When I was 14 or 15 and without any explanation, our pastor, a former Benedictine, removed the temporary faux altar in front of the older altar which still had the tabernacle on it and the six candles.
Until that time, the introductory and concluding rites took place at the altar and the priest’s chair was to the side wall as it is in the Tridentine Mass.
From one Sunday to the next, the old altar was pulled forward and stripped, the tabernacle placed on the side altar under Mary’s statue and the priest’s chair placed directly behind the altar, but higher than the altar.
When I first saw it as a 14 or 15 year old, I honestly thought my pastor had lost his mind and believed he was the most important person at Mass, even above the Divine Person of Jesus not just us poor miserable laity in the pews.
Isn’t this clericalism?
What liturgical clericalism have you experienced and is there any correlation with it and the hyper clericalism of the spirit of Vatican II that led to a super increase of abuse of teenage boys?
But after Vatican II with an unbridled promotion of lay people being churchyfied in liturgical ministries and empowered by liturgy committees, we saw and see the clericalism of the laity too and often more virulent on the parish and diocesan level than any priest ever was.
Let me give you one anecdote. I celebrated the funeral Mass of my aunt in a parish in Brooklyn, NY in the 1990's.
When I arrived in the sacristy, I was greeted by two lay people from the liturgical bereavement committee to tell me how Mass was celebrated in this parish. I was told that in this parish there is no kneeling during the Mass and I was not to invite or remind the congregation to kneel.
Then one of the women snarkily said, as though I needed to know the wisdom of the liturgy committee's rationale for this, that the priest doesn’t kneel at Mass and the laity a part of the priesthood by virtue of the more important Sacrament of Baptism should not kneel either.
I thanked them for their service and promised respect and obedience to their authority.
8 comments:
Soo, no kneeling. Were you allowed to bow?
When my kids were in our parish elementary school (mid 80s), a very progressive authoritarian Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia dictated that no kneeling would take place before, during or after the weekly school Mass. Kids were not allowed access to the Holy water font, or to geneuflect upon entering the Nave, but simply to “Bow your heads before the altar!”. Parents attending were commanded to do the same. The young priest was in collusion, and no kneeling took place. He and the good Sister brooked no dissent and we all fell in line.
At the time, I didn’t know the word “clericalism” of course, but we all experienced it, over and over. The priest was hugely popular, and within a few short years, was made Vicar General, then left the priesthood to marry a women he had impregnated. My kids were shocked and scandalized, and it all led to some very challenging but interesting discussions in our house. I now think this was all pretty mild: At least he didn’t leave the priesthood to live with his male lover...
"I thanked them and promised obedience and respect to their authority."
That sounds like what a public school teacher has to do half of the time: Tolerate hateful and obnoxious bureaucrats who are full of themselves and go along to get along.
I know of a church where the pastor insisted on filling the holy water fonts with sand during Lent. Several parishioners were upset. A couple of people tried to discuss it with the pastor, who insisted it was his prerogative, no matter what any documents said on the matter. Finally, one parishioner came in, removed the sand and poured in some holy water from another church. The result? The holy water fonts were ripped out of the walls and removed.
In the Church's cultural revolution, counterrevolutionary activities and thoughts will NOT be tolerated.
"I thanked them and promised obedience and respect to their authority."
I would have packed my bags and said get another priest.
Bee here:
Fr. McD asked: "From one Sunday to the next, the old altar was pulled forward and stripped, the tabernacle placed on the side altar under Mary’s statue and the priest’s chair placed directly behind the altar, but higher than the altar. ... Isn’t this clericalism?"
Before this year, Father, I would have said, oh, yes, it is definitely clericalism. Now I suspect it was expressed homosexuality. Just my perception (which Father Kavanaugh would be quick to point out I may not assume is reality. So don't you either. :-)
God bless.
Bee
I would have told them to go to hell
Sometimes I think TJM is over the top. Not this time. Sounds like some Unitarians had sneaked in to the sacristy. That attitude is what finally drove me to the Latin parish. I think Carol knows the parish, too. It was already pretty modern but had the traditional elements and structures. It was renovated and the tabernacle banished to an ‘adoration chapel’ that s a very nice space although it has a sort of funeral parlor feel to it. The nave and sanctuary seem more like a modern theater where I don’t feel the gaze of our Lord the same way with the tabernacle gone. It seems like nothing is there unless the priest is present.
rcg,
My family refused to help pay for the wreckovation and switched to St Peter's in Huber Heights. The associate pastor started a young men's group called Knights of our Lady which was very successful. It involved adoration, then exercise, then catechesis and competition, and then food (usually ice cream). Many Boy Scouts would skip the scout meeting to attend!
I was shocked when I visited the other wreckovated parish and everyone stood for the kneeling parts of the Mass. I knelt on the floor, and vowed never to return.
rcg,
One needs to punch back twice as hard at evil. And these "ladies" are evil.
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