In an off the cuff question and answer session at a theology on tap event in Washington, Archbishop Gregory said the following concerning 70% of Catholics not believing what Jesus teaches about The Bread of Life as summarized below:
After a mention of the poll about lack of belief in the real presence of the Eucharist, Gregory was asked what Church leaders could do to stress the reality of the Real Presence.
Gregory emphasized that making Eucharistic Adoration available and mentioned how it takes lots of coordination to have perpetual adoration, but Gregory wants to see them set aside a couple hours a week for adoration. He believes that the loss of belief is fueled by poor catechesis, which happened over two generations.
My comments: I am all in favor of Eucharistic Adoration and if a parish can institute perpetual adoration, all the better.
That is part of the solution, but let's face it, the majority of Catholics are not going to go to Eucharistic Adoration, which nonetheless, is a powerhouse of prayer that assists practicing and non practicing Catholics alike and all the world.
The bigger solution which will touch every Catholic and anyone else who attends Mass is to "re-enchant" the Mass with the Extraordinary Form's tried and true ability to instill orthodoxy and reverence to the Mass and Holy Communion! That alone will help turn around the poor catechesis of the past three generations since Vatican II!!!! The law of Prayer is the Law of Belief meaning the way you pray leads to what you believe and this is a two way street for either orthodoxy and reverence or heterodoxy and irreverence!
1. A concerted and concrete reform of the reform in Continuity of the Mass, Sacraments and devotionals
2. These two things alone will go a long way in turning things around: ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion even if everything else is banal and casual
3. Get rid of the banal and casual in addition to implementing ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion
4. Insist that in the nave of the Church there is to be SILENCE to allow prayer, meditation and contemplation before and after Mass. The nave of the Church is to be a noise free zone before and after Mass as the Blessed Sacrament is present in the nave
5. Make sure the tabernacle is central in the sanctuary and not shifted or shunted to the side and God forbid tabernacle chapels separated from the nave frequented by less than 1% of those who attend Mass!
6. For the major language groups in the United States, the USCCB should come up with a national hymnal of suitable hymns in the vernacular and Latin that are appropriate for Mass and have no doctrinal errors as well as are not hymns set to secular style music, like Broadway ditties and the like
7. Mandate the chanting of the Introit, Offertory and Communion Antiphons as in the EF Mass, but either in Latin or the vernacular
8. Mandate Latin for the Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Pater Noster
9. Eliminate the common chalice for health reasons and the possibility of profanation because of the common practice of splashes and spilling on the floor or the communicant and allow intinction by the Minister of Holy Communion
10. Of all the things listed above, I believe the most important, bar none, is kneeling for Holy Communion as the means to emphasize what the Church believes about Holy Communion
My comments: I am all in favor of Eucharistic Adoration and if a parish can institute perpetual adoration, all the better.
That is part of the solution, but let's face it, the majority of Catholics are not going to go to Eucharistic Adoration, which nonetheless, is a powerhouse of prayer that assists practicing and non practicing Catholics alike and all the world.
The bigger solution which will touch every Catholic and anyone else who attends Mass is to "re-enchant" the Mass with the Extraordinary Form's tried and true ability to instill orthodoxy and reverence to the Mass and Holy Communion! That alone will help turn around the poor catechesis of the past three generations since Vatican II!!!! The law of Prayer is the Law of Belief meaning the way you pray leads to what you believe and this is a two way street for either orthodoxy and reverence or heterodoxy and irreverence!
This is what is necessary Archbishop Gregory:
1. A concerted and concrete reform of the reform in Continuity of the Mass, Sacraments and devotionals
2. These two things alone will go a long way in turning things around: ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion even if everything else is banal and casual
3. Get rid of the banal and casual in addition to implementing ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion
4. Insist that in the nave of the Church there is to be SILENCE to allow prayer, meditation and contemplation before and after Mass. The nave of the Church is to be a noise free zone before and after Mass as the Blessed Sacrament is present in the nave
5. Make sure the tabernacle is central in the sanctuary and not shifted or shunted to the side and God forbid tabernacle chapels separated from the nave frequented by less than 1% of those who attend Mass!
6. For the major language groups in the United States, the USCCB should come up with a national hymnal of suitable hymns in the vernacular and Latin that are appropriate for Mass and have no doctrinal errors as well as are not hymns set to secular style music, like Broadway ditties and the like
7. Mandate the chanting of the Introit, Offertory and Communion Antiphons as in the EF Mass, but either in Latin or the vernacular
8. Mandate Latin for the Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Pater Noster
9. Eliminate the common chalice for health reasons and the possibility of profanation because of the common practice of splashes and spilling on the floor or the communicant and allow intinction by the Minister of Holy Communion
10. Of all the things listed above, I believe the most important, bar none, is kneeling for Holy Communion as the means to emphasize what the Church believes about Holy Communion
24 comments:
The Father Entertainer types would be hardest hit! The list is excellent!
It is rather anomalous to expose the Host in a monstrance, surround it with candles, and kneel before it in silent adoration, even genuflecting with both knees, and then allow the same Host to be passed from layperson to layperson and picked up with the fingers, which is what happens in nine out of ten parishes.
In the 1970s a prominent American theologian whose name now escapes me, described Eucharistic adoration disparagingly as 'cookie worship'. These sentiments informed a whole generation of priests who then went on to infect the laity.
Well, I guess you would not like my parish in 30327. The tabernacle is at the side and we serve communion in both species at most Masses. But cut us some slack, at least at the 10am Sunday Mass we sing the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei in Latin!
John, one of my seminary theologians in 1976 told his students, I reaction to other seminarians wanting adoration and Benediction at out seminary, that both were Cananite cookie worship! And yes he taught my generation of priests how to destroy orthodox belief in the Mass and Holy Communion. I was scandalized then and now when I am reminded of it! Thank you John!
I agree with the disconnect with Adoration and the actual practices of 99% of Catholic parishes at Holy Communion time.
"Eliminate the common chalice for health reasons..."
There are no "health reasons" that support the elimination of he common communion cup.
Michael! Such a disconnect from reality and hypocrisy as you eliminated the common chalice during flu season for health reasons!
Allan, I did not "eliminate" the common cup for communion. For a few weeks we suspended its use when the conditions seemed to warrant it.
There are no "health reasons" to eliminate the use of the common cup permanently.
Your germophobia is showing - again.
Kavanaugh,
I thought you belonged to the "Party of Science?" Keep telling yourself that drinking from a common chalice is risk free. Holding hands at the Pater and shaking hands at the Pax is also not a health hazard! You sound pro-germ! Be that as it may, providing the chalice to the laity does not appear to increase belief in the Real Presence, or doesn't that matter? Kneeling at the rail and receiving on the tongue would seem to better reinforce belief in the Real Presence since at the time that practice was universal we had more Catholics who believed in the Real Presence than now
Let's leave health issues out of it. Anglicans have used the common cup for centuries and have not suffered undue ill effects. Admittedly, I wouldn't want to consume the dregs of a cup that a hundred people had drunk from, but any left-overs can be diluted with water and poured down the sacrarium. And no-one is obliged to partake of the chalice. I never do, even where it's offered, not because of health concerns, but because it is unnecessary and its universal application is contrary to the mind of the Church. Also the way in which it is administered amounts to self-communication, and the same applies to Communion in the hand.
Intinction has never found favour with the Latin Church; indeed the practice was reprobated by popes from the first millennium onwards, for theological reasons. There are also practical difficulties involved with it - not least when the communicant wants to receive in one kind. However, the reason bishops don't like it is because it makes EMs redundant.
Um, being a parishoner in his previous Archdiocese, I can say with certitude he will not implement any of those 10 suggestions in Washington. And I suspect your bishop, who previously served up here, will not either. Heck, I hate to say anything nice about the liberal Episcopal Church, but they probably have more parishes where the Eucharist is celebrated "ad orientum" than do we (though the modern-day practice in most of their parishes has been to follow the modern Roman practice) Ironically, in the old days most Episcopal parishes did not have weekly communion (in the days of "ad orientum"), but now most of them do even as they have shifted to free-standing altars. After all, what is the point of having an altar in middle of church if you are not going to regularly celebrate the Eucharist?
Allan, It is, as you know, hurricane season. As you know the NOAA has revised it's predictions for the Atlantic this season, saying that there is a good chance for 10-17 named storms, 5-9 hurricanes, and 2-4 major hurricanes. The update came because the El Nino in the Pacific has ended, and it is the el Nino pattern that suppresses Atlantic storms.
So, have you boarded up your windows yet? Do you even HAVE boards for your windows?
Yes, there is a chance we will suffer a catastrophic hurricane. We all know that it is only a matter of time. But, no, you have not boarded up your windows because the threat, though very real, does not warrant that action.
The same thinking applies for your suggestion that we must eliminate the common cup for "health reasons." As I have stated over and over, because I am trained in science, there is ALWAYS the possibility that a deadly outbreak of some disease from hand shaking, touching doorknobs or push-plates, or sharing the common cup. The chance is so slight, however, as to be almost negligible. The threat does not warrant ending the common cup.
Yes common sense and natural law available to all and not an academic click dictates what I have for hurricanes, which you list, as well as what you do during flu season, the elimination of the common chalice. I am glad your academic credentials keep up with my common sense and what nature tells us. Congratulations!
Kavanaugh,
You are tedious. I hope your sermons are not
Allan, I do not eliminate the common cup during flu season. Once in my present parish I suspended it for a month. Once.
Academics are not dictating anything to you. They are preventing loss of life and property.
"Common sense" did not save the 8,000 or so who died in the Galveston hurricane in 1900. These were people who, many of them, had lived on the water for generations and had as much common sense as anyone else. What they did not have was what the "academics" developed over the past couple of generations: meteorological modeling, satellites, Doppler radar, hurricane hunters, etc.
You'll board up your windows when the meteorological academics tell you it is a good idea to do so, so your complaints about them ring hollow.
Fox and the Grapes much?
Mike, me thinks u protest 2 much.
Allan, it is good that you are starting to think. If you haven't tired yourself out in the process, think about the spelling of "methinks."
Hmm. U missed “u” and “2” 2!
I eliminated the “common Cup” years ago. Science had nothing to do with it...common sense and a lot of thought and prayer did.
Father McDonald said...."6. For the major language groups in the United States, the USCCB should come up with a national hymnal of suitable hymns in the vernacular..."
The "major language groups in the United States..."
That would be...
-- Yo!
-- Howdy!
-- Da Bears!
-- Like wow, dude!
Aka...
-- Brooklyn..(Yo.)
-- The South...(howdy).
-- Midwest/Upper Midwest/Great Leaks...(Da Bears)
-- California...(Like wow, dude)
Honorable mentions:
-- Dat...New Orleans
-- Own-youn (onion)...Cajun/Louisiana
-- Pock tha cah (park the car)...New England
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I'm sorry, but it's hard to take Wilton Gregory seriously. He speaks bits of the truth and mixes it with the rest of his agenda which seems far more political than spiritual. None for me thanks.
Now that he is no longer in Atlanta, maybe this could be the beginning of this blog having a more objective assessment of a bishop whose words and life raise many, many questions.
Cletus, you might not take Wilton Gregory seriously, but I suspect his input into his successor here in Atlanta will be taken seriously. I never heard much criticism about him from fellow layfolks in his 14 years up here. New parishes opened up during his tenure up here, and there are dozens of men seeking holy orders in his old archdiocese. I was surprised that someone his age (going on 72) was sent up to DC, but I guess "old" is a relative term in the Church---maybe 85 would seem to be seen as too old. As for his successor, who knows? All we hear about on Sundays up here is prayers for the process, but nothing more---no timetable for selection, nothing on the criteria for the selection---though in any event, lots of people I know think if their parish is OK, everything else is, so they don;t focus much on who the bishop is at any given time.
I am glad you are so happy with Archbishop Gregory's record. His Buckhead mansion gaffe was actually far more than a gaffe.
However, there is absolutely no denying his utter complicity and support of all things LGBT in the archdiocese. Vocations are great, but what KIND and QUALITY of vocations are you getting. If it's just more status-quo effeminates who are going to keep pushing the-new-springtime-that-never-was, then we don't have much to celebrate.
But back to his LGBT sympathies. Anyone who reads the John Jay Report can see that the vast majority of abuse cases involved male on male relations and the victims were, in the majority of cases, adolescent or post-adolescent males. To send someone with Gregory's records and open sympathies with the LGBT cult to an archdiocese that is reeling from homosexual scandals is reprehensible. This from the pope who criticized the Archbishop of Philadelphia as an "ideologue"? That term cuts both ways.
Actually, I take Wilton Gregory very seriously as a threat to the Church. I simply do not take him seriously as a spiritual leader. Thanks for inviting me to clarify.
Cletus, well, Gregory did have some controversy years ago when buying a pricey house in Atlanta's wealthy Buckhead section---but he was on the hunt for a new house as his old residence near the cathedral was converted into a rectory for the cathedral parish. The house he was buying even had an "escape room" if it were invaded (by maurauding conservatives angry over his tenure---Ok, just kidding). I don't mind a bishop having a decent residence, like for entertaining, but it was a bridge too far, so he bought a more modest one in Cobb County near the chancery.
As for his support of LBGT in the Archdiocese, I haven't found him ever supporting same-sex marriages (in fact, the Archdiocese hosts a diocesan-wide Mass every fall for couples married 50 or 60 years), but if he has looked too supportive of such agenda, perhaps that is because he is black and he suspects gays are another minority being picked on (though I don't view the two issues as the same). And Atlanta, always the punching boy of the rural Georgians, has become more and more liberal---radical Stacey Abrams easily won the region for governor and Obama carried it twice. This ain't Springfield, Illinois or Lincoln. Nebraska---I'm sure you know what I mention those cities.
Of course, we don't know if he was the most liberal choice of the terna, as we are never told who the candidates are for positions such as the one he holds now. But as I have said before, I am not a fan of sending 70-somethings to new dioceses---of course no one at the Vatican asked me!
Sooner or later, Father M. will have to write "Cardinal" Gregory. Perhaps when Cardinal Wuerl turns 80...
Post a Comment