Fruits

To some Catholics, the fruits of Vatican II are in doubt. More Catholics receiving Communion, reading the Bible, RCIA, deacons, lay ministers–probably good fruits. Fewer priests and sisters, more uncertainty about who believes what, and liturgies with the Easter Bunny and clowns–probably bad fruits.

What about Pope Benedict’s vision of the mutual enrichment of the best of the new and old?

(T)he fear was expressed in discussions about the awaited Motu Proprio, that the possibility of a wider use of the 1962 Missal would lead to disarray or even divisions within parish communities.  This fear also strikes me as quite unfounded.

Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity.

When I think of the situation at St Mary’s in Plattesville, I have to wonder about the fruits of mixing and hoping for an enrichment. Fr Anthony Ruff at PrayTell wonders too.

In one model of the Church, forty percent of the flock is lost over a period of two years. In another, the loss is spread out over a few decades. Do you suppose there’s another way, one in which pews fill to overflowing?

I don’t have the answer to this. Clearly one can do great damage to the spiritual health of a community, and be totally within the bounds of civil and canon law. Those who suffer are seemingly without recourse.

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