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Text Box: large tree stump instead of an altar. At least one parish has placed the tree stump altar so-as-to imitate “theatre in the round”. The one that uses a tree stump theatre in the round altar also uses liturgical dance. In one instance the liturgical dance was by slim young women wearing thin and sheer light grayish-purple flowing almost gowns. That the women wore no undergarments was clearly visible. As they danced the cloth clung to their bodies accentuating what could also be easily seen. Instead of inducing thoughts of a Roman Catholic liturgy, that liturgical dance induced thoughts of an Islamic heaven filled with nubile virgins ready to be plucked. The pastor of that parish has since retired. The most recent liturgical dance at that church was by individuals engaged in an ancestral fertility dance accompanied by ancestral style drums, drummers and dancers wearing ancestral dress. Well, at least the fertility dance approximated true ancestral form. The drums were also close to true ancestral models. But the dress or costumes were merely wishful thinking. For all practical purposes both of these instances were fertility dances. Fertility dances have no part in the Church, and definitely not as part of Divine Liturgy. A married couple, praying for fertility, is always appropriate; but enacting sexual intercourse or enticing lustful thoughts have no place in Divine Liturgy for they are not Divine. Baptisms are often “conducted” in Roman Catholic parishes by having all of the babies, their parents and godparents, assemble at the altar. If the Eucharist is reserved at a side altar one can be sure the assembled adults will be leaning on that altar with their backs to the tabernacle. It is not unusual to have the assembled adults leaning all over the main altar, and even change babies diapers on the main altar. It also is a common practice in Roman Catholic parishes for a Deacon to officiate at Baptisms and weddings

Text Box: even though the Priest Pastor is or is able to be readily available. It is unconscionable that Baptism, the Sacrament whereby a person gains entry to the Body of Christ, The Communion of Saints, receives eternal salvation and the ability to receive Absolution which restores salvation when lost through sin, and Holy Communion by which the soul is strengthened, and all of the other Sacraments, and that Marriage, the Sacrament whereby various natural tendencies receive a measure of sanctification and which also serves to stabilize society and to provide new members of the Church, are not administered by the highest ranking parish cleric - the Priest Pastor. What is the Priest Pastor doing while the Deacon is officiating; eating lunch, watching sports, taking a nap, sleeping on the job? One is not even able to determine the clerical identity, if any, of a person at the altar in a Roman Catholic Church, due to the common practice of Deacons vesting in Chasuble instead of Dalmatic. A Dalmatic generally appears to be similar to a Chasuble but a Dalmatic has sleeves for the arms and is sewn up the sides, while a Chasuble has no sleeves and is open at the sides. Only a Priest is allowed to wear a Chasuble. It is not uncommon for a person to see a man wearing a Chasuble just prior to Divine Liturgy (Mass) and say, “Father, I have to go to Confession before I can go to Communion. Can you hear my Confession now?” If you are that person, and you find out the man you spoke to is Charley from down the street who assists as a “lay deacon” on Sundays and special occasions, your rightful expectation to the sanctity of the confessional has been violated. Of course there are a myriad of other practices, such as the Roman Catholic Priest who gives blessing at the end of Mass giving a wide, sweeping motion of his hand over 180 degrees at the words “Holy Spirit”. But these are minor in comparison to the total lack of consistency, the widespread acceptance of very strange innovations, and the evident lack of respect - for God or anyone else.

Text Box: Without liturgical discipline there can be no liturgical reverence and without liturgical reverence there can be no reverence for God. But if there is no Eucharist perhaps no reverence is needed. It is obvious that respect rarely is expected. In the midst of this are the Roman Catholic laity who not only have the expectation the Roman Church will provide them with valid Sacraments, Liturgy, and Priests, but have the right to such expectations. It is possible, perhaps probable, that God fills the spiritual needs and expectations of such individuals. But with the laxity in Dogmatic practice of the Roman Clergy there has evolved a laxity in Dogmatic practice by the Roman laity, and a decrease in spiritual and Sacramental expectation by the Roman laity, especially in those raised under the Roman liturgical changes of the late 1960’s. The Orthodox Church and its numerous Jurisdictions are far from perfect. Ethnic rivalries, attempts at “one upmanship”, outright money grubbing greed, mistrust, envy, power grabbling, and ostentatiousness, run through the Orthodox Church and are as common therein as they are in any segment of humankind. The Orthodox Church has Priests and Bishops who attempt to, “soften the harshness of the daily application of Dogma,” in manners which remind one of some of the more common Roman practices. There also are in some Orthodox quarters, a form of fear of loss of laity if the Dogmatic requirements are stressed too severely, and a “soft pedaling” of Dogmatic requirements as a result of that fear. However, the Orthodox Church has not yet succumbed to the abandonment which appears to now be practiced by the Latin Rite of the Roman Church. If reunification of the Orthodox and Roman Churches occurs, it most likely will be that the Byzantine Rites of the Roman Catholic Church unite with or become associated with their corresponding Orthodox Church Jurisdictions. Orthodox and Roman

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