"Yeah, we got a case of Eucharistic abuse in East Sussex. It's serious, get me all the squadrons you have."
Yesterday I got into a fight with both a Berberis and a gigantic Ilex with only a pair of shears and a ladder as weapons and managed to come out on top. In the evening I headed back to base. I stopped in at a Church on the way as the doors were open. I was delighted when I looked at the weekly newsletter and discovered that if I waited for a little while, there would be Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
I must point out to anyone reading this who is not a Catholic (unlikely I know) that Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is when the Eucharist, which we Catholics believe is the Real Presence of God, the Body of Christ, the Blessed Host, is placed in a Monstrance, and we give Him praise, reverence and worship, knowing that we are in the Presence of God Himself.
Whenever I have been at Adoration before, it has always been a Priest, dressed in the Sacred Vestments of the Church, who has entered the Sanctuary and unlocked the Tabernacle, with a great sense of awe and reverence, and placed the Host inside the Monstrance to be exposed to the Faithful for adoration.
On this occasion, however, I waited to see a Priest emerge. But he didn't. Then a lay lady got up and walked over into the Sanctuary, unlocked the Tabernacle and performed the duty of the Priest. 'Where is the Priest?' I thought. 'Surely, he would not encourage the lay faithful to touch the Holy of Holies and to be responsible for something which by all accounts is the awesome responsibility of the consecrated Priest?' Yet he was nowhere to be seen.
I am not sure how common this is but it did not seem to me to be very fitting at all with a true sense of piety and certainly not in keeping with the Tradition of Holy Mother Church. Certainly, all present were aware of the Real Presence. I tried to remain calm and not say anything that would detract from Our Blessed Lord made present on the Altar. A lady sang into a microphone, 'O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine'.
Yet, the faithful were mere yards away from Our Lord. Was there really any need for a microphone? Public prayers were then poured out to Our Lord, prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for healing for others and the microphone was passed to every member of the Faithful present. Some of these prayers seemed to go on for an eternity. The microphone was passed to a man next to me who refused it. I too refused it, thinking, 'But Our Lord can hear me quite well without a microphone and I am already praying to Him!'
A pious lady echoed my sentiments when she said very humbly, "Dear Jesus, I love You and I know that You see and hear everything that goes on in my heart. You know what I need, Lord. I do not need to say anything. Help me to love You more."
I don't know, perhaps I am over-reacting. I was just glad when the lady with the microphone said, "And now we will have 15 minutes silence before singing the Divine Praises." 'Thank God for that!' I thought. I tried to put away any uncharitable thoughts, knowing I was in the presence of Our Saviour and knowing He is All Good and All Forgiving. Yet, I couldn't help thinking afterwards that my parish Priest would not do that at St Mary Magdalen's. I couldn't help thinking that St Pio of Pietrelcina, whose biography the lay faithful had earlier been reading aloud, would not countenance the lay Faithful undertaking the entire ceremony of Adoration, unguided, without his spiritual leadership as an ordained and sanctified Priest.
It strikes me that Social Services are (usually) very responsive to rumours of abuse. Perhaps each Diocese could have a Liturgical Services team, who go around, sniffing out liturgical abuse and imposing strict guidelines on parishes that do not follow canon law properly. I suppose in this case it is not so much a case of abuse, so much as what Social Services describe as 'neglect'. I have always thought that if the laity are allowed to run anything without the wise and prudent guidance of a Priest, it almost always goes wrong...or at least becomes more about us than about Him.
After all, don't Social Services say to parents, "Clearly, you do not know how to look after your child. If you do not look after him, there is the risk we will remove him, until you demonstrate you can look after him well." Liturgical Services could say, "Clearly, this parish does not know how to look after Our Lord. If you do not look after Him, there is a risk we will remove Him, until you demonstrate you can look after Him well."
8 comments:
Yes. But what a wonderful prayer from that lady!
You humbly wrote "I don't know, perhaps I am over-reacting." Perhaps you were.
If this lay person, who I assume was at the very least an extraordinary minister? simply exposed the Blessed Sacrament and then sat down and kept quiet, I could possibly live with that. However she seemed to proceed with what sounds like some sort of abridged Benediction. I guess there were no deacons around either.
I like your idea of "Liturgical Sevices".
Hope you don't have to suffer through this again, or if you do, accept as an internal mortification you could suffer for Our Lord.
Sorry for going on so long- God Bless!
In my opinion, I think that if the priest was not available, due to ill health, an urgent matter to attend to or for whatever reason, then it would have been better to have cancelled it. While I think it is acceptable for the laity to take Eucharistic services if a priest is not available (although I am not a great fan) I think Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament should always be celebrated by a priest. I mean what could be next? The laity taking over Fist Communions, Confessions and Confirmations?! Joking aside, I too would have been disappointed.
At my parish, we were having similar discussions about what the laity are permitted to do. This was after a meeting to discuss the future of the three churches in the parish following the recent death of our parish priest, and the ill health of another.
There was a lot of discussion about Eucharistic services during the week. I think we are going to have to continue with them for a while in the circumstances, until we get an assistant priest in a few months time. If people really want to attend on that day, but are not entirely happy on the fact it is a Eucharistic service, I think their focus should be on why they are there in the first place, and realise the parish is doing its best.
Some people were also not happy to lose one Sunday morning Mass out of two, and for there to be one evening Mass at one church.
The Lord sacrificed his life for us, so to help the parish and our priest go on the best they can, we too need to make some small sacrifices.
Overall, I think that we have to make the best of our situation and to take the opportunity to get to know other people at the other churches, thus strengthening the community. I think this is what we are meant to learn. If people really want to go to Mass it shouldn't matter where they go.
The laity and the whole parish must do all they can to help the parish and strengthen the bond between the three churches.
Sorry for rambling on, I wanted to share my story as it seemed relevant to your experience.
There is no way the laity, let alone a woman, should touch the Blessed Sacrament. Certainly not an over reaction.
I can think of one parish I know where if a pious lady didn't set up Exposition, there would be no Exposition.
This is a priesthood problem, too many of them do not approve of eucharistic adoration and are quite happy to farm it out to the laity. Hopefully with plenty of penance and prayers in this Year for Priests, things may change.
Dear "Bones",
I ditto what "Shepherd" wrote.(It is Church teaching)...yours is not over-reaction...it is a grace.
By the way, you could have been describing my parish ...talk about practicing self-control and custody of the eyes and ears! And yet the people aren't bad...just misguided.... Barbara, Venice, Italy
She didn't attempt to give Benediction, I hope.
Unfortunately, some might think that this type of event is due to a shortage of priests. It may well be. However, it is not unknown for a priest to be nearby and available, but to delegate this function to an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion - who seem to be predominantly women. Our parish priest never says Mass on his 'day off', even when he is in the presbytery - though, thank God, he has not substitued a lay-led 'Eucharistic Service'.
Doesn't say much for attempts at encouraging vocations to the (male-only) priesthood of Christ. Nor does it imply a criticism of the motives of the person involved: she may well be doing what she has been told is "what the Church wants of the 'priesthood of the laity' ".
We have some way to go to recover the hermeneutic of continuity.
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