Bp. Serratelli steps up (Catholic Caucus)

What Does the Prayer Really Say ^ | June 19, 2007 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

[Frank Sheed]

19 June 2007

Bp. Serratelli steps up

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 10:31 am

His Excellency Arthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Patterson (NJ) since 2004 has begun a series of articles on the sense of the sacred.  I tip my biretta in his direction for this good initiative.  o{]:¬)

Here is an excerpt from the first offering (my emphases and comments). 

Living in our world, we breathe the toxic air that surrounds us.  Even within the most sacred precincts of the Church, we witness a loss of the sense of the sacred [Do my eyes deceive?  I think H.E. just set up a parallel between irreverence in church and breathing toxic air.  Notice he used the word "precinct".   Oooooo Bp Trautman won’t like that one.  Toooo harrrrd!].  With the enthusiasm that followed the Second Vatican Council, there was a well-intentioned effort to make the liturgy modern.  It became commonplace to say that the liturgy had to be relevant to the worshipper.  [Again, the spectre of Bp. Trautman’s argument about liturgical translations slithers into view, as well as that execrable letter from the ordinary of Los Angeles, Gathering Faithfully [sic] Together.  Brrrrr….]  Old songs were jettisoned.  The guitar replaced the organ.  Some priests even began to walk down the road of liturgical innovation, only to discover it was a dead end.  [Nice analogy.]  And all the while, the awareness of entering into something sacred that has been given to us from above and draws us out of ourselves and into the mystery of God was gone.  [Excellent, Excellency!  Holy Mass is not about us or about what we do, ultimately, but rather about what God does for us and through us.  Mass is not a "truly human experience", as it was called by an old incarnation of the BCL at the time liturgy was being dismantled.]

Teaching about the Mass began to emphasize the community.  The Mass was seen as a community meal.  It was something everyone did together.  Lost was the notion of sacrifice.  Lost the awesome mystery of the Eucharist as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  The priest was no longer seen as specially consecrated.  He was no different than the laity.  With all of this, a profound loss of the sacred.

Not one factor can account for the decline in Mass attendance, Church marriages, baptisms and funerals in the last years.  But most certainly, the loss of the sense of the sacred has had a major impact.

Walk into any church today before Mass and you will notice that the silence that should embrace those who stand in God’s House is gone.  Even the Church is no longer a sacred place.  Gathering for Mass sometimes becomes as noisy as gathering for any other social event.  We may not have the ability to do much about the loss of the sacredness of life in the songs, videos and movies of our day.  But, most assuredly, we can do much about helping one another recover the sacredness of God’s Presence in His Church.

I look forward to his other articles.

Three cheers for Bp. Serratelli!   This reminds me in a way of what Bp. Finn did in Kansas City some time back.

[Frank Sheed]

Great Bishop Post PING!!!!!

[Frank Sheed]

Fr. Z. has a great one posted!

[trisham]

Bishop Serratelli has a very intent, intelligent look in his eyes. Not surprising, given his ability to cut to the quick of a situation.

Teaching about the Mass began to emphasize the community. The Mass was seen as a community meal. It was something everyone did together. Lost was the notion of sacrifice. Lost the awesome mystery of the Eucharist as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The priest was no longer seen as specially consecrated. He was no different than the laity. With all of this, a profound loss of the sacred.

Not one factor can account for the decline in Mass attendance, Church marriages, baptisms and funerals in the last years. But most certainly, the loss of the sense of the sacred has had a major impact.

Would that we had more like him.

[Macoraba]

If he really wants to begin getting back to a sense of the sacred he needs to forbid female altar servers in his diocese!

AFAIK only Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska has the guts to stand up to the feminazis and prohibit female altar servers here in the USA!

[ELS]

Also posted on NLM blog.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated a traditional Pontifical Mass at the F.S.S.P. parish in his diocese (and he initiated it, not OLOF). If you go to this photo gallery, you can view pictures from the Pontifical Mass. They begin around the middile of the page:

[markomalley]

You know, I hear this constant complaining about female altar servers. I hear, if your daughter wants to participate, she should be in the choir.

The constant clang gets to me after a bit.

Why?

Because female altar servers aren't the problem.

They are but ONE symptom.

His excellency identifies the major problems out there...but leaves a few behind.

• The loss of the sacred was identified...and accurately so. Male altar servers will NOT fix a sloppy and disrespectful liturgy. Female altar servers are NOT the cause of a sloppy one.
• Specifically, the loss of the belief in transubstantiation. Sure, people will claim to believe in the Real Presence. But how many TRULY do? If they TRULY did:
  • Would they come to Mass dressed like they were a) interrupting valuable time in the gym? b) stopping to church on the way to their job at the whorehouse? c) stopping off for a blessing while on the way to fix the sink or change the car's oil?
  • Would they do all the talking?
  • Would they dare receive in the hand...if they did, would they treat the Blessed Sacrament like a potato chip?
• You complain about female altar servers. When are you going to start complaining about female lectors?
• You complain about female altar servers. When are you going to complain about so-called 'eucharistic ministers' ... and female 'eucharistic ministers,' at that?
  • First, a 'eucharistic minister' is called a PRIEST. Don't believe me? Look at Canon 900 §1. So if you hear them called 'eucharistic ministers,' 'lay eucharistic ministers,' 'extraordinary eucharistic ministers,' or whatever, that name, in of itself, is in violation of canon law.
  • Well, what are they, then?
    • First, the ordinary minister of Holy Communion is a bishop, priest, or deacon. (Don't believe me? Can. 910 §1)
    • The extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is an acolyte or other member of the Christian faithful designated according to Can 230 §3. So what does that mean? Altar servers acting as ministers of communion? No...
      • Quote: Can. 230 §1. Lay men who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte. Are you raising the issue of getting the bishop's conference to make rules for an instituted lector and instituted acolyte program? How many times have you brought it up to your pastor? To your bishop? Written a letter to the editor of OSV? Your diocesan newspaper?
      • Can. 230 §3. When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply certain of their duties, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside offer liturgical prayers, to confer baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion, according to the prescripts of the law. Read this one again. One more time so it sinks in.
        • How many priests and deacons are in your parish? If they actually were there, could they distribute communion to the people in attendance at a given Mass?
        • Add the lectors...now what?
        • So, in reality, is there a desperate need for the sensible-shoes, ex-hippie, feminazi types to distribute communion?
  • The point of this is that this corps of 'EMEs'/ 'LEMs' or whatever you call it is against canon law. So why does it exist? Does that enhance the sacred or the practical belief in the Real Presence? And what have you done about it?
• You complain about female altar servers. Well, what is being done to actively encourage boys to participate in the parish life? Moreso, what are YOU doing about it? Yeah, as altar servers...but that's not the only thing. Most parishes I've seen sort of forget about the kids (of both sexes) after they're confirmed. Sure, some have sparsely attended 'youth ministries.' But it's plain that is catching only the smallest portion of the teens.
• You complain about female altar servers. You say that it discourages boys who would otherwise be eventual candidates for the seminary, if only they could be exposed more to the priests. As the article, above, says...The priest was no longer seen as specially consecrated. He was no different than the laity. How's that going to inspire a boy? Further, how many parents encourage their boys to consider consecrated life? How many boys encourage their girls to consider consecrated life? How many actively discourage it? Every now and again, parishes will have vocations retreats, vocations dinners, vocations boys-night-out. Great. But what are they doing to convince the parents that the highest achievement their child could make would be to consecrate his/her life to God?

Look, I agree...female altar servers are a visible symptom. But they are just a symptom.

If you solve the PROBLEM, the symptoms (including that one) will go.

But constant griping on that one SYMPTOM is nothing better than a strawman.

[Frank Sheed]

Excellent points, Mark.

The loss of the true belief in the Real Presence (point #2) is the greatest and starkest change to me over the past 35 or more years.

I am from the school in which the holy women who washed altar linens for the Sanctuary Society did it in the prescribed manner and were NOT told to do it in the washing machine! I am from the school in which IF the Body of Christ was dropped, the priest placed a corporal on the spot and then vigorously washed it after Mass placing the water into the sacrarium. I recall when all would kneel for Communion at an altar rail and a paten was used by the servers to collect the slightest fragments that might fall; these were collected assiduously by the Priest into the chalice and then consumed.

I could go on and on.

Your second point is so true!

[Frank Sheed]

Happily, ELS, more and more Bishops seem to be taking part in Pontifical High Masses on their own volition. It seems that many now see “how the wind is blowing” and the M.P. will only accelerate this trend, if it pleases God.

F

[ELS]

Bp. Serratelli has long been supportive of the traditional movement. Deo gratias! He had been an auxiliary bishop and Vicar General of the Arch. of Newark before being appointed Bishop of Paterson.

[Frank Sheed]

Is Archbishop Myers still the Bishop of Newark? I had heard that he was a really good one too.

F

[Frank Sheed]

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0402491.htm

Answered my own question! YES!

[ELS]

Answered my own question!

LOL!

[ELS]

Is Archbishop Myers still the Bishop of Newark?

No, he is the Archbishop of Newark. ;-) In addition to the indult Mass in Jersey City, which observed its fifth anniversary on Pentecost, and the traditional community in West Orange, Archbishop Myers gave permission for a monthly TLM at a parish in Harrington Park. I know the pastor of another parish who wants to add a monthly TLM to the lineup in his parish. If the MP doesn't come out first, I'm fairly certain that Myers will give permission for that as well.

[Salvation]

I was just talking about this with a fellow parishioner tonight.

[Romulus]

He had been an auxiliary bishop and Vicar General of the Arch. of Newark before being appointed Bishop of Paterson.

New York is coming up soon. Something to pray about.

[trisham]

Great post, mark.

[ichabod1]

Ours has a sign over the entrance which reads:

THE BODY OF CHRIST IS IN HIS TABERNACLE
Let All Keep Silence Before Him
A Genuflection is expected of all the Faithful

[nanetteclaret]

Altar linens laundered in the washing machine?!? When I went through Altar Guild training in the Episcopal Church (admittedly this one was a “high church” traditional) we were taught that the linens were NEVER to leave the church and that they were to be washed and ironed in the chapel sacristy, which was outfitted especially for linens. We boiled them with mild detergent in a pot on a hotplate, then poured the water down the piscina, which went directly into the earth below. The same procedure was used to rinse them twice. Starch was never to be used, as the linens would be crisp if ironed damp. Communion vessels were to be rinsed thoroughly in the piscina sink before washing. Although this particular Episcopal church did not actually say that it believed that Holy Communion was the actual Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ, it acted like it did in the reverence which was fostered in all aspects of worship. We were taught to begin all of our Altar Guild duties with prayer, whether it was before dusting the Altar rail, polishing candlesticks, or laundering the Altar linens. It doesn’t take much to foster a sense of reverence, but when those few little things are not present, there is nothing left but the mundane.