No, not so much.
The poster-girl for women’s ordination, lay ministry, lay preaching, and lay administration of parishes, Sr. Joan Sobala, makes yet another strike against the hearts of her remaining parishioners. As of this past Sunday, there are a total of three voices in their once-mighty choir. The same parish that was once known as a “bastion of beautiful liturgy” is now experiencing the death of its last redeeming quality: sacred music.
I have always been of the opinion that a thing such as sacred music, as edifying and spiritually-wholesome as it is, can never constitute the sole reason for staying at a parish where heresy is boldly and warmly professed and embraced. The people who are keeping St. Anne Church alive are those who cling, out of a profound love for God, to the St. Anne of Fr.’s Lioi, Leone, and Abas, a parish of liturgical splendor and Gregorian excellence. However, that parish died the moment Sr. Sobala stood in front of the altar and, holding out her hands, said “I am your Good Shepherd now, and you are my sheep.”
From what we have been shown and told via email, the parish lost the vast majority of its choir when Sr. Sobala appointed a new music director, one who does not follow in the venerable traditions of her predecessors. One of the former music directors is now an organist at St. Patrick’s. Another is a former member of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Another is now bringing Gregorian Chant to the people of Auburn at St. Mary’s Church, under the direction of Fr. Lioi. While I don’t know precise details of this woman’s musical aptitude or interest, and while I don’t wish to speculate, I would feel comfortable saying that she is more willing to embrace Sr. Joan’s ideas of liturgy than any other music director in that parish’s history.
It seems that, of all the parishes experiencing slow, painful, drawn-out deaths in the Diocese of Rochester, St. Anne is one of the most tragic. It went from being one of the “safe zones” for liturgy to being one of the “front-line cities,” over-run by the barbarian horde of heretics and dissidents. Perhaps Sr. Sobala genuinely thinks she is doing the right thing, and that those who have left in this latest wave of refugees are simply overreacting to the Church’s organic development. We’re not in any position to judge her soul, her motives, or her heart. However, we can look at this impartially: is it normal and healthy for a parish known for sacred music to lose the vast majority of its choir? Without letting “partisan bickering” enter into this, we can all agree that something is seriously wrong, not just at St. Anne, but in the Diocese as a whole. Why? Because any organization that is seeing such poor results and does nothing to rectify them is woefully out of touch with those it serves.
So, let us commend the Diocese and its glorious throngs of lay ministers on continuing to drive the nails into the hands and feet of Christ, and congratulate them on seeing Holy Church bleed copiously from Her pierced side. Bravo.
Thanks go to M.R. and J.G. for providing insight via their emails.
Tags: Joan, Liturgy, Music Sacred Catholic Liturgical and Chant, Progressive Drivel, St. Anne
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Sadly, very sadly: The End
From one woman whose family finally (FINALLY) left St. Anne:
“The last straw was the hiring of a new music director. Now we need to find a new parish, because we cannot go back there anymore.”
Obviously, this is another case of a heretic’s “pastoral” leadership bearing great fruit…It is what it is, and I am what I am!
Some people are simply legends in their own minds!
WOW! And I thought things were bad here in Dallas area!