A Must-See Video
Patrick sends along the following comment that is too good to remain hidden downstream:
To witness the fraction, speed the video to about 48:30 and watch the magic. Comments are especially welcome on this one.
-30-
The rather sacreligious clown mass was actually done at Trinity Church, Wall Street. Click on the link and go to the video cast about 40-45 minutes into it where during the fraction rite, the clown-celebrant breaks the bread, the cymbals clash, and the inmates greet the fraction with kazoos and noisemakers.I just watched it, and I've never seen anything quite like it in my life. And that's saying something.
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/news/article_clowns.shtml
I'm fairly confident that the LA Cathedral would not do this.
To witness the fraction, speed the video to about 48:30 and watch the magic. Comments are especially welcome on this one.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 23:52
11 Comments:
Un f-ing believable. I can only imagine the end of the world is next...
Well, remember, this is an Anglican church. We Catholics still re-ordain Anglican clergymen absolutely. The Churches of the East, Orthodox or not, and many splinter churches of the West, have valid orders. But Leo XII declared that Anglican orders were "absolutely null and utterly void," meaning that an Anglican priest, unless ordained by a valid bishop and by some different formula than the normal Anglican one, is not really a priest and cannot confect the Sacrament.
So, no sacrilege here! Just silliness.
kantors@patriot.net
Sorry, Leo XIII.
Too be fair, there have been other clown type masses. One previously infamous one was the "circus mass" at the Washington, DC Jesuit parish Holy Trinity in 1975.
http://www.tboyle.net/University/H_T_Conflict.html
There was also this one more recently that got some press.
http://www.stjosephsmen.com/letters/clownmass.htm
Sept. 1, 2002, 9:15AM, Christ the King Church, Pleasant Hill CA, Diocese of Oakland.
What do we care--it isn't a Catholic Mass. Let other ecclesial communities do what they want. If we judge them, beyond saying we wouldn't do it, then we open ourselves up to judgment. Someone said that.
When I was a Lutheran seminarian, I attended a clown Eucharist in our seminary chapel. The presider was extremely serious about what a clown was, theologically, and what a clown could and could not do. I found it quite moving--in that time and place, for that community. I would not do this for our Catholic Mass, because we have a different theology of what is necessary for the Eucharist and the Eucharist holds a different place in our communities.
The argument that "Anglican Orders aren't valid anyway so who cares" doesn't quite cut it. Obviously, Anglicans do believe in their orders and (for the most part) believe in the Real Presence in at least some vague way. So, the clown mass does have a sacreligious intent and effect, and that is what counts.
I vigorously disagree. While I cannot control sacrilige among other Christians, it still saddens me. Even memorials of the Last Supper should be conducted with decorum, so as to respect the mystery of our salvation. I am not so coulrophobic to suggest that there is no place for clowns in Christian prayer - I don't believe that active clowing during the normative, Sunday Liturgy or service is appropriate.
Patrick: how can anyone posit or assume that a clown mass has a "sacreligeous intent?" Are you saying that the Episcopalians set out to BE sacreligeous? That's quite a charge/assertion/whatever!
I think it's safe to say that donning a red nose, floppy shoes, and a green wig before entering the sacristy manifests sacrilegious intent, i.e., grossly irreverent toward what is or is held to be sacred.
Everyone: TAKE A BLOODY (word substitute) VALIUM! A Christian clown service or ritual copulation on the same altar, which would you prefer?
Out of all the jargon and concern slung back and forth, I am SHOCKED the issue of "eccumenical impediment" has not arisen.
They're clowns so start laughing!
Ste. Chopin...
Same, same. It's nothing to laugh about.
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