Friday 20 June 2008

Taking it forward



I had to laugh when I saw this, but in many cases I think it's a true reflection of what has happened in the Church in the last 40 years. I remember reading Cardinal Grey's Biography and the author mentioned how the Cardinal was deeply troubled by how things with changing left, right & centre and how priests and the laity were impatient when implementing Vatican II.

The Cardinal felt people had to be careful in flying off the handle when change came in and how when things change too quickly people often implemented what 'they' wanted and not what the Church had asked for.

Cardinal Grey certainly suffered as he was of the first generation of Bishops who saw his priests leaving the clerical state en mass, something which he asked Mother Theresa for counsel upon when she visited Edinburgh... He felt as if he had failed them in someway, but he also couldn't understand how priests didn't seem to understand their duty and the seriousness of the vows they had taken.

The Church is now on the brink of a major shift in thinking. The pendulum is about to come back to the middle, yet we have to be careful we don't push it too far the wrong way, otherwise gravity dictates that it will swing left again.

Pictures like the one above are a symbol that people are deeply angered about their faith almost being destroyed and the sheer impulse and momentum gained by the gift of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass has reflected that... But let's not hark back to the glory days of the Church which in my view never was! Let's take this beautiful form of worship and present it to the world in order to bring each and every person to the sacrifice of Calvary... That's not very ecumenical, but then neither than am I and neither is the truth.

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