FATHER JOE'S MASS: IT'S VALID BUT IS IT LICIT?

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Father (not 'Father Joe') pronounces the words of Consecration

Faithful Catholics of the Cathedral Parish, Palmerston North, Our Lady of Lourdes PN, St Mary's Foxton, Sacred Heart Rongotea and St Joseph's Shannon can rest assured that Masses celebrated by Fr Joseph Grayland ('Father Joe') are valid Masses.

It would seem Fr Grayland's Masses are illicit - but they are valid. 

In 'Father James Altman and Father Joe Grayland - Worlds Apart' last Friday, this blog had the temerity to cast doubt on the Hosts consecrated by Fr Grayland (in other words are they Hosts with a capital H, or just hosts, as in bits of bread?

It was Fr Grayland's self-proclaimed disbelief in the dogma of Transubstantiation which raised the question. Can a priest who doesn't believe in what he's doing actually call the Son of God down upon the altar? (Vide Bishop Peter Cullinane, who told an adult acolyte some years ago, "I don't believe in what I'm doing" - although he more likely meant the TLM, not transubstantiation. )

Yes that priest can, says Jimmy Akin, Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a member on the Catholic Answers Speakers Bureau, a weekly guest on the global radio program, Catholic Answers Live, a contributing editor for Catholic Answers Magazine, and the author of numerous publications, including the books 'Mass Confusion', 'The Salvation Controversy' etc.

Jimmy may look a little bit cowboy but he's got the Answers

"The problem of grave liturgical abuses is so widespread that I regularly receive inquiries about what makes a Mass “invalid.” The technical answer is that nothing makes a Mass invalid. Validity is not per se a category that applies to the Mass as a whole. It is necessary to rephrase the question in order to give an accurate, meaningful answer. Typically, when people ask about the “validity” of a Mass, they wish to know one of two things: Did the Mass contain a valid consecration of the Eucharist? And would a particular Mass fulfill one’s Sunday obligation? 

In recent years the faithful have been scandalized by ambiguous and at times inaccurate preaching on the Real Presence and transubstantiation."

You can say that again, Jimmy.   

"Jesus chose to institute in the Eucharist a sacrament whereby he is really, truly, bodily present. Yet this is not obvious to the senses. He chose to hide himself in this manner, which is why those without faith or with wavering faith are able to doubt the Real Presence. Yet he also made this the single most frequently given and received sacrament in the Christian life. He would scarcely, then, be likely to make his Real Presence contingent on the fluctuating inward faith life of the minister celebrating it.

"Cases of priests actually disbelieving in the Real Presence are rare. However, when confronted with ambiguous teaching, a question that naturally arises in the minds of the faithful: “What if my priest doesn’t believe in transubstantiation? Does the consecration still take place?"

"The answer is that it does. It is not necessary for the priest to have the specific intention that transubstantiation take place so long as he has the general intention to celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist, even if he has a very erroneous understanding of that sacrament."

And Dogma 66 states that: "validity and efficacy (of Mass and the Sacraments) is independent of the priests' orthodoxy or state of grace."

That's all very reasurring. 

But. What if the priest has incurred automatic excommunication by obstinate post-baptismal denial of some doctrine of the Catholic Church? That would certainly seem to be the case with 'Father Joe' Grayland and his self-proclaimed denial of transubstantiation, not to mention sundry other heresies reported to and on this blog. 

No one is automatically excommunicated for any offense if, without any fault of his own, he was unaware that he was violating a law (CIC 1323:2) or that a penalty was attached to the law (CIC 1324:1:9).

Now, it's hard to imagine that a priest - especially one with a string of theological qualifications like 'Father Joe' Grayland - could be 'unaware that he was violating' a law against denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation, or 'that a penalty was attached'.  So on the face of it, 'Father Joe' Grayland has incurred automatic excommunication. 

How does that affect the licity or otherwise of his Mass?

According to Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, "excommunication does not expel the person from the Catholic Church, but simply forbids the excommunicated person from engaging in certain activities."^[10] 

These activities are listed in Canon 1331 §1, and prohibit the individual from any ministerial participation in celebrating the sacrifice of the Eucharist or any other ceremonies of worship; celebrating or receiving the sacraments; or exercising any ecclesiastical offices, ministries, or functions.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication

So on the face of it, if  'Father Joe' Grayland has incurred automatic excommunication, he's prohibited from celebrating Holy Mass. So his Masses are illicit. But not invalid.

Of course these issues should be raised with 'Fr Joe' Grayland's bishop. But he hasn't got a bishop and neither do the faithful of the Palmerston North Diocese. Not since October 2019, when +Charles Drennan resigned his short-lived bishopric (although he's still a bishop, but God knows where). 'Father Joe' Grayland is seen by many to be the de facto bishop of the diocese. That would seem to be part of the problem.

One of the pope's main tasks is to appoint bishops but Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who talks about shepherds smelling of their sheep, is too busy appointing women as acolytes, lectors and deacons, in a not-too-subtle attack on the priesthood and on His Lord and Master Jesus Christ, to attend to the crying needs of the flock of Palmerston North, New Zealand. One wonders how many other dioceses in his global fold are wanting bishops.

People ask, "should we complain about Father Joe?" 

To whom? Two alternatives: the Papal Nuncio or Cardinal John Dew who's serving as Apostolic Administrator. Experience tells us that appeals to bishops and papal nuncios are a waste of time practically speaking, but not spiritually because for one thing, "Nothing further is necessary to the triumph of evil than the silence of good men" (Edmund Burke), and for another,Catholics and Christians have a fraternalt duy of correction.

So complain away - to Cardinal Dew and the Papal Nuncio. Or rather, explain your concerns for 'Father Joe' Grayland's spiritual welfare, for his soul, for his eternal salvation and the same concerns that you have for the people of the Palmerston North Diocese, especially in the cathedral parish, at Our Lady of Lourdes, St Mary's Foxton and St Joseph's Shannon.

And go straight to the top.

 Ask the help of the Mediatrix of All Graces, the Co-Redemptrix, the Theotokos, the Mother of God. And Ss Irenaeus, Polycarp and Boniface - all Martyr Bishops. And lacking a shepherd for our flock, we could ask St Peter, the first pope, for his intercession too. 

St Peter holding the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven