Liturgical Nice and Naughty Lists

My parish has engaged is some questionable liturgical practices over the years. (But then, so has my diocese.) Some have been corrected, some linger. And the pastor tends to get testy if you bring them up.

One of the practices involves penance services. The parish schedules just limited individual confession times most of the year, and has held mass general absolution services several times a year. I remember talking to one woman who gleefully admitted she had not been to individual confession in years - just the services - even though she had some serious sins. Something's been getting lost.

Our Apostolic Administrator declared not long ago that general absolution services are no longer allowed.

Yes.

My parish scheduled a pre-Christmas penance service. I wondered if the pastor would try to find some way to fudge the rules. I wasn't able to go (mall duty), but my wife did.

And ... for the first time in all the years we've been at the parish, they had priests available - five of them! - for individual confessions.

Wonderful. Liturgical Nice list.

The other event of note was announced last week. Our retired bishop - as in the Pope suddenly accepted his retirement months earlier than is the norm apparently sending a message about some of the bishop's questionable actions - would be coming to the parish today for a Mass. The choir director asked us all if we could switch from the 9 a.m. Mass to the 11 a.m. Mass to sing when he would be there. I couldn't - my mall schedule is set up based on the normal schedule, and I'm to be on the throne today at noon.

I was sad that I wouldn't get a chance to sing and play at Mass today. Plus, I would have liked to see the bishop. I always liked him as a person.

So we went to Mass last night. I noticed in the bulletin that the parish was going to have its liturgical dancers at the bishop's Mass. I have refused to play and sing at Masses with the dancers, so it turns out I wouldn't have been at his Mass anyway. The bulletin also noted the dancers would at the Christmas Family Mass - an other Mass I was going to miss because of mall duty (I always work Christmas Eve as the last "helper").

Liturgical dancing is one of those questionable practices that has pranced into the diocese (and our parish) under the retired bishop. Liturgical naughty list.

At least we don't have the gay activist dancer "performing" the way the retired bishop always had at the cathedral!

Pax et bonum