Feel the Pain

In the comment section of “Squelching Latin in the Mass”, some of us got to commiserating about the state of liturgical affairs in our various parishes and in the Church as a whole.

Now, we all know that things can be really, really, really bad – like clown Masses and beer tent Masses, and bishops high-fiving each other and holding balloons at Mass – or they can be “sorta-kinda bad”, with bad homilies, adlibbing of prayers, lay ministers in shorts and flip-flops, etc… and all gradations in between. Sadly, we hear few reports about parishes that have liturgies where the rubrics are faithfully followed, and where there is liturgically correct music as well!

Those who desire truly reverent and correct liturgical worship do experience pain at Masses that fall short in the rubrics department. And many have found that the Masses that don’t fall short are the ones offered in the extraordinary form, AKA the Traditional Latin Mass.  Funny how that works.

Here are a few comments from the post mentioned above:

The final straw in my parish church occurred on Sunday. I have been hanging on by a frayed string for some time now there, but Sunday's "homily" on the sin of "individualism", building the Reign of God on earth, and the priesthood of the people did me in. It is often a straw that breaks the camel's back. But [it was] the conversation between the priest and an EM in front of the open tabernacle that caused me the most pain. As an afterthought, the priest made a reluctant bow, and the EM thought to imitate him and do the same as they hurried away.

As I think I already mentioned here, I am a former sedevacantist/SSPX chapel goer.  

That is where I am on the brink of returning - to my sedevacantist chapel.
Our diocese is bad….

…I have been advised to sit home, but I cannot do that. I just want a place where I have my faith and a reverent Mass.

Another commenter lamented:

I am struggling right now. I have people telling me I need to go to the NO Mass…but I can hardly stand to be there after 3 years of the diocesan TLM only. This difference is wearing on me and the children.

Lately, I began going to the local SSPX chapel for First Fridays only and have found such an oasis there that I want to keep going back…

I often wonder why it is that the people who just want a liturgy that’s celebrated according to the rubrics and according to the various documents of the Church – even the Vatican II documents! – are ignored, at best; and at worst they are ostracized, ridiculed, and otherwise brow-beaten. The minute a pastor makes a change in the liturgically correct direction, a handful of “progressive” voices protest and say they’ll leave the parish if they don’t get their way. And the pastor waffles. Why is that?!

Whatever the reason, that’s the way it is. Of course, we should still respectfully make known our desire for a properly celebrated Mass – it’s our right to have a decent liturgy, and it’s even a duty to bring to pastors’ attention the abuses we observe. However, I suspect we will have to endure bad liturgy for some years to come.

Yet another commenter on the “Squelching Latin” post mentioned and provided a link to an article by Fr. John Hardon entitled How to Cope with Abuses in the Eucharistic Liturgy (thank you, CK!). I’ll give you a few excerpts here with a few comments interspersed (my emphases  throughout), but I recommend reading the entire article at the link.

Fr. Hardon notes from the outset that “[f]rom the very beginning of the Church’s existence Catholics have been obliged to assist at Mass every Sunday and at…Days of Obligation”, and that Catholics are well aware of this.

Catholics commonly recognize the seriousness of their duty. As a result, their conscience tells them to participate in the Holy Sacrifice… This same conscience is now being tested in not a few cases to the breaking point because of the widespread liturgical abuses going on throughout the United States as well as other countries in the Western world.

Basically our question is, how does a Catholic satisfy this grave duty of assisting at Mass…on Sundays and days of Obligation where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in ways that are frequently, very often nothing less than scandalous to the faithful?

Fr. Hardon gives us an example of a hypothetical parish

…[L]et us suppose we are members of Ethel Rita Parish, located in the town of Middleburg. Our pastor and the only priest of the parish is Fr. Filbert Imbecilius who introduced altar girls many years ago. He refuses to distribute Holy Communion to anyone kneeling. Either you are standing for Holy Communion or he will pass you by.

Fr. Filbert regularly omits the Gloria and substitutes what he calls the “Prayer of Belief.” He never says the Nicene Creed. He changes the wording of both the Sacramentary and the Lectionary to eliminate every even suggestion of sexist language. He uses strange looking and even stranger tasting altar bread. Regularly he refers to God as Father, Mother or pronouns He or She. He insists that everyone stand for the whole Eucharistic Prayer. He regularly changes the words of the Mass including the words of consecration to suit his own fancy. He hardly ever celebrates Mass without a crowd what he calls facilitators. Most of whom are well known as zealous feminists who join their hands around the altar during the Eucharistic Prayer.

Fr. Hardon goes on in a way that would be humorous, were it not so true! And he notes too, that in this hypothetical parish:

Countless letters, letters of complaint have been sent to the Bishop of the diocese. Every letter has gone unanswered, and there is no reason to expect that the Bishop will make any effort to change the abuses in this parish. In fact, the only occasion when the Bishop made any public statement on the subject of the liturgy was when he rejected a petition to allow the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in his diocese. Said the Bishop, “There is no need to return to the past.” and the petitioners were labeled, “Liturgical Reactionaries” by his Holy Excellency.

Sound familiar?! Then Fr. Hardon addresses the problem of the distance one must travel to attend a Mass “celebrated with some regard for the lawful norms” – again addressing a concern many of us face. He also addresses the remedy some have found:

A few years ago some members of St. Ethel Rita became so disgusted that they formed a private liturgical association, and now hold meetings every other Sunday in an old Protestant church building which they have purchased and converted into a small parish. These meetings are followed by a Tridentine Mass celebrated of course without the permission of the Bishop of Middleburg.

Fr. Hardon also addresses the canonical considerations involved in attending an SSPX Mass. He notes:

In my judgment, Catholics do fulfill their duty of assisting at Sunday Mass by attending in the Holy Sacrifice a church affiliated with those who are members with a schismatic group like the Lefebvres. But then I also must add the Catholics be sure that those seeing them attending these schismatic Masses are not scandalized into thinking that professed Roman Catholics have given up their fidelity to the Bishop of Rome.

Unfortunately, many do assume that anyone who attends an SSPX Mass no longer maintains “fidelity to the Bishop of Rome”. Perhaps they can be educated!

In order to cope with the abuses of the liturgy, Fr. Hardon suggests that the faithful must increase their understanding of the Eucharist, noting that there has been an unfortunate abundance of wrong theology about the Eucharist, with

…books [that] teach widely …that the Eucharist is essentially the gathering of the faithful…

They will tell you a priest saying Mass alone is not offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice. What we are calling liturgical abuses are only symptoms of deep doctrinal errors that have penetrated once Catholic circles and are causing untold damage to the faith, and I mean it, of millions!

…So many people nowadays are speaking about Eucharistic celebration. So few are ever talking about the Sacrifice of the Mass… [T]here is no substitute for understanding the Holy Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Mass which is, we believe, a representation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary.

…The main reason for the loss of millions of once believing Catholics is they have not understood what they have believed. Either you understand the meaning of the Holy Eucharist or today’s world you will cease to remain a Catholic.

Fr. Hardon also suggests that it is extremely important to

…keep up to date [with] the Church’s directives on how the Holy Eucharist is to be celebrated, worshipped and received. And hear it, the final arbiter on the Holy Eucharist is not, is not, the Bishop of the diocese. It is the Bishop of Rome.

Fr. Hardon’s third means of coping with liturgical abuse is “prudential courage”. He says:

We must be courageous, and I mean courageous in professing our faith in Jesus Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament and offering Himself in the Sacrifice of the Mass in today’s world and what I am saying refers not only to the laity but also and with painful emphasis to priests.

…The Catholic Church will survive only where there are still bishops, priests, and the laity who have the supernatural, even heroic, fortitude to live up to what they know the Vicar of Christ expects of those who call themselves Catholics.

There is much more to this article, so please go and read it! And keep in mind this prayer Fr. Hardon offers at the end of the conference:

Lord Jesus, we beg you to give us the strength to not just believe internally in your Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Give us the strength to profess our faith, especially in the company of people who have accepted widespread Eucharistic liturgical abuses and consider us out of touch with the times.

Mary our Mother, ask your Son to make us strong in following Him really present in the Blessed Sacrament even if this would cost us our lives. Amen.