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Monday 2 February 2015

Behold, the Tabernacle of Seattle Seahawks 12

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My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. 
I ask pardon for those who do not believe, 
do not adore, do not hope, and do not  love You.
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Oh brother, you can even watch it live!  
The video has now been removed from the parish website but it has been preserved on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lH9QpWX9G0

This is so not, Catholic.
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"And he saith to them: It is written, 
My house shall be called the house of prayer, 
but you have made it a den of thieves."
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UPDATED BELOW

St. Mary's Catholic (?) Church
4800 88th Street NE
Marysville, Washington
360-653-9400 ext. 109
www.stmary-stanne.org

Father Dwight Lewis

Parish Administrator
administrator@stmary-stanne.org

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain will respond to regular mail sent to: 

710 9th. Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104

The email for the Chancellor is:

mary.santi@seattlearch.org

Vicar for Clergy
gary.zender@seattlearch.org



St. Francis de Sales Oratory of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in St. Louis, Missouri 

UPDATE FROM COMBOX:

A member of the parish in Marysville left a comment. It deserves to be read and answered, so I am taking the liberty of attaching it here. However, I have now removed her name and her comments from the combox. She is distressed and has no reason to apologise. This is about clarifying a bad situation and bringing people to know that the liturgy is not a game we play, like football. 

May the person who put this comment know that she is loved and appreciated for her openness here and she does not need to feel bad about writing. However, I think it is important that the comment and my explanation stand in the interest of catechesis.


I am a member of this parish. Marysville is the city that just had a shooting at our high school 100 days ago. Father was trying to stir a healing, to find joy in life and show community and energy. It does not change the mass or its sacredness. We do not cover our heads, and most teens wear jeans to mass but they come! It is not right to be Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus healed on the Sabbath and ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. This priest is bringing people to Jesus and meeting them where they are. Shame on you who judge. This is a community who love Jesus and wanted to celebrate and give thanks for the good in the world as well as the good in our faith at a tough time in Marysville. Uniting and celebrating the good. If you think this was wrong than you have that right but do not judge what you do not understand. I love our priest, our church, and will defend it. This city has been through so much. Pray for us, not hate and point fingers. This same church just opened a homeless shelter! Jesus is in our Faith Formation classes, our choir, and with our saints!
Let me assure you of my respect and prayers regarding the tragedy which happened in your town. I was not aware of this sad event, just one more in a long series of tragedies in schools across America. I must say that I was probably more pre-occupied with the murders of two of our soldiers in Canada by Islamo-fascist terrorists (which our Prime Minister calls out by name) to have paid much attention to that shooting; or perhaps I am becoming as many are, immune to the situation. Regardless, it was a tragedy for those victims and their families and the community. May the dead rest in peace with Our Lord and may the perpetrators be confounded and the mourning comforted. I am sure that everyone here reading this will pause now and say a Hail Mary for those who continue to suffer from this event.

...

Now, the rest you are probably not going to like because I am going to give it to you straight. It is clear to me that you have erroneous opinions based on an ill-formed Catholic faith and catechetical upbringing and I will try answer you with charity, and clarity!

1. "Father was trying to stir a healing, to find joy in life and show community and energy."

I am sure that you are familiar with the saying, "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions?" Well, that's the road ahead if that is what he was trying to do. First, I don't know Father's real intention. However, presuming that you are correct and this was his intention, objectively speaking, he was wrong and committed an abuse of the liturgy which for a priest, can be a very serious sin. I am actually surprised -- given that he is African I would have thought that he would know better. Perhaps though, he has been infected with the poison administered by previous Archbishops of Seattle beginning with Hunthausen that your current Shepherd is trying to remedy. Seattle has not been known for more than a century now of orthodoxy and true liturgical renewal but rather of liturgical abuse and heretical influences. How are the vocations there doing? You can read it all at the archived Seattle Catholic. On your point about "healing, joy in life and community and energy," let us put energy aside because that could mean anything. If you think that NFL football and other non-purposed paraphernalia in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass provides healing and joy, then that explains more about the situation in your parish and your faith knowledge than it does about anything else. Healing is found in prayer and adoration and in the Sacraments, the first and most particular being Penance and the Holy Eucharist. Joy is found in Truth and what was done here is none of that. Given that Father -- after pronouncing the final blessing, -- put on a Seahawks ski cap and threw a Seattle Seahawks blanket over his chasuble before the recessional, he may have known exactly what he was doing.

2. It does not change the mass or its sacredness. 

Wrong - it most certainly does! The fundamental problem is that, with all respect, you seem to have no idea what the Mass actually is and what is taking place at Mass. The word Mass comes from the Latin - missa which means "you are sent" the last words of the liturgy are, Ite missa est - Go, you are sent and that is part of our western language problem beginning with the Latin. Our ancestors knew what it meant - mission, we seem to have lost that. However, in the East, the liturgy is referred to as Divine Worship. In my own ancestors land of Lebanon in the Maronite Rite, it is Qurbono -- literally, The Sacrifice! There is a more fundamental fact seemingly poorly catechised Catholics are ignorant of and it is this: -- the Mass is the Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary brought forward in time and re-presented on the Altar of Sacrifice in our churches. It is a propitiatory offering to God the Father by God the Son through the God the Holy Spirit of the once and final blood sacrifice of Christ in an unbloody manner for the expiation of my sins and yours and all of humanity should they come to Him to be baptised in water and washed by His blood! The problem, or so it seems, is that you were not taught this for the simple reason that many Catholic teachers, priests and bishops don't believe it. Further, the posture of the priest facing the people and the horizontal plane on which the Altar sits masks it (see the picture above from St Francis de Sales Oratory to show what I mean). Let me ask you this question -- if you were transported back in time to Calvary to witness the crucifixion of Our Blessed Lord, would you decorate the cross with Seattle Seahawks paraphernalia and jump up and dance or cheer for a sports team? Of course you would not! Therefore, what was done was, in fact, a ridicule of Divine Worship to God and a profanation of the sacred.

3. We do not cover our heads, and most teens wear jeans to mass but they come! 

Nobody asked you to cover your heads (as women) and the 1983 Code of Canon Law does not require it, though it is a worthy thing to do and Saint Paul the Apostle himself would demand it. As for "jeans" -- well, if that is all one has, then jeans are fine, but if you were going to meet the President of the United States (even the current boob in the White House), you would most certainly dress up and put on your "Sunday best" right? Why would you do any less for the King of kings and Lord of lords?

4. It is not right to be Pharisees and Sadducees. 

Ah that old canard, eh?; well, you forgot to add that I'm a "self-absorbed, promethean neo-pelagian" too! Tell me, when Jesus went to the Temple, His Father's house which is to be called "a house of prayer" but which was made into a "den of thieves" by the Pharisees and Sadducees, was he being Pharisaical when he beat them out of the Temple with whips and overturned the tables of the money-changers or was He just being a self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagian? Who then, Stacey, are the real Pharisees and Sadducees? Those who act as the ones did who defiled the Temple or your Church for last Sunday (and heaven knows what other times) or those who follow what Jesus did proclaiming that a "house of prayer has been turned into a den of thieves?"

5. Jesus healed on the Sabbath and ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. 

He most certainly did and your comment is a non-sequitur. 

6. This priest is bringing people to Jesus and meeting them where they are. 

I hope that he is bringing them to Jesus but if this is where they are, they are in the wrong place. The priest must raise them to a higher level and if this is the height of expectation of the priest and the parish for your youth and people of Marysville, then he and you have a pretty low standard for yourselves and your neighbours.

7. Shame on you who judge. 

I'm reporting and besides, what is wrong with judging? We do it every day, you do it. What is it that you are not to judge? I am judging the actions of people that have done wrong. I am not judging your soul or the priest's, or the motives, I have been very careful about that with the word "objectively speaking." Objectively speaking it can be a mortal sin for a priest to introduce such things into the liturgy. Did you know that Vatican II actually taught this? "Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority." - Sacrosanctam Concilium, III. 22.3

8. This is a community who love Jesus and wanted to celebrate and give thanks for the good in the world as well as the good in our faith at a tough time in Marysville. Uniting and celebrating the good. 

All that is good and wonderful but the party does not belong at the Mass, but rather, in the parish hall!

9. If you think this was wrong then you have that right but do not judge what you do not understand. 

Not only do I have the God-given right as a citizen of Canada, but I have the calling as a Confirmed Catholic to preach the truth of Christ and His Church; and trust me, I fully understand what is going on.

10.  I love our priest, our church, and will defend it. 

Good, that is the right place to start. Now, you need to educate yourself on what was wrong with what was done.

11. This city has been through so much. Pray for us, don't hate and point fingers. This same church just opened a homeless shelter! Jesus is in our Faith Formation classes, our choir, and with our saints!

I am sure all people of goodwill will hold your community up in prayer. Nobody is hating anyone here so please don't use the gay-agenda, Islamic-fascist canard of "hater" to describe me or anyone else commenting on this blog. Homeless shelters are wonderful things and good for the parish that it began one. The City of Seattle has a homeless shelter or two, I should think, but it has nothing to do with the Mass or the Catholic Church; the Church is about more than "social justice." Remember, "not everyone who cries, Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven." It is not about abominable worship to God with a homeless shelter that makes it all right; that makes it all wrong. A little bit of poison in water is still poison. It about right worship and a homeless shelter. 

Fundamentally, it seems that what you have not been taught is what was described above about the Holy Mass and that we go to Mass for four reasons which are easy to remember if you think of the Book of Acts, though you touched on it in #8:

A = Adoration of God - FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT.

C = Contrition for our sins.

T = Thanksgiving for all the gifts that God has given to us.

S = Supplication - asking God for our needs and the needs of others.

Nowhere is there to worship the Seattle Seahawks.

One more thing.

Deacon Greg Kandra at The Deacon's Bench picked up this story and quoted directly from two documents easily found on EWTN. Read them there and don't argue with me, take it up with Rome.

39 comments:

No NO for me! said...

Idolatry in it's purest form. Not hard to imagine what the "homily" was about and the "prayers of the people".

What will they put on their Cranmer table next Sunday? A Tom Brady doll with pins in it?

Dang, but the Novus Ordo religion is ugly!

Ad Quem Ibimus? said...

I am ashamed to share my surname whith this "priest" I often wonder what prompts these men to join the seminary and what they learn in the seminary....

If you want reform don't bother with 1962 liturgies or the N.O. CLEAN THE DAMN SEMINARIES UP... TRENT set them up to be houses of formation not cubby play houses for six years!!!

We need good, strong, and holy, holy rectors and teaching staff in the seminaries. Teaching the truth not novelty and how to get a bigger congregation.

I would say more but I would be moved to obscenity.


Solus cum Deo solo.

Shaun McAfee said...

The comment by No NO made sense until the end. Sad, really.

Anonymous said...

Is there not one brave soul who would rip down these banners, etc. and inform these people that this is supposed to be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Do they not see the Crucifix and Our Lord hanging on the tree: Our Lord who died for each of them.

God help this congregation and the priest that is leading them down the road to perdition!

Vox Cantoris said...

Shaun,

For many Catholics, this kind of abuse is such a scandal that it is indicative of what might be called a "novus ordo mentality" and people are left with no alternative but to shun all that is attached to it.

The Church is in crisis. A crisis that began over 100 years ago and named by St. Pius X, the Synthesis of all Heresies known as Modernism. Sadly, it burst forth 50 years ago and is dominant everywhere.

I understand your comment but I also understand where he is coming from.

Peter Bickelmann said...

This is not modernism, which is not necessarily a
bad thing. It is bad taste taken to the point of
sacrilege.

Anonymous said...

Listen to the priest's homily. He's actually quite good and takes on the demonic

Anonymous said...

This garbage is really starting to tick me off. BTW, where on earth is the tabranacle?

Anonymous said...

When will the intoxication end?
http://sspx.org/en/new-mass-legit

Also, what is the name of the church in the second photo?

Ken said...

"Listen to the priest's homily. He's actually quite good and takes on the demonic"

Maybe so, but it doesn't cancel out or "make up for" the blatant liturgical abuse shown in the photo. There's no excuse for it. There's no "but, but, but ..." that makes up for it.

Anonymous said...

I imagine the Confessional was decorated like DEFLATE? And, the Holy Water fonts were beer? Pretty sad, considering I fought all week for the anti-traffiking prostitution part of the game weekend. This is really sad. I am hoping tit was silky parishoners who thought they had a brilliant idea and the priest was new or blind or something.

Anonymous said...

What is the name of the Church in the second photo at the bottom of the article? It has one of the most beautiful raredos that I have ever seen, and it makes my heart thankful to see a Tridentine Mass taking place there.

Megan said...

Stacey,

With all due respect, when we enter the Catholic church, we leave the world and enter into the sacred house of Jesus. While the intent may have been good, it is not God's will to have his bride glorifying a football team. That being said, we should never ever talk about a priest unless it is in the form of a prayer.

I also do not care for the Novus Ordo comment. There are plenty of devout Catholics who happen to love the New Mass...I am one of them.

Vox Cantoris said...

The Church at the bottom is the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales in St. Louis, Missouri. The priests are of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Vox Cantoris said...

This is not about a debate between the merits of the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite.

However!

This kind of abuse would not happen in the traditional rite.

The question that needs to be asked is this:

What is the fundamental flaw in liturgy, faith, formation of priests and catechesis of the people that would permit this kind of blasphemy to take place?

Anonymous said...

@ Stacey I'm so sorry for the tragedy in your city. It is wonderful that your parish opened up a homeless shelter but that does not give the priest the right to change the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into a pep rally for your favorite Super bowl football team. By doing that he did change the Sacredness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and acted like the Pharisees and Sadducees by doing it his/ parish communities way instead of Jesus Christ's way. You probably don't understand or accept what I'm saying to you because you most likely have not been taught completely the Catholic Faith. Otherwise you wouldn't also make the statement in reference to your parish "we don't cover our heads". As if implying those women and female teens that do are judgemental. Yes Jesus healed on the Sabbath and ate with tax collectors and prositutes but that doesn't again give license to perform liturgical abuses. It is not totally your fault you lack understanding of Teachings of the Catholic Faith and are misguided. However it is the fault of many bishops and priests who should know. No one hates you or your parish Stacey. Infact it is true love (Charity) to correct your priest and parish. Hopefully your Bishop will enlighten your pastor. You belong to a much larger community than just your parish. What we do personally or as a parish does effect the entire Catholic Church for the better or the worse. In this case your parish was doing a very horrible thing by putting your own perceived personal pleasures above worshipping God the way He prescribes to be worshiped in His house. This has caused a great scandal. Enough it seems, to drive a parishioner to record it and put it on the Internet to get the attention of the local bishop. Hopefully by the many people praying for your parish, your priest and deacon will see the Truth and will not perform such liturgical abuses in the future. God bless you.

Anonymous said...

I agree with blogger! The house of God is the place to pray. Please do not distract people during mass time.

Gabriel said...

STACEY, I can see decorating the church hall or the school gymnasium to celebrate the Superbowl, but the Holy or Holies? The sanctuary, where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--which is a participation in the sacrifice which Jesus made on the cross must not be profaned. Do you not recall what God told Moses as Moses approached the holy ground? Look it up. There is no place on earth more sacred and holy than the sanctuary where the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved for us for adoration.

hereticscantbefollowed said...

Of COURSE the "chancellor" is a female. I am unfortunate enough to be in one of those dioceses where sister mary pants-suit and her cronies run the show and the priests play golf and go to meetings. What a mess.

hereticscantbefollowed said...

Stacey, it is all of our duty to "stir things up." That is not the problem. But defending the indefensible is not required of us who are working in the Holy Ghost. Call it what it is, my dear. In your heart, you know this is a silly way to treat the Holy Sacrifice. God bless you.

Anonymous said...

I live near Marysville in Snohomish Co. and I saw this picture last night. It really is inappropriate to do this at mass. Sorry Stacey but this is just ugly and insulting...I believe in the real presence and this is just messed up.

I think the author's response to Stacey wasn't as charitable as it could be, but it really is awful. Stacey, the main message to take away from this is:

All that is good and wonderful but the party does not belong at the Mass, but rather, in the parish hall!

That says it all. The Seahawks stuff in the mass is just terrible.

Anonymous said...

Where in all the trash in this Sanctuary is the Tabernacle of Our Lord, whose residence this is supposed to be?

Anonymous said...

Judging by the removal of her comments by the editor, I don't think Stacey took the critiques very well. The "little" abuses that do not shock people as much (laymen delivering homilies, balloons at First Communion, priests inviting people to stand around the altar, etc.)"sets the table" for truly radical abuses. There are no "little" abuses. Each makes a contribution to the mess we are in.

Luz said...

This is a grave offense against the sacredness of God's Holy Temple. We should attract parishioners by prayer, fasting and charity not desecrating the House of God. The attention should be the Eucharist not the banners. Lord Jesus we ask your forgiveness, you who are rich in mercy help them see the truth.

Cybro said...

They have lost their minds and the blame shifting is evidence of that. It is not the duty of faithful Catholics to tolerate this nonsense any longer. This is an insult to Christ, a Satanic mockery of the true Mass and the traitors who go along with this should be called out on it.

Unknown said...

Notice the TRAIN comes thru right as he says ...Fill your house with the presence of "Christ"! etc. The TRAIN horn is a sign that the angels are VERY upset with the hypocrisy of the situation at that parish. We need to,pray for this priest so that he can SEE how offensive to The Body of Christ those idol decorations are!

Anonymous said...

just stumbled across this. certainly the sanctuary is cluttered with inappropriate symbolism e.g the banners etc should be in the church hall. The Deacon preached well. Certainly Fr could have waited until after the Mass to don the cap and scarf, but apart from this he celebrated the Mass according to the rubrics and seems to have the capacity to bring people to the Sacraments.
as an on-line observer, I would think twice before rushing towards hysterical accusations of 'hypocrisy' etc. This parish needs prayers and help, not derision or uncharitable reactions.

Vox Cantoris said...

Don the cap and scarf after Mass where? In the church? the sanctuary? Would have been just as trivial.

I don't think anyone here has been hysterical, not even the woman from the parish.

The parish does need prayer, all of us do, there has been no derision here or lack of charity. Charity is in truth and sometimes people need a good dose of reality to wake them up.

Anonymous said...

I think what Stacey ought to pick-up is the three volume set of "Radio Replies" by Frs. Rumble and Carty.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I make a yearly trek out to the Seattle area to visit our son and daughter-in-law. As I'm retired military we've frequently stayed at the Navy Lodge in Marysville and have been attending Mass at St. Mary's. The lack of devotion before/turning the Mass has always left us with a sour taste. One finds it very difficult to focus on why we're there.

Anonymous said...

My first thought was "no wonder Seattle lost."

Anonymous said...

My heart is sad. First and foremost I in no way shape or form agree with what happened at the end of this Mass, or the team decorations. Everything in the church should point to Christ, and it is a shame that this happened.

However, many people are directly attacking this priest as a whole. I agree that his decision was very wrong. But has anyone taken the time to do just a little research? The priest in question has only been at this parish for a little over a year, and in that short time has done many great things. He has bean their for his community especially the young people after a shooting that took place at the local high school. He has opened a homeless shelter supported by the parish. He has constructed an Adoration chapel, where he offers benediction daily, and has taken a parish that has had no Adoration before to now having 24 hour Adoration once a week.

I am not saying several good actions out weigh one bad, or vise versa, but do not attack the mans priesthood that was given to him by Jesus Christ.

I'm sure no commenters on this blog have ever made a big mistake, let alone insulted our Lord.

The reality is this man brings Christ to his people, did he make a poor decision? Absolutely! But God knows we all have too.

Holy Mother may your Immaculate Pierced Heart lead all of us to your son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lynda said...

Wicked. What an affront to God where His Sacred Body Blood Soul and Divinity repose - and ought to be worshipped accordingly. The holiest place on Earth treated like a bingo hall. Reparation! Lord, have mercy.

Schola said...

Thanks for your courage in proclaiming the truth. I was a big fan of Fr. Dwight's what seemed to be a courageous proclamation of truth during his homily. However, I realize that it is most important to put Jesus in the center of our worship and it is the duty of a priest to make sure that we praise Jesus in the most proper and respectable way.

Anonymous said...

I would have walked out and never go back

Joannie said...

Sartain is a weak bishop; this is said about him even in the innermost halls of the Vatican, by clergy and laity alike. Where the bishop does not teach, govern and sanctify, it's easy for priests that may lean toward wackiness to go farther astray.

Sad to say, this Seahawk Sanctuary pales in comparison to some of the other scandals and even serious sin going on in parishes led by priests under this archbishop. (Vox, I do hope this comment does not result in a lawsuit against your blog by the archdiocese of Seattle!)

Stacey said...

Hi. This is Stacey. I am happy to report that it has been 2 years this month since this article was published and I have spent the past 2 years studying, learning more about my Roman Catholic Faith, and have left St Mary Parish as a Member.

I now attend another Parish and even visited the North American Martyrs Church in Ballard this past Sunday. I very much enjoyed the Traditional Latin Sung High Mass on Sunday.

I have to tell you that my initial "defense" of Father Dwight was wrong and I know this now. I was ignorant of our faith. I felt like I was being yelled at and belittled which is why I withdrew my comments initially. However, I felt convicted to find out why such strong responses were warranted. I now see where I was wrong. Thank you for helping me see truth. I love my faith and feel very comfortable following the Traditional Catholic View.

Irenaeus said...

Happened across this piece in the sidebar, and well ... the last comment is a testament to the pull of the Truth.

Anonymous said...

Jesus ate with prostitutes not quite, men and women did not eat at the same table ,what did Mary Magdalene do when she entered the room where Jesus sat at table,she threw her self at His Sacred Feet and washed them with tears of repentance,and anointed His Sacred Head and Feet with oils.