I'd like to keep it that way.
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| Our beloved parish, late winter |
As I've said before, I don't like arguing and engaging in conflict on the internet.
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| Receiving the Eucharist at our wedding mass |
But there is something so serious and pressing that is threatening to happen in my beloved city that I feel compelled to take a break from regularly scheduled programming.
There is a black mass scheduled to take place at the Civic Center in September, on the feast of St. Matthew.
The Catholic mass is a biblical liturgy with two climaxes: a Gospel reading and the transformation of ordinary bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
It is also a constant in my life. It's marked all major life events, from birth to graduations to the beginning of my marriage; what better way to mark time than to participate in the ritual that is both within time and beyond time, a piece of heaven on earth?
When I travelled to Russia, we attended many masses in the extremely unfamiliar Russian language, yet I was able to pray and participate through the familiarity with the form of the liturgy- and even sing the Regina Caeli in latin, along with everyone else.
In the past few months, often sleep-deprived and always distracted by my little babe, the rhythm of the liturgy allows me to pray and participate even in while nursing a baby or holding one of her cousins.
The Catholic mass is a biblical liturgy with two climaxes: a Gospel reading and the transformation of ordinary bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
It is also a constant in my life. It's marked all major life events, from birth to graduations to the beginning of my marriage; what better way to mark time than to participate in the ritual that is both within time and beyond time, a piece of heaven on earth?
When I travelled to Russia, we attended many masses in the extremely unfamiliar Russian language, yet I was able to pray and participate through the familiarity with the form of the liturgy- and even sing the Regina Caeli in latin, along with everyone else.
In the past few months, often sleep-deprived and always distracted by my little babe, the rhythm of the liturgy allows me to pray and participate even in while nursing a baby or holding one of her cousins.
A black mass is not just a Satanic ritual, which is offensive enough, but it is an inversion and perversion of the Catholic mass. A true black mass involves the desecration of the Eucharist, Jesus' body and blood, with urination and other bodily fluids. It often involves using the naked body of a (not free) woman as an altar. Presumably, some of these details may change to conform to Oklahoma laws.
It is absolutely appalling that this is allowed to go on at a public venue. So far, the Civic Center and the city of Oklahoma City have abdicated responsibility under the guise of the First Amendment's right to free speech. They say they have no power because of this because it is protected speech under the First Amendment.
No speech is just "speech." Speech is always an act. But a black mass is not just a speech act about why Catholics are wrong, nor even is it poking fun of Jesus: it is a hate crime. It is the desecration of a holy object. Would the same policy apply if a Neo-Nazi group came to desecrate holy Jewish objects on stage?
Additionally, this particular black mass is hosted by a registered sex offender who was convicted of sexual battery in 2009.
It is absolutely appalling that this is allowed to go on at a public venue. So far, the Civic Center and the city of Oklahoma City have abdicated responsibility under the guise of the First Amendment's right to free speech. They say they have no power because of this because it is protected speech under the First Amendment.
No speech is just "speech." Speech is always an act. But a black mass is not just a speech act about why Catholics are wrong, nor even is it poking fun of Jesus: it is a hate crime. It is the desecration of a holy object. Would the same policy apply if a Neo-Nazi group came to desecrate holy Jewish objects on stage?
Additionally, this particular black mass is hosted by a registered sex offender who was convicted of sexual battery in 2009.
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