Editor’s Note: This article, written by John Vennari (R.I.P), former editor of Catholic Family News, was originally published in the September 2013 edition of that newspaper.
I confess to feeling a bit wrung out.
Yet another World Youth Day; another showcase of liturgical abuse that would have horrified all of our Catholic forefathers; another rock ‘n’ pop distortion of Catholicism; another pep-rally denigration of the Faith; another instance of the majority of Catholics looking at a riotous “Catholic” event devoid of reverence and custom, only to see nothing wrong with it.
CNN described Pope Francis as “the slum Pope who knows how to throw a fantastic beach party.” CNN’s on-the-spot reporter went on to speak of the Pope’s Sunday Mass at Copacabana Beach, where a great number of young people had “packed their bikinis … As soon as the Mass ended, there were tons of people who jumped into the water … hundreds of thousands of people going into the water right now” after this “massive ‘Mass’.”
As many readers know, I attended Pope John Paul II’s 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto as an observer. This, too, was a showcase of liturgical abuse. It seems they are all such showcases in one way or another – especially regarding the Holy Eucharist.
At the 1993 Denver World Youth Day Papal Mass, Hosts were distributed from large shallow bowls that could have been used for punch or potato chips. People reached over each other’s shoulders to grab the Hosts. [A certain traditional Catholic] who attended the Mass saw Hosts falling to the ground, being trampled. He knelt in the mud and consumed as many as he could to save them from desecration.
At the 2002 World Youth Day Sunday Papal Mass, innumerable lay “Eucharistic ministers” in slovenly dress distributed Communion, including hand-to-hand ‘long reach’ administration of Hosts that looked more like the passing of a baton than anything with a modicum of reverence.
At Pope Francis’ 2013 World Youth Day, administration of Communion was even more impious. [Here,] young people distributed the Eucharist using disposable plastic cups.
I am not necessarily blaming the poor young people who look for guidance and are defrauded. It is primarily the priests, the bishops, and yes, the Bishop of Rome himself who are responsible for propagating scandal and sacrilege by what is permitted at World Youth Day events.
Also, to make it clear: I am not against young people having a rollicking good time. I enjoy seeing it, and I don’t mind if they get a bit loud in the process. And no one is against a serious outreach to Catholic youth. But we may not do evil to achieve good; we may not permit irreverent, trendy, degrading pop liturgies in the name of supposedly giving young people a Mass that is “relevant” to them.
I also believe most young people would follow if the Catholic clergy explained and demanded traditional reverence. The problem today is primarily a lack of genuine Catholic leadership.
Reverence to the Eucharist
Let’s step back and briefly review Eucharistic reverence.
It is a bedrock Catholic truth, taught by the Church since the time of the Apostles, that Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
The Council of Trent defined dogmatically that Our Lord Jesus Christ is present in every part of the Blessed Sacrament. The Council taught infallibly: “If anyone denieth that, in the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is contained under each species, and under every part of each species, when separated, let him be anathema.”
This means that Our Lord is present even in the smallest particle of the Host, and in the smallest particle that may fall to the ground. The reverence we owe to the Blessed Sacrament demands that we take every precaution that no particle of the Host – not even the smallest – is left open for desecration in any way.
Along this line, Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that “out of reverence for this Sacrament, nothing touches it but what is consecrated.” Thus, he said the sacred vessels of the altar are consecrated for this holy purpose, but also, the priest’s hands are consecrated for touching this Sacrament. Saint Thomas said it is therefore not lawful for anyone else to touch It, except to save It from desecration. (Summa, III, Q. 82, Art. 3)
This reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, and even for the smallest particles, was incorporated into the traditional Mass – the Old Latin Mass – which contained strict rubrics on this point:
- From the moment the priest pronounces the words of Consecration over the Sacred Host, the priest keeps his forefinger and thumb together on each hand. Whether he elevates the chalice, or turns the pages of the missal, or opens the tabernacle, his thumb and his forefinger on each hand are closed. The thumb and forefinger touch nothing but the Sacred Host.
- During Holy Communion, the altar boy holds the paten under the chin of those receiving Communion, so that the slightest particle does not fall to the ground. This paten is cleaned into the chalice afterwards.
- After Holy Communion is distributed, the priest scrapes the corporal (the small linen cloth on the altar) with the paten and cleans it into the chalice so that if the slightest particle is left, it is collected and consumed by the priest.
- Then, the priest washes his thumb and forefinger over the chalice with water and wine, and this water and wine are reverently consumed to ensure that the smallest particle of the Sacred Host is not susceptible to desecration.
Of course, these rubrics are disregarded in the New Mass.
Worse, Communion-in-the-hand and so-called lay “Eucharistic ministers” make a mockery of the Divine Truth that Our Lord is truly present in every particle of the Eucharist, and make a mockery of the holy rubrics used by the Church for centuries as a safeguard against desecration,
In today’s practice, the Host can be placed in the hand, which is not consecrated. The communicant picks It up with his own fingers, which are not consecrated. The sacred particles fall to the ground, are stepped upon and desecrated.
Likewise, with so-called lay “Eucharistic ministers,” their hands are not consecrated; they should not be touching the sacred Host. The sacred particles of the Host fall to the ground, are stepped upon and desecrated. The fingers of lay “Eucharistic ministers” are not washed, so any particle remaining will also be desecrated.
This deviancy is made even worse when youngsters are issued plastic cups for the distribution of the Eucharist at a Papal Mass, which implicitly “codifies” sacrilege.
And what about all the particles in the plastic cups after distribution of Communion at this ‘rootin tootin’ Papal event? (I think it safe to wager these plastic cups were not ‘consecrated’ for this service, nor is it possible to do so.) Was there an organized purification of the picnic cups after Mass? Most likely, the cups and the particles containing the Sacred Particles were simply thrown in the trash.
No authority in the Church, not even the highest, can dispense a Catholic from the duty of preserving the necessary reverence owed to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
It is remarkably incongruous for today’s Church leaders to tell youngsters they should bring Christ to the world, when churchmen in the highest places cannot even ensure reverence to the Eucharistic Christ in their own ceremonies.
Pep Rally Atmosphere
Pope Francis’ Sunday WYD Mass itself was virtually devoid of anything that Pope Pius X, Pope Pius XI, or Pope Pius XII would recognize as Catholic.
As Francis rolled in on his popemobile, in what would be the immediate prelude to the Mass, a group of young female dancers jumped and grooved on stage to a hard-driving rock ’n’ roll piece, complete with screaming electric guitar. A good 98% of the songs performed at Mass (one could never call them hymns) were according to rock ‘n’ pop rhythm and style: whether it was the groovy version of the Kyria, the Gloria sung to heavy percussive thumpings, or the pre-Gospel Alleluia with funky drumbeat and electric bass. The singers gushed into their work with showmanship and brouhaha. Many of the hip tunes contained driving rhythms similar to what I used to play in the 1970s as a nightclub pop guitarist.
Some of the music was a bit more subdued. One piece sounded like a Spanish Barry Manilow crooning over his long-lost love; and out of the blue, the Latin Pater Noster was sung in traditional melody backed by an organ. Then the music returned to the rock ‘n’ pop style to the grand finale.
Lots of cheering, lots of pep-rally raucousness, one got the impression that the vast crowd gathered more to celebrate themselves than celebrate Mass, which tallies with the anthropological thrust of the Novus Ordo itself.
All in all, 1.7 million young people on the beach, and millions more watching at home, were given a counterfeit version of Catholicism.
Sacred Music
Pope Saint Pius X, in conformity with all the Popes before him, reiterated the age-old truth that only Sacred Music is lawful for church and for Catholic worship. In his magnificent Instruction on Sacred Music, Tra Le Sollecitudini, Pius decreed:
“Nothing should have place, therefore, in the temple calculated to disturb or even merely to diminish the piety and devotion of the faithful, nothing that may give reasonable cause for disgust or scandal, nothing, above all, which directly offends the decorum and sanctity of the sacred functions and is thus unworthy of the House of Prayer and of the majesty of God.”
Saint Pius X insisted that Sacred Music must be composed of three elements: It must be holy, true art, and universal. Sacred Music “must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself, but in the manner of those who execute it.”
Further, Pius X held up Gregorian Chant as the infallible measuring rod by which all church music must be gauged:
“… Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for Sacred Music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down the following rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes: and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple.”
The rock ‘n’ pop music at Pope Francis’ Copabacana Mass failed Pope St. Pius X’s rules on practically every count.
In fact, the WYD Papal Masses effectively place an imprimatur on some of the worse abuses of the post-conciliar period: lay lectors, lay “Eucharistic Ministers,” ignorant disregard of the reverence we owe the Blessed Sacrament, worldly spirit, rock ‘n’ pop music at church functions, slovenly and immodest dress during Mass, circus atmosphere in what should be a sacred event.
The correct Liturgical Catholic practice of pre-Vatican II conformed to the nature of the doctrine of the Church, and to the reverence we owe to God and the things that pertain to God, which is a manifestation of the Gift of Piety. These practices were not simply regulations enacted by the will of the legislator that can change with the times; they are part of the natureof the Faith itself.
Dancing Bishops
Finally, we must report one of the most embarrassing scenes to emanate from the post-conciliar Church:
A day or two before the Papal Beach Mass, during a “liturgical” rehearsal, several hundred bishops participated in a cutesy choreographed routine of arm-waving and twirling to a rock ‘n’ pop World Youth Day theme, along with a squadron of young dancers. The entire display was pathetic and effeminate. I know many traditional priests. Not one of them would take part in such a degrading spectacle.
There is much more we could relate, but as I said earlier, I confess that this time around I am a bit wrung out.
Reparation
Yet it is not our aim to simply reveal the horror; but also to offer correction that must be enacted if we do not want to malform our young people and provoke the wrath of God.
First, we must insist on a complete return to the Latin Tridentine Mass, with all its piety and rubrics that have grown through the devotion of the centuries. We must teach our young people the reverence we owe Our Lord in the Eucharist, proper dress in church, dignified behavior during Mass, prayerful atmosphere, no talking in church, and transmit the joy of reverence in God’s service.
And finally, we must try to repair these indignities against Our Lord.
I suggest we start an “Association of Reparation for Liturgical Abuses at Papal Masses”. I propose a simple Association for Catholics of good will. No one is bound to anything. It is a resolution to do a little something each day – an extra decade of the Rosary, an extra prayer of reparation, an extra act of self-denial – to repair for the liturgical abuses at modern Papal Masses, and to repair for the countless abuses and sacrileges that follow due to bishops and priests around the world imitating bad example from those on high.
The Pope of the Catholic Church is even more bound to observe liturgical laws than his inferiors, since the Pope’s actions will establish what is “acceptable” Catholic practice.
… Let us do what we can to resist and repair the continuing degradation of the Church, brought on by the modernist orientation of Vatican II.