No, this is nothing radically existential -- I just forgot what it was I wanted to blog about. The joys of aging.
Well, at least I have reconnected with an old blog friend. Bloglines, which is supposed to help me keep track of all my favorite blogs, has a nasty habit of dropping people on me, so I don't know whose blog is missing until one day I say, "Hey, I haven't heard from So-and-So in awhile," and discover that their blog is gone from Bloglines, and I can't remember their blog address. This happened with Paradosis, Catherine, Alanna, Philippa, and Emily. I was especially annoyed to lose this last because this girl belongs to my former parish, and only became Orthodox a year ago, and I'm very fond of her godmother.
Fortunately, she left a comment on my last post, and I was able to track her down that way. So now I'm back in touch with my young friend, and with several of my older friends, too ("older" in the sense of how long we've been friends, not in the sense of age -- as far as I know, I've got 'em all licked).
Well, so! I see that my former parish is getting a new priest. Mostly, I'm sorry to hear that; while this priest was a bit too "Catholic" for me personally (those girls on the solea, and in the Great Entrance, have always fried my excessively orthodox brain!), I know many people were horrified to lose him, and his going has been very divisive for this parish. On the other hand, there's always the hope that the next priest will be a bit more Orthodox in his practice, though I don't know: his rumored successor has a quote from St. Theresa of Lisieux on his current parish's website. Yep, another ex-Catholic, and if this quote is anything to go by, not ex enough.
Yes, this is my problem. I had fifteen years of the old Catholic Church, which was a lot like the Orthodox Church, and fifteen years of the new Catholic Church, which is a lot like any Protestant church, and this year it will be thirty years since I last worshipped as a Catholic. And I'm still hypersensitive to it. I guess it's freaking me out to realize that there's a whole generation of middle-aged people who have never known the beauty of the old Catholic Church, and seriously think that the claptrap that's around nowadays is Catholicism -- and the most recent priests at my former parish are among this group. OK, 'nuff, before I seriously tick off all my friends. Pray for me, that I get over this sometime before I die.
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3 comments:
I will be praying. Not having ever experienced Catholicism, I really respect your sensitivity to that 'flavor' in the Church.
For some reason, your blog had dropped off my Bloglines too, and I just found it again last week.
I was quite upset to hear that Fr. C will be leaving. My background is one that has seen far, far too many resignations and reassignments. Having been that pastor's family that has to deal with leaving a church, I know that it's not usually an experience that leaves one with an overwhelming sense of peace and grace. I hurt for their family, to be honest. And I hurt for our parish, because of the divisiveness that these events can cause.
You know, Dad came last week and told me that he just happened to have lunch with someone who just happened to know Fr. B from St. Demetrios in Saco. Dad's friend had nothing but wonderful things to say about their church. He also thinks that this may not be coincidental and that I should really pray about where God would have me.
In a few weeks, many of the people I've made a connection with at my church over the past year or so will be leaving. It feels selfish to admit it, but I'm struggling. Please pray for me.
I've never been Catholic and I find the novus ordo terribly depressing. Once I went to a Lefebvrist church in Normandy - the Mass was so beautiful; hard to believe it was once the staple of every Catholic parish.
Harder for me to believe they ever got rid of it! Ah well, if they hadn't, I probably would never have found the impetus to become Orthodox. There's a silver lining in every cloud. ;-)
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