Bp. Serratelli steps up (Catholic Caucus)

What Does the Prayer Really Say ^ | June 19, 2007 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

[Frank Sheed]

19 June 2007

Bp. Serratelli steps up

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 10:31 am

His Excellency Arthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Patterson (NJ) since 2004 has begun a series of articles on the sense of the sacred.  I tip my biretta in his direction for this good initiative.  o{]:¬)

Here is an excerpt from the first offering (my emphases and comments). 

Living in our world, we breathe the toxic air that surrounds us.  Even within the most sacred precincts of the Church, we witness a loss of the sense of the sacred [Do my eyes deceive?  I think H.E. just set up a parallel between irreverence in church and breathing toxic air.  Notice he used the word "precinct".   Oooooo Bp Trautman won’t like that one.  Toooo harrrrd!].  With the enthusiasm that followed the Second Vatican Council, there was a well-intentioned effort to make the liturgy modern.  It became commonplace to say that the liturgy had to be relevant to the worshipper.  [Again, the spectre of Bp. Trautman’s argument about liturgical translations slithers into view, as well as that execrable letter from the ordinary of Los Angeles, Gathering Faithfully [sic] Together.  Brrrrr….]  Old songs were jettisoned.  The guitar replaced the organ.  Some priests even began to walk down the road of liturgical innovation, only to discover it was a dead end.  [Nice analogy.]  And all the while, the awareness of entering into something sacred that has been given to us from above and draws us out of ourselves and into the mystery of God was gone.  [Excellent, Excellency!  Holy Mass is not about us or about what we do, ultimately, but rather about what God does for us and through us.  Mass is not a "truly human experience", as it was called by an old incarnation of the BCL at the time liturgy was being dismantled.]

Teaching about the Mass began to emphasize the community.  The Mass was seen as a community meal.  It was something everyone did together.  Lost was the notion of sacrifice.  Lost the awesome mystery of the Eucharist as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  The priest was no longer seen as specially consecrated.  He was no different than the laity.  With all of this, a profound loss of the sacred.

Not one factor can account for the decline in Mass attendance, Church marriages, baptisms and funerals in the last years.  But most certainly, the loss of the sense of the sacred has had a major impact.

Walk into any church today before Mass and you will notice that the silence that should embrace those who stand in God’s House is gone.  Even the Church is no longer a sacred place.  Gathering for Mass sometimes becomes as noisy as gathering for any other social event.  We may not have the ability to do much about the loss of the sacredness of life in the songs, videos and movies of our day.  But, most assuredly, we can do much about helping one another recover the sacredness of God’s Presence in His Church.

I look forward to his other articles.

Three cheers for Bp. Serratelli!   This reminds me in a way of what Bp. Finn did in Kansas City some time back.

[Frank Sheed]

The guidelines for linens is virtually the same for the Catholic Church. I recall that the nuns used to do this in the old days. I have noticed that many Churches no longer use full altar linens. The altar covering for the “season” is now often simply bare and only a corporal is used in the spot where Consecration takes place.

The Chalice and Ciboria were never washed by lay people. Only a Priest or Deacon could clean them. They might still contain the Body and Blood of Christ. That, in fact, was one of the things mentioned by Pope John Paul II as “reprobare” (to be stopped immediately) in his long letter on the Eucharist. EMOHC were cleansing these vessels.

http://www.adoremus.org/0404Liturgy.html

[Frank Sheed]

I wonder if he likes cooler climates!

;-o)

[Frank Sheed]

L.A. is not open. The Big Apple is...

[klossg]

Bishop Arthur Serratelli is a good Bishop. I hope to see him continue to reform and improve my Diocese here in NJ.

I teach NFP and would love to see more action on NFP. It can save marriages.

God bless the Bishop! Christ is served by a holy man. Dig!

[trisham]

All right, you two. :)

[Theoden]

Bishop Serratelli is the Bishop for my diocese and he is truly an amazing man and a great shepard.

Here's a pic I took of him at my friend's ordination Mass.

[nanetteclaret]

The reason the guidelines are the same is that the Episcopal church learned them from the Catholic Church! Just one of the many areas in which the “Anglo-Catholic” church tries to be “Catholic” without being “Roman.” But it doesn’t really work ...

[trisham]

What a wonderful picture.

[ichabod1]

I’m only now learning the intricacies of genuflection, such as you genuflect to the altar when the host is there, bow otherwise.

Is it normal to bow the head at the mention of Mary?

[Frank Sheed]

I visited Paterson, NJ some years back for a gorgeous wedding. It was a Salesian Church, I believe, and very beautiful. The parents of the bride had been wed there and then moved to another part of NJ. Is the area not heavily Italian or am I mistaken?

F

[Frank Sheed]

Is it normal to bow the head at the mention of Mary?

No, we don't bow to Mary! However, in the Creed, we find these lines:

[bow during the next two lines:]
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

This comes from the Gospel of John and we used to genuflect during the Latin Mass. It is still in the rubrics to bow deeply at these two lines. Many priests don't follow this, I fear.

As an old-line RC, I still bow my head at the name of Jesus. It comes from the command in 2 Phil 9-FF, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

[trisham]

Is it normal to bow the head at the mention of Mary?

*************

I don't recall ever hearing that, or seeing it done.

[Theoden]

Thank you Trisham.

Frank, that area used to be heavily Italian, but it is now mostly Hispanic. They all moved out to the suburbs just like us Irish.

[Frank Sheed]

Thought so. It must have been the childhood home of the bride’s dad who was a stonemason (parents were both Italian). They now live in a really posh area but must have grown up there.

F

[ELS]

New York is coming up soon.

It would be nice to have an Archbishop of New York who was willing to use the pulpit of "the capital of the world" to preach the Gospel loud and clear. Deo volente.

[ichabod1]

I ALWAYS bow my head at the name of Jesus. It was taught me in Confirmation Classes in the Episcopal Church when I was a kid. In my RC parish we genuflect during the lines about the incarnation as well. It’s just been the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed some people, including the head of the acolytes, bowing their heads at the mention of Mary. I’ve never even heard of doing that. It’s a Marian church, but still... it seems like it just gives ammunition to those who say we worship Mary.

[ELS]

Our Aux. Bishop Cordileone offers the Pontifical High Mass here and he has also traveled outside San Diego to offer it.

One of the traditional Masses he recently offered outside of San Diego was in Connecticut. Unfortunately, at the time I had no way of getting there, so I couldn't attend the Mass. I remember Fr. Z making a comment about his name, Cordileone. I believe it translates to heart of a lion.