It seems Mrs Jennifer Sleeman's call for Catholics to boycott Mass on Sunday fell mostly on deaf ears. As late as Saturday Mrs Sleeman was convinced that huge numbers would heed her call and empty the churches in protest at the Church's refusal to ordain women, allow priests marry, bless contraception, abortion etc - the usual canon of dissent. First of all it is sad to see people using the Holy Mass as a political weapon in their battles. Interestingly it seems numbers were up at Mass. I know here in Rathkenny the Masses were well attended and it seemed that there were more people than last week: according to the Irish media, definitely no friend of the Christian faith, this was the experience of many priests around the country.
I won't try to interpret this rise, it could just be the usual seasonal change rather than a determined effort on the part of Mass-goers to ensure Mrs Sleeman and her supporters did not win the day. I feel sorry for the woman, and I think we should pray for her. She is deeply hurt, as are all of us, by the betrayal of some of our priests and religious. She is also convinced that the agenda for progress drawn up in the wake of the sexual revolution of the sixties is the way forward. Anyone with a bit of common sense and the ability to look around and see the fruit of this secular liberalism will discern that the last thing any religion needs is to redraft its fundamental beliefs to suit the fashions and whims of an age. Those denominations which conformed to this agenda are now in crisis and many are either gone or in the process of falling apart. What is fashionable today will not be fashionable tomorrow, and what some will say is relevant for society today will be irrelevant for humanity tomorrow. Those denominations which replace eternal truths with the fallible opinions of an elite tend to die with the members of that elite. Those still caught up in the euphoria of free love seem not to have noticed this.
Interestingly I was reading some of the ancient classical myths today, and that of Pygmalion jumped out at me. Pygmalion was a sculptor who, disgusted with the behaviour of the women around him, decided to carve the perfect woman in ivory. As he carved the statue he began to fall in love with it, and wished it could be changed into a real woman. The goddess Venus heard his prayer and granted it, and Pygmalion got the woman of his dreams: the one he had created for himself. This may serve as an interesting insight into the dissent we see around us in the Church today. Some Catholics, most of them of a certain generation, disgusted with the traditional teachings and liturgy of the Catholic faith, have carved for themselves a new, more perfect Church, one more suited to their tastes, and now, like the mythical sculptor, they are trying to bring it to life. Of course there is no pagan goddess to do the necessary, and so we must endure endless, tedious battles as every effort is made to replace the Church of Christ with a human construction. Reminds one of the tower of Babel; indeed, of ivory towers built on sand, if I may mix my metaphors.
The story of Pygmalion reminds me of another story, a Scriptural one, which also may shed light on the present difficulties in the Church: the golden calf.
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