These Last Days News - July 21, 2014After Four Decades
DO NOT ABANDON
"... Do not abandon My Son's Churches throughout your world, My children. The Mass, the Holy Sacrifice, is still valid.
"Do not judge your Church, My children, by the standards of man, for a legally-ordained priest, a man who has been legally ordained, will be used by the Eternal Father, through the Spirit, to bring to you My Son, His Body and His Blood, which He is shedding in sorrow now for you!" - Our Lady, August 5, 1976
"... Do not abandon My Son's Churches throughout your world, My children. The Mass, the Holy Sacrifice, is still valid.
"Do not judge your Church, My children, by the standards of man, for a legally-ordained priest, a man who has been legally ordained, will be used by the Eternal Father, through the Spirit, to bring to you My Son, His Body and His Blood, which He is shedding in sorrow now for you!" - Our Lady, August 5, 1976
RETURN TO YOUR TRADITIONAL RITES
”I send to My clergy, those whom I have given the grace to represent Heaven upon earth, this warning: You must now return to your traditional rites! You must restore My House from its crumbling exterior and rotting interior. You must rebuild what you seek to destroy--now!
”I send to My clergy, those whom I have given the grace to represent Heaven upon earth, this warning: You must now return to your traditional rites! You must restore My House from its crumbling exterior and rotting interior. You must rebuild what you seek to destroy--now!
"Many who call themselves My chosen ones have set themselves to destroy from within. Your actions have not gone by unnoticed by the Eternal Father. Error, deception, deceit, in the guise of sanctity and piousness! You are unmasked before the Eternal Father. You shall start little by little and repair the foundation, or you shall be within and destroy.
"I look upon all manner of abominations being committed in My House. Do you think you will go much longer without chastisement? Awaken from your slumber, My clergy! You deceive no one!” - Jesus, November 22, 1975
Patheos reported on July 23, 2014:
I’m frankly surprised that this has been going on for so long.For the better part of 40 years in churches across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, clergy ceded the floor to laypeople for the delivery of the homily — the sermon that follows the reading of the Gospel at Mass.The practice, which dated to the mid-1970s and was simultaneously derided by the faithful for running afoul of church law and praised for its inclusiveness, has come to an end.
In an extensive interview, Bishop Salvatore Matano said he has been confronting the issue on a case-by-case basis since his installation in January and is now drafting guidelines to clarify that homilies are reserved for ordained priests and deacons, as prescribed by canon law.
“It is not a policy shift as regards to the universal law of the church,” Matano said. “I am trying to help the faithful understand what is the universal law of the church and how important it is that in the celebration of Mass, we do what the church asks of us.”The reversal is perhaps the starkest example yet of the contrasting stewardship of Matano with his predecessor, Bishop Matthew Clark, under whom the diocese earned a reputation as among the most liberal in the country.
Although laypeople were giving the homily before Clark’s time as bishop, it was during his tenure from 1979 to 2012 that such preaching blossomed into a regular occurrence in multiple churches.Matano called the ubiquity of the practice “a bit perplexing” and attributed it to a misinterpretation of canon law.“In the life of the church today, there are many interpretations that people might give to a particular ruling with no malintent present, but that do need clarification,” Matano said.Many in the church have welcomed the shift as a long-awaited return to doctrine. Indeed, Matano said he began addressing the matter in response to complaints from parishioners.But it also has been received with disappointment, particularly among women, who made up the majority of lay homilists and viewed the practice as a way to play a more active role in their faith.“It really enriched me, and I have to say I’m struggling with it,” said Diane Porcelli of Gates, who did not preach but is active at St. Mary’s Church in downtown Rochester. “It’s challenging my faith and I’m struggling with the exclusion.”It is estimated that 20 women, most of them pastoral administrators or associates in the diocese with divinity and theology degrees, comprised the bulk of lay homilists.Church teaching on the subject:The homily should ordinarily be given by the priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to the deacon, but never to a lay person. In particular cases and for a just cause, the homily may even be given by a bishop or a priest who is present at the celebration but cannot concelebrate. (GIRM 66)