how do i reconcile this issue

[angell1]

i don’t know why but the idea of extra rubrick additions to the liturgy really bothers me

i know many otherwise very holy priests but who allowed blessing instead of communion, or performed the footwashing for women, before it was allowed. i certainly wouldn’t want them to be committing sins

I’m not trying to be a crazy policing person, but why would priests disobey specific instructions? it just makes it that much more difficult for us laity to know wha’ts right or wrong. what else could be they be disobeying,?

aren’t they responsible for guiding us? is it really my responsibility to look through all the liturgical documents to verify everything?

i know, these are probably minor details in the grand scheme of things, but in’st obedience to authority required? they do take a vow after all… wouldn’t it be sinful to do something that you know is not allowed?

I’m not judging anyone in particular, but this now causes the problem where my mom goes up for blessings, and my dad take communion when he shouldn’t. no one listens to me, they just think I’m being judgmental, so i stopped saying anything

this is actually a big reason why I’m hesitant to get spiritual direction. that and the fact that i was taught many erroneous things in the past, by nuns and catechism teachers, ETC… i’ll get over it eventually, but right now i struggle

any thoughts?

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Remember what our Lord said to the disciples who were scandalized by the religious authorities of their time. Do what they say, not what they do. Mt. xxiii, 3

 

[CB_Catholic]

i don’t know why but the idea of extra rubrick additions to the liturgy really bothers me

i know many otherwise very holy priests but who allowed blessing instead of communion, or performed the footwashing for women, before it was allowed. i certainly wouldn’t want them to be committing sins

I’m not trying to be a crazy policing person, but why would priests disobey specific instructions? it just makes it that much more difficult for us laity to know wha’ts right or wrong. what else could be they be disobeying,?

aren’t they responsible for guiding us? is it really my responsibility to look through all the liturgical documents to verify everything?

i know, these are probably minor details in the grand scheme of things, but in’st obedience to authority required? they do take a vow after all… wouldn’t it be sinful to do something that you know is not allowed?

I’m not judging anyone in particular, but this now causes the problem where my mom goes up for blessings, and my dad take communion when he shouldn’t. no one listens to me, they just think I’m being judgmental, so i stopped saying anything

this is actually a big reason why I’m hesitant to get spiritual direction. that and the fact that i was taught many erroneous things in the past, by nuns and catechism teachers, ETC… i’ll get over it eventually, but right now i struggle

any thoughts?

To be frank, if it is causing this much disruption in your spiritual life, you probably should go ahead and find a spiritual director. Most of the stuff you are concerned about IS minor, and you really have no authority at all to say what is being done is sinful. You really don’t know if it is really done out of disobedience, or ignorance, or misinterpretation of the rubrics. Leave your parents alone. You are not responsible for them–you are responsible for you, and you should always have respect for them even if you don’t like what they are doing.

When one becomes so focused on minor violations of the rubrics, even though the rubrics are the rubrics, it is easy to lose focus on the important thing–your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are at Mass for HIM, not to police the liturgy. That is why I suggest guidance and spiritual direction. Losing focus on Jesus Christ in the Mass is exactly what the evil one desires. Soon we are watching for wrong things, getting unnecessarily angry at the priest, judging the behavior of others at Mass, noticing everything about others at Mass, doing everything but worshipping God. I know, I was guilty of this myself, and it can ruin your Mass experience.

Even though you say you can’t help it, that is not true. You CAN help it by talking to someone who can advise you on the right spiritual path. And most of all, PRAY about this that God will help you develop the correct frame of mind while at Mass.

 

[1ke]

i don’t know why but the idea of extra rubrick additions to the liturgy really bothers me

It can go hand in hand with scruples-- OCD-like fixation on things.

I’m not trying to be a crazy policing person, but why would priests disobey specific instructions? it just makes it that much more difficult for us laity to know wha’ts right or wrong. what else could be they be disobeying,?

The same reason anyone commits any sin.

aren’t they responsible for guiding us?

Yes.

is it really my responsibility to look through all the liturgical documents to verify everything?

No. It is not.

i know, these are probably minor details in the grand scheme of things, but in’st obedience to authority required? they do take a vow after all… wouldn’t it be sinful to do something that you know is not allowed?

Maybe.

You must also let go. YOU are not trained in liturgy and so YOU need not worry yourself over what is allowed or not allowed. And some things you think are not allowed may in fact be allowed. Priests are trained, let them be.

so i stopped saying anything

That is the right thing to do. It isn’t up to you what your parents do or don’t do. Or what the priest does or does not do,

any thoughts?

None of these liturgical items is doctrinal. Let them go.

 

[StephieNorthCo]

Hi,
As has been mentioned, one good way is via the Spiritual Director path.

Myself, I take a very simple approach. I know the Catholic Church has been given to us by Christ. My job is to be as Christ like as I can. (Sometimes, I fail, and that’s what confession is for). But that’s MY job. Others have theirs. I’ll let them be judged for it. But, I won’t judge them. If they guide me wrong, or cause undo burden on me, well, again, I do the the best I can to be Christ like. Any undo burden is on them at judgement time.

That makes my job, in a sense, easy.

As the non-Latin saying goes, illigitimus non carburundum.

Blessings,
Stephie

 

[PaulfromIowa]

Don’t worry about judging others. Just assume that they are doing the best they can with whatever knowledge they have. It is always seems that we can so easily perceive the many flaws in others but not in ourselves.

 

[jaimeleglise]

I know it is distracting, but don’t let these things ruin your experience. Would you someday in the future have transportation to attend an Extraordinary Form of the Mass or an Ordinariate Mass? You might find it better for you.

 

[otjm]

is it really my responsibility to look through all the liturgical documents to verify everything?

You not only have no responsibility to go through liturgical documents, you have no business whatsoever doing so. Just sitting down and reading a document doesn’t tell you much, because you have no idea if that document relies on other documents, has been modified, repealed, or superseded by others, or if there are other issues beyond or outside the documents themselves. Unless and until you have taken classes at the level which seminarians take them (as a part of obtaining a Masters Degree), you are completely out of your area of any skills and/or knowledge. And the odds are seriously good that the people on the internet whom you have been reading are in the same boat.

i know, these are probably minor details in the grand scheme of things, but in’st obedience to authority required? they do take a vow after all… wouldn’t it be sinful to do something that you know is not allowed?

You don’t even know what the bishop has approved or not approved, or what the bishop has decided upon. That is his responsibility, not yours. and it is not your responsibility to play liturgical police and start pestering him with what you think are issues. You are at Mass to worship Christ, and from your post, it is clear you are being seriously distracted from that.

I’m not judging anyone in particular

You most certainly are. You have judged your priest, your mother and father. Quit waffling around and pretending you are not.

but this now causes the problem where my mom goes up for blessings, and my dad take communion when he shouldn’t. no one listens to me, they just think I’m being judgmental, so i stopped saying anything

But it is crystal clear that you have not stopped judging.

this is actually a big reason why I’m hesitant to get spiritual direction. that and the fact that i was taught many erroneous things in the past, by nuns and catechism teachers, ETC… i’ll get over it eventually, but right now i struggle

any thoughts?

I don’t know what you were taught, so I can’t say whether you were taught the truth or not. But I strongly suspect you have been to other websites, and they are dragging you down into a morass of serious trouble. The “big reason why you are hesitant to get a spiritual director” sounds like like a huge red flag that you are afraid they will contradict what you have been reading.

You are not anywhere near half as knowledgeable as you think you are, and that is both what is causing you problems, and holding you back from getting the help you need. Your “experts” upon whom it appears you are relying are not experts. And you are not educated enough in what the Church really teaches, for example, in liturgy or moral theology (since you are making judgments about the priest and his possible sin, and your parents), and then you deny that you are making these judgments.

You need to start with being honest with yourself, and then you need to get some help, and not on the internet.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

i don’t know why but the idea of extra rubrick additions to the liturgy really bothers me

i know many otherwise very holy priests but who allowed blessing instead of communion, or performed the footwashing for women, before it was allowed. i certainly wouldn’t want them to be committing sins

I’m not trying to be a crazy policing person, but why would priests disobey specific instructions? it just makes it that much more difficult for us laity to know wha’ts right or wrong. what else could be they be disobeying,?

aren’t they responsible for guiding us? is it really my responsibility to look through all the liturgical documents to verify everything?

i know, these are probably minor details in the grand scheme of things, but in’st obedience to authority required? they do take a vow after all… wouldn’t it be sinful to do something that you know is not allowed?

I’m not judging anyone in particular, but this now causes the problem where my mom goes up for blessings, and my dad take communion when he shouldn’t. no one listens to me, they just think I’m being judgmental, so i stopped saying anything

this is actually a big reason why I’m hesitant to get spiritual direction. that and the fact that i was taught many erroneous things in the past, by nuns and catechism teachers, ETC… i’ll get over it eventually, but right now i struggle

any thoughts?

Yes, I have thoughts to offer. You’ve brought this issue up before and I wish you would find a way, for your own peace, to let go of this issue.

I don’t wish to be unkind to you. Were you in my parish and came to me to talk about your concern, I would do my best to address the matter. But your approach is of quite a different manner.

You say you do not wish to be “a crazy policing person” – but you’re in fact trying precisely to police people in a way that is not appropriate. I can’t imagine the reasoning that would allow you to think that the act of a giving a blessing is a sin. It may or may not be appropriate, liturgically or theologically, in a given instance…but it is not a sin.

The question is about the appropriateness of imparting blessings to individuals who come forward in the line for Communion but who indicate by a gesture that they can’t receive the Eucharist. It’s a disputed question that has not been definitively resolved.

The Undersecretary for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in a letter responding to an individual, made several comments of theological opinion. They’re not without merit or value. But the letter did not constitute an official response from the Congregation. Father went on to say that the Congregation has the matter under consideration.

Until the Congregation issues a determination, the question is unresolved. Some diocesan bishops, because the bishop is the moderator of the liturgy for his diocese, have decreed that this practice is not to happen in their dioceses. The clergy of those dioceses should comply.

In other places, bishops and conferences of bishops have expressed support for this practice. Pope Benedict spoke favorably of it and Pope John Paul did it on various occasions. The Congregation has chosen…for years…to leave this matter unresolved.

The argument you are trying to make is not only ill formed, it is also positively incorrect.

The imparting of blessings to children before their first communion and to adult non Catholics who come forward is something I have done for all the years of my priesthood. I was formed by my bishop, to whom I was secretary, as well as by my academic studies and all have concurred with this practice.

I went on after ordination to finish my graduate degrees so that I could teach and form others – and I was, until my retirement, a professor of liturgy and sacraments. I’m very versed in liturgy and I’m quite competent to publish in the field. I’m also versed in the arguments put forward, pro and con, on this specific matter. It’s properly my decision to make in the absence of a directive from my bishop or the Holy See. If one approached this topic to argue with me as though I were not competent, they would be insulting me, my priestly formation, and my academic career.

A person who does not know how to spell “rubric” but wishes to argue with me about rubrics on a point actually above and beyond the matter of rubrics is not going to get very far…other than to do themselves incredible damage in terms of my regard for them and how I will treat any issue that they choose subsequently to bring to me.

So, in the absence of a final directive from the Holy See or his bishop, the decision about imparting a blessing or not in your parish rests with your pastor…not with you. You may express your thoughts and your preference to your pastor, if you feel compelled to do so. But it is wholly wrong and entirely inappropriate to accuse him of committing sin in this matter. There is no basis for such an allegation. And that will almost assuredly end the conversation.

If the priest has decided to do this, it is also not your place to try to prevent anyone from going forward to receive the blessing. Doing so is only going to be harmful to your relationship with the priest and the persons you would attempt to block from going forward for this blessing.

I know it is distracting, but don’t let these things ruin your experience. Would you someday in the future have transportation to attend an Extraordinary Form of the Mass or an Ordinariate Mass? You might find it better for you.

The practice of giving blessings at the Communion rail goes back to the vetus ordo Mass when we blessed children who had not yet made their first communion but who came forward with their parents. The original poster may be as likely to see a priest giving a blessing to a child at a *vetus ordo *Mass as to an adult at a novus ordo Mass.

 

[paperwight66]

Thank you for this post, Don Ruggero.

The letter you referenced has been often quoted in the past, as if it were law (though not so often recently, I have to say).

I have responded many times to the effect that Rome must be aware of the issue, so if it were such an awful practice, a quiet word would have been said - or even an announcement made,

It is such a common practice in the UK that I made enquiries of the Bishops’ Conference for England and Wales, and was told that not only was it not forbidden, it was in fact encouraged in a statement following the Swanwick Conference in the 1970’s IIRC. The Bishops felt that the Communion line was not the place to introduce division and pain.

Since then we have had Papal visits where it would have been observed, but not a word has been said. I don’t believe that all the Bishops and clergy would disobey a directive from Rome said either publicly or privately, which leads me to conclude that Rome doesn’t have a problem with it.

And if it is acceptable in the UK, why should it not be acceptable elsewhere in the world,(provided that the local Bishop hasn’t forbidden it) despite today’s answer in Ask an Apologist.

 

[1ke]

A person who does not know how to spell “rubric” but wishes to argue with me about rubrics on a point actually above and beyond the matter of rubrics is not going to get very far…other than to do themselves incredible damage in terms of my regard for them and how I will treat any issue that they choose subsequently to bring to me.

The original poster may be as likely to see a priest giving a blessing to a child at a *vetus ordo *Mass as to an adult at a novus ordo Mass.

Some information you should know:

Our angell1 is (a) has a visual impairment (blindness) and relies on adaptive technology to communicate on this board (so go easy on spelling errors), (b) a college age student dependent upon her parents who often refuse to take her to Mass and disparage her practice of the Catholic faith, (c) suffers from serious scruples which have recently taken the form of OCD-type obsessiveness over the mass, and (d) in the past she has actually been taught things in catechism class that are in fact doctrinally incorrect (and this has aggravated her scruples because she feels now she doesn’t know who to trust).

Go easy.

angel-- Don Ruggero is a priest you can trust. Listen to him. Be at peace with your scruples.

 

[peter26]

The issue of blessings in the communion line is a complicated and controversial one. It is not fair to call this a liturgical abuse, it is also probably not fair to call this a universally accepted or formally permitted practice. It is an issue that will hopefully be officially resolved one way or the other one day because it has caused a lot of disputes and disagreements over the years. On the other hands, if you see EMHCs giving out blessings, this is an abuse and needs to be reported to the priest. Otherwise, it is not a serious issues.

However, liturgical abuse is a real problem and I find it highly concerning that some people seem to think laymen should stay clear of liturgical documents. The GIRM is available online. So is Redemptionis Sacramentum. By all means read them and inform yourself. They are available on official church websites and so clearly are not supposed to be kept hidden from people.

In fact, Redemptionis Sacramentum states “Any Catholic, whether Priest or Deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan Bishop or the competent Ordinary equivalent to him in law, or to the Apostolic See on account of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff.” [184] And also “Let each one of the sacred ministers ask himself, even with severity, whether he has respected the rights of the lay members of Christ’s faithful, who confidently entrust themselves and their children to him, relying on him to fulfill for the faithful those sacred functions that the Church intends to carry out in celebrating the sacred Liturgy at Christ’s command. For each one should always remember that he is a servant of the Sacred Liturgy.” [186]