Second Day of the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, CLonard Monastery, Belfast. A lady from the country was called up to the altar to give us all a homily. Her qualifications ? Counsellor, grandmother, retired teacher. My heart sank. I knew what was coming before she opened her mouth. High praise for synodality. She even tried to define what it meant. I still haven't a clue. Neither has she, neither has anyone else. It means what you want it to mean, which means it doesn't mean anything. Anyway she loves it. Loves Pope Francis. Loves having a chance to have her say. Just no stopping her. A round of applause when she finished. I was glad to see I was far from the only one who remained glumly silent. 15 Eucharistic Ministers, I was the only one without the mask. I am waiting for the ax to fall and be shown the door. It is only a matter of time.
My thoughts too: persevere until they axe you. That was how things ultimately turned out with my chaplaincy duties. New York State won in the courts and I was gone. Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
You know Terry two days into a Novena in Honour of Our Blessed Lady and I have not heard Our Blessed Lady mentioned once. I see they have a Protestant Minister down to give a homily and I dare say he'll not be talking about her either. It is rather like holding a birthday party and not letting the woman whose Birthday it is in. I feel so sorry for the great body of Catholics who are being misled by all this. But then again if you really love something or someone you would naturally want to know all you could about them or it. Catholics have a sacred duty all their lives to grow in knowledge of their Faith. That has clearly not been happening or they would not be having the wool pulled over their eyes by this drek. So, so sad.
I think those people would run a mile from Marian piety, which for me is the litmus if authentic Catholic spirituality and mysticism. Since our Lady is the destroyer of all heresies those who have true devotion to her shall not stray from the true faith.
I was there at the 11.30 mass yesterday. I was up in belfast visiting my da and I brought him over. I had never been in clonard before. What a magnificently beautiful Church. Outstanding. A few things: 1. No kneelers in such a place of beauty and awe. No kneelers. It boggles the mind. I used the floor. So easy to effect change in our Sacred faith by simple steps. Take out the kneelers. Therefore you have practically no one kneeling at the consecration. Nightmare. 2. The MC priest announced before that some lay woman would be "preaching the homily". Again. Madness. I mean the church was packed to the rafters. This is a weekday at 11.30 in the morning. Now we have a whole host of people thinking it perfectly fine to have a lay person "preaching the homily". Synodality was the theme as you said Padraig. The Gospel of Jesus on the road to emmaus was thr backdrop for introducing our synidal pathway. I learned zero about it. Bemusement the predominant feeling. Raucous applause followed "the homily". Why? I'm sure no one can say.
At Mass this morning for the Novena a young Presbyterian Minister preached the Homily for Mass, as Protestant male and female Ministers regularly do. This is in serious contravention of Church Law which states: The Code of Canon Law states: Canon Law # 766 "Lay persons can be permitted to preach in a church or oratory, if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems advantageous in particular cases, according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops and without prejudice to ? can. 767, §1." Canon law # 767 "§1. Among the forms of preaching, the homily, which is part of the liturgy itself and is reserved to a priest or deacon, is preeminent; in the homily the mysteries of faith and the norms of Christian life are to be explained from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year." "§2. A homily must be given at all Masses on Sundays and holy days of obligation which are celebrated with a congregation, and it cannot be omitted except for a grave cause." "§3. It is strongly recommended that if there is a sufficient congregation, a homily is to be given even at Masses celebrated during the week, especially during the time of Advent and Lent or on the occasion of some feast day or a sorrowful event." "§4. It is for the pastor or rector of a church to take care that these prescripts are observed conscientiously." I complained about this to the Bishop in writing before, he said I should take it up with the Redemptorists. I took it up with the Redemptorists in Ireland and he said I should take it up with the Rector of Clonard. I took it up with the Rector of Clonard who said I should take it up with the priest organising the Novena. I took it up with the priest orgnising the Novena who said I should come into see him as breaking Church Law was a brave thing to do in these cases and he needed to set me straight on a few things. I gave up. The young Minister did not talk about our Our Blessed Lady. He talked about Synodality and the, 'fact ', that in the Church everyone is equal. From a Protestant perspeective he is right, I don;t blame him for this. This is what Presbyterians in particular believe. It is not what Catholics have always believed. He got a round of applause. I did not clap. I was not the only one. I promised to do the nine days at the novena but this is the last time. No more Clonard. It upsets me to much. The wolves have taken over the sheepfold. St Paul writes about this; 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? When I attend the Novus Ordo Mass at my local Parish I do not see this. When I attend the Traditional Mass I do not see it. It's just too much for me, far too upsetting, time to Say, 'Sayonara' to Clonard. Leave them all too it, whatever , 'It', is.
https://lanuovabq-it.translate.goog...izzera?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US atholic-protestantism Mass celebrated by the laity is already a reality in Switzerland
And the strangest or perhaps not strangest reality is that the place is packed with hundreds of catholics utterly oblivious to it all.
Were the Redemptorists the order that used to come around to parishes years ago, for 'missions', and provide us with sermons of hell-fire and damnation? Necessary doctrine to know, but they told us little, in my memory from my days as a young child, of the Mercy of Christ. Perhaps their present stance as 'fear mongers' derives from their older position?
That's desperate. And when one sees an image like that, it's impossible to unsee it. Apart from the obvious blasphemy, sacrilege, wilful pride and the brainless (at best) trivialisation of the Self-Sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sake of our salvation (the appalling pattern on the modernist chalice is reminiscent to me of a Rolling Stones album cover), is not all this rejection of traditional rubrics a grand, collective breach of the Fourth Commandment? In rejecting, nay more, in giving the two fingers to our traditions we are dishonouring those who went before us. The Fourth Commandment is usually stated as 'Honour thy Father and Mother'. Many might be unaware that it is followed by a clause, 'that your days may be long in the land that your Lord, your God gives you'. Not only is this vileness a breaking of a Commandment of God, with our ancestors turning in their graves over it, God has taken the trouble to indicate that such breaches have earthly consequences too and has even outlined what they are.
I know. Then I think to myself that I don't go to Church to get upset so why would I? Thank God there are still good Catholic Churches where we can go to and they leave us in peace to just attend mass and say a few quiet prayers. Apart from that my conscience is starting to gnaw at me, I am starting to wonder at what point attending some of these weird goings on, knowing they are dark, might actually be sinful?
The saddest thing of all. But we have a duty as Catholics to keep ourselves informed of the Truths of the Faith. When we die and arrive at the Judgement Seat and say to the Good Lord, 'My priest/ Bishop/ Pope told me it was fine', when it wasn't might not go down too well.
Funny Martin Luther had a great devotion to Our Lady. But his spiritual children dumped this. Three days into a Novena in Honour of Our Lady, Our Lady still not mentioned once. I am wondering if they would dare go through the whole nine days without even one mention? Would, even they, dare? I will be glad when it is all over. It has turned into a trip to the dentists.
I am so sorry that this is happening at Clonard. Beyond comprehension . No words. We have Redemptorists in Annapolis and they are not like this, thankfully.
We have the solemn novena starting in the Redemptorist Church in Limerick today. Years ago we always attended as a family and it was beautiful. As you say packed to the rafters, beautiful hymn singing and a wonderful atmosphere. My kids loved it. Then the Flannery Brothers arrived and it was downhill after that. Fr Tony Flannery was subsequently silenced for a time. I heard one heresy after another preached. I and all my family abandoned the Redemptorist all together. I haven't gone in years. It's a shame but the novena is still going. It's not as packed as before but still popular. It's in my rear view mirror though. I couldn't put myself through that again. Its such a shame.
