Why is that Liturgical Abuse?

[dhgray]

I have seen many God fearing Catholics calling this or that liturgical abuse. Being a convert, I really don’t know the difference. Is there some sort of rule book or manual?

 

[Meggie]

Its called the GIRM. General instruction Roman Missal or something like that.
But some tend to think that Vatical II was hijacked and is no longer valad even if it follows GIRM.
I find this manner of thinking narrow minded.
Jesus said that obedience is one of the best things and “kindness to a Father will not be forgotten”
my belief is that if a church is in good standing with the terms in this book, then as long as they are faithful and being obedient ot their supieriors its pleasing to God.
Challenging if something is abuse or not is up to the Bishop of that Dioceses, under the Archbishop, who is under the Cardinals, who serve the Pope, but I know one thing, its certinally not the people who surf CA forums to make church law.

 

[debbie_m]

dhgray:

I have seen many God fearing Catholics calling this or that liturgical abuse. Being a convert, I really don’t know the difference. Is there some sort of rule book or manual?

Hi dhgray,

This is a really great question!

I am a convert as well and I have grown to love the Sacred Liturgy so much. I think first it would be good to start with the definition of Liturgy this will help in knowing what is an abuse…there is another thread going with great definitions let me see if I can find something and I’ll be right back.

In finding out more about the Sacred Liturgy you are about to open an amazing TREASURE and our rich INHERITANCE! :yup:

 

[Fortiterinre]

This is a great question and one I often ask. The basic answer is that a liturgical abuse is either INVALID or ILLICIT. Something invalid is the worst form of abuse that prevents sacramental action from taking place, e.g., making Communion bread out of sugar, eggs, and raisins in addition to flour and water. Even if an ordained priest consecrates this at a regular Mass, the cake-bread is not the Eucharist. An illicit abuse is one that breaks a rule but still allows sacramental grace to pour forth, e.g., a priest who offers Mass in mufti or street clothes and refuses to wear the prescribed and available vestments. It’s the Eucharist, but not a Mass I would care to attend.

I am scrupulous about liturgy, but the local ordinary has a lot of discretion and “illicit” is not as cut and dried as I or many posters would like it to be. In fact I find many of us are too scrupulous and often toss the word “illicit” around too much. Mediocre liturgy is not always illicit, and one can break the spirit of the law without breaking the letter. One solution might be to make the letter of liturgical law more black and white, but I tend to doubt it. A spiritual renewal of the liturgy is needed, and in many places is underway.

 

[Munda_cor_meum]

Fortiterinre:

This is a great question and one I often ask. The basic answer is that a liturgical abuse is either INVALID or ILLICIT. Something invalid is the worst form of abuse that prevents sacramental action from taking place, e.g., making Communion bread out of sugar, eggs, and raisins in addition to flour and water. Even if an ordained priest consecrates this at a regular Mass, the cake-bread is not the Eucharist. An illicit abuse is one that breaks a rule but still allows sacramental grace to pour forth, e.g., a priest who offers Mass in mufti or street clothes and refuses to wear the prescribed and available vestments. It’s the Eucharist, but not a Mass I would care to attend.
.

This is a great point, but how can I, as a normal every day layman, know the difference? Some parents, who had their children baptized in the name of the “Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier” certainly thought that the baptism was merely illicit. As it turns out, though, it was invalid, and the immortal souls of the children were at risk.

Why would any Priest choose to do this?!. It seems to me that all the “liturgical abuses” stem from pride and should be vigorously opposed.

 

[debbie_m]

%between%
In a nutshell, a liturgical abuse is when people, whether they be priest or lay faithful, change something that the Church has given us instructions for without the authority to do so. (ie the Mass, certain prayers like the Liturgy of the Hours, etc…) As you can imagine those of us who take the time and effort to learn what the Church instructs us to do, out of love for Christ and His Church, get a little upset. It confuses and scandalizes the unity of the Catholic Church.

There are places where there is room for creativity etc… and this is stated in the instructions…so there are two reasons why people change the liturgy:

1. ignorance/don’t know what the Church teaches
2. they don’t care what the Church teaches because they think they know a better way to do things.

Yes, there are Church documents which include the instructions for Sacred Liturgy, for both the lay faithful and the clergy. The instructions even include gestures, words, prayers, vestments, types of music allowable, and so much more…I keep my own copies at home but they are all available online. Here are some key ones:

**The GIRM **usccb.org/liturgy/current/revmissalisromanien.shtml

Another recent instructional document is Redemptionis Sacramentum: vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html#Chapter%20I

A good website which deals with liturgical abuse is Adoremus adoremus.org/

There really are so many but these are good ones to start.

You may also want to check out the one STICKY at the top of this forum about Liturgy Education (I think there are liturgical abuse topics listed.)

I started looking more into the Sacred Liturgy when one Sunday at Mass there were changes to the responses…everyone was confused and here I had just taught my children the responses and now they were different. I thought surely people can’t just do that, I wonder if they are allowed to do that? So began my journey into loving the Sacred Liturgy… By the way, after hours of reading documents, research and letter writing, I found out no one can change the prescribed responses without authoriztion from Rome and with alot of prayer and persistance the strange responses were removed…Thanks be to God!

Hope this is helpful, sorry it’s long…there’s just so much to say.

God bless,

Debbie

This definition is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

*What does the word liturgy mean? ****1069 *The word “liturgy” originally meant a “public work” or a “service in the name of/on behalf of the people.” In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of God."5 Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church.

[14.] “The regulation of the Sacred Liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, which rests specifically with the Apostolic See and, according to the norms of law, with the Bishop (from a great liturgical instruction document called Redemptionis Sacramentum which came out from Rome in April)

 

[dhgray]

Thanks

 

[Fortiterinre]

I second that, Debbie, we laity need to be educating ourselves too. The new GIRM costs about ten bucks from Ignatius, I bought one at once. Also read Sacrosanctam Concilium and the other Vatican II liturgy documents to get a flavor for what the liturgical renewal was all about. These don’t have the force of liturgical law, but they are a great way to see the mindset of the Council Fathers and avoid any false “spirit of Vatican II.” I was on a plane for four hours this week and read lots. I don’t know that lay people need to go LOOKING for liturgical abuse, but if something arouses your suspicion at Mass then follow up on it in your research.

 

[dhgray]

I keep seeing postings from individuals who scream “the Mass is invalid because of …” or “the priest did that” I know the Mass is very important and the form should be adhered to; however, I think if you pay too much attention to the form, you loose the meaning.