Cardinal Napier is a tad bit confused

So... for all of you out there that get all excited with Cardinal Napier because he's a solid bishop, this was one of a few tweets he sent out that completely miss the mark.

@GMCz I'm interested to know where and when Vatican II asked for turning to the east! Secondly whether experience of 50 yrs was all negative

— Cardinal Napier (@CardinalNapier) July 10, 2016

The desire for novelty never ends.

That is like asking, "I'm interested in knowing where and when Vatican II asked that only Men be ordained to Holy Orders".

We are literally at the point where every last thing about the Church must be spelled out in order that the hierarchy that has spent a decade at least in school (supposedly focused on philosophy and theology) are clueless with respect to the highest form of worship in which they are called to engage in. Seriously, especially for priests this is the reason for their being... its not a matter of inclusivism.

Vatican II said zilch about the orientation of the priest because it was obvious that the practice of being oriented to Liturgical East was the practice of the Church from time immemorial, and not something to be tossed to the side.

Second fishing for exceptions to the rule of whether x is completely bad is not a reason to remain with the novel status quo. This is not hard but it does take a willing heart to be a good Shepard to the flock and teach them that the liturgy is not about their physical participation. When the priest orients himself toward the east he makes it clear the focus is not on the people (its not a matter of entertaining folks), he symbolically recognizes that Christ will come again in judgement of all and his priestly office to offer sacrifice to the Father, by the Son, through the Holy Spirit is best realized when distractions are removed from his sight.

Change this one aspect of the NO and change the whole world. The focus will turn from an entertainment value to a sacrificial value. The table will be better understood as an altar, and the priest a persona-Christi.

Yeah, its going to be hard and people are going to be upset the jig is up.  Teach the flock, prepare them to be Catholics.

Cardinal Nichols felt it important to direct his priests away from the ancient practice... because its just a matter of preference.  Again, as I have said many a time, even if a practice is a matter of discipline it does not merely constitute an issue of preference. Lex Orendi, Lex Credendi. Preference is not a Catholic matter!

We would look rather stupid if we were the only ones here.

A common error

I know I am not the only one that has ever heard the saying:

“We would look rather stupid if we were the only ones here.”

While the saying might hold true in the free market where ideas are infinite and people worship at the thrown of the almighty dollar, it does not hold true for all things.  As you can guess I speak here of being Catholic and attending to the obligations presented there within.

Generally people will use this when something happens within the church that causes scandal or really challenges them on the way they are living or how they will be living in the future.  The person will cite the problem then say, “Don’t these so called “holy men” get it that if they keep this garbage up they will look really stupid if no one is here?”

Lets grant the possibility (lets call it a guarantee because really who are we kidding ourselves with CCD classes making macaroni crosses) that they are ignorant of the necessity of the priesthood and the indefectibility of Holy Mother Church.  Now you could say that they are speaking specifically about leaving one parish (or if you are uncomfortable with such pre-conciliar terms insert “Faith Community”) for another for whatever reason, but usually they are speaking about an outright leaving, commonly referred to as apostacy.

Let’s get one thing straight if someone is indifferent on the matter of being Catholic they need to receive a rebuke and be instructed on the matter way before something happens and they fall right into their own erroneious thoughts.

Even if it was just the priest by himself it would not matter.  This is because he is not dependent on You or I to offer the sacrifice of the Mass.  One of the biggest culprits of this matter is how after the council the altar was wrechovated or replaced so as to make mass facing the people the norm.  It because a people centered service and thus the perception that it's a show necessitating spectators.

Pope Benedict, while still a Cardinal spoke on this in his excellent book The Spirit of the liturgy, which I recommend to any lover of the sacred liturgy (hint all Catholics). 

So ask your priest where his focus is when celebrating the Mass, is it an offereing to the Father or to the people, or has he created a hybrid of the two?  Either way don’t let this foolish saying go unchallenged.

+JMJ+

+Pray for Peter+

+Pray for the Middle East+