The Working Catholic: NO CONSECRATION by Bill Droel

The bells are back.

Years ago and for years before that, the attention of worshipers at Mass drifted for understandable reasons: their ignorance of Latin and their partially obstructed view of the drama. Congregants often used their time at Mass for private prayer. Thus at key moments in the Mass, particularly at the consecration, altar servers would ring an assemblage of bells. The bells went quietly into a closet nearly 60 years ago. In recent months, however, several churches have dusted off the old Mass bells. Their purpose is similar to what it was in the old days. Only today the distraction is individual use of mobile devices during what should be communal worship.

The Assyrian Church of the East has a Mass/Divine Liturgy ritual (Anaphora of Addai and Mari) without a consecration, also called “words of institution.” This ancient ritual, now used mostly in India, is in full communion with Roman Catholicism. How can this be? How can Jesus Christ be really present in what appears as bread and wine unless the formula of Jesus’ Last Supper is prayed over the bread and wine?

The current Mass ritual for Roman Catholics (the 1969/1970 Novus Ordo) is meant to pull all worshipers into “full and active participation” in this premier prayer. It is a single prayer, from the entrance procession to the dismissal procession. Christ is really present in a magnificent way throughout—beginning to end. Christ is present in the presider (the alter Christus). Christ is really present in the proclamation of God’s revealed Word, through the voice of the lectors. Christ is really present in the communion bread and the communion wine. Christ is really present in the congregation as they pray the Mass and as they head for the exit sign, acting as members of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Isn’t it possible that the truth of Christ really present in the entire Mass is conveyed as well in the Anaphora of Addai and Mari Rite (without an explicit consecration) as in the Latin Rite (with or without bells)? Still, is the Anaphora of Addai and Mari valid?

Most Catholics in the United States celebrate Mass in what is called the Latin Rite and most presume theirs (be it celebrated in Spanish, English or Polish) is the only Mass ritual. Yet in addition to the Latin Rite, Roman Catholicism has several other equally valid rites. For example, in October 2009 Pope Benedict XVI approved the Anglican Rite. Its Mass, celebrated here-and-there in Great Britain, the United States and India, varies only slightly from the Latin Rite. The ancient Byzantine Rite is widely used in the East, but also at a small number of designated parishes in the U.S. It has many differences from the Latin Rite. There is likewise the Maronite Rite used in Lebanon. There’s the Ge’ez Rite used in Ethiopia and also in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. All of these rites are equally valid within Roman Catholicism. So too are several more that are traced to the early days of Christianity.

Keep in mind too that the Mass or Divine Liturgy in all of the Eastern Orthodox churches is valid and licit; that Christ is truly and really present in their worship. 

The Assyrian Church of the East (the Addai and Mari Rite), which belongs to the East Syriac Rite, is not Eastern Orthodox; it is a separate branch of Christianity. Its Mass, as mentioned, is quite different from a Latin Rite Mass. However, it is valid and licit; Christ is truly and really present in their worship. Since 2001 there has even been an official agreement allowing “mutual admission” of one another’s worshipers between Assyrian Church of the East and Roman Catholicism.

To make matters more complicated and more interesting, Roman Catholicism judges the Mass of several break-away denominations to be valid, though not licit. That is, Christ is really present in their Liturgy/Mass, even though their rites may differ from the common Latin Rite. By illicit, Roman Catholicism means disapproval of their independent governance status. The Polish National Catholic Church, headquartered in Scranton, is one example.

Suffice it to say that God is bigger than any one parish, bigger than any one formula for the Mass/Liturgy and certainly bigger than any two-minute segment of a liturgy.

Droel edits a print newsletter on faith and work, INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago,

The Working Catholic: Eucharist by Bill Droel

 

Our U.S. Catholic bishops host a Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, 2024. It is the culmination of a three-year process meant to teach the real presence of Jesus/God in the Eucharist.  The bishops are reacting to surveys that seemingly show that Catholics do not know or do not believe the dogma of the Eucharist. (There is ambiguity. For example, to answer a survey question by saying “the Eucharist is a symbol” does not preclude the belief that it is God’s real presence. It can be both. Additionally, our bishops have multiple motives. For example, one faction is using the Eucharistic Congress to highlight a contradiction between President Joseph Biden’s devotion to the Eucharist and his support for abortion access.)

Pope Pius X (1835-1914) was a conservative. He opposed several modern trends. However, he is credited with opening the door to modern liturgical reforms, centering them in the dogma of the Eucharist. In the first two decades of the 20 th century, monasteries in Germany, France and Belgium experimented with reforms that were soon enough authorized at Vatican II (1962-1965). These changes are meant to bring worshipers into closer relationship with the Eucharistic, through the Mass. They include prayers at Mass said aloud by the entire congregation—the Gloria, the Creed, the Sanctus, the Lamb of God and several responses. The Mass itself is prayed in the vernacular, rather than in Latin—in Spanish, English, Polish and more. Taking a cue from Pius X, regular reception of the Eucharist in both the consecrated wine and bread is the norm, no longer something rare or selective. Qualms about one’s worthiness are taken care of in the opening penitential rite of the Mass.

It is interesting to note that from the early 1900s until Vatican II, the liturgical movement was connected with the virtue of social justice. For example, Fr. Lambert Beauduin, OSB (1873-1960), a major figure in the liturgical movement, was a labor chaplain with a strong social conscience and compassion for the poor. Fr. Virgil Michel, OSB (1890-1938) of Minnesota did more than anyone else in the U.S. to promote the liturgical movement and the dogma of the Eucharist. “The liturgy is the ordinary school for [and] the indispensable basis of social reconstruction,” Michel said. The Eucharist inside a church is a failure if it doesn’t live in jobsites and neighborhoods during the week, he preached.

The concept linking Eucharist and social regeneration is called the Mystical Body of Christ. The Mystical Body is Christ acting all week long through people who are allergic to injustice. The phrase was well-known in the years prior to Vatican II. Then it quietly disappeared. 

Could the loss of the Mystical Body concept be listed among the causes of weak appreciation for the Eucharistic dogma? Might a renewed emphasis on social renewal be an effective way to reverence Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist? To be continued…

Droel edits a newsletter on faith and work for National Center for the Laity (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL

60629)