What exactly counts as a liturgical abuse?

[laszlo]

For something to be an abuse, it doesn’t have to be declared so.

No. Only judges can claim crime or even transgression. Policeman does not judges you for traffic violation, he gives a court date. Before your guilty plea or the judgment the driver is considered innocent.

Unless you can prove that in liturgical matter it is otherwise, you should follow the common sense, and claim abuse only after the competent authority said so. To judge someone without that and denigrate his reputation is sinful.

It is tragedy that many people listen to the temptation of the Devil:

Gen 3:5 … and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

 

[DeaconsSon87]

This does.

 

[ProVobis]

For something to be an abuse, it doesn’t have to be declared so. It simply is or it isn’t.

Indeed, just as something is legal or illegal. In fact, I don’t know what the difference between an abuse and illegality is.

 

[TheMc]

Unless you can prove that in liturgical matter it is otherwise, you should follow the common sense, and claim abuse only after the competent authority said so. To judge someone without that and denigrate his reputation is sinful.

That’s often quite easy, when the competent authority says things like this:

•Sacrosanctum Concilium art. 22.3 (1963)
o Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.

•Canon 846.1 (1983)
o The liturgical books approved by the competent authority are to be faithfully observed in the celebration of the sacraments; therefore no one on personal authority may add, remove or change anything in them.

•Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1125 (1992)
o For this reason no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or the community. Even the supreme authority of the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy.

•General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 24 (2003)
o Nevertheless, the priest must remember that he is the servant of the Sacred Liturgy and that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative, to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass.

•Redemptionis Sacramentum, nos. 31, 59 (2004)
o They ought not to detract from the profound meaning of their own ministry by corrupting the liturgical celebration either through alteration or omission, or through arbitrary additions.
o The reprobated practice by which Priests, Deacons or the faithful here and there alter or vary at will the texts of the Sacred Liturgy that they are charged to pronounce, must cease. For in doing thus, they render the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy unstable, and not infrequently distort the authentic meaning of the Liturgy

 

[Art321]

It depends when and what. During the homily, there are not all that many restrictions on what the priest can use. If he wants to draw diagrams on a blackboard, or hand out a lecture summary, or pass around frankincense and myrrh for people to experience, or do something else to help communicate and demonstrate his point, there is really nothing preventing this. If he gets out props during the Responsorial Psalm or the Our Father or something, that would be a bit more problematic (and bizarre).

Ok, first thank you everyone for replying. Now from what I am getting here, it is alright for any priest to use anything he wishes in his demonstrations???

Are you sure? I ask this because in a way it just doesn’t seem right. I mean I am pretty sure that this would never happen in a Latin Mass. And I have never been to one as of yet. Should the priest just stick to giving a good homily?

Please help. I just confused over all of this.

 

[laszlo]

I can easily accept that if someone experiences a liturgical abuse in his own territorial parish where he/she belongs and

• report it to his pastor, and get positive assurance that it is abuse, and the case is resolved
• or report it to his bishop with details and get answer, which resolves the case

that person can come to this group or any group with all facts to enlighten the others, what can be done.

But I firmly believe that search the internet for descriptions or videos and insinuate that the post Vatican Church is mostly abusive (e.g. quoting the less than a dozen occasions of clown masses as characteristic to the over 2 billion new rite masses just in the last decade) – is sinful. (According to the Hungarian saying God forgives the idiots)

The liturgical abuse is the responsibility of the pastors, bishops and the Apostolic see. Laity chewing on that, especially in choir like in groups is abusing their role in the Church. The laity or even the lower clergy (outside of their territory) are not leaders of the Church.

 

[RuthByzCat3]

And I used to think that not having beeswax candles was an abuse…

 

[The_Curt_Jester]

I can easily accept that if someone experiences a liturgical abuse in his own territorial parish where he/she belongs and

• report it to his pastor, and get positive assurance that it is abuse, and the case is resolved
• or report it to his bishop with details and get answer, which resolves the case

that person can come to this group or any group with all facts to enlighten the others, what can be done.

But I firmly believe that search the internet for descriptions or videos and insinuate that the post Vatican Church is mostly abusive (e.g. quoting the less than a dozen occasions of clown masses as characteristic to the over 2 billion new rite masses just in the last decade) – is sinful. (According to the Hungarian saying God forgives the idiots)

The liturgical abuse is the responsibility of the pastors, bishops and the Apostolic see. Laity chewing on that, especially in choir like in groups is abusing their role in the Church. The laity or even the lower clergy (outside of their territory) are not leaders of the Church.

First, posting a video of a puppet Mass is not stating that everything Vatican II is abusive. It’s stating that that SINGLE Mass was very abusive in the way it was done.

Do I have to show that video to my pastor to find out if it’s abusive or not? Really? Please tell me that you don’t expect me to do that.