Nice gear if you can afford it. These were the vestments specially designed for the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June 2012. There was a holy sea of them to be seen when the bishops turned out for the major formal occasions.
While they may have been pleasing to the eye and, to an extent, conveyed the image of a church triumphant or at least a colourful communion, they did, in no uncertain terms answer a question posed by Fr. Tony Flannery in October 2011 and reported on this blog.
Of the proposed final Congress mass in Croke Park, he said:
... it should be penitential in character. Rather than ceremonial dress, we ask for some modern, imaginative equivalent of the ‘sackcloth and ashes’ of the Old Testament, so that the celebration would be simple and humble, asking forgiveness not just for the abuse of children, but for the other abuses of power perpetrated by Church people in the past.
I know where he was coming from. I have always said myself that I will allow that the Roman Catholic Church might have something to offer when I see a Pope Mendicant rather than the current Emperor (with his new clothes) surrounded by lackeys who would effortlessly grace any catwalk in the world.
Perhaps it was this justifiable barb from Fr. Tony that broke the cross-dressing camels' backs, so annoying them that they immediately set the thought police after him.
Well, they have now found him wanting and stripped him of his ministry. Condemned without a trial in incense filled rooms. They have deprived him of not just his living but of his life. No doubt they, and their merry band of adherents here, would be happy to see him join the "heretics" in one of the local Protestant Churches on the grounds that if you can't stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen.
But they have clearly got the wrong man if this is what they expect to happen. Fr. Tony loves his church, hijacked and all as it has been post Vatican 2, and he has no intention of leaving despite continued spiritual waterboarding by the CDF.
Listen to his recent interview with Canadian radio and then make up your mind who are the real heretics here.
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