Posted on 02/06/2012 2:14:56 AM PST by markomalley
After 47 years as a priest, and at least two decades of straying from the Roman Catholic Missal by ad libbing parts of the Mass, the Rev. Bill Rowe of St. Mary Church has resigned under pressure from the bishop.
Why? Because he doesn't agree that a priest should be restricted to the exact words of the Missal, including new changes in the Mass that were intended to more closely interpret earlier Latin versions.
The changes were ordered by the Vatican and took effect in late November.
Rowe, 72, said he was called to a meeting in October at the Belleville home of Bishop Edward Braxton. Rowe said that Braxton told him he could not change even small parts of what a Catholic priest is supposed to say during the portions of the Mass that are controlled by the Missal.
Rowe said Braxton told him to "think about it" for three days and then write him a letter. Rowe said he sent the letter on Oct. 12 stating he could not accept what Braxton wanted but did not want to resign or retire. He said he did not receive a response until a few days ago from Braxton, accepting his resignation.
Rowe will leave his parish in June after a successor has been installed.
The Rev. John Myler, diocese spokesman, said, "I have no comment at this time. If that changes, I will contact you."
Frank Flinn, an adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University, said it is the first removal of a priest that he knows about in connection with a failure to follow the new version of the Roman Missal.
"I predicted that it would drive priests out and I was laughed at, at the time," said Flinn, "but here it is, the truth."
Monsignor Rick Hilgartner, director of the Department of Divine Worship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., said the changes were made to make the church stronger by making the Missal adhere as closely as possible to the early Latin among the many languages of Catholics around the world.
"The architectural style of a church and the music vary from culture to culture and from place to place. The language of expressing what's expressed in the Mass, our prayer and our worship, varies from place to place in the way the language is translated," he said, "but the essential truths are the same because we all start with the same text."
Rowe said that during the most recent Sunday Mass at St. Mary's, "That as best as I can remember," he said near the opening of the Mass, "We thank you God, for giving us Jesus who helped us to be healed in mind and heart and proclaim his love to others."
Rome's new Missal required him to instead say, "Lord our God that we may honor you with all our mind and love everyone in truth of heart."
Rowe said he routinely made small changes to make what he was saying "more understandable and more meaningful to parishioners."
In his reply to Braxton, Rowe wrote, "I realize that you can no longer allow me to celebrate the Eucharist as has been my custom. I therefore offer my resignation as pastor of St. Mary parish so that you may appoint someone who will follow the liturgical laws more closely."
In his Feb. 2 letter in response to Braxton's letter accepting his resignation, Rowe wrote, "My offer to resign seemed to be the best way to resolve the problem in a pastoral way."
Braxton in his letter also asked Rowe, "...to make every provision in the rectory to make it comfortable for your successor. Please make sure that all appropriate books for the celebration of the Eucharist in accord with the new translation of the Missale Romanum are in place. Please also make sure that all appropriate sanctuary furnishings are in place."
Alice Wirth, principal of St. Mary's School in Mount Carmel, described Rowe as "the backbone of our church. ...To make him resign over something he said in the Missal is senseless."
Wirth said that she regularly attends Mass where Rowe is the priest but never objected or even noticed the changes in the way he spoke portions of the Missal.
"What he did was for better understanding. Everything he did was for the benefit of the parishioners and the students," she said.
Rowe said he has been ad libbing small parts of the Missal since the 1980s and was once warned by former Belleville Bishop Wilton Gregory that he was "pushing the envelope." Gregory is now the archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Atlanta.
"This is a turf fight. They are going to end up driving more good people out of the priesthood, said Flinn, the Washington University professor who wrote the "The Encyclopedia of Catholicism" that was published by Barnes & Noble in 2007.
"This is just nit-picking to divert attention from real problems that face the church like child sex abuse by priests," he said. "They brand you a heretic unless you follow the authorized translation. ...They're making a mountain out of a molehill."
Rowe, who has served for 17 years in Mount Carmel without accepting his priest's salary, relying, he said, on an Air Force pension and Social Security, said that he is unsure of what he may do when his career as head of a parish ends.
"Maybe I'll run a soup kitchen," he said.
Good for Bishop Braxton. Remember, he was the one that invited his Catholic Charities to disassociate themselves with the Church over the issue of homosexual adoption a few months ago. Likely this former pastor was teaching a perversion of the gospel as well as celebrating a perversion of the liturgy.
Good for the bishop. Father Rowe evidently forgot that vow of obedience. Not to mention “Say the black, do the red.”
I see the papers are beginning to look for reasons to begin to criticize the Catholic Church in defense of their little dictator. Religions are based upon faith. If you do not follow that faith it is silly to pretend that you belong. This former priest calls himself Catholic but doesn’t believe in his church. He can’t do both.
I have a question, and thank-you ahead for your response. Can you best explain to me what the saying means, “Say the black, do the red.” (?)
Notice question mark.
Basically, priests use a prayer book (I believe it’s called the “Sacramentary” but I could be wrong) that lays out the Mass. Words to the prayers are in black, e.g. “The Lord be with you.” The actions they are supposed to take are in red, e.g. bow, elevate the host, make the sign of the cross, etc. Hence the expression.
Some priests have the annoying habit of improvising parts or all of the prayers to fit a given situation or just because they want to improvise.
Alice Wirth, principal of St. Mary’s School in Mount Carmel, described Rowe as “the backbone of our church. ...To make him resign over something he said in the Missal is senseless.”
Wirth said that she regularly attends Mass where Rowe is the priest but never objected or even noticed the changes in the way he spoke portions of the Missal.
FIRE HER TOO!
Okay, now I get it.
My experience (yuk) attending Mass being said by one of these adlibbing showboats tells me that he just wants to call attention to himself rather than to Our Savior.
Kudos to the bishop and good riddance to the showboat.
Deus vult!
Life really is simple, innit?
Hi Biggirl,
I’ll do my best. The phrase is one I first read at Father Z’s What Does The Prayer Really Say, where he uses it to indicate that which a priest is supposed to do during the course of Mass, in reference to the Roman Missal. The black meaning those words to be pronounced, and the red for actions indicated. Father Z isn’t the only priest who writes about this, but his was the blog where I first read the phrase. A recent example:
I hope that helps.
Thanks also for the helpful info!
I knew I preferred the latter because it was more reverential even if msgr. could turn a daily mass around in 25 mins., something the bearded or mustachioed priests were incapable of doing as they couldn't resist straying from the text.
I now attend Latin masses where ad libbing would serve no purpose. It's encourgaging to see such a diverse bunch at these masses. Critics said only the elderly would attend out of nostalgia or intractability. Not so.
If anyone is curious about "say the black, do the red" they should attend a Latin mass.
My heart bleeds for the little modernist whackjob ...
“Rowe said he routinely made small changes to make what he was saying ‘more understandable and more meaningful to parishioners.’”
What condescending rubbish.
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