BISHOPS!  BUILD THAT LITURGICAL WALL!

Earlier today, I saw another post on social media that showed a very bad Novus Ordo Mass. In the photo, they were holding up as an offering, what looked to be, pagan symbols during the Mass. Horrible! Just horrible!

The title of the post pointed to this simply being a Novus Ordo Mass. My comment said, “I don’t know … isn’t that like calling all immigrants MS13?”

A very good discussion grew from there …

I went on to point out that, I guess what I am saying is that I get it when all those who immigrate to the USA get miffed when they are “all” painted as gang members, sex traffickers and drug dealers. So, when the worst of Novus Ordo Masses are shown, and then titled as simply “Novus Ordo,” it is no different than showing MS13 gang members and calling them simply “immigrants.”

This person (a good friend of mine) stated that, in his experience, these are not just the worst being shown, but that they are the norm: “That’s the kind of thing we experience every time we go to a Novus Ordo.”

Here was my reply:

“I’m sorry you are experiencing that, where you are. In our area, one will rarely will see, if ever, a Novus Ordo that isn’t reverently offered and, therefore, inspiring that seed of faith to germinate and grow into its greatest potential. And, even if they are not perfect, these Masses are continuing to be cultivated (I believe Bishop Morlino’s diligence in promoting reverent Masses had a lot to do with this).

 

Just yesterday, I had the good fortune to concelebrate with Bishop Ricken at the Cathedral in Green Bay. Did my liturgical ‘spidey sense’ see things I would have liked done differently? Yes. But, it was offered with the deepest sense of God being made Present on that altar.

 

To extend my analogy, many immigrants come over here poor, uneducated and speaking a different language. But, they are very good people, in my experience, and willing to work hard and learn the language and become ‘enculturation.’ I don’t agree with pigeon-holing all immigrants as gang members and sex traffickers. Instead, I work with them and do my best to help them feel they are a part of our American family. That’s kind of like what I did, for example, when I complimented Bishop Ricken yesterday on the beautiful, reverent Mass … and I meant it.”

Further extending my analogy, I believe many of the “bad Masses” (liturgical abuse) have to do with those who have been in charge just allowing them to enter into our Church … a kind of “liturgical open borders,” to use my analogy.

Bishops, you need to “Build That Wall!!!”

Bishops, you need to start standing against liturgical abuse and calling for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be offered in the most reverent way possible. Much like gang members and sex traffickers are sifted out at a “secure border,” liturgical abuse must be sifted out of our Church, as well. Liturgical abuse has become so pervasive that “all” Novus Ordo Masses are being painted as “liturgical abuse” (much like all immigrants being painted as drug dealers and sex traffickers).

Of course, we know that all Novus Ordo Masses have not yet been fully enriched (much like “enculturation”) by the ancient form of the Mass. Here again, using my analogy, one can look to beautiful and hard-working immigrants who have not yet mastered the English language or have not yet learned about the rich history of the United States. This will come, over time, but we do not “exclude” them because they have not yet been fully enculturated. Instead, we count them as beautiful members of our American family, as they continue to embrace our American heritage. They are not “less-than-us” but “part-of-us.”

Let’s do all we can to not paint “all” those who offer or attend the Novus Ordo as the proverbial gang members and sex traffickers of our Catholic Church.

We have had “Open Borders Liturgies” for far too long. It’s high time the Bishops “Build That Liturgical Wall!!!”