Introduction
I may need to be disabused of simplistic notions of church history and the Eucharist during my life time.
It is clearly the case that fewer Catholics attend Sunday Mass now than they did at the time of Vatican II ….There is some evidence that Mass attendance was already declining before Vatican II….Vatican II cannot be the (single) cause for declining Mass attendance, or for declining priestly vocations, or for declining numbers of religious sisters. This is because there is evidence that decline was already beginning to affect each of those issues before Vatican II took place (Rory Fox, Catholic Stand, 10/7/22).
While proving cause and effect is elusive, fewer Catholics attend Mass after Vatican II than before Vatican II. Though Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium never required all of them, liturgical changes seen after the Council are correlated with decreased Mass attendance. “Since the early 1960s, when 75% of Catholics attended Mass regularly, there has been a steady, annual decline in attendance to 25% (cf, Denver Catholic, 8/12/2021).
Pure numbers cannot adequately prove opinions. However, I want to explore several liturgical masterpieces from the prior two pontificates. “Bullet points” from these masterpieces may come as a shock.
From the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI
As per Cardinal Ratzinger (He was to have a different role in the next pontificate!),
Praying toward the east is a tradition that goes back to the beginning…. Where a direct common turning toward the east is not possible, the cross can serve as the interior ‘east’ of faith. It should stand in the middle of the altar and be the common point of focus for both priest and praying community (The Spirit of the Liturgy, 2000, pp. 74 – 83).
As per Cardinal Arinze,
- It sometimes happens that Christ’s faithful approach the altar as a group indiscriminately. It pertains to the Pastors prudently and firmly to correct such an abuse….
- Care should be taken lest out of ignorance non-Catholics or even non-Christians come forward for Holy Communion….
- The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained, so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling….
- The option of administering Communion by intinction always remains. If this modality is employed, however, hosts should be used which are neither too thin nor too small, and the communicant should receive the Sacrament from the Priest only on the tongue….
- Unless there is a grave reason to the contrary, a church in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved should be open to the faithful for at least some hours each day, so that they can spend time in prayer before the Most Holy Sacrament….
- The extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged….a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason….
- Any Catholic, whether Priest or Deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse” (Redemptionis Sacramentum, 2004).
My Experience/Reflections
What is especially clear from Cardinal Arinze is that many common liturgical practices are in error or not a favored practice.
I am unclear as to how many parishes now employ a cross “in the middle of the altar” as a “common point of focus.”
My experience is that most people at Novus Ordo Masses receive Holy Communion; I cannot recall Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion addressed from the altar. With such lack of forthrightness, is it really surprising that some pro-abortion politicians would not hesitate to receive?
Other than at Traditional Latin Masses, I rarely see Communion plates utilized.
I have never seen Communion by intinction offered, but I have seen seemingly inordinate use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion – often incorrectly called “Eucharistic Ministers.”
It is rare that my own parish church is open for Eucharistic adoration.
Because most people may not be sufficiently knowledgeable to recognize liturgical abuses, I suspect that they go largely unreported.
From the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI
In his February 22, 2007 Sacramentum Caritas, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that “in every age of the Church’s history the eucharistic celebration, as the source and summit of her life and mission, shines forth in the liturgical rite in all its richness and variety.” Some other golden nuggets from the late Holy Father masterpiece are as follows:
- The loss of a consciousness of sin always entails a certain superficiality in the understanding of God’s love….
- Bishops have the pastoral duty of promoting within their Dioceses a reinvigorated catechesis on the conversion born of the Eucharist, and of encouraging frequent confession….
- On no account should Bishops react to real and understandable concerns about the shortage of priests by failing to carry out adequate vocational discernment, or by admitting to seminary formation and ordination candidates who lack the necessary qualities for priestly ministry….
Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum (7/7/2007) followed St John Paul II’s Ecclesia Dei (7/2/1988), allowing for more celebration of Mass in Latin.
Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity….Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows.
My Experience/Reflections
I usually go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation on a weekly basis. Based on my experience, it does not appear to be a “very popular” sacrament. There does appear to be a “loss of consciousness of sin” and a need for catechesis.
Again, based on my own experience and recollection, more effeminate young men were ordained in the years after Vatican II. Out of concern for dwindling numbers of priests, I suspect that bishops started “admitting to seminary formation and ordination candidates who lack[ed] the necessary qualities for priestly ministry.
Our bishops rightly wish to reverse the trends of decreased numbers of young people for “religious life” vocational crisis. Yet, the decreased numbers of Catholic marriages – coupled with increases in cohabitation and divorce – constitutes an often-overlooked vocation crisis.
While the Eucharist unquestionably strengthens marriage/family, confusion has been aggravated by seeing divorced/remarried people receiving Holy Communion and even serving as ordained deacons. Were they “beneficiaries” of one of the comparatively more frequent declarations of nullity? Has Rome been losing sight of the horrendous impact of destabilizing marriage?
With my own ears, I have heard a celebrant at a funeral Mass erroneously announce that the deceased was already in Heaven. If he could know such, why pray for the dead or have Masses said for them?
I have never heard any series of homilies devoted to the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the Compendium of the Catechism,
There appears to be insufficient appreciation for the value of post communion silence, as well as a continued misunderstanding of “active participation” in the liturgy.
Anecdotally, I have heard of the Anointing of the Sick being neglected during and after the “Pandemic.”
As far as I can tell the 2016 Compendium on the Eucharist, which Pope Benedict XVI called for in 2007, is not available online.
Conclusion
I have barely scratched the surface of the rich liturgical genius of St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. I pray that our Holy Father, all our bishops, and all participating in the Synod will utilize that wisdom for the good of the Church.
13 thoughts on “The Most Holy Eucharist”
Post regarding Joe Tevington’s Oct 3, 2023 article “The Most Holy Eucharist”.
The author focuses only on actions within the Catholic Church during and after the Second Vatican Council as though they are the total and only factors involved in what is historically occurring. Especially, actions or activities the he disagrees with or does not like.
In fact, there are abundant factors occurring in the world outside the Church and in total rejection of the Church and of Christ. Do look about and notice the strong promotion of hatred of anyone who differs from an “approved” list of choices.
Notice the denial of the truth and the pressure to affirm what is false. Specific examples are the denial of the reality of biological gender and the promotion of preferential gender as something superior and as an inherent right. Or again, the legal repudiation of historical marriage as a union only between one man and one woman based upon the fact that it requires exactly one man and one woman to naturally conceive a child.
The destruction of the very nature of historic marriage by redefining it in law in the United States required only a majority opinion of nine men!
Open your eyes and look outside of the Catholic Church to see the massive assault on reality and religion that has certainly contributed to the diminishing Church attendance.
There were indeed abuses that took place in the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council, especially identifiable under the title of “The Spirit of the Council”, rather than supported by anything that the Council actually did.
I find it incredibly sad that so few Catholics fail to see the awesome value in what Jesus does during Holy Mass. They ignore that, and instead focus upon the relative triviality of whether they can be present at the new mass or the older Latin Mass. Of whether they should receive Our Lord in the hand or on the tongue, while standing or kneeling.
I affirm my belief that the crucifix ought to be visibly present during Holy Mass because it is a visual affirmation of the gift that God gives to us by extending Our Lord’s one offering on the Cross to every time and place, where a Priest ordained by Jesus through “Apostolic Succession”, Transubstantiates bread into the body of Christ and wine into the blood of Christ.
On the scale of this gift from God, the actions and activities of men are relatively insignificant.
On the scale of men’s actions and activities, even the complaints of some do not have the power attributed to them by some men, though we should indeed do the best we can, under the guidance of the bishops and the pope to be faithful to God’s revelation.
Christ’s declaration in Luke 10: 16 continues to be true:
“ ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’ ”
May no Catholic ever forget or reject Christ’s declaration in John 20: 21-23:
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ ”
Thank you for your comments.
Within a rather limited area of the
vast Los Angeles archdiocese, there
are about a half dozen parishes that have
long lines for confession.
I’m inclined to conclude “there sure are a lot of sinners in THIS parish!” But wait, I’M in line too!
Thanks Bob!
In CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE, John Paul II wrote of how the men of the Enlightenment had embraced the philosophy of thought, and the existence only of a God who exists outside of the world, while rejecting the existence of God Who dwells among us, and at the same time turning their backs on the philosophy of existence — of Aquinas’ metaphysics. The modern Christian Church, while ignoring the principle that Christ and the Apostles were “approved” through signs, wonders, and miracles, is seriously diluting the Gospel message that is set forth in Acts 2.22,43. We hear no speech concerning the revelation of God’s will as manifested through signs. Nor do we hear of the Covenant agreement promises in relation to Divine Providence. The Gospel is being condensed.
The Church needs less ritualization and more of a spiritual/mystical metaphysics. The Church needs to return to teaching that we should seek to pray in isolation, in the real presence of our Heavenly Father, as Christ taught in The Sermon on the Mount, at Mt. 6.5-8.
St Pope JP II did not have an issue with liturgy.
Neither St Pope JP II nor George Weigel had/have an issue with liturgy.
At Lk 22.20 we read that the cup of wine is the New Covenant in Christ’s blood, that is poured out for you. We learn more with regards to the New Covenant at Jer. 31.31-34, and again in Hebrews, chapters 8 and 10. The cup of wine should not be so marginalized in these discussions concerning Communion.
In WITNESS TO HOPE; THE BIOGRAPHY OF POPE JOHN PAUL II, George Weigel writes on page 223: “But he confessed in his diary that he thought that there had been a bit too much stress on the Church discovering itself in the Eucharist, rather than on the Church discovering Christ.”
The conclusion is that, in an attempt to survive, the institution of the Church seeks to place emphasis on ritualism, rather than on seeking to know God, and to receive the promises of the Eternal Covenant agreement that are manifested when we seek to serve God’s will. If you want a Church that will flourish, then you have to learn the rewards of serving God. (See Lev. 26.3-5.)
“I have heard a celebrant at a funeral Mass erroneously announce that the deceased was already in Heaven.”
Yes, it happens, and it happens often… I could imagine that someone at the funeral of the most evil and wicked villain in town, saying, “He’s in a better place now.”
R I G H T…
Unless he received God’s forgiveness just before he died, he is in HELL… not a “better” place!
The most “unChristian” thing we could possibly do is to convince someone that he or she does not need God’s mercy!
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Joe, I like the word you used ( disabused ) to describe your notions. I’m puzzled by the fact that Pope Benedict clearly foretold that a smaller, leaner more traditional, orthodox laity IS the future of the CC and you are not a peace with this. Think of what it was like to have lived through the reformation, the vitriol on both sides, the wasted exchange to avert an inevitability. Five hundred years later we are at that threshold again; same pleading, logic and appeal, fingers in a dike named inevitability. The reasons this is happening is
all too obvious to the 75% who are an ethereal presence none-the-less, but the Faithful, for which you and many others can and do claim as a sole right should not bemoan
the current state of the CC. The best you can do is accept the cause/effect long term conditions that brought it about – and live the faith, as do the 30K other Christian denominations abounding, not to mention the triad that makes up the world of religion.
Interesting comment Captain!
Based on his numerous other words and actions, the late Holy Father was NOT simply saying: “Give up the ship.”