My parents chose not to attend Mass at the neighborhood parish. There was way too much of a charismatic influence and my father believed that it was not conducive to a reverent liturgy (much less fidelity to the Mass). They certainly didn’t want me exosed to anything strange.
That is why my father chose to go to the downtown parish that was his first home when he moved to Laredo as a child. Our family remained in the parish for most of my life; we even had my mother’s funeral there.
However, when the new pastor started doing things that were in serious violation of the GIRM, Redemptionis Sacramentum, Pashcale Solemnitatis and the Ciruclar Letter on the Sacrament of Penance, my father left the parish.
Lovesmary, it was not an easy decision. The priest refused to minister to the elderly to the point that several of them died without receiving Last Rites. A certified letter to the bishop was never acknowledged. This prompted my father to write to the Holy See and he received acknowledgement of his letter from no less than Francis Cardinal Arinze’s personal secretary.
I, too, have had to pick up my stakes and move, especially when the conditions were severe.
For those of us who truly care about the integrity of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is painful to remain in a parish where the GIRM, Redemptionis Sacramentum, Paschale Solemnitatis and the other documents are routinely ignored, disregarded and shunned.
As Cardinal Arinze said not too terribly long ago:
- Harm Done by Non-Observance of Liturgical Norms
Looking at things from a different perspective, we can appreciate negatively the importance of the observance of liturgical norms if we list some of the damages which can be introduced by ignoring these norms.
Liturgical abuses can confuse the congregation and occasion uncertainty, perplexity, scandal, opposition and factionalism. In more severe cases, they can obscure the Catholic faith and prevent the people from sharing fully in the celebration of the mysteries of Christ. To ignore liturgical norms can also reinforce a false understanding of freedom. In ecumenical efforts it introduces problems and sometimes a wrong presentation of the Catholic faith.17
To ignore liturgical norms can in a subtle way introduce secularization and gradual banalization into the liturgy. In this short-sighted vision, a church building may no longer be seen as a sacred place. Do the people then come to church for Mass as to a “meeting” like in a stadium or congress hall? Do they talk in church as if it were not appreciated as a sacred place separated from secular daily events? Does this tendency regard the norms on the use of liturgical vestments as triumphalism? Does it lead to a type of secular leveling down which prefers to say cup instead of chalice, plate instead of paten, dress instead of vestment, and president instead of priest celebrant?
To ignore liturgical norms can gradually introduce such erosions.
A parish that routinely ignores liturgical norms is already in a weakened state and is suffering from serious atrophy. One cannot expect faithful Catholics to remain in a parish that gives little to no importance to the proper celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
