Cardinal Eijik: the Flemish Bishops Must be Stopped

While a muzzle seems to have been imposed in Rome, Cardinal Eijk of Utrecht spoke out today and called for the Flemish bishops to stop their intention to introduce gay blessings.

(Rome) When the Flemish bishops presented a liturgy for gay couples a week ago, which is in obvious contradiction to the Church's teaching on homosexuality and to the recent guidelines of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Santa Marta apparently gave the order to remain silent on the matter. No one in the Roman Curia has spoken out since then, which can be interpreted as "submissive silence." Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands, spoke today. Since the Flemish are also ethnically Dutch, Cardinal Eijk is the hjighest-ranking, closest neighbour to the Flemish bishops of Belgium, who have gone astray. Today, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) exclusively published the statement by the Dutch cardinal. The headline was chosen by the Catholic online daily newspaper.

Cardinal Eijk Sends Warning to Liturgical Vandals in Holland

Correction:  the person committing these abuses was not actually a priest, but a layman.   It was he/she who was giving the homilies and inviting the laity to pray the Canon of the Mass.

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