Chaos as Liturgy: How Post-Conciliar Narratives Sanctify Disorder

EWTN portal reports on the anniversary of Mother Angelica’s death with a nostalgic account of the chaotic circumstances surrounding her first profession of vows in 1960. The article, titled “Remembering the ‘shenanigans’ at Mother Angelica’s first vows,” describes a blizzard, a disputatious choir, a bishop arriving wet and demanding socks, a swollen hand preventing the profession ring from fitting, and the subject of the narrative referring to the day as a “real spiritual experience” where “that’s the way God works with me.” The piece concludes by highlighting her founding of the EWTN media empire. This trivialized, human-centered anecdote is presented as an edifying tale of divine providence, thereby sanctifying liturgical and disciplinary chaos and exemplifying the post-conciliar Church’s replacement of sacred tradition with sentimental humanism.