. This is how Satan works: he brings chaos and hatred into the world, then resolves that chaos through the destruction of the scapegoat, so that he can then transform peace into chaos once again. In history, the truth of the cross marks the victory of Jesus Christ over Satan and thus the end of the mimetic cycle of violence, but sadly, scapegoating still occurs. Internet scapegoating is the modern analogue of stoning, but worse. Stoning destroys the body of the victim, while cyber attacks aim for one’s emotional life, their character, and their reputation. Attacks like the Curmudgeon’s do not bludgeon the body, they bludgeon the psyche, or soul. Satan’s work is soul destroying.
If I were to adopt an orthodox and conservative faith, being religious would become easy. I would simply reject progressive stances made by the Church. If I were to adopt an exclusively progressive faith, being religious would, again, become easy. I would simply choose those aspects of Catholicism that I like, and reject others. The challenge of the Church today is to maintain traditional values and teachings, recognizing the limitations those values and teachings place upon us, while trying to respond to the religious needs of human beings in the 21st Century. The mystery of the Christ event remains in continual advent, to be appropriated anew by every generation, hence the need to balance traditional values with contemporary spiritual crises.
The Curmudgeon probably does not realize that all of his/her criticisms apply to the first five minutes of the mass (technically, before the mass even began). Fr. Hunt always starts out with something whimsical and amusing. It may not be to the Curmudgeon’s liking, but Fr. Hunt is connecting with students. For that matter, if the Curmudgeon believes that the Latin mass is going to draw young people into the Church, then his beliefs are nonsense. I happen to think that the Latin mass is a powerful evocation of the rich tradition of the Church. But as Kierkegaard wrote, if you want to lead people somewhere, you have to start where they are.
The Curmudgeon said that his/her son usually attends the Latin mass at St. Stanislaus, but the weather was bad, so he went to the mass at RIT. This is a puzzling statement. For one, my friends went running that day. It neither snowed, nor rained. It was cold, but if his/her son skips the Latin mass due to cold, then he probably does not go to the Latin mass very often here in chilly Rochester. Also, the Latin mass at St. Stanislaus is celebrated at 1.30. The mass he ended up attending at RIT was at 7PM. I know this because the secret pictures he took show clearly that the many families and students who attend the 10AM mass at RIT on Sundays were not there. What is the reason for this misdirection?
At any rate, if the Curmudgeon would like to come out from behind the shield of the internet, s/he would be welcome at our parish. If s/he would kindly refrain from using electronic devices during the service, his/her fellow worshippers would appreciate it. Herewith, I invite the Corning Curmudgeon to come to 10am mass at RIT some Sunday and decide for himself/herself whether or not there is Spirit in our community and whether or not there is Spirit in our priest, a man who, though whimsical at times (and even because of that), bridges generational gaps to provide spiritual sustenance for a younger generation; who delivers thoughtful and serious homilies on the life of Jesus – and the Life that He makes possible; who offers home masses to members of his parish suffering from malignant disease; and who exhorts his parishioners to a better life through Jesus.
~S
Dr. K... I have a feeling I might know you... did you teach Ethics and Logic last year to a bunch of First years in another school?
I'm going to totally ignore the issue at hand, btw, because it seems pointless to argue it out. All that one could do for these people, from where I am, is pray.
At least I am starting to appreciate, this Lent, that despite our problems, my home deanery has got it pretty good.
Pax Christi
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