Charlotte’s War on Reverence: A Priesthood Undone
The leaked Liturgical Norms document from Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte reads like a parody of 1970s fervor, delivered by a tyrannical hand through a series of ironically rigid dictates. They are poised to cause direct harm to the priests of the diocese and, through their pain, to faithful parishioners.
The man who claims that the liturgy is not the place for “our preferences” has decided to turn it into his playground. While slighting the decisions of individual parishes that reflect pastoral choices, he exercised his own whim with disregard to nuance. He claimed that “there are no particularities that would allow any of us to contravene the magisterium of the Church or the rich tradition that has been handed down to us,” and then he dictated changes that are in violation of the GIRM and which denigrate every traditional practice that he had seen being exercised in the diocese.
An area that hasn’t been considered enough is the effect upon priests who have offered their lives in service to God and who now face what can only be described as abuse. In refusing pastoral discretion and personal acts of piety, a priest is denied the fullness of his vocation and is reduced to a mere executor of another man’s frivolous preferences. His role as alter Christus—another Christ—is denied as he is reduced to a mere liturgical functionary.
Those who love God enough to sacrifice themselves for Him lose the ability to celebrate Mass with the reverence that is due—with symbolic acts that reflect their devotion and love of Christ. The priest participates in t
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