Life imitates art! The American Catholic Council’s “Litany of Lament”

Posted on 12 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the American Catholic Council’s program. On the opening day they had a moving and meaningful paraliturgy which included the

Litany of Lament.

Here it is from their program. I add some comments:

(When the female lector reads, FROM THE FOUR WINDS COME, O SPIRIT, Spirit-bearers waving banners enter the assembly from four directions. As they pass by your seat, please rise up!). [Rise up... get it? Huh?]
Presider [a woman. Should that be "presideress"?]: O Holy God hear us as we cry to you. Our Church is filled with dried bones in a world hungering for your Life. [Correction: Cobo Center was filled with dry bones.]

Litany of Lament:

Refrain from the Veni Sancte Spiritus [Which turns this whole thing into a form of blasphemy, actually.]

1. Weakened by structures that ignore your Wisdom [I suspect they are using this as a kind of code or shorthand. Feminists call the Spirit "Sophia", which they say is feminine, and therefore the Spirit is feminine. Get it? Huh?] speaking through the people of god, we cry…

2. Angered by church leaders who protect pedofiles and persecute prophets, we cry…

3. (In Spanish): Denied Eucharist because of the failure to address the priest shortage, we cry.

4. Aching for the Eucharist to be celebrated as nourishment for sinners, not a reward for good behavior, we cry…

5. Wondering why we are closing parishes rather than opening ordination, we cry…

6. (In German): Longing to celebrate creative theologians rather than mourn their marginalization, we cry… [Remember... Hans Kung was supposed to be there. This is pure sucking up.]

7. Oppressed by rigid structures of racism, we cry…

8. Blind to the beauty of God’s image in gay and lesbian people we cry…

9. Betrayed by church structures that promote sexism and misogyny, we cry… [Wow. Things are pretty bad in these structures. At this point in the Litany you expect someone is going to bring in razor blades so they can all slit their wrists.]

10. Outraged by bishops’ refusal to use structures of their own creation to be accountable to survivors of clergy sex abuse, we cry…

11. Dismayed by our own guild and failure to confront the structures of abuse, we cry… [They really have a thing about structures, don't they?]

12. Amidst the shattered images of godliness and ministry, we cry…

[Then after 2 minutes of silent prayer a women presider in white says :]
In silence, please join in the ancient Christian gesture signifying the presence of the Holy Spirit, the laying on of hands. Place your hands on the head of your neighbor and pray silently, acknowledging the gift of the Spirit within them. The allow your neighbor to pray silently over you.

Then they prayed a prayer composed by Pope John XXIII used at the beginning of all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

It’s a Council.. get it? They are the one’s taking the roles of bishops at a Council? Huh? GET IT?

I wonder if that blue rinse stuff comes off on your hands. Dunno.
Dismayed… Outraged… Aching… Wondering… Longing…Oppressed…Angered… Weakened….Denied….Blind… Betrayed… Amidst… oppps that one didn’t fit.
Once again I am reminded of the Little Rascals films where the kids have a show in the big barn. You know… Darla, Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa.

They too, those little rascals, in their little films, played the role of the poor and the oppressed. They too struggled against the rich kids of the neighborhood. They broke boundaries of sexism and racism.. and speciesism. They had their canine pal with a ring around … ummmm… its eye named… I am not making this up… named “Pansy“.

So, breaking all sorts of barriers!

It was a spirited group. And this is what most of the participants of the ACC watched when they were kids! Errr… height-challenged, Mother-Earth-annual-orbit-deprived autonomous persons.