Monday, April 13, 2009

UPDATE: "ORIGIN OF SPECIES", LITURGICAL ABUSE

SOLDOTNA, AK - Alternative Eucharistic species, a profane altar of repose, and a corpus-less veneration of the cross were liturgical aberrations committed by Reverend Tony Dummer, O.M.I. this past Triduum at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Soldotna, Alaska.

On Maundy or Holy Thursday, Fr. Tony consecrated loaves of homemade bread in lieu of the usual communion wafers. While this is not expressly forbidden, Canons 924 and 926 specify that the bread must be only wheat, recently made, and unleavened. Communicating parishioners reported that the bread tasted "mealy" and that they were unable to easily swallow the Eucharist and felt uneasy about the particles retained in their mouths.

Following the Thursday Mass, the consecrated species was then placed in a dish on a sacristy countertop, covered with a cloth, and left alone for the evening with a lit vigil candle. This contradicts the necessity of both tabernacle and ciborium outlined in the USCCB's guide to Holy Thursday liturgy.

At the Good Friday liturgy the next day, a plain cross without a sculpted Christ was venerated. Instead of the traditional procession to the foot of the altar, whereupon the crucifix is kissed or otherwise venerated by the faithful, Fr. Tony handed the cross over to the faithful in the pews, where it was passed from one to another until it had made the rounds of the entire congregation.


More details forthcoming.

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