Faith Destroyed

Now I wish to make a very serious allegation. I believe that the liturgical revolution within the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church has not only succeeded in destroying that rite, but in destroying the Catholic faith of many of the faithful who belong to it. The first book of my trilogy, The Liturgical Revolution, entitled Cranmer's Godly Order, is subtitled "The Destruction of Catholicism through Liturgical Change." Thomas Cranmer, chosen by Henry VIII as his Archbishop of Canterbury, was the principal author of the Anglican Prayer Book. The English people were forced to attend church by law, and when in church they were forced to use a Protestant liturgy; they eventually abandoned their Catholic faith and became Protestants. There is a Latin axiom "lex orandi, lex credendi"-----"the law of prayer is the law of faith"-----in other words, the way men pray reflects what they believe.

Am I exaggerating in my allegation that the way Mass is celebrated in so many churches today has destroyed the faith of large numbers of the faithful? Would to God that I were! Can a priest who will begin Mass by jumping out of a trunk really believe that he will shortly bring the Son of God down upon the altar, that is presuming there is an altar to bring Him down upon? Can members of a congregation who do not walk out in protest at such an outrage believe that they are shortly to have the privilege of participating in the awesome Sacrifice of our Redemption? Can men and women who shake a little doggie's paw before receiving Holy Communion, no matter how cute that little doggie may be, really believe that they are about to receive the actual Body of Christ? I don't want to be uncharitable, I don't think I'm malicious by nature, but I wonder-----I can't help wondering. Archbishop Dwyer of Portland also wondered. In an undelivered letter to Pope Paul VI he wrote:

Communicants flock to the Communion rail in all sorts of attire, from short shorts to near bathing suit undress . . . near Jazz music in rollicking fashion accompanies those approaching the Table of Our Lord . . . Many children do not genuflect any more. Many adults also fail to genuflect. They roam around Church, sit down in their pew without even so much as a nod to recognize Our Lord in the tabernacle. The Real Presence is not emphasized-----the supreme holiness of the Blessed Sacrament has been relegated to the background. The bread and wine have been too completely represented as symbols "of the work of men's hands." ²


2) Archbishop Dwyer's undelivered letter was published in the March,
1983 issue of The Angelus. One can purchase the issue HERE.