How to deal with priest's public critique of New Roman Missal

Dave

On a recent weekend, a retired priest who once worked in the area, but has since moved to a nearby town on retirement, came back to my church to celebrate both Masses in English.

In one of the more shocking "homilies" I've experienced, he proceeded to make highly inappropriate comments about the revised Missal translation, ranging from the childishly sarcastic to comments that might confuse ordinary folks about the nature of the Eucharist. To wit:

1) He joked that the "experts," as he called them, who argued that the revised translation would bring people to a more theologically correct understanding of the Eucharist, and whose spiritual life would deepen because of the revision, "had too much time on their hands." This elicited more than subtle laughter from the congregation and, I'm sure, did not inspire respect for the revision.

2) He later claimed that the translation was reducible to a matter of "vocabulary" because the words don't have as meaningful an impact as does the experience of being together as a community celebrating the Lord's Supper. He praised the 1973 Sacramentary as a product of a "moderation" that had won over the church, despite clear evidence that some of the translators thereof were radicals who took a hacksaw to parts of the Mass and invented other areas out of whole cloth (Memorial Acclamation "A," Gloria, anyone?).

3) When he repeated this homily at a later Mass (almost verbatim, by the way), he chose to satirize a workshop he attended for priests, sponsored by our diocese, to train them on the new texts and how to say them. He joked that the priests were "being taught how to say words," and then said "I thought I already knew how to say words!" Again, the congregation laughed, and pretty hard this time.

This coming weekend, I was planning to start teaching the people some of the ICEL chants. We already have the Kyrie and Lamb of God under our belts, so it's really a matter of the Holy and one of the Mysteries of Faith at this point. My congregation is small, so I didn't see a need to start earlier, because they usually pick up music fairly easily in a short amount of time.

However, I am extremely upset by this priest's comments and fear that they will engender a lack of respect for my efforts and the music I will present. He has reduced this entire revision to a matter of a wisecrack, and I am afraid that my congregation will look at it--and my efforts--the same way. I'm worried whether I should brace myself for resistance or apathy.

And this priest isn't even on our regular staff! How dare he do this!

Kathy

Dave,

How unsettling that must be, truly shocking. It's an old progressive liturgist's trick: you don't have to make the argument, just get them laughing at things, and you're done. But the timing is hugely unfortunate in pastoral terms.

I think you have some re-proposing to do. Use the bulletin if possible, or a pamphlet rack, or a table in the back of the church. The USCCB has a brilliant bulletin insert about the translation, but I can't easily find on the website. It's front and back, very thorough, calm and positive. I think that's the tack to take.

It wouldn't hurt to enlist the help of your parish priests to counter his message in a positive way in their homilies, if they are willing. Good luck--it's hard to fight sarcasm. But I think the high road is the way to go.

mwa

It looks like the USCCB reorganized the website some. The bulletin inserts are here http://old.usccb.org/romanmissal/resources-bulletins.shtml
I think the one to which Kathy is referring is "Embracing Change in the Liturgy"

chonak

Yes, do ask your pastor whether this is anything to worry about: if he thinks it's harmful, he'll let Fr. Snarky know that he wants to encourage people to embrace the new translation, not complain about it.

While he won't be there continually as a bad influence, your pastor and you will be there as a good influence. By giving your presentation as planned, you'll be telling the people exactly what you think of the retired priest's cheeky approach, without even mentioning him.

Dave

Thanks for your advice, all. I'll try my best to bring people to a better understanding of the revisions.

tomboysuze

i'm sorry but this makes me sick. poison his whiskey....

Ally

WOW! When I read the first post here this morning, it started out like it was my parish THIS WEEKEND!

This is what I experienced this past Saturday and Sunday.

We had a visiting priest (retired) come in for ALL 3 Masses and say during the homily, "The worst thing about the new liturgy is that liturgists wrote these new words that don't mean anything. They don't know what they are doing. They have no concept of love. If theologians had written this, it would be much better. Liturgists just sit in a room and make up words that nobody can understand." He then continued to make fun of the word "consubstantial" and then tell people that has nothing to do with "transubstantiation, which we DO believe in" (his emphasis). (I don't know why he was doing that. I can't figure out if he was trying to explain the difference, or if he himself thought the word "transubstantial" should have been in the Creed, which does not make sense at that point. It was bad.) And THEN, he proceeded to say, right before the Creed, "I hate this. I hate that we have to say 'I'. I hate the words in the Creed". And then he continued to say the Creed. He made sarcastic comments all the way through ALL THREE Masses (I will spare you all of those). He also said "all" instead of "many" at the Consecration, quite emphatically.

He also got upset with me in the sacristy before Mass when I said we were using the Confiteor all Lent, and we have a sung Kyrie. He said "I assume you mean the old Confiteor." I said no, of course not, the one in the new Missal! Then he told me he didn't know the "new" one. So I said, "Here is a pew card for you to use, Father." And he went off on how he hates reading, he'd rather say the whole Mass looking at people's faces. So I told him I'd put an extra card on his chair so he would be SURE to have one :) and smiled and asked if he needed anything else.

Oh AND he wore the stole over the chasuble (and it belongs to our pastor, and it is obviously one that belongs underneath, without even saying that is where it should go anyways).

Finally, he held hands with everyone at the Our Father, even told them to go across the aisles. It was so bizarre. The whole Mass was one big joke to him, or a party or something. He stumbled through the entire Eucharistic Prayer (2), and I don't want to judge, but I did at one point wonder if it was on purpose. Even a cantor commented that it sounded like this was his first time saying the prayers out loud. (If organists, cantors, choirs, lectors, etc have to practice, why shouldn't the priests??? I would compare it to sight-reading music for Mass on the organ, but I think I sight-read better than that.)

Anyways, I am very upset because he undid a LOT of hard work that we did in the fall, contradicted all of my bulletin articles, and all the catechesis we worked hard on. He told people things that are fundamentally NOT true (and our deacon said to me "well nobody really knows where these words come from"...come on!) He almost scared away new parishioners, who came up to the organ bench to ask me if this was our regular priest, because he seemed "confused" as they put it. But I am most disturbed because he used his microphone to spread his personal opinions. Unfortunately, I am the face of 'liturgists' to most people here. So now what will they think? I don't know what I'm doing? I just arrived here in August, so that doesn't help me at all. Enough of "poor me"... Most of all, it was HIGHLY inappropriate to say he "hates the Creed". NOT good for the people, who aren't having any problems with their responses, and don't even talk about the "new words" anymore - they were doing just fine!. And like that will put people in the pews. I didn't say anything to him between Masses, because I was just praying for it all to be over quickly (though I almost thought of using my microphone to spread my personal opinions, like "I hate this song but we're going to sing it anyways because you want to be entertained". But I know better than that.) I guess I couldn't hide what I thought in my facial expressions though - my 8am cantor asked me if I was feeling ill... I said, "Not physically!" even though it really did make me sick to my stomach. I even went so far as to tell my own family to go to another church for Mass that weekend, after experiencing this on Saturday. I should have called in sick on Sunday. I almost thought I would need to find another Mass that weekend so I could be at a valid one!

Obviously I will tell my boss, the pastor, what I think when he gets back later this week, but I suspect that he will say, "Oh well." My question: is there anything that can be done? I am afraid we may have him again as a sub... he lives nearby. Help!

At least praying and staring at the crucifix really helps get through it. You shouldn't have to "get through Mass". I feel so awful.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for your advice!

CHGiffen

Ally, I feel so sorry for what you had to endure. By all means, tell your pastor - he is your boss and the shepherd of his flock there - and he should know what happened from someone competent to make clear what happened. If the memory of it pales somewhat by the time he gets back, direct him to your post here. I'm sure you'll have many other supportive comments.

Also, if I were in your shoes, I'd tell my pastor that, absent an apology and a promise from this priest never to speak with such harsh disdain of and ill will towards the new Roman Missal translation at Masses in our parish again, I simply cannot in good conscience serve as liturgist/musician during any future Masses at which he presides.

These actions by this priest are unconscionable and amount to an attack on the Church and the authority of the bishops and the Holy Father.

marajoy

oh my. what an...idiot! sorry, but I've dealt with visiting priests like that before... awfulness! I was so mad once I didn't receive communion. (in addition to being skeptical that it actually was, you know, "It.")
If your priest doesn't seem to care, then I really don't think there's a whole lot you can do. One thing however that seems to get most priests, would be if you emphasized the concern of the **new parishioners...** the thought of having people not come back b/c they think it's the regular pastor might bring him to his senses!

Ally

.

francis

One of those visits from Elmira Gulch? Just close the gate at the opportune time.

"Oh... she bit her dog, eh?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHx8Aia8abs

JennyH

I find this scandalous and disgusting. However, it seems obvious that the "Pray Tell Blog" crowd—i.e. those critical of the new translation—normally have serious doctrinal (heretical?) issues. Their opposition to MR3 is idealogical.

Ally

.

Gustavo Zayas

Dave and Ally, I guess these are worse than my story. I visiting priest came to celebrate mass one day and I went to the back office, just behind the sacristy. I knew he'd be speaking for about 15 minutes so I figured I'd file some music. Suddenly I heard a guitar playing. So I ran back out. The visiting priest had come over to the music area and borrowed a guitar and started softly accompanying himself while he spoke passionately. He finished his homily with what had to be a verse or chorus from a Christian pop song. He sang it with a Springsteen-style raspiness. Absolute cheese! There were complaints, of course, but the arrangement made with his church could not be easily abandoned because it was in South America. So we had to tolerate him for the 6 weeks he was around. Nice guy, but totally clueless.

Both your situations are worse because the sub. priest (haha) seems clued in, but to the wrong thing. He is a divisive element in your respective parishes. He seems to be completely at odds with the mind of the church. Don't confront him anymore. He won't acknowledge anything you try to tell him anyway. Voice your concerns to your pastor. The sub priest is affecting the performance of your duties. If your pastor supports you and what you do, then the sub priest is ALSO working against your pastor (make sure to point that out). If your pastor doesn't care, write a letter to the diocesan bishop. Better yet, get some people not involved with the music ministry to do it. Most importantly, PRAY!

marajoy

ooooh- we're telling stories now? ;-)

I had a visiting missionary priest come up in the choir loft before Mass, and inform me that he would be singing something during the homily, and needed me to hold the music/turn pages for him. It turned out to be "Bring Him Home" from Les Miz. I was SO speechless I couldn't even think of anything to say, as in, "um, no you're not. The pastor would NEVER allow that," would have possibly sufficed.

The worst part for me was having to stand there during the homily and hold the music, and wonder if the (very traditional) congregation actually thought that by doing so I was condoning his behavior... :-(

Pes

This isn't even remotely funny. Write letters to your bishop, and identify the priests by name. They require discipline.

The older I get, and the older my (young) children get, the more these anecdotes speak volumes about the spiritual darkness of these priests. Sarcasm, disobedience, and mockery are not characteristics of God.

These men are wolves. Name them, and let them be sent away.

Musicteacher56

I agree with Pes that this isn't remotely funny. I have had to deal with basicly the same problem. Our new pastor is very conservative in his ways and is a big advocate of the new missal. A couple of months back, after working for months to get the people of the parish to understand and appreciate the translations, we had a mission where the mission priest was very blatant in his "disgust" of the new translations saying "the church should move forward.....it's now gone backward.....time to replace Benedict XIV". Needless to say, this brought about a MAJOR backlash from parishioners who held high doubts themselves. Bottom line....it's hard enough for the common parishioner to understand all the changes...those in administrative positions (including priests and pastors) need to embrace the changes with warmth and understanding so as to shepherd the sheep.

Andrew Motyka

Somebody should tell him that we moved on from Benedict XIV about 250 years ago. ZING!

Liam

Just like the SSPX embraced the 1970 Missal.

Musicteacher56

Okay, give me a break.....that was a typo!!!! But, to appease Andrew......How about Benedict XVI!!!!!!!!

Andrew Motyka

I always accept attempts at appeasement.

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