Are liturgical abuses happening because the Vatican "Lets the Bishop's decide"?

[Andyz]

I do not know if this question has been brought up. Forgive me if it has. Does anyboy think that abuses in the liturgy happen because the Vatican “lets the local Bishop decide” or “at the discretion of the diocesan bishop” wording on guidelines?

Why is it that the Mass is not being said correctly from parish to parish, and Diocese to Diocese. The Catholic Church is “universial”. But, according to the bishops. It is not. There are Bishop’s that are loyal and follow the Cannon and there are Bishop’s that do not. The outcome leads to confusion and abuses.

The Vatican should stop letting the Bishops “decide” and start making the non loyal Bishop’s obey and enforce the Cannon. If they don’t; remove them and replace them with ones that are.

AndyZ
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Knight of Columbus

 

[CatholicNerd]

I firmly believe that at the moment the Vatican is attempting to avoid a flat-out schism. If Rome were to walk around using the Rite of Degradation on erring bishops (oh, how I wish they would though…), most of the liberal ones would probably cut themselves off from Rome and drag most of their flock with them. This has happened before (think 1054) and it most certainly can happen again. I also firmly believe that the Vatican will not be silent forever. I suspect that sweeping reform will take place upon the election of our next pontiff (oh please let it be Cardinal Ratzinger or Arinze). For now, though, I believe that His Holiness is doing the best that he can. If schism erupts in America, the credibility of the Church here will be nearly destroyed. It is clear that the Vatican is not in favor of the abuses, and I believe that through promulgating letters such as Redemptionis Sacramentum Rome is sending erring bishops a warning.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

We sometimes look at the Church as being structured as a corporate business with the pope as the CEO. It’s not. It’s more like a group of independent corporations cooperating with each other for a common goal with the pope are the Chairman of the Board, but each company has it’s own CEO. The Pope won’t remove a Bishop, not saying that he can’t, but he won’t in most cases. The Bishop must resign or step down on his own, again I’m not saying that he doesn’t receive any encouragement to do so. The Archbishop of Seattle is responsible for the Catholic Church of Seatle, not the pope. At least not directly.

 

[Faithful_2_Rome]

“IF” Schism were to happen in the US? It HAS happened and continues to do so… So what if a big number of American Catholics “defect” they are doing so and have done so anyway in spirit…lets just make it official and threaten them with the FACT of a little fear of hell fire for not obeying is what they are in store!..I am so passed “kid gloves” mentality…this great church did not last 2000 years with “kid Gloves” tactics…it used equal parts MERCY tempered with JUSTICE…6 out of 183 Bishops seem to only have the big brass ones the Church NEEDS…and if American Catholics dont wanna OBEY…yes…OBEY…it aint no democracy…well…like Father Corapi said…fine…dont wanna follow the teachings of the magesterium?..SEE YA!!!

 

[GaryTZ]

It seems that when the Vatican comes out with new reforms for the Liturgy, the American bishops must study these reforms and how best to reform them to their liking. The latest of these reforms is whether to stand or genuflect or kneel for Communion. From what I understand, the individual bishops make their own policies in regards to reception of Communion. This means in one diocese, people must stand for reception (my diocese). In another, standing or genuflection or kneeling is permitted. It gets very confusing. Holy Mother Church makes reforms in order that the Liturgies are celebrated in the same manner universally (Catholic) in the world. When the Protestant Reformation began, the Mass and sacraments were changed by the Protestants. That is why they have hundreds of different worship services today. At the Council of Trent, the Church established the rubrics for the Tridentine Mass. The rubrics are the directions on how the Liturgies are to be done: books to be used, prayers that can be used, gestures and postures, etc. The Council was so concerned about how the Mass was to be celebrated as not to confuse it with Protestant services, that the priests were obligated, under the penalty of committing a serious sin, if they did not follow the rubrics as prescribed in the Roman Missal used at Mass. This obligation was enforced for 400 years until Vatican II. When the liturgy was reformed, this obligation was either dropped or ignored totally. I served at Tridentine Masses back in 1950’s in different parishes, and in different cities. Surprisingly, I knew how to serve at each one of them, because the Mass was always celebrated the same way. We cannot say the same for the way the Masses are celebrated today as a result of liberalization of the liturgy. The Vatican is working on a new English translation of the Roman Missal. It is to be a more accurate translation of the Latin with the rubrics clearly stated. The American bishops have already said that they must study the new Missal before it can be used in the U.S… The Church is in the hands of the Holy Spirit, let’s pray that the bishops of the world follow His guidance through the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ.

God Bless