Just a Little Church Rant

Please forgive me in advance for this little rant.  I have set on this for a couple of days and it still is bothering me.

Sunday at Mass I was distracted.  Here are some of the things that distracted me:

• The ADHD father and son next to me.  Fidgeting and talking continuously
• The ladies in the front who talk during the Rosary, Mass, after communion, etc
• The couple in front of me talking to the people in front of them during the petitions
• The individuals that feel the need during the Sign of Peace to walk around the Church to all their friends
• The individuals that don't sing.  If God gave you a bad singing voice give it back to Him!
• The Eucharistic Minister that will NOT distribute Communion any place put next to the priest 

In reality none of these things should have distracted me.  I am not a Saint, I can only hope to be a Saint in the making.  I should not be at Mass to watch those individuals around me.  My focus should be on The Sacrifice of the Mass.

Even though I know where my focus should be I am easily distracted and then I get irritated and then I realize that I and only I did NOT really attend Mass.  Instead I chose to pay more attention to the distractions, not the Sacrifice.

What can I say?  I will try harder, but Lord could you at least drop those other people a nudge?  Thanks in advance.

Love,
Cindy

Cafeteria Catholics

I admit it, I am a Cafeteria Catholic.  Most of us are, if we are honest with ourselves.  Unfortunately being Catholic is not like ordering from a Chinese Restaurant; one from column A and one from column B.

We are expected to follow the precepts of the Church, all of them.  Right now there is a large political firestorm about the HHS mandate.  I have set in the pew and have heard the Bishop's letter.  I have watched TV Spinners and I have struggled with my heart.

I have heard about who is a Catholic on Capitol Hill and it concerns me.  First and foremost I do NOT know, nor do I want to know the status of their soul.  That, like the condition of my soul is between me and my God.  It it hard enough to know that HE knows.  We must remember that they are speaking as a single Catholic.  They are NOT speaking as or for the Catholic Church.  We have Priests,  Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope for that.  Not our political representatives.

  Secondly, we as Catholics have given the press and the public in general plenty of ammo.  Many Catholics use Birth Control and we are not talking the Rhythm Method.  Many of us know of a Catholic that has either had an Abortion, helped pay for an Abortion or turns a blind eye, because it would cause a division in the family if we followed the Church Teaching on Abortion.

Thirdly, there is the Church's stand on Homosexuality.  This is where I your humble struggling Catholic have a problem.  If God made us in his image and likeness then I can't believe that he didn't make homosexuals.  I believe that he loves them as much as anyone else.  I can not believe that they are an abomination.

When you look at someone and label them Catholic please remember that they are imperfect souls, struggling with their own demons and questions.  Please don't say well there goes a "Good Catholic" when we breakdown and do something totally human, try and forgive them.  They are only 'Saints in the Making", not Saints.

Do You Take Your iPad to Church

It is the first Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday to use the new translation.  Besides stumbling over the word consubstantial during the Creed it really went pretty smoothly.  The priest really has the hardest part with the translation.

For the first time in a long time I had to follow along with a missal.  I am able to say most of the prayers by heart and can still answer in Latin if given some time to think about it.  It is like riding a bike.  Once you do it you can pick up a bike after many years and if your knees aren't bad you can ride.  But today I was forced to listen, to read, and most importantly to think about what it was that I was saying and listening to during the Mass.  It was good.  It was fresh again.  I liked that we began this new version at the beginning of the Liturgical Year.

My quandary is should I take my iPad or iPhone to Mass?  I have had the iMissal, iBreviary, and iRosary on both for awhile.  I recently downloaded Ignio.  I like having them with me and not having to carry around a book, though I must admit that there is nothing like a real Missal with lots of ribbons to help you keep your place.  You also should have plenty of Holy Cards stuffed in various places to mark passages.

ignio

iBreviary

iRosary

But I can't quite bring myself to carry my iPad into Church.  It would have been very useful this morning as it contains the new translation.  I suppose if I turn off the volume and all the notifications for my games it would be okay.  Some might stare at me or wonder what I am doing, but God would know.

I wonder what Jesus would do?   Would he have used an iPad?  I can see him walking in Galilee texting Paul or John about a new commandment or his latest version of the Our Father.   Would he have "mirrored" on to a large screen the Sermon on the Mount?  He could have set reminders every hour to keep the Apostles awake while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Not sure what I will do yet.  For now I have my handy pew card to remind me of what to say.

The Church on the Hill

I am a cradle Catholic.  I do not have a single memory of a time of when I was not Catholic.  It is a part of the fabric of who I am.
Sure I haven't always been a practicing Catholic, but in time of trouble I find my rosary in my hand and Hail Marys falling from my lips.  I grew up when Mass went from Latin to the vernacular.  I missed so many things when we went to  English Mass.  Nuns in Habits, my big missal with all the colored ribbons, the tradition of Latin and the priest's back to you.  It was all a mystery, but a mystery that I was part of...I grew to love the new Mass.  I sang at the Guitar Mass, taught CCD and was happy with the changes.
I fell away from the Church.  Now I am trying to come back.  It is a struggle.  It appears that there are more changes on the horizon for the Liturgy of the Mass.  It has been 40 years and now they want to change some of the wording.  Okay, I can learn new versions of prayers.  It will take some time I am sure, but I know that I can do it.
Here is the fly in the ointment.  I know in my heart that church is more than a building and more than the priest.  It is suppose to be my relationship to God and how I live my life.  So I move to a place where there is this new monstrosity of a church.  It sits on a mesa and overlooks the entire town.  It is so tall that they had to get a permission from the City Fathers to build above the approved height requirement.  It has taken them 19 years to complete the church and they still have a shortfall of over $237,000.  In my humble opinion they should not have built a church until they had all the money needed.  It is fiscally irresponsible!  I also believe that they didn't need this big a church.  A smaller building would have served the Parish and they could have clothed and fed a lot of poor people with that money.   But even the building itself is really not the issue.

The real issue is...the place feels cold.  Not just the building, it is the priest and the people.  I never have felt welcome.  I never feel that I have been to Mass.  The whole environment feels negative.  For example, when the Choir Director comes down to help the congregation learn some of the new Responsorial Psalms, instead of introducing them with a positive outlook he says, " I have to teach you these new responses."  How about this instead, "As you know the Church is changing some of the Liturgy and I am here to help you learn the new responses."

So I went across the river to Nevada and found a home.  The priest met us at the door before Mass.  All the people said good morning.  It is a small well designed building but feels welcoming.  Before Mass the commentator invited us to say Hello to the people around us.  People are shaking hands, hugging, waving from across the way.  Smiles and more smiles.  They wanted us there and they wanted to be there.  The sermon was uplifting and not condemning.  When I walked out I felt that I had been to Mass.