The Rev. Bill Rowe of St. Mary Parish is set to be replaced in June after a controversy based on his long-standing practice of changing parts of the liturgy to, as he has said, make it easier to understand.
But Rowe said Tuesday that he has retracted his offer to resign and will fight any effort by Bishop Edward Braxton to remove him. Rowe said he may be entitled to a hearing under cannon law as to whether making changes in liturgy constitutes a serious violation worthy of removal.
Referring to the practice in the Catholic Church of using communion wafers and wine to symbolize the body and blood of Jesus Christ, Rowe said, “It’s not like I’m using pizza or Coke and praying to Allah. I’ve not done anything like that.”
Editor’s note – Just a couple of points:
The Mass, which is the universal prayer of the whole Church, is not and never has been subject to the whims of any clergyman or lay person.
Jesus Christ originally gave us the words … and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church alone has the limited authority to change them. Not you. Not me. And certainly not some local parish priest!
At Mass, the communion wafers and wine not only symbolize the body and blood of Jesus Christ … but that same bread and wine actually becomes His real and substantial body, blood, soul and divinity.
Once Jesus becomes present on the altar for us, the Church uses very specific language in order to consistently pray for, and hopefully receive, whatever blessings and divine sustenance is necessary for the good of the Church … and the world.
Accomplished in union with Jesus Christ and the whole church, the Mass is being constantly celebrated somewhere on earth, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year … as it has been for almost two thousand years, now.
As such, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a much “bigger deal” than anyone … even a priest … could possibly imagine. Priests who choose to “make it up” as they go along obviously don’t understand this … since if they did, they wouldn’t even dream of changing any of the words. And this is never just a “minor” issue!
Vatican II says nothing about ad-libbing priests, other than confirming the continuous and constant teaching of the Church that such acts are both ill advised and illicit. If taken to extremes, such liberties might even serve to make the Mass totally invalid.
Father Bill needs to get his pride under control. If he wants to better educate his parishioners, he can rightly do so during the sermon/homily. Or he can schedule specific courses of instruction on the Mass, as do so many other Catholic parishes.
In short, no matter how his favorite parishioners might “feel”, Father Bill’s actions are wrong, he has absolutely no right to change even one iota of the sacred liturgy, and he would be wise to simply apologize and repent, as all sinners are wisely counseled to do.
Or perhaps .. he might consider a new career in show business!
Doug Lawrence's Catholic Site 