Clericalist view of the sacrament prevails

The coronavirus pandemic has brought to light the great contributions contemporary Catholicism is making to humanity and the world.

May 17, 2020

By Robert Mickens
The coronavirus pandemic has brought to light the great contributions contemporary Catholicism is making to humanity and the world.

Unfortunately, you won’t find many of them in the field of liturgy or spirituality. At least not at the instigation of many of the Church’s ordained ministers.

The shining star of Catholicism in this time of crisis has been those persons and organisations that are explicitly dedicated to promoting and carrying out the Church’s social teaching.

Almost universally, they have found ways to continue their ministry of service by feeding the hungry and giving material assistance to the homeless, the poor and the unemployed.

Catholics inspired by the social teaching have also been the most tenacious in advocating for and attending to the needs of minorities, prisoners, immigrants, refugees and all others who are most adversely affected by COVID-19 and the disruptive measures to stop its spread.

And, of course, those who have dedicated their lives and talents to the Church’s commitment to caring for the sick are rightly seen today as society’s heroes and even Christianity’s martyrs.

So the Catholic Church’s social teaching has weathered the storm admirably well during these strange and disturbing times.

Father saying Mass for the laypeople
But, sadly, the Church's sacramental system has not. It's hard to know where to place the blame – on our liturgical theology or on those who administer the sacraments and lead the community in prayer.

The bishops did not have much of a clue what to do after it became impossible, for health reasons, to carry on daily and Sunday Mass as usual (i.e. in the church with a congregation).

Outside of having Father continue to say Mass for the laypeople – whether irresponsibly, through "clandestine" (illegal) gatherings, or virtually, through TV or digital transmissions – almost all the bishops and a whole lot of priests seemed to be caught flat-footed.

One is tempted to think of the old joke about being "as lost as a Jesuit in Holy Week". But it's worse than that. Probably much worse.

Having little appetite or aptitude for celebrating long and ornate liturgies is nothing compared to not understanding or, worse, disdaining what celebrating Eucharistically is all about – especially according to the Christian Church's most ancient tradition.

The liturgical reform, which was already well underway in the several decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), recovered and re-elaborated that tradition.

And this resulted in significant modifications to the Mass, which Paul VI codified in 1969 with the promulgation of a new Roman Missal.

Essential to this reformed rite was (and remains!) the gathered assembly – physically present – and the active participation of all who are part of that assembly.

Confecting the Eucharist
But, regrettably, a number of pre-Vatican II notions about the Eucharist have remained even after the reform.

Some are based on the concepts of form and matter, which can end up making the celebration of the sacraments minimalistic and legalistic.

For example, when a validly ordained presbyter licitly confects the elements of bread and wine by using the proper formula (words of institution and invocation of the Holy Spirit), and then consumes those elements, it is considered a valid Eucharist.

The presence of the assembly may be desirable, but it's not necessary. The practice of priests celebrating "private" Masses by themselves or with the assistance of an altar boy is not a relic of the Middle Ages. It is something that continues to this very day.

This is a reductive view of the sacrament. And it is clericalist.

Despite the attempts by Pope Francis to rid the Church of clericalism, it remains alive and kicking, especially in some sectors of the Vatican.

Cardinal Sarah's decrees

The Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments may not be the worst, but its prefect – Cardinal Robert Sarah – sure has a clericalist view of ordination and the liturgy.

He issued two decrees – "In time of COVID-19" (March 19 and 25) – that instruct bishops and priests how and where to celebrate the Holy Week and Easter liturgies, what is to be included or omitted.

As Andrea Grillo, a layman who teaches liturgy at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute (Sant'Anselmo) in Rome noted:

"It's as if the 'priestly community' – the term Lumen gentium [the Vatican II Constitution on the Church] uses to define the Church in its full identity as the Body of Christ – refers only to community of clerics. But the priestly community that LG speaks of is the ecclesial community of all the baptized, not the community of clerics… (The congregation) seems to consider the problem of the Easter Triduum almost exclusively as regarding the 'ritual practices that are possible (or impossible) for clerics'. The 'non-clerics' evidently are a residual category."

A similar sort of pre-Vatican II clericalist logic is now being used once again as bishops in places where lockdown measures are being relaxed try to decide how to resume public liturgies.

Liturgical distancing
There are strict government-decreed protocols that must be followed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Principally these were concerned with ensuring social distancing and good hygiene.

Here in Italy, as in many other places, that means only a limited number of people will be allowed at one time inside churches. They will have to wear facemasks and use hand sanitizer upon entering the building.

Then the COVID-19 temple guards will make sure worshippers are spaced far enough apart to comply with government regulations. People will not be provided with any books, missalettes or hymn sheets.

Apparently there will be no singing at all. That propels germs, and after all, germs are contagious.

Nonetheless, many of the bishops and the clericalists – many lay folks, too – seem pleased as punch to get back to Mass, whatever the cost or inconveniences.--LCI (https://international. la-croix.com/

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