CATHOLIC CHURCH IS A CHANGING!

Hey the Catholics are at it again and I just love it. My profile reads “raised a Catholic” so I have a lot of Catholic upbringing in me. That upbringing (sometimes forced) has inspired me to research Christianity and especially the role the Catholic Church has played in the history of the world. Another point about Catholicism that still fascinates me is the influence it has had and continues to have on our society and us as individuals.

What brings me to the subject of Catholicism is that it is making NEWS and waves at the same time.

You have read that the “words” of the Mass are being changed. It appears that the late Pope John Paul wanted the secular words of the mass today to reflect, more closely, the words of the original LATIN mass; the words I grew up with. The late Pope thought the secularization of the mass got a little out of hand and he was a BIT CONSERVATIVE if you know what I mean.

The problem, as I see it, is that people (like my mother) who finally accepted English instead of Latin and grew to learn those English words will now be asked to RE-LEARN NEW ONES. These old Catholics just hate to change even if the changes will bring the mass closer to the older version of the mass.

How about the headlines “PASTOR DECLARES KNEELING A SIN” – WOW!

Now this gets a little more tricky to explain but in essence the late Pope was still trying to “go back” in time and try to replicate the original meaning of the mass and get rid of the changes that have occurred throughout the centuries – now that is meaty stuff for a history nut case.

In previous blogs you have heard me explain the beliefs of early Christians and that there were MANY Christianities with a VARIETY of beliefs, especially about Jesus and the man /God thing.

When the Christianities finally coalesced into somewhat of a unified group in Rome under the Roman Catholic banner, the beliefs were centered on the fact that Jesus was BOTH MAN AND GOD / HUMAN AND DIVINE.

It is for this reason, out of respect for both his natures, that Catholics STOOD at mass during the AGNUS DEI or the time the priest raises the chalice and when the wine and bread (communion) turns into the body and blood of Jesus.

Through the centuries, the Catholic Church placed greater emphasis on Jesus’ divine nature and minimized his human nature. In fact, Jesus’ humanness really took a back seat and he was “only” worshipped as a God. For this reason, Catholics started (seventh century on) kneeling during this part of the mass – only apropos for worshipping a God – no?

Again, the late Pope was trying to go back to the origins of the faith – cool! I really like this plan only if the Church really explains the reasons to its parishioners. I know that they will follow like lambs or goats or whatever but I always hope some of them will actually give it some thought.

As to the headline about making kneeling a sin well it is Catholicism at its best; to make people change, declare them sinners if they do not. Growing up I was scared to death to eat meat on Friday ‘cause’ I would burn in hell. Later I was told that if a baby died on the way to getting baptized it would burn in hell forever! These are just some of the hard held beliefs that were reversed when the Church could no longer intelligently support such bullshit.

I am eagerly waiting to see my 84 year-old mother’s response once I tell her about the changes – great fun!

Janusz