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Unrecognizable
The Ritualization of Absurdity and
(click to view video)
the Priestly
Ordination of 11 Men in Boston
by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, May 25, 2024
Some
things are the explanation of a problem themselves without
further comment. Others paint a much broader picture of a problem—
not simply as instances of the problems themselves, but of the
institutionalization — in this case, the ritualization — of
the problem itself.
We do not know why
the particular culture that was presented was chosen, nor why it was
not (apparently) in English (it certainly was not Latin).
We do not know why it was accompanied by tropical drum beats,
dancing, hooting, and hollering; why the ritual was exclusively
enacted by women during the ordination of men, or what sacred
significance the vegetation had that was waved by the dancing and
singing women.
What we do know is
that it had absolutely no place in the ordination of men to the
priesthood and the conferring of Holy Orders. It has no place at a
Mass — any Mass recognizable as Catholic.
At the end of the
brief video, O’Malley suitably looks as clueless as you probably did
when you first watched the video and wondered … what on earth?
What absurd, what
strange ... what exotic memories will these young men also
recall when they look back upon their ordination?
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
Printable
PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
Video courtesy of RemnantTV.com
Totally
Faithful to the Sacred Deposit of Faith entrusted
to the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power, and
yet you have kept My word, and have not denied My Name.”
(Apocalypse 3.8)
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