Coming up - Crazy Season in the Church

Those of us who attend the traditional Mass don't have to worry about this for the most part, nor do those fortunate few who attend a parish with a sane, Catholic, priest and without an entrenched cadre of amateur liturgists. My guess is that, combined, these two groups are less than 10% of the Catholic population of the U.S. From what I hear it's even less in Canada.

What it is about Lent and Holy Week that brings out the worst in the lefty litniks? Growing up in the 1960's and '70's I was exposed to my fair share of unauthorized innovations and novelties, but the weirdest were always saved for Lent and Holy Week, especially the Triduum. From what I can tell, the madness hasn't abated. So, were I to venture out from my querencia to attend the "Ordinary Form" in a random parish starting on Ash Wednesday, here is a sample of what I'd expect to find:

• That dreadful song "Ashes"
• Ashes imposed by a layperson (OK, this is permitted but it just feels terribly wrong)
• Holy Water stoups filled with sand (or emptied for the duration of Lent)
• "Communal" Penance services with general absolution
• "Crucifixion" of "sins of the community" by hanging placards with things written on them (usually p.c. stuff like "sexism") on a large cross
• Writing one sin on a piece of paper, then bringing it forward to be burned (Can't remember if this was on Ash Wednesday or at one of those Penance services)
• Interactive/"Experiental" Stations of the Cross
• Statues remaining in place and unveiled during Passion Week and Holy Week
• Washing the feet of women and young children in the Holy Thursday Mandatum
• Allowing someone other than the priest to wash feet
• Passing out "Wash-n-Dri" packets and instructing the congregation to wash each other's hands
• ANYTHING which unnecessarily deviates from the rubrics on Good Friday
• "Wade in the Water" during Baptisms at the Easter Vigil
• Happy, clappy music at Easter Mass. For one Sunday a year, stick to the real thing!

This list is hardly inclusive, it only represents the liturgical gimcrackery I can recall experiencing in years past.

I've always wondered, "why?" Why do these liturgical pirates feel compelled to concoct something new, something avant garde, anything other than what's in the Missal?

A couple of years ago Cardinal Virgilio Noè, Pope Paul VI's Master of Ceremonies and certainly no traditionalist, asserted that Paul's famous statement about "the smoke of Satan" referred specifically to liturgical innovation and abuses: "He spoke of the smoke of Satan because he maintained that those priests who turned Holy Mass into dry straw in the name of creativity, in reality were possessed of the vainglory and the pride of the Evil One. so, the smoke of Satan was nothing other than the mentality which wanted to distort the traditional and liturgical canons of the Eucharistic ceremony"

A heartfelt plea to all of those well-meaning folks who think they can do it better than the Church: "Do the Red, Say the Black", as Fr. Z. always says! This year, lets "do liturgy" as Holy Mother Church gives it to us - now that's an innovation!