Save the Liturgy, Save the World: A Reaction to Rockin Apologist

Catholic Apologist at RockinApologist is a friend of mine, so I follow his stuff.  Most recently, he posted on a Pepsi commercial contest.  Being a smart fellow (with one glaring exception: his belief that James White is  brilliant), it is not uncommon for him to make some good points.  I would like to reflect on his post for a bit...bear with me.

1)  According to CA, the commercial in question has some guy dressed like a priest.  Seeing as Episcopalians, Anglicans, and Lutherans all like to (at least occasionally) play dress-up, its hard to actually distinguish between a Catholic and liturgical Protestant.  While Lutherans and Anglicans/Episcopalians have women ministers, men still dominate that position, so even that is not really a give away.  Anglicanism has so many disparate parts, at least according to Fr. Dwight Longenecker, that even those parishes with traditional trappings (beautiful Gothic church, statues, traditional worship, etc) can have weird theological beliefs which would allow them to subsitute Pepsi and chips for wine and bread.  I share CA's opinion that as far as anti-Catholic ads go, this is very, very tame.

2)  CA mentions that rather than gimmicks, we teach the Word of God.  I have a better idea: how about we become unabashedly Catholic?  What is so wrong with abstaining from meat on Fridays (yes, I know that the Church lifted that, provided that you substitute some other penance on Fridays, but we are talking identity, here)?  Why don't Catholic schools have off on Holy Days of Obligation (or half-days to allow for the kids to go to Mass, which they may not do on their own)?  Why don't we do Eucharistic processions or such?  Its one thing to preach something, but we need to put those things into practice.  While service to the poor is good, even atheists do that...we need to put our money where our mouth is.

3)  The main way to recapture a Catholic Identity is to recapture our sense of truly Catholic worship.  We are not Protestant.  We revere the Eucharist because we believe it is Truly the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus.  How about we act that way?  End the conga-line processions for Holy Communion.  End the practice of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (I mean, do we really need to speed up Communion time, a time when we get to bond with Our Lord in a truly intimate and close way?  Shouldn't we all have time to reflect on what we are about to partake in and what we have just partaken in?).  Recapture a sense of the Sacred during liturgical events.  The translation that is being implemented in Advent 2011 (replacing the paraphrase we've been using for the last 40 years) will help a great deal, but Latin would be better.  Why?  ITS NOT NORMAL!!  You know there is a problem when my non-Catholic mother wishes to hear Mass again in Latin, like when she visited her friends growing up.  You knew you entered into something different, extraordinary when you went to Holy Mass, celebrated in Latin.  You may not have known exactly what was going on, but you could, at the least, know it was special (hey, no one speaks Latin in conversation anymore, right?).  This is why the Orthodox retain Greek (and some Latin) and why many Anglicans continue to use heirarchic English for their services.  While we are at it, get rid of the plain, trendy, and cheap liturgical vestments.  There is a great deal to be said for hand-crafted, high-quality, intricately detailed vestments for Holy Mass.  Priests: you are standing in for the True High Priest...at least look the part!!!  Get rid of carpet in the Sanctuary, and re-install the Communion Rail (you don't have to use it, but it at least gives the impression that the Sanctuary is a special place).  Get rid of the "Eucharistic table" and reinstall a true Altar of Sacrifice that actually looks the part.  Perhaps the single best thing that can be done to reclaim Catholic worship is to recapture that millenia old practice of celebrating Holy Mass ad orientam...in the same direction as the people. 

4) CA asks why churches don't just hop on board with the whole Gospel message and abondon the world.  A 19th century author (either Mark Twain or GK Chesterton...I think it was Chesterton) said, "Christianity hasn't been tried and found wanting, it has been found hard and never tried."  Churches who employ gimmicks lack true faith in Christ.  Christ resisted temptation to abandon His mission for what the world had to offer.  He was offered material gain (food), adulation (by not dying as he fell from the temple spire), and power.  All these would have undermined His mission to redeem mankind.  Our leaders have succumbed to the temptations Christ resisted not only because they are sinful, but because, deep down, they trust the world over Christ.  Rather than look to Christ, who resisted great temptation (I mean, He knew the death He had to suffer, yet He went through with it anyway...), they look to the "promises" of the world.