Father Z gives us the grisly details about this exercise in sacrilege-by-puppet at the horribly misnamed St. Joan of Arc parish community:
From the Minneapolis Star Sickle comes this big puppet liturgical horror for Palm Sunday at the über-weird St. Joan of Arc parish, in the running for the weirdest parish in these USA.
Actors and musicians presented Palm Sunday Family Mass with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre [apt mane] at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis. Christians around the world celebrated Palm Sunday with the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, when the crowds waved palm branches.
“Celebrant”? in costume? Who knows. It could be anyone.
Yep, at least the tabernacle is in the center of the … wildlife sanctuary!
It’s the raccoon that does it. No?
Go here to read the rest. You know, I lived through this type of madness once, back in the late Sixties and much of the Seventies. Once in one lifetime was more than enough. I am afraid that we are returning to this type of glop again because some powerful forces within the Church wish to reshape the Church and cannot do so unless there is a sustained attack on the Mass. I recall one veteran priest that I knew back during that time, now among the saints I think, who helped inspire my wife to convert to the Faith and who married us. He told me once that one of his common thoughts when viewing the carnage within the Church was “May God forgive us.” I am finding myself using those words quite a bit in my thoughts lately when contemplating the fact that all the progress made to restore the Church during the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI can be so easily put in peril.
There are two women “things” concelebrating the sacrilege.
A Clown Mass Would Be An Improvement on This blasphemy.
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING? EOT??
Absolute sickness and betrayal.
Meet the tour group, The Traveling Judas’.
“In the heart of the Beast..” Only the beast could convince others that this was appropriate.
Blasphemy is putting it mildly. 🙁
This so-called priest should be publicly horse-whipped and then dismissed from the priesthood.
To quote Groucho Marx, “If I had a horse, I’d horse whip him.”
Verily, there is a woefully insufficient supply of ammunition.
C’mon, the Church has always supported the use of inculturation in its mission to spread the Gospel. This is just a measured response to the Noah movie’s popularity.
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/sarc off
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Seriously, if that position were true, it would imply some very disturbing things about the triviality of our culture. Or at least that in Minneapolis. On the other had, the artwork is technically well done, which is so typical of us. Hollywood and Broadway have spent years perfecting the attractiveness of adultery, so why shouldn’t we use these skills to make idolatry attractive?
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It makes you wonder what the Minneapolis Somalis think as their sons trickle back to Africa for the jihad.
The weirdest visual is the big head on the priest (if it is really him). It makes his arms look like they have the proportions of a T. Rex.
Did anybody check for the hooves of the Goat?
Doesn’t the big ox in the back remind one of the minotaurs that fought for the White Witch in the first Narnia book?
5 words: ‘the spirit of Vatican 2’.
or four words – ‘the smoke of Satan’
Where there is smoke, there is fire. The beautiful art of inspiration broken, removed to be replaced by the ugly for nightmares.
Warnings to the seven churches go unheeded. That ‘Jesus wept’ is forgotten here.
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Hierarchical authority actions are puzzling. The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, where prayed-for vocations and Mass attendance were growing, being the object of a swift sword, as opposed to pathetic, obtuse irreverence and hellish noise from would be changers of God’s Word allowed to burgeon.
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[and, I just hope that the next youth day gives the youth a time for quiet retreat and reflection – without an emcee bugging them with high volume on the microphone. ]
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Can’t one of the departments of the hierarchy, with positions of power over the flock, stop the floor show aspect of our sober religion?
Where’s the bishop?
I pray the bishop isn’t under the big ears, or behind the raccoon mask.
Jesus weeping indeed. Lord have mercy!
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“Bring the kids–they’ll have nightmares for years!”
Only a Satanic cult could possibly do this.
All kidding aside, I would not be willing to touch those masks without gloves. They should be destroyed as carefully as any other tool of black magic. The church could probably use a reconsecration, too.
Some years back, on Mother’s Day, we went to a parish with a more convenient Mass schedule (at least with regards to Mother’s Day brunch) than our normal parish. The parish we went to was known to be orthodox, or a least more so than many in the diocese. We ended up sitting behind “the band.” It was a lovely Mother’s Day Mass, if a bit loud.
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To this day, my eldest son comments on how awful and weird it was (Our parish is small and does not have a band.) I do not know what he would think of this. Well, he probably would not be able to think because he’d be too busy dying of apoplexy.
makes me want to cry…not so much that there are individuals that perform these sacrilegious acts …but there are actually people that attend these events…this is exactly why I along with hundreds of other devout Catholics yearn for the Church of their childhood….I think we are called trads….I love it…just made a beautiful retreat in OK..Clear Creek Abbey…traditional 1962 Liturgy…the reverence was beyond anything I’ve experienced with the possible exception when I served Holy Mass for Msr Robichaud pre Vat II…I believe it was his Holiness Pope Benedict that said (someone correct me)…that the church will get smaller but more devout…those wishing to mock everthing Holy will belong to something else…PAX
There is no way that this is a valid “Mass.” Who cares to discover exactly what it is? Answer: “No one.” But for certain, it is NOT a Mass.
Final thought: God will NOT be mocked.
Romans 1:22-23
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.
“There is no way that this is a valid “Mass.” Who cares to discover exactly what it is? Answer: “No one.” But for certain, it is NOT a Mass.”
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The people attending are being cheated of the TRUTH. The bishop needs to intervene in this charade for the sake of his flock if not for the reverence due to God. The Pope needs to intervene in this mess if the bishop is negligent.
One of the great ironies of this latest inexcusable perversion of the Eucharistic offering by St. Joan of Arc “Catholic Community”- held on Palm Sunday of all days- is Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his actions which followed. Once the King entered the Royal City, he then proceeded to the temple mount, where he cleansed His temple (Mt 21:12-17). Christ entered Jerusalem to present Himself as a perfect offering to the Father. What was the first action that our living God took after entering His Holy City? He cleaned up liturgical worship from presenting a mock sacrifice. May the Lord have mercy on this kind of behavior and may St. Joan of Arc Parish take note: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’” (Mt 21:13), not a puppet, or a clown, or a mock sacrifice. Allow Christ to reign supreme in your liturgy, not paper mache, streamers, or face paint.
“Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest!” Lord come cleanse our hearts this Holy Week and most especially St. Joan of Arc “Catholic Community”. Amen.
Too bad a clown Mass presider(Archbishop Bregantini) has written today’s Stations meditations for Pope Francis . Hope a bulbous red nose attachment is not required.
Abp. Bregantini. Clown red nose. “By their fruits you shall know them..”–Mt. 7:16
this priestess has woman’s arms and hands!
Giant-Puppet-Mass, Giant-Puppet-Mass…let me see: Documents of Vatican II: nope, not there. Post-conciliar Documents of Vatican II: nope, not there either. The various evolving editions of “GIRM” (Gen Instr. Roman Missal): nope again, not there either.
Ahh, but in the Directory for Masses with Children (1973, Jean Villot & his excellency, Annibale Bugnini, Cong Div Worship, at that time still presiding) states: “Adaptations of the Mass for children may be necessary in a given country but cannot be included in a general directory.” (n.5) Also: “Although the vernacular may now be used at Mass, still the words and signs have not been sufficiently adapted to the capacity of children. In fact, even in daily life children do not always understand all their experiences with adults but rather may find them boring. It cannot therefore be expected of the liturgy that everything must always be intelligible to them. Nonetheless there is a fear of spiritual harm if over the years children repeatedly experience in the Church things that are barely comprehensible; for recent psychological study has established how profoundly children are formed by the religious experience of infancy and early childhood, because of the special religious receptivity proper to those years.” (n.2)
There are some statements you can drive a Giant-Puppet-laden truck through.
I cannot believe that this “Mass” was something spontaneous. Considerable preparation must have gone into it, which begs the question: “Why didn’t the Bishop know about it and if he didn’t, why didn’t he know about it ?” The worst possible scenario would be that the Bishop did know about it, in which case I feel sorry for his flock. Only one word describes this abominable behavior: BLASPHEMY!