The American Spectator

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Paul Beston has forced me to do something I haven't done in ages: take the side of a Novus Ordo Catholic Church official in an argument. Just as a stopped clock is right twice a day, the modern American Catholic Church is not always wrong. A funeral Mass is just that, a Mass. It is not a Protestant service where the centerpiece is a sermon. To the contrary, the focus of a funeral Mass is precisely that of any Mass, the Eucharist. Just as the profane modernist "sign of peace" is a dissonant intrusion upon the solemnity of the Mass, so is a eulogy. In fact, in a Traditional Catholic Mass in Latin, it is not unusual for the priest to remove his maniple, worn around the arm, during the sermon to signify that the sermon is not a part of the Holy Mass. In addition, the presence of anyone near the altar other than the priest or altar server is a further profanity. Therefore the laity must not approach the pulpit. A wake is precisely the appropriate forum for a eulogy, so kudos to the Archdiocese of Newark for, against all odds, finally getting something right!

p>Does the Church have more important things to worry about now? Well, it depends on your point of view. Proximally, yes, the sex scandals are of more import. Ultimately, however, it is, among other things, the degradation of the liturgy since Vatican II that has paved the way for the plethora of abuses we now see, including the sex scandals. A story is told of King Philip of Spain (Philip II, d. 1598, I believe) once stopping a small child from climbing over the altar rail to enter the Sanctuary with the admonition that only the priest may enter. He understood that not only was the small child not to enter the Sanctuary, but as king he was also bound by the same liturgical practice. It applies to all of us, kings and eulogizers. br> -- Bill Murphy /p>

Paul Beston replies: I agree with Mr. Murphy that the modern, post-Vatican II liturgy is a degraded one, and that its decline has something to do with the abuses that eventually grew out of a new, more permissive climate in the Church. But citing the Traditional Catholic Mass is really beside the point, since that is not the liturgy in use anymore. Not only are the laity on the altar and at the pulpit -- where they give readings -- but, as I note in my article, they dispense communion. I never claimed to like any of this; I just find the focus on eulogies to be scattershot and pointless in the absence of more systematic reforms.

p> GRAY MATTER br> Re: Peter Hannaford's Gray Davis and the Bare Cupboard : /p> p>I would imagine that if Proposition 187 had actually been implemented so that illegal aliens, who don't pay taxes, could not get free education and medical care furnished by those who do pay taxes, the deficit might not be the monster it has become. br> --

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