Call to…Puppetry? (Call To Action's Closing Liturgy) [Not on a full stomach alert]

Charlotte was both ^ | May 7, 2008 | Amy Welborn

[NYer]

Last week, the West Coast Call to Action had its conference in San Jose. This blogs links to a video of the Closing Liturgy.

Here’s a direct link to the video.

Playing “spot the liturgical abuse” is not the point. Nor is snarking at the average age of the participants. (Just heading off the predictable commentary at the pass here. Let’s go deeper.)

What I am just not grasping, despite my pretty strong powers of empathy, is the gestalt at work here.

Why does everyone think the giant liturgical puppets are so awesome?

This has got to be one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen.

[NYer]

Speechless

[OpusatFR]

Oh please. My eyes!

Not only puppetry, but liturgical dancers (by a woman old enough to know better.)

Fatima prayer, again?

[weegee]

Giant Puppets PING:

As noted by someone else on an older thread...

"FReeper Miss Marple has a Puppet Index that seems to reflect the idiocy of certain parades fairly accurately. The more puppets, the more idiocy. I don't know if it's a linear or geometric function - gonna have to get some FReeper statisticians in on that one..."

Here are some "fer instance" examples:

[Kirkwood]

I didn’t need to see that. What next, a Jesus juggling act?

[incredulous joe]

What a horror!

I believe being in attendance would constitute Liturgcal Abuse.

It’s certain that if these folks were satirizing the Muslim faith that “very large heads” would roll.

[incredulous joe]

I just watched the video ~ you’re going to need to put the Fatima prayer on a 24 hour continuos loop.

[NYer]

Fatima prayer, again?

We may have to go one level higher - Divine Mercy chaplet.

[Pyro7480]

These people are all greying Baby Boomer hippies. Don’t they fear what they’re all going to face in a few years or so?

[maryz]

Nor is snarking at the average age of the participants

Can we snark at the weight/shapelessness of the "principal" dances? 'Course, it's probably nothing several years of 6 or 8 hours a day at the barre couldn't cure . . . maybe . . . ;-)

[Renatus]

This must be reported to the bishop. If he neglects to say
anything and refuses to condemn this action he will be no
different than Cardinal Law’s neglect concerning the
abuse of children. This is a serious abuse of the sacred
liturgy and must be condemned. To remain silent is tantamount to approval.

[Deo volente]

Were these people born idiots, or did they become that stupid?

[lastchance]

Oh my good gracious that video is hysterical. Why is heresy often so danged tacky? Does alliance with the evil one take away appreciation for grace and propriety? Does Satan truly delight in making us make look ridiculous? I guess the answer is yes.

Anyone know who the so called priest is in this liturgical masturbation? I sure would not want to be in his shoes should Jesus decide to drop down and say howdy.

[NYer]

This must be reported to the bishop.

This is Call to Action West Coast. That encompasses several dioceses. Doubtful you will find any one of those bishops addressing this situation. Take a look at the conference topics. For example:

Rob Grant - Why the Church has a Problem with Progressives, and How to Nurture that Problem into a Solution

Why on earth would an otherwise intelligent institution be so wary of concepts as seemingly benign as women priests? Inclusive language? Collaborative leadership? Knowing the paradigms, assumptions and fears from which a person or a group operates is the first step to conversation and true engagement. Thirty-year veteran pastoral minister/teacher/writer Rob Grant moderates this foray into appreciating, and opening, the mind of the Institution.

Full Listing

Their ranks are shrinking, the members are aging and at some distant point, they will be nothing more than a blip on the radar screen of Catholic history.

[maryz]

Re the "presider," according to a poster at wdtprs.com:

The sad news is that the celebrant is the Bishop Emeritus of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, Remi de Roo. He is also an Enneagram Master which he promotes on his own web page. You can google him and find it all, as well as his promotion of attending the above puppet mass. He is 84 and bankrupted the Diocese of Victoria with race-horses and land deals.

[Deo volente]

He’s a retired bishop from Victoria, British Columbia:

http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bderoo.html

http://www.ctanorcal.org/2008Photos/Liturgy/BpRemiDeRoo1900.jpg

He’s going to need a lot of prayers.

[Notwithstanding]

I can only say that the video is quite uplifting

insofar as it speaks volumes

about

how little we have to worry about CTA

given the elderly crowd in attendance,

the pathos of “me” in evidence,

and the general lack of appeal of the show that these people tried to put on.

It is also sad to see such emptiness in people who presumptively yearn for God but seek Him by deliberate defiance of his Church.

[Straight Vermonter]

At my nephew’s first communion last week, the priest gave his homily with a puppet on his shoulder. Yeech.

[Notwithstanding]

These people must weep in frustration when they view the young people embracing tradition.

[lastchance]

You would think that a person so close to meeting his maker would straighten up and fly right.