SPLIT: What is a Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest?

[Phemie]

Are you saying that in the entire city of Halifax/Dartmouth you couldn’t find a priest to say Mass on a Sunday? If it’s a language issue then that’s just one more proof for why we should all be attending the Tridentine Mass.

The “service” you described sounds like heresy to me. It is a priestless Mass and if that’s acceptable then we’ll soon not have any. Why not just load up a tupperware container of consecrated hosts and hang with the Lutherans on Sunday morning?

Lay people should not be saying prayers at the altar, preaching, nor touching a consecrated host. These services are contributing to the decline of the Church and should be stopped immediately.

No, that’s not what I said. I said that they couldn’t get a Francophone priest, or at least one that spoke French. It wasn’t rare to have the Bishop or the Bishop Emmeritus celebrate Mass for us in French, and we had a chaplain who would usually be available.

What I’m saying is that it was more important to that community to celebrate in French than to attend Mass. It saddened me to see that and I either didn’t attend the Sunday Celebration of the Word or I attended Mass in another parish on Saturday if I was scheduled to read.

There is nothing remotely “Mass-like” in a Sunday Celebration of the Word. Nothing remotely similar to the Consecration. Even the order of things is different. For parishes which don’t see a priest for months on end, this is the next best thing to keep the community worshipping together. It must be just ducky sitting in a city where you never have to worry about where next Mass is coming from.

One parish I work for had a priest for Christmas and will next see one on Palm Sunday. He’ll stay for the week and leave Easter Monday. Only God knows when they’ll see a priest again.

 

[cricket36]

The “service” you described sounds like heresy to me. It is a priestless Mass and if that’s acceptable then we’ll soon not have any. Why not just load up a tupperware container of consecrated hosts and hang with the Lutherans on Sunday morning?

If you had been reading what we have written in explanation, you would not say that this service is a Mass! Obviously, your mind is set on only one thing and that is that nothing but the Tridentine Rite is acceptable. No prayer services; no ordinary form…

Sad…

 

[diggerdomer]

The point of SCAP is to ensure the Christian community gathers and worships on Sunday even in the distressing circumstances that Eucharist may not be available.

Cheers

 

[Ockham]

If you had been reading what we have written in explanation, you would not say that this service is a Mass! Obviously, your mind is set on only one thing and that is that nothing but the Tridentine Rite is acceptable. No prayer services; no ordinary form…

Sad…

Thank you for the reprimand, but I did read both accounts of these pretend services. The Canadian version is disgusting. My heart weeps for the destruction being inflicted upon Christ’s Church. You have eyes but cannot see.

 

[Phemie]

Thank you for the reprimand, but I did read both accounts of these pretend services. The Canadian version is disgusting. My heart weeps for the destruction being inflicted upon Christ’s Church. You have eyes but cannot see.

It’s a liturgy of the Word with Communion – what’s disgusting about that?

They gather to worship God and you have a problem with that??

They also have the option of celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours instead and having Communion. Do you have a problem with celebrating the Prayer of the Church too?

 

[cricket36]

Thank you for the reprimand, but I did read both accounts of these pretend services. The Canadian version is disgusting. My heart weeps for the destruction being inflicted upon Christ’s Church. You have eyes but cannot see.

Are you recommending that a parish NOT gather on a Sunday when there is no possibility of having a priest to celebrate Mass?

What would you do in such a case? Especially if your parish was in a remote area? Don’t forget that if 2 or 3 are gathered in His Name, He is in their midst. (This means a community)

 

[diggerdomer]

Thank you for the reprimand, but I did read both accounts of these pretend services. The Canadian version is disgusting. My heart weeps for the destruction being inflicted upon Christ’s Church. You have eyes but cannot see.

Ockham, if you’re really Catholic then please consider the Magisterium. Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (the U.S. title, the Canadian is slightly different, I understand) is not a “pretend service.” It is a liturgical Rite authorized and promulgated by the Vatican. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, but if you don’t accept it then you’re setting yourself above the Magisterium.

Cheers

 

[Ockham]

I’m Catholic enough to be offended by all these modernist dilutions of our clergy. Lay people pretending to be priests is a heresy. Read the history of parishes in the New World and you’ll find people walking all day to get to their church, Mass once a month by a visiting missionary priest, and extremely strong congregations. These were people who literally built their own churches even though they didn’t have a priest. There were no lay persons distributing Communion nor preaching in those days and they did just fine. Only our modern society’s compulsive need for self-indulgence and gratification prompts such measures and I don’t care if any bishops oks it or not. Martin Luther was a clergyman; were his actions permissable?

 

[cricket36]

I’m Catholic enough to be offended by all these modernist dilutions of our clergy. Lay people pretending to be priests is a heresy. Read the history of parishes in the New World and you’ll find people walking all day to get to their church, Mass once a month by a visiting missionary priest, and extremely strong congregations. These were people who literally built their own churches even though they didn’t have a priest. There were no lay persons distributing Communion nor preaching in those days and they did just fine. Only our modern society’s compulsive need for self-indulgence and gratification prompts such measures and I don’t care if any bishops oks it or not. Martin Luther was a clergyman; were his actions permissable?

First of all, we are not pretending to be priests.

Secondly, you have not yet answered my question. What would you and the members of your parish community do (in this day and age, not 200 years ago) if you had no priest for your congregation during most of the Sundays of the month?

 

[Phemie]

Nobody is pretending to be a priest. You’re putting your own spin on things.

Now, I would much prefer that at these celebrations we did not give out Communion, particularly those that happen when the community is only without a priest for a short while. Why? No, not because I have something against EMHCs (other than they are often used unnecessarily) but because it is clearer that something is amiss if we DON’T receive Communion. I feel that simply gathering for a Liturgy of the Word or for Morning and Evening Prayer should be enough.

But when the community will be without a priest for months on end, like some in my diocese, then they should be able to receive the Body and Blood of Christ at least occasionally during that time. And it should be done within a proper liturgy. That’s why the POPE approved these liturgies.

Just consider yourself very lucky that you don’t have to go without Communion for months on end and have some compassion for those who are not fortunate enough to live in urban centers.

 

[centurionguard]

I’m not particularly against Catholics congregating on Sunday Morning to listen to a SCAP service when no priest is available. Personally I would prefer the USCCB guidelines pertaining to this service rather than differentiated changes that are seen across Canadian Dioceses. Every diocesan bishop seems to throw his own variation as to how a SCAP service is to be carried out in the proper norms. Then again you have priest’s who make their own variations as to how leaders from parish councils set SCAP services by lay presiders.
Originally; Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest was only supposed to be used in emergency situations. My fear is that now it’s becoming a norm as seen in many dioceses across the U.S., Canada and Europe. SCAP services should NEVER be seen as a replacement for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What happens when the Church lacks a priest to guide as a shepherd ? It falls apart and the sheep scatter.

 

[Ockham]

Secondly, you have not yet answered my question. What would you and the members of your parish community do (in this day and age, not 200 years ago) if you had no priest for your congregation during most of the Sundays of the month?

You pray for vocations. These ‘services’ are improper and don’t inspire people to the priesthood. It’s a mockery of Holy Mass. We don’t have a right to receive Communion and the proper way is at Mass itself.