Orange County Chinese Catholics will celebrate the Chinese New Year on Sunday, Jan. 29. The 10:30 a.m. Mass will be led by Bishop Kevin Vann and will be followed by a traditional Chinese ancestry veneration ceremony.
A colorful lion dance will be performed in the plaza of the Christ Cathedral campus to share the New Year joy and the symbolic good fortune act with the public. Bishop Vann will bless the lions and give “fortune money” in red envelops to the lions, according to Chinese culture. A Chinese New Year luncheon and entertainment hosted by the Orange County Chinese Catholics is also offered to the public with tickets.
“We are blessed that Roman Catholics and the Bishop recognize the importance of our Chinese culture by honoring our ancestors,” said Father Yang, spiritual director of the Orange County Chinese Catholics. “Chinese immigrants and their families long to share our accomplishments and customs with the rest of the community.” Fr. Yang continued.
Full story at Orange County Catholic.
The veneration of ancestors is healthy if the ancestors were good people. But ancestor worship is common in Chinese culture and is heavily associated with pagan religion. As such, ancestor veneration at a Chinese Mass can easily be confused with ancestor worship, causing scandal. Furthermore, it strikes me as wrong to venerate someone at Mass who might be in Hell. The only people that we should be venerating at Mass are the saints in heaven. Everyone else needs our prayers.
Wow, this is a great idea. The Catholic Church should do something like this… we could do it in two phases: one to recall all the holy people who have died, and one to pray for all the rest. How about Nov 1st and Nov 2nd? We could call one day “All Saints Day” and the other “All Souls”, or something like that. Too bad we don’t already have something like that, or we could educate Chinese Catholics to remember this ancestors in a manner in keeping with the Catholic faith…
the bishop also.
Right on Jack!
So….they are going to venerate non-saints in the holy hour of power crystal palace…….sounds so (you fill in the blank)______________________
What “Jack” said. This is a nutty idea from a local faith that is barely Catholic. And, that nutty idea is manifest in a building that is likewise barely Catholic.
But, be patient Zombie-Liberal Grasshopper, there is talk of a “Vatican III” to be presided over by Francis. We need to take care of the pesky Traditionalists, you know, and to “correct” the language of the N.O. Mass insisted on by Benedict. Sure you remember, stuff like making us say “consubstantial” and that Christ “died for many;” that kind of thing. Forget “pro multis;” we are the Universal Church of Happy, now.
(Part Deux) ” . . . Oh, wait, wait. One cannot forget the introduction, in the NewMass, of a “welcoming” for sodomites and their “gifts.” Yep, we need that, along with a direction, to be read at each Mass (just like the episcopalians and other Protestants read at their services), that “anyone who feels called” can come up to receive communion.
Yes, yes, there will be new lavender vestments required on the “holy days” created to “honor” the homosexual sexual crowd, and their holidays, like the “Stonewall Riots” and other things. Enjoy.
This is one of the reasons besides Vatican II that the Church in Brazil and other South American countries is dwindling, Evangelical Protestant churches in those countries tell the people that voodoo, Santeria, Candomble, and other African imported pagan religions are NOT Christian, the Catholic Church has just gone along with it to keep the people in the fold but they hear from the Protestants that it IS NOT CHRISTIAN and behold: they leave Catholicism and join the Protestants who teach Christianity.
Confucius say, Man who pray with fireworks, face mortarity.
Hymie: Hilarious !!! Thanks !
You were obviously educated in this country –
at UCRA !!