A Very Catholic Rant Redux - Or - I'm Becoming a Curmudgeon, Part Four in an Everlasting Series.

I cannot believe that I forgot about my vow to curmudgeonliness. My rant the other day was supposed to be cranky, and I ended up being positive. That just fuels to this fire, doesn't it?

The priest should not face the congregation, am I right? He's leading the service, for crying out loud. The bus driver doesn't face the passengers, does he? Face the altar, not the crowd. You're Christ's representative on earth, not to Earth. That was him.

And what about a return to the office of acolyte while we're at it? You want to know why we're not getting enough priests, it's because we aren't encouraging it. Make it so that assisting the priest at Mass, at least if you're male, that's right, ladies, is the first step towards the priesthood. That's how it ought to be.

Why not employ Latin? It's a tradition of the Church, and unites Catholics everywhere. When everything's in the local tongue, you get division, not community. What's more, translations must naturally grow farther from the root language, if we're not very, very careful. We can't readily believe that hundreds of languages say the exact same thing, can we? The prayers of consecration are supposed to be identical all around the globe. If they're in Latin, that ain't a problem.

And people in the pews will learn it, too, if that's the case. Haven't they had to learn all those hokey love one another hymns since the sixties? You expect that, but you don't think can learn a smidgen of a language. What gives?

Start actually refusing to give abortion supporting politicians communion. It's not like it's a secret, where they stand. Challenge them; force them to live by the creed they claim to support or admit they've left it. Why am I supposed to be o-so-open to all yet they can't be told to tow the line on a very basic, straightforward issue? I'm told to change my conservative ways with great frequency. How about they change, and actually act Catholic?

Act Catholic. Isn't that what we're supposed to do? If we act too much like we're only another part of the world, we may soon not be distinguishable from it.

Do I need to say more?