Banished For Kneeling? – Canonically, It's Gobbledygook

The May 2006 edition of the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission includes a story on the Catholics at St. Mary's by the Sea parish in Huntington Beach who were invited to leave the parish and the Diocese of Orange by parish administrator, Fr. Martin Tran.

Fr. Tran claimed that his invitation to leave the parish and the diocese was done with Bishop Tod Brown's approval.

The story is linked here.

Concerned parishioners at St. Mary's have publicly wondered why Bishop Brown has been after Fr. Tran to ensure that his new directives are implemented at St. Mary's by the Sea, whereas other parishes in the diocese, where the congregation remains standing through the consecration, are not receiving any corrections from the bishop.

The primary content of flier #15, which Fr. Tran said provoked the invitation to leave the parish and the diocese, reprinted Lex orandi, lex credendi, by Fr. Anthony J. Manuppela. The article was taken from the March 2002 issue of The Homiletic & Pastoral Review, edited by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J, and published by Ignatius Press (the the primary publisher of the English language editions of the works of Joseph Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI).

What do you think? Was the article published in flier #15 an attack on the USNCCB, Bishop Brown, and Fr. Martin Tran?

What about the canonical situation of these marginalized parishioners? According to the article, Charles Wilson, of The St. Joseph Foundation, and Catholic Answers apologist, Jimmy Akin, saw some potential canonical difficulties in the invitation for these Catholics to leave the parish and the diocese. Do you think inviting these parishioners to leave was the most prudent and charitable course of action?

Comments

[JMC]

Flyer #15 was no attack. Those people were obeying one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy: Correcting the sinner.

[Frank & Eileen S.]

Thank God that some Catholics still care about their faith enough to fight for the right to kneel and adore God!

[Regina C.]

Thank God not only for Flyer#15 but for all 24 of the flyers which have done more to educate anyone who reads them about our Faith, than 12 yrs of Catholic School will do in the Diocese of Orange. And people are taking notice. More and more are eagerly awaiting the next issue. The laity are starting to understand that they have the right and the duty to demand sound doctrine. It is true that Satan has a stranglehold on much of the hierarchy, but as Our Lord promised, the gates of hell will not prevail. What kind of Catholics instead of being outraged, are intimidated by a canonically incorrect "request" to leave a parish/diocese because of their loyalty to the teaching of the Church regarding the Liturgy? Catholics who are either weak or who don't know their Faith. For those who are weak, pray for courage. For those who don't know their Faith, read the flyers and speak up. There's no middle ground. If we don't fight for our Faith even against clergy who are not in line with the Magisterium, we will lose the Mass. And many of the deceived will follow these dissident clergy right out of the Church. Remember Satan's M.O. is confusion, deception and then destruction.

[Rita]

Father John Hardon, whose cause for Glorification has been requested, said,...... " Unless we recover the zeal and the spirit of the first century Christians-unless we are willing to do what they did and to pay the price that they paid, the future of our country, the days of America are numbered." These are sobering words when we consider how our country is doing right now. We must remember that we are the "Church Militant". We must defend Her against anyone or anything that threatens to destroy her. To sit with eyes closed, and hands folded chanting, "obey" is not what Father John Hardon was talking about.

[Maria]

Thank you Frank and Eileen for your words of wisdom! You must be from S.P....the State of Perfection!

[Arthur Baldwin]

Dear Catholic Friends,

This controversy over kneeling is very interesting to me. It indicates to me that there is a misunderstanding of the freedoms that Jesus Christ gives to every believer. Even if there were no church in which to worship, you would still be free to kneel in reverence for God, whether in your home, on a mountaintop, or any other place. In a restaurant, before eating, you are free to bow your head and pray out loud to bless the food you are about to eat (this is analogous to kissing your "true love" Jesus Christ in public - it might be embarassing to some, yet many Christians consider this necessary).

There are many, many little ways in which someone who really loves Jesus can demonstrate that fact in their daily lives...not only inside the church building, but in other public places and in their own homes...on any day of the week. And part of the mission of Jesus Christ was to open our eyes to the fact that we can do anything we choose to do in order to demonstrate our love for Him...anywhere, anytime.

I would like to invite you to think about what you can do to demonstrate the love you have inside for Your Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, not only in the church, but in all that you do every day. This is much more important than a form of worship that is based mostly upon tradition and habit.

[James]

I just posted in the wrong place, I think, my suggestion that Father Tran (or some other priest like him) consider changing parishes again to the one mentioned above: St. John the Baptist in Homer, AK. I see a web site that says they are looking for a good priest. http://www.priestswanted.com