Father Freelance
One hears rumbles and grumbles from time to time about priests who think they know better than the church and treat the liturgy like a suggestion rather than a script.
You know the sort of priest who feels that he has to improve the language of the liturgy by “making it more understandable”
Others are desperate to make Mass more entertaining. Insecure souls who long for the adulation of their audience, they jazz up the music and change the words of the liturgy to make it more cool.
Then there are the universalists who feel they must correct the theology not only of the liturgy but of our Lord himself by refusing to say that the chalice was Christ’s blood poured out “for many”–insisting that it was poured out “for all.”
George Weigel has a little rant here about this sort of liturgical abuse.
It may come as a surprise to Father Freelance, but after more than four decades of priest-celebrants trying to be Johnny Carson, Bob Barker, Alex Trebek, or whomever, this act is getting very old. Father, you’re just not very good at it. Your freelancing is often banal, even silly. Moreover, you demean us by suggesting that we, the congregation, can’t handle the sacral language of the liturgy, and that we have to be jollied into participation. In fact, if you listen carefully, you’ll discover that congregational responses drop off when you invite a response in your terms, not the liturgy’s.
So please, fathers in Christ, spare us these attempts at creativity, or user-friendliness, or whatever it is you think you’re doing. They’re just don’t work. Please just pray the black and do the red. And the worship Vatican II intended will be much enhanced thereby.
The weird thing is, the liberal priests who think its okay to do what they want with the liturgy are the ones who criticize conservatives for being divisive.
Funny how they never see their liturgical free for all as divisive.
Go here to read George’s full article.
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