You know, nobody shows up for so-called holy days of obligation anymore, so the US bishops capitulate to the situation and move observance of the days to Sunday. Meanwhile, Catholic parishes in southern California observe pagan holidays with pagan rituals. I wonder how well-attended those are:
A Summer Solstice Labyrinth Walk, presented by the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino, will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 5011 White Oak Ave., Encino. Call (818) 784-4515.
I looked up Holy Spirit Retreat Center. It seems to be run by nuns and they are well into the Enneagram and centering prayer. The links are in my blog if anyone is interested.
Dom,
Did you see Dale Price’s take on my poor Archdiocies:
http://dprice.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_dprice_archive.html#108783089645150069
On the money!
Garbage such as this solistice celebration has been going on in my diocese [Kalamazoo] for a couple of years, at the “Transformations Center” on the campus of the now-closed Nazareth College, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The event was advertised in earlier years as taking place at the “sacred grove of trees” and would also involve the use of drums and chant. When the ads started appearing in the diocesan newspaper, I complained to the chancery. When nothing happened, i.e., the pagan rituals continued unabated, I made sure that subsequent issues of said newspaper somehow got “lost.” When the diocesan paper shills for pagan rituals, then that paper ends up in the handy receptacle provided for us by those wonderful people at Waste Management.
Yes, I’m a petty dictator, aren’t I? Right up there with book-burning Nazis, no doubt.
Alas, you will find that many retreat centers here in California offer a lot of new age!!!! That is probably because that in order to keep open they have had of open them up to other than orthodox spirituality. Part of the “inclusive” hyperbole!!!