Revisiting Vatican II.

 The Council declared in its first General Norm that the “regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See, and, as laws may determine, on the bishop” (a principle frequently ignored with results we have all witnessed). 

When I was looking into Vatican II, I came across the above norm.   Now the Bishops of the Catholic Church came to no definite conclusion on Vatican II, some saying that perhaps the laity could join in with the responses given by altar servers, recite the Gloria in English which I did at school, along with the Holy, holy, holy...    But since there was no conclusion by the bishops, the Holy See took into its own hands, according to the above norm, the changes they thought necessary for the Mass.   Now I have never argued against this in principle, and was happy with the Mass in English.    I would have continued to be happy with the Mass in English if certain other changes had not followed which completely contradicted the views expressed by the Fathers of Vatican II.   The notion of sacrifice was attacked, the priest was told to face the people rather than the Crucifix, and there was no necessity for the priest and people to face East, the Real Presence was questioned,  the authority of the Church was sneered at, with the result that worldwide only a minority of Catholics believe in the Maas and indeed when the altar rails were removed and people were forced to stand and receive in their hands, any idea of the Divine Presence was swept aside.   We had removed the principle of humility before God to equality with God.  As some said when the prayer "Lord I am not worthy was recited",  "NO, NO, We are worthy"    In what I heard called an advanced Liturgy there are some who stand during the Consecration, instead of kneeling and showing their guilt for sin, and humbled by the humiliation of Jesus on the Cross.   There is an absence of love.

If indeed the Holy See did wish to make the Mass the 'Source and Summit of the Christian Life' and more understandable to the people, then they have failed miserably, and everyone who views the almost total absence of our young people, the appalling fall in numbers attending Mass, the lack of people confessing their sins, the removal of the Blessed Sacrament from the altar, He is not to be adored they say, which is about removing the Head from the Body, the people from their God so that the body has not way to function and reduces even more the importance of the Real Presence, they have not only failed, but will answer for their actions at the Judgement.   What they did was divide the Church, turn people against one another, and completely destroy the Catholic Faith.   We no longer have the Church the Justin Martyr I described.   You can find a blog on this I did recently.   But if celebrating the Mass in English has had such appalling effects on young priests it is bad enough.   But perhaps the worst example of hypocrisy, a word that has been used recently, was the changing of the 1985 Catechism of Christian Doctrine.   It was called an update by the Bishops of England and Wales.   They changed the sixth Commandment to say that only sex with a married person is adultery.   This is not a little thing, it is a slap in the face to Christ, an insult to early Christians, and a grave sin against the Holy Spirit.   "Woe to those from whom scandals come, it would be better if a millstone was put around their necks and they were thrown into the sea".   The Bishops of England and Wales, as they live their contented lives, should be aware of what is to come.