Thursday, October 04, 2007

Dutch sickness


In restoring full citizenship to the ancient rite of the Mass, with the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum," Benedict XVI said that he wanted in part to react to the excess of "creativity" that in the new rite "frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear."

In view of what happens in some areas of the Church, this creativity affects not only the liturgy, but also the very foundations of Catholic doctrine.

In Nijmegen, Holland, in the church of the Augustinian friars, each Sunday the Mass is concelebrated by a Protestant and a Catholic, with one presiding over the liturgy of the Word and the sermon, and the other over the liturgy of the Eucharist, in alternation. The Catholic is almost always a layperson, and is often a woman. For the Eucharistic prayer, the texts of the missal are passed over in favor of texts composed by the former Jesuit Huub Oosterhuis. The bread and wine are shared by all.

No bishop has ever authorized this form of celebration. But Fr. Lambert van Gelder, one of the Augustinians who promote it, is sure that he is in the right: "In the Church there are different forms of participation, we are full-fledged members of the ecclesial community. I don't consider myself a schismatic at all."
read the rest Chiesa


I am not going to even comment on this, I find it so shocking.

Surfice it to say that this is why the Church needs Summorum Pontifice. What surprises me is the state of catechesis in Holland the clergy and laity don't simply rise up and demand the closure of every Dominican house in Netherlands, there is obviously such a sickness here.

To every Dominican in the world this should be a matter of grave concern.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aren't the friars AUGUSTINIAN and not DOMINICAN???

Fr Ray Blake said...

No, Augustinians are canons, not friars. Friars are Dominicans, Francsiscans, Carmelites and other mendicants

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

From Father's description, this celebration is invalid.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Of corse it is invalid, I just don't know what they bishop allowing invalid celerbrations.

Anonymous said...

Rome must stamp this abuse right out of the Church. The Dutch, Belgians and others in that neck of the woods seem to be 'into their own thing', to use a 60's expression! They should be into Canon Law and obedience to the Magisterium.

Anonymous said...

How on earth did things come to this sorry state. Big steel capped red shoe in need of speedy delivery me things.

Anonymous said...

Words fail me. What is extremely worrying is I think I read somewhere that it was in Holland where the practice of Communion in the hand started and in spite of being told it was unauthorised the practice continued and spread throughout the whole Church.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Amazing to think how prescriptive some bishops are about the old Mass, and Latin and particular types of music and how others permit this travesty to go on!

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

Father Ray puts his finger on the crucial question :

What does the bishop think he is doing in allowing this cebration ?

Sandro Magister in his article posted at Chiesa says the Dutch Bishops Conference is refraining from any official reply, other than its statement that this APPEARS to be contrary to Catholic doctrine.

Of course it is !

The bishop has an active ministry within his diocese.
He therefore cannot maintain a passive role without becoming complicit in these celebrations.

This is more than attempt to deform the liturgy.
It is an attempt to introduce a theology and ecclesiology totally contrary to Catholic doctrine.
Therefore, no Catholic priest may take part in such a celebration.
All Catholic faithful are solemnly warned that this celebration is totally invalid and forbidden.

There. I've said it.
Why is it so difficult for a Catholic bishop to say it ?

Mary Martha said...

Having attended a Dominican University here in the US... quite honestly, nothing they do would surprise me.

Students@EnglishOP said...

I can assure you, we are concerned. Pray for our brothers.

Anonymous said...

Fr. Ray,

Come back, Diocese of Portsmouth, all is forgiven!

I was shocked when I was on vacation in Holland a few years ago and attended Mass at a church in the downtown part of the Hague. At Communion, the altar girls held out chalices and everyone came up and dipped their hosts into the Precious Blood. Except that this form of self-administered intinction didn’t work, as the hosts were non-absorbent and there were drips all over the floor. I can’t think of a more blatant way of showing contempt for the Blessed Sacrament – or rather, of showing that the priest had no meaningful belief in the Real Presence. By the way, coffee was served in the church itself after Mass and there was far less spillage of liquid.

My theory is that wherever Catholics are a minority in Protestant countries, having now left the ghetto, they start unthinkingly to be influenced by the dominant religious culture. The story about the Dutch Augustinians shows that these individuals have to all intents and purposes become Calvinists, like the majority of their compatriots. They have lost their Catholicity.

In England, protestantization isn’t so blatant, as the dominant Anglican religious culture is closer to Catholicism (in its externals) than Dutch Calvinism is. So in England there’s a more subtle process of osmosis, in which Catholic belief and practice become ever more woolly and sapped of vitality, and blatant rebellion is less common. But the ultimate effect is the similar – a gradual loss of Catholicity and, in England’s case, a drift towards a denominational no-man’s land somewhere between Rome and Canterbury. ARCIC bears a lot of the blame for this, in my opinion.

One thing is for sure – if English Catholics moan that the Vatican isn’t focusing on the problems of English Catholicism, and the calibre of the English hierarchy in particular, it may be partly because England has a milder form of the osmosis disease than other parts of the Northern European/ North American complex of nations.

gemoftheocean said...

Pelerin, with all due respect - how does "Communion in the Hand" [and frankly, given Jewish customs I have a hard time believing Jesus asked Peter to put his head back and stick out his tongue] suddenly equate to "the world going to hell in a handbasket." Which is what this abomination of a ritual is.

WHERE is Benedict if the local bishop has his head up his backside? I'd say somebody needs to start yanking faculties. And fast.

Someone literally needs to take whatever it is they are allegedly consecrating and throw it directly in their faces and say "This is what I think of this piece of garbage you are offering." Then grind their heels in it.

Anonymous said...

Francis - speaking as a biologist I'm all for REVERSE OSMOSIS!!!!!! Thinking about this issue, we can't expect Rome to fight all our fights for us. We, simple, ordinary Catholic faithful clergy and laiety have to take up this Cross and fight back against the devil who is the instigator of ALL these things. Yes, we need to blog hard and get these messages out to as many people as possible, you can't suppress the blogs (unlike newspapers and magazines), we need to write to and speak to Bishops and NOT worry about hurting feelings, it's not about feelings it's about the Son of God and Salvation! Feelings won't get you and your neighbour to Heaven!

Of course, none of this will work unless we pray hard and ask Our Blessed Lord, the Angels and Saints and our Holy Mother Mary for help, strength and support to change people's hearts and minds.

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

God help us!
I sometimes wonder what it would take to get the Ent Moot...er Vatican to get past saying 'Good morning..."

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