This is kind of a weird story about mixed-up Catholic priorities and general confusion in our Catholic institutions. This article talks about how the Archdiocese is putting pressure on Catholic school principals to stop half day Fridays in the Catholic schools. It has long been a tradition here that Catholic schools would take their students to Mass on the first Friday of the month, in keeping with the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and then be dismissed early. I remember the practice in grade school, and how much I enjoyed those days. I like attending a "special" Mass with all my classmates and then going home around 10:30. Since we all lived in the neighborhood and had someone at home waiting for us, there was no inconvenience: it was like a feast day.
Now, because a bunch of self-centered soccer moms find it annoying to deal with their kids a mere three hours after dumping them off at school, the Archdiocese wants to discontinue this age-old tradition. However, it seems like the tradition had been gutted long before this. Judging from the article, the schools apparently don't even take the kids to Mass anymore. They let the students out early so they can supposedly honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus on their own time! (Like that will happen). So basically, the kids go to school for 3 unproductive hours and go home. There are so many troubling aspects to this story, but I'll only address a few.
First, I find it extremely disturbing that the schools seem to have stopped taking the students to First Friday Mass a long time ago. Did it get to the point where parents were objecting to the fact that their kids were actually participating in religious activities during school hours? Have Catholics ceased to find value in devotion to the Sacred Heart? I don't understand why mandatory Mass attendance was stopped. Secondly, the current system whereby students are released early on Fridays, without having attended Mass during school hours, is a blatant deception on the part of the Catholic schools. After all, if the schools really wanted the students to be able to take advantage of the promises of the Sacred Heart, which involves receiving the Eucharist on First Friday, then they would allow them to come in later, not leave earlier, since weekday Masses are generally held in the morning! So, letting the kids out early without having taken them to Mass is an obvious con and is, in reality, simply some sort of perk for teachers or a bureaucratic shenanigan of some kind. It obviously has nothing to do with the Sacred Heart devotion. Third, the parents quoted in the article seem primarily upset about lost school hours and not getting their money's worth, not that their kids are being deprived of an immense supernatural benefit. This attitude seems typical among modern Staten Island Catholic parents. Materialist to the core.
What should be done is to reinstate mandatory attendance at First Friday Mass. It is a disgrace that the schools don't do this anymore. Jesus Christ Himself made very concrete promises about this devotion. We would have to be fools not to do everything in our power to abide by that. As for the half day, I think it is preferable that the custom remains. It sets the day apart as something holy, almost like a Sunday. However, I understand that for a lot of schools, where many students live at great distances and many mothers work, it may not be practicable to have half days. Therefore, principals should make a decision based on their school's special circumstances, but always keeping in mind that the spiritual aspect should take precedence.
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4 comments:
Your blog is very thoughtful... the pictures of the Alba House and St. Charles are tremendous, too.
The article is pretty unclear, I'm not sure if they stopped sending the kids to Mass on First Fridays. We should pray for the kids either way.
What could we do to help revitalize Catholicism on SI, though? It's the only borough without the Latin Mass -- maybe we can find a way to bring it here?? Let me know what you think.
By "the article is pretty unclear," I meant the the article that you linked to... not to the one you wrote.
Yes, the article was pretty unclear, but the Advance isn't exactly known for the clarity of its reporting. And since I have no young relatives in Catholic school anymore, I can't say whether the students actually go to First Friday Mass anymore. However, that was the impression I got from the article.
What to do to revitalize Catholicism on Staten Island? Well, as for the clergy, I've been pretty clear in this blog what they need to do. As for the laity, we need to start actually living Catholic lives, being public about it, and evangelizing, sometimes with words. I was in front of St. Patrick's cathedral the other day when I noticed a man walk past and make the sign of the cross. The effect was stunning. Before he did that, we were just a crowd of slovenly tourists and sweating office workers. But by his action, it was like a hand grenade of Grace had exploded amidst the crowd. He had brought holiness into a secular place and changed the entire mood. To me, something spiritual had occurred. And that's what Catholics used to do all the time- give testimony to our Faith with our actions, by things like blessing ourselves, avoiding meat on Fridays, going to any length to attend Mass, avoiding immoral activities, etc. They may have marked us off as weird sometimes, but they set us apart as people striving for God, and I think that not only reflected well on our Church, but made a great impression on other people and even won converts. In short, we've got to actually be spiritual again, and that just doesn't mean attending Mass on Sundays. Heck, you can't even see people acting respectful at Mass anymore. We have lost our way, but we have a well lit path to follow, if only we have the courage.
As for the Latin Mass, I'm a very positive supporter. However, I'm not yet a complete opponent of the English Mass. In any case, I believe there is a Latin Mass at Holy Family on one Sunday a month. And after the Pope's motu propio last year, Sacred Heart had a few Latin Masses on Sunday afternoon and then stopped. I think that the Pope said that if a church has a "stable group of faithful" who request it, the priest should say the Latin Mass. Unfortunately, as my blog details, I'm not exactly part of any one parish, so I have no group of faithful with which to join. I would if I knew people who were trying to make it happen though. So, if you know of a parish where they're trying to get a Latin Mass, let me know. I've gone to the Latin Mass in Manhattan a few times though. St Agnes in Midtown is one place you can go.
RE:
"I was in front of St. Patrick's cathedral the other day when I noticed a man walk past and make the sign of the cross. The effect was stunning. Before he did that, we were just a crowd of slovenly tourists and sweating office workers. But by his action, it was like a hand grenade of Grace had exploded amidst the crowd. He had brought holiness into a secular place and changed the entire mood. To me, something spiritual had occurred. And that's what Catholics used to do all the time- give testimony to our Faith with our actions, by things like blessing ourselves, avoiding meat on Fridays, going to any length to attend Mass, avoiding immoral activities, etc. They may have marked us off as weird sometimes, but they set us apart as people striving for God, and I think that not only reflected well on our Church, but made a great impression on other people and even won converts. In short, we've got to actually be spiritual again, and that just doesn't mean attending Mass on Sundays."
Such real BEAUTY here ...
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