A married deacon rants about the EF Mass

And surprisingly, I will not!

Here is the excerpt of an obvious hippie deacon, Deacon John Ashmore, who is sounding the alarm bells for the glorious and slow death of the Spirit of Vatican II.

And he used powerpoint presentation!!!

Like that SVD priest on ABS-CBN who is so annoying you'd think you were trapped in a classroom with Eli Soriano teaching you homiletics and morality.

Ugh!

***

…I think over the period of a couple thousand years, the church developed some institutional “money changers.” ["lovely" term to use.]  The “rites,” that’s R-I-T-E-S, became failings in some ways. Just to be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong with the old rites, Latin or the Tridentine Mass. [Oh really, now eh?] They were beautiful and mystical, but sometimes they were so mystical that they cut us off from the immanent reality of Jesus with us and in us. [Here comes the We are Church hippies.] If you’re near my age, you might recognize this little book. It’s the Missal that my Mom & Dad bought for me as a Confirmation gift. This gift was a symbol that I was no longer a child. I was now, at the age of ten, responsible to take my missal to every mass I attended, and follow the reading and prayers as they were said by the priest. There was just one minor problem, and it began like this: “In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.” (That means, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. I will go in to the Altar of God. To God, the joy of my youth.”)  [minor?]

The mass was celebrated entirely in a language that none of us understood. [uhm...kids I see serving at Mass DO!] The priest stood with his back to us  [he wants to see the priest not pray along with the priest, worshiping in the same direction just like how the Jews, like Jesus Christ, worshiped in the Temple.]   saying words that, even if we could hear them, which we seldom could, we didn’t understand. Missals had Latin and English translations, so those who had them tried their best to keep up, eyes darting back and forth between the Latin and the English. [he did this every Mass?  Gosh!  He must not have been a regular Mass-goer then if he still cannot remember what those words meant in English!] did This language confusion caused some people to just give up.  [give up?  people?  maybe he did.  Oh yeah, obviously he did.] People often spent their time at mass in personal devotions like the rosary.

As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II, [Kumbaya!!!] I think it’s important to remember what things looked like before the council reforms. As the people of God we have always been called to worship well. But, as Father Dibble reminded us last week, the council was called to “open the windows,” to bring some fresh air into every aspect of the church, including worship. [As Pope Paul VI, the pope who closed the Council said, ""From some fissure the smoke of satan entered into the temple of God."  Need I say more?  Some opening we did there, huh!  Lotsa fresh air to expect but what we got is stench of the modern world coming in!] If you are as little as five or ten years younger than I, you probably have few memories of the pre-Vatican II church. So I want to take a few minutes to walk down memory land and share with you what it looked like back then.    [And the ridicule begins. Note folks!  This is nasty.  As nasty as that narcissist priest in Megamall and his infamous Swsswswswswhshhhh joke.]

(Slide 1) This is what the inside of a typical Catholic Church looked like in 1960. There was beautiful art work, painted ceilings, and many statues. If you look at either side of this picture, you’ll notice the “side altars.” Very often, while one mass was being offered at the main altar, separate masses would be offered at one or both of the side altars. The idea that any mass was more about the celebrant than the people might be viewed as one of the pre-Vatican II failings of the church.   [Where on earth did this deacon get his theological training!  It ought to be burned to the ground!  The concept that there are simultaneous Masses going on is that there was no such thing as a concelebrated Mass where concelebrating priest just stand up, raise there hands, MUMBLE, put down their hands, and that's it.  Each priest MUST celebrate his OWN MASS.  No concelebration.  That was his duty.  Imagine the number of Masses offered for you and me back then!  1 Mass with 10 concelebrating priest is waaayyy too different from 11 priest each saying his own Mass.]

(Slide 2) As we look at a closer shot, we see a wooden structure that separates the body of the church from the sanctuary. That’s the communion rail, and it served two functions. It was where one received communion, but it was also a physical barrier between the altar and the people. Could that be a money changer? I’ll come back to that in a minute.   [He is a people person folks.  He hates barriers.  But, yes of course, I was being sarcastic.]

(Slide 3) Look at this altar, with its ornate carvings. You could always tell if the mass was really “important” by two things: [Didn't the reforms of Vatican II did that?  Ever heard of Solemnity, Memorial, Optional Memorial?  Isn't that a way of telling how "important the Mass being celebrated is?] how many candles were lit on the altar and how many acolytes served at mass. The more important the feast was, the greater were the numbers of both. Look at all of the steps the priest had to climb to approach the tabernacle. Do you think these trappings might be thought of as institutional failings or “money changers”?   [FAILINGS?!?!?!]

(Slide 4) Here’s another communion rail in front of the altar. This is where everyone had to kneel to receive the Blessed Sacrament. The Communion Cloth, this white cloth, was draped over the communion rail by the altar servers, and then communicants had to kneel with their hands under the cloth in case the priest dropped the host and the altar server didn’t catch it with the paten that was held under the chin of each Communicant. Only the priest and bishop had thumbs and forefingers consecrated so they could touch the host. [STILL IS!  Ever saw an EMHC got his fingers CONSECRATED.  In Catholic theology, consecration is sooooo different.] To me the idea that only consecrated fingers could touch the Blessed Sacrament was a bit silly. Why is any finger more sacred than any other?   [So he is just telling you and me that getting ordained, getting consecrated is SILLY.  Poor you and me.  We are no different from Buddhist who did not get baptized and confirmed because we are no different from each other.  Poor bishops and priests, they wore all these "trappings" of a vestment but they do not mean a thing since their fingers are no sacred than Joe the Plumber's fingers.  And this guy is a DEACON!!!!  Ugh!]

(Slide 5) This is a rather innocent looking picture, but there is one thing that is worth noting: we didn’t have altar servers, just altar boys! That’s a pretty obvious failing in the institutional church, and we thankfully now include both girls and boys in altar service.   [They didn't have altar servers?!?!  Only altar boys?!?!  What the?!?!  What dictionary this guy is using?  And what good did it bring to the Church for having girls serve at the altar?  Isn't that a form of discrimination?  To have girls, young WOMYN serve MEN at the altar?  My goodness!  WOMYN are not born to serve MEN!!!  Que horror!!! Que barbaridad!!! This is outrageous!!! Call Gabriela!!! Call Sr. Mary John Mananzan!!!  Call.............Oh forget it!]

(Slide 6) And then, after we realized that we had so many money changers in our own lives, we had to go to the confessional. It was dark. It was scary and it seemed to be focused on us doing the correct penance rather than on understanding our failings.   [Huh?!  Was he confessing in the sewers?  This guy must have been watching too much Indiana Jones movies.]

(Slide 7) This last slide shows a joyous day, the day that these young people were confirmed. Don’t they look joyful? I think "terrified" is a better adjective. And look how the boys and girls are segregated.   [Ugh!]

Fifty years since the beginning of Vatican II, I think the reforms instituted have made our church into a much better place. [WHA?!  In Mars!] The people of God are the worshiping community, not a community separated from the clergy.  [When?  Whenever we worship at a TLM, we followed what the priest does and we worship at the same time.  We are no mere audiences watching a showman do his stuff up on stage.] While we praise and worship our mystical God, we are more in touch with the immanent God who sits with us in our own skin.  ["Sits with us on our own skin?!?!"  What in the world does that mean?!?!] There is still much work to be done. There are still too many ignored and silenced voices. [Do I hear an "Occupy the Vatican" somewhere in this cranky Vatican II guy?] But let us rejoice during this anniversary in the strides that we have made, and ask our good and gracious God to be with us as we strive to chase the money changers out of the temple and become the people and church that he wants us to be.

***

If you want to suffer a migraine attack, read the rest of this mockery here and feel free to bash at the deacon.
First things first.

This deacon is serving in the Diocese of Oakland, Callifornia where its bishop, Most. Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, regularly celebrates the Latin Mass in a parish administered by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, which is centered on the traditional liturgy.

Secondly, this deacon has painted a picture that the situation before Vatican II is all too grim and that Vatican II made the Church so rosy. Well reality check my friend! Thank Vatican II for giving us Cardinals Martini, Mahoney and Wuerl. Thank Vatican II for giving me such sorry excuse for a married deacon like you who do not even know what he is commenting about, which quite honestly is what most hippies do.

And lastly, I did not keep my promise. You know I will rant against this aging hippies. Ha!

Let me share to you some comments posted in reaction to this train-wreck of a homily, (I wish he gets his license to preach revoked.)

Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2012 12:10 AM By charlio
"If you’re near my age" (57), you might still be able to crawl up into the choir loft, at one of California's Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter parishes (FSSP). You'll be amazed. In "normal" parishes, young people of any age, whether teenagers, primary school or toddlers, are actually rather scarce; or to invert it, most of the heads are gray. In an FSSP parish, the pews are filled with the next generation of the New Evangelization, in all young age ranges. The enlightened practice of altar girls isn't visible; instead there are solemn quasi-military processions of dedicated young men altar servers. Many of these are the priests of tomorrow - who will be serving the new world of Christ's faithful long after the Deacon John Ashmores have relavenced themselves into extinction.

Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2012 12:52 AM By Clinton
Now in fairness, Deacon Ashmore should show a slideshow of the 'fresh air' that Vatican II supposedly brought in: Slide 1: Wreckovations of Catholic parishes, ie removal of statues,removing the high altar and introducing the Cranmer table, etc. Slide 2: The priest from saying the Mass facing God to facing the people, just one of many novelties of the Novus Ordo Mass. Slide 3: Men and women religious disgarding their cassocks and habits, as well as sound Catholic teaching. Slide 4: Closing of Catholic parishes and schools. Slide 5: Communion in hand. Slide 6: Pro homosexual "Dignity Masses". Slide 7: The Religious Education Congress. Slide 8: "Liturgical Dancing" Slide 9: Guitars and tambourines for folk and rock and roll 'masses'. Slide 10: Altar girls (and we wonder why there is a shortage of priests? Many altar boys became priests) Slide 11: the horde of EMOCs at every mass. Slide 12: The apostasy of Catholic colleges and universities (Notre Dame honors Barack Obama) Slide 13: Interfaith prayer services (what happened to the Catholic faith being the only true faith?) I could go on and on, but most readers of Cal Catholic know how the 'spirit' of Vatican II has been a significant cause of the apostasy of the Catholic faith around the world.

Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2012 7:28 AM By Alicia G. Mendiola
I was born in 1953. During that time, going to Church was a serious way. We dress up decently and dressing up for the Sacrifice of the Mass, our dress was called 'Sunday Dress'. We were wearing veil and we had Missal and Rosary with us.Even the Priests then wore Sotanas or the Collar. They never wore civilian clothes. Now, because of too much liberty, tolerance to convenience and the mentality formed to be "In", more often balance is lost between solemnity and loudness. To cut the story short, there is really a necessity to evaluate the Vatican II. We Laity will always be in union with our Holy Father who acts too in union with his Bishops. I hope the Clergy will also be in union with the Bishops.

***

I wish my good friend Jay Balza reads this and sends a note to Bishop Cordileone about this. Not only because this deacon ridiculed a centuries old liturgy, but because he gave a sloppy homily on that Mass' Gospel: Jesus cleaning the Temple.

Yup, that is where this deacon got his inspiration for "money-changers". Hope I see "deacon's changing" soon.

Ha!