Maybe I should not be commenting upon this while it is so fresh in my mind, but ... I think enough time has gone by to at least blog about some facts involved.
In addition to my cornucopia of Catholic podcasts, I also listen to a few from non-Catholic Christian sources. In particular, I frequently download ones from a conservative Lutheran source.
The Claims Made:
A week ago I saw one podcast titled, "The Effects of Vatican II on the Liturgy". As the name suggests, the podcast was about how the Second Vatican Council reformed the Catholic Mass, and the effects it had on other Christian liturgical traditions.
The guest who was supposed to explain all this to us was an LCMS pastor from Indiana. The pastor made many claims during the interview. Two of them were as follows:
- The Catholic annulment process is contrary to the words of Christ, blasphemous, and involves saying people are not true Christians.
- The Second Vatican Council taught that Christian worship is the work of the people and not the work of Christ.
How is this Blasphemy?
Now, that statement about annulment was crazy. Annulment in the Catholic Church has the same logic as annulment in civil law. A tribunal looks at the circumstances surrounding the initiation of a marriage and determines if a marriage was actually formed on that day.
That's it.
There are no blasphemous claims made against God, and certainly no one is accused of not being a Christian. So where does the pastor's claim even come from?
Work of the People and Not Christ?
The statement about the teaching of Vatican II was even more bizarre. The pastor said the Council said Christian worship is the "work of the people" and not the work of Christ. That sure sounds odd.
For curiosity's sake, I looked up the Vatican II document about the liturgy - Sacrosanctum Concilium. In paragraph 7 it says:
"To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations.
He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, but especially under the Eucharistic species.
By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.
He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church.
He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them'."So .... yeah. The document said the exact opposite of what was asserted on air.
The Feedback:
I was so moved by this false characterization that I actually reached out to the pastor involved.
He wrote me back a very gracious email - it was actually very gracious, really. But he admitted he had not familiarized himself with the Vatican II document on the liturgy before going on air to talk about the subject. He said he was just going off stuff he had heard.
No, I am not kidding.
The Effects:
But now the bell has been rung - and the radio station will likely offer no correction. The folks who listen to that program presumed the good pastor had his facts straight. They will think they are very well informed. Now that false information is one more barrier preventing Christian unity.
Many times when talking to other Christians about the Catholic faith, the first arduous task is to untie these kinds of knots. It can be difficult to convince someone that he has been terribly misinformed. For some it is emotionally traumatic to learn that their teachers, pastors, and parents fed them absolute garbage information.
Even still, there is a laundry list of things most Catholics get used to saying:
- No, we don't worship the Pope or think he cannot sin.
- No, we don't worship Mary either.
- Yes, we are allowed to read the Bible.
- No, we don't pay money for the forgiveness of sins.
- No, we don't think you have to earn your way into Heaven.
- No, we don't think we re-sacrifice Jesus at every Mass.
- Yes, we do pray extemporaneously.
- No, we aren't asked to go to Mass each week because the Church wants more money.
- No, there is no specific time period attached to Purgatory.
The list goes on. And the work continues.
"But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken." - Matthew 12:36
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