When the different theological, liturgical, spiritual and canonical traditions are “genuinely rooted in the apostolic tradition,” he noted, they are an “asset, not a threat” to the unity of the Church.
If we let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, he said, the “richness, the variety, diversity” do not become a source of conflict, but are instead a point of enrichment.In 2013, Pope Francis made a beautiful and very moving speech about "unity grounded in diversity." You can read his speech here. Christ created a universal Church that embraces the diversity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It was never the liturgy that kept us Catholic. It was our baptism and our union with the Pope and Church hierarchy that made us Catholic.
There are people in the Catholic Church who are unable to receive Holy Communion, but they are STILL Catholics. Baptized children are unable to receive the Body of Christ until they reach a certain age. There are infants who died and never received the Eucharist, but these children are Catholics and one with Christ and His Church through their baptism. There are some Catholics unable to receive the Body of Christ, but they are still Catholics. It is our baptism and our union with the Pope and Church hierarchy that make us Catholics. We entered into God's family through our baptism, and we became one with Christ through the Eucharist as we receive His Body and Blood.
Hmmm, maybe someone needs to bring this to the attention of Bishop Byrnes. Unless I'm mistaken, he is trying to create unity by making everything the same...contradicting what the pope is saying here. Uniformity does not necessarily create Unity. "Uniformity kills life." "The life of the church is varied.," says the Pope.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 2:13 pm,
DeleteActually, it is the jungle that wants uniformity. They believe that there is unity when everyone wears the same uniform.
Exactly. Byrnes wants unity. JW wants uniformity. It's only a matter of time when JW starts complaining about the NCW not kneeling during the Eucharist. They are more concern about the letter of the law like the Pharisees.
DeleteJW is only interested in destroying the Way. This group complain about a Mass they never even attend. Tim Rohr, Chuck White, Bob Klitzkie, and all the JW folks have never attended the Eucharist in the Way. Their interest is to shut down the Seminary and remove the NCW from the parishes.
DeleteThink and pray. Denying Jesus to those who never receive the Eucharist in their hands, but receive on the tongue - the Norm... and not the indult of receiving in the hand which can be revoked at any time by a Bishop? Can one not see the desire to prevent the smallest particle of Consecrated Bread - truly Jesus - (even those particles so tiny that the human eye does not see) from being rubbed in your clothing, your hair, your face, the hymnals/books, the chairs, the pews, or dropped onto the floor and walked upon,etc.....
ReplyDeleteRespect for the Sacred Species, no matter how tiny of a particle which is wholly Jesus, is this not something that the Necoatechumenal Way cannot embrace? It is the Eucharist that makes us One Body. To say that anyone can come to their Mass, yet deny them Jesus? Think and pray.
Dear Anonymous at 3:48 pm,
DeleteWhen I said that there are Catholics who cannot receive the Body of Christ, I was referring to those in a state of mortal sin.
In the traditional Latin Mass, I am not allowed to receive the Body of Christ by hand, but I do not wish to change the Latin Mass. I chose to respect it. So, if I am in a Latin Mass, I will receive the Body of Christ by tongue.
anon @ 3:48 pm
DeleteYour comment is so vague, it is quite hard to figure out what is your conclusion.
The NCW supremely respects and values the Consecrated bread and sees truly Christ in it. Which only makes your comment more vague.
This thing about particles no matter how small, this is just as true for both the bread in the NCW as well as the host at mass. All organic matter constantly releases particles, microscopic as thy might be. In other word it is true for both bread in NCW and host at mass. So again no idea what conclusion you are trying to reach.
Even if you where trying to say that the NCW releases particles blah blah, what happens when an 8 year old who just did his first communion drops the host on the floor at mass. Does this mean children with mental disabilities should not receive holy communion for fear that they might do something. The beauty of Christ is that he humbles himself to such a state all to love us who where his enemies.
@ Anonymous on March 17, 2017 at 3:48 PM
DeleteBased on your idea apparent from your comment, it would be even worse to have Jesus on one's dirty sinful tongue, and then passing to one's smelly stomach... But it is Holy Mother Church, through the ministry of the Apostles who received the mandate to do this in His memorial and to EAT and DRINK Jesus' sacred Body and Blood. And the more ancient tradition in the Church was to receive on one's hand and then consume, the more recent tradition is to receive on one's tongue. According to today's discipline (including the indult, which is not thereby a mistake but a return to ancient tradition) it should be up to the communicant to choose the manner of receiving communion. Saying that receiving on the tongue is better or superior (except for particular circumstances, e.g. the celebrant decides to give communion by intinction or the communicant's hand is disabled or dirty, having had no opportunity to wash properly) is a misunderstanding of the purpose of the indult for receiving on the hand.
Wow, this is where the deficiencies of the NCW become visible.
ReplyDelete"It was never the liturgy that kept us Catholic"
What you fail to realize through your OP and everything you say about "what makes us Catholic", is that the Eucharist is the source of the whole endeavor!
There is no Catholic without the Eucharist, even if not every Catholic is able or may legitimately receive Holy Communion.
That is because you don't see the Eucharist as the re-presentation of Calvary, so you don't understand that everything "Catholic" comes from it. Therefore, our disposition and attitude to the Eucharist should be that it is everything! That it is the burning loving heart of Jesus who died (dies) and saves us.
The Mass is the same thing as the sacrificial death of Christ - a sacrifice that changes the cosmos and brings us into good terms with God.
If you understood this, you would never suggest that it is Baptism that unites us, without reference to the Eucharist which give Baptism its meaning and efficacy.
Everything stems from the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is Jesus Christ.
That is why it matters what we do and our willingness to conform to the Church in these things. To reject the Church's way and look for a "better" one is to reject Christ in the Eucharist.
Dear Anonymous at 5:38 pm,
DeleteThe Japanese Catholics did not have any priests to conduct the Eucharist for many many years. You remember the Japanese Catholics whom Pope Francis praised because they survived ONLY on the sacrament of baptism and without any priests.
Dear anon 5:38 pm, the deficiencies are in the eye of the beholder! The Traditional Latin Mass, for one, kills out the natural curiosity of the believer toward the mystery of Jesus Christ! It does not bring our Lord alive but kills Him dead again.
DeleteTLM does not see mass as bringing the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alive through the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, but only demonstrating a meaningless ritual on a foreign language. TLM is for the old and timid, who would feel threatened by the true Spirit working among the faithful during the liturgy. In the NCW, we have the true Spirit working among us. Now, you say whose practices are deficient and whose practices are not. Lol!
Wow. Still misrepresenting. The Japanese did not alter nor refuse the Eucharist like you do. It was kept from them.
DeleteMore untruths and twists.
Dear Anonymous at 9:43 pm,
DeleteWhat Eucharist? The Japanese Catholics did not have any Eucharist for hundreds of years because there were no priests. It was not until the priests came did they have the Eucharist. And for your information, the Japanese Catholics also do not celebrate the Eucharist the way we do. They have permission from the Pope not to kneel in their Mass because kneeling is considered "sitting" in their culture, and sitting is disrespectful. So, they stand instead of kneel.
As Christ says in the bible, was the institution of the Sabbath for God or for men? Is the sabbath for men or men for the Sabbath?
DeleteWas the eucharist instituted for men or men for the Eucharist. This is the problem with these people, they think God needs our sacrifice, or as if we where the ones who had a duty to the Eucharist.
Christ instituted the Eucharist to LOVE US, it was HIS SACRIFICE for us. Just in you lack of education and hate for the NCW you want to make it as though the Eucharist is tool by which we can server God more. This is simply not true. This is why those Pope Francis praises the Japanese who survived without the Eucharist. It is because the Eucharist is a source of life for Catholics. It is where we find how much God loved us, and we are able to do the same. This is why it is a travesty to receive communion and then hate your brother, or the NCW for that matter who are brothers in Christ part of one Holy Apostolic Roman Catholic Church. It is self condemnation, because you participate in the love of Christ he sacrificed his life for the enemies and later seek to destroy your enemies. It is a contradiction of everything the Eucharist is.
Diana @ 9:51 PM what makes you think "the Japanese Catholics also do not celebrate the Eucharist the way we do"? What rumors, gossip and hearsay have inspired you to write that "They have permission from the Pope not to kneel in their Mass because kneeling is considered "sitting" in their culture, and sitting is disrespectful. So they stand instead of kneel"???
DeleteWhen I was visiting Japan I attended 2 Sunday Masses and in BOTH MASSES the congregation KNELT during the Consecration. One Mass even had First Holy Communicants. They and their families were in the front rows and everyone knelt. Even the elders of the family knelt. All the postures at the 2 Masses matched the ones at the Masses here on Guam. Since I was visiting the country I wanted to be sure to follow the customs. The church I attended was a small one in a neighborhood so it was easy to observe and follow. But there was nothing out of the ordinary except at the sign of peace where nobody shook hands. Everyone bowed to each other. But we KNELT.
Dear Anonymous at 3:37 am,
DeleteI do not know what Mass in Japan you attend, but in 2014, the Japanese bishops got rid of the kneelers in the parishes, and said that the faithful are to stand instead of kneeling. They said they received permission from the Pope, but as usual some people (traditionalists) disagree despite that the bishops say they have the Pope's permission. See the weblink below:
http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/japanense-church-abolishes-kneeling-for-communion
Diana @ 7:12 AM did you actually read the article that you provided the link to? Or did you just read the title "CHURCH in Tokyo tears out kneelers and demands communicants stand for Communion"? Did you notice it was SINGULAR and ONE PLACE "CHURCH in TOKYO" and not plural and in general "ChurchES in Japan"?
DeleteInterestingly the article reports that ONE PARISH in Japan (St. Ignatius Church in Tokyo) "is abolishing all kneeling at Mass." That ONE PARISH tore out its kneelers and directed the faithful can no longer receive Communion on the tongue.
The article also mentions that "The church's bulletin states the parish is making changes based on the New Revised General Rule of the Liturgy released by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan. However, they do not cite any specific statements made by the Conference to justify their actions." Sure sounds like the MO of the NCW to me. It has now been 2 years, 95 days (AND STILL COUNTING) since December 15, 2014 when Apuron told Tomas Tanaka "Rome has approved it – even the way we’re receiving Communion. That they receive the host standing and they can sit down and everybody who receives it and they eat together...Rome has given permission for that. And it’s somewhere I need to find out where exactly, but they told us that permission is given." Like the NCW the St. ignatius Parish claims to have permission BUT there's no proof.
Since the article states that "The parish already violated norms set by the Japanese bishops last year by having recipients stand to receive Communion in the hand. The Japanese bishops, in accord with longstanding directives from Rome, have given the faithful the option to kneel for Communion and to receive Communion on the tongue." my guess that removing the kneelers ALSO "violated norms."
I cannot recall the name of the area where the Church I attended was. I just remember that the kneelers were wooden without padding. And that some of the people knelt on the floor instead of putting the kneeler down. My kids were impressed with that because they found the unpadded kneelers uncomfortable and couldn't imagine kneeling on the floor.
Dear Anonymous at 8:37 am,
DeleteThat article was 3 years ago. It is no longer just one parish. The ChurchMilitant is western traditionist, who are complaining despite that the Japanese bishops said that they have permission from the Pope.
I was in Okinawa just 5 months ago. I attended Mass at two parishes, Kainan (海南)parish in Naha and the Umi no Hoshi (海の星) parish in Nago. At both Masses we used kneelers.
DeleteDear Timothy Guile,
DeleteI suppose there may still be some parishes who still use the kneelers and some who don't.
As usual, the jungle misinterpreted Diana's post. The jungle claimed that she was attacking AB Byrnes. Her OP was to show that we are united as Catholics through our baptism and union with the Pope, and not through the liturgy. The Pope's speech was about unity despite the variety of liturgies.
ReplyDeleteThe jungle purposely focus on the Eucharist alone because they want all Catholics to receive Christ on the tongue rather than the hand. They leave no room for options. Diversity is what the jungle fail to understand.
AB Byrnes has made changes to the liturgy of the NCW, and we will comply to those changes because as Diana pointed out, we follow the Pope and the local Archbishop.
We already know that our compliance will not satisfy JW. They already called Diana a liar when she said that the NCW will celebrate the Eucharist the way AB Byrnes wants it. JW has stated many times that they want the NCW out of the parishes, shut down the Seminary, and ship out all the seminarians out of Guam.
Dear Anonymous at 7:10 pm,
DeleteThank you. Very well said. My OP was the result of an anonymous comment who made the following in the junglewatch blog:
"AnonymousMarch 16, 2017 at 11:55 PM
Its funny that Dianarehea mentions that the NCW finds communion through baptism and in the pope. She fails to understand that it is the Eucharist that makes the Church what it is, simply since it is Christ Himself. She also fails to understand that of the Seven Sacraments, the Holy Eucharist is prominent, while the six sacraments point to Christ himself, the Eucharist is Christ in his person, and when we receive him, it is really the Holy Trinity that we are receiving at every Holy Communion, and as St. Thereaa of Culcutta mentions it is in the Holy Eucharist that the Church is more in communion. What can be greater that that Diana?"
The above comment was made simply because I stated that our communion as true Catholics is not found in the LITURGIES because there are many different liturgies in the Church and the liturgies have changed over time. Also see the comment made by Anonymous 5:38 pm. For some reason, the jungle folks see "liturgy" and the "Body of Christ" as the same despite the fact that no one has ever said that we eat the "liturgy."
Our communion is found in our baptism and union with the Pope. Communion begins with our baptism. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
CCC 1271 Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians,........
Is it on for Saturday night?
ReplyDelete