Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
Monday, November 27, 2006
OK, I'm going to try this "quitting blogging" thing again...
At the chiding of a spouse and a clerical friend, I'm going to try, once again, to give up blogging. So much to say, but there will always be stuff to say.
I heard that rumor, too. On the other hand, I also heard the rumor that we were to be "mainstreamed." That ain't gonna happen, either, although it may be attempted. Curmudgeon commented once before that the result of such an attempt would be that a few SRPD folks might go along home to their geographic parishes, only to become their suburban pastors' worst nightmares (weekly complaints about un-Catholic hymns, rubrical breaches, gum-chewing non-extraordinary ministers in low-cut blouses, altar girls, irreverence to the Blessed Sacrament, etc.). But the rest will flee to the SSPX community, St. Vincent's, or to Bishop Finn's refuge, Old St. Patricks Oratory. And then, at the Archbishop's next ad limina visit, when the inevitable question about us comes up (and it must come up, since we're at the epicenter of North American traditionalism), Naumann will have to say "Your Holiness, I drove them all to the SSPX, or at least out of the diocese." Of course, the Holy Father, or at least his Curial officials. will already know it, because (as the coverage of Tod Brown's persecution of traddies in the Diocese of Orange illustrates) we are no longer forced to suffer in silence. Compare that to the good press and good will that Finn has generated in KCMO!
True, there's some basis for the latter rumor. We've been pushed around a lot lately. Our Mass times were moved to uncivilized hours. They kicked us out of our location for Saturday afternoon confessions. They're taxing us now (on what canonical basis I don't know, since we're so often reminded that we're not a parish). But I doubt that they'll attempt to mainstream us, and I'm absolutely certain that they'll fail if they attempt it.
Curmudgeon may disagree, but I give more credence to the former rumor than the latter. If I were a betting man, I'd bet we get our own place, eventually, in some fashion or another.
Good for you! Perhaps you can spend more time with your children, not to mention your beloved wife. Stamp down that ego and stay on track with your resolution. Since it was so hard to quit blogging, you may need to give up even reading blogs. You could stay off the 'net entirely. Advent would be a good time to make the effort. Think of it as a little Lent and do penance. May God reward you!
Thanks, third Anon (Ian?), but I doubt Mrs. Curmudgeon would approve of me waking the children (or for that matter, waking Mrs. Curmudgeon) to spend what was formerly my late night blogging time with them.
I just might read another real, printed book or something, though, and now I'll have no excuse not to resume the habit of praying Vespers and Compline, either.
And second Anon., I've heard the same rumors, and I hope you're right (heck, you just repeated much of what I've said in the past), but the whole situation defies reason, and I'm not 100% confident that our ordinary has the resolve to do the right thing against the will of his subordinates.
Nope, I haven't commented on this post yet, but I like the gist of the comment. I think that's one thing I'm going to try myself, stop reading blogs for Advent. Hence I bought myself a nice Sudoku book to occupy some time, I'm finally working on a few book ideas and articles for print publications that I had been asked to do. So it's probably better I get off the 'net myself too.
If you do take up snorkeling and want to snorkel some beer down the hatch, give me a ring. That sounds like a way to say "stuff" and no worry about the blog.
My educated guess is that Anonymous 3 is a woman. I won't know for sure unless I ask her but if it is who I think, you'd probably know her too. I recognized my fellow all girl school alum immediately by her sound advice and perfect grammer. While I am not known for good advice or my grammer, I am glad I can recognize it in my friends.
P.S. Check out "The Restoration of Christian Culture" or "Isis Exiled."
It is her! I called her this morning only to be informed I misspelled grammar twice. OK, little Miss Grammar, please remember the famous words of the pro-life activist Joe Scheidler, who when questioned why he would have his phone number listed in the Chicago telephone book, stated, "Anonymity is for wimps!"
Curmie, if you do keep the blog, would you show mercy on me and get spell check for the comment section.
As we all know, in some endeavors, moderation is a good thing.
And in other endeavors, extremism is a good thing.
The key is to know how to distinguish.
An example of the latter is televison.
I am undecided if blogging falls into the same category as television. Lots of danger, to be sure. But so much good can come from blogging as well. Some of the testimonies here prove that (and I know of several people who were moved to vote against Amendment 2 because of your "letters from the three professions" post).
Perhaps an experiment in moderation is warranted before an experiment in extremism?
I don't know how much longer you'll be checking the blog, but I believe one of your greatest contributions was the KCMO closed church tour. As someone fairly new to KC, I was startled to learn of these beautiful churches that have been abandoned for plain vanilla ones in suburbia. Thank you for the history lesson.
How can you quit when stuff like this is happening?
From a newsgroup post:
"In an article about parish mergers, the latest issue of the Leaven, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS, states: "The Latin Mass Community of St. Philippine Duchesne should continue to help the archdiocese respond to the desire of the church to preserve Latin as the common liturgical language of the universal church, and contribute to the wider ministry and outreach of the church in the world. The archbishop has expressed a willingness to engage in conversations with the priests and the lay leadership of the community. There is openness to discussing greater public visibility for the St. Philippine Duchesne Community as well as an enhanced canonical status." In the Archbishop's December calendar there are the following entries: Dec. 13: Meeting with the leadership of St. Philippine Duchesne (Latin Mass) Community. Dec. 14: Meeting with district superior of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Dec. 17: Masses for St. Philippine Duchesne Community. (This is surprising because up to this point, the Leaven newspaper has virtually ignored the Latin Mass community in Kansas. Why the change? What does all this mean? Sounds good anyway)."
Well, there's really nothing to scoop. I saw the CTNgreg report, and it's not entirely accurate in its implications. It's not a spontaneous offer. It was requested in a petition signed by the heads of 30 of our 275 families. It's part of the Wyandotte County church closing process, as well. And it's not an "offer," it's just that the archbishop is meeting with our people. What will happen at the meeting? He may wipe us out. He may give us personal parish status and a building to boot. But more likely than not, he'll just say some nice things to us, pat us on the head, and say he'll consult his presbyterial council.
And we all know what the presbyterial council will say. They'll say the same thing the presbyterial council will say in every other diocese where they're consulted: "Hell No!"
And so it's quite likely that nothing will happen. We won't get our own parish. We won't be given the care of an existing facility. We won't be allowed to find or build our own facility. We'll go along as we were, except that they'll find some excuse to move our low mass from 6:30am to 6:00am and our high mass from 11:00am to 1:30pm.
There is a rumor that the Traditioal community in KCK may get its own church. Have you heard anything about that?
ReplyDeleteNot gonna happen.
ReplyDeleteI heard that rumor, too.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I also heard the rumor that we were to be "mainstreamed." That ain't gonna happen, either, although it may be attempted. Curmudgeon commented once before that the result of such an attempt would be that a few SRPD folks might go along home to their geographic parishes, only to become their suburban pastors' worst nightmares (weekly complaints about un-Catholic hymns, rubrical breaches, gum-chewing non-extraordinary ministers in low-cut blouses, altar girls, irreverence to the Blessed Sacrament, etc.). But the rest will flee to the SSPX community, St. Vincent's, or to Bishop Finn's refuge, Old St. Patricks Oratory. And then, at the Archbishop's next ad limina visit, when the inevitable question about us comes up (and it must come up, since we're at the epicenter of North American traditionalism), Naumann will have to say "Your Holiness, I drove them all to the SSPX, or at least out of the diocese." Of course, the Holy Father, or at least his Curial officials. will already know it, because (as the coverage of Tod Brown's persecution of traddies in the Diocese of Orange illustrates) we are no longer forced to suffer in silence. Compare that to the good press and good will that Finn has generated in KCMO!
True, there's some basis for the latter rumor. We've been pushed around a lot lately. Our Mass times were moved to uncivilized hours. They kicked us out of our location for Saturday afternoon confessions. They're taxing us now (on what canonical basis I don't know, since we're so often reminded that we're not a parish). But I doubt that they'll attempt to mainstream us, and I'm absolutely certain that they'll fail if they attempt it.
Curmudgeon may disagree, but I give more credence to the former rumor than the latter. If I were a betting man, I'd bet we get our own place, eventually, in some fashion or another.
Good for you! Perhaps you can spend more time with your children, not to mention your beloved wife. Stamp down that ego and stay on track with your resolution. Since it was so hard to quit blogging, you may need to give up even reading blogs. You could stay off the 'net entirely. Advent would be a good time to make the effort. Think of it as a little Lent and do penance. May God reward you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, third Anon (Ian?), but I doubt Mrs. Curmudgeon would approve of me waking the children (or for that matter, waking Mrs. Curmudgeon) to spend what was formerly my late night blogging time with them.
ReplyDeleteI just might read another real, printed book or something, though, and now I'll have no excuse not to resume the habit of praying Vespers and Compline, either.
And second Anon., I've heard the same rumors, and I hope you're right (heck, you just repeated much of what I've said in the past), but the whole situation defies reason, and I'm not 100% confident that our ordinary has the resolve to do the right thing against the will of his subordinates.
Nope, I haven't commented on this post yet, but I like the gist of the comment. I think that's one thing I'm going to try myself, stop reading blogs for Advent. Hence I bought myself a nice Sudoku book to occupy some time, I'm finally working on a few book ideas and articles for print publications that I had been asked to do. So it's probably better I get off the 'net myself too.
ReplyDeleteIf you do take up snorkeling and want to snorkel some beer down the hatch, give me a ring. That sounds like a way to say "stuff" and no worry about the blog.
My educated guess is that Anonymous 3 is a woman. I won't know for sure unless I ask her but if it is who I think, you'd probably know her too. I recognized my fellow all girl school alum immediately by her sound advice and perfect grammer. While I am not known for good advice or my grammer, I am glad I can recognize it in my friends.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Check out "The Restoration of Christian Culture" or "Isis Exiled."
It is her! I called her this morning only to be informed I misspelled grammar twice. OK, little Miss Grammar, please remember the famous words of the pro-life activist Joe Scheidler, who when questioned why he would have his phone number listed in the Chicago telephone book, stated, "Anonymity is for wimps!"
ReplyDeleteCurmie, if you do keep the blog, would you show mercy on me and get spell check for the comment section.
Curmudgeon:
ReplyDeleteRemember, every road has a ditch on both sides.
As we all know, in some endeavors, moderation is a good thing.
And in other endeavors, extremism is a good thing.
The key is to know how to distinguish.
An example of the latter is televison.
I am undecided if blogging falls into the same category as television. Lots of danger, to be sure. But so much good can come from blogging as well. Some of the testimonies here prove that (and I know of several people who were moved to vote against Amendment 2 because of your "letters from the three professions" post).
Perhaps an experiment in moderation is warranted before an experiment in extremism?
Not advice, just a thought.
Curmudgeon,
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much longer you'll be checking the blog, but I believe one of your greatest contributions was the KCMO closed church tour. As someone fairly new to KC, I was startled to learn of these beautiful churches that have been abandoned for plain vanilla ones in suburbia. Thank you for the history lesson.
How can you quit when stuff like this is happening?
ReplyDeleteFrom a newsgroup post:
"In an article about parish mergers, the latest issue of the Leaven, the
newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS, states: "The Latin
Mass Community of St. Philippine Duchesne should continue to help the
archdiocese respond to the desire of the church to preserve Latin as
the common liturgical language of the universal church, and contribute
to the wider ministry and outreach of the church in the world. The
archbishop has expressed a willingness to engage in conversations with
the priests and the lay leadership of the community. There is openness
to discussing greater public visibility for the St. Philippine Duchesne
Community as well as an enhanced canonical status." In the
Archbishop's December calendar there are the following entries: Dec.
13: Meeting with the leadership of St. Philippine Duchesne (Latin Mass)
Community. Dec. 14: Meeting with district superior of the Priestly
Fraternity of St. Peter. Dec. 17: Masses for St. Philippine Duchesne
Community. (This is surprising because up to this point, the Leaven
newspaper has virtually ignored the Latin Mass community in Kansas. Why
the change? What does all this mean? Sounds good anyway)."
yup. bad time to stop blogging.
ReplyDeleteyour too important to quit now.
How could Crummy give up the chance to scoop this major story?
ReplyDeleteWell, there's really nothing to scoop. I saw the CTNgreg report, and it's not entirely accurate in its implications. It's not a spontaneous offer. It was requested in a petition signed by the heads of 30 of our 275 families. It's part of the Wyandotte County church closing process, as well. And it's not an "offer," it's just that the archbishop is meeting with our people. What will happen at the meeting? He may wipe us out. He may give us personal parish status and a building to boot. But more likely than not, he'll just say some nice things to us, pat us on the head, and say he'll consult his presbyterial council.
ReplyDeleteAnd we all know what the presbyterial council will say. They'll say the same thing the presbyterial council will say in every other diocese where they're consulted: "Hell No!"
And so it's quite likely that nothing will happen. We won't get our own parish. We won't be given the care of an existing facility. We won't be allowed to find or build our own facility. We'll go along as we were, except that they'll find some excuse to move our low mass from 6:30am to 6:00am and our high mass from 11:00am to 1:30pm.
But of course I hope I'm wrong.
Cranky, email me please. Have a question for you.
ReplyDeletecurmudgeonkc@yahoo.com
Say it ain't so.
ReplyDeleteBut feel free to say, "Get behind me Satan" if necessary.
'Mudgie,
ReplyDeleteDon't pull the plug, dude.
Your voice is needed!