Priest who ‘ad libbed’ liturgies is suspended from ministry
CWN – July 10, 2012
An Illinois priest who resigned as pastor because he refused to use the new English-language translation of the Mass has been suspended from ministry.
Father William Rowe, who acknowledged that he had been “improvising” the words of the Mass for years, has been notified by Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville that his priestly faculties have been removed.
(An account of Father Rowe’s suspension in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contains several crucial errors. See Phil Lawler’s [commentaryj below] for a brief critique.)
Additional sources for this story: See www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14876
Another form of priestly abuse recognized: liturgical abuse
By Phil Lawler | July 10, 2012
www.catholicculture.org/commentary/the-city-gates.cfm?id=352
The Post-Dispatch headline on the suspension of Father William Rowe in Belleville, Illinois, announces that Father Rowe has been barred from preaching. But that’s really not the point.
The point is that Father Rowe has been barred from celebrating Mass. And the reason is simple: The veteran pastor, who takes pride in ad-libbing the liturgy, refuses to follow the liturgical guidelines of the Church. Bishop Edward Braxton has decided that since he will not celebrate Mass properly, he should not celebrate Mass at all.
Father Rowe “has not been accused of abuse,” the report tells us. But he has been accused of abuse—liturgical abuse—and he has confirmed the accuracy of those accusations himself.
The reporter seems to think that “preaching” is what Catholic priests do (everything else is treated as incidental), and sexual abuse is the only major offense a priest can commit. Wrong on both counts.
This is a joke, right? I’d guess that 10% or more of priests since the 70′s had their own “style” in the Mass. About 19 years ago, my wife and I were at a weekday N.O. She didn’t go to Communion. Afterward, young Fr. Fem, in his wire-rim glasses and sandals, came up to my wife and lisped something about her not receiving. He wouldn’t drop it, so she told him not to change the words in the consecration. That got him in a hissy!
Would it be unfair to say that the English translation of the N.O. used over the past 40 years is itself ad lib‘ed, and hence, all the priests and bishops should be suspended?