Cardinal presides over grotesque Mass in Vienna

Unspeakable, grotesque and decadent scenes in once Catholic Austria. God forbid that the Cardinal ever becomes Pope as one could wave goodbye to all the liturgical progress in the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, now gloriously reigning.





Our Lady of La Salette, pray for us!
Veritable fireworks display of scandals in the Archdiocese of Vienna. The Cardinal seems clearly to like to inflict pain on the souls of faithful Catholics- he in contrast seems to have been enjoying himself.

Comments

Adrienne said…
What the H_ll was that??????? Stomach churning!
Paul said…
Nice service . . . if you're Protestant.
dbo said…
what the hell is this crap?
seems like the filth that i'd expect from a filthy protestant service. this is a disgrace to God. EXCOMMUNICATE HIM!
Unknown said…
I didn't see the Domino's guy deliver!
Unknown said…
Poor Jesus to suffer such ignorance...

I absolutely hate this trash.
Andrew said…
Since the Cardinal celebrated Mass in German, I presume this was a Mass with Austrians. So why were they all singing English language, pop "Christian" songs? I thought "inculturation" and using the vernacular were the big rage?
Thom Nickels said…
I was in Vienna a few months ago and didn't see anything like this, although I walked out of St. Stephen's cathedral when they had a World Missions Mass with bongos and various Novus Ordo accents. I didn't think it would be so hard to find a traditional Latin Mass in Vienna, of all places. The churches there resemble Orthodox churches, so the disconnect was MAJOR.
R.C. said…
Cygnus said, "Nice service . . . if you're Protestant."

This is understandable and forgivable, but it's the kind of ignorance of Protestant contemporary worship services which one often finds among lifelong Catholics, who assume that because anything bad that's ever been attempted in a Catholic Mass has probably also been done in a Protestant service somewhere, anything bad about Mass must be quintessentially "Protestant" and indicative of how Protestant services are normatively done.

That service is not a nice service by Protestant standards. The mere fact that it involved contemporary praise-n-worship music is not enough to make such a service recognizable, let alone palatable, to Protestants.

That music was horrifically badly done, by the standards of normal praise-n-worship-accustomed Evangelical Protestants.

I speak knowledgeably, as a former musician/singer in praise-n-worship bands at several different Protestant churches, and bandleader/orchestrator for two of them. (I was received into the Catholic church this past Easter communion.)

I, and every other Protestant of my acquaintance, would be deeply ashamed to present that as worship music for a middle-high youth group. Let alone a high-school youth group. Let alone an adult worship service at a small church. Let alone a large church. Let alone on an important occasion. Let alone with a cardinal or other dignitary present.

Not, mind you, because it was contemporary music. What is now regarded "classical" churchmusic was once "contemporary," and shocked the ears and sensibilities of parishoners, and involved inappropriate and newfangled instrumentation such as the original synthesizer (otherwise known as the pipe organ).

No, it is not the instruments themselves which makes that music shameful.

It is that it consists of bad songs with trite and inappropriate lyrics, clumsy inartful melodies, a chord progression unsuited to that part of the Mass, poorly orchestrated instrument parts played by musicians who're lacking either in skill or rehearsal time or both, sung by a merely tolerable songleader, and joined by a Catholic congregation which, characteristically, sounds utterly disinterested and can't carry a tune in a bucket.

(No blame to the congregation, though; why should one seem interested when the slapdash music indicates that the leadership themselves don't find the Mass important enough to do well? And how can one learn to sing the songs of God with vigor and joy, when the particular songs are such exasperatingly treacly and emasculating things?)

And of course the balloons are ridiculous and unfitting. No argument there.