I can’t just sit by and keep reading. I must say something here
You’ve posted repeatedly about obedience to the local bishop
What about obedience to the Church? Why does that go by the wayside?
Father, I am now going to make myself **absolutely and positively crystal clear to you **since I seem to have failed to make myself sufficiently precise heretofore
I’ve resisted doing this but you force the issue. So let us say this all now very clearly and openly
You’ve cited in previous posts a letter to a private individual written by Father Anthony Ward, who has been a fine
undersecretary of the CDWDS but who wrote a letter to a private individual, whom I will not here name, that was
not an official response of the CDWDS – and you know that is so. Father said that an official response will be forthcoming – and we’re still awaiting it. Father has been a fine priest of the Society of Mary and a fine person
I assume you know, although you perhaps may not, that bishops of various dioceses sought of Pope Benedict a clarification on the issue of blessings during the Communion procession. His Holiness – whom I hasten to add himself imparted these blessings and also spoke positively of them – chose to leave the matter as an unanswered question throughout his papacy
On the other hand, I have in my posts cited the man who is now the undersecrtary’s superior: His Grace, Archbishop Arthur Roche. And, Father, you cannot, in point of fact, not know that this is actually the official of whom we are speaking
Let me re-state what I have posted so it may be perfectly clear to readers of this thread
*From the forward on Page V of Celebrating the Mass:
“Celebrating the Mass” will be of great assistance to both communities and individuals /…/
Rt. Rev. Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, Chairman of the Department for Christian Life and Worship *
In the document he promulgated,
Celebrating the Mass: A Pastoral Introduction, which was published by the Bishops Conference to address matters and provide clarification on the Mass, we read in Number 212, page 95, we read:
Even though some in the assembly may not receive ‘sacramental’ Communion, all are united in some way by the Holy Spirit. The traditional idea of ‘spiritual’ communion is an important one to remember and reaffirm. The invitation often given at Mass to those who may not receive sacramental communion – for example children before their First Communion and adults who are not Catholics – to receive a ‘blessing’ at the moment of Communion emphasises that a deep spiritual communion is possible even when we do not share together the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ
The Bishop of Leeds is, by the gift of His Holiness Pope Francis, now the number two official of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Unless, Father David, you are in fact Pope Francis or you are Robert Cardinal Sarah, the Archbishop is now, the supreme authority after those two, on matters of divine worship, the liturgy and administration of the sacraments
You are a priest, Father David. I presume that your priestly formation, as mine many many years ago, included how to submit a
dubium to the Holy See
I invited you very kindly in a previous thread to submit a
dubium on this very issue
But what you have chosen to write to me on the Catholic Answers Forum has inspired to myself write directly to His Grace, appealing that what is the determination for the United Kingdom, that was published over His Grace’s signature, would now be extended by His Grace to your country as well to the Church across the globe
Thank you, Father David, for your post which inspired me to send this email to His Grace. I am also sending a copy of what you yourself have written above, along with this response from me, so that His Grace may have a sample of what is being written by a priest in the United States, and the tenor employed, on a public forum, on the issue of blessings given in the Communion processions and how this matter is being handled in other English speaking countries, such as the United States, in the hope that the easiest resolution is in fact to simply extend the provision of the United Kingdom
And yes, I am insistent that since we are speaking of a matter that is a
dubium, and of people who are not sure what to do – be it those who are extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion or those who are ineligible to receive Communion – the only proper response is fully to comply with and submit themselves to the norms of
their local bishop…just as I trust, Father, you yourself submit yourself to ANY directive of your bishop
in all things he legislates concerning the liturgy or any other matter – just as indeed I follow with the very greatest precision whatever is the directive of my own bishop and my own conference of bishops
without any question whatsoever or even the expression of a doubt or a preference other than what the bishops declare
I gladly stand to defend His Grace…an excellent prelate whom the Pope raised to the very highest levels in the hierarchy and to whom all priests will have to submit in complete obedience on matters of divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments…be they priests in the United States or anywhere else
So, I must repeat my initial question: why advocate so strongly for obedience to the local bishop, while at the same time advocating for (what amounts objectively to) a disobedience to the Catholic Church?
Father, if you have a problem with what your bishops published on ANY matter, then instead of writing me, you should write to them. It’s my experience that bishops will explain to you – and copy your bishop so that your bishop may make sure that you have understood them
