Consolidation and Concelebration

The New Liturgical Movement has posted an interview with His Excellency, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He has this to say about the practice of concelebration:

DT: In Germany, it is ever more requently that Holy Masses are being replaced by celebrations of the Word of God led by lay people, although enough priests are available. In return, in many places priests, in the course of mergers of parishes, have to concelebrate more frequently, so that even less Masses are celebrated. Does the Church have to rethink the practice of concelebration?

MR: This is less a question of concelebration than a question of the understanding of the Mass and the image of the priest. The priest accomplishes in the Eucharist what others cannot do. As alter Christus, he is not the main person, but the Lord. Concelebrations should be restricted to special occasions. A concelebration which stands for a depersonalisation of the celebration of Mass is therefore just as wrong as the notion that one could obligate a priest to concelebrate regularly, or close churches in several villages and concentrate the Mass in one place, although enough celebrants are available.

The last sentence flies in the face of the Diocesan Planning Commission’s “recommendation” that every parish develop a new Mass schedule to allow for larger assemblies and “more robust celebrations.” Priests in the Diocese of Scranton need to consider carefully the Archbishop’s Advice, and restrict concelebration to a few special occasions. Assisting at Mass “in choro,” or in choir dress, is still a legitimate option, although speaking from experience, many priests laugh at such a suggestion.

On Bishops and beach houses

Thanks to a tip from a Catholic Watchdog reader, we were alerted to this letter printed in the Allentown Morning Call:

The assessment records of Avalon, Cape May County N.J., reveal that the ocean front property at 4660 Dune Dr. is deeded to an Edward P. Cullen (no title) with a value of $1.36 million. The tax bill is sent to 2920 Chew St., Allentown, Pa. This is the residence of the Bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, the Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen. The assessment records of Stone Harbor, Cape May County, N.J. reveal that Unit 201, Golden Shores Condominiums, 8001 Second Ave. is deeded to an Edward Cullen (no title) with a value of $600,000, and the tax bills are sent to 4660 Dune Dr. Avalon. The assessment records of Lehigh County show that a property at 3853 Larkspur Dr. Allentown, is deeded to a Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen, with a value of $390,000, and tax bills are sent to P.O. Box F, Allentown, Pa., the address of the Chancery of the Diocese of Allentown.

Read the full letter here.

What will a “profoundly renewed” Scranton diocese look like?

I’ve asked the question many times: What will a “profoundly renewed” Scranton diocese look like? Check out this post over at Holy Smoke. Welcome to Futurechurch.

Some highlights:

As for the priests? The days when a priest actually belonged to a parish are long gone, and the bishops know it. They don’t really want more priests – too much hassle. (If they did, they’d be on the phone to India, Nigeria and Poland and have two dozen priests on their doorstep by next Monday.)

No: Futurechurch will have centralised team-ministries – huge residences with offices and communications teams and admin and all manner of professional lay-ministers for education and RCIA and justice and peace and scheduling. The handful of priests will live there as a centralised hub, reaching out over the 50-mile radius to organise pastoral/educational/liturgical/spiritual/catechetical/evangelical/social events at their “Ekklesia”.

Read the full post here.

This comes from an English perspective, but it touches on the same issues at play in the “profound renewal” and restructuring of the Scranton Diocese.

The Holy Spirit said so.

From Holy Smoke:

One hundred parishioners of St John the Evangelist, Allerton Bywater [Diocese of Leeds, UK], have petitioned their bishop, the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, to allow the parish to celebrate Mass only in Latin, in both the old and new forms. Instead, he is closing the church this month and has told the parish priest, Fr Mark Lawler, that he will not be appointed to a new parish because his ministry is “divisive”.

Fr Lawler told me today: “This is a parish that does exactly what the Holy Father tells us to do, celebrating the Mass reverently in the old and new forms. The bishop is determined to squash it, and to destroy me because he doesn’t want me moving to another parish and doing the same thing.”

Relations between Bishop Roche and Fr Lawler have been strained for years. The bishop told Fr Lawler some time ago that he wanted him to say Mass facing the people, and that because he had told him what to do it was therefore the will of the Holy Spirit.

Pope Benedict, in contrast, has written at length defending the ancient practice of celebrating the Eucharist facing east. He has also given priests the legal right to celebrate a public Mass in the traditional rite if they are approached by a stable group of the faithful, however small. At St John’s, the vast majority of regular worshippers have asked for the old rite to be made available. On August 17, their church will be closed by the diocese.

Fr Lawler says he asked for a meeting with Bishop Roche, but to no avail. Instead, the Vicar General, one Mgr McQuinn, has written to him, telling him: “The Bishop … believes your ministry to be divisive, is uncertain that ordinary pastoral care of parishioners is taking place and does not have confidence that you will celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass with a generous heart for the vast majority of parishioners who expect Sunday and weekday Masses to be in English and at an altar facing the people.”

In an open letter to his parishioners, Fr Lawler describes this claim as “a slur on my character, an attack upon my priesthood and totally without foundation.”

See the entire story here.

Bishops, although set apart as shepherds of Christ’s flock on earth, are not infallible in any respect. We are foolish to allow bishops and other diocesan officials to claim that their wishes are also the wishes of the Holy Spirit. It’s an absurd idea. If we follow this line of thinking, then it must have been the will of the Holy Spirit for abusive priests to be moved from parish to parish by their bishops. Just because a bishop promotes it does not mean that it is necessarily holy or that it reflects the will of God.