Now this (see below) is in the Bulletin at St. Michael's.
I am taking this opportunity as your Pastor to write to you, my parishioners, about a recent event that has happened in our Diocese. On March 25th, our Bishop gave permission for the use of girls and women to serve Mass in the parishes of the Diocese. When the Holy See allowed girls and women to serve Mass in 1994, it also reminded the bishops and priests of the Church through the world of the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar. Our Holy Father of blessed memory, Pope John Paul II (in his Holy Thursday letter to priests in 2004), even remarked how altar boys "“represent a kind of garden"” of priestly "“vocations,"” and that their service at the altar can be an invaluable experience of education in our Christian faith that becomes a sort of "“preseminary."” Here at St. Michael'’s we have been blessed over the years with many young men who served at the altar and have been ordained as priests, including Deacon Phillip Cozzi, the latest of the many of our parish'’s "“priests sons"” who will offer his first Mass of Thanksgiving here in June.I am so unbelievably mad that I'm ready to just leave the Catholic church altogether. NEVER have I seen such an attitude!!!!!!! This is so VERY FAR from what I experienced while growing up/living in Massachusetts!
Because of the noble tradition already set in place here at St. Michael'’s, and the many vocations to the priesthood that have been fostered through this practice, we will continue to allow only boys to serve at the altar. In doing this, I ask all parishioners to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, and that the Lord of the harvest will shape and form those men He calls to follow Him in the Sacrament of the Holy Orders to be priests after His own Sacred Heart. St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us!
I have already posted to the DC Urban Moms list begging for advice on what church I might be able to join. The overall consensus there was to drive to DC and join a parish there. IS THIS MY ONLY OPTION??? I am so very, very upset. I am hanging on to my Catholic upbringing with a slenderest of threads now, and I'm so tempted to toss it all away and go to the Unitarian Church (or something like that) starting this weekend.
4 comments:
Oh Karen! I know how important your Catholicism has been to you and your family. You must be steaming mad about this latest setback.
I will never go back to the church. It's unforgivable that many, many decades of criminal deceit has allowed known sex offenders to not only stay in the church, but moved them around; enabling these sick perverts to further commit crimes. I am sure this has gone on since Priests were forbidden to marry. There are many other reasons I've turned my back on the church, but the criminal activity is the most henious.
It must be daunting to you to think about finding another church. I wish you great luck in finding a good fit for your family. I can tell you that alot of my former Catholic friends have left the church (and even before the scandals broke) due to the lack of options for young children. The first exclamation they make about their new church is "You should see the great stuff they have for our children!"
The Unitarian church here isn't a good fit for us. I've tried a couple other 'feel good' Christian churches, but they all seem to be ministered by frustrated LA actors; flowing manes of hair, dramatic dancing around (Look at Me! Look at Me!), and I didn't even make it through the first service.
Thanks, Vickee! I have received many supportive emails and now have some options to consider. I'll post more later today. I really do not want this to drive me away from the Catholic church -- it's just too central to my being, if that makes sense. But as one person suggested by email, I am embarking on a journey now, and there will be sume bumps along the way. But it is a start.
Part of the reason that I don't just "jump ship" is I feel Sheila's presence right now. She's telling me to keep the faith. So I'm going to try my best to do that for a while.
(And I hear you about rhe "Look at Me!" churches!!! What a great description!)
Karen, I will email you, or call you, about Sheila's last year of spirituality on this earthly plane (plain?). It was not with the Catholic church.
What is David feeling about all this? Gosh, you sure didn't need this right now. (Would you ever, actually?)
Thanks for your email!
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