So this week at Mass I saw a priest pick a fight with a group of little girls (not mine). He stood up before the final blessing and announced to the congregation that a thing these girls were doing during Mass needed to stop.
The behavior in question was one of those liturgical quirks that people like to argue about. If it’s to your taste you argue for a spirit of charity and broadmindness, and point out the many reasons a person might find it spiritually edifying; if it’s not to your taste, you suddenly become a liturgical rigorist. Any decent Catholic pundit could make a list of possible culprits, some of them favored by liturgical liberals, some favored by liturgical conservatives, some favored by weird foreigners.
The pastor didn’t name the girls by name, he spoke calmly and charitably, and he spoke of the action not the persons; but everyone present could know exactly whom he was singling out. He further explained that this thing he objected to was an example of disobedience and self-deification: Doing things our way instead of God’s way.
I don’t know whether he was in his rights in directing the change. I do know he was mistaken in accusing the girls of disobedience, for the simple fact that every one of the children (and their parents) had previously attended parishes where this particular liturgical option was condoned by their pastors. They were just kids — the youngest having only just made her first communion a couple weeks ago — doing at Mass what they’ve done at Mass every week of their lives.
***
It’s very difficult on a young child, or a grown-up, when your pastor feels comfortable embarrassing you in front of the congregation.
It is very difficult when a devotion you’ve learned in the Church, and that expresses an outflowing of your love of God, gets singled out and condemned from the pulpit.
It hurts all the more when that condemnation comes unexpectedly from a priest you had previously learned to respect and admire, and about whom you’d never had a single complaint.
***
So the girls are hurting right now, their friends who saw the incident are puzzled, and the parents aren’t sure what to do. Please pray for them, and for other Catholics who are treated likewise. Please pray for the priest, who may be unaware of how deeply he has hurt these children.
There is a growing schism in the Church, and I do not like to see it fed.
Artwork: James Tissot [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Please note, if you are in the discussion group for this blog: We will not be having a debate over popular devotions, nor which ones deserve to be quashed by any means necessary and which ones are just the sensus fidelium in action. For the purposes of this post, assume that the pastor banned your very favorite little thing you do at Mass that isn’t hurting anybody.
Update: In a bit of goofing off I looked up the matter in question, and to my surprise it was a topic on which there was an authoritative and unequivocal statement from the USCCB, and the priest was incorrect. (There are several reasons to infer it was an honest error, no malice.) Presumably the parents of the children involved will bring the error to the attention of the pastor, and all will end with a peaceful resolution. Thank you for your prayers.
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