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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

A crucifix in Japan


Found in a chapel in Japan ministered by an SVD priest.  (thanks Mary!)

See there?

That tangled wire is their crucifix and they opted to put the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle to the side.

That is the kind of art we have nowadays in our "modern" churches.

Venerable Pius XII wrote in his encyclical on the Liturgy "Mediator Dei":
62. Assuredly it is a wise and most laudable thing to return in spirit and affection to the sources of the sacred liturgy. For research in this field of study, by tracing it back to its origins, contributes valuable assistance towards a more thorough and careful investigation of the significance of feast-days, and of the meaning of the texts and sacred ceremonies employed on their occasion. But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything to antiquity by every possible device. Thus, to cite some instances, one would be straying from the straight path were he to wish the altar restored to its primitive tableform; were he to want black excluded as a color for the liturgical vestments; were he to forbid the use of sacred images and statues in Churches; were he to order the crucifix so designed that the divine Redeemer’s body shows no trace of His cruel sufferings; and lastly were he to disdain and reject polyphonic music or singing in parts, even where it conforms to regulations issued by the Holy See.

 What looks "sacred" in that twisted metal, huh?

Are we lacking in skilled artists?

Or is this another "artist" trying to find the reason that what he did is "art"?

Deplorable!

How could you even compare that with this, huh?


Why we have hideous crosses like that?  I can only guess...

1.  they think it is the fad of the time.
2.  God forbid...they hate seeing the sufferings of Christ.

If that last one were true, then how do we expect priests to talk about the great love of God without even mentioning the sufferings the Lamb of God had to go through just for our sake?  Remember, He is the Wounded Healer!



3 comments:

  1. If they want to be antiquarian in terms of liturgy, why not restore the heavy public penance imposed upon the faithful who gravely sinned? Why not revive the long and elaborate processions among churches, as done during the time of Saint Pope Gregory the Great? Why instead build iconoclastic modernistic-looking, undignified, horrible, monstrous and mediocre-looking churches? I think they do not want to revive the ancient practice of the Catholic Church, they are modernists by heart, masking as liturgical archaeologists who want antiquarianism. They are the reason why they are, I think, a few Catholics in Japan, compared to our country, which, unfortunately, facing the same consequence when the modernists completely run our churches, monasteries, and seminaries.

    Another thing, if they complain that it is costly when building churches and commissioning works of dignified and beautiful sacred art, it is a lie. For example, the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana only costs little to repair compared to building the gymnasium Cathedral they have now. Modernistic-looking churches and works of "art" are more costly and expensive, especially since they are in demand by the secular world, who seemed the have a rupture of artistic style from the previous centuries. If you ask me, I would rather go to a battlefield and pray at Mass there, than go to peaceful church with a modernistic liturgy and surroundings. I would rather prefer Mass said in ruined churches than to go to a perfectly-built modernist church with ugly liturgy. That's all, and pardon me for such a long complain that is longer than the usual things I say and write on my blog.

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  2. I am a Catholic faithful, and am a Japanese living in Japan.
    Sorry for my poor English.

    I thank you for your this article.
    But this "crucifix" makes me sad.

    By the way, I recently found another "crucifix".
    https://nishimachikyokai.wordpress.com/rood_of_nishimachi/
    https://nishimachikyokai.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/150228rood/
    https://nishimachikyokai.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/150419/

    This is new crucifix of Catholic Nishimachi (west town) Church in the Archdiocese of Nagasaki, Japan.
    This church is shepherded (or correctly "misled") by a SVD priest, Fr. Eugeniusz Ziebura (a hairy Pole on photos).
    And this crucifix was designed by himself, and blessed on February 28, 2015.

    He is a modernist trying to exclude "kneeling" and "on the tongue" from Mass, eagerly.

    Now, I have a question for you. Do you think that the tangled wire you displayed and new crucifix of Nishimachi Church have some relation? Namely, did you hear some details of the tangled wire? I would appreciate it if you could give me some information about that.

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