Worst Liturgical Abuses?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Crusader
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Well you certainly opened a “bad” topic. Generally the Roman Catholic Church in America is very distinctive. Having lived in Pre Vatican era and daily Mass in Latin I loved visiting other Roman Catholic Churches as I always felt at home and all was the same other than the beautiful stations, paintings, statues etc that sent your spirit into reflection and serenity. The only thing I had to worry about was whether the ushers would start at the back or front and which aisle to return from Holy Communion. Gone are those days. At my church the associate priests would come out at communion usually only 1 other and help. I too, feel too many EME’s have rushed the most important part of the Mass. Hopefully, the parishes that have truly reverential priests and services will reap the registered and involved members and the other’s will struggle, maybe closed or JUST MAYBE will get the message Whom is the main attraction. Jesus now and forever. We can only pray for us “American Catholics.” 👍
 
40.png
lauraannj:
At my former Jesuit parish, lay people will routinely give the Homily on the feast of the Holy Family, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This has occurred for years.
  • LauraAnn
Click to expand...
This is true at the parish that I used to attend (until a chapel opened near my house). But I saw even worse abuse when I went back to my former parish a couple of weeks ago. The priest started the Mass by having everybody on one side of the church cross over to the other side to wish the people there a “Happy Easter”. He then left out the Act of Contrition (sp?) and the Lord Have Mercy, had us hold hands during the Our Father, and then substituted the closing prayer with what appeared to be a “wave”.

If it hadn’t been the last Mass of the weekend, I would have gone to another.
 
t times:
Worst Abuse, At a Midnight mass people were walking in with coffee cups, food items etc. then they want communion.

at another location using a real peanut butter “Cookie” for the host.
Click to expand...
At one time, I had a disagreement with my pastor and switched parishes. Bad move. Besides the abuses in my previous post -
  1. The parish was the only one in Puerto Rico giving communion in the hand (It was not approved here on the Island until about 10 years ago.)
  2. The Gloria was replaced by the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
At another parish (this time in Pennsylvania) the Gloria and the Creed were regularly omitted (they were reserved for special times.
 
Our pastor on Holy Thursday called several women forward to wash their feet! Later when I spoke with him about this his reply was it was more about service than the priesthood. I was shocked to the core on Holy Thursday and again when he told me this.

Linda H.
 
Linda H.:
Our pastor on Holy Thursday called several women forward to wash their feet! Later when I spoke with him about this his reply was it was more about service than the priesthood. I was shocked to the core on Holy Thursday and again when he told me this.

Linda H.
Click to expand...
This is common in my parish. Female members of the lay liturgical elite are the most apt to have their feet washed by the priest.
 
40.png
lauraannj:
At my former Jesuit parish, lay people will routinely give the Homily on the feast of the Holy Family, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This has occurred for years. The book is also brought up by the lay person who is the First Reading Lector. On Unity Sunday last year a Lutheran minister who is female gave the homily and sat on the alter with the Pastor (she did not concelebrate the consecration thank God).
I finally left that parish after experiencing the Mass at the Cathedral. There is nothing like being at a parish that is traditional in every sense of the word. Imagine a mass with incense and the sprinkling rite every Sunday, not just at Easter and Christmas.
  • LauraAnn
Click to expand...
Praise be to God for your new found parish. Pray for your last on though, especiall the priest there.
A lay person (even the Lutheran woman) cant give homilies. Only deacons and priest and bishops can. Lay people can only preach. There is a difference. I would write to the Bishop about this about (you go to the Cathedral right?) you are right there. how cool!
 
Not at my parish!

Once, a nun (not in habit) lifted up her own host along side the priest during the “through HIm, With Him and in Him.” 😦
 
This morning’s Pentecost Sunday Mass was extremely solemn, yet the homily was powerful and the liturgical abuses were no where to be seen (for the most part.)

Thank God for the Holy Ghost!
 
Had a bad experience with a visiting Priest who was giving a Parish Mission for a week during Lent.

I’m not sure what the specific abuses were, but the way he chatted through the entire Mass, including the Consecration, I just know there had to be some! ( I looked up his name on the Internet and his name showed up quoted on a site promoting “women Priests.”)

In Michigan I went to a Funeral Mass. Before we prayed the Our Father the Priest-thankfully a retired Priest- started by saying something along the lines of “as you hold your neighbors hand in a moment to pray Our Lord’s Prayer.”

The worst though, was when he invited all non-Catholics to receive Holy Communion. 😦
 
40.png
Crusader:
What are the worst liturgical abuses you have been witness to?

At my parish I have seen extraordinary ministers of holy communion acting literally as concelebrants as they stood around the altar and took communion along with the priest.

I have also seen barefooted liturgical dancers in the sacristy that was downright offensive. Liturgical dancing is a special abuse here in my diocese.

I have also seen “excess” Precious Blood treated in a horrible manner.
Click to expand...
I went to my God Daughter’s first communion a couple of weeks ago and they actually sang the Gloria for the processional. I’d never seen that one before. The priest there has always somewhat irritated me because he always says, “The Lord is with you” instead of the “The Lord be with you”. Totally changes the meaning in my opinion.

Mike
 
I was thinking about starting a thread exactly like this one, but I found out that it already existed… 🤓

Well, I have heard about clown Masses and read about them on the Internet. The first time I ever read about a clown mass, I just thought it was an isolated incident in some liberal diocese somewhere in the U.S. I never, ever, ever thought I would witness it for myself in any of the churches in my diocese.

One time my boyfriend and I went to Mass at this church we never really have gone to (me - once, he - never). During the homily, the priest was talking about how the mass and church should be taught in a way where little children could be “involved” and so they could understand the mass better.

I remember seeing a clown greeting people when we walked in the church and was wondering in my head… now what is that clown here for? I just thought there was something going on for the children after mass, but anyways, his homily continued on on how little children can’t learn about church unless it is spoken in “children’s language”… then

ENTER THE CLOWN

Instead of the priest saying the homily, that goofy looking clown in the back of the church came forward, hid behind the altar to collect his props for story telling time, but before doing so, bowed towards the tabernacle (which was directly behind the altar) in such a mocking sort of way that I could feel the blood rushing to my head. This corny music was playing in the background and the clown was just playing with dolls or whatever he had on the altar to teach whatever story he was trying to tell.

A lot of people in the church didn’t look too amused. My boyfriend and I didn’t even stay for the mass and ended up going elsewhere the next day (it was a vigil mass). I could not believe what I just saw that day… it was just ridiculous!
 
“the road to hell is paved with the skulls
of priests and Bishops.” - St. John Chysostom
 
David Ancell said:
*]
I went to a Holy Thursday Mass where the readings were read “dramatically” (kind of like the Passion on Palm Sunday), and they had the washing of hands. At the time, I didn’t know better and thought it was a cool way to get participation of the entire congregation. Now I know that the only Scriptural precedent was that of Pontius Pilate.
Click to expand...

If it wasn’t so sad, I would have chuckled for hours about the “washing of the hands”!

Mike
 
Where to begin?
→ No silence before Mass - it sounds like a county fair up until the procession begins.
–>Holy Thursday - Children and women have their feet washed - everyone is invited up as the priest and deacons wash feet for 15 - 20 minutes until everyone who cares to has clean feet.
–>The priest told the congregation that he learned at seminary it was permissible to hold hands during the Our Father, without mention that there has been significant changes in the past few years re. liturgy
–>For the sign of peace, the priest comes down and roams around shaking hands, winking and giving the peace sign to those out of his reach.
–>During the Creed, the priest leaves out “men” in the sentence, “for us men and our salvation. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist at the invitation to prayer he leads the congregation in saying” May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of God’s name for our good and the good all God’s Church" - as if we don’t know whose Church it really is.
Ok, so maybe I’m being picky - how about these
→ When a particular female cantor is singing at the Mass, her husband comes forward from the congregation to receive communion with her at the alter (along with the EMHC’s).
–>Routinely, married couples offer each other the Chalice and give each other the Hosts after receiving from the priest
→ Homilies are given by lay people to promote their ministries, ie church festivals, committees etc.
→ Mass is said in the cemetary on Memorial Day.
–>During ordinary time, the priest celebrates wearing green as he says “because he is a MSU Spartan” fan.
→ I could go on and on, but why bother? I have attempted to find out why we do the things we do in church, including sending tracts to the priest, music director and pastoral associate, but have not had any success. It’s frustrating, to say the least.
–>I use the above abuses as a way to strenghten my own resolve to pray to the Holy Spirit to reach the hearts of the congregation and direct the priest to examine the practices at Mass.
 
Saw a priest once answer his cell phone after elevating the chalice and then continue.

I’ve seen the Precious Blood distributed in plastic nyquil cups and then thrown in a waste basket.

I was in Napa once and attended mass in the Ugly as Sin building that replaced St. John the Baptist where Hilaire and Elodie Belloc were married. The congregation blessed these large glass bowls of water and the priest went up and down the aisles splashing the laity with his hand.
 
40.png
Crusader:
At my parish I have seen extraordinary ministers of holy communion acting literally as concelebrants as they stood around the altar and took communion along with the priest.
Click to expand...
The late great Fr. Hardon, S.J. termed this “priest envy”

He once physically pushed a woman off the altar saying “excuse me madam, I’m saying mass!” 👍
 
PASCENDI said:
Saw a priest once answer his cell phone after elevating the chalice and then continue.

I’ve seen the Precious Blood distributed in plastic nyquil cups and then thrown in a waste basket.

I was in Napa once and attended mass in the Ugly as Sin building that replaced St. John the Baptist where Hilaire and Elodie Belloc were married. The congregation blessed these large glass bowls of water and the priest went up and down the aisles splashing the laity with his hand.
Click to expand...

Your comments above are scary…

I now remember the worst abuse I have ever seen here locally. When the ciborium in the tabernacle used to routinely overflow with consecrated hosts, **our pastor would take about half of them and mix them with unconsecrated hosts to be used as the gifts for an upcoming Mass! **Even around here in abuseville, that practice stopped rather quickly once people learned of it.
 
David Ancell:
How about these? All of these happened to me at different times in different parishes.
  • I walked into one parish where the church was being renovated. Daily Mass was held around the rectory dining room table. The Eucharist was in a ciborium sitting on the mantle of the rectory with the Paschal Candle next to it. Communion was distributed by each person passing the patten to the next and saying “The Body of Christ.” The communicant would then pick the Host up out of the patten and take it.
  • One parish had a communal penance service where we wrote down our sins, showed the paper to the priest, and received absolution.
  • At the aforementioned service, the priest would say, instead of the regular words of absolution "Grant your servant pardon and peace, and absolve him of all sins . . . "
  • Another priest said the following substitute for the words of absolution “Christ forgives your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
  • I went to a Holy Thursday Mass where the readings were read “dramatically” (kind of like the Passion on Palm Sunday), and they had the washing of hands. At the time, I didn’t know better and thought it was a cool way to get participation of the entire congregation. Now I know that the only Scriptural precedent was that of Pontius Pilate.
  • One priest gave a homily on rational-emotive therapy. No, I’m serious, his theme was that “our feelings are caused by our perceptions.”
  • The Memorial Acclamation was replaced with the chorus of Marty Haugen’s “We Remember.”
  • The Creed was skipped. The priest said he was doing it, so there’s no way in heck that this was an accident.
  • The Litany of the Saints on Easter Vigil included King Solomon. Granted, he might be in Heaven, but this isn’t grounds for public veneration.
I have been fortunate not to have to endure such things as a crucifix with balloons on it, clowns coming in to Mass, priests wearing “football team” vestments, or anything that outrageous, but, as you will note, I may have received potentially invalid absolution on more than one occasion. This is just as serious as any abuse in the Mass.

David
Click to expand...
You didn’t “potentially receive invalid absolution” You didn’t receive the sacrament of Penance at all, and you did not receive absolution. The priest who did these things shoud be suspended. He knows better.
 
Twenty years ago, at the University student chapel,during Holy Thursday Mass, a group of students gathered around the altar during the Gospel reading. The Reading was interrupted several times while the students discussed their impressions(favorable) of the University’s annual “Hash Bash”. As they were discussing this, a “mime”(female of course, complete with white face paint and black cheek spots) washed the feet of the group as they spoke. Later, during Communion, the church members in the front were asked to take 2 consecrated hosts, intinct both, and deliver one of them to someone in the back of the church! That was the last time my friends and I attended the church we unaffectionately called “St. Mary’s flying circus”:dancing:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top