Clerical Narcissism and Lent

George Weigel ^ | 2/22/12 | George Weigel

[marshmallow]

Since the introduction of the new liturgical texts this past November, I’ve attended Mass in Australia, California, New York, Rome, Washington, and Phoenix, and in none of these venues have I detected any of the calamities confidently predicted by opponents of the new texts. Not only has there been no visible distress over “consubstantial”; the People of God seem to have rather quickly and painlessly adjusted to the changes, so that, three months into the process, it’s a rare “And also with you” that escapes the lips of an unthinking congregant. In fact, most of the people who’ve spoken to me about the changes have applauded them.

Things are not-quite-the-same with priests.

One implicit purpose of the new translations, with their deliberate recovery of a sacral vocabulary and their adoption of a more formal literary rhythm, was to discipline the tendency of priests to turn the Mass into an expression of the celebrant’s personality. The difficulties some priests have had with adjusting to the changes suggests that this tendency was, in fact, a real problem in implementing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Prominent Catholic psychologist Paul Vitz once wrote of this as a problem of “clerical narcissism,” and while the phrase undoubtedly stings, there’s something to it—something that needs correcting.

At Mass in the cathedral church of a major American city recently, I ran headlong into the problem in a rather striking way. The celebrant in question seemed not to understand that the invitation to the penitential rite is now prescribed, and not a matter for personal chattiness. Having failed to set up the Missal properly before Mass, he nattered on about his difficulty with “new books” while searching for the Collect of the day. He belted out those parts of the Offertory that the Missal prescribes as.........

[marshmallow]

Article source is “First Things”, not George Weigel. Mea culpa.

[paterfamilias]

“Article source is “First Things”, not George Weigel. Mea culpa.”

Ego te absolvo...

It’s a great article - thanks for posting it. I have a few preists in mind who need to read it.

[Jack of all Trades]

So when does the Hail Mary get changed to "Holy Mary, Mother of the Incarnation of God the Son..."?

[Vendome]

I lent my heart . . . in San Francisco...

[miele man]

Excellent article and the ensuing comments are very informative. Thanks for posting this.

[pepsi_junkie]

I moved to a new town and a new parish around the time this new liturgy came up. It doesnt upset me or the congregation, through people like me find ourselves mumbling through responses we knew by heart, because we don't anymore. But I found this far less a problem than the singing.

Yes, the singing. They never stop in this church. A bunch of guitar and tambourine playing hippies singing all through the mass, including over the consecration of the Eucharist. Drives me nuts, I didn't come to a concert, I came to mass.

I went to a conservative church when I was a kid. Some of the priests still did the odd latin bit and until the 1980s you still had to kneel to get communion. The music was part of the mass, of course, but it never was in competition with the liturgy. And they didn't make us sing every response, which in my experience just results in about 85% of the church standing there and not participating. Would that I could find such a church today.

[yldstrk]

I noticed that intrusive singing last Sunday. Wierd, I used to really love the music part