A Sunday Thought from Father Z About 2023
New Year 2023 isn't so new any more. January has slipped into the past. In a few weeks, Lent will begin. What's old has taken over from that flash of the new that came on January 1st.
Before the old settled in again, I came across something new in January. It's from Father Z and it's something about the value of what's old. Those of us who feel our Holy Catholic Church has been driven off the rails in recent decades may find this interesting.
Father John Zuhlsdorf - "Father Z" - posted these items on his famous blog. Read them. Imagine if they were actually implemented in 2023 to right the ship of our Catholic Church. Of course, it does seem to be a kind of wish list, albeit a serious one, that he doesn't really believe will or even can occur, given the state of our battered Holy Mother Church. But hope - true Christian hope - helps us along here. Father is trying to restore those things that make us Catholic. Here they are:
- Restore obligations: Holy Days, longer Eucharistic fast, Friday penance
- Diminish Saturday vigil Masses and emphasize the Lord’s Day, which is Sunday
- Phase out Communion in the hand
- Sideline Traditionis custodes, etc.
- Return to ad orientem worship
- Multiply devotions: novenas, processions, Forty Hours, etc.
- Overhaul music: repertoire and get choirs out of view
- Return to traditional confessionals and increased times
- Foster silence before and after Mass
- Stress the value of sacramentals
Some might believe that I am overly optimistic in even thinking these things much less posting them as real proposals. Indeed, my optimism is tempered by experience.
I am reminded of the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. The pessimist says, “Things can’t possibly get any worse!” The optimist cheerfully responds, “Oh, yes they can!”
That’s where we are at, I’m afraid. Things can get worse. For a while they will. It takes a long time to change the direction of a very large ship.
None of this should be discouraging. Father's comment that "things can get worse" might appear that way. But he's simply being honest. And, honestly, is there any question that the negative trends we've seen - again, for decades - continue ad nauseam, or are even getting worse?When I read this, I found it helpful in facing the mess created by the modernist take-over that really got traction in the 1960s and recently received a shot of adrenalin from Bergoglio, a/k/a Francis, a/k/a the Pope (allegedly).
(Whoops! Sorry to throw that last remark in. But sometimes I do wonder.)
Perhaps these won't be embraced by the current powers-that-be. But each of us might try to do whatever it is we can to promote one or more of these. I don't think that's impossible, or even asking too much.
Really. It's Sunday. You've got (or should have) some time to think about this.Consider what you might do to help restore Holy Mother Church's dignity and glory.
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