SAM is The Man!

And, "The little Hitlers are everywhere."

SecretAgentMan blogs a round-up of The Great Kneeling Debate.

One is tempted to throw up one's hands at this kerfuffle: Does it really matter whether we kneel, or sit, or stand, after Holy Communion? Aren't there many much more important issues?

I think such questions miss the point. Here's an example of what I mean. Surely, you have been around a parent and child, or a husband and wife, who are continually quarreling. A dispassionate analysis would indicate that the individuals have a problem that goes very deep: perhaps one of them is secretly holding a grudge because of a wound inflicted by the other long ago, and that's poisoning the relationship; perhaps one of them feels stifled by patterns of behavior in the other that seem to be deliberate, repeated attempts at unreasonable domination, of which the latter is, actually, completely unaware. The quarreling goes back and forth, maybe for months, maybe for years.

One day, the quarreling becomes focused on something that is outwardly trivial:

Did you leave the toothpaste uncapped? You know I can't stand that!

Did you take out the garbage yet? No? I asked you to do that three hours ago! You know I hate it when you ignore me like that!

Kaboom!

But the quarrel is not really about toothpaste or garbage. Nor is the quarrel really about one's posture after Holy Communion.

It's about subversive traitors trying to refashion the Catholic Church in the USA into the American Catholic Church, as divorced as much as possible from the Catholic Church of the Ages and from the Holy See, and about faithful Catholics who are damned sick and tired of their catechesis and worship being corrupted by those little Hitlers.

What's next? If we all have to be standing, to show our unity, will we next have to all be imitating the celebrant's priest's presider's and servers' posture and movements? When the priest goes to the ambo to proclaim the Gospel, will we all have to shuffle our feet? When the servers ring the bells at the consecration, will we all have to bend over and shake our hands above the floor?

Surely, SAM and Rerum Novarum can go round and round and round on the theological, liturgical, and legal niceties. God bless them! But they wouldn't have to be doing it at all if not for the subversive traitors who want to eliminate, as far as (in)humanly possible, the "vertical" element from Catholic worship, and (if not already, then soon) the distinction between clergy and laity — which is actually an exercise in degradation and destruction.

What's the bottom line? As far as I can tell, nobody has the authority to tell you that you must stand after Holy Communion. If anybody tells you to do so, ignore them. If they insist, tell them to get out of your face. I don't know of anything in Catholic tradition that requires anybody to be a doormat for little Hitlers to walk over unperturbed.

P.S. I'm telling you, a crucial part of this conundrum is that some people just live to tell others what to do. Unfortunately, it seems a large number of that kind migrate to chanceries and sacristies.

P.P.S. I'm also telling you, another crucial part of this conundrum is that some people want change for the sake of change. Unfortunately, it seems a large number of that kind, too, migrate to chanceries and sacristies.

P.P.P.S. Thanks to Dale, Dom and Mark for the notice.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 08/28/03 09:21:51 AM
Categorized as Most Notable & Religious.