List of Liturgical Abuses

H/T to Native Catholic

The following are some liturgical abuses listed on the Tabulation of Most Common and Serious Liturgical Abuses

1. People saying parts of prayer which are reserved for the Priest. e.g. Through Him, With Him... Sometimes I can't help but hear people around me reciting the entire Consecration along with a Priest.

2. People at the Altar (I guess this refers to the EMHCs, lectors) receiving Holy Communion at the same time as the Priest.

3. Outside of health reasons, Priest not distributing Holy Communion, but leaving it instead to the EMHCs or deacon.

4. Images of saints lacking in church.

5. People standing during the Consecration and Eucharistic prayer due to the lack of kneelers. (BTW, one can always kneel on the floor).

6. People imitating gestures of priest when it is appropriate for his role alone. e.g. upraised hands or Orans posture during the Our Father.

7. The washing of women's feet on Holy Thursday.

The list is longer than what I have posted. Please go to the site and read all of them along with the appropriate reference cite.

Although it is not listed, it must be a liturgical abuse for a priest to interrupt the consecration to reprimand people in the pews. I have seen that happen at the children's Mass.

For a prayer to end liturgical abuse, please visit Mount Carmel Bloggers

Only You Can Prevent Liturgical Abuses

H/T to CURT JESTER

New blog I visited today had reasons why we should stop liturgical abuses.

ALIVE AND YOUNG

What's a Catholic Mom to Do...

when your child spots liturgical abuses?

Let me explain. We have a new priest assigned to our parish. My family happened to be at the Mass he celebrated I believe for the first time at the church. My son was the altar server that day and I was scheduled as one of the EMHC's. After Mass, Joey blurts out to his dad and me, "I counted four liturgical abuses".

I was speechless for a couple of reasons. First of all, I didn't realize that he was concerned about liturgical abuses. Secondly and what concerned me, is he participating in the Mass as he should be or is he more concerned about the priest/celebrant celebrating correctly? Of course, I don't want the latter because it would draw his attention from the sacrifice offered at the Mass.

We do discuss liturigical abuse in our family. Since I am usually the one who brings the topic up, I try to do it in a way that does not criticize or judge the priest. Joey and I are currently reading Sacramentum Caritatis. He and I also discussed and read Redemptoris Sacramentum. I think the GIRM is next.

Ironically, a new pastor and associated pastor (not the one mentioned above) have been assigned to our parish. It appears there is a "wind of change"regarding the Mass which is very encouraging to this conservative Catholic. In other words, the has been a conscience effort on the part of our liturgy committee, to put the emphasis on the Eucharist and not the laity.

Pope Warns Theologians to Not Seek Applause

Pope Warns Theologians to Not Seek Applause
In Homily, He Recommends Fidelity to Truth

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A theologian prostitutes himself when he subjects himself to the "dictatorship of common opinions," Benedict XVI told members of the International Theological Commission.

The Pope delivered that message today in a homily during a Mass he celebrated in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace for some 30 theologians of the commission.

"To speak to meet with applause, to speak oriented to what men want to hear, to speak obeying the dictatorship of common opinions, is considered a sort of prostitution of the word and of the soul," said the Holy Father quoting the First Letter of St. Peter.

The theologian needs a form of "chastity," which implies "not to be subjected to such standards, not to seek applause, but to seek obedience to the truth," the Pontiff said.

Benedict XVI continued: "And I believe this is the fundamental virtue of the theologian, this discipline, even hard, of obedience to the truth, which makes us collaborators of the truth, a mouth of truth, so that we will not speak in this river of words of today, but that we are really purified and chaste through obedience to the truth, so that truth may speak in us."

Recalling an experience of St. Thomas Aquinas (1221-1274), the Holy Father explained: "In theology, God is not the object of our speech. This is our normal conception. In reality, God is not the object; God is the subject of theology."

Room for God

"He who speaks in theology should be God himself," said the Pope. "And our speaking and thinking should only serve to have him heard, so that the world of God can find room in the world."

For theologians to attain this kind of purification, he recommended "silence and contemplation," which "serve, in the dispersion of daily life, to keep a permanent union with God."

The Pontiff added: "This is the objective: that union with God be always present in our soul and transform our whole being."

Silence and contemplation "serve to be able to find in the dispersion of every day this profound, continuous union with God," Benedict XVI continued.

Yet, "the beautiful vocation of the theologian is to speak," he added. "This is his mission: in the talkativeness of our time and of other times, in the inflation of words, to make the essential words present. In words make the Word present, the Word that proceeds from God, the Word that is God."
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Liturgical Dancing

Father Stephanos touched on the subject of the liturigical dance. Silly, but he sure makes a point!

I never heard about liturgical dancing until I moved to Hawaii. My family and I then experienced it personally at a few of our parish's Masses. However, at that time we didn't know the strange swaying during the offertory had a name.

For a brief period in time, our Mass tried something new during the offertory. I seem to remember a few women walking down the center aisle, each carrying a wooden bowl, probably made of Koa. However, they just didn't walk..they walked a few steps and then stopped, stepped back and then walk a few steps. This pattern continued until they reached the waiting priest at the altar.

So that was a liturgical dance? Who knew?

My second experience with liturgical dancing came when someone from our diocese complained to Rome about the hula not being performed properly during some of our Masses. 


Now this one was a little harder to detect as being a liturgical abuse. I say that because when performed properly and respectfully, the hula is one of the most beautiful and graceful of all dances. As you may know, each movement tells a story. 


Did it have a place in the liturgy? I don't know; probably not. However, I believe, certain ethnic customs and traditions are sometimes incorporated into the Catholic Mass.

If you'd like to read the newspaper article hula objection Click here



Going back to my first experience with LD, I believe it lasted only one week or so. The pastor put a stop to it...and rightfully so.