Screaming and Flinging Poo in the Catholic Liberal Monkey House
Posted by: tony on 03/04/2009 06:04 PM
Updated by: tony on 03/04/2009 06:04 PM
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Expires: 04/04/2009 12:00 AM
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I have read Fr. Tim Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity for quite a while. Fr. Finigan is a bright, faithful and humorous priest.
One of the things Fr. Finigan has done is introduce new traditional "innovations" to his parish. The word "innovations" is in quotes because "traditional innovations" is a bit of an oxymoron. A couple of examples of this is the building of an altar rail in his church, and the encouragement of his congregation to receive our Lord on the tongue on their knees.
He also has included one celebration of the Usus Antiquior (Tridentine Latin Mass) every week. He still has three Novus Ordo Masses, but additionally, following the permissions laid down in the Pope's Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, he is offering the ancient Mass (which was never abrogated) to the faithful in his parish.
The aging hippies are not amused. One of their vanguards named Elena Curti from the so-called Catholic weekly, The Tablet, took aim at good father Finigan and fired an opening salvo. This article is not available online, so I'm going to piggyback off of a fisking delivered by the inimitible Fr. Z.
Matters came to a head last October when one parishioner, Bernard Wynne, a retired management consultant, set out his grievances in an email to Fr Finigan and asked for a parish consultation. He copied his message to a number of parishioners and invited them to make their views known. The ensuing correspondence resulted in about a dozen people objecting to Fr Finigan’s approach and about the same number supporting him.
So a malcontent tries to stir up a lynch-mob. Fabulous. I have watched this dynamic. It isn't pretty. It's usually people entrenched in the parish community for generations (if it were a Protestant church, they'd probably be referred to as "elders"). They have been running things for years, and then a new upstart priest shows up who doesn't know his place, and they proceed to explain the facts of life to them.
I have a word of advice for Mr. Wynne. Why don't you use that management consultation experience of yours to arrange for a social hour with tea and crumpets after every Mass to give people an opportunity to socialize. I'm sure Fr. Finigan wouldn't object.
If you don't want to make matters better, I'd suggest you don't let the door hit you in the behind on the way out. I'm sure there's another parish within driving distance where you can get whatever flavor of Mass that you prefer.
Fr. Finigan gives his own response here.
My wife and I attend a weekly Novus Ordo mass celebrated by a faithful and orthodox priest (who is an accomplished homilist). We also attend Latin Mass every first Friday at a local hermitage. Sometimes it's Usus Antiquior, other times it's Ordo Missae Cum Populo (the new Mass ad orientem in Latin) depending on the priest. Either way it's a wonderful experience for us.
I'd think that the liberals at Fr. Finigan's parish would celebrate the "diversity" of liturgical expression in their parish. But liberals like all kinds of diversity in their Masses except for Latin and chant.
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