Monday, February 24, 2014

Baltimore's "Rebuilt" Parish In Serious Need Of REAL Rebuilding

Below is another video of a "church of nice" gushing about how nice they are!  This is the Church of the Nativity and it's in the northern Baltimore area, within the Archdiocese of Baltimore of course.  As you look at the surroundings of the two people, they could be in any workplace lunchroom.  There's nothing to distinguish it as a Roman Catholic Church.  You'll also hear the incessant yammering about "experience".  This subjective "experience" is often registered at the level of mere emotion; forget the intellect, reason and will.

Some oddities:
  1. At the 1:00 mark, we hear that to "reach the lost we must understand what their likes are..and construct your building, physical surroundings and your service to reflect those likes".  If by "construct your service" he means tweaking the Mass rubrics, he has his thinking literally upside down.  Let's look at the definition of Holy Mass, per the Baltimore Catechism.  "What is the Mass?  The Mass is the sacrifice of the New Law in which Christ, through the ministry of the priest, offers Himself to God in an unbloody manner under the appearances of bread and wine."  Here's another.  "What are the purposes for which Mass is offered?  The purposes for which the Mass is offered are: first, to adore God as our Creator and Lord; second, to thank God for His many favors; third, to ask God to bestow His blessings on all men; fourth, to satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against Him".  To be brief, Mass is about God, not about "an amazing weekend experience"!
  2. At 2:45, the man is playing the role of the hypothetical visitor.  "Now that I'm seated, it seems like a great atmosphere; it's almost like a theater."  Whoa!  Let's pause right here!  A theater?  As in "entertainment, show-kind" of theater?  Is that an integral goal of this "amazing weekend experience"?
  3. He goes on.  He does say the "light is on the altar where it needs to be".  I'll give him kudos for that, bit it goes downhill.  "The music is great, the band looks professional."  The band!!?!?!?  I tremble at the thought of the cacophony emanating from them during Mass.  In churches of old (back when "experience" was not worshiped more than God), we had choir lofts in the back of the church.  They were elevated and more importantly, behind the congregation so that they wouldn't draw undue attention.  The choir at that time enhanced the worship of God and was not concerned about entertainment and experience. 
  4. Notice how they refer to "service"?  Whatever happened to the word "Mass"?  I find that substitution odd and a tad disconcerting.
  5. You'd have to be paying attention before 3:51 to glean what the woman considers "the capstone of the weekend experience" to be: the socializing and snacks after Mass.  Would not the capstone of Holy Mass be the Consecration?  Or at least Holy Communion??  What she uttered is the kind of drivel that spills out of the mouth of those who don't understand just what a priceless treasure the Holy Mass is.  Her focus, at least in this video, is completely man-centered and not at all God-centered.
I sincerely hope and pray that they rediscover the real riches of their Roman Catholic heritage.  They're settling for, and offering, fluffy-puff stuff.


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