Pagan Chant In The Church: The Spirit of Assisi III

Queen Amidala's office denied any responsibility in the accident.

Read here in Father Z’s Blog about the pagan priest chanting to a pagan deity in the church.

This happened in the presence of the Pope, after the Pope himself had given the microphone to the chap.

I cannot imagine that this was a provocation, or was made with any kind of malicious intent; and this is, I think, exactly the problem.

If a Pagan thinks, in perfect good faith, that he can pray in a consecrated Catholic church, in the presence (I assume) of the Blessed Sacrament, in the presence of even the Pope, and after being given the word by the same Pope, this is a clear indication that the entire exercise was made in the wrong spirit, or at the very least that it was made so carelessly and with such blatant disregard for Catholic Truth, that such a thing could happen with the intention of pleasing the presents, and the Christians among them. This is how – to say it mildly – confused the entire concept was.

This is the unavoidable result of the ambiguity of wanting to do things straight and curved, pleasing the peace ‘n love ecumenical crowd and the orthodox Catholics at the same time. The concept of meeting together “for peace” in the spirit of accepting that it is fine to belong to different religions, but at the same time asking them to pray separately because it is not, simply avoids the issue of truth and lie, and of why Christianity exists in the first place. As the chap was singing alone, as requested, he was certainly not thinking of doing something contrary to Christian feelings; he was probably not even aware that for Christians he is actually supposed to convert; he certainly thought it a gesture of friendship to start singing pagan songs in a church.

Well, one can’t but wonder how could it come to such a point, and the answer is known to all of us: because Christian values have been pushed in the background in an awkward attempt to link, but not link, spirituality and desire for peace; to accept, but not accept, that people have other faiths; to say that it is cool, but that it actually also isn’t, to pray to one’s deity for peace.

I wonder whether the chap is aware, as I write, of the scandal he – unwittingly – caused. Possibly not, as no one might have thought it charitable to inform him of the fact. He was, after all, such a nice bloke so affectionate to his Amidala, or Olokuna, or however she is called.

If you ask me, this incident epitomises so much that is wrong in today’s work of the Church: the attempt to remain formally orthodox without saying the unpleasant things. This entire Assisi episode has been a long walk on the brink of heresy, with the Pope assuring us that he would take care that we would not fall into the pit, but in my eyes failing to provide a convincing argument that such a walk was advisable – let alone necessary – in the first place.

The result is the “Spirit of Assisi III”, clearly seen in a chap who thinks it perfectly appropriate to chant a pagan song in a Catholic church.

Congratulations.

Mundabor