On Friday, Pope Francis gave a short speech to Spanish Liturgists. Vatican News has the article here.
In part this is what His Holiness said:
“Man is for the liturgy because he is for God; but a liturgy without this union of man with God,” he warned, “is an aberration.” He gave an example: “an aberration, would be a liturgy enslaved to rubricism, which is not conducive to union with God.”
In my 1970’s seminary, our liturgies were celebrated in the new and improved way compared to how the 1962 and earlier Roman Missals would have been celebrated. The new and improved 1970 Roman Missal had relaxed the rubrics to the extent that they almost did not exist and priests could omit many of them if they wanted to do so without any repercussions from local bishops. Liturgical abuse and others kinds of more serious abuse were allowed to fester to the point of being destructive to the Church’s new and improved liturgy and the poor souls abused by priests.
In my late 1970’s seminary, priest-faculty members would not genuflect at the consecrations, made up many of the prayers and one never had the “Penitential Act or Gloria”, not even the Sign of the Cross at the beginning of Mass. After the Opening Song, he simply said “The Lord be with you” followed by “let us pray” and the Collect.
Some priests omitted the offertory altogether as they said it was redundant to the Eucharistic Prayer.
Now, I will be the first to say that the modern celebration of the 1962 Roman Missal, there are celebrants who are robotic in the manner in which they follow the rubrics and celebrate the ancient Mass. No human element of the person comes out in their manner of celebrating the Mass. There is no warmth or humanity even when preaching.
What I remember of the ancient Mass when it was indeed the Ordinary Form of my childhood is that priests that I saw celebrating that Mass were not robotic. They were human. Their homilies were human and showed forth their personality. I can remember an army chaplain at Atlanta’s now closed Fort McPherson in the late 1950’s making jokes during his homily to make a point and everyone laughed.
I know of no Modern Roman Missal Masses that are “liturgies enslaved to rubricism”. The exact opposite is the problem. Each priest does his own thing and the manner in which the Mass is celebrated varies from priest to priest and their personalities.
As a retired priest who helps in various parishes, I will have sacristans ask me “how do you celebrate the Mass” as it pertains to certain parts of the Mass. I tell them that I will do what the parish does or the pastor has established, unless it is off the wall. Then the sacristans will say, but Father, each priest has his own way of celebrating the Mass. I then say, well, I celebrate the Mass by the book!
Today, I know of no Masses in the Modern Rite enslaved to rubricism. Am I missing something?
21 comments:
Pope Francis does not really "think" about such things; he is an ideologue and he speaks based on emotion. It is always 1970 and the Springtime of the Liturgy for him. The only place (in the Mass) one needs to experience the warmth and humanity of the priest is in the homily. Because the rest of the Mass is not about him - it is about Him. Ever since they started to turn their back on the Tabernacle it has warped the liturgy and liturgical theology.
Francis was cribbing "man for the sabbath/sabbath for man" and then typically veering off on an attack as if had any relation at all to first comment, typical disjointed false equivalency hallmark of this papacy and its statements.
Still, a valid attack, but at wrong enemy, where he seems to be now attacking own recent "say the black/do the red" guidance, in a shallow defense for those who don't follow his own guidance, because those are his pals. Typical connflicting, waffling blather where he fancies himself a mastermind for being utterly unpredictable.
He reminds me of the 1960s/70s folk who styled themselves as aping Zen masters in paradoxical statements as a sign of their enlightenment and superiority.
Yes, we have Robbie The Robot priests all too often just going through the motions on autopilot, and yes, we have those same trying to wake themselves up by taking liberties with the Mass as Evening At The Improv.
Rarely, exceedingly rarely, do we have priests lost in loving worship for God offering up a Mass where they hardly know anyone else is there, and those are the very best Masses where those attending are inspired and caught up in worship with the priest. I can count Masses I have attended which were like that on one finger, maybe two.
People don't attend Masses for homilies, most of which detract from the experience of God, which is what people are attending to find. Frankly, homilies are generally the very least liked part of the Mass by most, suffered in silence as the homilies interrupt what spiritual seeking was ongoing. Nobody is interested in the humanity of the priest past his hopefully being a fellow seeker who found answers and can pass them on.
All too often, he is neither.
I will stand corrected if I am wrong in regard to the following:
The Vatican News Article reported:
The Pope went on to underline the importance of the connection between God and man in liturgy.
"Man is for the liturgy because he is for God; but a liturgy, without this union of man with God," he warned, "is an aberration."
"He gave an example: "an aberration, would be a liturgy enslaved to rubricism, which is not conducive to union with God."
=====
Did Pope Francis insist that the manner in which the modern Roman Missal is celebrated constitutes enslavement to rubricism?
Thank you.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Mark, likely not....Francis is very good at casting aspersions, but rarely, if ever, provides clear guidance, likely a Brando fan, '"What're you rebelling against, Johnny?"..."Whaddya got?"'
MT, the example does not serve well the good point the pope makes. Perhaps if he were speaking about the Ancient Latin Mass it would have been a valid point, but for the modern Mass, free-wheeling not rubricism is the fat, far greater problem. He lives in the 70’s and still thinks that example is valid .
Father McDonald, okay. Thank you.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
"Rarely, exceedingly rarely, do we have priests lost in loving worship for God offering up a Mass where they hardly know anyone else is there, and those are the very best Masses where those attending are inspired and caught up in worship with the priest. I can count Masses I have attended which were like that on one finger, maybe two.
If a priest does not know that "hardly anyone else is there" then there's something wrong with the priest's understanding of his role. He is NOT there for himself alone or for God alone.
CCC 1547 "The ministerial priesthood is a means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church."
CCC 1552 "The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ - Head of the Church - before the assembly of the faithful, but also of acting in the name of the whole Church when presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice."
Benedict 16th "The priest’s mission is to be a mediator, a bridge that connects, and thereby to bring human beings to God, to His redemption, to His true light, to His true life."
People don't attend Masses for homilies, most of which detract from the experience of God, which is what people are attending to find. Frankly, homilies are generally the very least liked part of the Mass by most, suffered in silence as the homilies interrupt what spiritual seeking was ongoing. Nobody is interested in the humanity of the priest past his hopefully being a fellow seeker who found answers and can pass them on.
A homily is not a distraction from the experience of God. It is an "exhortation to accept this Word as what it truly is, the Word of God, and to put it into practice,.."
This is a spiritual endeavor, not an interruption to "spiritual seeking," it is an element of the role of the priest/deacon as old as the Church.
The new Mass is just as bound to rubicism as the old Mass. What is different is that the rubrics are not written down. Just try to use some of the valid options available in the Missal to say the Mass in a traditional manner and found out how quickly you will be told that you cannot do it that way, that you must say Mass in the new manner.
Father K, we don't go to Mass to be united to priests, or the congregation... we go to be united to God, whom we seek...not the priest, not the congregation...expositions on the scripture being proclaimed to that end of union are appreciated and helpful, but rarely do they do so....nor are exhortations on attempted worthiness to receive God in the sacraments much mentioned...
sorry you fail to grasp, as so many priests do, that people come to find answers, to find God...they are not there for the performative arts...that people are NOT finding those answers is perfectly reflected in your shrinking parish numbers.
Bob - Grace Builds On Nature.
Grace (uniting with God) is possible at mass only through the sacramental ministry of the priest (Nature).
No priest I know carries out his ministry with the notion that the people are being united to him. We understand what you do not grasp, that our ministry is one of mediator, as intended by Christ and as found in Apostolic teaching. In 1 Timothy 2 St. Paul writes, "For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth."
As Fr. John Hardon explains, "And then in verse seven he says, 'For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle.' What is an apostle if not a mediator? The very definition of apostle, according to Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, is 'a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders.' That’s an essential part of what a mediator is. In short, St. Paul says we are all called to be mediators because Christ is the one mediator and for this reason he was called to be a mediator of God’s love and grace to the world! Is this a contradiction? Not at all! The fact that Jesus is our one mediator does not preclude him from communicating this power by way of participation.
The priest is not meant to disappear into a haze of incense smoke or blend into the flower arrangements adorning the altar, to become invisible so that some un-mediated connection with God is made possible.
Father K., to state union only happens at Mass is the height of clericalism.
All things, all, are ordered to that union....and the purpose of scripture, the commandments, the Church, and it's sacraments are aids to that union. You mistake the map for the actual territory.
Without that returned love, not even the sacraments can be fully effective. Keep in mind what our Savior so firmly critiqued, that rote observance and ritual was empty. All of the commandments can be reduced to two, and the second depends upon the first...
not the cleverest of homiletics, unless it leads to the first.
If you want to argue and say the priest should be anything but in total love with his Creator when he offers up the sacrifice as the best example to his congregation, I suggest you take that up with some of our greatest Saint who did indeed do that, and not only at Mass.
Bob, I did not state that "union happens only at mass."
I said, "Grace (uniting with God) is possible at mass only through the sacramental ministry of the priest (Nature)."
Note the position of the modifier "only."
Inasmuch as there is no mass without the ministry of a validly ordained priest, I stand by my comment.
Father K., Whilst picking at modifiers, uniting with God is "A" grace, unable to be accomplished without God's help and we are unable/unworthy to do so on own.
Uniting with God is not grace personified, nor is anyone dependent upon a priest at Mass for that union, even at Mass, although it not a Mass without a priest.
It is POSSIBLE to be united to God before, during, and after Mass, with Mass and the physical and spiritual presence of Christ through the actions of the priest a wonderful aid in that union...
But back to the topic at hand, and your exception to my post, note that I said it is POSSIBLE to be united before/during/after Mass...but oftentimes it is nearly or actually IMPOSSIBLE during Mass due to the distractions of style and manner of the Mass and the priest, which are opposed to its very purpose.
What a silly thing for someone who hasn't publicly celebrated Mass in--how many, now?--years to say... note "celebrate" not "preside"
Nick
Nick, it was just plain silly institutionalized clericalism....uniting with God only possible at Mass through a priest....pffft...
But, for someone who disdains classic doctrine, he sure falls back on it and Thomism when it suits him, but, only then.
I did not mean to imply he'd done more than TRY to employ classicist or Thomistic doctrine and theology, as he fell far short, as what I have stated is in line with such and in zero conflict. Even Thomas stated all he had written was so much straw in comparison to his times of union.
I still think it funny how development of doctrine comes to a screeching halt when job and retirement security at stake. A shame progressives refuse to see their views undercut anyone believing in the Church at all, and then the flow of support stops too, for everybody, ecclesiastics, the poor, everybody and everything.
Bob - Again, I didn't say you can find union with God only at mass. I said, "Grace (uniting with God) is possible at mass only through the sacramental ministry of the priest (Nature)."
Mass is only possible through the ministry of a validly ordained priest. You're not paying attention to the position of the modifier "only."
When you find a mass that does not include the ministry of a validly ordained priest, and when, through that "mass" you find union with God, let us know.
If, on the other hand, you come to the realization that there is no mass without a validly ordained priest, and that it is in and through the priest's ministry at that mass that you find union with God, also, let us know.
As for Thomism, or any other style of Catholic theology, when you find some doctrinal notion of the humanity of the priest being suppressed or disappearing during the celebration of mass, let us know.
It is plain from your comment that it is YOU who need read what I said, while your quote of yourself makes my point entirely with no other word from me required.
By the way, nice job on dodging the shrinking parish numbers due to inability to answer folk's deepest yearning for finding God with no ifs, ands, or buts. If they were finding that in your Masses, that would not be happening. Call it clericalism, call it rubricism, call it what you will, but it ain't working.
Bob - Last chance for you to get your reading comprehension up to par.
There's a difference between:
A "Grace (uniting with God) is possible at mass ONLY through the sacramental ministry of the priest (Nature)."
This says ONLY through the ministry of a priest without whom there is no mass.
and
B "Grace (uniting with God) is possible ONLY at mass through the sacramental ministry of the priest (Nature)."
This says ONLY at mass.
Since you cannot have mass without the ministry of a validly ordained priest, he - his humanity included - is entirely necessary for you to have union with God at mass.
To which I say, "BS"...unless you are only saying no priest/no mass, which is not exactly rocket science, and which never was disputed by anybody at any time this entire thread...
but which mainly strikes me as you trying now to weasel out of what you said...otherwise, you have spent how much time and wordage saying no priest/no mass as if you were brilliantly refuting my earlier comments?
You were doing better when you tried to make it sound like I was saying the priest disappeared in a poof of smoke, like maybe the great and powerful Oz.
Bob - I hope you find the perfect celebrant for the perfect mass that provides you with the perfect opportunity to pray. Your understanding of what makes for a perfect priest, mass, and prayer is obviously a universal truth.
Stay warm and well fed.
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