Some years ago our then parish priest sent off for a batch of Redemptorist leaflets for the Lenten preparations. He did not keep them long, he returned them with a note far more charitable in tone than if I had composed it.
They were weak and missed the point completely; if they had been produced by some obscure evangelical offshoot of a non conformist faith you might have said, "Yep, sadly misguided" and shot off a prayer or two for God to remove the blindfold.
But they came from a Catholic order or, as the Redemptorists prefer; "A Roman Catholic order".
The order is in the news again at present with the spoutings of Fr Tony Flannery and, I fear, the rot is deeply rooted.
As with dry rot, to remove it you must cut deep and burn all waste (not that I am suggesting any bonfires for the priests of that order, no, no, heaven forfend! (It is a thought though).
A visit to the Redemptorist website, the launchpad for their range of literature, books, posters, CDs and DVDs, is not inspiring.
I see their posters, every so often, when I visit a parish church where the parish priest must keep his brain in neutral gear. Why, oh why, do people drape them all over the sanctuary, like some gigantic classroom project?
And why do the posters all look as if they've been designed by primary stage three on ecstasy?
No, it's not hell, silly, it's a sign of Confirmation
I know it appears as if I am an old curmudgeon, constantly picking up on the bad things regarding the Faith....and it's true (although I draw a crumb of comfort from Mrs L who says that if we don't condemn we condone).
But, in reality, these posters and leaflets are as bad as The Tablet; they present the Church in a way that I cannot reconcile with the Faith that I was born into.
Of course, now that we have the reform of the reform underway, such literature is looking distinctly aged, old fashioned, even.
But who controls theReds Redemptorists? Not the Diocesan Bishop? Not the Archbishop of Westminster? Then who?
There must be somebody in authority who could exercise a littleburning control?
I guess it is their own Superior General or whatever title he goes under.
But that is really like asking an alcoholic to oversee a Beer Festival.
They were weak and missed the point completely; if they had been produced by some obscure evangelical offshoot of a non conformist faith you might have said, "Yep, sadly misguided" and shot off a prayer or two for God to remove the blindfold.
But they came from a Catholic order or, as the Redemptorists prefer; "A Roman Catholic order".
The order is in the news again at present with the spoutings of Fr Tony Flannery and, I fear, the rot is deeply rooted.
As with dry rot, to remove it you must cut deep and burn all waste (not that I am suggesting any bonfires for the priests of that order, no, no, heaven forfend! (It is a thought though).
A visit to the Redemptorist website, the launchpad for their range of literature, books, posters, CDs and DVDs, is not inspiring.
I see their posters, every so often, when I visit a parish church where the parish priest must keep his brain in neutral gear. Why, oh why, do people drape them all over the sanctuary, like some gigantic classroom project?
And why do the posters all look as if they've been designed by primary stage three on ecstasy?
I know it appears as if I am an old curmudgeon, constantly picking up on the bad things regarding the Faith....and it's true (although I draw a crumb of comfort from Mrs L who says that if we don't condemn we condone).
But, in reality, these posters and leaflets are as bad as The Tablet; they present the Church in a way that I cannot reconcile with the Faith that I was born into.
Of course, now that we have the reform of the reform underway, such literature is looking distinctly aged, old fashioned, even.
But who controls the
There must be somebody in authority who could exercise a little
I guess it is their own Superior General or whatever title he goes under.
But that is really like asking an alcoholic to oversee a Beer Festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment