The Vortex: Male Feet for Holy Thursday

The March 30 Vortex episode (see the video below) highlighted one of the most egregious and widespread – and commonly accepted – liturgical abuses in the Church. (See also: "Good Friday: No Concelebration").

Here are some excerpts from the script:

As we advance into Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday, it is worth noting that all over the United States and many other parts of the world, the Sacrifice of the Mass which brings an official end to Lent – the Mass of the Last Supper, Holy Thursday – will be marred by abuse in thousands and thousands of parishes.

…[I]n a tip of the hat to political correctness, and wanting to make nice-nice with everyone in the parish, and to go out of the way so as not to offend anyone at all whatsoever, and in some cases owing to a dearth [of understanding] about the dignity of their own office as priest – priests all over the place will wash the feet of women and children during [the Holy Thursday Mass].

JUST SAY NO

Sure enough, it's happening right here, in the parish closest to my house. Here's the bulletin announcement about it:

April 5, 2012

Father will wash the feet of 12 youth from our RE program. The following youth will have their feet washed: [the names of 10 girls and 2 boys are listed].

Ugh. As usual, "cute trumps all"(and see this post, too). As Michael Voris notes:

The Church is absolutely clear -unequivocally clear about this – IF the washing takes place (and it is not mandatory, it is optional)…then only men are to have their feet washed, and it may only be done by a priest or bishop, not even a deacon.

And 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 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.

There are six instituted acolytes at the Cathedral; there's one deacon; there's the pastor; that makes 8 men. The leader of the choir ("folk group") could be added, along with the parish's Grand Knight, and/or other active lay MEN. What an impressive sight to see the acolytes vested, serving at the Mass and having their feet washed as well.

Michael Voris reminds us in the Vortex:

The washing of the Feet is directly linked to the male-only priesthood…The Mass on Holy Thursday is about the institution of the Priesthood. And the Washing of the Feet (in Latin it’s called the Mandatum) is intrinsically linked to the priesthood. [He cites a very good booklet on the subject which is available here. It’s $2.99 for a PDF version you can print out at home.]

And here is a note that is probably familiar to all who have ever voiced an objection to including women and/or children in the washing of the feet:

Now some people on parish staffs will say, well, the US Bishops have allowed that practice here in the America, so it’s OK here.

And, in fact, I was told exactly that last year when I complained to the Apostolic Administrator that the feet of twelve children were to be washed at the Holy Thursday Mass (yes, it happened last year, too). I was told that, “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 Apostolic Administrator (and other pastors of souls), 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 it is his personal plaything, to be made and shaped according to his personal whims.

Michael Voris asserts:

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 blow that notion out of the water with the document the Paschales Solemnitatis:

“The washing of the feet of chosen men (emphasis added) which, according to tradition, is performed on this day [Holy Thursday]... This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained.”

Nothing new has come from the Vatican since this 1988 document allowing any variation of any kind whatsoever.

Here’s the bottom line, says Michael Voris:

The washing of the feet is intimately linked to the priesthood because it was performed by Our Blessed Lord those he was about to make priests at the Eucharist.

Only men are to have their feet washed an only by a priest or bishop and it is only the feet that are to be washed. When some other variation is done, it confuses the faithful and is a grave abuse because it tears away from the sacred character of the priesthood instituted by Christ Himself on this most holy of nights.

You know, it’s really not hard to follow the rubrics... Really. Not. Hard.

---

[1] 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.

ß3 It pertains to Episcopal Conferences to prepare vernacular translations of liturgical books, with appropriate adaptations as allowed by the books themselves and, with the prior review of the Holy See, to publish these translations.

ß4 Within the limits of his competence, it belongs to the diocesan Bishop to lay down for the Church entrusted to his care, liturgical regulations which are binding on all.

How Can A Catholic Evangelize?

If you are not a regular viewer of “The Vortex” on RealCatholicTV.com, you should be!

Michael Voris has been speaking lately in ways that are meant to, and really should, stir us to take action in terms of evangelizing the culture, and defending the faith - boldly. In the Vortex episode from December 1, “All Zeal, No Truth”, Mr. Voris talks about the Protestant claim that they have saved one billion souls for Christ. He makes clear that the Vortex is not about disputing the number of souls saved, but asks, “Where is the Catholic effort to do this?”

Mr. Voris has a positive effect on my own motivation to evangelize…until I think the whole thing through. Our poor Church is under siege from within as well as from without. If one wants to evangelize as Mr. Voris exhorts us to do, just how does one go about it?

Suppose I want to introduce a non-Christian or a non-Catholic Christian to examine the truths of the Catholic faith. Well, there are many beautiful documents, there are many well-written books about what Catholics believe, and there are many ways to describe the splendor of the Truth that exists in the Catholic Church. All well and good! I can do that.

But then…of course I will want to bring such a person to Mass. I will want the person to see for himself how Catholics worship God, how they perceive the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of our life in Christ. Right?

I have engaged in my own fantasy of evangelizing one particular young man, who happens to be the object of my daughter’s admiration and love, but who is not Catholic, and who doesn’t even attend church, even though he considers himself to be a Christian. I ask myself where we would take him to Mass, should he be so inclined to join us? What are the choices?

First of all, it’s sad that I have to ask that last question. The “choices” should be only marginally different from each other, and the differences should have more to do with time and location than anything else. This is, after all, the Catholic Church – catholic, universal. We’re supposed to be celebrating the Mass in the same way.

But that’s not the case. So I look at the limited possibilities over here in my neck of the woods. I have only a few choices because we are in rural northeastern Oregon. The choices all involve bad music – sometimes performed well, but bad nevertheless. No one sings the propers of the Mass, and no one uses Gregorian chant in any way shape or form. The songs are not always theologically sound, or even appropriate in musical mood or tone. There are endless guitars, sometimes piano, and now and then a trumpet (a “joyful” noise, yes, but just that: noise).

The Cathedral has a great choir loft…with a wonderful pipe organ, I might add. Are they put into use? No. Neither one is used now. Instead, we must have a clear view of the folk group, with guitars and tambourine, singing from their site at the edge of the sanctuary. Sigh.

Generally speaking, all of the parishes around here (the Cathedral being the exception) have churches with a wanna-be Protestant look, and with music that doesn’t quite cut it. I don’t want to have the young man experience that; he will only think that it could be good, if they would just get some younger people with electric guitars and a drum set to play some really contemporary stuff…you know, like that Pentecostal church down the road.

And then there are the little girl altar servers who are just so darn cute it makes you want to melt into a puddle of sugary sweet goo. Yeah, that’s gonna make a big impression on my daughter’s boyfriend…but not in a positive way. Not in a Catholic way.

So I find myself at a loss as to how to explain to a person, such as the young man my daughter is dating, that the Church’s liturgy is much more than this. It’s difficult to describe the liturgy celebrated properly; you have to be there. That’s the whole point, after all.

Of course, I chose to come into the Church based on the Truth, and not on the liturgy or the music (both of which I found sadly lacking, but for all the wrong Protestant reasons!). I pray others can do the same.

Still, Michael Voris makes a very good point at the end of his Vortex episode on this subject:

The Church exists for the sole reason of saving souls. Nothing more. It is not a giant social help agency or political lobbyist machine. Souls. Salvation. Heaven. If we had kept our eyes on these final goals in the first place .. there wouldn’t even be talk of a NEW evangelization. Preach the truth is all its glaring blinding beauty .. that is the only thing the Church is commissioned to do.

If we do that  - preach the truth in all its glaring, blinding beauty – then we will only have to pray that the Mass to which we escort the potential new Catholic will not undermine that truth.

Sigh.