Thursday, May 15, 2014
Sheep Without a Shepherd
There was a powerful reaction last night to my presentation at a local parish on the liturgy and beauty. At a certain point, I felt like I was living that scene in the Old Testament when the people are stung to the heart and cry out to the prophet, "What must we do?!" That was how the people were last night. There were several people who were almost crying out, "How can we fix this? Where do we start?" It occurred to me that one of the ironies of the post-Conciliar Church is that even amidst the relentless call for full participation, our laity have never felt so completely helpless in the face of the entrenched attitudes in the parish and diocesan bureaucracies.
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2 comments:
As a visitor to the event you spoke at, let me thank you for bringing up some issues which I hadn't heard articulated before. Criticizing anything in the liturgy is tricky because we are picking on people of good will who desire (I hope) to give their time for God's glory. Still I for one, would feel a sizable weight off my shoulders is the local priest would announce that we should simply listen to the music/singing and let the folks who practiced it carry the load!
I also wanted to mention your comments on church architecture. I think there was a lot of unneeded guilt thrown about when people in the '60s and '70s would compare the opulence of some churches to the needs of the poor. Thank you for reminding us that a beautiful church is more than just a building but is meant to be a long-lasting agent for elevating the human heart. My mom would argue with secular critics that even the poorest Catholic deserves a beautiful place to visit God. We don't want to forget that in our zeal to do good elsewhere.
Hi, Ms. Nicolosi. :-) Thanks for coming up with this blog. I wonder if you have any articles or recommended readings on what you call the entrenched attitudes in the parish and diocesan bureaucracies. I'd like to understand it more as you see it---looks like I sympathize (suffer!) with you. Again, thank you!
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