I watched most of the Installation Mass for the new Archbishop of New York, The Most Rev. Ronald Hicks.
Since he is already a bishop, there was an “installation rite” after the Greeting and prior to the Gloria.
That rite, and I don’t think it is by design but by manipulation, turned what should be a solemn, reverent rite into an unruly pep rally. Nothing about it was sober and dignified, which should characterize the Roman Rite, especially the reformed rite that is supposed to have noble simplicity and dignity.
I lost track at how many times Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Hicks received loud applause and a standing ovations. But included in the applause was hooting and hollering, usually associated with a pep rally or some other kind of jamboree. It does not belong a solemn liturgical rite.
The Papal Nuncio even had the congregation sing Happy Birthday to Cardinal Dolan and again more applause, hooting and hollering! UGH!
Then the Papal Bull from Pope Leo was read and the parchment handed to the new Archbishop and he paraded around with it and throughout the Cathedral as though it was the Heisman Trophy! And again more sustained applause. What the H?
More depressing is that the people loved it, ate it up and wanted more! It was not a liturgy of the Church, it was like going to the pre-game activities of a Super Bowl! UGH! And they loved it! Depressing!
After this triumphalism, the Mass continued with the Gloria and everything else, with the kind of reverence we have come to experience in the Modern Mass.
How can this kind of thing be stopped? Read the red and do the black and stick to the liturgical rite as written.
Before hand, tell the congregation there is to be no applause. And add nothing to the Rite that would cause people to start acting like they are at a pep rally or a Super Bowl pre-game warm up or half time entertainment!
Pope Francis at all large papal Masses at the Vatican had someone ahead of time ask that there be no applause for the pope when he entered and departed. Pope Leo has continued this tradition and there is now sobriety at papal Masses by simply asking people to act reverently not drunkenly.
Is that too much to ask?
Press the link for the Papal Nuncio leading the singing of Happy Birthday to Cardinal Dolan. I think they should have gotten a Marilyn Monroe impersonator to lead that like the real one did for President Kennedy (RIP):
THE VIDEO HERE, CRINGE WORTHY!
Pope Benedict XVI on applause during the Liturgy:
- Replacement of Liturgy: Benedict stated that when applause breaks out for human accomplishments, the focus of the liturgy has completely disappeared.
- "Religious Entertainment": He criticized the trend of treating the Mass as a form of "religious entertainment" or "titillation" rather than worship.
- Proper Focus: The purpose of the Mass is to adore God, not to applaud human efforts, such as choir performances or homilies.
- Context: While applause is a gesture of joy and a normal part of life, it is considered inappropriate in the context of the Holy Mass, which is a solemn, transcendent event.
- Silence over Clapping: Benedict's perspective aligns with a broader push for reverence, suggesting that hands should be folded in prayer rather than clapping.
13 comments:
Dolan was always buffoonish
This is what smelling like the sheep looks like. Stuff and nonsense, not religion! How long, oh Lord, how long?
There were a couple of pieces of decent music but most of it was banal. Instead of pandering to Hispanics, they could have used our universal language, Latin, for the Ordinary to "join the Church of today" as demanded by St. John XXIII in Veterum Sapientia . Count me unimpressed.
The choir was fine, well rehearsed, etc. I did notice that choir members held an iPad or notebook of some kind to read the music. Technology! No one really likes these hybrid Masses trying to placate the various language groups at a particular Mass. Yes, Latin for the parts for have transcended language groups and united everyone. The Propers in Latin would have helped. Other hymns or motets are fine and the recessional could be just about any good hymn from whatever language. The accompaniment with all the instrumentation, tympani, brass, etc is too triumphalistic. The Mass itself should not be a hodgepodge of stuff but there needs to be unity linguistically and musically.
I totally agree with you Father McDonald.
“ I just don’t get it…”: Father, you don’t want to.
Archbishop Hicks declared his love of music. However, he did not sing the Preface. That followed the example of Pope Leo XIV. Not much Latin. Eucharistic Prayer III.
Archbishop Hicks delivered a wonderful, outstanding homily that accentuated Jesus Christ.
Full text: Homily for the installation of Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks
https://www.osvnews.com/full-text-homily-for-the-installation-of-archbishop-ronald-a-hicks/
Excerpts:
"Here are a few things that most of you have probably already learned about me: I love Jesus. I love the Church. I love people.
"And as Pope Leo has recently taught in his catechesis on Vatican II, Jesus says, “I call you friends.” Through that relationship, I strive to love my neighbor as myself.
"I also love the Eucharist, the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our source and our summit. First and foremost, I thank God, the creator of life and the giver of life eternal, for his divine mercy.
"Today in the gospel, Jesus gives us the great commission. Go, and make disciples.
"This is a call to be a missionary church, not a country club...on fire with faith, with hope, and charity in the name of Jesus Christ.
"We exist to follow Jesus, who fed the hungry, healed those ill in body and spirit, rejected hatred and proclaimed love.
"Pope Leo has been clear and consistent about this. The Church exists to proclaim Jesus Christ and the Gospel to everyone, publicly and credibly, without fear, in every culture and circumstance.
"A Church that upholds human dignity in every way possible.
"A Church that follows the example of Jesus who reached out beyond his own community and held up the Samaritan as an example of goodness."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Silere non possum has delivered a very positive assessment of the Mass in question.
https://silerenonpossum.com/en/newyork-santamessapresadipossesso-6feb2026/
Excerpts:
"The opening of the liturgy was marked by a gesture rich in symbolism: the new archbishop knocked three times, using a golden mallet, on the doors of St Patrick’s Cathedral.
"Hicks appeared visibly moved, aware of the weight of a threshold that is not merely physical: it signals the concrete beginning of the responsibility of pastoral governance.
"Welcoming the new shepherd were cardinals, many bishops and priests, men and women religious, and a significant presence of lay faithful: an image which, even in the way the assembly was arranged, reflected an archdiocese marked by a plurality of ministries and vocations.
"The heart of the canonical taking of possession took place with the reading of the Pope’s bull of appointment.
"The Nuncio proclaimed it according to the rite, and the new archbishop then displayed it publicly, moving among clergy and faithful as prescribed.
"It is an act that makes visible both the source of the episcopal mandate and its destination: the people entrusted to that ministry."
"In his homily, Hicks chose an approach that was both personal and programmatic.
"The archbishop said: “I love Jesus. I love the Church. And I love people.”
"He placed at the centre not an organisational programme, but a relationship."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Father McDonald said..."While some may argue for applause as a way to express joy, the theological stance of Pope Benedict emphasized that the liturgy's true joy is found in profound, silent union with God."
Applause, the singing of Happy Birthday...the hierarchs enabled all of that during the installation Mass.
Laymen had brandished a sea of cellphones to record video.
That is just the way that it is.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
"Is that too much to ask?"
Yes, Father it is. It's way too much to ask because the people in the pews have been conditioned to expect something different thanks to the liturgical culture that has been enforced with brutal rigidity since the "reforms" that wonderful council brought us and Bugnini's Mass set into place.
It's too much to ask young people and even their parents, who are products of a culture of rebellion and presumed intellectual superiority of left wing thought--it's too much to ask them to peacefully protest or even attempt to understand that every nation has immigration laws and laws are enforced. It's even MORE than too much to ask because they've been conditioned by multiple administrations managing America's decline that have not enforced those laws.
It's too much to ask that young people be literate. It's too much to ask because we have raised them in a culture of electronic supremacy where every person in public is walking around looking at their cellphone, instead of living in the real world. To ask them to lengthen their attention span beyond 15 seconds to read something IS too much to ask, because they have been conditioned to do something different.
Father, don't you get it? IT"S ALWAYS too much to ask when the ziegiest and culture condition people to be unruly, inattentive, superficial, media-focused and self-centered--it's always too much to ask them to be anything than what we've conditioned them to be. We as a society, as a culture and as a Church LET this nonsense happen. And now we stand around with our fingers up our collective noses, asking "Is it too much to ask? Gee, what happened?"
It's so obvious that we refuse to see it.
What Jerome Merwick says here should be inscribed on tiny scrips of parchment, placed in little leather boxes, and firmly affixed to the brow of every bishop alive. Bravo, Jerry!
I went back and reviewed this "mass." It was indeed a hodgepodge and really off-putting for anyone with a brain. The Roman Canon could not be employed so they could fit in all of the nonsense Archbishop Hicks appears to be a lightweight, fidgeting in the archbishop's throne like a kid watching the circus. Jerome Merwick is spot on!
Post a Comment