Why don't more Catholic pastors solve important issues that are well within their competency and authority to solve?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Exegete
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
E

Exegete

Guest
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

I have been thinking and praying about this photo since Ash Wednesday when I took it. Lay ministers treating the Most Blessed Sacrament in repose and the sanctuary of my parish church with indifference or worse. This is not merely a personal preference. It’s objectively unacceptable behavior.

I sent my pastor a courteous email with the photo attached, requesting that we please restore the respect and solemnity we once showed the Blessed Sacrament and the sanctuary. He has not replied and I wonder it he will?

Rather than asking about this specific incident, I’d like to ask a more general question. In all sincerity, why do so many Catholic pastors (and perhaps pastors of non-Catholic religious groups?) fail to take action on problems they have the authority and resources to actually solve?

To begin, it’s not possible that he (and the last several pastors that came before him) does not know about this, or many other eminently solvable problems in my parish. It’s also not the case that his workload does not allow him sufficient time to address such problems at least in a reasonable time frame.

Why don’t pastors take action? The only potential reasons I could come up with are:
  • He truly doesn’t believe there is a problem. He believes that everything is honky-dory, because his own belief in the Real Presence and his own set of personal manners are wanting.
  • He feels it’s positive to become more relaxed and less formal in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
  • He simply does not care.
  • He’s lazy. He doesn’t want to deal with it.
  • He kinda likes the irreverent/loosey-goosey atmosphere. It shows there is “change” underway in the Church.
  • He realizes there is a problem but he’s not about to let any traditionalists/fundamentalists tell him what to do.
  • He feels it’s none of the laity’s business and he resents being asked about it.
  • He values his independence when it comes to parish politics as he knows the bishop will never get involved.
  • He actually enjoys the tension/misery it produces.
  • This problem is actually already on his hit list and he’ll get to it in due time. (We have been waiting decades for problems like this to be solved.)
  • He doesn’t want people going to the bishop to complain if he clamps down, no matter how diplomatically.
  • He doesn’t want to negatively impact the weekly plate offering if he clamps down, no matter how diplomatically.
  • There’s something broken inside of him. He actually appreciates a public lack of respect being shown to the Blessed Sacrament.
**Are there other possible reasons?

I would really love to know why Catholic pastors seemingly ignore problems they have the ability to solve?

NOTA BENE: The sacristan in the photo tending to the sacred vessels was silently working her ministry. Her presence makes the photo all the more revealing. She is one of the kindest, most able, most reverent and most conscientious Catholic ministers (clergy or lay!) I have ever come in contact with.
 
Last edited:
No, He is in repose, inside the locked tabernacle.

Nevertheless, the behavior shown in this photo by people in very close presence to the Most Blessed Sacrament, particularly in a Catholic parish’s sanctuary is totally unacceptable.

Further, what this photo doesn’t capture is how loud both of the conversations was.
 
Last edited:
CCHcolonel said:
I only converted a year ago, and haven’t ever been up by the altar but once to sign my name in the book at confirmation.

Are you referring to the curtain that’s open?
Click to expand...
When we are in close proximity to the Most Blessed Sacrament, we must act with reverence. This is also true about being in a church’s sanctuary, even if the Blessed Sacrament is not nearby.

These people (except for the sacristan) are acting indifferently/irreverently.

FWIW, there is no curtain open. That’s just fixed, Lenten decoration.
 
Last edited:
They are talking to the priest, it’s not like they were having a party.

You also make some pretty big assumptions about your Pastor that are not at all kind.
Wouldn’t it be better to pray for him than tear him down?

And did you get permission from the people in the photo to post it on a public message board? If it was me, I would have a very big problems with that, especially your “commentary”
 
Last edited:
I’m not sure if the person behind the altar is the priest. Normally the priest would go outside after mass so people who want to talk to him can do so out there. Or is this photo during mass? But then why are people talking? But if it’s not the priest, why are people going up to the altar after mass to talk if they could just talk in the pews?
 
Erm, I don’t think you should be posting pictures of your parishioners and then trashing them on the internet.

And how do you know they aren’t members here on CAF?
 
The resolution of the photo is low enough that the people can’t be identified
 
That’s your priest.

There is no context here. Maybe he was talking with them because they were going to bring ashes to the homebound.
Threads like this are awful. Talk to your priest, don’t castigate him on the internet.
 
Last edited:
Doesn’t matter. It’s still wrong.
 
Last edited:
Flopfoot said:
I’m not sure if the person behind the altar is the priest.
Click to expand...
Every person in the photo is a layperson. This photo was taken perhaps 2 minutes after Mass.

According to many, the sanctuary has long been for some like a stage or a place to be seen in my parish, so it’s not merely my own, decades-long personal experience. They climb up into it before Mass or after Mass ends. It’s a difficult situation.
 
Last edited:
So now you are reporting hearsay too.

Talk to your priest. If you don’t like his reply go to the Bishop if you want, but stop bad-mouthing him and the laity who serve
the Church with out of context rants.
 
Of the people in the photo, only the sacristan had a reason to be in the sanctuary.

Notice the person to the right actually leaning on the ambo and those to the left leaning against the wall chatting, while in close proximity to the Most Blessed Sacrament.

I had hoped this thread would not focus on if what these people are doing in the wrong or not. That’s not debatable. I was hoping to gain insight on why seemingly so many Catholic pastors do not solve such problems even though they have the authority and means to do so?
 
Contact your Archdiocese. Present the facts and ask for guidance. This apparent lack of reverence should be dealt with in an appropriate way.
 
I’m a priest. I don’t see a problem in the picture. If I were just surmising what was going on, I’d suspect that the priest is explaining to them how the distribution of ashes is to go, since it happens, you know, once a year.

For the record, I wouldn’t respond to such an email either. To be quite frank, I don’t have time to put out every single fire in my parish. Some things, you have to let fall by the wayside.

Does your pastor know you? Like, would he know your name if you spoke with him after Mass? Because if someone sends me an email of this nature (I.e. complaining), and I don’t know the person, I’m going to disregard it as well. I might send a generic response like, “Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate your concern for the Eucharist.” But, I’ll make all the time in the world to speak with someone face to face. But frankly, sending an email of this nature, and attaching a picture to it, reeks of simply looking for a reason to complain.
 
Last edited:
I’ve got to agree with those that say the best (really the only appropriate) way to deal with a situation like this is to speak directly to the priest first and then the Bishop. Not vent on here - worse still post photos.

Totally no context. Those people might be
a) waiting to collect communion to take to the homebound,
b) telling the priest or each other that a parishioner has collapsed outside and might need anointing/emergency attention,
c) serving at the next Mass which, if straight after the one you went to, means Father may need to talk to them immediately.

Those are things just off the top of my head that do not automatically indicate an especially disrespectful attitude to the Blessed Sacrament.
 
I’d suggest you mind your own business and stop sending letters to the priest demanding he do something. You will never be satisfied and you somehow seem to feel your priest needs to live up to YOUR expectations. Please sign up to clean the church on a weekly basis or to wash dishes after Social Sunday or the parish summer picnic and volunteer to keep all the bathrooms fresh as a daisy so you can learn a bit about what humility looks like.
 
One more thing…simple Christian charity demands assuming the best in someone, rather than the worst.
 
I did not “vent.” I am trying to understand why some Catholic pastors do not solve problems they have the authority and resources to solve?

“I don’t have the time” just isn’t believable.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top