Care of souls ... or of the parish car park?

From the web site of Brentwood Diocese:

Brentwood Diocesan Pastoral Council Plenary Meetings are usually held twice a year. The next one is scheduled for 7. November, 2009.

These meetings discuss diocesan events and support deaneries and parishes. There is also an update from the Bishop. Invitations go to a representative from each parish and deanery. Interested priests and members of various diocesan groups also attend. Those likely to be interested in the topics to be discussed and people involved in various aspects of diocesan life may also be invited.

Plans for November’s plenary meeting include looking at an update on the Pastoral Support Team’s survey of linked parishes and the proposed rationalization of mass times. In addition to his usual “Points from the Bishop”, Bishop Thomas will also be holding a Question and Answer Session for everyone. It is important that your parish is represented at the plenary to maintain two-way communication so make sure your parish has a representative.

..."proposed rationalization of Mass times" ... : presumably a proposal is ready to be put to the Pastoral Council Plenary Meeting. But what principles will underpin the proposal?

Will it be a consideration of the care of souls? Will the proposal include assessments of the likely impact on the lay faithful's attendance at Sunday Mass of the proposed changes? Cut out one Sunday Mass = overcrowd the Church at the other Sunday Masses = at least some who will no longer attend Mass on a Sunday. Make it harder to get to Mass, and some will stop going who otherwise would keep going. One can respond that this represents poor motivation on the part of the now non-attending faithful, and there is some truth in that. But why shouldn't there be an element of outreach and effort for them? Why should it be made harder than is really necessary?

Or perhaps the Church is already overcrowded on a Sunday. Ah, we need to extend the Church .... Oh, we can't afford it. Why can't we have an extra Sunday Mass instead? Canon Law does allow the Bishop to permit a priest to celebrate a third Mass on a Sunday in the case of pastoral need, after all? Oh, but we are short of priests and can't exhaust them. [Aside: well, if they "say the black and do the red", I'm sorry, celebrating Mass is a lot easier than all the stress of ad libs, contrived introductions that force the readings into the penitential rite, and all the other elements of "performance" that can be prevalent amongst precisely those priests who are most worried about this.]

Perhaps a re-orientation in the priorities of the priest is required. As I heard it expressed a month or two ago, clearly with a reference to a situation in one particular parish, but with I suspect a completely analagous application in other parishes and at diocesan level:

Surely the priest should be worrying about the care of souls, not about the parish car park.

A bout of LIS

Last weekend, I suffered a very serious bout of LIS. LIS is caused by one of those bugs that normally lives in the body, though it has perhaps been more prevalent since 1970; most Catholics seem to live with this bug and not even notice they have got it. I am not sure which is actually worse - that they have managed to pick up the bug from someone (usually a cleric or sometimes a religious), or that, having caught the bug, their awareness of things Catholic is at such a low ebb that they don't notice they have caught it. That is not to say that those of us who notice we have caught it, and therefore suffer from LIS, are more saintly than those who don't notice they have it - the reverse might well be the case.

A clear symptom of having caught the bug, but not having noticed, is replying "Good morning, Father" to the greeting "The Lord be with you" at the beginning of Mass. Another is the inability to resist talking in Church before Mass starts, even for a few moments, all in the interests of "welcome" and "community".

Some would suggest that a strong dose of "extraordinary form", taken at least weekly but perhaps more often, is the cure. The problem with this cure, though, is that biological comparators suggest the bug involved will simply mutate from its "ordinary form" into an "extraordinary form"-resistant variant fairly quickly. The business of spreading the bug is simply not going to be given up that easily! I think that a systematic adoption of "mutual enrichment" is far more likely to eliminate this bug - but, sadly, there is little sign of that so far.

In the mean time, when LIS strikes more severely than one can cope with, the answer is to travel to a parish where either the bug has not yet appeared or, if it has appeared, a cure has been applied. That's what I did earlier this evening, anticipating tomorrow. Nothing special, just a said Mass with no music (OK, alleluia sung, as per the unofficial rubric that makes it obligatory even, presumably, when there is no congregation) and a half decent homily. My LIS has abated somewhat, to my relief.

It's not rocket science: say the black, do the red, cut out all the ad libs and, Father, do not project yourself onto the Liturgy!

UPDATE: Someone after my own mind: Have alb - will travel.

Hands up if you want to be a catechist!

From a parish newsletter this weekend:

Catechists What does this word mean? Simply put, those who pass on the faith to others. In effect this is all of US. We need more people who would be committed to pass on the faith to children, young adults and adults. There are many excuses. None of us have any time to spare! Yet we can make time for all sorts of social events. At present we definitely need more Catechists (faith helpers) for the Confirmation programme. If you can help in any way please contact Fr a.s.a.p.

Am I the only person who finds this an utterly inadequate way to choose catechists in a parish?

There is also a 'Course for Catechists' that begins on Tuesday 4th November ...There are eight sessions for the timetable that finishes on 13th June. It would be wonderful if any parishioner would like to join this course. The parish will pay.

I would have thought it better to train as a catechist before starting working in a parish - and that is before any consideration is given to the quality/content of the diocesan training being offered. Ah, but if your catechist is a "faith helper" rather than someone who teaches the faith, and therefore needs to know the faith and have some idea about how to teach it, then I don't suppose it matters too much ....

Perhaps I should offer the parish priest a copy of the General Directory for Catechesis - and the prospective Confirmation candidates a complementary copy of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church ....

Homily Agony .....

O I do hope that the Holy Father takes up the suggestion of a "Year of Preaching", made by one of the Bishop's at the Synod. I was this evening [not in my home parish, incidentally, so I am protecting the anonymity of the guilty party] subjected to a homily that went off up a side alley, and then persisted in meandering around it well beyond the time that, at a political party conference, the red light would have gone on and the microphone been switched off ....

Now there is certainly an inappropriate way for the laity to criticise the parish priest's homily - especially if it has been that bit too "relevant" to their situation and challenged them in their living of the Christian life - and any criticism should not constitute an attack or attempt to undermine the parish priest. Criticism should also be offered courteously. But, on the other hand, there is a certain rightful accountability to which I think a parish priest can be held by his parishioners. A basic justice that a parish priest owes to his hearers is to decide properly what he wants to say, and to undertake a basic level of preparation of it, before he arrives at the ambo or pulpit; and then to resist any temptation to meander off ........

At Mass the lay faithful are rather a captive audience, and I can't help but feel that that is sometimes open to abuse by a parish priest.

On a more positive point. How often do parish priests ask their parishioners what they would like them to preach about? If the homily is intended to meet the pastoral needs of the hearers, this seems a fairly basic way of the parish priest trying to achieve that. It doesn't mean that he has to say what the punters want to hear, but he can at least try to address their anxieties.

I tried this some years ago when I was asked to give a talk to the parents of the children making their first Holy Communion in the parish. I (innocently, in teacher mode) assumed that the parish priest would have an idea of a topic to fit in with his programme of four parents sessions. "Oh, anything you like" was the unhelpful reply from him. So off I went to do my market research among the parents. I did get some useful pointers from one parent, and the following gem from another, this latter in the foyer of our local Sainsbury's, on a Saturday morning, in rather a loud voice: "Oh, sex, drugs and rock and roll". I didn't at the time, but now wish I had gently pointed out that I was too young to remember those days ...

If you want to know what I actually said, read "The Presence of Jesus in the Family" in FAITH Magazine May/June 2003. The talk as delivered wasn't quite as academic as the write up of it, particularly the section about the Liturgy.

Lourdes: a catechetical opportunity that seems often to be wasted

One of the difficult things I encounter when in Lourdes at the same time as English dioceses is the glimpse that it gives me of the poverty of the Liturgical formation of many of the young people who accompany the diocesan pilgrimages. It is great that these young people will go out in such numbers to help and accompany the sick pilgrims; but - and I overheard this comment in a conversation that passed me in the shrine one day during my stay - the "social service" and the "party/fun" seem to completely displace the fact that the pilgrimage is a religious phenomenon. One could argue that the participation of the young people in the religious ceremonies should be at least in part a measure of the value of their pilgrimage, and that it is a bit naive to simply praise the numbers of young people who go to Lourdes.

My "penitential moment" on this visit to Lourdes occurred during the International Mass on Wednesday, when I stood towards the back of the Basilica with about a dozen young people from the youth service of an English diocese just behind me. I do not really think they participated in any ordinary sense of that word, though I certainly did not watch them all the way through Mass. Certainly, at points during the celebration of Mass they were sat on the floor in two or three "circles", and at least one young lady was receiving or sending a text. I got the impression they were more attentive at the Eucharistic Prayer, but I can't be sure of that.

I know I should not really blame the young people - most of them have probably never been taught how to participate properly at Mass. My frustration then transfers to the clergy - and asks why they do not train their young people in their parishes, or, during their visit to Lourdes, undertake catechesis on the Liturgy to enable them to take part properly in the ceremonies.

And the Eucharistic Procession and Adoration that take place at 5pm every day in Lourdes is a tremendous catechetical resource that could be mined to great effect during a pilgrimage. Here are some indicators, structured along the lines of what there is to see, what there is to hear, and what there is to do.

What there is to see:

The book of the Gospels is carried in the procession, accompanied by four halberds (tall poles, with a symbolic cross at the top). The Gospels are, in the Christian tradition, the successor to the scrolls of the Torah in the Jewish religion, the scrolls being a sign of the presence of God among his people as they journeyed through the Sinai and today in the synagogue. The signs on the top of the halberds are the symbols for the four evangelists. The Gospels are here being presented to us as a form of the presence of the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, among his people; just as their being read during the Liturgy of the Word at Mass is a sign of the presence of the Jesus.

The Sacred Host is accompanied into the Basilica of St Pius X by eight servers holding up dishes of burning incense. This again refers to the Jewish liturgy, to the burning of incense as a sign of prayer. But it can also be seen as a sign of the pillar of smoke (ie the presence of God) that accompanied the Israelites as they journeyed through Sinai, positioning itself at their rear as they stopped at night and taking up station again at their front as they marched on the next day. This symbolism particularly struck me as the servers stood at either side of the altar during the time of silent adoration and the incense rose around the altar just like a pillar of smoke. The incense again points us towards the presence of the Lord among his people, particularly as the Sacred Host is seen at the centre of the rising incense around the altar.

Immediately preceding the Blessed Sacrament in the procession are a series of banners with themes from the Passion of Christ: the nails that attached Jesus body to the Cross, the crown of thorns, a palm tree to represent the Cross as the tree of life. These banners remind us of the Eucharist as the memorial of the Passion of the Lord.

The people who walk in procession with the Blessed Sacrament or await its entry into the Basilica represent the Church, the people who are the Lord's. They are a sign of the presence of the Church in the world, the presence of Jesus Christ in the world. They bear witness to that presence in a very dramatic way, as they demonstrate visibly their belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

And all of this points towards Jesus really and truly present in the Sacred Host.

What there is to hear:

The songs and prayers also point us towards the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The words "Lauda Sion, Salvatorem. Lauda ducem et pastorem" (Sion, praise your saviour; praise your leader and your shepherd") are addressed not just towards the Lord in heaven but towards the Lord as he enters the Basilica in the form of the Eucharistic host. Another day, the psalm which talks about lifting up the gates so that the King of Glory might enter was sung. Boyce and Stanley's "Behold the Lamb", again addressed not just to the Lord in heaven but to the Lord present on the altar in the Eucharist, was sung too.

The Gospel reading and the invocations and prayers always have a Eucharistic theme. One day, for example, the Gospel was that of the Ascension into heaven, with its promise that the Lord will be with us (ie in the Eucharist) until the end of time.

What there is to do:

How you stand, which direction you face, how you hold your hands, where you look. These all communicate something of your sense of being in the presence of the Most Holy, the Lord of Lords, the Word made Flesh and now present among us in the form of the Eucharistic Bread. Find the words of the "Tantum Ergo" that is sung each day, and an English translation if you need it, and at least follow the words as they are being sung. Kneel down for the time of silent adoration (see below) and for the "Tantum Ergo" and blessing at the end. Young people who can spend a few days pushing wheel chairs are fit enough to kneel on the floor!

But perhaps above all try to ADORE. Pope Benedict XVI gave a wonderful, two part explanation of what adoration is at the World Youth Day in Cologne. Adoration is first of all "proskynesis" (from the Greek word for adoration), a going down before God who is Most Holy and a recognising that He is much greater than we are. It is secondly "ad-oratio" (the Latin root of our word adoration), literally, "to the mouth", that is a "kiss". So, as we go down, we unite ourselves to the Lord, we make an act of communion, of loving embrace.