DIVINIZATIONS OF MAN
Our “liturgical celebrations” are irreverent divinizations of man. The greeters are chatting away with the people coming in. There is conversation and laughter in the pews. It is not possible to pray the Rosary. Our priest continually intrudes his persona on the Mass obscuring our view to Christ. His homilies range from mundane to prate. Reading the Bishop’s letter, (sometimes by lay people) is no homily. Neither are his ‘money talks’ or his ‘support our school talks’ sometimes read by lay people. Our priest cheapens the homily with jokes and references to personal things and thus holy things get treated as if they were ordinary.
Christ’s Sacrifice is introduced as a “Eucharistic Celebration”, the priest as “celebrant” or worse “presiding” -- all these expressions seem to suggest party. Even though Christ’s Sacrifice on the altar is unbloody, it is nevertheless True Sacrifice; and for that we should be offering our thanksgiving and adoration with reverence and humility.
Community building, recognizing individuals, cracking jokes, introducing visitors, ‘money talks’ and ‘support our school talks’ have no place in the Mass; yet the laity is paraded on stage on every occasion. In fact an inordinate amount of parish business is conducted during the mass; installing, recognizing and celebrating individuals. Visitors are introduced and asked to stand, questions are asked and people are encouraged to respond. The reward is laughter and clapping. None of those things belong in the Mass. I was at the Cathedral when the “resident priest” told the congregation to eat Eggs Benedict to commemorate the Pope’s birthday. I don’t remember the homily of course, but I can't help remembering this platitude.
No Vatican II document states that cantors and musicians should be down in front of the altar. So why aren't they in the choir loft? The altar and the musical stage compete for attention; making the Mass seem like a three ring circus. Who is it for? Are the musicians singing to God or to the congregation? And since we are not going to Mass to be ministered by the “music ministry”, the hymns should be for God and not for one another. Quit singing to the mountains and about eagle wings and break of dawn and peace flowing like a river and stop performing up front!
We all heard the argument. We need to make the church more appealing for young people. In other words, humanize and popularize the liturgy and people will come. Wrong, wrong, wrong! People need to be converted; not lured with entertainment. Experimental theologies and liturgies do not attract vocations or increase Mass attendance. Oh sure they attract attention as a novelty, but with no real substance every experiment fizzles out and dies. Yours truly witnessed both the height and demise of Life Teen at the local Cathedral. Where are the young people who were high on God now? They aren't in church. When did God stop being cool? One day they fill up the Cathedral and the next day they stop coming. But of course. When the new pastor began to remove abuses from the liturgy; with the hoopla gone the kids are gone too. Those that remain were churched already. The only difference Life Teen made in their lives was filling up their heads with charismatic nonsense and progressive ideas. In reality, the greatest impact on Mass attendance has been loss of the sacred. We could recapture two generations simply by allowing the Liturgy to be what it was designed for.
Somehow we have to recover the loss of God’s Presence in the churches. Catholic churches used to be holy places. When you entered you were compelled to bow in reverence and adoration. It is no longer recognizable that we are coming into the Presence of God, there is no evidence of respect or reverence. Waiting in the pews for Mass is no different than waiting someplace else, in a theater perhaps; chatting and visiting before the show. The Mass of course is more than just people coming together for some reason. Just think... what compares with meeting Christ personally in His Most Holy Sacrament?
