January 1988 Print

By  Michael Davies

"Few names stand out with more brilliance in the history of living worship and liturgical reform than that of Paul VI. While many men and women, lay persons, popes, bishops, deacons and priests, have contributed to the worship life of Christians through the centuries by their painstaking efforts in developing texts and ritual actions, handing them down from generation to generation, no one, not even the greatest reformers of the past, Gregory the Great and Pius V, have done more to enable Catholics to pray as a Church than Paul VI. His accomplishments as a renewer of liturgy extended beyond the limits of the Roman Rite. The liturgical books reformed during his papacy and actively promulgated by him influenced and even initiated liturgical renewal in other Churches in the East and in the West, in union with Rome or far from the liturgical traditions of the ancient Church." Newsletter of the Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (USA) November, 1978

THE DATE is Sunday, 2 April 1978. The place, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Station WEEI FM broadcasts the regular Sunday Mass from the Paulist Center, 5 Park Street, Boston 02108. I have a cassette recording of the broadcast given to me by a reader of The Angelus. Clearly, a Mass which is broadcast each Sunday must be celebrated with the approval of the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston. It is also obvious that the clergy of the Paulist Center have no fear that any aspect of their celebration on this day might evoke episcopal sanctions as they had clearly taken great pains to publicize it. Reports appeared in a number of papers with a copious supply of photographs.

The Mass begins with the Introit. In this case it is an amateurish but not unpleasant rendition of a number popularized by the New Seekers which rose to a prominent position in the "Top Twenty" some years ago. The singers profess the commendable desire of wishing to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony and also to grow apple trees, honey bees and snow white turtle doves. They express this desire somewhat more often than is necessary to make the point. However, the Introit does eventually come to a conclusion.

"Good morning," says Father Joachim Lally, the celebrant. He is a good looking and clearly good natured young man wearing a strangely patterned garment which is presumably intended to be a chasuble.

"Good morning," replies his congregation.

"Since this is April Fools' Weekend, happy feastday everyone," he adds.

His congregation laughs.

Father Lally explains that the theme of the liturgy that day is that they are all free to be fools. Before exercising this prerogative he exhorts them to catch their breath in order to catch the breath of the Spirit that breaths deep within each one of them and to lay hold of that Spirit. The congregation is also urged: to be attentive to the word of God and to listen. He explains that in the world of the circus, in the world of fools, when anything goes wrong or anything needs to be sparked up with life there's a saying, and that saying is "Send in the clowns."

The Boston Globe of 3 April 1978 informs us that Father Lally "removed his usual garb, concealing the clown suit he was wearing underneath. Immediately after the prayer, the platform in the middle of the church became filled with clowns and colorful balloons while the Paulist Center Musicians played 'Send in the Clowns'."

The congregation had been urged to be attentive to the Word of God. The "Word of God" is proclaimed. The passage in question is what was known as the Epistle in the days before the great renewal of "the worship-life of Christians."

"Damn everything that is grim, dull, motionless, unrisking, inward turning. Damn everything that won't get into the circle, that won't enjoy, that won't throw its heart into the tension, surprise, fear and delight of the circus, the round world the full existence. Damn everything but the circus."

The "Word of God" continues with an item entitled "the Gospel-Message of the Lord". This consists of the story of the Good Samaritan to the accompaniment of a mime by the clowns which evokes delirious applause from the congregation (audience?). And then, as The Boston Globe reports:

"While the priest put on his clown make-up (in seven minutes flat), the others began the acts, which consisted of carnival music, dancing and showing the necessity of being free to love and give. At one point, a clown standing alone was taken into the group and made to realize that she loved everyone, including herself.

"The audience participated throughout the service, cheering and applauding the good deeds of the clowns…

"At the end of the sermon Father Lally placed a red heart sticker on each clown's forehead while everyone sang 'Where are the clowns… Well, maybe they're here…'

"The clowns went through the aisles giving out the mark of the clown—a round orange sticker—while everyone hugged, kissed, shook hands and wished peace to each other."

It is worth noting that the reporter of The Boston Globe refers to an audience rather than a congregation. There can be no doubt that this audience enjoyed the performance—the faces grinning out from the photographs testify to this. The first performance on April 1st proved to be so popular that it was repeated three times on April 2nd Father Lally had a hit show on the road.

The reporter in question, one Mr., Mrs., Miss., or Ms. Jodie Peck, would appear not to be a Catholic as no comment was made on what, for a Catholic, was the most outrageous aspect of the entire spectacle as it certainly constituted an act of sacrilege. The "Eucharistic Prayer" utilized by Father Joachim Lally went, as follows, up to and including the "Consecration'':

"Hosanna, praise to You, glory to You, God. For You are the God Who has sent us Jesus to be the light and life of our world. Send us now Your Spirit of life and peace. Send Your spirit over these gifts of bread and wine and over each of us so that together we might be the living and breathing, moving Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Your Son and our Brother. And so we remember, we call to mind, the night before Jesus died when He was feeling very much alone and frightened, so He gathered His friends and His disciples for a final meal in which time He took bread from the table. He blessed it, He broke it, He gave thanks to You loving God, and He gave it to His disciples saying take and eat all of you for this is My Body, this is My Life, which will be given up and broken for you.

"After the supper was over He took the cup of wine and again He gave You thanks and praise and He gave the cup to His disciples and said: 'Take this all of you and drink from it for this is the Cup of My Blood, the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant, it will be shed for you and for all women and men so that sins may be forgiven, so that life may be restored. Whenever you do this do it to remember me and always lovingly'." (My capitalization.)

It is not necessary to be an expert on the "renewed" liturgy to realize that Father Joachim Lally has composed his own Eucharistic Prayer. To the best of my knowledge it is not included among the growing number now officially sanctioned for use in the New Order of Mass. These new official Eucharistic Prayers began to appear in 1968 because, the Vatican claimed, there was an insistent demand for them from parish priests and liturgy experts (The Tablet, 22 June 1978).

 

THERE  IS  A DIFFERENCE of opinion among theologians as to the precise nature of the "form" required to effect a valid consecration. Some say that the words of consecration in one of the versions found in Scripture will suffice; others claim that it is necessary for these words to be spoken within the context of a liturgy approved by the Church. In this case neither condition was fulfilled. It should also be noted that some theologians teach that words added to the consecration formula and intended to alter its meaning can invalidate the Mass. It can thus be stated with certainty that those "fulfilling their Sunday obligation" at the three April Fools' Masses in the Paulist Center, Boston, on 2 April 197S were at the best participating in a sacrilegious celebration and at the worst in an invalid one.

The antics of Father Joachim Lally and his troupe of clowns is clearly an extreme example of the degradation to which the Mass of the Roman Rite, the glory of the Latin Church, the most sublime product of Western civilization, has been reduced. Father Joseph Gelineau, S.J., a liturgical expert at Vatican II and leading apologist for the liturgical revolution, remarks in his book Demain La Liturgie (Paris, 1976, p.9): "To tell the truth, it is a different liturgy of the Mass. This needs to be said without ambiguity: the Roman Rite as we knew it no longer exists. It has been destroyed."

Father Gelineau is correct. The Roman Rite has been destroyed and there can be no doubt that the ultimate responsibility for its destruction must be laid at the door of Pope Paul VI, the Pope praised by the American Bishops as a pontiff of greater brilliance in liturgical development than either St. Gregory the Great of St. Pius V.

At this point I can imagine a chorus of voices protesting that what I have written is unfair, dishonest even. It will be argued that the April Fools' Mass of Father Lally has nothing to do with the official reform promulgated by Pope Paul VI. It could rightly be argued that much of the All Fools' Mass was contrary to the rubrics of the new Missal and has even been forbidden by Vatican instructions sent to the bishops of the world. True as this may be it does not alter the fact that the antics of Father Lally represent the natural, the logical, the inevitable outcome of the innovations approved by Pope Paul VI.

Archbishop G. P. Dwyer of Birmingham (England) wrote the preface to a book entitled The New Mass which was published in 1969. In this preface the Archbishop makes several references to a "new style" of liturgy. This "new style" is designed "to form the Catholic people in the spirituality of Vatican II". He explains that: "the new styled inculcates a spirit of community" but admits that the experiment is "hazardous". Father Charles Napier, Superior of the London Oratory (England) has been a very severe critic of British traditionalists but he admits that with regard to the New Mass:

"A legitimate ground for criticism it seems to me is the number of options that the new rite offers. There are optional greetings, optional penitential rites, optional acclamations in the Canon, not to mention the optional Canons themselves; finally optional blessings and optional dismissals."

The ethos of the Tridentine Mass is its God-centered nature. It enshrines the offering of an awesome sacrifice to an omnipotent God and every prayer, every gesture is designed to accentuate the solemnity of the sacrifice and the reverence due to God. The ethos of the New Mass is its man-centered nature. The focus of attention is not God but the congregation. It is what will make them feel at home, what will promote their "active participation" which must take precedence. If a priest like Father Joachim Lally feels that even the numerous official options do not cater for the needs of his congregation he is following the logic of the reform by introducing his own. He may be acting contrary to the rubrics of the Novus Ordo, he is acting in accordance with its style.

It is also an accepted principle of jurisprudence that the binding nature of a law depends to some extent on the manner in which the legislator enforces its observance. There is, I believe, still extant an English law demanding that able-bodied males take part in archery practice each Sunday. As the government clearly has no intention of enforcing this law it would be somewhat unjust to allege that those like myself whose Sundays are not habitually spent speeding arrows on their way to distant targets are of an anarchic or rebellious disposition. Father Lally could put forward a convincing case to prove that he is acting well within the spirit of current liturgical discipline. He knows that if sufficient liberal priests break a liturgical law the Vatican can be relied upon to change it—at least this was the case during the Pontificate of Pope Paul VI. Pray God that it will not be so under Pope John Paul II.

Father Lally knows that priests of his persuasion began distributing Communion in the hand in defiance of liturgical legislation. These priests were not disciplined but the legislation was changed to legalize their rebellion in something like 70 countries. Laymen (and women) distributed Holy Communion in defiance of liturgical legislation—the role of lay-minister of Communion was invented. Priests began composing new Canons; new Canons were authorized. They went on composing new Canons—more new Canons were authorized. Father Lally is not unreasonable in thinking that the Vatican is willing to base its legislation of what the liberal clergy feel inclined to do rather than insisting that the clergy conform to liturgical law.

Where the Vatican does disapprove of a liturgical practice it is not slow in taking action, and the same applies to diocesan bishops. Imagine if, on April 2nd, 1978, once known as Low Sunday, a priest in Boston had begun his Mass with the words Introibo ad altare Dei and when he came to the Introit, had made no reference to teaching the world to sing in harmony, growing apple-trees, honeybees, or turtle doves (snow white or any other color) but had begun with the words: Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia… such a priest would have been hounded from his parish, such a priest would have had his faculties withdrawn, and, if he continued to offer Mass, public warnings would have been issued to the faithful who attended stating that they were schismatics.

No, let those who deny that the Mass of All Fools' Day celebrated by Fr. Joachim Lally in the Paulist Center, 5 Park Street, Boston 02108, is the epitomization of the spirit, of the style of the liturgical reform of Pope Paul VI, the reform that outshines those of Saints Gregory the Great and Pius V in its brilliance; let such people prove that I am wrong by a very simple process. All they need to do is to write to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston and place the facts before him; let them write to Archbishop Jadot, Apostolic Delegate to the United States of America; let them write to Cardinal Knox, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments; let them write to the Pope himself; let them write to whom they wish as often as they wish and let them see if sanctions are taken against Father Lally, let them see if his faculties are revoked; let them see if worshippers at the Paulist Center, 5 Park Street, Boston, 02108, are warned that they are schismatic and that attending "Mass" at this center on Sundays does not fulfil their obligation. Let such people write and let such people wait—and wait—and wait.

No, sanctions are reserved only for priests who begin their Mass by proclaiming proudly and openly: Introibo ad altare Dei. These "rebel priests" epitomize the spirit of the Mass of Saint Pius V. Father Lally epitomizes the spirit of the liturgy of Pope Paul VI, the spirit of the Conciliar Church—the Church which Archbishop Lefebvre has said no faithful Catholic can ever accept.

Michael Davies of London, England, has written many books and pamphlets over the years concerning the crisis in Holy Mother Church. He is perhaps best known for the series The Liturgical Revolution.