Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to the laity being cantors and choir members, altar servers or lectors. And in the case of actual necessity, being Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion as the term extraordinary indicates and the GIRM specifies.
I am not opposed to lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion not being used in the Extraordinary Form due to its own ecclesiology and GIRM. (Although I have wondered what happens in a parish with this form of Mass where the preist is unable to distribute Holy Communion. Does anyone know?)
However, the greatest reason why Praytell folks and others are so opposed to the EF Mass, apart from it being in Latin mostly is that they feel that it not only departs from what Vatican II dogmatically insisted should occur in the reform of the Mass, but that it does not include the dogmatic, infallible teaching of Vatican II on the nature of the Church and that everyone is by virtue of Baptism is a priestly people.
Thus the sociology of the ecclesiology of the Church defines worship and or sacrifice. It really isn't worship of God the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son and by the Power of the Holy Spirit mediated by Jesus Christ the High Priest sacramentally made visible by the ordained priest, but rather a sort of self-referential worship of the community members at Mass involved in actual particaiption from the pew with a few laity taking on institutional roles of lector, Communion Minister, cantor and so on. The focus of the Mass isn't on the Sacrifice but on those who do this, that and the other. The only role that is intentionally diminished or denigrated on the grounds of this new dogmatic ecclesiology is that of the male priest.
Is it any wonder that the scandalous behavior of bishops, priests, deacons and laity drive away Catholics whose worship at Mass is focused on a post-Vatican II ecclesiology rather than on God and His Son's one Sacrifice on the Cross?
When the worship of the Church becomes self-referential as it has become in the Ordinary Form, how can Catholics resist the onslaught of the Devil and his minions? They can't for the most part because they are disillusioned by the people who compose the new ecclesiology and they have forgotten God to whom worship and adoration alone belong!
I often wonder if the Mass had not changed after Vatican II but we still had the scandals unfold as they have, would the Traditional Latin Mass have kept more people from leaving the Church or not?
What say you?
15 comments:
The two photos of the Churches have all of the charm of bowling alley. Bland and boring fits the Liturgy celebrated there perfectly.
The focus of the Mass isn't on the Sacrifice but on those who do this, that and the other (and they must be mostly women to boot)
You hit the nail squarely on the head
In the Traditional Mass an elderly and infirm priest may even be granted permission by his bishop to say Mass sitting down; but by the time he gets to this stage he will have retired from parish duties, so distributing Communion would not arise. Otherwise he would need another priest to distribute for him.
The vast majority of parishes which employ EMHC do not do so out of necessity. When Redemptionis Sacramentum (2004) addressed the abuse of this practice, EMs objected that their 'ministry' was being devalued. And everyone carried on as before.
Mixed choirs are permitted in the EF (although Pius X tried to ban them) but only a male schola may sing in the sanctuary.
Bee here:
Fr. McD asked: "I often wonder if the Mass had not changed after Vatican II but we still had the scandals unfold as they have, would the Traditional Latin Mass have kept more people from leaving the Church or not?"
Who knows? I know for myself the whole fiasco is pretty repugnant, and I feel a great sense of betrayal by the men who stood up there and consecrated the bread and wine, who declared, "This is My Body" and "This is My Blood" and who knew behind the scenes they were doing perverted things and sinning beyond the pale. I don't think the version of the Mass would matter in that regard.
No one expects a priest to be sinless. We get it everyone has faults and weakness and stuff that comes out that is not pure and holy, even priests. But we also know anyone in the state of grace should pretty much be able to resist temptations to sexual lust, to deceit, to theft, to murder. And when you find out the spiritual leader of the parish can't resist those things, it calls into question his ability to guide and lead others in the kind of life he professes to believe in and live, but doesn't. So maybe if many people, even if the Mass hadn't changed, found out this all was going on, would also have left. I think, in fact, a pre-Vatican II Church would have been more scandalized and shaken, because priests were assumed to be holy until proven otherwise. Now, not so much.
Whether it's the accountant who is embezzling money from the company, or your priest who's living a double life, people hate being taken for a fool. It's really the worst to trust someone and find out they are not trustworthy. And the fallout from that is the temptation to get away from that liar.
God bless.
Bee
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I read that the priests in the Old Testament were the only ones who could consume the sacrifice. This also included their families. I thought that the priesthood of the laity means that we are all eligible to consume the sacrifice. It does not mean that we are all eligible to offer it. It does not mean that we are all eligible to enter the Holy of Holies. It does mean that the ministerial priesthood is distinct from the priesthood of the laity. It does mean that we serve God well by worshipping Him as we are called to, and not by lusting after the roles of others.
Being a part of the Priesthood of the Baptized does not make us "eligible" to consume the sacrifice. It does make all the Baptized eligible to offer sacrifice to God.
"Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ. … “to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5). By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people …” (1 Peter 2:9). Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers (CCC, 1267, 1268)."
"Those who are baptized do offer sacrifice, though not as those in the ministerial priesthood do. "The common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood worship together at Mass. We are a priestly community. The lay faithful worship alongside the ordained priest(s). Both make offerings to God. The priest is specifically ordained to confect the Eucharist — to offer and consecrate the bread and wine — on behalf of those gathered. The laity, too, actively participate by offering themselves and their gifts and sacrifices to God."
We may have downplayed the Priesthood of the Baptized in reaction to the Protestant emphasis thereupon. More recently we have recovered a proper understanding of the concept and have attempted to put it into practice.
Anonymous,
Well "putting it into practice" has NOT resulted in more Catholics attending Sunday Mass. We have put all sorts of novelties into practice and the attendance meter is not going up but down. I think many of us will live long enough to see a majority of the Novus Ordo parishes close over the next 10-15 years. Most of the current hierarchy, including Santita, is like the Bourbon dynasty: they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.
"Is offering the one Sacrifice of Christ during the Holy Mass more important or less important than the sociological and horizontal dimensions of the ecclesiology attached to the Mass?"
The re-presentation of the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary is preeminent to our liturgy and the most important part of the celebration of the Mass. It is manifestly true that Christ also present in a mysterious way in the Scripture, the proclaimed Word of God, even in other denominations. But it is the Holy Eucharist, the substantial presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, which is what separates us from the Protestants. That being said, lax and irreverent celebrations of the liturgy, poor catechesis, tepidity of devotion, sacrilegious communions and the influence of secularism have done and continue to do much harm to the Church and her mission on earth. The Church though, through her history, has gone through difficult periods, but being of Divine origin, there will always be enough countervailing goodness to overcome those destructive forces against her so she can continue to fulfill her God-ordained calling and oppose the assailments of Satan and his minions.
Top photo.....don't notice any young families or children.
We inhabit a fallen world, not a fallen Church
With Holy Baptism we are cleansed of Original sin, conferred with Sanctifying grace and thus brought into the community of Divine origin, the Body of Christ. However, Original Sin has its ever-present effect on our human nature which is its legacy, and that legacy is concupiscence. We know that when something occurs in our existence that causes great destruction, the damage incurred can be so great that whatever was damaged cannot be fully restored. There is something which remains that changes what was before. Prior to the Fall, what existed was of a Heavenly nature; afterward, what remained, while it was good, being created by God, was no longer of that nature. What resulted was to be according to God's fore-ordained laws of what the consequences of the disobedience of Adam and Eve would bring about. Let us give thanks that God sent His Son to suffer and die for us that we can have the opportunity to have Eternal life and the spiritual means necessary to avail ourselves of His Holy Grace.
What do we see evidence of today though? Is it not the prevalence of acedia and worldly love? How little on the other hand is the practice of asceticism and religious devotion. We are at war within ourselves and with those things exterior to ourselves which are harmful to the soul. This is a war against those things which would not only do us spiritual harm but which also oppose our Holy Church in the continuation of her mission on earth. We must "draw our strength from the Lord and his mighty power...for our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens."[Ephesians 6] We should give thanks and ever avail ourselves of the instruments of grace and holiness which God provides to us to fight the spiritual battles against the enemies of our soul that assail us. Without what God provides to us, including the immeasurable benefits of the giving of the very life His Divine Son, our salvation would not be possible.
johnnyc,
I noticed the same thing. This is in stark contrast to the EF I attended on Sunday. Half the Church was filled with young, grade school age children. The sermon focused on Gluttony, the first deadly sin. Children, orthodox sermon, Kavanaugh would be devastated that the Vatican II Kool-Aid did not work its "magic" at this parish.
But TJM that priest could be arrest and put on trial for the crime of hate speech directed toward gluttons!
Father McDonald,
I hadn't thought of that!!! My bad
The truly sad part to me it the fact that the first picture was probably a beautiful church at one time, how much devastation of a formerly pretty church carries over in the destruction of the faith of it's parishioners and pastors
God first, Others second, you last....The whole praxis of Liturgy in most of the West has been turned on its head....I think there in lies most of the West's problems...
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