Good old Phyllis of the NCR just can’t get over the infallible decree of Pope Saint John Paul II that the Magisterium of the Church has no authority to change the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders which Christ Himself instituted. In other words no council, no pope has the authority to allow for the ordination of women in Holy Order which is a part of the infallible ordinary magisterium of the Church.
She wants women deacons and by extension women priests. Ain’t going to validly or licitly happen, everrrr.
However, she has some good points about the “cult of the personality” in Church leadership with which I agree. I link her half way good article in the NCR title below my commentary.
This is my commentary:
As a result of the overdone reform of the Liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the cult of the personality of the priest became front and center and mostly based upon the priest facing the congregation, engaging them with his personality, his looks, his affectivity and his way of doing things.
Prior to the changes in the liturgy there was little chance of improvisation in the Mass with its Latin language or the priest overwhelming it with his personality, except maybe at the homily. That collapsed with the vernacular Mass and the priest facing the people.
Prior to Vatican II, the institution of the priesthood was exalted and on a pedestal, not so much the personality of a priest, any priest although some priests were liked more than others depending on their personality and character apart from the celebration of the Mass. The Mass itself though leveled the playing field.
The dangers of the cult of the personality is elevated in parishes and communities and the Church when the human leader, not his office, is exalted. I would say the Pope St. John Paul II created the papal cult of the personality, not with the trappings of the institution of the papacy, but with his personality. Pope Benedict reverted to the trappings of the institution to exalt the institution of the papacy but Pope Francis eliminated this as His Holiness isn’t humble enough to lower himself to use the trappings of the papacy as the truly humble Pope Benedict did, thus Francis personality has to fill the void, his much touted humility (which isn’t the institution of the papacy, but his idiosyncrasies).
Catholics now are seduced by the cult of the personality because of the reformed Mass’s deformities and the manner in which Holy Orders is exercised today from the top down. They become "groupies" of the clergy that tickle their fancy. And because so few today believe that the Catholic Faith and Church are the true Faith and Church, they are willing to go over to Protestant (non-denominational sects) whose minister is exalted by the cult of the personality and even the cult of the personality of the entire congregation, in other words, a CULT!
Nowhere else has this happened on a more gigantic scale than in South America and the Amazon. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD PRIOR TO VATICAN II! The Catholic Faith and Church were viewed as the true Faith and Church and no one would leave the Church over the cult of the personality of clergyman Catholic or otherwise or at least not in significant numbers as today.
So, Phyllis, get a grip and report the truth. The pre-Vatican II Church’s emphasis on institutions rather than personality was and is for the most part an antidote to the cult of the personality so prevalent in our society. The Church because of her liturgy and how Holy Orders is exercised is both complicit and seduced by general cultural shifts in this regard.
2 comments:
I mostly agree, but I think you overstate how large a role the liturgy plays in this. Yes, some priests are chatty and chummy with the congregation throughout the whole Mass, but that is precisely because they are not following the liturgy as written. Aside from the homily, the only other part where a priest has nearly unlimited freedom is with the prayers of the faithful -- which indeed are often clearly directed AT the faithful (who are expected to verbally agree with each petition), not as humble requests to the Creator of the Universe Who is also our Judge at death.
Much more of the "cult of personality" comes from the way the priest decorates (or strips down) the church, what he puts into the weekly bulletin or parish newsletter, which groups he allows to use parish facilities, whether he attends protests (and if so, for what causes) -- and yes, from his blog, if he has one. So Fr. John Zuhlsdorf has his cult of personality, and Fr. James Martin has his, and they would still be very much at odds even if Fr. Martin celebrated Mass exactly the same way Fr. Z does.
Given how many people view priests today, in the Church and out of it, there is an "anti cult" of the priesthood in general. People are, in many cases, contemptuous of the priesthood. Yes, there are Fr. Zs' and James Martins' but many times a parish priest is not a center of a personality cult. He is just some guy who leads Services and we run to in times of trouble.
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