The Catholic Voice is a right wing fundamentalist magazine which has an address in Knock, Co Mayo. You will find it in some churches throughout Ireland. It is not clear who is distributing this rag or who is funding the outfit which produces it.
In the most recent edition the editor advocates a return to the Latin Mass, Holy Communion on the tongue only to be received when kneeling at altar rails to be restored in all churches. This man wants to turn the clock back to before the Second Vatican council in the early 1960s when he believes Catholics were true Catholics! He argues that this is the only way to receive the Body of Christ with due reverence.
He also believes that we in Ireland could learn from the United States where there is an upsurge in vocations to priesthood -thanks, he claims, to Eucharistic devotion! All of this is simplistic nonsense.
What kind of Church does this man want to see? Clearly, it will have to be conservative, right-wing and clerical. There is no mention of the role of the laity and the role of women in the new church that has been evolving throughout the world since Vatican II.
Young people nowadays would have no knowledge of the pre-Vatican II church. They have a new experience of what it is to belong to the parish and to prepare for the Sacraments. That preparation is carried out by dedicated teachers in our Catholic schools.
The right wing Latin Mass brigade has only one item on their agenda – to bring back the Latin Mass. There is no mention of justice and the building of local faith communities.
This is a sad and disgusting outfit with a small number of adherents who get some kind of kick out of pursuing their silly campaign and seem to like disrupting Mass by insisting on receiving Holy Communion on their tongue -sometimes while kneeling on the floor! What a sad lot! The leaders of the Irish Catholic church should make it quite clear that there is a universal practice with regard to the celebration of the Eucharist and receiving on the tongue is not acceptable for a number of reasons –not least for reasons of hygiene and to show respect to others and avoid spreading disease.
We do not have a crisis here in the Irish Catholic church -yet. But I think we have the makings of a crisis. I have not in 55 years as a priest seen such a determined effort by a section in the Church to turn the clock back and oppose the changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council. There is an inevitable conflict between the right wing Latinists and the Vatican II progressives. This can only grow unless the Latinists are firmly dealt with now.
I agree with the vast majority of your points Father. Although I think you can receive the Blessed Sacrament on the tongue or the hand? I could of course be wrong! I myself receive it in the hand, one hand below the other in a reverent manner. The Latin Mass was a beautiful event but so is Mass in the vernacular. The reason I accept this change is very simple. I am a child of the Church and if it’s good enough for the Pope it’s good enough for me. I watch some of those right wing American Catholics on YouTube and they are more into MAGA and Trump than Our Lord.