Good Friday on Ameland
Well, this weekend, all of us seminarians were in Ameland, one of the Dutch islands. We had a great time there, so for more information, please read my next post ‘Fun in Ameland’.
In this post I would like to share an experience of last Sunday with you, which was shocking to say the least. A Mass was scheduled at the local parish that morning, after which the local priest would talk about experiences as an island pastor.
The Mass turned out to not be a Mass at all. There was no valid Confiteor, there were only 2 instead of 3 lectures, there was some weird sort of ‘creed’ -people say the stupidest things!- and now the most shocking: no valid Eucharistic prayer. To top it off, aside from hosts, cookies were ‘consacrated’ to be given out to the children as well.
When I learned what was scheduled, I gathered up my bags and left the church. Others stayed there out of politeness… it is not my goal to criticize my brothers here, but I personally think it is a big mistake to be present at such a gathering. Because who are you showing politeness to? The ‘priest’ of that church? The people going to that church? If you do that, you forget whose church it really is – it is the Lord who you should show politeness to! It is his house you are in!
This episode showed me how far we are in my country from growing to a new, vital, faithful Church where we let God be our God and do with us as He desires, instead of doing with and to Him what we desire. Because only if we let God work in and through us, we can change something. Else we are doing nothing but building our own church, and everything we build is temporary.
All these parishioners there that have been lied to all these years, it is hard to blame them. But we are not changing a thing by sitting in on their celebration out of politeness as Christ is suffering for what is being done in His Church. We should be clear in what we believe in and communicate in clear and loving terms why we cannot accept what is happening.
As you might have guessed, I haven’t gone to this ‘priest’ talk about his experience as an island pastor either. Because he is no pastor. He is no priest. Let us start calling things what they are, instead of calling them what they are not. In any case, this is what we are facing here today. Maybe you think I was wrong to react the way I did, or maybe you agree – in any case, I wouldn’t mind to hear your views. I also wouldn’t mind if you could keep our country and Church here in your prayers. A lot of healing has to be done, and I think I have enough motivation to get me through seminary for the next four years!
4 Responses to “Good Friday on Ameland”
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As an “old” Amelander, I find your comments very short sighted and most uncharitable. Obviously you do not understand the long Ameland’s Christian culture. The Church may well be the Lord’s house, but it belongs to the parishioners. Not a mention in your blog about the most famous and reverend Amelander, Bishop during the war and later Cardinal Johannes de Jong. You could not have missed his stature in the village.
Just remember as you are studying for the priesthood, that the message is “to Love all” even those who may not agree with your own interpretation of the Gospel message. I admire those of your brothers who were polite or curious enough to stay on at the service.
Ben de Jong -ex Amelander- now living in Melbourne Australia
In the parts of the country where there are so few priests then helaas, we can’t expect much better. This is almost working completely from scratch! In the larger cities – de Stad, for instance – it’s better. But there is LOTS of work to be done, so be sure to pray, study, pray, eat enough, pray, pray, pass all your exams, pray, and be the best priest God made you to be!
@Ben de Jong: and just what do you imagine Cardinal Johannes de Jong would have thought of priests who neglected to say the words of institution? And if you found an orgy going on in a church, would you feel impelled by “politeness or curiosity” to remain and take part?
@Ben: I am actually really glad that the first comment I got was from you. I found it very interesting to read your reaction, even though we completely disagree with each other.
“The Church may well be the Lord’s house, but it belongs to the parishioners” is a statement that made me raise my eyebrows. Are we so far from God and so self-centered that we could really believe such a thing?
In a post about Fr. Ruh in July, I wrote about the churches he had built. Never did he complete a church to leave it with a debt Instead, people from all over came to work on the construction of the church. Professional craftsmen worked for free or for a minimum compensation. People lost gave up income, because instead of working at their regular jobs, they built the church. They gave up their spare time. They gave up their assets.
People came to bring their last livestock as a payment to build the chuch. And honestly, I believe that they have done that for God, because they were building God’s house. It goes to show how much they loved Him and wanted to do everything for Him. He was the center of their lives.
The second comment “to Love all” is something that I hear a lot. I think that the previous generations have really grown up with that word. Having experienced the aftermath of the terrible World War, people had the resolve to never let something like that happen ever again. Maybe this was the moment when ‘to love all’ really became a social rule of thumb.
Now we hear humanists ‘preach’ almost the same message as we hear in many Churches today, still echoing this social dogma ‘to love all’.
I do not mean to ridiculize this. I think that the only thing that will last forever is Love, His Love working through us. So the basis of everything we do should be Love.
Sadly, whenever people like myself are clear, people point out this social dogma, which is not really ‘to Love all’, but ‘to tolerate everything’, ‘to avoid any contradictions’ or – if there are contradictions – move them to the private homes of people, where they are resolved (or not) outside the public domain.
When we look to Christ himself, we know His first intention was to bring people to God. He did foremost this through a profound love, which touched thousands in his day and billions over the centuries. The gospels, however, show us that He did not do it by tolerating everything! In fact, he taught, reprimanded and encouraged people to change their lives. That He did all of this with a profound love for God and for the salvation of the people He met, is beyond a doubt.
I think, therefore, that to love, really means to be clear. Paul says correctly: “if found an orgy going on in a church…” really, what would we do then? If someone urinated in Church, would we say nothing because we love that person? Or would we say, ‘dude, there are bathrooms in the back?’ — point is: what is being done to Jesus in ‘celebrations’ like the one I experienced in Ameland, is terrible. If He is indeed the most important thing in our lives, if we indeed adore Him in the Eucharist, if we pray to Him devoutly because we know that He who changes not is the only one that can save us — then indeed we would be more outraged at what is happening in our churches, than if we had found an orgy going on there.
Ben, I think the question you should ask yourself is: am I God’s measure, or is God mine? If it is the first, then I wonder whether God is really still God. And if it is the latter, I hope you will see Him like He is and feel the Love with which I have written this post. Because under my sadness about what happened on Ameland lies a profound love for Christ and a great desire to lead people to Him through his Holy Church and Sacraments.