“The Liturgical Hall of Shame”

“And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’ s religion is vain.” —Epistle of St. James 1:26

COTT HAHN, DURING ONE of his presentations, invented the term “hall of shame” (a play on “hall of fame”). I already knew Fr. Godfrey Diekmann, OSB, belonged in the Liturgical Hall of Shame because of his incessant efforts to promote the “hootenanny Mass” following the Second Vatican Council.

Recently, however, I stumbled across these disgusting quotes by Fr. Godfrey Diekmann:

On occasion he would pound the desk and say, “Damn it! We are not like sons and daughters of God, we are sons and daughters of God.”

Many a time he would again pound the table and say, “Damn! It is not the resurrection, but the incarnation.” And here he often returned to the text of Athanasius, even in its crude exclusivist language: “God became man so man could become God.”

SUCH LANGUAGE is totally unbecoming of a Christian, especially when talking about Theology, and I don’t care what Fr. Diekmann’s intentions may have been. For a priest to speak in such a way is insufferable.

Some people like to point out that the Church wasn’t perfect before the Second Vatican Council. They exclaim: “There were major problems back then, too!” I couldn’t agree more, based on the scandalous example of Fr. Diekmann, who was ordained before the Second Vatican Council.

HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! I thought this was supposed to be a “positive” blog?!! Yes, it is. I’m sharing this anecdote to illustrate how revolting it is to hear Christians use distasteful language (especially when talking about holy subjects) so we can all try and do better in this area:

Lord Jesus Christ, please help us remember that people judge the Catholic faith by the way we, ourselves, act and speak. Amen.