Next time you think your local Catholic Church’s liturgy is a little sub-par, be thankful you aren’t exposed to this “Episcopal” Liturgy: Pearls: God’s Holy Irritants, Thirty Years of Feminism in the Church. This is a Word file.
The service is interesting to say the least. Be sure to check out the prayers of the people. The prayers seem to mostly be political statements against those with whom they disagree, and as such they rival some ancient litanies in their disdain for the other side’s heresies (although the writers of this liturgy would never likely use the word “heresy”).
I have included an excerpt from the contemporary psalm written for the event, celebrating women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church:
And you did not go away.
In time
you grew
so large,
an internal luminescence,
that the shell
could contain
neither you nor itself,
and because of you
the shell Opened itself
to the world.
Then your beauty was seen
and prized;
your variety valued:
precious, precious, a hard bubble of light:
silver, white, ivory or baroque.
If you are a specially
irregular and rough
pearl,
named baroque
(for broke),
then you reveal
in your own amazed/amazing
body of light
all the colors
of the Universe.
Wow. Does anybody else think that not only is the theology of this liturgy “off,” but the poetry and linguistics are awful as well? I mean, does the word baroque really have anything to do with being broke? I am far from a poetry expert, but this psalm doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue or inspire me to greatness.
See, fellow Catholics, things could get a lot worse. I really hope this isn’t what Episcopalians will have to endure on a regular basis in the near future. Sadly, the days when the Episcopal church set the standard for good liturgy seem to be in the past. And lest we gloat at the troubles of another church, we must remember that we Catholics have folks in our own church who could easily have written this feminist liturgy.
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad Toney
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
November 29, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Let me say, before I rant, that while I consider myself to be liturgically “high church” and traditional, I am often in favor of re-translating traditional texts. Disclaimer over.
I don’t think that I have ever seen a more self-righteous, poorly written, obviously agenda driven liturgy. Wow. No sense of the poetic any where in it. No sense of respect for the traditional texts they were re-translating (key for any revision of liturgical texts). It seems to have just been a case of “We want to … We can… let’s do it.”
It is “liturgies” like this one that give a bad name to all contemporary liturgies. I was especially appalled by the “translation” of the Lord’s Prayer:
“Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.”
November 29, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Pastor Hansen,
I agree with you. I have no issue with newer liturgies, after all every liturgy was new at some point. However, I think changes to the Eucharistic liturgies should be done respectfully and slowly, in light of the Tradition that precede it. This liturgy does not do this in the least bit.
And as you say, this liturgy is just beyond the pale for so many reasons that I don’t even know where to begin.
November 29, 2006 at 8:45 pm
I don’t even have the energy to tackle this one. When I see stuff like this I think I may merely be a universal indult away from swimming the Tiber.
November 30, 2006 at 5:20 am
I USED to think it was all right, if respectfully and prayerfully done, to experiment with new forms of the Eucharistic Liturgy. However, the madness I have seen in (especially) the Episcopal Church (but Lutherans and Catholics don’t get off scott free here!)has made me completely renounce my former opinion. I now attend the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom three times a week and believe you me, one changed word and I will raise all-holy hell over it. I am done with the foolishness (old curmudgeon that I am).
“Men should be changed by religion, not religion by men.”
- Thomas Erskine
November 30, 2006 at 12:35 pm
nicenehobbit - if you want to see some stuff that will make your skin crawl, you should hang out for a day or two where David, Jonathon and I all attended divinity school. Some of it was kooky, much of it heretical, most of it down right sad.
November 30, 2006 at 1:24 pm
LP,
That is so very true. Attending the service at the chapel was a crap shoot, mainly because what you usually ended up with was crap. The constant drive to “do something new” got very, very old after awhile. I wonder if things will be different under the new dean?
December 4, 2006 at 12:44 am
Sadly, the days when the Episcopal church set the standard for good liturgy seem to be in the past. Seems to me they started screwing up the day they denied transubstatiation.