www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Lotsa changes in store for the Roman Catholics

Coming from a Latin Church, I found this article quite interesting and thought some of you might also.


Changes in the Roman Catholic Mass [americancatholic.org]

Dear His Daughter,

Some of the information contained in the link you posted is inaccurate. For example:

"Another dimension of the Communion rite is not new to the General Instruction, but it has often been ignored in practice. The ritual indicates that the assembly is to remain standing throughout the Communion procession. Once everyone has received, then all sit (or kneel, if that is parish policy) together for the time of silence."

An official response to an inquiry on this matter by Cardinal George on behalf of the American bishops states that implementation of the GIRM should not regulate posture so rigidly so as to forbid individual communicants from kneeling or sitting when returning from having received Holy Communion - without having to wait for all to receive first. (Prot. n. 855/03/L)

The source you quote does have the tendency to present the opinions of some liturgists on the options allowed as required . This has caused all sorts of grief for many of the faithful in the pew who have been accused of all things from ignorance to disobedience for following long-standing custom.

PAX

In additon, much grief has been caused by certain pressure groups who started circulating false stories of accusations that those not following the norms were not treated charitably in advance of the implementation of the norms.

Axios

The Chicago Sun-Times ran an article on some of these changes this past week. I was a little surprised at some of the flack that Cardinal George was given by some of the priests who felt that the priorities of leadership were wrong. Apparently, several of the priests questioned believe that the first thing should be to restore the faith of Catholics in general on account of the recent scandals. One of the priests (I am assuming it was the pastor) at St. Thomas More in Chicago (an awesome RC parish) defended the Cardinal. The problem is a lack of awe and reverence toward God first...If we have God in proper perspective (or at least as close to it as we can "through a glass darkly"), relationships with others will fall into line, and the scandals will cease.

That's is fine, now get the "new generation" to dress with reverence, instead of shorts, t-shirts, jeans, navels exposed etc.

I remember modest dress, where is the priest to bring it up to his parish ? Where are the parents ?

james

The problem is a lack of awe and reverence toward God first...If we have God in proper perspective (or at least as close to it as we can "through a glass darkly"), relationships with others will fall into line, and the scandals will cease

AMEN! So true! So true!

Axios,

I am not sure what you meant when you posted...

"In additon, much grief has been caused by certain pressure groups who started circulating false stories of accusations that those not following the norms were not treated charitably in advance of the implementation of the norms."

Are you saying that pastoral abuse of some of the faithful by over zealous liturgists has NOT occured? That it is only a fable invented by un-named "pressure groups"? (If this is not what you meant I apologize in advance)

Well, I know from first-hand experience that these things do happen, that people have been told that they are "disobedient" because they do not observe some rubric that isn't even official while sadly legitimate norms are ignored. Of course, when I point this out I am not making a blanket condemnation of all liturgists (just as it would be unfair to assume that all priests are guilty of sexual sins due to the exposure of the clerical abuse scandals of the past year).

My point in addressing His Daughter's post is that sometimes the "experts" can and do get it wrong. That is why we have a magisterium in the Catholic church - in order to issue clarifications when questions arise. I just think it is unfortunate that the link posted is being used as a teaching tool in many Catholic parishes when it has errors in it that may [notice the emphasis] be cited against others.

To read a fuller account of this issue see:

http://www.catholic.org/cathcom/top_headlines.php?ID=1743#complete_story

PAX

Dear Friends,

I guess there is more than one meaning attached to the term "Mass Society?"

Alex

Dear Jodi:

Your post reminds me of what His Beatitude Patriarch Lubomyr often reminds us - if we put God first, everything else will follow.


Dear All:

While I am not entitled to comment on Latin practices, allow me to applaud one thing from the article - that singing is to be a part of every Latin Mass.

This is something some of which our Byzantine Rite parishes with recited Divine Liturgues should take note.


Yours,

kl

LOL - from what I've seen, it's the OLD generation that dresses that way, at least in my family! Dagnab ex-hippies!

Well put!

Welcome to the Forum Jodi!

Sometimes it seems more like an arena than a forum, but you'll probably like it here

The administrator and monitors are pretty good at preventing bloodshed

Just like parents in a typical family!

Michael
that sinner

Welcome Jodi.

My reaction to the GIRM is this: "Just what we need, mor rules!!" It's another reason why I'm Eastern and not Roman. As Jodi says, "love God first." It would seem that the law does sometimes squash the Spirit.

Dan Lauffer

I don't think that's quite fair. The purpose of the GIRM is to provide necessary guidelines, because of the abuses promoted in the "spirit of Vatican II".

Sure, rules can be abused, but not having any rules isn't necessarily a good thing either.

For those of our folks who seem to think that every pronouncement of the Latin Church applies equally to them -- this can only be a good thing, I suppose.

Benedictine,

What abuses may have occured, the complaints against them strangely pre-dated the abuses. Yes, a rather organized lobby exists with a rather rigid agenda and they don't often wait for the facts.

Axios