If you do another one of these, can you put 'cheat sheet' overaly and say where you are? ie. V---Psalm 113 (9) or something like that? I got lost in the beginning because I didn't realize the ant. wasnt' being done... then midway my Vespers for Sundays in my Missal ended... wasn't sure if we went straight into Compline or where to go after. Thank you if you can!
The reducing or clearing out of statues from our churches was done in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. It was greatly hoped at the time of the council that an ecumenical movement would bring Rome closer to their separated brethren, especially the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Church. The emphasis was to be not on what divides us, but what we have in common and what can be done to narrow that gap that divides us. The theology and wording of the ancient Latin Mass was seen as a obstacle to further progress towards unity with Rome as were statues and Marian devotion, so the Holy Mass had to be changed and the statues reduced and devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary given a lower profile. Now, some of our churches look as bare as the the inside of a Primitive Methodist Chapel. Rome having done all this to accommodate its separated brethren and set up an Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission in 1967 in the hope of fostering corporate union of the Church of England with Rome, who then went on to ordain women as priests which the late Pope John Paul II declared to be a serious obstacle for union with the Catholic Church. This was compounded when the CofE went ahead and consecrated priestesses as Bishops.There has been and continues to be a misguided false ecumenism that has seriously damaged the faith and caused a schism. The authorities in Rome are still in denial about this and Pope Francis in particular seems hell bent on going after and marginalizing those Catholics and religious communities who remain true to the faith and practices of our fathers and the ancient Latin Mass. If this schism widens and becomes a scandal in our church then much of it will be down to the present Pope who is no keeper and protector of our faith and traditions. The thrust of his motu proprio Traditionis Custodes., was to limit the celebration of the Tridentine Mass and put it back to where it was before Pope Benedict's apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum freeing up the celebration of the Tridentine Mass to any priest who wished to offer it in that rite. Now it is back under the control and at the discretion of the bishops again, some of whom were quick off the mark to ban its use by religious communities and churches in their jurisdiction. There was secular wisdom in that idiom 'If it ain't broke don't fix it'. Well, our church now is pretty broken fragmented now and needs some fixing. Let's hopethat the next Pope will make a start to put it all back together again.
I'm not really sure, but it might be due to the fact of this being a seminary training chapel, rather than a parish. I think the goal of this foundation is to train clergy to administer the sacraments and provide pastoral care to Christians. Perhaps less distractions might assist the seminarians focus on learning the Liturgy...paying attention... Some Religious chapels are similarly austere for other reasons.
