Have you ever contacted the bishop over liturgical abuse?

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I’m glad I started this thread. It’s great to hear these stories. 👍

Thank you as well to those who have pointed out the positive things they have shared with their bishop. It is so much easier for us to complain than to be positive (or maybe that’s just me). :o
 
Oneofthewomen said:
How many of us out there have ever sent a letter to our pastor/priest/Bishop praising him for something instead of complaining?! :rolleyes:

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I have sent Thank You cards. Our priest, who is now a Mnsgr and Vicar General of the diocese was the best homilist I have ever heard.👍 He explained a text in the Gospel that had confused me:confused: for years. It was a great explanation, and opened a lot of understanding. I told him so, then sent him a letter with details.

He is pretty cool…:tiphat:
 
Joe_5859 said:
I’m glad I started this thread. It’s great to hear these stories. 👍

Thank you as well to those who have pointed out the positive things they have shared with their bishop. It is so much easier for us to complain than to be positive (or maybe that’s just me). :o
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No, it’s not just you!! 😉
I have struggled with the same problem, as I think most of us do.
What I have learned though, is that usually when I am complaining about something external, it is because of an internal problem that I have not addressed yet. And that is what I think the real problem is…
it is difficult to look inside one’s self and acknowledge that, in many cases, complaining is often a deflection from one’s own “stuff”.

Everytime I read a thread about some “so-called” abuse I often think of this quote by Carl Jung-
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
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Don’t misunderstand, I know that there are some cases of actual abuses out there,but I really think that they are the exception, and not the rule.
I also believe that far too many people (myself included, at times 😊), will lable anything that does not fit in within their preconceived notions of what is correct, is automatically an abuse.
 
sing4joy said:
I have sent Thank You cards. Our priest, who is now a Mnsgr and Vicar General of the diocese was the best homilist I have ever heard.👍 He explained a text in the Gospel that had confused me:confused: for years. It was a great explanation, and opened a lot of understanding. I told him so, then sent him a letter with details.

He is pretty cool…:tiphat:
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👍 👍
 
GwenL said:
No.

But I did write a long letter to the bishop in support of our rector, who has reintroduced Latin, incense, chant, and other sacred music to our liturgy. In doing so, he’s encountered tremendous backlash, in the form of nasty, threatening letters to the bishop, from many parishioners. I also have (informally) encouraged other parishioners who treasure a reverent liturgy to write letters of support.
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I can’t believe that people would react in such a way to that, especially the music part. Do people really enjoy the contemporary music sung in churches? My favorite is the cheerful music that gets played during Communion. :rolleyes:

Though I have noticed that parishoners typically don’t know why things are happening and so are upset when what they see is the whim of the priest or bishop deciding the form rather than an appeal to something greater. I feel as though if things were explained better that we would get less resistance (I’m looking at you new translation, no parishoners that I know of understand the significance of these changes).

Now, I have just a question for everyone who has contacted their bishop. What have you asked about and did it change? Because there are things I would like to change such as the constant use of EMHC, the receiving of Communion in the hands, etc. But I’m just not sure if this is something that bishops are willing to change or if this is something that they’ve instituted.
 
Yes I contacted a bishop, about liturgical dancing at an Easter mass, and he responded appropriately and swiftly.
 
I look for liturgical abuse, such as changing the words of the mass in sections that are fixed and not up for modification. There can be dozens of instanced of this in any one mass at our parish. More serious abuse occurs when a lay person reads the gospel (not on good friday), and when the Blood of Christ is poured down the Sacrarium at the end of Mass.

I have written to the priest with kindly worded e-mail. No change is made. I then escalate to the bishop. About 10% of the time I get a response from the bishop. The bishop’s response is to support the status quoe and allow liturgical abuse. I escalate further to the vatican. You can find an address for the Congregation for The Doctrine of The Faith online.

I want to fill the file in the vatican with the abuse that occurs with the bishop and the priest identified. I also want the bishop and priest to know their abuse is recognized for what it is. I want their conscience too to look to the future and understand they will have to make an account of their life before the final judge. How will they defend this behavior?

A steady drumbeat of requests to correct abuse are about all we can do. Except, I almost forgot, donate your money to orthodox groups that are working for change in the local liberal churches and diocese.

Check out The Vortex, at www.realcatholictv.com
 
TheMc said:
I am blessed to have a very solid parish, but I sent him a letter when a visiting priest gave me an invalid absolution. In several other situations (but not as serious as invalid sacraments), I’ve wanted to send one, but I simply couldn’t make the time.
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Shouldnt the 1st recourse be to the priest himself, and then the Pastor of the parish, and only then to the Bishop of the Diocese? I am sure that most bishops have much more on their plate to handle than dealing with a mis-spoken absolution. I would always reccommend taking it up the “chain of command” before taking it to the “General”
 
Samuel63 said:
I look for liturgical abuse, such as changing the words of the mass in sections that are fixed and not up for modification. There can be dozens of instanced of this in any one mass at our parish. More serious abuse occurs when a lay person reads the gospel (not on good friday), and when the Blood of Christ is poured down the Sacrarium at the end of Mass. [/qutoe]

The latter seems to be grounds for excommunication, at least according to the Wikipedia article about the Sacrarium. Have you contacted the cardinal of the diocese?
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One time. Even though the language of my letter was very mild, “just the facts” (and a very polished “just the facts” at that), his response was stunningly rude. I have never received anything anywhere remotely close to it before or since in business, education, family or other private communication.

I made a copy of it and stuck it in my missalette hoping to talk to my pastor about it sometime. Instead the bishop visited and even though I made an effort to avoid him (he had no idea who I was) he seemed to make it a point to say hello to me? I pulled out the letter and asked if he had actually written it. It was really that bad. Dripping with sarcasm and innuendo. He began reading it while I held it up and I asked him again. He finally said (and I paraphrase) “if it went out with my signature I wrote it.” I turned to walk away and he began to say something. I turned back around and put a finger to my lips to quiet him. Then I turned and left. That entire experience was very illuminating for me.
 
Big_Feet said:
Shouldnt the 1st recourse be to the priest himself, and then the Pastor of the parish, and only then to the Bishop of the Diocese? I am sure that most bishops have much more on their plate to handle than dealing with a mis-spoken absolution. I would always reccommend taking it up the “chain of command” before taking it to the “General”
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The incident happened in the cathedral of his diocese, and I probably wouldn’t have seen the offending priest again, since he was a visiting priest and I didn’t know anything about him other than his name, and that he is a priest of that diocese.
Honestly, I was too shaken at the moment to think clearly enough to think to go talk to the priest himself.

So I wrote the pastor of the church, who also happened to be the bishop of the diocese as well. 😛

But even if it wasn’t in the cathedral, if I were bishop, I would sure want to know if my priests were celebrating invalid sacraments. It is a most serious matter.

The church states that at any time, any catholic has the right to go straight to Rome, but it’s better if at all possible to start with the bishop. I also CCed the rector of the cathedral to make him aware, since as rector, he handles day-to-day operations in the cathedral parish, but I felt it was my duty to let the priest’s bishop know after something as serious as an invalid celebration of a sacrament.

This is something the bishop has a right to know about. It’s not so much about being a tattle tale, but more of a situation of “I went into the confessional to receive absolution, and I didn’t. You are the moderator of the liturgy, and this is your responsibility to deal with.”

Did that make sense? I was kind of rambling there…
 
Samuel63 said:
I look for liturgical abuse, such as changing the words of the mass in sections that are fixed and not up for modification. There can be dozens of instanced of this in any one mass at our parish. More serious abuse occurs when a lay person reads the gospel (not on good friday), and when the Blood of Christ is poured down the Sacrarium at the end of Mass. …

Do you really go to Mass to look for abuses ?

Surely you should go to worship God and you can’t be doing this if you are listening to every word , comparing it to what’s in your book and then probably using a pencil to make notes so you can’t forget the dozens of instances in any one Mass .
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I have only written to our Bishop once. And it was to tell him how wonderful our Father is and to ask if he could stay. 😊 Haha.

PS: I NEVER got a response but I found out a few weeks later that our Father was indeed staying with us! 😃
 
GwenL said:
No.

But I did write a long letter to the bishop in support of our rector, who has reintroduced Latin, incense, chant, and other sacred music to our liturgy. In doing so, he’s encountered tremendous backlash, in the form of nasty, threatening letters to the bishop, from many parishioners. I also have (informally) encouraged other parishioners who treasure a reverent liturgy to write letters of support.
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Organise a few Latin Masses to be said in your parish. That will sort em out.
 
MartyrForJesus said:
Organise a few Latin Masses to be said in your parish. That will sort em out.
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It’s up to the priest to “organize a few Latin Masses,” not the laity. And he has. We have a TLM every first Friday and the OF in Latin every Saturday morning. It’s our job to support and help him, which many of us do.

I find the idea of “sorting them out” fairly objectionable. Forcing people to choose another parish (or even another Mass) because we switch wholesale to Latin is not the way to develop respect and love for Mass in Latin. Gently leading people and teaching them is the way to go. Some will stubbornly never learn. But I’ve seen many others start to develop curiosity, especially at our Saturday morning OF Mass in Latin. I’m the sacristan, and get many questions about the Latin. Today I’ll be handing out a “basic Latin pronunciation guide” to the congregation. We already pass out an “Ordo Missae” booklet with side-by-side English and Latin.

Remember, the idea is to lead them to the Lord. He will do all the sorting.
 
GwenL said:
It’s up to the priest to “organize a few Latin Masses,” not the laity. And he has. We have a TLM every first Friday and the OF in Latin every Saturday morning. It’s our job to support and help him, which many of us do.

I find the idea of “sorting them out” fairly objectionable. Forcing people to choose another parish (or even another Mass) because we switch wholesale to Latin is not the way to develop respect and love for Mass in Latin. Gently leading people and teaching them is the way to go. Some will stubbornly never learn. But I’ve seen many others start to develop curiosity, especially at our Saturday morning OF Mass in Latin. I’m the sacristan, and get many questions about the Latin. Today I’ll be handing out a “basic Latin pronunciation guide” to the congregation. We already pass out an “Ordo Missae” booklet with side-by-side English and Latin.

Remember, the idea is to lead them to the Lord. He will do all the sorting.
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I think Martyr generally means offering to pay for the vestments, for instance, and helping to organize the logistical support for the Extraordinary Form masses.

For example, you could do a fundraiser every few months to get enough money together to buy a Solemn set of vestments, that is, a full set of vestments so that a High Mass can be done, in every color, so that they can be done in any season and also for Reqiuems.
 
GwenL said:
It’s up to the priest to “organize a few Latin Masses,” not the laity.
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The “laity” can be quite instrumental in organizing Latin masses. Often it is the laity who requests a mass and once the priest agrees is often the one (1-2 people) in charge of getting the servers, arranging for the choir members, arranging for priests to come if necessary, setting up the altar linen, etc, etc.

Priests are often quite busy with other responsibilities and you can bet if there is a group of people who are really keen on having a Latin mass, they will be expected to make it happen.
 
I have never encountered a liturgical abuse per se, but the Bishop of our diocese is also our native son, so it would be awkward if I did.
 
Joe_5859 said:
When people come to CAF posting about some weird liturgical practice they have come across, “Report it to the bishop” is one of the top pieces of advice that is given. So I got curious (:o). Have a lot of people here at CAF actually done this? Has anyone met with success?

I’ll try to cover a wide range of poll options, but I’m sure I’ll miss something… 😛
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When I lived in Virginia, I went to a daily Mass and the priest changed the words of institution. I don’t specifically recall what he said, as this was a great many years ago. But I was convinced (still am) that the Mass was invalidated because of it. I wrote to the bishop immediately and received an answer about a week later. All he said was, basically, “In cases like this, I refer the original issue to the priest in question.” So basically he forwarded my letter to the offending priest. I have no idea if the priest corrected himself, since I didn’t go back after that.
 
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