Musings on Orifices

Perusing and digging into Heresy Hunter's latest and monumental work on the StarChamber, Magic Circle/CanChurch establishment comes this little snippet from the bulletin of a parish where some controversy seems to be taking place for over a year now.

I've heard it all about the goings on, most of it is unprintable because it is in the realm of gossip, but this is not. That a Pastor could take such a private medical procedure and some how think it appropriate to put it into the parish bulletin under the title of "Musings" is so sick, so idotic, so deranged that it cannot go without a comment.

What kind of man, what kind of priest does this?

How is this tolerated?

I googled the first sentence and found it right away and found it.

This is no joke friends, but it is sick:

We get poked and prodded and pricked in places... We are checked over and under and even where the "sun don't shine". Speaking of where the sun don't shine, it is time for my second colonoscopy. It is about two years behind (no pun intended) schedule... all good things must come to an end - so to speak... it is the preparation that is the drudgery of it all. They try to disguise the prep with obscure sounding processes, like the drink "evacuates" your insides for the camera. (When I dreamed of being in pictures, this isn't what I had in mind). No one warns you of the act of violence that this liquid perpetuates on you with sudden and prolonged fury... So then, it is time to stock up on nice, soft, Cottonelle, move the television so it is visible from the w.c., juice up the DS Nintendo, put a book or two within reach, and get ready for an evening of "evacuations"... Cheers, and bottoms up, so to speak.

What has become of us? Is it not bad enough that we have gone from women's hygiene products to the natural change in a man referred to as "dysfunction" that it seems somehow acceptable to use words such as where "the sun don't shine" and puns about one's "behind" and a part of the body such as the "end" and using Cottonelle for a toast to "bottoms up?"

What kind of sick joke is this?

This is a priest of Jesus Christ?

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: What does the Church really say?

It has been an extremely busy summer, as usual and thus, blogging has been sparse. There is much on my mind and much for us to talk about. So, let us begin with this.

In this document is the clarity on what are ubiquitously referred to as Eucharistic Ministers. Friends, there are only three "Eucharistic Ministers" in the Catholic Church, a bishop, a priest and a deacon. The actual "Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion" the correct term, is an Installed Acolyte, generally a Seminarian. The laity can be delegated to fulfill the need for an Acolyte in the absence of one. The Church is hierarchical, so is the liturgy. If an Installed Acolyte is present at a Mass, he has the right and obligation to Lector or serve as an Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in the place of the laity. The lay person must stand down. If a priest not celebrating the Mass delivers a homily and stays to distribute Holy Communion, he cannot be usurped by a layman. If a Deacon is present, he must fulfill his role as an Ordinary Minister of the Eucharist and must never be supplanted by a layman.

In 1997, on Assumption a document was issued by the Holy See called  Ecclesia de mysterio and it was signed by an unprecedented number of Prefects! The first dicastery listed was the Congregation of the Clergy, clearly for whom this was meant. For the purpose of this topic, let us just look at Article 8 of this Instruction.

Amazingly, the document was issued and signed by:

 

Congregation for the Clergy

Darío Castrillón Hoyos

Pro-Prefect

Crescenzio Sepe

Secretary

 

Pontifical Council for the Laity

James Francis Stafford

President

Stanislaw Rylko

Secretary

 

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Joseph Card. Ratzinger

Prefect

Tarcisio Bertone SDB

Secretary

 

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez

Pro-Prefect

Geraldo Majella Agnelo

Secretary

 

Congregation for Bishops

Bernardin Card. Gantin

Prefect

Jorge María Mejía

Secretary

 

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

Jozef Card. Tomko

Prefect

Giuseppe Uhac

Secretary

 

Congregation for Institutes of Consecretated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

Eduardo Card. Martínez Somalo

Prefect

Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti CP

Secretary

 

Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts

Julián Herranz

President

Bruno Bertagna

Secretary

 

Article 8

 

The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion

 

The non-ordained faithful already collaborate with the sacred ministers in diverse pastoral situations since "This wonderful gift of the Eucharist, which is the greatest gift of all, demands that such an important mystery should be increasingly better known and its saving power more fully shared".(95)

 

Such liturgical service is a response to the objective needs of the faithful especially those of the sick and to those liturgical assemblies in which there are particularly large numbers of the faithful who wish to receive Holy Communion.

 

§ 1. The canonical discipline concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion must be correctly applied so as to avoid generating confusion. The same discipline establishes that the ordinary minister of Holy Communion is the Bishop, the Priest and the the Deacon.(96) Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are those instituted as acolytes and the faithful so deputed in accordance with Canon 230, § 3.(97)

 

A non-ordained member of the faithful, in cases of true necessity, may be deputed by the diocesan bishop, using the appropriate form of blessing for these situation, to act as an extraordinary minister to distribute Holy Communion outside of liturgical celebrations ad actum vel ad tempus or for a more stable period. In exceptional cases or in un foreseen circumstances, the priest presiding at the liturgy may authorize such ad actum.(98)

 

§ 2. Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion.(99) They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion. (100)

 

This function is supplementary and extraordinary (101) and must be exercised in accordance with the norm of law. It is thus useful for the diocesan bishop to issue particular norms concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, in complete harmony with the universal law of the Church, should regulate the exercise of this function in his diocese. Such norms should provide, amongst other things, for matters such as the instruction in eucharistic doctrine of those chosen to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the meaning of the service they provide, the rubrics to be observed, the reverence to be shown for such an august Sacrament and instruction concerning the discipline on admission to Holy Communion.

 

To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches:

 

— extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart from the other faithful as though concelebrants;

 

— association with the renewal of promises made by priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;

 

— the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of "a great number of the faithful".

 

St. Joseph's Ottawa--more liturgical abuse!

Well the liturgical innovations at St. Joseph's Ottawa continue unabated. These people are so bold because they've been allowed to get away with this for decades. 

From last week's bulletin:

"The Creed: You will notice that we recite the Creed only during the seasons of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, and on special occasions. We believe that our very presence here and our participation speaks of our faith."'

 

From the General Instruction on the Roman Missal:

GIRM # 67. "The purpose of the Symbolum or Profession of Faith, or Creed, is that the whole gathered people may respond to the word of God proclaimed in the readings taken from Sacred Scripture and explained in the homily and that they may also call to mind and confess the great mysteries of the faith by reciting the rule of faith in a formula approved for liturgical use, before these mysteries are celebrated in the Eucharist."

GIRM # 68. "The Creed is to be sung or said by the priest together with the people on Sundays and Solemnities. It may be said also at particular celebrations of a more solemn character. If it is sung, it is begun by the priest or, if this is appropriate, by a cantor or by the choir. It is sung, however, either by all together or by the people alternating with the choir. If not sung, it is to be recited by all together or by two parts of the assembly responding one to the other." During the Children's Masses, the Apostle's Creed may be substituted for the Nicene Creed so the children may learn both.

and this:

"Just before we all process for communion, the priest holds up the bread and wine and says: "We proclaim our faith in the Body and Blood of Christ," and the community says "Amen" as one body. Then all are invited to come forward to receive the bread and wine, body and blood."

Redemptionis Sacramentum [59.] The reprobated practice by which Priests, Deacons or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy that they are charged to pronounce, must cease. For in doing thus, they render the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy unstable, and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the Liturgy.

At times during the year, they also have liturgical dance, drama and rites of initiation celebrated during Mass. If you have questions or want more information, please contact Mary Murphy, Pastoral Director mmurphy@st-josephs.ca or 613-233-4095 ext 227.

Time to write to Archbishop Prendergast, methinks.