Confirmation Covington style

I was asked to be the sponsor for confirmation yesterday and happily accepted. It is such an odd thing when you mix tradition and aesthetics of liturgy with modern style and fads and then produce a homily telling the congregation not to give into the world and modernism. Irony, I suppose. It was a blending of chant with gospel(seriously), reverent boy servers with girls that(sorry for the reference) reminded me of Jedi fighters(their mode of dress) and although we had 4 priests and one deacon, the cup parade was brought out at communion as reminder that "we are all one". Eh. While I can say it was no where near as dreadful as the first communion of a few weeks past, it was odd in the mix of orthodoxy and protestant "inclusionism"(if that makes sense). Not everyone needs to be on the altar. It is not a right. Just as I don't want a priest running my business and, God forbid, sewing for me or doing my taxes, I also believe it is not our call as laypeople, to do the job a bishop or priest is called to do. You don't need to have a cup, serve to prove a point(or because you can), etc. I would love to see a "no, you are a girl/woman, I need to encourage the boys to serve and here is why..." in our diocese. See it without the priest getting a wrist slap, that is. Can you imagine the vocations we could have in Covington with implementing all boy servers in each parish? If people are taught the truth and girls are given another job or club in a parish, it could foster so much more.

On the girl servers:

In July 2001, the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship issued a response to a bishop’s question (dubium) concerning the possible admission of girls and women as altar servers. The response, a further explanation of the Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conference, March 15, 1994, no. 2, that granted permission for bishops to admit female altar servers, made it clear that only a diocesan bishop may decide whether to permit female servers in his diocese; furthermore, that no priest is obliged to have female servers, even in dioceses where this is permitted. The letter stressed that no one has a “right” to serve at the altar, and also strongly reaffirmed that altar boys should be encouraged

More female server info
On the mix of chant and full out gospel song that was performed after communion...no clue. That choir is so good and strong, I just don't get it. It is weird unless, they felt the need to get with the times(which was the whole point of the homily).

All in all, it was good to see at least a semblance of orthodoxy in the diocese. Being a pontifical Mass, I would be shocked to see the rave/club/puppet show environment we experienced at the first communion. Thankfully, I was not shocked.

Liturgical abuse and sacrilege for everyone!

We attended a first communion today at a parish in the diocese of Covington and I have to say, I have never seen(and I have seen much) so many abuses, disrespect and offense shown to our Lord in all my life. During the homily, the priest actually had a huge cardboard heart cut out that he popped out and the packed house broke out in laughter. Multiple times people applauded for ignorant things that were meaningless. It was standing room only and we spent the Mass in the vestibule, unfortunately. There were windows so we could see the entire side show from where we stood. The Mass started with the boy first communicants lined up next to us and a little boy with down syndrome was being made fun of and eventually had enough, and a fight broke out. The boy at the end of the line was making fart armpit noises and dumping hand sanitizer all over the floor and sliding on it. Yeah, it was very reverent. I suppose it can go straight to the top as the priest had a huge performance in the sanctuary for the entire Mass. I would say 70% of the Mass was ad-libbed. My mother was inside the body of the church and I know it had to be harder for her, she could see and hear everything. She said that was by far the worse Mass ever and she has been present with dancing nuns(so that says a lot).
I apologize for this post. One thing to come out of this...I love my church, the gift of the traditional Mass and am so incredibly thankful to have such a reverent liturgy. No one that has this available should take it for granted, period. I am also convinced that every last parish in Covington has fallen into this muck we experienced today(to varying degrees but it has become the norm). When the new missal arrives, I hope the bishop takes this as an opportunity to whip this diocese back into shape. I was appalled. I was shocked and sad that the diocese I grew up in and that gave me my first sacraments has fallen into a malaise of disrespect and hatred toward our Lord. Did I say it was awful?
My kids did their best to stay quiet and solemn but it was the loudest and most raucous thing I have ever been through(okay, maybe the AC/DC concert of my youth was a bit louder). My dad, who was a strict baptist growing up said they had more reverence in his tiny baptist church than was found in that parish today. That is saying something.
If you have a reverent, respectful church with proper music and a sound liturgy, treasure it and thank God for such a blessing. You don't realize how awesome and blessed you are to have this available. May the day come, in our lifetime, that the Lord is revered, adored and loved with the utmost care on every altar. Until then, pray that we have the courage and fortitude to change the abuses and sacrilege that occurs against our dearest Lord everyday throughout the world. I love you dear Jesus and I am so sorry.

Reverence for the Eucharist is never dispensable, even in a child, even in danger of death.
A sense of the sacred, a sense of reverence, is due not only to the Eucharist, but to other persons too, and to places and things. I am always struck by a renewed sense of the sacred during the rite of dedicating a new church by which it becomes sacred, a sacred place, set aside exclusively and perpetually for the worship of God. It makes me conscious again of "the reverence due to the house of God" (CCL 562) and the reverential silence we keep in church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

(From A PASTORAL LETTER ON REVERENCE FOR THE EUCHARIST
Bishop John R. Keating, 1988)