WELCOM GETS IT HORRIBLY WRONG ON 'LAY-LEAD' (sic) LITURGIES

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Last  Sunday, parishioners at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit Palmerston North were treated to a Liturgy of the Word with Holy Communion  due, to quote the latest Welcom, "a priest being unexpectedly available".

Please. Pull the other one. "A priest unexpectedly unavailable" for Sunday morning Mass at a cathedral? When there are two priests at St Mary's, pretty much round the corner, and at least two at Our Lady of Lourdes it seems, given that when I've been to Mass at OLOL it was celebrated not by the parish priest but by others?

"It is appropriate for us," trills parish coordinator Steph Grantham, "to use the format of Liturgy of the Word with Holy Communion where there are some gaps in our Mass rosters."

The burning question is, why are there "gaps in our Mass rosters"? Why was this allowed to happen at the premier church of the Diocese? The absence of a priest on Sunday is not "a gap in our Mass rosters", like the blacked-out spaces I'm familiar with on ours, in the "Flowers" column. The priest and the Mass are not to be equated with the flower ladies and their arrangements, no matter how desirable the latter may be. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it that "we have become familiar on Mondays with a Liturgy of the Word with Holy Communion as a Service, enabling our priests to have a day of rest". How nice. Soothing.

I was staggered when on a Monday in Palmerston North I discovered there was no Mass at the cathedral. You may say I've been spoiled by a priest who offers the Mass in our little country parish every day of the week, for which I thank and bless him and his Lord - but that same priest has been heard to ask, when the subject of  'Father's day off" has come up, "Do you know any priests that are overworked?"

Mothers don't have a day off. Why should Fathers? Did Jesus ever take a day off?

Welcom's story on "Lay-lead (sic) Liturgies, in the understatement of the year, states that "the liturgy" doesn't replace Mass yet fulfills our Sunday obligation".


I beg your pardon? Precisely because I am, as Grantham says, "called to be fully, actively and consciously involved in our worship", and because "through Baptism I share in Jesus' mission, which is 'priestly, prophetic and royal',"  and although I'm loathe to contradict Welcom, the official organ of the Palmerston North Diocese, I have a duty to quote Canon law:

When a Holy Mass is not available to the faithful, they may participate in a "Liturgy of the Word." [Code of Canon Law # 1248]. (Emphasis mine.)

In Palmerston North there is a Holy Mass available to the faithful. 

If there were no Masses being celebrated within an hour's drive from the cathedral, a liturgy might fulfill our Sunday obligation. But in Palmerston North, the option for parishioners turning up to the cathedral on a Sunday morning to be told (or to observe with sinking hearts the altar dressed only with candles) that there's no Mass - even when offered the unconvincing excuse that there's no priest available - is to consult the cathedral newsletter for other Mass times, and leave the premises. After all, in Palmerston North people have the luxury of choice: St Mary's or Our Lady of Lourdes. 

Personally, I'd recommend a short drive into the countryside to St Columba's, Ashhurst. Plenty of time to get there: the Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated at midday, although you're urged to arrive at 11.30 a m to pray the Rosary beforehand. You might even have time to bake some scones and take them to share in a convivial lunch afterwards in the hall. Refugees from the cathedral would be most welcome. 

The following quote from the revered Father Frederick Faber, from a sermon for Pentecost Sunday in 1861, seems 'appropriate':

We must remember that if all the manifestly good men were on one side and all the manifestly bad men on the other, there would be no danger of anyone, least of all the elect, being deceived by lying wonders. It is the good men, good once, we must hope good still, who are to do the work of Anti-Christ and so sadly to crucify the Lord afresh…. Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that this deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side.

And also this, from the Archangel Michael to Luz de Maria, July 28 2019 (if it weren't a bit long for a motto,  I could adopt it as mine):

Those consecrated to Our King and Lord Jesus Christ must raise their voices and alert the people of God about what is occurring in times when holiness is required in each person, even if they live in the midst of mockery and persecution by those who do not maintain their fervor and zeal for the truth.

https://www.revelacionesmarianas.com/english.htm

Bob Gill says:

I always thought until just recently that priests had an obligation to say Mass daily. Even well after Vatican II I can recall coming across Father Paul Shannon saying a private Mass on one occasion in the old Sacred Heart church in Hastings. When did things change?

I say:

"The Code of Canon Law (#276) in the section entitled “The Obligations and Rights of Clerics” states the following: “In leading their lives, clerics are especially bound to pursue holiness because they are consecrated to God by a new title in the reception of orders as dispensers of God’s mysteries in the service of His people.  In order for them to pursue this perfection, …they are to nourish their spiritual life from the two-fold table of Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist; priests are therefore earnestly invited to offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist daily….”

A priest generally fulfills this invitation by celebrating the Mass individually or concelebrating with other priests with the faithful present.  However, even if a priest is alone, even without the aid of a server, he may still offer the Mass:  In his “Holy Thursday Letter” addressed to all of the priests of the Church in 1999, Pope John Paul II taught, “In the Eucharist, the priest personally draws near to the inexhaustible mystery of Christ and of His prayer to the Father.  He can immerse himself daily in the mystery of redemption and grace by celebrating Holy Mass, which retains its meaning and value even when, for a just reason, it is offered without the participation of the faithful, yet always for the faithful and for the whole world” (#6).  There are numerous stories of priests imprisoned and isolated in Nazi and Communist prison camps who found strength, comfort, and renewed identity in offering by themselves–  alone but united with their Savior and the Church–  the Holy Mass." 

Anonymous says:
Excellent. 

I have just got Taylor Marshall's book "Infiltration". I'm half way through it, very disappointing history but entirely congruent with what has and is happening.

I say:

I tried to buy Infiltration at the St Francis Bookshop in Melbourne. They'd sold out.

Bob Gill says:

Thanks Julia for the clarification on priests saying daily Mass. I'm taking it that because priests are 'earnestly invited' to offer Mass daily and not obligated, then somewhere along the line they have interpreted that situation to be one of choice, thus the gradual moving away from daily celebration?I've been thinking of how great it would be for a priest to actually do the 'Ad Orientem' celebration in our diocese and what would happen if I asked for this to be done in Dannevirke, for example. The request is for an orthodox celebration, so how could it be refused?

I say:

Bob I'd say you're dead right about a gradual moving away from daily celebration for many priests infected by the post-Vat 2 virus, and encouraged to have Monday as their 'day off' by laity panicked into thinking that because of the shortage of priests they should be cocooned in cottonwool - when in fact the shortage will be relieved only by more Masses, more fervently and reverently offered and with more of the laity attending.

Of course there's no reason why the Novus Ordo Mass shouldn't be celebrated 'ad orientem' (facing east, i.e. priest and people both facing the altar).Vatican II never stipulated that the Mass should be said facing the people; that the norms allow it is beyond dispute. So all you need ask for is a priest who's willing to do it - and that's flat (as my mother would say).