Straight to the Point
Story is HERE
Divine Services and particularly HOLY Communion is NOT the time or place for bumper sticker politics. And I won't even say that this is especially true if your bumper sticker (ahem...sash) is making a statement in direct contradiction with the teachings of historic Christianity and specifically your church from which you are expecting to feed on Christ. (oops...well I guess I said it anyway.)
Furthermore...who ANY church decides to deny communion to is NOT the secular media's business. Get over it people...denying communion (I denied it to myself yesterday) is not unusual. Furthermore...I sure hope the RCC doesn't cave to external pressure...frankly most people would like us to stop believing in the nonsese of Resurrection too. Can you see the headlines?
Local Orthodox Parish proclaims that "Christ is Risen."
by Joshua Freethinker, AP
In a staggering breach of common sense, the people at this local Orthodox Parish actually believe that Jesus rose from the dead. For when prompted with the statement "Christ is Risen" they immediately respond in robotic unison: "Indeed He is Risen!"
It is also reported that in order to receive Holy Communion at this parish you are forced to confess AND believe this (among a number of other things). And as if this were not enough, the parishoners must actually go to the priest (a man, because woman are banned) and confess their "sins."
A group of former parishoners arrived on Pentecost in order to protest these out-dated, ignorant, and sexist policies and beliefs. Each of them had tatooed on their foreheads, words saying: "Christ is risen merely to a higher state of consciousness!" and then on the back of their shaved heads (which was a means of showing solidarity and equality between all five sexes) was tatooed: "Indeed he is risen merely to a higher state of consciousness!"
Their intention was to rush the chalice and insist on receiving Holy Communion. The press was notified as also were local government officials and a number of other special interest groups all of whom were planning on attending and witnessing the confrontation. (Of course, they planned on arriving after the Gospel reading because they had heard the services were ridiculously long and they couldn't believe that they didn't have a microwavable version.)
However, when the priest saw all that was going on, he was reported to say, "Was it silly willy nilly secular unbelievingable people telling the Orthodox Church who she is to and is to not give communion to in 19th century Russia? IT WAS NOT! Is Outrage!" At which point the priest called out his brown skirts: elderly women with large canes (secretly referred to as the "Baba squad"). These little brown skirts began pummeling the protestors and the media with their canes, shouting anathemas and other impolite unelderly lady-like things.
And the last thing that this intrepid reporter heard from inside the Church was someone shouting: "The Doors...the Doors!"
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Comments
sf
Of course in addition to cane-wielding babas I would have also included a goon squad of teenage alter servers flinging molten wax...
Seriously though, this brings up an off topic (sorta) question...Can the Abbess at a Monastery hear confession and then have the priest absolve the monastics?
Seriously, I think TIME magazine said it best when they described the current Roman pontiff's stance as a "hardliner, let-them-become-episcopalians" one.
May not be very pastorally inclined, but I can't stand whiney-butt, "cafeteria Christians." You don't like the doctrine your confession, uh, confesses? Then don't let it hitcha...
IT'S A RED DAY! ERE THE SUN RISES!!!!!!!
BTW I love the story. As I was told of friends who traveled in the old Soviet block: the Bolsheviks expected the church to die out as the little old ladies died off. But year after year after year, they never ran out of little old ladies. Eventually, the Soviet Union collapsed, as their old believers died off.