Posted on 09/25/2011 12:11:27 PM PDT by NYer
During an interview the SSPX Superior for Germany, Fr. Franz Schmidberger, made and interesting comment about the Holy Father’s visit in Germany. Original German.
He gave an opinion about the style of the Papal Masses.
The following is from the translation provided by our friends at Rorate who are deeply tapped into SSPX veins.
Q: What do you as the District Superior think of a celebration of the Eucharist in a football stadium with a colorful opening act and with both boys and girls serving as altar servers?
Fr. Schmidberger: All those mass meeting have in them the danger of an “event”, that is they lack the sacral character, dignity and sanctity. And also, in the whole history of the Church, there have never been any female altar servers, simply because this service at the altar is connected in a remote way to that of the Priest, and according to the will of our Lord this is reserved for men. Female altar servers is an invention made by liberal churchmen, for whom the spirit of the times is more important than the faith and the consciousness of the Church, the “sentire cum Ecclesia”.
This is a rather clever answer, given the Communiquè of the Holy See: Meeting between CDF and the SSPX during which the “Doctrinal Preamble” was consigned. In that we read this:
This preamble enunciates some of the doctrinal principles and criteria of interpretation of Catholic doctrine necessary for guarantying fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and to the sentire cum Ecclesia, while leaving open to legitimate discussion the study and theological explanation of expressions and particular formulations present in the texts of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium which followed.
I think Fr. Schmidberger has a good point.
Ping!
This is an opening to drive an 18-wheeler through!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.