Update: they've taken this thing down. But Deacon Kandra has linked here and asks for an explanation. Isn't a picture with a thousand words?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2014/08/dear-la-salle-college-high-school-would-you-like-to-explain-this-please/
We just got this and it's predictable. We've always wondered why people insist that these abominations are so rare. This is another sacrilegious "Pool Mass" by Father Tony Janton at La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor, PA on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15 2014. Photo is from the School's Facebook page.
It even has 81 likes with some enthusiastic endorsements. There's practically nothing Catholic about the school from its Facebook page, just a name and some statues on the property.
49 comments:
That's right - it's not Catholic - no faith ...no correct intention ...so Our Lord didn't come down from heaven....
An abomination and utterly stupid anyway ...makes me very angry at the total lack of reverence and grace and intelligence ...all element in tru Catholicism ...
Our Lord is so insulted..and the top churchmen continue to do pratically nothing to defend or amend this ...we have to do it...
Barbara
The intention can be inferred from the photograph that this is a celebration of the male body.
However Christ is depicted in many churches naked except for a loincloth.
All the participants at this mass are male , all except the priest , are wearing the equivalent of loincloths .
It would not be my cup of tea but in fairness and on reflection I cannot find any reason to condemn it.
It's another attempt to put the "Mass" if it can be called that, in trivial contexts which obscure its intended message.
Look up the word "blasphemy", it's a confusion of the sacred and the profane.
The first mass was said in a dingy upper back room probably of some hostelry.
Masses were then said in former pagan temples of the roman empire.
The basilican plan procession was a pagan idea.
Effectively catholic mass can be celebrated outdoors in any suitable setting.
The mass in the photo is for a team of male water polo players.
There is nothing objectionable to celebrating the sacrifice of the mass beside a swimming pool in this context . Your argument that the mass is trivialised in this setting is unsustainable implying an unyielding rigidity concerning suitable loci for its celebration.
That the congregation were male and waist up naked is irrelevant.
Many priests on the missions perform outdoor masses where many in the congregation would have similar dress etc.
Gee a liberal priest committing liturgical abuse surrounded by muscular, half naked, young men.......nothing to see there. But let a priest refuse Holy Communion to two self professed lesbian, Buddhists.....that priests was suspended that same day. And what will Archbishop Chaput do to this priest? Will he correct him, will he make the priest publicly apologize for the scandal he caused, will he investigate this priest who surronded himself with half naked young men. The archbishop will, as usual, do nothing. Parents, would you feel safe letting your young boys alone with that priest?
I wonder if Father used an altar stone? ************that was sarcasm just in case some one didn't catch on to that**********
I'm guessing you'd support "Mass" said at a strip club or a bordello with that logic.
The Bear heartily disapproves and would tare 42 of the lads were he there. Fortunately, he is here, where nothing like that ever happens. Hmmm...
Good coom entry and all so true.
There is no fairness to what you say. Jesus was stripped of all garments. Respect for Him who gave His precious life is to put a loincloth on Him. Start praying dark angels surround your thoughts.
And by the way, you know nothing of the Catholic Mass. The first Mass was said at the Last Supper by Jesus Himself. All you have said is mere speculation. If you are Catholic start learning and stop assuming.
He's probably the director of religious ed.
What a stupid, STUPID thing to say....so we should all put on loincloths at Mass out of 'respect' for our Lord???
Really, there is no common sense, let alone divine wisdom, among the masses today.
"He's probably the director of religious ed."
I started laughing out loud at that comment until it hit me that it's probably true.
Kyrie eleison.
I apologize for my uncharitable comments but judging by your post you're either a troll or an apostate. Latter or former, you need to be educated.
The old Propaganda Fidei, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, made use of some prudent pastoral norms regarding transitory evils that were tolerated by missionaries in their work of expanding the Faith and converting peoples. I give a characteristic example: Missionaries were sent to Africa to convert tribes that practiced total or partial nudism, which meant that the missionary had to tolerate such nudity even when it presented a close occasion of sin. What was the pastoral approach of the Church in those cases?
1. Regarding the spiritual life of her missionaries, she would send men who were of an age where purity problems were less intense or had already given proof of the strict practice of virtue in this matter. They were called viri probati - proven men.
2. Regarding the nudism of the natives, the Church would live with that bad situation for a limited time while she was fighting to abolish it. If the natives refused to accept the Catholic Faith and Morals, the missionaries would leave that area.
3. This policy of temporarily admitting a moral evil was done as discreetly as possible in order not to give the impression that any doctrinal concession had been made.
So, to convert those poor souls to the Catholic Church, some valiant missionaries would risk their own salvation. They would live amid bad customs for a very limited time while trying to eliminate them. Other religious congregations, instead of working to convert barbarians, would try to convert prostitutes. Toward this end, they would also temporarily admit some of their bad behaviors. This was the pastoral approach of the Catholic Church when she worked to convert persons from paganism, false religions or vicious states of life.
There's many real life examples of missionaries ending the nudism of pagans. During the 1903 Kenyan mission in Tuthu, Fr. Filippo Perlo led the natives to abandon nudism shortly after the start of the mission.
"Parents, would you feel safe letting your young boys alone with that priest?"
To be fair, half the people in that school aren't baptized Catholics. Atheism and homosexuality are openly accepted. It's a very expensive school ($20,000) that prepares its students for the 6 digit life.
Most gen-Xers never sent their children to Catholic schools or church in general. The Novus Ordo Mass is dreadfully dry and boring (or sometimes "gay" and lame) while 50% of the priests (or more) are flaming homo's which makes parents fear those stories they hear about in the news everyday. That being said, the biggest child predator bastions are public schools and organized sports. Even secular parents are homeschooling now.
@Tancred
It is your logic that is objecting to an open air mass beside a swimming pool.
There is nothing immoral about a swimming pool per se and comparing that situation to a bordello/strip club reveals your erroneous logic.
You obviously would also object to mass being said during penal times on wild rocks in the countryside in Ireland
@Anon Aug 24 7-52 am
I know a lot about the catholic mass. Yes I am speculating as to where the first mass was held. All thats known s that it was an upper room big enough to seat 13 people. Most likely it was the local tavern or hostelry sine few domestic houses of those times had inner rooms capable of holding a large party of fishermen and assorted types.
@Tancred Aug 24 11-10
I am not a director of any publication or oganisation. Indeed I am generally in sympathy with the majority of your blog postings.
@AnonymousAugust 24, 2014 at 1:19 PM
I am neither a troll or an apostate and as stated above I would normally agree with the general tenor of the eponymous flower blogs .
The fact you all above overlook is that the mass can be celebrated anywhere and complaining about it being celebrated beside a swimming pool for a male water polo team is narrow minded in the extreme.
According to your way of thinking mass could not even be celbrated on the mud of the battlefields in war.
Such an outlook denies men the opportunity to avail of the sacrifice of the mass by insisting on rigid idealised expectations concerning purely utopian environments within which the sacrifice can occur.
Calvary on Golgotha itself was a close to a rubbish pit and by all accounts a repulsive & disgusting area.
One of the successful reforms of VAT 2 was the adoption of a more practical approach to where mass could be celebrated permitting a wider useage of the sacrifice.
You must then have a very serious poblem with the half naked male Christ figures that are presented often in life size on thousands of pre and post Vat 2 churches throught the entire catholic world.
So you would deny the some two dozen presumably catholic men of a water polo team the opportunity to celebrate mass beside the outdoor pool that they train at?
I have yet to see on any of the above posts or blog one single legitimate objection that stands up to logical scrutiny for such a denial.
The facts remain that in the specific context of what happened this mass was offered up for a male volleyball team beside the pool that they train in.
In those specific circumstances being naked from the waist up after doing their training is acceptable.
There may have been no other suitable venue available.
As I said initially it is not my cup ot tea but I in all honesty cannot find any real reason to object to it.
If you object to male nudity where loinclothes are used to cover the private parts then you must logically also object to all Christ crucified symbols.
There are circumstances when a strict dress code is not appropriate and this is one of them in my view.
NOT ACCEPTABLE...in any way , shape, or form!
The priest could have come and blessed the pool, and then offered a Holy Mass for them in the church!
A Mass ALWAYS carries a strict dress code, and half nakedness ain't it. Your 'argument' is patently absurd, and your ability to reason well is lost. satan would love your posts.
It may not have been convenient to have a mass in the church for many reasons distance availability etc.
It certainly is a novel way to keep the interest of young men in their catholic faith since normally lads of that age are largely indifferent.
A mass does not always carry a strict dress code.
In meditteranean and hot climates dress attire varies enormously.
I agree that modesty is a requirement but modesty is not a fixed
thing.
In the circumstances of this specific event I do not think that modesty was infringed since all participants were male and this was NORMAL ATTIRE ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR SPORT.
These guys are seeing each other every day at waterpolo practice dressed in swimming trunks.
For the purposes of this mass it is evident indeed that they did in fact cover their lower halves completely with towels.
It is nothing but protestent style prudery of the grossest victorian kind to object .
In addition such objections are depriving these young men of the benefits of the mass which by all accounts meant something to them and all appeared to have made a special effort to engage.
Satan would love your posts which seek to narrowly restrict the celebration of the mass to a purpose made building where everybody wears a collar and tie and the women all have their heads covered.
This is narrow minded prudery and the kind of thing that puts people off any kind of catholic worship.
Do you also want all the statues of the half naked Christ in every catholic church also covered over?
You position on this matter is not tenable in any manner and seeks to deprive people of Gods grace by a petty concentration on external appearances and places.
a gay mans eye candy at mass what and out rage. what purspose does this so call mass prove that if this priest is gay he can have his jolly to look at these young with evil intent. What a State holy mother church is in.
I did not say I would deny them anything. I said I would eat 42 of them, or however many there were. You are forgetting your OT. As for the propriety of swimming pool shid-digs, are there no churches where this Mass might be said? Perhaps I missed something in the story, and this photograph was taken in a War Zone, perhaps on the very battlefield where these young men were about to risk their lives against the Creature From the Black Lagoon? Why is it not possible to offer God a dignified Mass in an appropriate setting? Why is it preferable to teach people that God must come to their Pool Party, not they go to God's house? This is utterly indefensible, and only someone whose sense of the sacred had been degraded over time by the Novus Ordo Mass could possibly even think to try. Were you married in a laundromat, Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous? No? Why not? When you can answer that question honestly, you will understand why this is wrong.
Apples and oranges... Mass said in locations for reasons of economy and safety of the worshippers, as in the catecombs, is not the same thing as trivializing the "Mass" by showcasing it in the context of a leisure time activity.
A cheesy pool party isn't the same thing as the Sacrifice on Calvary. Unsurprisingly, the students won't know what the Mass is about in the first place.
you have NO. ability. to. think. soundly. (!)
...aaaaand some sanity yet prevails....
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/08/guest-post-former-student-laments.html#more
In one case, novelty is sought, while in the other, the Catholic Faith is lived and in some cases died for.
I can't imagine anyone dying for high school sports team where the decadent elite are "educated".
I agree 100%...why do we continue to fall for fast judgements???
If you're agreeing with the OP, probably because you have no sensus catholicus and can't be bothered to get one?
Basically you are opposed to outdoor and novus ordo mass.
You also believe in a crotchety type God who would prevent humans offering sacrifice soley on the grounds that the place of sacrifice happened to be beside an outdoor swimming pool.?
What is objectionable about holding an outdoor mass beside a swimming pool?
There may have been no other suitable venue available at the time.
It is you who are making all kinds of demands concerning how and where the sacrifice must take place but you ignore the blunt reality that offering a sacifice to God beside a swimming pool outdoors is no different to offering a sacrifice in a field or on a rock outdoors.
You also ignore the fact that these water polo players ,all young men, benefitted spiritually from that sacrifice.
What is this about a pool party?
There was no pool party. You are the person insinuating and denigrating what happened.
Fine if the event does not appeal to you. [I am on record as saying that it does not appeal particularly to me either]
But to lampoon and denigrate it you have to have solid reasons and you have provided none that stand up to reasonable or logical analysis
That is not rational and also insults the intelligence of God.
I see you have not addressed any of my points or answered any of my questions.
Thinking soundly according to you means that I must agree 100% with everything you say.
You are not being reasonable therefore there is no point in continuing dialogue with you on this particular issue.
On that line of absurd logic you would have to call for the covering over of every traditional catholic crucifix.
We've covered the distinction between the crucifix and the latently catamite and trivial goings on at the pool. Time for you to move on.
Look up blasphemy in a good theology manual that isn't in use at this "school".
Hopefully, your comments will start going to the spam file automatically
I understand your sensus Catholicus is irremediably damaged.
Look up dumbass in the dictionary.
All the haters wonder why a great deal of younger people have lost a connection with the church...
As a LaSalle Grad class of 1970, It is interesting to see the expansion of the campus my donations and the rest of us have funded. When I went, we had an indoor pool and we did not wear swim trunks for Swim Class.
LaSalle had a chapel, and I think still does in the former library. I was not there, so I do not know the backstory. But when I attended, we had a strong religious program and were taught by The Christian Brothers. Unfortunately, now more lay teachers as few Brothers left.
Because there is no point arguing with someone who has proven they're not able to think rationally.
I am a young person and I'm going to speak for myself here: my generation has grown up in a culture filled with imitations and fakes, where all truth and beauty has been stripped away. The music, the television, our educations, our food, our families, and our Church. The mass was beautiful. I feel we've inherited the watered down bare bones sterile version of it. And people like you applaud it like we're stupid simpletons who couldn't appreciate all the outdated traditions, like we need poolside mass to keep us interested. You know what would get young people back in church? Parents who actually cared about us enough to properly catechize and teach us about how beautiful the mass was, and didn't try to tell us mass in speedos with a TV dinner tray as an altar is the same thing.
It's this condescending approach which has destroyed education for real men.
So blogger Tancred now decides what sensus catholicus means?
I certainly do not share the said bloggers body hating and Jansenistically judgemental attitude towards this event.
The heresy of Jansenism was condemned back in 1567 .
Time for blogger Tanced to move on.
[From ; John]
You would think after all the scandal and a billion dollars in payouts the priest would've refused to do a Mass for half naked teen-aged boys just because of how it looks.
Fair enough point.
But is not your reaction extremist in nature.?
Remember any photograph can be used or misused to advance an agenda.
The context of this specific photogaph is being used to advance the anti Novus Ordo mass agenda.
There is something deeply Jansenistic in many of the comments objecting to the event.
It would appear that in America now the naked upper male torso
has become exclusively identified with homosexuality.
That is because America is now spiritually decadent.
Do you actually know what a Jansenist is? I always love how Lefties throw the word around all the time to downplay or put their modernist and other tendencies in a better light.
You have no power here.
Everything about this is disturbing. The precision of the holy sacrifice of the Mass is a complicated process. The yay-sayers posting here should do some research on the Mass and then find a Priest and Church that carefully "celebrates the Liturgy" correctly. It is possible in the Philadelphia area. Aside from the obvious abuses here I ask Lasalle about etiquette instruction for their students. Would these boys visit a political dignitary in such attire? Is this how they would greet the Pope? Certainly this garb is inappropriate for an audience with the King of the universe.
Several years ago I took my son to visit Lasalle as a potential high school. We were greeted in the parking lot by a very large banner of MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Lasalle was definitely proud of their alumnus. It was dismaying that Lasalle's Open House would feature such a blatant and infamous example of a failed Catholic education. Educating young men To see and think clearly with eyes and minds enlightened with the truths of the faith is not an obvious priority at Lasalle.
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