One of
the most egregious, widespread, and commonly accepted liturgical abuses in the Church will take place on Holy Thursday: all over the US, as parish after
parish struggles to make sure they can be considered “inclusive”, priests will
wash the feet of women and children during the Holy Thursday Mass.
It’s
bad enough that in many parishes, women’s feet are washed. The washing of the feet
is directly linked to the male-only priesthood; the Mass on Holy Thursday has
as its focus the institution of the Priesthood. At the Last Supper, Our Lord
washed the feet of the apostles, all of whom were male. That was no accident.
Washing women’s feet, just to be inclusive, sends the wrong message and a wrong
teaching about the Holy Thursday Mass.
The
washing of children’s feet, I
maintain, trivializes the rite.
I say this, NOT because I think children are unimportant. I do not think that
at all. But when you involve children in just about anything that is generally
done by adults, it becomes merely “cute”. Children are unpredictable: they
giggle, they squirm, they say funny things, and they are often just plain
adorable.
That’s all well and good, and I enjoy children’s innocent antics as much as the next person. But that’s not what the ceremony of the washing of the feet is about.
When 12
adult men have their feet washed, they look uncomfortable. I think that’s
appropriate. Don’t you think the apostles were uncomfortable with it? Didn’t
Peter even try to refuse to have his feet washed?! It is a humbling experience
to have one’s feet washed by anyone,
let alone a priest, who is an alter
Christus. And it is a humbling experience for the foot-washer as well – as
it should be.
Twelve
men having their feet washed by the bishop becomes a serious rite, one with
meaning, symbolism, and significance. It becomes a mystical experience for all
concerned. It is not “cute”, and it was never intended to be.
This
standard response that “the USCCB says it’s okay” is probably familiar to all
who have ever voiced an objection to including women and/or children in the washing
of the feet. In fact, a couple of years ago, I was told exactly that when I
complained to the bishop that the feet of twelve children were to be washed at
the Holy Thursday Mass. My objections were summarily dismissed because, “Oh,
that happens in many places in the US. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s an
effort to be more inclusive.”
To the
pastor of souls who employs this kind of
thinking, I might point out that, in the interest of: a) "pastoral prudence", "evangelical charity"
and avoiding "divisiveness" (and all those other buzzwords bishops
are wont to bandy about); and b)
fulfilling the promise of obedience to the Holy Father he made on the day of
his own episcopal ordination (not to mention Vatican II's Sacrosanctum
Concilium n. 22[1]
and Canon 838[2]);
it would behoove him to do what the Church obviously intends. Anything else
merely demonstrates that he thinks he is the master and not the servant of the Sacred
Liturgy – that the liturgy is his personal plaything, to be made and shaped
according to his personal whims.
In
February 1987, the USCCB claimed, via the Chairman of the Bishop’s Committee on
the Liturgy, that the washing of feet is merely an act of charity, and thus may
properly include both men and women. It took a little less than a year for the
Vatican to issue a corrective document entitled Paschales Solemnitatis which said (emphasis added):
The washing of the feet of chosen men which, according to
tradition, is performed on this day [Holy Thursday]... This tradition should be
maintained, and its proper significance explained.
Since
this document was published, there has been nothing new from the Vatican that
might indicate a change in “policy”.
Here’s
the bottom line: The Lord washed the feet of the men he was about to make
priests at the Eucharist, so this act is intimately connected to the
priesthood. The Holy Thursday Mass commemorates and re-enacts that act. The
rubrics and documents that regulate this rite state that only men are to have their feet washed; that only a priest or bishop should do the washing;
and that it is only the feet that
are to be washed. When some other variation is done, it confuses the faithful
and dilutes the meaning of the rite. Such variations constitute a grave abuse
because they detract from the sacred character of the priesthood instituted by
Christ Himself.
[1] SC 22. (1) Regulation of the sacred
liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the
Apostolic See, and, as laws may determine, on the bishop.
(2) In virtue of power conceded by law, the regulation
of the liturgy within certain defined limits belongs also to various kinds of
bishops' conferences, legitimately established, with competence in given
territories.
(3) Therefore no other person, not even a priest, may
add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.
[2]Can.
838 ß1 The ordering and guidance of the sacred liturgy depends solely upon the
authority of the Church, namely, that of the Apostolic See and, as provided by
law, that of the diocesan Bishop.
ß2 It is the prerogative of the Apostolic See to
regulate the sacred liturgy of the universal Church, to publish liturgical
books and review their vernacular translations, and to be watchful that
liturgical regulations are everywhere faithfully observed.
