An article in the Tablet (unaffectionately known as the bitter pill) did a hit piece on Fr. Finigan from The Hermeneutic of Continuity blog. Evidently celebrating the extraordinary form of the Mass along with the ordinary form of the Mass and following the liturgical laws of the Church is something that must be done about.
Fr. Finigan replies to the article along with Father Z. in what Fr. Finigan calls a “simultaneous transatlantic fisk.”
I think father should consider it a badge of honor to be attacked in this way by the Tablet. In fact if he is ever considered officially for canonization the article could be used as proof of his obedience to the Church. No need for a devil’s advocate when you have the Tablet to substitute.
The article is unintentionally funny and it comes across like the tone of the movie “Reefer Madness” and they see Fr. Finigan’s liturgical moves in his parish as “Liturgical Madness.” Now I am not doing a full blown fisk, but just some fun parts.
In what was once a fairly typical parish, there are no extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. Altar rails have been installed and the parish priest makes it clear that he prefers communicants to kneel and to receive the Host on the tongue.
Oh the horror! Can you imagine him having a preference for what is in fact the “ordinary” means for communicating?
Fr Finigan says the Eucharistic Prayer with his back to the congregation
Instead of his back to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
I have no objection to them having it once a month or once a week, but it should not be the main Sunday Mass and it should not be imposed over the whole parish,” said Les Thomas, a member of the delegation that went to see Bishop Lynch. A parishioner that somehow couldn’t make it to any other ordinary form of the Mass held at the parish on Sunday. I love the “I have no objection”, wow that is pretty nice of him for his permission to allow what the Pope specifically allowed. Most of the rest of the article is a whine fest from those that feel uncomfortable that the Mass isn’t a means for experimentation. It is rather sad that we have come to this point, but years of do-it-yourself Masses have lead to revolt at the mere idea of actually being obedient to the Church. In my own parish I have a holy priest who has tirelessly poured himself out for his flock. We had the indult Latin Mass for quite a while along with at times the ordinary form of the Mass said in Latin and all Masses without liturgical abuses of any sort. In addition he says another Mass on Sunday in Spanish. Four Masses on Sundays along with two daily Masses in a downtown parish that would have been closed down in the hands of many others. Yet I know that there are people that are always upset at him and complaining to the bishop at times. This is a source of suffering for him, but not of bitterness and something that he uses in redemptive suffering for the sins of others. Some people just are never satisfied and can only see what they want to see in their limited liturgical mindset.
2 comments
One of the HUGE downsides to what you characterized as “experimentation” in the form of the Mass is that it is distracting.
When I was a kid, indeed, throughout my formative years, we had the same Pastor and the EXACT same tunes to the mass from beginning to end. There was never more than one “new” song that the congregation had to learn. Though Father’s voice wasn’t the best, he chanted and we responded in chant.
I grew up thinking that this was “normal.” I didn’t appreciate its value and purpose until much later.
We live in the same parish that I grew up in and it has, in the last year or so, reassumed this standardization for at least the 1030 Mass. I do all that I can to attend the 1030 b/c I know what is coming and I find it a lot easier to “tune in” to the mass when not distracted.
The 0730 is also a good bet because there is no music at all. However, the 0900 and the 1600 are utterly distracting. It feels like we are attending a performance. The choir is much better, artistically, than it was but the music distracts rather than comforts. There is no room for chanting and I often can’t respond because the ranges and tunes are too complex and difficult. In the end, I am more distracted and irritated than comforted and inspired.
I don’t know if I would attend a traditional Mass regularly if it was offered but I have no affection for lay-person control over the Mass and its music.
One of the Tablet’s complaints is, “In what was once a fairly typical parish, there are no extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist.” There are no “extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist” anywhere. The instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum says “156. This function is to be understood strictly according to the name by which it is known, that is to say, that of extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and not ‘special minister of Holy Communion’ nor ‘extraordinary minister of the Eucharist’ nor ‘special minister of the Eucharist’, by which names the meaning of this function is unnecessarily and improperly broadened.”