Utrecht (Katolische Nachrichchten) Cardinal Wim Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht wrote a letter to all priests, deacons and laymen in pastoral ministry in his Archdiocese which addressed the observance of liturgical norms. The occasion involved a pastoral assistant [a layman] who had grossly violated the liturgical norms in the Archdiocese of Utrecht a few weeks ago which he committed during Holy Mass in the homily and in prayers in the Canon [Eucharistic Prayer]. The pastoral assistant was subsequently punished by the Archbishop and removed from Missio Canonica [faculties to act as a priest]. Meanwhile, the Cardinal has put him back in office, following his public apology for liturgical abuses and explained his understanding of the importance of keeping the liturgical norms in the future.
Archbishop Announces Canonical Penalties
In his letter, Cardinal Eijk endeavors "to promote general order of the entire Church and therefore to press for the osservance of all ecclesiastical laws" to the canonical obligation of Bishops (can. 392 § 2). He calls on all pastoral personnel, "to know and observe carefully", the liturgical norms. He admonished all "If in the future, unexpectedly, that the current norms for the Sacred Eucharist are violated, then I will not hesitate to impose canonical sentences, and also the withdrawl of Missio Canoninica [faculties] will not be ruled out.
The Archbishop stresses that penalties will be issued to those committing liturgical abuses all the way up to dismissal from the canonical state and lists the proper prcedures in canon law he will undertake in courts trying perpetrators.
Among the abuses he identifies are lay homilies, or attempts to encourage the laity to pray aloud the parts of the Eucharistic prayer. The Archbishop stresses that these prayers are meant to be said by the priest alone.
He urges that Catholics have a right to object to liturgical abuses and make them known without any acrimony on the part of Diocesan officials.
The letter continues to urge Catholic laity to report liturgical abuses as they occur also to the Roman authorities.
Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffcio, 11
I-00193 Roma
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sakramtenordnung
Piazza Pio XII, 10
I-00193 Roma .
Link to kathnews...
H/t: Fr. Gero Weishaupt
Fine, but it's well past time to bring to a well-deserved end the ultimate liturgical vandalism -- the abomination known as the Novus Ordo Missae.
ReplyDeleteI still respect the authority of the men who met at the Second Vatican Council and as far as I know, the Missal they promulgated is legitimate.
ReplyDeleteThis Diocese is seeing growth in vocations, btw, and the seminary is training all of its priestly candidates in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages. It's not an elective, but compulsory.
It seems to me that you are somewhat misunderstanding the original article at Kathnews.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence: "The occasion involved a pastoral assistant who had grossly violated the liturgical norms in the Archdiocese of Utrecht a few weeks ago which he committed during Holy Mass in the homily and in prayers in the Canon. The pastoral assistant was subsequently punished by the Archbishop and removed from Missio Canonica." implies that a priest committed liturgical abuses during the homily and canon.
But the article on Kathnews actually states that the abuse was the very fact that the pastoral assistant gave the homily and prayed part of the Canon. That is: the pastoral assistant is a lay assistant, not a priest.