A
Aquinas98
Guest
+JMJ+
I have a problem with the local parish priest. For several years, I have attended Mass at his church, and as priests go, one could do a lot worse. This man is charismatic, friendly, and seems to show a genuine concern for his parishioners. He also tends to give good homilies. However, there have been several issues that have bothered me.
The first is that the Mass does not always follow the instructions laid forth in the GIRM or Missale Romanum. I know that these infractions are not uncommon, and that some of them are unaviodable at times, given how many rules there are to follow. However, after every Mass, possibly save the ones during Lent, the congregation claps after Mass once the Recessional Hymn is complete, which, IMHO, gives the appearance of the Mass as a show, rather than the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary. I have never seen this at any other Catholic church, though perhaps I’m just sheltered. Also, when the lectors and priests give the readings, they substitute the word “proclamation” rather than “reading” (during the introduction). Someone has even taped the word “proclamation” over the word “reading” at the beginning of every reading in the book of readings. During Lent last year, at one Mass the Agnus Dei was actually done in Latin (I almost fell over at that one). After Mass, I went up to tell the music director how wonderful it was to hear Latin in the church, and I was told that this was only a special occasion, since it was Lent. Given the manner in which I was told, I felt that I was being told that they had basically thrown us dogs a bone, and that we shouldn’t expect any more meat to follow. This person was under the direction of someone (not the pastor directly) who had previously disallowed Latin hymns at my Wedding Mass even though they were in our hymnals because “no one there knew how to pronounce Latin”. About a year ago, I commended another priest in the parish (not the head pastor) about how reverent his demeanor was at Mass wherein not only had he given a wonderful homily, but he had also addressed several liturgical abuses that were occurring. He implied that he wished he could do more, but that he could not, and he appeared quite saddened by that. Soon after, he was transferred to another parish in the diocese, though possibly for reasons other than a disagreement on such matters. All of these things bother me, but I have never formally complained.
At one time not too long ago, I was speaking with the pastor about the sin of contraception, and he told me that not every act of contraception was intrinsically evil, as long as the couple did have children or the eventual desire for them, and as long as they did not use abortifacient methods of birth control. He basically said that since he had an advanced degree from some university in Rome, that he knew better than I did (and apparently better than the Magisterium as well). Also, my wife recently was talking about EWTN to him, and he was visibly irritated, saying that Mother Angelica “has an agenda” that she is pushing.
I’m certain that I am remiss in not having spoken out before now, but this is ridiculous. While EWTN may not always be 100% correct (as Mother Angelica et al. are not infallible), I see it as being pretty much in line with the CCC, the 21 Ecumenical Councils, and all of the encyclicals I have read. As far as I can tell, the only agenda that Mother Angelica has is that of spreading Catholic orthodoxy. Also, there is no question in my mind that directly contradicating the CCC, Humanae Vitae, and the rest of Sacred Tradition on a matter of dogma or a doctrine such as contraception constitutes heresy (especially given his being a priest).
Am I wrong in thinking this way? Since I have never formally complained, should I go directly to the Archbishop? What should I do?
AMDG,
Aquinas98
