Tidings of Discomfort and Liturgical Abuse
This Christmas, I was delighted to have the opportunity to travel across at least three states to celebrate the joy of this season with my family. This was the good news. The bad news? I was pelted to a spiritual pulp by liturgical abuse after abuse. Because the Mass in my home parish is faithful, I have not had to endure this level of concentrated torture for some time — and, frankly, the shock was a bit much to take.
So I share with you here a list of the dastardly deeds of the ignorant, sloppy, slothful, unfaithful and the well intended. Each of these listed below is prohibited by the liturgical norms or other instructions from the Holy See or is an omission contrary to expressed guidance provided by the Church:
• Changing of the prayers by the priest (absolutely forbidden).
• Standing when the rubrics instruct us to kneel (diocese-wide disobedience to the Holy See).
• Tropes repeated at the singing of the “Lamb of God” (recently clarified by the Holy See as inappropriate and forbidden).
• Priests, deacons and laypeople scrambling around the altar before Mass with no indication — other than a few rapid half bird-pecks toward the tabernacle — that they believe that Christ is actually present in the tabernacle.
• The use of an extraordinary minister of Communion when there were less then 10 people in a daily Mass that was presided over by an able deacon and an able priest.
• Priests and people running around the sanctuary to offer the sign of peace.
• No observation of silence before Mass, except at a midnight Mass at a faithful monastery.
• Applause and praise to individuals at Mass during the Mass (directed at my own family, which was even more embarrassing).
• Hand-holding during the Our Father — with one extraordinarily silly, though I am sure well-intentioned, contortionist even reaching backward while facing forward in order to connect the two rows of pews. (This is forbidden on the basis that we are not allowed to add or change the Mass.)
Read more: www.ncregister.com/…/tidings-of-disc…
