Please help me!

[TeAmo]

I was at a mass on Saturday evening and witnessed a LOT of liturgical abuses, one or two of which may have made the mass invalid.
The two biggest problems were as follows. After the presentation of the gifts, instead of taking the gifts from the lay people who brought them up, the priest prayed over them and they held the gifts (“Pray, brethern…” until the end of “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands…”).
Secondly, the priest changed the words of consecration ever so slightly. At the consecration of the wine, he said, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be poured for you and for all” instead of “it will be shed for you and for all.”
I asked a priest I know (whose knowledge I absolutely trust) about this, and he says that he believes the mass was invalid. So now I’m writing a letter to the pastor and to the archbishop, and need some help. Do you have any references that I can use (i.e. documents or quotations I can refer to) when I write this letter? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TeAmo]

Oh, I also forgot to mention that during the Our Father, the priest told us to join hands and then went inbetween two pews and held hands with the people in them. This is another abuse I want to address in the letter, so if anyone can help with that, too, it’d be great.

 

[Mjohn1453]

Illicit, but not invalid. The change that he made with the Eucharistic Prayer shouldn’t have been done, but the meaning was the same. Again the praying over the gifts while people were still holding them is again illicit, but not invalid. If you want to pursue this I would suggest either writing a letter to the pastor or talking to him in a cordial way, without being accusatory, or disrespectful. If after that you still feel the need, you may send a letter to the bishop along with a copy of the one sent to your pastor.

As for going into the congregation and holding hands during the Our Father, there are tons of threads on that topic that you can consult. Though I don’t think that it is worth bringing to the attention of your bishop.

 

[SHJ-BVM]

TeAmo,

Now, I’m very new here, and have ‘points’ already against me…if I get a slew of more for being uncharitable, then so be it…BUT…

I disagree with Mjohn on the point of bringing to the attention of your Parish priest and or Bishop (if you feel you need to go that far) what happened during “The Our Father”…at no point in time is the celebrating priest to leave the sanctuary, let alone incorporate himself between two pews and join hands with the congregation.

Now to the beginning of your thread…I’m a little confused…after the presentation of the gifts (where the priest would normally receive them and process back to the Altar) you stated he received them and then said “Pray brethren”?..does this mean he left out “Blessed are you God of all creation” etc…if so, how did he proceed with the “washing of his hands” and the “Lord, wash away my iniquity and cleanse me of all my sins?”…if ALL of this was omitted, then, as your priest friend said, then maybe this is what made the Mass invalid as opposed to illicit…but I honestly don’t know…

As to "the priest changed the words of consecration ever so slightly. At the consecration of the wine, he said, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be poured for you and for all” instead of “it will be shed for you and for all.”

—This is from the new RS…
[51.] Only those Eucharistic Prayers are to be used which are found in the Roman Missal or are legitimately approved by the Apostolic See, and according to the manner and the terms set forth by it. “It is not to be tolerated that some Priests take upon themselves the right to compose their own Eucharistic Prayers”[129] or to change the same texts approved by the Church, or to introduce others composed by private individuals.[130]

Well, giving the priest the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was “mis-speak”…again, I need to insert a ‘BUT’…these are ‘prayers’ that priests say day after day, at least weekly…I find it hard to believe that a priest would err like that…

Unfortunately, one small little abuse can lead to bigger abuses…

Pray on this and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in what to do and say…my prayers will be with you…

Peace and Godspeed

Patricia