|
Published: September 18, 2009
BREAKING NEWS - Pontifical Solemn High Mass in Oakland
Bishop Cordileone and Full-fledged Beauty
His Excellency, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, will offer a Pontifical Solemn High Mass at St. Margaret Mary Church, an apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, this Sunday, September 20, at 12:30 p.m.
 The occasion is the 20th anniversary of the first indult Traditional Latin Mass celebrated at this church in 1989. St. Margaret Mary was the first church in California to offer the Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday under the indult granted by Pope John Paul II. in 1988. In 2005, the Institute was invited to the Oakland diocese by then-Bishop Allen Vigneron. Under the Institute’s care, not only is the Traditional Mass offered on Sundays, but daily as well, and all sacraments administered according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
This anniversary celebration poignantly highlights the continuation of the Traditional Mass at this church, from an indult Mass to a full-fledged expression of the beauty of the Extraordinary Form, including Gregorian chant propers at every sung Mass.
This will be Bishop Cordileone’s first Pontifical High Mass at St. Margaret Mary since his installation as bishop in May of this year. Assisting Bishop Cordileone at the altar will be four canons of the Institute: Canon Guitard (Master of Ceremonies of Monsignor the Prior General of the Institute), Canon Talarico (Chicago), Canon Avis (Kansas City, MO), and Canon Moreau (Oakland). Also in attendance will be Bishop Emeritus John Cummins, who granted the Indult in 1989, and Fr. Vladimir Kozina (retired), the first priest to celebrate the indult Mass in September 1989.
Posted Friday, September 18, 2009 8:54 PM By jean
Let us hope this is first of many to come; we need this.
|
Posted Friday, September 18, 2009 9:43 PM By David
I look forward to the day when the California Catholic Daily treats all the bishops and archbishops of the Holy Roman Catholic Church with the same respect as they do His Excellency, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, CA. It will be a day to look forward to in the life of our Church.
|
Posted Friday, September 18, 2009 9:58 PM By John
This is great! We're all looking forward to it!
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 7:03 AM By John
This is great news here! An ordinary in CA wants to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in its fullness - the Institute is providing the altar assistance. I hope many will come. I know that parish well, there is a lot of potential for the future. Thank you, Your Excellency!
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 7:17 AM By Charles O'Connell
The hideous lack of quality in liturgical aesthetics - from guitar masses to Broadway-show style hymns - is a serious impediment to Eastern Orthodox Churches' re-unification with Rome. This is according to James Likoudis, interviewed by Fr. Mitch Pacwa on EWTN Live a number of weeks ago. (EWTN audio library, "Programs" search word "Likoudis", "The East West Divide", 7/29/09)
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 9:56 AM By Theo in Ventura
Good news. St. Margaret Mary's off the 580 freeway near Park St. is a beautiful church with a polished Latin mass. The altar servers know what to do and the parishioners know the prayers. It will be an honor and a privilege to attend the mass with a Bishop.
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 11:50 AM By Joan
I have watched this extraordinary Mass on EWTN it is perfect, it is beautiful....Oakland you have been blessed. I doubt if I'll ever live long enough to attend this beautiful Mass in person, why? Because I live in Southern Ca.that should explain the situation....
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 12:50 PM By JLS
Joan, there are numerous Latin High Masses in southern Calif, waiting for you to attend in person. San Diego County has a couple of them. San Bernardino/Riverside has several. LA has some but in different parishes each week. There is one in Orange County. Also the SSPX has one in Colton, and maybe elsewhere in the region. Take your pick.
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 4:18 PM By Elizabeth
The Bishop is one of our TRUE SHEPHERDS!
May God and the Holy Spirit continue to guide him in bringing back the Church to its full GLORY!
|
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2009 7:59 PM By lome
What a treasure! Catholics should do everything in their power to attend.Abundant Grace will be given to those souls who come preferred to receive Christ in the Eucharist.
"It must be taught, then, that to priests alone has been given power to consecrate and administer to the faithful, the Holy Eucharist. That this has been the unvarying practice of the Church ... as having proceeded from apostolic tradition, is to be religiously retained." - The Catechism of the Council of Trent
________________________________________
|
Posted Sunday, September 20, 2009 11:30 PM By LG
Wow! This Mass was something! It was a truly magnificent, extraordinary Mass. I don't think many Californians have seen a Pontifical High Mass in CA like this in our lifetime. St. Margaret Mary was packed to standing room only - outside the church! Congratulations, Bishop Cordileone and the Institute of Christ the King on a superb Mass.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 5:49 AM By St. Christopher
There should be no celebration. The TLM should be the Catholic norm. At the very least, the TLM should be provided in every parish in America at least once on Sunday. And not the "blended" TLM . . . where there are altar girls, communion in hand (and standing), the use of Eucharistic ministers, and the like. Saying a true mass here and there means little, if it does not lead to a fuller expression of the faith. Let the clown masses, dance masses, and guitar masses alone, they will die of their own foolishness. Everyone should demand the TLM everywhere, and Catholic Churches that are configured to accommodate them, and not look like a protestant Eucharistic hall.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 9:28 AM By DarkKnight
" look forward to the day when the California Catholic Daily treats all the bishops and archbishops of the Holy Roman Catholic Church with the same respect as they do His Excellency, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, CA. It will be a day to look forward to in the life of our Church."
And I look forward to the day when all bishops and archbishops are as failthful as Bishop Cordileone!
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 10:43 AM By Anne T.
Charles O'Connell you make some excellent points. The Orthodox have such beautiful, traditional Divine Liturgies that why or why would they want to come to some of our post-Vatican II Masses. Some are beautifully done, but many are not, and much of the traditional symbolism has been lost.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 11:46 AM By MarkF
St. Christopher, I see what you're saying - that the Latin Mass should be the standard - but that's not the reality of the Church in the US. We can't get down on people just because of what's happened. I'd rather we are all happy that we're able to move back towards a Church that we all recognize. I think in the long run Vatican II can be a good thing. Maybe the old Church was too focused on the externals. Sometimes I think the Protestants have it right; and their success in bringing former Catholics in shows that. Unless we have a daily, personal conversion experience, unless we have a direct inner relationship with Jesus, unless we don't constantly repent of our ways and live the Christian life throughout the day...then all of the Catholic rituals are as meaningless as the Protestants say they are. I come to this from having lived as a pagan my adult life. The inner experience of the knowledge of my sin, the acceptance of my fallen nature, the witness to the saving love of Jesus, this is what is Christianity is all about. This is where I think the Church has failed and continues to fail. We aren't taught this enough. Maybe it is because I lived such a godless life that I appreciate this so much, and that is why I love the Latin Mass so much. The knowledge of the greatness of my sin makes the Latin Mass that much more beloved. I think that sometimes those who advocate for the Latin Mass miss out that it is not just a show. It's strong medicine for the soul, and medicine that this secular world needs.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 2:11 PM By St. Christopher
"MarkF" there are many differences with Protestant thinking and Catholic theology. Look at the a hymn like "Amazing Grace," which has no place in any Catholic Church mass. Catholics believe that mankind is essentially good and is separated from God by sin. Christ gave us the Church, and sacraments, to help us bridge the moments of human weakness and achieve salvation through God's grace. Protestants believe that man is a wretched creature (a gift from Martin Luther, a continuing heritic; although now politically sanitized) that remains completely unworthy of salvation. Christ gave up his life and, in doing so, made everyone who says the legally correct "pledge" to be "saved." The Catholic Church believes in the God of the Prodigal Son parable. The Ruler who threw everything down and ran to embrace the Son who came home (by confession). Catholic Tradition is the fullfillment of centuries of intellectual thought, inspiration, artistic genius, and theologcial clarity. The Mass of the Ages is powerful because it is what the Church created, under Christ's own mandate. The mass of Paul VI ignores this very living body (and some say is contemptuous of it), and virtually eliminates the meaning of the sacrificial act it recreates. The sorry spectacle of many of the world's bishops in ignoring JPII and Benedict XVI to be generous in providing the traditional mass, says much more about the political love of power and money by the bishops than in the correctness of the PVI mass. Change is coming, however, even to the tragedy wrought by the episcopacy. The Holy Ghost will not be mocked. Keep at it, MarkF, but say a "Hail Mary" on occasion, which converts often ignore. Catholics have always believed in a personal relationship with Jesus -- we have always been his Church since his time, and all are welcome.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 3:50 PM By Mark from PA
Mark F, all Masses are strong medicine for the soul, not just Latin Masses. God hears our prayers in every language.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 4:02 PM By JLS
I looked up Wikipedia on Grace, and the whole thing including the socalled Catholic view of Grace is utterly ignorant Protestant heresy. There will come a time when the Protestants will have to choose between the Church and Islam ... I'd call it somewhat of a 50-50 split, similar to what exists "in" the Church today. There will come a time when there will not be all sorts of religious sects, because they will have been conquered by the big religions. It is what Islam has done steadily throughout its history. Islam has a solid foundation for enslaving all other non-Catholic religions; Protestantism will not hold a candle to this power but will be swept up by it. The only refuge is the Roman Catholic Church. Prepare now. St John informs us that we are always living in the end times ... been this way for twothousand years and is continuing; those who do not live accordingly always weaken only to be gobbled up by the slave masters.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 7:14 PM By Anne T.
I did not mean in my last post that one cannot receive the Eucharist and get graces from all valid post-Vatican II Masses. I meant that we should give our best to the Lord in the Liturgy and be faithful to the Vatican approved rites and liturgical prayers and procedures. We should not experiment with illicit prayers, words, etc. The latter does happen in some churches.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 8:48 PM By JLS
PA, Jesus teaches us through the "Three Temptations" event that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word the proceeds from the mouth of God" ... ie, a Mass with a weak or meaningless sermon or homily is not sufficient for life according to Jesus. But then, PA, you've got your own opinion which undoubtedly is sufficient.
|
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 11:07 PM By gpk
Joan-in-so-calif - there is St. Anne's in San Diego, a Latin Mass parish only, staffed by F.S.S.P., -
Traditional Latin Masses are conducted every day of the week, 4 Masses on Sunday - check out the web-site . .
|
Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 7:21 AM By JLS
This "meditation" on grace is becoming, at least to me, a point of study. The Protestants say things like "God's grace is sufficient", and then proceed to define it in a way that makes it look like a commodity, or a thing of utility. When I read authentic Catholic accounts of grace, I do not find this commercialization of "grace". Catholicism does not attempt to take grace out of God's hands and put it under the control of men, which I find Protestantism doing with it. There is a reason that Protestantism has clipped short the full spiritual resources of the Church ... and there are methods it uses; sly ones such as the rendering for consumption of the gift of grace, for example, are at work in the Church as always and perhaps even as never before. What were the reasons for reducing the traditional Mass to a form which invited and sustains so much abuse? Why has half the Church fallen for the evil tyrant of abortion Obama? Why does the Creed I learned from the Novus Ordo omit the fact that Jesus was incarnated of the Virgin Mary? In our era of rampant abortion, why is this suppressed? Instead we have simply that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and became man ... This omission leaves open the false justification by many that the embryo, fetus, unborn baby, child, toddler is not yet a "man", ie not yet a human being and therefore can be killed without it being a sin or crime. et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine et homo factus est: The Tridentine Credo says "incarnated by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and made man", so why is this critical truth absent from the English version? Is it also absent from the other language versions? Why is the Church hierarchy not fully explaining this essential truth in Her fight against evil? Where are the teachers in a time when they are most needed? Is the laity involved in such willful sin that God has been holding back many graces, waiting for His Church to wake up and respond to Him?
|
Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 4:57 PM By Bob
It's gbreat that the Bishop is saying the Latin Mass for those who want to attend. I grew up with the Lating Mass in the 40s and 50s and early 60s. I was a "senior" altar boy, usually serving as master of ceremony at the Sunday "High" mass with several choirs and a high-church approach to Mass. I usually served as an altar boy during each of two weeks at the daily Mass. I can still recite most of the Latin prayers by heart, know the gestures, etc. I have watched the Mass on EWTN. All I can say about this new push for the traditional Latin Mass is "ho hum", another way for the church to push its people away into the other denominations, or like Europe, to no church at all. The few who support this crazy movement have too much influence for their numbers. Its time for the hierchy to listen to the majority of their members.
|
Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 5:10 PM By Mark from PA
JLS, the priests in my parish give excellent sermons. I have also heard many very good short sermons at daily Mass. Through the sermons we continue to learn. I just got back from Mass now. It was a Spanish Mass and I didn't really follow the sermon but I understand the prayers and know many of the prayers and songs by heart now. I also was able to share in the body and blood of Christ through the Eucharist and after Mass spent a few minutes in Eucharistic adoration. I learn from the sermons but to me sharing in the life of Christ in the Holy Eucharist is the focal point of the Mass.
|
Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 6:30 PM By Mark from PA
JLS, you last two posts were very interesting. It would be interesting to talk to you in person. Better yet, I would enjoy seeing you share beer and conversation with my dad. I wonder how you two would get along.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:39 AM By St. Christopher
"JLS" and "Mark", traditional masses and traditional orders are gaining people, not "pushing them away." The silly and multitudinous mass forms developed under the Church's "obedience is everything" form of governance is the reason for the loss of mass attendees in Europe and America. The mass of Paul VI is simply a mish-mash of committee jargon developed to appease protestants. Whether one obtains the full grace going to a hootenanny mass as one does at a TLM is for God to judge. Many are mislead, but many more are now saved through the restoration of the Church's sacraments, which clearly contain the fullness of God's graces. Relativism is the tool of Satan and it is sad to see that so many believe that one type of religion, or mass, is "as good as" another. Democratic taste has nothing to do salvation, or with the direction of the true Church. The debate over the proper interpretation of "pro multis" is an important example of the attempts to "deconstruct" the Mass, and of the ultimate triumph of the Holy Ghost (as we will "soon" have the needed corrections that should begin to undue the evil that has befallen the Church).
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:50 AM By JLS
PA, could end up in a no holds barred contest to out drink each other, with the privilege of defining Church dogma going to the winner.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:53 AM By JLS
Bob, you'd make a great pope ... all your decisions would come from popular opinion ... just like the pagans.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 7:27 AM By MarkF
JLS, Do you know if the new English missal will have the word incarnated in it?
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 7:35 AM By Ski Ven
I'd like to meet JLS too, but I probably won't get to see him unless I manage to get into heaven.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 7:43 AM By MarkF
Since I seemed to have started this whole discussion on the Protestants, let me say again what I meant. I think that the Protestants have had success in bringing in so many Catholics is twofold. One is that their theology remained Bible based and God focused and they didn't go in for trendy left-wing politics. But the other reason and the one that bears on this discussion is that the Protestants put an emphasis on personal conversion, repentance and atonement. They talk about us having a personal relationship with God. This is what I still see missing from the Church. Yeah, I know that the Church believes that we are not JUST saved one-on-one with God, that we are saved as a community, as a Church. I don't think that we should be become Protestants, but we can learn from them about what people are hungering for. My main point is that without a personal conversion, a personal feeling of failing and needing God's grace...the sacraments, especially confession and communions will be empty. What the Protestants offer is half a loaf - the first half, the personal half but they lack the sacraments. What I'm saying is that the problem with the Catholic sacraments is that they can easily be done as a meaningless ritual. And the Latin Mass can be a step in the direction of more ritual and less understanding unless the Church begins to teach personal conversion and repentance. I've seen teaching materials on learning the Latin Mass and it's all about movements, words, rituals. What we need is education on the Mass -both Latin and Novus Ordo - on the personal, inner side, not just on ritual.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 10:16 AM By Mark from PA
Mark F, the Protestant churches in our area; Methodist and Lutheran are the two largest groups, but there are also Presbyterians, Episcopalians and United Church of Christ; tend to be more liberal than the Catholics. We don't have a lot of Baptists but in recent years more "independent" churches have come and gone. JLS, I come from a drinking family but I rarely drink. I think the last time was a Margarita 6 months ago. My dad was raised Presbyterian but became Catholic when I was a child. He is not that familiar with the Latin Mass as shortly after he converted everything went to English. My dad isn't really interested in Church dogma. I just would like you to meet him because he is such a cool guy and I wonder what you would think of him .
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 10:41 AM By Abeca Christian
As a Catholic all my life, I was always taught that we must have a personal relationship with Christ, even more when I received my first communion. My grandmother taught me how to love and adore my Jesus and His church and saints, especially His mama, my mama virgin Mary. When I started to meet more protestants, I only found that their personal relationship with Jesus (I am only referring to the ones I came across with and not all in general) was all not genuine. Now that I meet more and more protestants, some of them are all about self pleasing people, what feels good and I see a lot of hypocrisy in some of them too. Their charity is not genuine, it is sometimes even conditional. I guess that is so in every church. Also protestants are lead to follow another man's religion not the one Jesus started. Especially the born again Christians, they are the ones who cut you off if they find out that you are Catholic. They'll try to convert you and try they will but if they don't succeed, they definitely won't stay friends with you, because you see, in their views Catholics are lost souls, in reality, they are the ignorant ones because when we all die and should we be saved, we all become Catholic! That is the true faith, the True Christian Church of Christ! Although imperfect people are in it, still the church is still pure and still holds all the truths revealed to God's people. The protestants may have taken some truths with them but one can't deny that protestant sects and cults are in bad will because they have broken away from the true church, even in their churches you'll find imperfect people like in our church as well, but their churches were started by men.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 2:53 PM By Mark from PA
Abeca Christian, nobody tries to convert me because I tell them that I am too busy with my church to attend theirs. The Mormons are interesting. I have spoken to several but they never come back. I know a lot more about my faith than they do about theirs as I have been practicing it a lot longer. I can more than hold my own with any of these people. It does annoy me though that some of these fundamentalist types go after Catholics and try to convert them. Catholics need to be wary of being proselytized by these people.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:27 PM By JLS
MarkF, I do not know if it will or not. I have not attended an English language Mass for several years. The last one I attended was a local parish for a holy day, since it is a long drive to my Trad parish. I left just before Communion for several reasons. All during the Mass there were three elderly women, probably nuns, standing behind the altar glaring at the people in the pews. And the good ol' Kiss of Peace was over the top in my opinion, while the Communion lines were ... well I don't like sardine can like crowds either.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:31 PM By JLS
On the topic brought up by Abeca Christian, about personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not the Protestants who brought this forward, but the Catholic Church. Protestantism has a good notion of unique personhood, but not nearly as profound as it could be. The awareness of personality has been developing for a long time, and it was the Church who turned on the turbo thrusters. Paganism including socialism has very little notion or awareness of unique individual personalities. But you might have to study the situation for a while to see this.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:34 PM By JLS
Ski Ven, that would be a great honor, but hopefully not anytime soon. Come to think of it, if I do make the grade, the part about "anytime soon" is an understatement, what with Purgatory and all.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:49 PM By JLS
PA, what others including myself think about your father should not be so important to you. You should find ways to engage him so that you can take part in his coolness. Sometimes this is not easy to do. In my limited experience, one interacts with other men on a common interest or project, hobby or sport. Some restrict their interactions purely to their work or to business wheeling and dealing. Choose or find your avenue. Jesus says ask, seek and knock: Ask for what you want; seek what you want; knock and what you want shall be availed to you. Try this.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:51 PM By JLS
Yep, what St Christopher says.
|
Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 10:14 PM By Michael
This Missa Pontificalis was a complete shock to me. In a matter of a few seconds, I realized the astounding amount of destruction that has been wrought upon Holy Mother Church since the 1960s. What have we lost! This immense treasure has been butchered, vandalized, raped, by the modern Vandals who instead have given us dissenting bishops, paedophile priests, and disobedient laity, not to mention the complete collapse in discipline, attendance and, more importantly than anything else, Faith!
Thank you, thank you very much, Bishop Cordileone. I pray that Our Lord give us many bishops like you.
Michael
|
Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009 9:52 AM By Abeca Christian
JLS you stated facts on your post of September 23, 2009 5:31 PM, I agree with your post. Mark from PA they try to convert Catholics because they think that they are doing good, but it is not ever genuine because all they are doing is self glorifying themselves, sometimes it is something for them to bragg about. I do have to say though, a few friendships that I have met that are protestant, only a few seemed genuine because they were also open to understanding the Catholic church, they were born into their protestant views and truly genuinely believe that their way is the way. I do have to admit I admire their strong convictions that are biblical correct, I admire when they stand up for life issues, when they speak the truth on homosexuality without worrying what others think, I admire them for standing up for truths that the Catholic Church has always taught it's faithful. So even though protestants are in bad will for not seeing the Catholic church as the true Christian church, I still appreciate their convictions that help us fight the good fight, as I'm sure they appreciate us too when we truly walk the walk in the real Christ! That goes to say as well, as much as we see lukewarm catholics out there, there are also lukewarm protestants too.
|
Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:18 PM By Mark from PA
Abeca Christian, it seems that a lot of these people go to Latin America to tear Catholics away from the Church and cause division. Why don't they go to the Middle East and convert Muslims instead? They don't speak the truth on homosexuality in my opinion. Most of these groups think the homosexual orientation is a sin and that gay people are going to hell. But then again, a lot of them think that Catholics are going to hell too. Our Church does have good relations with the Mainline churches in our town and has interfaith services with them and even shares vacation Bible school. I don't have problems with the Mainline churches but do with fundamentalist Christian sects which are in my opinion pretty much anti-Catholic.
|
Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009 10:01 PM By JLS
Abeca Christian, although I often diss Protestants, it is not my best expression, nor does it convey what I actually believe. I try to remind myself that there is a difference between Protestants and Protestantism, as there is between any people and whatever the subscribe to. I am trying to reform my rhetoric so as to attack not people but false beliefs. When some Protestants exhibit great spiritual power to the glory of Jesus Christ, just imagine how much more they could exhibit with the fullness of the Sacraments.
|
Posted Friday, September 25, 2009 6:05 PM By Abeca Christian
I know what you mean JLS about what you posted "When some Protestants exhibit great spiritual power to the glory of Jesus Christ, just imagine how much more they could exhibit with the fullness of the Sacraments." I know, that would be a great joy to see more of them convert and as a Catholic I try my best to witness to them, in hopes that our Lord will shed His mercy and graces of conversion on them. God does not need me to convert them but I always see it a blessing when He does use my family or I to plant His sees. I must always remember that whatever we do in love for Jesus, that it never goes in vein and that God works on His own time. Mark from PA I only follow what holy scripture and what the church teaches on homosexual issues and therefore I have to say that I truly admire the fundamentals strong conviction on these issues, it is the lukewarm that I worry about and pray daily for. So even those Catholic churches that do not teach strongly the teachings of mother church and holy scripture, I stay away from, I always pray for a good solid Catholic priest, for our parishes, that we may attend their church.
|
Posted Saturday, September 26, 2009 7:25 AM By Mark from PA
I just saw a clip about the growth of Latino Mormons. The clip said that the number of Latino Mormons has doubled in 10 years. Many are attracted because of Mormon support for families. There are several Spanish language Mormon congregations in Arizona. I had read that in Arizona in the past the bishop would ship "predator" priests to poor Latino parishes. These priests were removed from the "better" parishes. In our diocese, Hazelton had a large influx of Latino people. How did the diocese respond to this influx? They closed the only Catholic school in the city causing a lot of pain. Another answer to the increase in people was to close churches. The Catholic mayor of Hazelton went on a crusade against Latino immigrants. The Bishop spoke of a "New Evangelization" but what kind of evangalization is it to close down schools and churches? The Latino population is being evangelized but sadly many are being evangelized out of the Catholic faith. It is a great tragedy. We need Catholic schools to help pass down the faith to our young people. I had a good Catholic education so I am pretty much immune from proselytizing from these sects but many less educated people are not.
|
Posted Saturday, September 26, 2009 5:36 PM By Mark from PA
Clarification, the diocese closed down the only Catholic HIGH School in Hazelton. They may have also closed down a few Catholic grade schools there but I am not sure. The families and their children were devastated and sadly some have distanced themselves from the Church. Before they closed Hazelton's Catholic High School there were 4 Catholic High Schools in Luzerne County. Two of the other Catholic High Schools were closed. These schools were closer to the remaining school and there was space for some of their students at that school. Since Hazelton was at quite a distance from the remaining high school and there wasn't really any room for the Hazelton kids there, a lot of those students were out of luck. They were told that if they wanted to they could try to find a Catholic school in another diocese that would accept them. Probably most just went to the public school which was already overcrowded from the influx of people. It would have been good if instead of closing the High School, the diocese could have tried to welcome the immigrant Latino kids into their high school and try to make their high school an island of peace and tranquility in a divided town. The diocese really dropped the ball on this. Our bishop just resigned but hopefully thing will be better if we can get a good bishop.
|
Posted Monday, September 28, 2009 4:52 AM By Mark from PA
What is sad is that in northern Luzerne County, the parents were upset when they closed a couple of elementary schools. They felt that this would hurt their high school because these schools were feeder schools to their high school. The bishop assured the people that their high school was safe. A few years later the bishop closed the high school without warning. The people had no input or recourse as the bishop closed his ears and heart to these people, he would hear no dissent. The parents and students learned a sad lesson here. It is sad for young people to learn that they are expendable. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." That is the lesson many learned.
|
© California Catholic Daily 2009. All Rights Reserved.
|