More Ridiculousity from Washington National Cathedral

Back in February, I posted about the various events and activities (as opposed to liturgies and sacraments) that are being offered at the Washington National Cathedral (an Episcopal cathedral). It seems that the Beltway Episcopalians have missed the message that all this progressing is leading to a massive attrition of attendance at their “ordinary” events (read, Sunday services).

New things, exciting things, are being explored. Things like skateboarding and paper airplane competitions and seminars glorifying things that are contrary to God’s plan for human sexuality. Now there will be a new “function” to the Cathedral space: prayers by Muslims to Allah, facing Mecca.

Lately, I’ve been trying to be more sensitive to the fact that Jesus is in the Tabernacle in our (Catholic) churches, and we owe him a certain reverence and decorum while entering or leaving the church, a sacred space. That means that I try to “get out the door” before striking up a chat after Mass with Bill Parishioner, rather than standing in the aisle just 20 feet from the altar to loudly discuss buying a raffle ticket or some other banal thing (relatively speaking, everything is banal next to the Eucharist). Even a single person in the pew who remains there after Mass to pray deserves our consideration, because the church exists for that above everything else.

Where there is true belief in — and reverence for — the sacred, things like paper airplane competitions and making space for irreconcilable alternative forms of worship simply do not occur.