LA RE Conference - Closing Liturgy

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The music was also quite disturbing. We are in the Lenten season, a time of penitence, sobriety and reflection. The music did not match the season, not at all. The clapping and the dancing were not congruent with the penitential nature of Lent, nor was the music, which is supposed to be muted during Lent. Even though purple vestments were worn, that was the only visual nod to Lent.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
It did bother me that all the ministers were dancing around the whole time. I mean, a little reverence can go a long way.

I would be really uncomfortable at that Mass.
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I thought that the elderly clergy were pandering, with their clapping. It was quite unbecoming to their state, and an embarrassment. I found the whole portion that was aired on the video clip to be tasteless.
 
benedictgal said:
The music was also quite disturbing. We are in the Lenten season, a time of penitence, sobriety and reflection. The music did not match the season, not at all. The clapping and the dancing were not congruent with the penitential nature of Lent, nor was the music, which is supposed to be muted during Lent. Even though purple vestments were worn, that was the only visual nod to Lent.
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I agree. The music like you said, was more fitting for “The Lion King”. I started to get a headache so I stopped watching.
 
Elizabeth502 said:
I thought that the elderly clergy were pandering, with their clapping. It was quite unbecoming to their state, and an embarrassment. I found the whole portion that was aired on the video clip to be tasteless.
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The whole matter really breaks my heart. It is sad that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated in this manner, sad and heartbreaking. For those of us who truly love the liturgy, this is something to lament.

I recall what Pope Benedict XVI wrote as his meditation for the 9th Station:
Should we not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often is the holy sacrament of his Presence abused…! How often do we celebrate only ourselves, without even realizing that he is there! How often is his Word twisted and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so many empty words!
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As I saw the video, the Holy Father’s words seemed to play in my head and in my heart. To be quite frank with you, this whole episode left me deeply troubled and quite perturbed.
 
Like I said before, the Archbishop of LA needs to be held personally responsible for this spectacle. They already have a 2011 REC planned. It needs to be STOPPED!, before more damage is done to our Catholic identity. There is no need whatsoever for a conference like this at all in the first place. Rome needs to intervene and put a stop to it for good!. We are not Pentecostals!, and this isn’t Dancing with the Stars.
 
Benedictgal, I appreciate your tremendous (name removed by moderator)ut throughout this thread so far. In addition, this travesty was posted in the Traditional Catholic forum, which caught my attention and thus (name removed by moderator)ut. Frankly, this display veered so far from the norms of the Roman Rite, it’s hard to fathom that those trusted to shepherd the flock would participate in such a trivialization of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
 
Having watched the whole thing (well, having it on in the background while doing other stuff), I can at least say that the Liturgy of the Eucharist itself was celebrated in a reasonably reverent way. Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II was used, and although the bishop reversed a few words and omitted the sentence “At the end of the meal he took the cup,” the errors really seemed to be complete accidents.

Using glass not only for “extra chalices” but also for the presider’s chalice was a pretty poor idea. Frankly I was very surprised that in a Mass of this size they offered the cup at all. On the plus side, although wicker baskets were used, the communion hosts were actually in several ciboria that were contained in those baskets; the bread was not in contact with the wicker itself. Also, although several EMHC’s were used, it did seem that all the sacred ministers participated in the distribution of Communion.

As to counting the rest of the errors:
  1. -]Liturgical dancers were out of sync./-] Liturgical dancers.
  2. Troped Agnus Dei (actually one of the strangest I’ve ever heard; it’s in Part 8)
  3. Lengthy closing announcements on unnecessary topics.
  4. You don’t pour the Lord!
    …
  5. Bishop’s pectoral cross worn over chasuble
I’ll say also, I noticed that a Byzantine Catholic and a Ukrainian Catholic bishop were there. I wonder what on earth they would make of a liturgy like this.
 
diggerdomer said:
given that this is the largest conference in the U.S., to seem to presume that a liturgy there would be out of line with Church teaching is really quite arrogant
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“Church teaching” is not the issue here, so much as the Church’s liturgical discipline. There were things that took place in that liturgy which are forbidden from taking place in the Roman Rite. One would hope the people organizing a religious education conference and planning such an extravagant closing liturgy would have access to – and strive to adhere to – the liturgical instructions of the Church.
 
I’ve seen the dancing incense schtick before. What caught my eye was the oddly crooked candle holders… crooked for crookedness’ sake?
 
Was that supposed to be a Font filled with rocks? Another “we are a dessert people” empty Font as a nod to Lent?

Clapping shouldn’t happen during Mass if for no other reason than some people just have no sense of rhythm (9:03 of clip #1)😃

They process the Book of Gospels and then put it away and read from a binder??
 
You’d think that at an RE conference they would model proper RCIA. You don’t dismiss candidates. Yes, I know, in small parishes you may not have a choice due to lack of catechists but wouldn’t you want to model the ideal?
 
Post 21:

Yes! No wonder that there was some additional (should have been obvious to me) reason that I felt so uncomfortable with the whole thing. It was unduly celebratory for the season! When at the altar, one of the priests (a younger one – could have been the one who twirled around with the lectionary as he danced in procession) looked as if he were about to break out in a rendition of Kool and The Gang’s Celebration.
 
ChurchTorch said:
Candles are INDEED crooked in some cases in the Byzantine Rite.
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THAT I can understand. The bland vanilla rectangular sticks with two slight angles seem a combination of ultra-simplistic, ugly, and awry to me.
 
I can’t help but think the congregation, seeing the two Eastern Catholic Bishops (in comparison with everything else), thinking, “What funny costumes they’re wearing.”
 
MarkThompson said:
Having watched the whole thing (well, having it on in the background while doing other stuff), I can at least say that the Liturgy of the Eucharist itself was celebrated in a reasonably reverent way. Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II was used, and although the bishop reversed a few words and omitted the sentence “At the end of the meal he took the cup,” the errors really seemed to be complete accidents.

Using glass not only for “extra chalices” but also for the presider’s chalice was a pretty poor idea. Frankly I was very surprised that in a Mass of this size they offered the cup at all. On the plus side, although wicker baskets were used, the communion hosts were actually in several ciboria that were contained in those baskets; the bread was not in contact with the wicker itself. Also, although several EMHC’s were used, it did seem that all the sacred ministers participated in the distribution of Communion.

As to counting the rest of the errors:
  1. -]Liturgical dancers were out of sync./-] Liturgical dancers.
  2. Troped Agnus Dei (actually one of the strangest I’ve ever heard; it’s in Part 8)
  3. Lengthy closing announcements on unnecessary topics.
  4. You don’t pour the Lord!
    …
  5. Bishop’s pectoral cross worn over chasuble
I’ll say also, I noticed that a Byzantine Catholic and a Ukrainian Catholic bishop were there. I wonder what on earth they would make of a liturgy like this.
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Regarding Communion under both Species, Redemptionis Sacramentum clearly states that:
[102.] **The chalice should not be ministered to lay members of Christ’s faithful where there is such a large number of communicants189 that it is difficult to gauge the amount of wine for the Eucharist and there is a danger that “more than a reasonable quantity of the Blood of Christ remain to be consumed at the end of the celebration”.190 **The same is true wherever access to the chalice would be difficult to arrange, or where such a large amount of wine would be required that its certain provenance and quality could only be known with difficulty, or wherever there is not an adequate number of sacred ministers or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion with proper formation, or where a notable part of the people continues to prefer not to approach the chalice for various reasons, so that the sign of unity would in some sense be negated.
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That is why you don’t see Communion under both Species at Papal Masses. The Staples Center (assuming that is where this was held) is not a small building; it seats about 20,000 folks (if the entire arena is full; just watch a Lakers 😦 game–sorry, I love the Spurs :D).
 
japhy said:
I can’t help but think the congregation, seeing the two Eastern Catholic Bishops (in comparison with everything else), thinking, “What funny costumes they’re wearing.”
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Which begs the question: I wonder what was going through the minds of the Easter Rite bishops during all of this? I am just afraid that this kind of activity is going to have a chilling effect and trickle down to the local parishes. Unfortunately, my pastor has succumbed to a lot of the nonsense he sees every year. Three years ago, he had the readings proclaimed in English/Spanish. What I mean is that half way through one language, another lector came in with the second one. He justified it by saying that this was done at the LA Congress. :eek: Mercifully, that idea died out very quickly. No telling what he will come back with now. :confused:
 
I don’t even have to look at the video to be able to tell that this is nothing but a slight variation on every closing liturgy that has been held for the LA Religious Education Congress for the last 40 years or so. (That’s before Roger Mahony was appointed archbishop.)

It’s been held at the Anaheim Convention Center since 1970.
 
SMHW said:
I don’t even have to look at the video to be able to tell that this is nothing but a slight variation on every closing liturgy that has been held for the LA Religious Education Congress for the last 40 years or so. (That’s before Roger Mahony was appointed archbishop.)

It’s been held at the Anaheim Convention Center since 1970.
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I guess what threw me off was when I saw the jumbotron. I thought it was the Staples Center.
 
SMHW said:
I don’t even have to look at the video to be able to tell that this is nothing but a slight variation on every closing liturgy that has been held for the LA Religious Education Congress for the last 40 years or so. (That’s before Roger Mahony was appointed archbishop.)

It’s been held at the Anaheim Convention Center since 1970.
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From the antics and assorted goings-on, one might get the impression that they think it’s still 1970 … :eek:
 
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