Friday, November 03, 2006
All Souls: Good, Bad, Ugly, Etc.
We had a good experience with a parish novelty last night: an evening Mass on All Souls with a reception following. We've always invited next-of-kin to our morning Mass and had coffee and rolls afterward. Our new pastor Father Don was receptive to adding an extra Mass. A handful of the fifty families attended, plus a larger handful of parishioners. We had more attend last night (94) than All Saint's Eve (56) which was encouraging.
The pastor read the names of the parish deceased as family members brought a votive candle to place on the steps in front of the altar. (Violation of SC 23? You tell me.)
Amy started a "What's Up" post for All Saints and All Souls, and this other post dovetailed off it.
Where ever you find this kind of nonsense - and it is nonsense - you'll find a disdain for the "hierarchical" church, tradition, and rules. Chances are very good that you'll find a lot of talk simply about "Gospel values" and maybe, as they attempt to justify their liturgical stylings, a vague appeal to Early Christianity. You know, when it was all just a supper n' stuff.I can tell you that this Costume Mass would fly with no liturgist colleague I know. In fact, it's more likely to be retold over a beer or in a convention hall with a lot of snickers--not unlike St Blog's commentariat, to be honest. It's far more likely this event was dreamed up by someone steeped in the pseudo-liturgical catechesis front. That said, traditionalists don't always give hierarchy, tradition, and rules a free pass either.
