Monday, July 16, 2007

Beware of the Liturgi-cops

From a letter to the Editor of The Catholic Times (Saginaw, Michigan) from Father Steve Gavit, Pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption parish in Bay City.
They can get sneaky with their tactics as well. Wanting to know what is in the Eucharistic bread, they will call up the right person for the recipe, claiming they are thinking of using it in their parish. The recipe is gotten and a house meeting is arranged with other liturgi-cops. The recipe is scrutinized and--oh my gosh--they discover it has honey in it; really, really busted! The smile widens on their faces as their evidence mounts. They compile their notes and send off a letter to the bishop claiming this parish is breaking all sorts of liturgical rules and norms.

Diana at St. Fiacre's Garden says she knows of a Liturgi-crime-scene.
One parish that I know of was using little cubes of bread for the Host, made of so many ingredients it was deemed invalid matter.

It wasn't her parish, so in Father Gavit's mind I suppose that makes her a Liturgi-cop, but Father Gavit's got me wondering.

Would it be "sneaky" for the Liturgy Committee to change to a new recipe for the Eucharistic bread without disclosing that it might be invalid matter? Would it be "sneaky" if they asked the Parish Council to back them in the subsequent controversy without disclosing this problem? Would it be "sneaky" for the members of the bread ministry to successfully pressure the pastor to stick with the new recipe despite years of parishioner complaints, when they know of the undisclosed problem? Would it be "sneaky" for the pastor to quietly go along with all this?

Just asking, since that's what happened at the parish Diana refers to, my parish of St. Al's. The Euchroutons themselves were sometimes rather tasty, reminding me of Roman Meal Bread; the Euchrouton experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

(via Christifidelis)

2 comments:

  1. Oh I am terrible...guilty as charged...I did contact your parish about that and did get a nice reply from someone named Jack...since this is serious stuff.
    I can see Father's point of being tired of being checked up on but then it seems he knows he is doing things rendered unkosher....I would have more respect for them if they just came right out and said, "We are not going to follow the Church" instead of letting people believe as though they are.

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  2. "...a bad taste in my mouth..."

    And little else. Too bad.

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