Dear Fr *******
Happy New Year to you, Father. I hope your Christmas season was blessed and peaceful.
I am not a member of your parish, but I regularly attend Mass at the xxxxx Chapel. It is incumbent upon me to relay to you, as pastor of your parish, my disappointment regarding the extra-liturgical elements included at Mass this past Sunday, January 3, 2010. These elements happened at two times during the Mass.
Firstly, immediately following the proclamation of the Gospel, Fr X invited the children in the congregation to come forward and stand before the nativity scene. Eventually five children did come forward, and Fr X led them in singing "O Come All Ye Faithful". As they returned to the pews, he encouraged the congregation to applaud their actions. Then, rather than proceed with the homily, Fr X asked for adults to come to the ambo and describe their family Christmas celebrations, and tell their "Christmas hopes and dreams". After repeated requests for someone to come forward, one man finally did and spoke for a couple minutes, after which there was polite applause. Then Fr X asked for a woman to come up, joking that the Mass couldn't go on until a woman came up, and even suggesting that a child bring their Mom to the sanctuary. After additional requests, a woman did approach and she too told of her Christmas day celebration. After a bit of applause, Fr X finally gave the homily.
The second episode occurred just prior to the final blessing, when Fr X announced he was going to play and sing for us his favorite Christmas carol. He left the sanctuary, excused the music group's pianist, and played and sang the song. Then there was more applause. After this, Fr X gave the final blessing and Mass was over.
Those are the details from the Mass. Faithful Catholics expect and deserve to have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated according to the rubrics. Introducing extra-liturgical elements only serves to confuse and disrupt. This was very upsetting to me and my sons, as we have always enjoyed attending Mass at the X chapel. I'm not sure we will be returning because I cannot trust that the Mass will be celebrated properly, as it ought to be.
As pastor, I felt it important that you know what happened at Mass. This isn't nitpicking, or petty complaining, but an account of legitimate serious offenses. Innovative elements such as I've described diminish the sacredness, beauty and mystery of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It was a shame that they happened, and I hope that they won't happen again. I enjoy attending Mass there - with last Sunday being the exception - and I would like to be able to continue attending there, should these abuses cease.
Thank you for your time, Father. I look forward to hearing from you regarding this matter. May God bless you throughout the Year for Priests.
Your thoughts or comments are appreciated. I wanted the letter to be succinct and stick to the events as they had happened, without getting emotional or threatening. I'm going to be emailing this letter on Saturday.
Oh - and my "Talk-Show Mass" post was somewhat inspirational for Paul Nichols of the Cartoon Catholic Blog. Here's his latest cartoon:
