Are these abuses?

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hudson

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I attended Mass in a different town than usual while visiting family. This Mass apparently was in celebration of the end of summer camp for high school age kids. I knew it was going to be different from any Mass I have attended when they started bringing in the guitars and amps. Before the Mass, they started tuning their guitar with feedback, etc going on. None of this did I believe was an abuse, but something I don’t prefer to experience at Mass. The first thing that really upset me, was during the Homily the Priest had us do multiple rounds of applause for these kids and sponsors. Next the Priest had all of the kids come up to the Altar rail and he proceeded to tell them to hold hands for the Lords Prayer. All the people from the camp, sponsors and kids, rushed across the center isle to hold hands with people on the other side. After this everyone went back to their pew. Next during the sign of peace, he had all of these kids come up again near the Altar rail and then told everyone to leave their pews and come give the kids a sign of peace up front. It was like a concert at this moment as everyone got up and went all over the Church to give each other the sign of peace. I have never seen it as loud as this and there was zero sign of reverence that one would expect at Mass. This went on for like 10 minutes. After this, everyone went back to their pew and the Priest finished consecrating the Eucharist. When it came time to distribute the Eucharist, kids from the camp came up to the Altar. The priest gave them communion and proceeded to let them distribute both the hosts and wine, while he sat down. I did not receive communion today, because I was committing sin in my mind while all this was going on. I plan on going to confession next Saturday before I go back to Church, but I feel absolutely disgusted with what went on today. Since this is not my normal Church, should I send the Bishop a letter about any of this?
 
Yup Abuses galore. You should send the Bishop a letter indeed hudson. Thanks for sharing.
 
I keep remembering more. During the song while the Eucharist was being distributed, the kids, sponsors all stood while holding each others shoulders. They sang the song while swaying each other side to side. The Priest asked for multiple rounds of applause more for the kids and sponsors before the Mass ended. When the Priest was exiting, the kids and sponsors walked out behind him and one kid would scream something like “GOD” and everyone else would scream “IS GREAT”. They did this over and over as they walked out.
 
Pray for the priest. You could tell him that you were scandalized. I don’t know why some priests feel that the only way to reach Catholic youth is to present the Holy Mass as if it were a heavy metal concert.
 
hudson said:
I attended Mass in a different town than usual while visiting family. This Mass apparently was in celebration of the end of summer camp for high school age kids. I knew it was going to be different from any Mass I have attended when they started bringing in the guitars and amps. Before the Mass, they started tuning their guitar with feedback, etc going on. None of this did I believe was an abuse, but something I don’t prefer to experience at Mass. The first thing that really upset me, was during the Homily the Priest had us do multiple rounds of applause for these kids and sponsors. Next the Priest had all of the kids come up to the Altar rail and he proceeded to tell them to hold hands for the Lords Prayer. All the people from the camp, sponsors and kids, rushed across the center isle to hold hands with people on the other side. After this everyone went back to their pew. Next during the sign of peace, he had all of these kids come up again near the Altar rail and then told everyone to leave their pews and come give the kids a sign of peace up front. It was like a concert at this moment as everyone got up and went all over the Church to give each other the sign of peace. I have never seen it as loud as this and there was zero sign of reverence that one would expect at Mass. This went on for like 10 minutes. After this, everyone went back to their pew and the Priest finished consecrating the Eucharist. When it came time to distribute the Eucharist, kids from the camp came up to the Altar. The priest gave them communion and proceeded to let them distribute both the hosts and wine, while he sat down. I did not receive communion today, because I was committing sin in my mind while all this was going on. I plan on going to confession next Saturday before I go back to Church, but I feel absolutely disgusted with what went on today. Since this is not my normal Church, should I send the Bishop a letter about any of this?
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The Church I attend in Germany, St. Suitbertus in Ratingen, run by the Franciscans, sometimes has Masses like this, though perhaps a little lower key. The kids and parents seem to love them, I usually go to a different Mass on those mornings because I am more of a traditionalist, but I certainly don’t consider them abusive, by ANY stretch of the imagination.

P.S. If you do complain to the bishop, as another poster suggested, I’d be interested to know what sort of response you receive.
 
Yes, this is classic and rather exaggerated abuse. This is the kind of priest and parish leadership that should be summarily fired.

Protect your children, keep them away from catholic camps and celebrations like this one. You are better to keep the kids at home and grow together as a family over the summer.

There are only a very few camps worthy to send your precious children to. Here is the website for one - www.mileschristi.org.
 
Samuel63 said:
Protect your children, keep them away from catholic camps and celebrations like this one.
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Before you know it, they’ll start up a cheerleading squad…

“Gimme a “J”, gimme an “E”, gimme an “S”…”
 
When I go to confession Saturday, I will ask the Priest for guidance on contacting the Bishop.
 
zab said:
:confused:
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The Priest allowed the children to distribute communion to the rest of the Laity while he went and sat down. I was scandalized by all of this and was in the completely wrong frame of mind, so I decided I should no go up and receive.
 
hudson said:
The Priest allowed the children to distribute communion to the rest of the Laity while he went and sat down. I was scandalized by all of this and was in the completely wrong frame of mind, so I decided I should no go up and receive.
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Yes, that was wrong of the priest. But I was just surprised that in your digust for what you had witnessed as disrespect for the Mass that you would call the Precious Blood “wine”.
 
zab said:
Yes, that was wrong of the priest. But I was just surprised that in your digust for what you had witnessed as disrespect for the Mass that you would call the Precious Blood “wine”.
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I am typing on an iPad, so I was lucky to get out everything I did somewhat accurately.
 
zab said:
Yes, that was wrong of the priest. But I was just surprised that in your digust for what you had witnessed as disrespect for the Mass that you would call the Precious Blood “wine”.
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And your the knight in shining armour who never stumbles in his words or expressions?
 
hudson said:
Next the Priest had all of the kids come up to the Altar rail and he proceeded to tell them to hold hands for the Lords Prayer. After this everyone went back to their pew. Next during the sign of peace, he had all of these kids come up again near the Altar rail and then told everyone to leave their pews and come give the kids a sign of peace up front. This went on for like 10 minutes. After this, everyone went back to their pew and the Priest finished consecrating the Eucharist. When it came time to distribute the Eucharist, kids from the camp came up to the Altar. The priest gave them communion and proceeded to let them distribute both the hosts and wine, while he sat down.
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This is a little confusing. Normally, by the time we say the Lord’s Prayer, the Consecration is already completed. Was everything in the correct order?
BTW, yes, most of these things are abuses. I think the most egregious is allowing untrained children (children, right?) to distribute Holy Communion.
 
The music isn’t that alarming, and hopefully they got the technical stuff done before Mass (like tuning and feedback issues…that’s why myself and the other musicians I do music with meet two to three hours before Mass to set up).
hudson said:
The Priest allowed the children to distribute communion to the rest of the Laity while he went and sat down. I was scandalized by all of this and was in the completely wrong frame of mind, so I decided I should no go up and receive.
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This is alarming though.
 
hudson said:
The Priest allowed the children to distribute communion to the rest of the Laity while he went and sat down. I was scandalized by all of this and was in the completely wrong frame of mind, so I decided I should no go up and receive.
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How old are we talking about?

The fact that he didn’t distribute and let EMHCs do it is abuse. Just for the record though, a priest can appoint an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for one Mass if such is needed, needed being the operative word.
 
My guess would be 15 years old. They tuned their guitar and mics 10 minutes before Mass started. The instruments didn’t even make it in the Church until 15 to 20 minutes before the Mass.
 
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