www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Animal Sacrifice?

Some Bishops and Priest in the Latin Church surely has done some strange things to the their liturgy after Vatican II. We have all heard the stories about clown masses, polka masses, etc... But, this story really has me scratching my head.

From: Catholic Net news service
http://us.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Igpress/May00/wwatch.html

From this news story it appears that Archbishop Tihagale is for animal sacrifice. What does the forum think of having a return to animal sacrifice in the liturgy?

Sounds like someone needs to re-read the Letter to the Hebrews. I believe also that traditionally, any Christian temple into which dead meat was brought, or any animal killed, had to be rededicated. I bet the parish priest would get a little tired of re-dedicating his church after each Mass! :rolleyes:

If the African practice is like that of the Malagasy (among whom my father's sister was a Lutheran missionary for thirty years) there are two steps to becoming an ancestor. First, one must die and all flesh rot away from the bones. Second, sacrifices must be offered to their spirits--the more sacrifices offered the higher their status as an ancestor and the more powerful they will be as a quasi-divine force in the afterlife. Offering sacrifice is never simply a matter of honoring the death--it is a means of impowering them to intervene supernaturally on their descendants behalf. Armenians actually do have a ritual for animal sacrifice in their prayer books, but it conceived of as a means of asking God's blessing on humanity--in other words it is offered to God as the Creator of all life. It would be more appropriate to replace these sacrifices with masses for the dead and other liturgical services and prayers for the dead.
Arvid

Addendum to the previous.
What about Catholic doctrine of the all-sufffiency of the sacrifice of the Cross, its teaching that the sacrifice of Christ is the ultimate sacrifice which puts an end to all need for further sacrifice? What good can the blood of animals do for the ancestors that the blood of Christ can not do? Our European ancestors also made offerings to their dead before their conversion, but this ceased and was replaced by Christian liturgical services and masses for the dead. Why shouldn't the Church do the same thing in Africa? Arvid

Slava Jesu Kristu,

I was under the impression that Etheopian Orthodox as well use blood letting. I may be mistaken but I believe it is allowed more as a cultural thing than religious.

Dmitri

But Dmitri, isn't it cultural because is has religuous and/or supernatural significance? It's not like these people are just going through meaningless motions which have no signifiance; on the contrary: they are filled with meaning.

This reminds me of the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant, which have no place in Christianity due to the all-encompassing Sacrifice of Christ our God. This is why animal sacrifice was ruled out for Christians, as we can see in the New Testament.

I think this would be gravely immoral and scandalous. I'm extremely scandalized, even by the thought of it.

Logos Teen

If we were to have Animal Sacrifice would the department of Health of each country have to get involved? I am sure they would.

Secondly, would the Church tolerate the constant protest from the PETA organization?

Finally, would the sacrifice take place behind the Icon screen or outside it? Who would do the sacrifice a priest or layperson? My guess is a priest would do the sacrifice. However, the church may assign a lay position like that in the Latin Church Extraordinary Eucharist Ministers but for Animal Sacrifice. What would happen to the animal or animals after the sacrifice? I assume they would be burn. That raises other questions about the odor the neighbors would experience from the burning flesh.

All things that would need to be consider if the Church returns to Animal Sacrifice.

In Mexico there are several places in which sincretist practices are openly held among Baptized catholics, animal sacrifice (yagh!) included, but this is not done inside the church as far as I know.

Among Indian natives, animal sacrifices are quite "inocent", they're just performed as a way to thank or ask God for good maice and a succesful harvest. Other ceremonies include drinking liquors and chamans who often get drunk. These sacrifices and ceremonies are often held because of ignorance, and because priests of the Catholic Church are afraid of opposing popular traditions.

However, among people of mixed origin and African culture (Mexican coast, Cuba, Haiti) animal sacrices are performed for evil purposes in the line between religious sacrifice and witchcraft (somrtimes it's all wichcraft). These are truly Pagan in their origin, disgusting and directly opposed to christianity. The worst thing is that they masquerade as Christian (they replace their African Pagan idols with Catholic saint, for example). As far as I know, the Protestatnt sects are the only ones who have tried to eliminate these traditions, but the huge problem is that Catholic priests think that if they do the same, people would stop attending their masses and see them as enemies of the community.

I remember a "botanica" near my old apartment building about a mile from downtown L.A. where every morning, when I walked past, there was a pile of dead chickens and roosters on the doorstep.

Since there wasn't a KFC nearby, I suspect Santeria.