Was the mass I attended valid?

[Frankie_G]

I attend a small Catholic Church in rural America.
When our priest needs to take a vacation, he
turns to a retired priest to fill-in for him while
our priest is gone. Unfortunately, the retired priest
is an old and very angry man. Recently, the retired
priest celebrated Mass on Sunday for our pastor.
He immediately fell into a wild hateful rant at the
beginning of his homily when he denounced Pope
Benedict XVI. He read from the bible, and referred
to a gospel he called a “Letter from Bob”, (Bob is his first name).
As he read from the viciously insulting, fictitious gospel, he
declared that Pope Benedict XVI was struck down by God
for his false teachings and use of big words and for his desire
to seek fame from the world by wearing very fashionable
and expensive cloths. He further declared that the reprehensible
Benedict XVI was struck down by God, so that God could appoint
a new pope, a pope of the people, Pope Francis.

My question is this: was the Mass celebrated by this very hateful
retired priest valid, where he was spewing his uncontrollable hatred
of Pope Benedict XVI from the sacred altar of my church, when
he obviously had committed a mortal sin at the church’s altar?
Also, was the consecrated host at the hands of this vile
priest valid?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

I would suggest that you and other concerned parishioners write and sign a letter to your pastor explaining the problems that are occurring. If no one informs the pastor he’ll never know what’s happening when he’s away.

The Mass was indeed valid, from what I can tell. While his actions at the Gospel part of the Mass were highly illicit and a grave abuse, they did not affect the validity of the Eucharist at the Mass. As long as he used valid matter and did not change the words of consecration so much as to change their meaning, then the Eucharist would be valid.

As I said, I would inform the pastor of these actions and statements. He may not be aware of what has been happening. I would also ask you to be as charitable as possible, you do not know if this retired priest is suffering from any mental health issues that might be unknown to him or others.