Well said, Bishop Serratelli!

In his weekly article, Bishop Serratelli of Paterson, NJ speaks on:

The Loss of the Sacred

An excerpt:

Teaching about the Mass began to emphasize the community. The Mass was seen as a community meal. It was something everyone did together. Lost was the notion of sacrifice. Lost the awesome mystery of the Eucharist as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The priest was no longer seen as specially consecrated. He was no different than the laity. With all of this, a profound loss of the sacred.

(Whoa....this is like a page out of the last year of my life. I miss having a parish I can call home. I can never exchange "sacredness" and "holiness" for "community". They aren't even on the same plane.)

He continues:

Walk into any church today before Mass and you will notice that the silence that should embrace those who stand in God’s House is gone. Even the Church is no longer a sacred place. Gathering for Mass sometimes becomes as noisy as gathering for any other social event. We may not have the ability to do much about the loss of the sacredness of life in the songs, videos and movies of our day. But, most assuredly, we can do much about helping one another recover the sacredness of God’s Presence in His Church.

Honestly, I would burst into tears of joy if our local bishop tackled what I consider "the hard stuff" in our diocese. It has been missing for many, many years due to our history. I know he has a lot on his plate but I believe one thing effects another. Bringing the sacred back to Covington can bring positive results in the end. Spiritually, financially and emotionally. So many here crave that in their lives and as Catholics, we have such a treasure trove of sacredness through art, architecture, music and word. I suppose I need to add this to my prayers. I mean I pray for our diocese and bishop and priests but this is much more specific. Sorry if I got side-tracked. This article just got me thinking...