Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Sacerdotalicide!


Interpolations in the Mass I am told are pretty frequent, I personally try not to do it, but I heard this about a few months ago when I happened to drop into a London church during Mass:



.... and so with all the angels and saints we sing...

You'll find the Holy, Holy on page... of your hymn books. It is in Latin but it means exactly what we normally sing, or say in English, although of course we should be singing it. While we are singing it let us try and imagine ourselves with all the angel and saints in the presence of God and the whole Church, because in a very special way at Mass here today we echo what is happening in heaven with our Lord. Anyhow it is page ...., if you are my age you probably can remember it without a book but do sing up. We used to sing it every week didn't we? OK everybody, number ....
Sanctus...

I am so grateful I am a priest, I don't know what I would do if I had to put up with this every week, you can only murder so many priests.

17 comments:

The Bones said...

You almost expect him to say, "Oh, heard a joke the other day...Right, a man walks into a bar, says..."..."Now, where was I, oh yes, Mass..."..."Ah yes, and another thing, did you hear the one about the..."

gemoftheocean said...

My favorite line from the musical "Crazy for You" - "Well, I suppose if they were found dead in the morning there might be questions."

and thank you for NOT doing that...to "explain it" during the course of the Mass is the RUIN it.

If the priest *really feels the need* because he thinks not many in the congregation will "get it" he can say something in the sermon, or better yet, if there are a lot of changes (i.e. improvements :-D) he can hold a Sat. meeting for all those who want to get with the program.

alban said...

Fr Blake. I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud when reading this post. What on earth was he thinking? Such a silly thing to do, and quite unnecessary. It is so bizarre, I almost find myself believing that it could not possibly have happened.

Ches said...

I've been wondering for a while whether the way to stop such abuses in the Church would be to gather like a medieval mob and hang those responsible from the steeples of their ugly churches in protest.

But that would be dreadfully wrong, wouldn't it? [sigh]

gemoftheocean said...

Alban, believe me, **** like this really does happen. It's enough to make sane people want to scream.

Anonymous said...

I love the word 'sacerdocalicide'!
Fr Ray - when you 'dropped into' that church did you 'drop out' pretty quickly or did you stay? What would you recommend people do presuming it is a weekday Mass if they find something similar. It is not conducive to prayer if someone finds themselves at a Mass where they are constantly thinking 'I wonder what the priest will do next.' And yet it is still THE Mass...

Anonymous said...

Have microphone, will babble!

GOR said...

Yes Father, it does grate when priests depart from the approved texts and deliver impromptu 'asides' at sundry parts of the Mass.

I have a Daily Missal which I use and it used to frustrate me when our Pastor launched into some 'non-standard' Eucharistic Prayer. Now I just follow Eucharistic Prayer I regardless of what he is using.

And, though Mass is NO, I follow it in Latin...!

Anonymous said...

The worst piece of liturgical abuse I ever saw was a 'sung' NO Latin mass where the priest used a tape recorder for the 'sung' bits. I'm not kidding. I had always assumed it was an urban myth up till then, the sort of thing you read about on the internet but isn't actually true. Every time there was a 'sung' bit like the gloria or credo the priest stopped what he was doing bent down and switched the tape recorder on. When it was finished he went back switched it off and continued with the mass. It was a cheap tape recorder too if I remember rightly - a little Casio thing. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At the same mass the priest instead of elevating the host at the consecration held it arms down with his hands just above his knees. I nearly walked out several times but couldn't bring myself to - it was the mass after all.

Someone later on suggested to me that perhaps the priest had some kind of arm restriction. I don't know I never asked him. The church is actually my local parish church and is about 2 minutes away from me but I never went back after that - I couldn't bear it. I started going somewhere else instead.

Anonymous said...

Bwahahah! We get that kind of thing regularly! Usually preceded by an 'oh, um!' Just don't get me started on applause in the middle of Mass, or the Maundy Thursday extraordinary minister recommissioning fest (for example) where 'explanations' just aboundeth.

Auricularius said...

Heard in a Kent church once

" ... and so with all the angels and saints we sing ... No 356 in the Green Books."

When I'd stopped laughing, I had visions of the serried ranks of cherubim and seraphim getting out their plastic covered copies of Laudate and singing some trite little ditty by Bernadette Farrell or Christopher Walker.

For a brief moment I wondered whether I really wanted to go to heaven:)

Anonymous said...

Fr Blake, as a matter of interest, do you cast women in the role of men to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday night ?

Just interested ?

Fr Ray Blake said...

Berenike, Let me rephrase your question:
Fr Blake, as a matter of interest, do you cast women in the role of THE APOSTLES to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday night ?
The answer is: NO!

Maurice said...

Do the red and say the black! That's what I, like you, try to do. How can you improve on perfection?

gemoftheocean said...

Mafeking: You win! :-D That one takes the cake! I remember reading a bio of Pope Paul VI. It related how he had a *terrible* voice, and how as a youth though he felt he had a calling, he was terrified of singing solo. He was convinced to "get over it."

I remember hearing that at one church BEFORE Mass started the cantor said "For those of you who've been blessed with a good voice, now is your chance to thank God by raising your voice in song. For those of you not so blessed, now is your chance to get even."

Fr Ray Blake said...

Henry, I do too but we better not draw attention to it.

berenike said...

it wisnae me, it wiz bernadette ...

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