More Liturgical Advice

...from Cdl. Arinze, while in merrie olde England:

The head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments urged Catholics to be reverent during Mass and to venerate the Eucharist properly. During a talk in Westminster Cathedral April 1, Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze called on priests to restore tabernacles to central positions in churches and for Catholics to rediscover the tradition of reverent genuflection in the presence of the Eucharist. He also called for an end to adding details to and subtracting them from the approved rites of the Mass and for an end to soft background music during Mass and other times when people were trying to pray in church. "This is doubtless well intentioned, but it is a mistake," said the cardinal. "People enter churches to pray, not to be entertained." The cardinal told about 400 audience members that Mass was the "supreme act of adoration, praise and thanksgiving which humanity can offer God."

"Background music?" Is this like, hey, a Target Store? Field's? an elevator?

More from the same appearance:

Quoting John Paul II, he said liturgy is not a "private property" and that priests and lay faithfuls are "not free to add or subtract any details" from the official liturgy. He said communities that are faithful to the Church's liturgical norms demonstrate their love for the Church."

A do-it-yourself mentality, an attitude of nobody-will-tell-me-what-to-do, or a defiant sting of if-you-do-not-like-my-Mass-you-can-go-to-another-parish, is not only against sound theology and ecclesiology, but also offends against common sense," the Cardinal said.

"Unfortunately, sometimes common sense is not very common, when we see a priest ignoring liturgical rules and installing creativity, in his case personal idiosyncrasy, as the guide to the celebration of Holy Mass."

The cardinal's comments come a week after proposals were announced by a Vatican commission to outlaw the use of drums and electric guitars from church services. The commission outlined 50 proposals on reforming the liturgy, with Vatican insiders saying that the commission also proposed to increase the use of Latin during mass.

"....the priest ignoring liturgical rules..."--maybe he's been to St. Sebastian's, or the western suburban parish where the Creed is NOT recited on Sundays in Lent (because we're, you know, "deprived" during Lent....)

HT: Christus Vincit