MY CRITIQUE OF THE BEATIFICATION MASS OF NOW BLESSED FULTON J. SHEEN

I post the Beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul I by Pope Francis I as a better example of how a Beatification Mass should be celebrated. Of course the Vatican knows how to do these!

I want to be charitable to the planners of the Beatification Mass in a civic arena with thousands and thousands of people, but there are some issues that go beyond a Mass in a non-church/cathedral setting that should be called out. Ordinations tend to become very triumphalist because of the choice of music, instrumentation and other accoutrements. 

The Roman/Latin Rite Mass prior to Vatican II and after Vatican II is suppose to be marked by sobriety, not triumphalism. Even the pre-Vatican II Mass could suffer from triumphalism by the use of Concert “Masses” of the past—the use of these concert Mass settings replacing Gregorian Chants. I believe Pope Pius X tried to rein that in.

So, here goes my critique, both positive and negative:

1. The civic arena was set up very well and tastefully for Mass—the “props” used for the “sanctuary” were very nice and creative. Perhaps those setting it up have read my rants about floral arrangement placed in front of the altar and thus hiding it. The altar had a central crucifix but the six candles, very tall at that, were not on the altar but on either side of it but not in the catafalque sort of way and the flowers were in front of the candlestick but not hiding them. 

2. The procession to begin the Mass was well organized but way, way, way, did I write way?, long! Most of those in the procession,  seminarians, deacons and priests, should have been seated earlier—that’s how the Vatican does it for outdoor and indoor Masses. It would have been much better for just the bishops along with cardinal-bishops to have been in the processions to begin the Mass. 

3. The music was well done or executed, but way too disjointed and eclectic.  Because the procession was so dang long, there were a variety of hymns and chants sung along with instrumental music. Many times, there was dead silence as transitions were being made from one hymn or chant to another. The procession had no musical unity whatsoever, but the main problem was that it was way too long and done only to show in a triumphal way how many clerics and want to be clerics were in the procession.

4. I believe at the beginning of the procession the official Latin Introit was chanted which was very nice and sober followed by all the other hymns, mostly in English. There was another Latin Introit toward the end of the procession which was not Gregorian Chant, perhaps polyphony, and included the pre-Vatican II use of the Gloria Patri, but following that was another traditional English hymn. Whiplash!

5. Cardinal Tagle has a nice presence as celebrant and did not ad lib. However, after the greeting, there was the unnecessary and non-liturgical welcome of His Eminence by the local archbsihop. It was mercifully short, but nonetheless a break in the trajectory of prayer. 

6. Then followed the Rite of Beatification. I post the Rite of Beatification, perhaps Pope Francis’ last one, for Blessed Pope John Paul I. That beatification was crisp and clean and not overextended—it was sober. Unfortunately Blessed Sheen’s rite was overdone, to wordy and too much music and not what the rite suggests for music. The Pope Francis’ beatification follows the proper formula and was beautiful because of its sobriety. 

7. The Gloria, Sanctus, Mystery of Faith and Agnus Dei were singable English settings. However I would have preferred for those part to have been in a simple version of Latin chant, the Jubilatio Deo version.

8. The first reading was spoken in Spanish with the English, “The Word of the Lord” and the second reading read in Portuguese but again with the English “The Word of the Lord”. I am not sure why there needed to be those languages for those readings. Since the vast majority could not understand those readings in the language used, why not just use Latin, or better yet, the official language of the USA—ENGLISH!

9. The Responsorial Psalm, while well executed, was too theatrical, triumphantly sung and sounded like what you might hear at a Broadway musical in the style in which it was sung. UGH! 

10. The Alleluia was sung in a way too triumphal way too. No sobriety. Quite often, way too often, trumpet and tympani accompanied the instrumentation—nothing sober about that.

11. Cardinal Tagle’s homily was interesting, kept my attention but a bit too long and at times he used Blessed Archbishop Sheen to harangue a certain element in the Church today—a kind of Pope Francis’ negativity toward those who pushed back against His Holiness.  

12. The General Intercessions was a disaster. When deacons are available, just have a deacon read or chant them. But the planners had a variety of people reading each petition but the choir had a choral response, but the readers didn’t seem to know that that was the case—did I say the execution of the intercessions was a disaster? 

Overall, though, I think the laity there and the clergy there, less negative in critiquing liturgy than I am, loved the entire experience but maybe for the wrong reasons—the drunken triumphalism rather than the true ethos of the Latin Rite, sobriety.