One of the priests in our parish has retired and we are currently being served by—in addition to our regular pastor—various priests; and the recent contrast between the Mass offered by a young priest and that offered by an old priest could not be greater or more indicative of the recent history of the Church in America.
The young priest—at the 6:30 AM Mass I regularly attend—spoke in a full voice, hewing exactly to the Mass as written, and his homily was a dramatic call for us to wake up (punctuated by a palm slam on the lectern) to the spiritual battle going on in the Church.
The old priest—my wife and I attended the 8:00 AM Mass—spoke softly, and made up the Mass as he went along, leaving most of us confused about when to stand, kneel or sit, and his homily revolved around love and tolerance for all.
By representing the old which has brought such chaos within the American Church and the new which represents such hope within the American Church, it was a Mass twofer that encapsulated the Church as it is now in America.
Lampstand Foundation website, http://www.lampstandfoundation.org/
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. Nobody is so competent as the sinner in matters of Christianity. Nobody, except the saint." Charles Peguy (1873-1914)
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.