Sacrilege!
by William Zeitz
The Pittsburgh Catholic, the official Pittsburgh diocesan newspaper, carried an article of concern to Pittsburgh area traditional Roman Catholics in the issue of March 21st. The headline proclaimed: "Latin Mass Seekers on 'Nostalgia Trip' " and the article contained highlights of an address by Bishop Carroll Dozier of Memphis, Tenn., to a group of Memphis diocesan teachers.
In addition to accusing those who support the Latin Tridentine Mass of being on a nostalgia trip, Bishop Dozier recalled the days before the Vatican Council II when there were "the difficulties of trying to get through to people with a sermon. You had to break through private devotions of the people to deliver a sermon. The Eucharist was a quiet time when they (people) shut out everything else, including their neighbors." Bishop Dozier also praised the spirit of Vatican II and criticized Archbishop Lefebvre, accusing him of having lost his faith because he has rejected the teaching of the Holy Spirit through the Council. Bishop Dozier stated: "He (Lefebvre) does not believe, it's as simple as that. Whatever nostalgia trip he's on and whatever trips he's taking others on, he does not have faith. He does not accept the Spirit's teaching."
Bishop Dozier is known as one of the most liberal American bishops. He supports myriad social protest movements in the political arena and is in the vanguard of change within the conciliar Church. His most recent affront to the teaching of Catholic tradition was the "ceremony" of general absolution performed under his direction in the Memphis diocese. If this is the "Spirit" Bishop Dozier accuses Archbishop Lefebvre of rejecting, sincere Catholics can only reply Deo Gratias!
A smaller article in the same issue of The Pittsburgh Catholic announced that Bishop Dozier would visit Duquesne University on April 14 to receive a special award at a Mass to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Armed with a tape recorder and a morbid sense of curiosity this author arrived at Duquesne University at the proper time to view what I knew would be a three ring Novus Ordo circus. My expectations were underestimated since I anticipated the canonization of Martin Luther King, Jr., but instead was shocked to witness his deification and a look at the "future" in liturgical aberrations. (Traditionalists rightly criticize the Novus Ordo but also contend that the current ambiguities in the New Mass will eventually be phased out by the reformers and replaced completely with the worship of Man and Revolution.) What follows then is an account of the happenings.
The "concelebrants" entered the student chapel of Duquesne University parading behind a burlap banner that proclaimed "I Have A Dream" and included the symbol of Eastern pagan mysticism, yin and yang. Most were dressed in sack cloth vestments (which undoubtedly signified their empathy with the poor; their styled haircuts and excessive use of after-shave lotion, however, betrayed this image) complete with multicolored "do your own thing" stoles. The lackadaisical and comical attitude displayed by these "new breed' clergy indicated that even their own secular "saints" do not deserve much solemn respect.
Martin Luther King's Marxist philosophy and communist support was either totally ignored by this assembly or perhaps was the reason for its celebration. In any case, the theme of this Pittsburgh "liturgy" honoring King could only be described as a deification. The usual scriptural readings of the Novus Ordo were replaced by statements made by the civil rights leader throughout the years of his crusade. Two radical feminists, one a nun in a pants suit and the other a young "lady" clad in blue jeans and T-shirt led the readings from the altar. The assembled worshippers were to respond with the King statement, "I have a dream that one day men and women will rise up and come to see that they are made to live together as brothers and sisters."
Bishop Dozier's homily followed the reading of the gospel and although I am not a theologian, I was stunned at the significance of what was said. The theme of the Bishop's words was a comparison of Christ and the slain civil rights leader. The following is a quote of a portion of the homily delivered by Bishop Dozier and recorded by this author. After a brief comparison of the similar climates of hatred that existed in Jerusalem when Christ was crucified and in Memphis when King was slain, Bishop Dozier said:
Notice about Christ, as He goes up to Jerusalem ... In that descent into Jerusalem ... wherein He was to work out the gospel mystery in Himself ... He absorbed all of the evil that was thrown against Him and expiated for the evil and violence of His day. Now that's the difference from human reaction You and I tend to deflect evil and spread it out and inflict other people. It bounces off of us into some of them. Whereas Christ absorbed the evil and expiated for it. And so did Dr. Martin Luther King. He walked the streets of Birmingham, he did the Selma march, he marched in Memphis, and that boiling up of hatred and of violence he absorbed. He could rightfully say, "I've been taken to the mountain top, and I've seen the promised land." He absorbed the evil, his death summoned like Christ's.
In the remainder of his homily Bishop Dozier emphasized King's alleged efforts to promote nonviolence and lamented the world's failure to emulate this teaching. The lesson of Christ and King was to love one another and to establish the dignity of the human person. He also reminded the assembly of non-violence found in Pope John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris.
These "inspired" words of Bishop Dozier were followed by the presentation of gifts from representatives of various Pittsburgh area "Catholic" civil rights groups including Dignity (which supports homosexual rights), Reconciliation for Remarried Catholics, Black Catholic Ministries, Sister's Council, The Committee on Women, and the Catholic Interracial Council. Each representative prayed briefly to assure ample propaganda for the various liberal causes. After each prayer the assembly was to respond, "Christ Jesus, harmonize creation into a new people."
Bishop Dozier calmly accepted the gifts even when presented with the symbol of Dignity, a label of Nazi discrimination against "those who love differently than society dictates." Today it is a symbol of the dream of those who want to love "regardless of sexual or affectional preferences." The Dignity representative then stated: "That the right to love may be assured for all people, we pray to the Lord." The representative of the Committee on Women implored God's help to achieve "full participation and representation in the ministry of Christ." Perhaps Bishop Dozier's next innovation will be the ordination of women!
The "Liturgy of the Eucharist" was concelebrated by all of the new breed priests but was not the high-point of the evening. The sublime moment for this group was apparently the Rite of Peace. Many of the concelebrants left the altar to embrace humanity, male and female. Of the several hundred individuals who received communion only a handful did so on the tongue; the rest innovated and communicated in the hand. One can only hope this spectacle was invalid because if it was not, it most certainly was sacrilegious.
The entire liturgy did not contain a Catholic hymn. The musical selections were Blowin' in the Wind, Peace My Friends, Amazing Grace, a solo entitled Reach Out and Touch, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and the revolutionary anthem, We Shall Overcome.
Traditional Catholics will view the Duquesne University memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. with great alarm, as rightly they should. It is the proof of what traditionalists have been saying since the introduction of the Novus Ordo, that its ambiguous liturgy can be bent and shaped to suit the issue of current importance, in this case the raising of the man and revolutionary King to a false equality with Christ! It can be used to destroy the true meaning of the Mass by replacing adoration and devotion with blasphemy and heresy.
During the long drive home, my thoughts constantly returned to the desolation of the ceremony I just witnessed. The once beautiful Catholic student chapel of Duquesne University is now stripped of its main altar, communion rail and statues to symbolize its worship of the ecumenical Baal of modernism. I could not help but remember the words of St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 6:
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.
Mr. Zeitz is a teacher of History, Economics and Government on the high school level. He and his family attend Mass at Our Lady of Fatima in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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