Tuesday 3 June 2008

Trad Vocations


Just a little note regarding the blog run by Mark at Rise & Pray which is FSSP Vocations for Scotland & Ireland. In it's first week, the blog attracted more the 5000 visitors.

I support the blog because I support what the FSSP does itself; but I do sometimes look on with mixed emotions. The first is joy that God is calling young men to serve him in the Holy Priesthood, the other is desolation that people are going to the FSSP rather than the diocescan life.

I think the reason so many go to the FSSP is that there they 'know' they will get a good formation, they won't be lied to and they wont have to hide their love of the extraordinary form. In the diocescan life they are generally going to have a struggle with the local bishop, play hide & seek in the seminary, and are always going to be looked upon as a trad rather than as a worker in the vineyard. That game is for little boys with nothing better to do and it's shameful that some diocescan bishops and priests continue to play it.

Dioceses need to respond to this. I love the line 'lets face it hippies, it's over' because it is over. People want the Catholic Faith, not watered down nonsense which doesn't correspond to human reason and the needs of the human person. People want to go to Mass and be able to recognise it and feel like it's a Catholic Mass. That's why the FSSP is so sucessful because it's the same everywhere you go, and it's uncomprimising in it's fidelity to the Holy Father & the Catholic faith.

Unless the dioceses take notice, then they are going to continue shooting themselves in the foot and all the time their own people are falling away from the Church. People have been robbed and continue to be robbed of the faith that could help them. Families are being destroyed, and lives are being destroyed because they have nothing, because of late the Church has given them nothing. Nothing which holds true through the trials of day-to-day life.

Liturgy wont (by itself) save the world, but the faith in it's fullness will. In the meantime I offer my prayers for anyone considering a vocation and I especially offer my prayers for the vocations blog set up by Mark; I really hope it helps young men to discern the possibility that God is calling.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout out, JP!
(though the logo's become a tad wonky...)

Anonymous said...

P.S. Sorry to be fussy, but there is an error in the link - a trailing solidus.

John Paul said...

No worries Mark, thanks for pointing that out. That post was done in a bit of a rush; all sorted now though.