Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Seattle priest calls Pontifical Mass at National Shrine "offensive...silly...indecorous"

The full takedown is here at Father Z's blog. I don't think I can add any more to that, except to say that after what I witnessed at my grandfather's funeral Mass, I don't know that a priest from the Archdiocese of Seattle is qualified to speak on matters of liturgical import. Among other things, I had to listen to the priest describe the Eucharist as a "family meal" - a woefully inadequate description! - and watch the Body of Christ be consecrated in what appeared to be a salad bowl from Target. (It was white stoneware, and I very distinctly saw a large barcode on the bottom when it was lifted up for the consecration.) Oh, and did I mention we had the Precious Blood in wineglasses? I cringed because I really did feel that my grandfather deserved better.

I try not to play "let's spot the liturgical abuses" because I went through a spell of that and then realized it was not only distracting me from the focus of the Mass, it was turning me into a real snob. But honestly, Jesus in a salad bowl? Maybe it's just the churches my family attends but every Mass I have been to out there in Seattle has been a little on the weird side.

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