Give Me That Old Time Religion!
In a wonderful pastoral letter our Bishop has set out a programme celebrating the 'Year of Mercy'. He certainly had given the matter great deal of thought and I do hope the Diocese will follow his lead.
One thing he mentioned was parish retreats. I remember my experience of them in the forties and fifties and what a wonderful thing they were and they brought many blessings.
Here is how they worked. Two priests, usually Passionists, would arrive in the parish to speak at all Masses on the Sunday and outline their programme. People listened keenly for they were interested in one evening and a discussion would arise as to which of the priests would preach that night. The subject was Hell. I know that there are many today who believe that every night and every Sunday was about Hell, but this is far from the truth. Hell night was when everyone felt obliged to attend, for despite the fact of the reality of Hell, nobody actually grew up fearing Hell - that was just anti-catholic propaganda. So we had seven nights of teaching on the Catholic Faith. The priests would take evenings on the Blessed Sacrament and had wonderful stories to tell about how people of the past revered this presence. There would be a night devoted to Mary and how much she had been loved through the centuries as our advocate and Mother. We had a night on the Saints and yes, how they changed their lives, and came so very close to Jesus in what they did and what they said. There was a night on Jesus Himself of course and how he showed his love for us as told in Scripture but also how he had loved us all so much in the world of today - and how we could reciprocate that love in our lives. There are so many lovely things in the fullness of the Catholic Faith that I do not understand why people should reject the truth and try to form a Church of their own.
The measure of the success of the Mission was the number of Catholics who returned to the practice of going to Mass or to receiving Holy Communion on a Sunday. The Communicants were a measure of how close a parish was to living the Catholic Faith. It is so easy today to watch everyone going to receive and believing that they were all worthy. I stand with St Paul in believing that anyone who receives unworthily is 'guilty of the body and blood of Christ'. There was a shameful time when some tried to interpret his words as applying to the rich who came to the breaking of bread in a drunken state. May God forgive them.
I do not expect that such a mission will be held in a parish in this diocese at the moment. The usual excuses will be rolled out, 'times have changed', 'it is a different era' and then when priests are seeking popularity and will say nothing that may hurt someone, unlike Christ, it is very unlikely indeed. At these missions there was always confession at the end of each evening and the priest was gentle and compassionate and everyone left with a picture of Jesus, or Mary, or one of the saints. It was truly a wonderful way of drawing closer to God.
One thing he mentioned was parish retreats. I remember my experience of them in the forties and fifties and what a wonderful thing they were and they brought many blessings.
Here is how they worked. Two priests, usually Passionists, would arrive in the parish to speak at all Masses on the Sunday and outline their programme. People listened keenly for they were interested in one evening and a discussion would arise as to which of the priests would preach that night. The subject was Hell. I know that there are many today who believe that every night and every Sunday was about Hell, but this is far from the truth. Hell night was when everyone felt obliged to attend, for despite the fact of the reality of Hell, nobody actually grew up fearing Hell - that was just anti-catholic propaganda. So we had seven nights of teaching on the Catholic Faith. The priests would take evenings on the Blessed Sacrament and had wonderful stories to tell about how people of the past revered this presence. There would be a night devoted to Mary and how much she had been loved through the centuries as our advocate and Mother. We had a night on the Saints and yes, how they changed their lives, and came so very close to Jesus in what they did and what they said. There was a night on Jesus Himself of course and how he showed his love for us as told in Scripture but also how he had loved us all so much in the world of today - and how we could reciprocate that love in our lives. There are so many lovely things in the fullness of the Catholic Faith that I do not understand why people should reject the truth and try to form a Church of their own.
The measure of the success of the Mission was the number of Catholics who returned to the practice of going to Mass or to receiving Holy Communion on a Sunday. The Communicants were a measure of how close a parish was to living the Catholic Faith. It is so easy today to watch everyone going to receive and believing that they were all worthy. I stand with St Paul in believing that anyone who receives unworthily is 'guilty of the body and blood of Christ'. There was a shameful time when some tried to interpret his words as applying to the rich who came to the breaking of bread in a drunken state. May God forgive them.
I do not expect that such a mission will be held in a parish in this diocese at the moment. The usual excuses will be rolled out, 'times have changed', 'it is a different era' and then when priests are seeking popularity and will say nothing that may hurt someone, unlike Christ, it is very unlikely indeed. At these missions there was always confession at the end of each evening and the priest was gentle and compassionate and everyone left with a picture of Jesus, or Mary, or one of the saints. It was truly a wonderful way of drawing closer to God.
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