Reluctant Policing

UPDATE II: Puff has removed her final correspondence. The fact that several people suggest that it is right to attack priests and bishops, offends her. She suffered and prayed about if and how to charitably bring this to the archbishop's attention. It pained her to disobey Bishop Boissoneau, as he had said that we had fulfilled our duty in this matter, and yet, over a year later, she wrote to the Archbishop. She did not take this matter lightly, self-righteously, or angrily; but seriously, respectfully and charitably. Therefore to use her letter as a justification to attack the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Ordinary Form, or to suggest that the priest himself is not a good priest because he was mistaken, ( Rememeber: he thought the RS had not been promulgated- whether it needed to be promulgated is another argument) is offensive to her. When corrected by the Auxilliary Bishop, under the authority of the Archbishop, the Pastor submitted and obeyed.

--Puff writing in the Third person.

UPDATE: Puff was kind enough to post her final letter and her reply from the Archdiocese here

My wife and I never wanted to be members of the liturgical police. We started down that road some years ago, when we- well, mostly she- began helping the choir director for one of the choirs I sang with pick his music for Sundays. As we looked into the appropriate music we encountered the GIRM and other documents, and we discovered something: we really knew nothing about our faith and about the Mass, even though we both cradle Catholics, went to Catholic schools, and attended Mass all our lives. And what is more, a good percentage of what we had been told as truth at school and even at Church were flat out lies. And so, we started looking into the matter some more.

Somewhere in there we read Redemptionis Sacramentum, and there we read an instruction regarding the Blood of Christ: It was to be kept in a metal vessel, and was never to be poured. This struck us, because the practice at our church was to consecrate it in a crystal flask, and then pour it into separate chalices. On the one hand, it seemed minor. On the other hand, this is the Blood of Christ, the heart of our faith, and there is nothing minor about it. Redemptionis told us what to do: if we see any abuse of the Body and Blood, we are first to approach our priest in a gentle brotherly manner, as befits brethren in faith. If that failed, we were to go to the bishop or appropriate authority. If everything else failed, we were directed- not allowed, but directed- to inform Rome.

We have written about this many times in the blog. Our meeting with the priest was cordial and polite. He was overjoyed, he told us, to see that there are others out there who take the Blessed Sacrament as seriously as he. (In truth, he is very devoted to the sacrament. I will delete any comment from the combox that suggests otherwise.) But he had his reasons for doing what he did. Redemptionis, he told us, had not been promulgated in the diocese yet, so he was still permitted.

Next, after giving the matter some thought and prayer, we wrote to the appropriate bishop. His response to us was that he would look into the matter. His words were correct and cordial, but the tone of the letter carried with it a suggestion of "Now please go away." We waited to see what would happen. Nothing.

So we waited some more, and prayed some more, and debated some more. We could change churches. However, that was not an option from Redemptionis. This was still our church. The orders from Redemptionis were still binding. We were to do something. At that time some things changed at the Chancellery. We tried writing another letter. We got another response. Today we saw the real response: He no longer pours.

I am glad of this for many reasons, not the least of which is that our actions have not resulted in any hostility between us and the priest or any members of the parish that I am aware of. This could have become bitter so quickly. That it didn't shows that throughout all this, we were dealing with good people. Deo Gratias.

Report on the (non) implementation of the RS

First Sunday Lent C
First Sunday after receiving response from the Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs, and the The Most Precious Blood of the Lord was poured from the crystal flagon into 3 communion cups for Communion of the faithful. -'nough said.

For those of you joining us late, and would like to know to what this relates, Click here

The Bishop Answers

Here is the letter sent to Bear and myself from the Most Reverend Bishop Boissonneau

Identifiers have been removed.

February 16, 2007

Dear Mr. and Mrs Bear-i-tone:

I wish to thank you for your letter of February 6, 2007 concerning Redemptionis Sacramentum and I assure you that you have fulfilled your duty in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

+ John A. Boissonneau (signed)

Most Reverend John A. Boissonneau
Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs

*******
Now, I think the Bishop just blew us off. Bear disagrees. He is willing to give the Bishop the benefit of the doubt.

I argue that inherent in his assurance that we have fulfilled our duty, is the unwritten statement of "and there is no reason to contact the Holy Father, as the above document says you can do, regarding this matter."

Bear says, "Let's wait and see."
Well Bear may be right (Yes a wife just admitted a husband can be correct -your point?) If he answered our letter on the 16th, he would not have had the chance to contact Father yet. So maybe ...... We'll see what happens at mass.

What's your take?

Click here for our letter to him

Communion Cup

Well, Bear and I finally agreed that we should write to Bishop Boissonneau, Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs for the Archdiocese of Toronto, regarding the Redemptionis Sacramentum, and our pastor confectioning the Precious Blood of the Lord in a caraffe as well as a chalice. We decided to go ahead for different reasons, the most important because we feel that the Blessed Sacrament should not be abused even if it is unintentional. We waited until the Archbishop Collins was installed.

Here is the letter. All identifiers have been removed

Most Reverend Bishop John Boissonneau,
Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs
Catholic Pastoral Centre
1155 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario, M4T 1W2

February 6, 2007

Your Excellency,

We are writing you this letter in an effort to fulfill our duty as outlined in Redemptionis Sacramentum, as authorized by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II. In brief, our pastor, --------------, and the other priests who celebrate the Holy Mass at --------------on (street) in the City of Toronto, consecrate the wine in a flagon as well as a chalice, and then pour the Blood into several smaller chalices for communion to the faithful. As you know this is in contradiction to the Instructions in Chapter 4 [paragraph 106] of the above document from Rome, which reads:

However, the pouring of the Blood of Christ after the consecration from one vessel to another is completely to be avoided, lest anything should happen that would be to the detriment of so great a mystery. Never to be used for containing the Blood of the Lord are flagons, bowls, or other vessels that are not fully in accord with the established norms,

Also, when cleansing the chalices he pours water into one chalice, and then pours the remains of that chalice into the next chalice and so forth until the last chalice is cleansed, when he drinks it. So the Blood of Christ is poured twice, in contravention of the above instruction.

We wrote to Father ------ first, and we received the enclosed reply. We found his reply odd, for having attended several masses at the Cathedral we have never seen this practice he describes as being performed by the Cardinal. We admit we may be mistaken in this. Though at the Installation of Archbishop Thomas Collins, we
noticed that he did not use a pitcher or carafe either. He also claims that the implementation has not been promulgated by the CCCB, but both this document and the CCCB say that implementation of the instruction is entrusted to the authority of the Diocesan Bishop.

When applying the Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, it will be pertinent to recall the following:
……….
3. The implementation of the Instruction is entrusted to the bishop of the diocese who is the moderator, promoter, and custodian of the whole liturgical life of his diocese (cf. can. 835).

Furthermore he notes in his answer that the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion carry out the cleansing of the vessels after mass in the sacristy. It is our understanding that the Indult to allow Ministers of Holy Communion to cleanse the Sacred Vessels was granted, by Pope John Paul II, to the Church in the USA, not Canada, and the Indult, having expired, was not extended, therefore the Ministers of Holy Communion, in Canada should never have been cleansing the vessels, and definitely should not be doing so still.

It is with humility, and charity that we have taken the step of writing to you. We would have left the matter alone were it not for the order given to the laity in Redemptoris Sacramentum that we too are to defend the Body and Blood from all abuses.

Chapter VIII Par.6.
[183.] In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do ll that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all abuses be thoroughly corrected. This is a most serious duty incumbent upon each and every one, and all are bound to carry it out without any favouritism

We hope this letter fulfills our duty in this matter.

God bless you and his Excellency, the Archbishop Thomas Collins.

Yours sincerely,

Puff the Magic Dragon Bear-i-tone

encl: Copies of emails to and from pastor

Copy of Voxcantor's comment

**************************************************

My E-mail to Pastor , Pastor's Response , Voxcantor's Comment
The copy of the Pastor's response did NOT include my fisking.

Maybe now the RS will be implemented in the Archdiocese to Toronto.

Pictures from the Installation mass of Archbishops Collins at St. Michael's Cathedral, from the Toronto Star. Notice during the Incensing of the Gifts, There is no pitcher or carrafe anywhere on the altar. Excuse me while I WOOHOO.