Our Father And Mother Who Art In Heaven...
And other paganism that's infected The Church

It looks as if the Archdiocese of Minneapolis is finally starting to pull in the reigns on some of the more socially active neo-pagans that still want to call themselves "Catholics".

Here's some of the article from The Catholic News Agency; (Emphasis and comments mine) Minneapolis parish’s “progressive” liturgies being brought into line
Minneapolis, Mar 3, 2008 / 11:20 pm (CNA).- Efforts to return a Minneapolis Catholic church to liturgical standards have prompted dozens of parishioners to protest and leave their parish, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The church had held prayer services that changed the “Our Father” to begin “Our Father and Mother.”

Around 100 members of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church planned a march on Saturday morning to protest changes made to bring the parish into conformity with liturgical norms and to mark their change of venue to a locale five blocks away from the parish. (Tough shit)

"How can it have been OK for 40 years -- even been encouraged because of the work we do -- and not be OK anymore?" asked parishioner Eileen Smith. "They should hold us up as a model of service. Instead, they are giving us the boot." (Tough shit, part II)

"It's incredibly sad," said Mary Condon Peters, a former parish council member. "All these years, there was room in the big old Catholic tent for all of us. And now there isn't. And they gave us three weeks' notice." (Tough shit, part III)

Nick Coleman, writing in the Star Tribune, summarized the past 9 a.m. English-language Sunday prayer service, believed to have begun in 1968. “You know the kind of service: with guitars, lay people giving homilies, dancing in the aisles with people who have mental and physical disabilities, gay couples openly participating in worship, along with ex-priests, ex-nuns and sundry other spiritual wanderers,” Coleman wrote.

The Archdiocese of Minnesota has tried to bring the parish into conformity with the standards set out in the GIRM, the General Instruction on the Roman Missal. The parish had made significant changes to some prayers, rewriting the first lines of the Our Father to read “Our Father and Mother, Who Art in heaven.” Women have filled roles in the prayer services reserved for clergy, and the parish did not use chalices of precious metal but instead used ceramic vessels.

The former parishioners plan to continue their prayer meetings at an address shared with Park House, a historic mansion, which describes itself on its website as “a day health center for people living with HIV/AIDS.” (At least the parish staff all lives in the same place.)So I decided to take a peek at St. Stephen's "Community" website. Pretty much what I expected. St. Stephen's Catholic Church is a community of faith committed to justice, inclusion, and service.I guess confessing of sins, doing penance, and amending one's life (AKA; salvation of souls) just doesn't cut it on their Mission Statement, huh?

As well as -

Our goal is to be as inclusive as possible in the offering of the sacraments. All are welcome here."Inclusive as possible", 'eh? How much you wanna bet that no one there believes in either of the following?

1. The Real Presence.
2. Sin.

But wait... this is the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul we're talkin', here. Let's just take a gander at some of the hijinx and youthful indiscretions that have taken place as of late in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St Paul, shall we?

~Sodomite "Coming Out Day" celebrated at the cathedral.

~Good old St. Joan of Arc parish. "Womenpriests" and all. For more on this traveling goat-rodeo, just check out their website. Eco-Spirituality, slideshows at Mass, Gay Men's Chorus... all that happy shit.

~There own Vicar General slamming his eyes shut even to the sinfulness that his own brother advocates.

But in all fairness, why is any of this a shock to anyone? After 40 years of heresy and scandal, the Bishops of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis FINALLY decide to crackdown? You know, if you allow Mass to become a 3-Ring Circus, don't be surprised if you get elephant shit all over the place.