Posted on 03/04/2008 10:06:35 AM PST by NYer
For 40 years, St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Minneapolis has been a font of Christian compassion, service to the suffering and help to the poor.
Those good works will continue. But many of the good people who contributed their time, talents and resources to the $3 million-a-year social outreach of a historic, 119-year-old inner-city parish will not.
They will be without their worship home at St. Stephen's.
Exiles in their own parish, 100 or more members of the St. Stephen's community plan to march this morning from the church to a new home five blocks away, where they hope to continue the informal and spiritually arousing service that drew them to St. Stephen's in the first place.
You know the kind of service: with guitars, lay people giving homilies, dancing in the aisles with people who have mental and physical disabilities, gay couples openly participating in worship, along with ex-priests, ex-nuns and sundry other spiritual wanderers.
It's all so 1960s. The new church is more like the 1860s.
The 9 a.m. English-language prayer service, believed to have begun in 1968, has been shut down by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has moved in recent years to bring all of its 219 parishes into conformity.
"They all have to play with the same playbook," says Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the archdiocese. "They've had plenty of warnings to get their act together."
The "playbook" is the GIRM -- "General Instructions of the Roman Missal" -- which spells out the rubrics for worship services. After the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council in the early 1960s, the orthodoxies loosened and churches, especially ones in needy neighborhoods like St. Stephen's, put more emphasis on carrying out the message of the Gospels than following the rubrics.
The 9 a.m. service in the school gym (there's also a 9 a.m. Spanish-language mass in the church sanctuary) became a place where all were welcomed, the wording of prayers was changed to make them inclusive ("Our Father and Mother, Who Art in Heaven," for example), women had leadership roles in services, and simple ceramics were used instead of chalices of precious metal, as called for in the rubrics.
The parish is getting a new pastor next month (it has had only part-time clergy), and McGrath says the archdiocese wanted to get things "straightened out" before the Rev. Joseph Williams arrives.
But similar changes are taking place across the archdiocese, which is getting new, conservative leadership from Co-adjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt, who will shortly succeed Archbishop Harry Flynn.
...
"It's incredibly sad," says Mary Condon Peters of Golden Valley, who has belonged to St. Stephen's for 16 years and served on its parish council. "All these years, there was room in the big old Catholic tent for all of us. And now there isn't. And they gave us three weeks' notice."
....
The last service was held last Sunday. About 200 people attended, many crying throughout the service, which ended with a tear-stained but joyful singing of "We Are Marching in the Light of God."
Today, they will march again. This time, to Park Avenue.
After gathering at the usual time at the school gym, many parishioners who considered the 9 a.m. prayer service the center of a rich faith experience will say a last prayer on the steps and then head five blocks east, exiles in the desert, to 2120 Park Av., where they plan to continue the Sunday prayer meetings that brought them together.
I’m a member of a Catholic parish in the Twin Cities that, along with a number of other “progressive” Catholic communities, has recently been ordered by the archdiocese to conform its liturgical practices with the rubrics as stated in the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM).
I’m sure that for many Catholic parishes, the rubrics of the Roman Missal serve well to express and reflect their faith and community life. Yet for the past 30 years, the parish to which I feel blessed to belong has developed its liturgy in ways that beautifully reflect the presence of the Spirit discerned in the unique gifts and needs of its members and in our shared lives together. This development has been a very intentional and faith-filled embodiment of Vatican II’s call for the “full and active participation” of the laity in “liturgical celebrations” (Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), 1963). Yet many feel that now, in one fell swoop, this embodiment - along with the Spirit that nurtured and inspired it - has been discounted by the Archdiocese in its demand that it be abandoned for the rubrics of GIRM. It seems that in this situation, the “form,” which Jesus said “profits nothing,” has been elevated above the “Spirit” which gives life.
...
The recent efforts of the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis to enforce strict liturgical conformity, along with its efforts to promote the pseudo-science of NARTH, forbid dialogue, and ban certain speakers, have left many experiencing feelings of deep frustration, sadness, loss, and anger. Such responses, coupled with McBrien’s observations regarding the rejection by many in the Catholic hierarchy of Vatican II ecclesiology, bring to mind Kathleen Kautzer’s comprehensive study of the “underground church” movement, and specifically this movements efforts to move beyond the institutional structures of Rome so as to create and sustain Catholic communities of vibrancy and authenticity.
Kautzer is an associate professor of sociology at Regis College, a predominately all-women’s Catholic college founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Weston, MA. She teaches courses in peace studies, women’s and children’s issues, social movements, and spirituality. For the past four years, Kautzer has traveled the country studying the Catholic reform movement and, in particular, the emergence and growth of Eucharistic communities and parishes that operate outside Vatican control. Her study, soon to be released as a book entitled The Underground Church, drew on theories of nonviolence and social movements to interpret and evaluate the Catholic reform movement.
Last November, Kautzer spoke at the annual Call to Action conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As part of her presentation, entitled “The Underground Church: Nonviolent Alternatives to Vatican Empire,” Kautzer shared photos and descriptions of “Vatican II-styled communities marked by inclusive welcoming, participatory liturgies, and democratic governance.” She noted that “some are within, others outside the institutional structures of the Roman Catholic Church.” Many of the Catholics that comprise these “resistance communities” no longer find dialogue with the hierarchy constructive. Accordingly, they are proactively creating, discovering, and employing “a range of nonviolent strategies to preserve or create vibrant communities that fit their vision of a just Church.”
Kautzer defines the “underground church” as the movement to reform the Church structurally. The term encompasses a range of Vatican II-styled parishes and reform groups, from Voice of the Faithful to Call to Action.
Generally, all such parishes and groups are working for four basic reforms:
1) A formal role for laity in decision-making.
2) Fiscal transparency and accountability (an important issue, says Kautzer, given that a recent study found 85% of the dioceses looked into had serious problems of embezzlement).
3) An inclusive priesthood - one welcoming of married clergy, women, and gays.
4) A commitment to renewing and expanding the direction of Vatican II.
...
“Borderline communities”
“Borderline communities,” says Kautzer, are those engaged in “a little stronger form of non-violent resistance” than the “above-ground communities.” They sometimes engage in the “insider tactics” of protest and persuasion, but more often than not engage in the “outsider tactic” of non-cooperation. Some examples of borderline communities include:
1) Convents in which Catholic nuns perform their own liturgies (including Eucharist) and new types of rituals.
2) Eucharistic communities that are at least tolerated by the hierarchy and rely on “insider priests” (i.e., priests recognized by the Vatican) but engage in church reform work.
3) Vigiling Parishes that are resisting closure orders and conducting their own rituals (e.g., St. James the Great in Wellesley, MA, which is part of the Council of Vigiling Parishes).
The “underground church”
The “underground church” is defined as groups, parishes, or networks of parishes that operate outside of Vatican approval or control, and work for church reform. They tend to employ the “outsider tactics” of non-violent intervention and the creation of parallel institutions. Examples of the underground church include:
1) Catholic reform organizations such as Corpus, Women’s Ordination Conference, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, Catholics for a Free Choice, and Dignity, which, unlike the others, says Kautzer, “has no choice but to operate as an underground church because of the Church’s punitive policies towards homosexuals.” (In most dioceses, including the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis, Dignity is banned from meeting on church property.)
2) Eucharistic communities that are not approved by the Vatican, rely primarily on lay persons or “outsider” priests (i.e., priests who have married, resigned, or been defrocked), and engage in church reform work. For example: Community of God’s Love in Lowell, MA.
3) Parishes that are not recognized by the Vatican, but retain the “Catholic” label and engage in church reform work. For example: Spiritus Christi in Rochester, NY, and St. Stanislaus Kostka in St. Louis, MO.
4) Communions and/or networks of parishes that are non-Roman yet identify and are recognized as Catholic, and provide governance structure and support services for “underground” parishes. For example: the Old Catholic Church (for an extensive interview with Rev. Robert Caruso of Cornerstone Old Catholic Church in St. Paul, MN, click here), the Reformed Catholic Church, the National Catholic Church, and the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. This last group has developed a constitution based on the Association of the Rights of Catholics in the Church. Among other things, this constitution expresses welcome to all “regardless of race, national origin, religious affiliation, gender, or sexual orientation,” and mandates that people within parishes vote on policy and elect their priests.
....
Movement of the Spirit
I’m not interested in living in any type of ghetto, yet that’s what Pope Benedict XVI seems intent on creating for Catholics. I’m drawn to a Church open to the Spirit, a Church that recognizes and celebrates itself as the Risen Body of Christ, alive and afoot in the world; a Church unafraid of journeying and engagement, of growth and change. My sense is that the birthing and rising of the “underground church,” as described and documented by Kathleen Kautzer, is the movement of the Spirit, seeking and finding welcoming and fertile soil beyond the fortress-like walls of the Vatican’s current state of rigidity and its fearful retreat into conformity.
I cannot help but think that Kautzer’s study validates Rosemary Radford Ruether’s observation that the more the hierarchy stagnates and retreats, the more numerous and freewheeling the creative initiatives that spring up on the ground.
I do not believe that such initiatives herald the destruction of the Church or it’s collapse into insignificance. Rather, I believe that the initiatives that comprise the “underground church” are, in fact, the hope of the Church, and herald its transformation into the fullness of new life.
LOL!
Because it is impossible to do both simultaneously?
Or because the "message of the Gospels" is disobedience?
**Co-adjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt, who will shortly succeed Archbishop Harry Flynn.**
This is the best news in the entire article for me. Things will get back on the right road, but it will be a difficult walk for Archbishop John Nienstedt as well as the parishioners!
Protestants.
But their entire raison d'etre would be gone if they simply started a new church. They're not about worship -- they're about tweaking the Catholic church and harassing it as much as possible.
There’s so much delusion, ignorance, and error here, one doesn’t know where to begin. But Archbishop John Nienstedt did know where to begin, and begin he did -— so, Deo Gratias.
I must say it is particularly galling to see the way they exploit and hide behind human shields -— that is, the poor who have benefited fom the parish ministry -— as if the Archbishop were going to suppress charity or ban the Works of Mercy. Notice how they try to create the impression that he’s hurting the hungry and homeless, when in fact he is carrying out his God-given duty to maintain the faith and holiness of the Church.
Somebody be sure to ping me if the Bishop of Erie, PA ever pulls in the reins on St. Joan Chittister’s Sisters of St. Benedict, OK? I have a very pesonal interest in that.
********************
Translation: we ignored them for years, and time finally ran out.
That’s absolutely correct. Personally, I think the archbishop should have removed every last remnant of Catholicism from the premises, turned over the title to the building, wished good tidings and continued success in ministering to the poor and odd to his protestant friends and then departed swiftly. Of course, I feel pretty much the same way about any post conciliar parish.
Seriously, they couldn't have thought that this schismatical party could go on forever without some consequences.
IOW the Pharisees are in charge once again and the real "christians" have to do their lords work elsewhere.
Phooey, nothing rejects grace as effectively as the idolatry of self. If they were truly living the Gospel, a simple change in the "playbook" should have absolutely no effect at all.
Calling themselves Catholic does not make them Catholic.
Maybe they should reread the Nicene creed...
Just the point. These folks are schismatics who desire the Church to change to approve of homosexuality and embrace all other matters important to libertines. That is not going to happen.
The Catholic Church has been harmed by a movement within the religious which started in the 60's to embrace the liberalization of the 60's. Homosexuals were accepted into the clergy and the fallout has almost destroyed the American Church. Now the Church seeks to rid itself of the damaging elements and return to the path. If we need to jettison these creatures to lighten the load for the journey, so be it. Good riddence to bad rubbish.
Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
Yes there was indeed a spirit at work in these progressive antiCatholic parishes. But it sure was not the Holy Spirit.
Hey Mike - need some boxes?
And pray that they repent and reconcile to the Church. The Bishops need to spend more time protecting the sheep from the wolves rather than trying to excuse the wolves behavior. Thanks be to God that by and by its beginning to happen.
Prayers up for the “displaced Catholics”. They are victims of the sin of Pride, and have been led terribly astray by those shepherds who were to protect them. Thank God that there is a new light coming into the parish. My best wishes that the Church gets stronger.
Yes, I know I should do that; but it's hard. It is if one is faced with vandals who desire to destroy a great work of art because it has colors that displease them. Such hubris.
Shouldn't "schismatical" have a "Z" in it? :)
Don't I know it!! Here's my trick; every time I find it difficult to pray for someone who my baser self would like to see disgraced in the folly of their own making, I remember how truly rotten some of my own sins have been, are and will probably be, and I'm instantly transformed from the Pharisee to the tax collector.
Rebellion — it is so adolescent, so unattractive, really.
I would've marched out long ago.
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Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL !!! :)
The place for protestants is with Protestants.
Father Z is just awesome.
His blog is on my daily reading list.
I’m with you on everything and happily so, except for those spritually wandering guitars. You really need to forgive them, it’s not their fault. LOL
It saddens me to read on this thread and the other one, how far astray some have gone. I never knew there were such parishes, that dared call themselves “Catholic”. No wonder there are so many Protestants that charge us with “different doctrines”! They have every right to do so given this level of insanity!
If I were there, I’d ask the parish council:
Is it really helping anyone to include “openly gay” people in liturgical abuses?
Is it really helping anyone to tell them, “eventually, women, married men, and gays should be priests”?
Is it really helping anyone to have nuns preform their own “consecrations”?
Does it really help ANYONE, to exchange the truth for a lie, no matter how much the truth might hurt someone’s feelings?
True Love does not bend to the whims and feelings of mankind. Sometimes, Love hurts. This is the lesson these parishioners seem to have forgotten; I pray they forgot it with a clear conscience and not by choice.
Unitarians will take them in.
If anyone doubt how banal these prayer meetings must have been, here are the lyrics, I kid you not, of their final song:
We are marching in the light of God,
We are marching in the light of God,
We are marching in the light of God,
We are marching in the light of,
The light of God,
We are marching, marching,
We are marching, marching,
We are marching in the light of,
The light of God,
We are marching, marching,
We are marching, marching,
We are marching in the light of God.
Typical member?: “We are marching in the light of God... except we’re not marching of course. And we refuse to be enlightened. But other than the fact that we’re not marching and we’re not in the light of God, aren’t those lovely lyrics?”
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