Our grown up American brothers and sisters are much more fortunate that the Holy See has already ruled on ths ludicrous behaviour by episcopal dictators. Gee, they seem to find something in the GIRM to enforce that isn't there but they can't enforce the minimal use of Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion or Gregorian chant?
Meanwhile, the poor people of the See of Toronto's wayward child have had gestapo like "ministers of uniformity" going around telling them to get off of their knees. The Diocese of London under Bishop Ronald Fabbro of the Congregation of St. Basil as High Priest of liturgy has ordered under the rubric of "obedience" that people must all stand after Holy Communion until all have received and returned to their pews as a sign of "unity" and "community."
Woe too, to those in Calgary who suffer from a bishop who states, "The GIRM says this...In Calgary, we do this..."
Reports are reaching us today from Calgary, Antigonish, Halifax, Winnipeg and other places of this rudeness and intrusion on the part of some of Canada's high priests of liturgy.
God bless Archbishop Michael Miller of Vancouver for recognising "laudable practice.'
As referred to in the link above, this little matter has been dealt with by Rome previously and quite effectively at that same link by Francis Cardinal Arinze, whlilst he was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Letters will be written. Rome will be called in to intervene.
Look at this from a Facebook feed about the situation in London today:
Sadly, in my diocese last evening, some left Holy Mass in tears and angry after being forced to stand after receiving Our precious Lord in the Eucharist and were prohibited from kneeling. Shame on the priest and our bishop!
I just knelt anyway, the liturgy belongs to all of us, and the Holy See said we can kneel if we wish. I have never like bullies. The priest and I had a good discussion afterward and he at least seemed interested in finding out what Rome has said about this "no kneeling" after Communion liturgical fad. I'll be emailing the documents to him today.
One parishioner, in his 70's, was so upset at Holy Mass after being told the bishop said we can't kneel after Communion anymore, he yelled out during the priest's homily, "Father, why can't we keep kneeling together as a sign of unity?" The priest just responded, "This is what the bishop said we have to do for unity." Unity? Give me a break. Ripping away a centuries old custom from people, which takes place during a most miraculous moment in their lives, does not create unity. It creates harm through division, anger, and deep hurt. God save us!
Gentle Reader, this is not what the GIRM requires. This is not in the new Roman Missal. The bishops who do this are being insensitive and cruel. They are not doing what the Church wants. It is an ugly power-play.
It is my view that many, many bishops, priests and professional Catholics and liturgists resent in every way the Third Edition of the Roman Missal and the translation mandated by Liturgicam Authenticum. They were forced to implement it when as recently as last February they denied any sense of urgency when the Recognitio was still not granted. Some will stop at nothing to ensure that that which is to surround the Missal to increase reverence and holiness does not happen.
If they are so eager to interpret what is not in the GIRM when will they actually interpret correctly what is in there such as Gregorian chant?
Dear Reader, you have a responsibility to stand up get in the battle in a way that our parents and grandparents were not out of blind obedience and ignorance.
Here is one way.
5 comments:
This is just awful. Weekly Mass attendance is down to about 30% already. What on earth are they doing?
Give us some concrete suggestions on what to do Vox! Do we speak to our priest? Do we write the bishop? Do we write to the Vatican? Or do we just keep griping about it on the net?
One priest in the London Diocece told everyone they would be guilty of the sin of spiritual pride if their postures did not match those of the congregation.
btw what is the address for the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?
The Diocese of London recently published a sixty five page report on the state of the faithul (its found on their website) Sadly, only 14% of baptized Catholics fulfill their Sunday obligation, thus the vast majority are in a state of mortal sin.
Bishop Fabbro concludes that one way to get people back in the pews is to have pastors get active in social media: facebook, twitter, blogs. He said they must change the way they relate to the laity.
Forcing people to remain standing until the last person has received Holy Communion is not a change that will attract lapsed Catholics, its another modern way to unattract the faithful.
So many things done wrongfully in the 'spirit of Vatican II' seem motivated by dubious intentions. If you wanted to de-emphasize the sacrificial aspect of Holy Mass mandating against kneeling after Holy Communion would be an effective tactic.
How does the good bishop think breaking away from the universal norms of the Church will promote unity? Why not mandate kneeling after Holy Communion, remind people to genuflect in sight of the Tabernacle, receive Holy Communion as per the universal norm of the Church (on tongue while kneeling) and of course mention sin, salvation, and the requirement of being free from mortal sin before presenting one's self for the Blessed Sacrament.
The Law of unintended Consequences is a concept that seems to apply to much of society since the 60's, including the Church since Vatican II. Wikipedia has a good entry describing it.
Here's a snippet: "A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse), such as when a policy has a perverse incentive that causes actions opposite to what was intended."
Open the doors wide they said, let some fresh air into the Church they said..........hmmmmm
Sometimes though, as KWTC indicates, one wonders how "unintended" the consequences actually are these days..
A gimmick. A pure gimmick. That is what this new rule is about. Because there is no real UNITY and no real COMMUNITY the brilliant pastors need to come up with gimmicks to make people think there is unity there when there really isn't. DN
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