Bishop Brown's Empire Strikes Back: No Tridentine For You!

As you may know, Bishop Brown met with the members of Restore The Sacred about the kneeling controversy at St. Mary's by the Sea Parish in Huntington Beach, California. The details of that meeting are chronicled here:

What Do You Mean by "Wiggle Room"?

Meeting Bishop Brown – Catholics May Kneel In Good Conscience

Since the meeting, members of Restore The Sacred have received a response from Bishop Brown. the response can be read here: California bishop responds to lay group

As you can see from the letter, Bishop Brown essentially gave a number of reasons for maintaining the status quo.

He spoke as though he were intimately familiar with the interior workings of a parish he has visited only once since becoming Bishop of Orange in 1998.

Brown said his decisions were based on his "ecclesiology".

He explained why he prefers standing when receiving Holy Communion: "...standing is appropriate for those who are risen with Christ and who seek the things that are above". (As opposed to people who seek million dollar homes, luxury cars, personal chefs, and multimillion-dollar cathedrals.)

Apparently part of being resurrection people involves demeaning women who kneel to receive Holy Communion. See: Mean Tod Brown

Bishop Brown also explains his reasons for insisting that Catholics in his diocese "will stand from the end of the Great Amen until after receiving Holy Communion" (as opposed to most dioceses in the United States, who continue to kneel at that time): "This posture reflects our humble gratitude for the great things God has done for us in creating and redeeming us. We also recognize the eschatological significance of standing as we look forward to the day when Christ will come again and pray that Christ may find us worthy to stand before Him."

Help me out here. How does standing reflect humble gratitude? Moreover, why would we stand before the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in order to "look forward to the day when Christ will come again" if we have to "pray that Christ may find us worthy to stand before Him" when He comes? There seems to be a contradiction in that theology.

I am especially troubled by this reasoning in light of Pope Benedict XVI's words in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy:

There are groups, of no small influence, who are trying to talk us out of kneeling. "It doesn't suit our culture", they say (which culture?) "It's not right for a grown man to do this -- he should face God on his feet". Or again: "It's not appropriate for redeemed man -- he has been set free by Christ and doesn't need to kneel any more".

...

Kneeling does not come from any culture -- it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God. The central importance of kneeling in the Bible can be seen in a very concrete way. The word proskynein alone occurs fifty-nine times in the New Testament, twenty-four of which are in the Apocalypse, the book of the heavenly Liturgy, which is presented to the Church as the standard for her own Liturgy.

See: The Theology of Kneeling

I also found Bishop Brown's assertions about the authority of the United States Conference of catholic Bishops interesting, especially in light of the following:

Does the USCCB have authority in the Church over individual bishops?

No, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops does not have any authority over individual bishops. Only the Bishop of Rome, the pope, has such authority. Bishops’ conferences are not law-making nor law enforcement authorities in the Catholic Church. There are, however, a small and limited number of matters about which such conferences have authority in Church Law (such as the vernacular translations of the language of the sacred liturgy), but even in those matters the conferences’ actions have no effect without the subsequent approval (“recognitio”) of the Holy See, and the conferences must carry out their work in accordance with the directives of the Holy See. Conferences were erected by bishops throughout the world after the decree on bishops of the Second Vatican Council (“Christus Dominus” n.37). They are regulated by the “Motu Proprio” Encyclical of Pope John Paul II, entitled “Apostolos Suos,” by the Code of Canon Law, and by their own internal statutes, which have to be approved by the Holy See to be in force. The conferences mainly provide occasions for the bishops to exchange experiences, receive advice and help from each other, to obtain information that might be difficult or impossible for an individual bishop to gather, and to address matters of mutual concern, especially those on a national or regional level. Pope Benedict XVI has said very clearly that “episcopal conferences have no theological basis; they do not belong to the structure of the Church as willed by Christ...” They are man-made constructs that might be useful but, if not, could be discarded. See the “Ratzinger Report” (Ignatius Press), pages 58-69, and see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbers 877-887 & 1577.

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Bottom line: Bishop Brown will not bend on matters concerning traditional Catholicism, but he is quite open minded about many other issues, including liturgical innovations.

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Examples of things Bishop Brown not only permits, but also supports and defends can be found here:

Open Letter to Tod Brown, Bishop of Orange

Vocations director under fire in California

Meanwhile, Bishop Brown has, through Fr. Martin Tran, parish administrator at St. Mary's by the Sea parish, in Huntington Beach, CA, told Father Eamon Mackin that he would have to move out of St. Mary's by the Sea parish because the diocese cannot afford to support him. Fr. Mackin is an 80-year-old, solidly orthodox, priest who has lived and worked at St. Mary's by the Sea parish for the past 11 years. Why – with the wealth (and "priest shortage") in the Diocese of Orange, would Bishop Brown send a good, hardworking priest out on the street?

That story is detailed here: Bishop Tod Brown: Facelift Or Photoshop?

There have been a number of amusing cartoons and images that have been inspired by the kneeling controversy.

This one got a big response:

St. Mary's by the Sea Liturgical Reeducation Camp

Here is a new one:

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Sometimes you have to be able to laugh.

Comments

[brother lesser]

"At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in the heavens, one the earth, and under the earth"...

I take this to mean that if we cannot humble ourselves to kneel before God now, there will indeed come a time when we will drop to our knees in His presence...but we'll probably get our kneecaps burnt because it's sure going to be hot in that place...!!!

[James]

I was wondering when Sunday's video would come up. I'm frankly surprised it wasn't brought up Sunday night. I'll be curious to see what others thought of the video over the coming days. I'm still formulating mine. I do like the message of getting more involved and invested in our parishes and Catholic faith: putting our faith to work--very consistent with James's epistle read earlier. I didn't hear a lot mentioned, however, about sin, repentance, and living a life more consistent with faith and love of God.

[Mark Hillingsworth]

I am sorry to say that the bottom line is not about the salvation of souls. This new attempt at reviving the sprituality is about the forseeing of less money because of less interest and that will affect attendance. The words sound good but so did the Covenant with the Faithful. That was a public relations ploy. The best thing Bishop Brown could do is get down on his knees and ask God to forgive him for disobeying Church Teaching on matters of faith and morals. That would really change hearts!

[Steve from Virginia]

I am glad I don't live in California. Pray for the Diocese of Orange.

[A Simple Sinner]

OK, when is this guy due to retire?

Please tell me soon. Yesterday was not soon enough.

[CPost]

I've seen a couple of N.O. masses lately trying to 'ape' the Tridentine, and my overall sense is that they are trying like heck to pull traditionalists away from the Tridentine. I wonder - why? What are people so afraid of the Tridentine? Can't they see how superior it is? Any thoughts from anyone? Am trying to understand, and I'm new to this website.