Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn

The American Papist and one or two other sites reproduce this video of a Youth Mass celebrated by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna in Wolfsthal. It leaves me speechless that a close collaborator with the Holy Father and one of the authors of the Catechism of the Catholic Church should be complicit in such an action.

Some blogs endlessly criticise our own UK bishops, but one could hardly imagine a single one being so cavalier with the Holy Eucharist. Earlier this year the Cardinal was forced, after fierce criticism, to close an exhibition in which the Last Supper was depicted as a homosexual orgy which he had allowed in his own Cathedral.

19 comments:

PJA said...

Oh no! I feel so sad watching that. All those young people are being confused and led astray by their own bishops.

Anonymous said...

O...my...God, what is going on!?

Anonymous said...

So, this is the man who wrote the beautiful book "God's human face."
I am hoping he was somehow cornered into this.
Perhaps we put too much trust in people just because they appear good or holy. I see it online all the time.
We need to pray for discernment before trusting too much.
sad.

Dilly said...

I see the balloons with the prayers attached never made it any higher than the roof. I feel a metaphorical allusion coming on. I had better lie down.

Paulinus said...

I pray for the day that someone in authority comes down on this like a ton of bricks. There is, of course, a precedent.

And to them that sold doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic. And his disciples remembered, that it was written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up.
-John 2: 16-17

Anonymous said...

The cardinal is reckoned to be personally orthodox but pastorally soft. Earlier this year he gave a Church award to a pro-abortion politician.

Anonymous said...

I agree, our young people are being led astray by their own bishops. Cardinal Schonborn's Youth Mass, should have been a solemn and serious celebration of the Eucharist. Young people don't need to learn to clap during the consecration. Though it is important to include young people in liturgical celebrations, we should not reduce the liturgy to a spectacle. Even though such events might interest young people, they must become interested in the solemn mass, that has been celebrated in a glorious and edifying way since the Last Supper!

I don't know if anyone remembers the Coca-Cola/Wonder-bread celebration of the Eucharist, on a college campus or at a youth gathering, in the 1970's. The Church doesn't need that kind of incentive for young people to attend liturgy! Young people must be spiritually turned on by the traditional liturgy of the Eastern or Western rites. (The Church breathes with two lungs, East and West.)

Anonymous said...

I saw this video on Fr Z's site, without knowing anything about the Cardinal himself.

It seemed odd, because the Cardinal's personal actions seemed very reverent, almost divorced from all the nonsense going on around him. For example, watch the elevation, where he is clearly making an offering to God rather than the "sharing with the people" gestures that we see too often.

It looked like a good priest who had walked unknowingly into a ridiculous Mass (presumably invented by the young lady sat next to him).

But, and it's a huge but, he is the Cardinal Archbishop - so why does he allow this sort of thing to go on?

Is it because, like some parish priests, he feels that he has to follow what his liturgists and youth leaders say? Perhaps, like them, he needs to get out more and talk to more normal Catholics to realise that these lay leaders do not speak for the rest of us.

Jackie Parkes MJ said...

Gosh! I thought he was a good one! I heard him speak at a Path to Rome Conference in Vienna...

gemoftheocean said...

Richard: Zillions of men and boys and it's *got* to be "the young lady's" fault.

Give the "but the woman tempted me to eat the forbidden fruit" jazz, it's old.

One person *IS* responsible for this: THE CARDINAL. Look at the vestments? Did "the young lady" make them herself and hold a gun to his head to put them on?

He couldn't see what he was putting on? The theatrical lighting? She hung and programmed that all by her lonesome? Obnoxious music? Yeah, all those guys being lead with a ring through their ignorant noses by
"the young lady?"

Please. Maybe all the women should just lay down and die so you men won't be tempted.

UNBELIEVABLE. The lottery is coming up. Can you pick six numbers for me? I can really use a win and you're so clairvoyant.

Bottom line, if the bishop didn't want shoddy, he wouldn't have gotten shoddy.

Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

Probably best not to be too astonished.

I think it should be pointed out that Cardinal Schonborn has rather a history of weird liturgical shennanigans. He was also not overly keen on hurrying to stop the display of obscene "religious" art in his cathedral museum.

Catholic Student said...

To often we jump to immediate conclusions that it IS the bishop who personally suggested such awful events.

In my experience however it is quite different. A bishop would turn up for mass 15 minutes before the procession, therefore there wouldn't have been time to change anything he didn't agree with.

in this case the Cardinal seems a little uneasy but carries on in a very reverent manner!

As for the youth ... Good God!

Anonymous said...

"The cardinal is reckoned to be personally orthodox but pastorally soft." Sharon - where have we seen and heard THAT before.

I have been to much worse liturgies than this. And, they seem to be increasing.(So is the proper Mass, thankfully.)

What surprises me from that video, is that I thought it had been filmed by someone keen to expose it - he or she seemed to know exactly which bits to film - and a good job has been made of it.. but then the credit comes up at the end "Gloria TV" - supporting the catholic faith or similar. This suggests the person who filmed it approves.

???

I am mystified.
Black is officially white and white is officially black.

I'm sure Matthew's Gospel said something about those going against the Church, believing that they are in fact doing a good service to it, at some point in history. I'm too lazy to look it up.

Anonymous said...

"A bishop would turn up for mass 15 minutes before the procession, therefore there wouldn't have been time to change anything he didn't agree with."

catholic student- are you serious ?

If so, the situation is even worse than it turns out. Bishops who have now been struck dumb? Who have lost all authority conferred on them during their annointing as shepherds ? No time to change anything he didn`t agree with ?

well, here's a possible scenario:

Bishop: If you don`t burst those balloons right now, remove everyone from the sanctuary except those ordained to be there, get down on your knees and adopt an appropriate stance for the Celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I'm ordering a taxi back to Vienna. In fact, while we're at it, Mass is officially delayed for six hours whilst I and my other priest-concelebrants hear confessions. By the time we come back, this circus is cleaned up or I`m out of here.

yes ?/ No ?


Pastoral care my ****. Incidents like this need a rocket up 'em. I don`t understand why everyone's afraid to do it.

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

Sigh, this is not what the youth want...Theologically solid, pastorally a pushover, that's all i know.

torchofthefaith said...

Dear Father

We just watched this at a friend's house and were deeply distressed.

It's all dreadful but the footage of young people holding the Blessed Sacrament and chewing on it in the pews as though it were ordinary bread and not the Body of Christ were most upsetting.

Nothing surprises us anymore.

Thanks for all you do Father.
God Bless
Alan and Angeline

Anonymous said...

Bishops and especially Cardinals normally receive copies of the Order of Service well in advance. Their secretaries generally say precisely what will happen.

Anonymous said...

Gem, that was hilarious. A brilliant parody of the English view of an aggressive feminist who always jumps straight to any imagined gender slight. Thank you.

Erm, it was a parody, wasn't it?

In case anyone has misunderstood, my reference to "young lady" was of course merely to identify the lay person stood next to the Cardinal, who was presumably the main person involved in designing the strange liturgy.

What should have been perfectly clear from reading my comment was that this was not a male-female point but a clergy-"lay leader" one.

I was suggesting that priests and bishops have two levels of responsibility:
- firstly there are those who actively promote improper liturgical practices themselves;
- secondly there are those who accept bad practices when they are pushed onto them by lay leaders and committees.

Yes, both sets of clergy are in the wrong, and are ultimately responsible. But the two problems are different, and the approach to them is different.

The second sort may merely need the encouragement of ordinary lay Catholics to give them the courage to oppose these travesties. If so, then we should give it.

Red Maria said...

Look, why is anyone surprised by this? Cardinal Schönborn has such little regard for the sacraments that he supports admitting adulterers to Communion. Not only scant regard for the sacraments, but an appallingly callous attitude to the countless numbers of people - and there must be many in Austria too - who've been abandoned by their spouses too.
This has to be said clearly and unequivocally: Schönborn is a disgrace. He is not fit for office and the Vatican should remove him.
The Austrian Church has been in a mess for decades and will continue to be in a mess if led by people like Schönborn who are not fully committed to Roman Catholicism, semi-detached members of the Church, if you like. A fish rots from the head down.
Schönborn should be pensioned off into retirement as soon as possible.

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