Many of you gave me advice for how to deal with omissions and possible abuses by my parish priest. Last week, I sent him a letter addressing these problems. Here is the letter (minus some of the quoted content for size sake…
Dear Father ***:
For some time now, I have contemplated what I should do about my feelings concerning your masses. Before I go any farther, let me thank you for answering God’s call and devoting your life to helping his people. It is clear that you have a deep care for the people of your parishes, however, I often leave your mass feeling saddened about the lack of seriousness and reverence you show toward our Church. A priest once told me, “There is nothing more important on this earth than what happens on that altar at every mass.” As my faith deepened and I began to understand the gravity of those words, I started having trouble with your mass.
There are a number of things that I have recognized in your mass that do not fit the guidelines of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), the Redemptionis Sacramentum (RS), and / or Canon Law. I am quite concerned about the following…
1.Your omission of the Lavabo (Washing of hands) and accompanying prayer. - GIRM 76.
2.Your frequent changing of the doxology to a statement about God (“For it is through Jesus Christ and with Him and in Him, along with God the Holy Spirit, that we give all praise, glory, and honor, worship and adoration, at this celebration of the Eucharist… and forever and ever”), rather than to Him.
3.Your occasional skipping of the Creed during Sunday services “for the sake of time”. – GIRM 68.
4.Your changing of the Advent color to blue. GIRM - 346.
5.Your shortening of the Lord’s Prayer. GIRM – 81.
6.The breaking of the bread should be done carefully and reverently, so that particles are not scattered about. It clearly disturbs many people that you harshly “crack” the host while turning to give communion to your EMHCs… with little regard to the fact that fragments are certainly falling to the floor.
7.According to the GIRM (around #162), the priest should receive both species of the Eucharist before the EMHC’s receive either.
8.Finally, I find many of your jokes told during the homily to be very distasteful. I was appalled that you compared our Savior to the Groundhog Day groundhog during your Easter homily. I was also very saddened by your joke a few weeks ago about Mary looking sad in all of the statues and paintings because she “wanted to have a girl”. Your homily is a fantastic opportunity to nourish all of us who thirst for meaningful lessons about loving and serving God. Please do not pander to those who simply don’t want to hear that they need to change their ways and live holier lives. - RS67
It is clear that you know many of the changes and omissions you make are wrong, since you do not make them when another priest or our bishop is concelebrating the mass. According to other priests and many Vatican documents, some of these changes and omissions are very grave matters. Redemptionis Sacramentum 183 sums up why I have decided to bring up these problems. In addition Canon Law #846 states: “" Finally, Redemptionis Sacramentum 59 says: "”
Father, I beg that you make a better effort to follow the traditions and guidelines of our Church. These rules are obviously in place to protect the sacraments by ensuring a uniformity and stability that hinder more severe changes. I worry very much about the example that is being set for our parish families. If you bend the rules and do not give your faith a serious appearance, what does that show our youth who may already have a shaky faith at best? I am sure that our diocese provides you with all of the documents I have mentioned, but if not, they can be easily obtained online or at a local Catholic bookstore.
My hope is that you do not take this letter to mean you any ill will. I am simply genuinely concerned about our Sacred Liturgy. I have the utmost faith that you will do your best to correct the problem areas of your mass.
May God bless you always!
Sincerely,
A concerned member of your flock
I am pleased to announce that I noticed some efforts at his mass last Sunday to improve things. He did the Our Father and the doxology properly and broke the bread much more reverently. In addition, his homily was much improved. There is still work to be done, but I am thankful that he took my letter to heart and is making an effort. Thanks to all of you… particularly Seminarian Matthew… for your help!
