All this said, this all sure beats what I routinely saw incollege in Madison, WI almost 20 years ago now:
- In the name of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier…
- Female ‘pastoral associate’ wore vestments (no stole) during mass, said homilies and visibly mouthed the words of consecration along with the priest while extending a hand towards the host as concelebrants often did at the time.
- “Our Father, Our Mother God, who art in heaven…”
- Leavened honey bread for communion that was so crumbly that it always left behind a mess of crumbs on the polished concrete floor. In hindsight, I hope those weren’t validly consecrated!
- Each and every communicant was a EMHC for the person in line behind him/her.
I’m sure there were more, but isn’t that enough? Even as a lukewarm kid I knew enough to get the heck out of there!
Number 4, and probably number 2, invalidated every Mass that that took place in. Don’t worry; you didn’t profane Our Lord. He does not come in honey flavour.
On the other hand, they denied you and every soul there Christ’s body. A shame.
Did you used to live in California or some other Mecca for hippies or liberalism? I have never seen such abuses in Nebraska (where I live).
Although I once participated in a candlelight Mass that did Number 5. And we were all seated around the altar. (There are chairs around the altar, mainly where the choir sits and opposite them. Some of us also sat on the steps outside of the sacristy.) But no one co-consecrated the Host, thank God. We just… passed the cup to the person behind us.
Even without liturgical abuses, though, I still prefer the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom to Paul VI’s Mass. At least here in America, the Novus Ordo feels so spiritually dry…
Nonetheless, I grew up on it. And it is still valid, and I do try to attend as often as I can because Christ is there, and that is what is important. One does not argue about getting matzah, even if one desires a proper loaf, if one is hungry and loaves are hard to come by.
