e are witnessing a time of great
scandal in the Church, and many speculate as to why this is. I have long believed that priests and religious who fall into grave scandal do so as a result of the abandonment of the external witness to the faith – that is, by ceasing to wear their priestly clericals/habit.
At the dusk of the Second Vatican Council, priests in their droves discarded their clericals and hid amongst the faithful, resulting in a downward spiral still bearing rotten fruit today.
Many priests stopped acting like priests when they ceased living like priests; they ceased living like priests when they stopped praying like priests.
And they stopped praying like priests when they stopped dressing like priests.
Recently, I came across several instances where seminaries around the world were partaking in the centuries-old tradition often referred to as the taking of the cassock and tonsure.
Without going into finer detail, this milestone on the road to priesthood predominantly occurs for seminarians commencing their second and third years of formation, though this can vary.
On a personal level, I confess that reading such articles makes me quite envious of these seminarians.
Once a Seminarian
Just a few weeks into my first year as a seminarian (2004 and 2005) at Corpus Christi Seminary in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Australia, I asked the Rector when the taking of the cassock and tonsure took place.
He stated quite abruptly that there is no such tradition or ceremony at Corpus Christi because “Vatican II banned such traditions.” He also advised me that the wearing of clericals by seminarians is permitted only when specifically instructed by the Rector.
Even for Sunday Masses and Solemn Feasts, seminarians were strictly forbidden from wearing clericals.
Perhaps I was naïve to expect a different response, given that the Church in Australia is home to some of the worst abuses in the Roman Rite.
This can be seen in the level of doctrinal and theological errors being spouted in ‘Catholic’ schools, colleges and seminaries, and the regular liturgical and sacramental abuses in parishes on a daily and weekly basis.
I have observed a clear correlation – both good and bad - between the way priests dressed and the way they conducted themselves in public, their prayer life, their faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church, their reverence at Mass, their loyal adherence to the liturgical rubrics, and their belief in the doctrines of
the Church.
W
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