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Dagupan, Philippines, Feb 24, 2020 / 04:41 pm (CNA).- In a pastoral letter anticipating the beginning of Lent on Wednesday, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan has asked that the faithful not clap in church, either during or after Mass.
“The season of Lent has a somber purple color. It has a sober and calm aura. The altar decors are restrained. The musical instruments are subdued. We fast from pleasure and restrain our appetite,” the archbishop wrote in his pastoral letter.
“Let us add more abstinence to this sober season,” he exhorted. “Let us abstain from applause in Church. May this abstinence from clapping flow over into the other days of the year. That in all things, God alone and Him only may be glorified!”
Archbishop Villegas noted that Ash Wednesday is “a good occasion to reflect on the value and importance of sobriety, silence and self-restraint in the pursuit of holiness of life.”
Setting aside clapping at a Mass of ordination to signify consent to the calling, which is directed to God, he suggested that “this is not the case with many of our applauses in the church.”
He said applause is a product of boredom during Mass, noting that it reduces the liturgy to a source of entertainment rather than a spiritual encounter with Christ.
“Is not this boredom coming from a misunderstood sense of worship and prayer? The community of prayer becomes just an audience in need of entertainment; liturgical ministers become performers; and preachers become erudite toastmasters. It should not be so.”
The archbishop cited the words of two popes on applause during the liturgy.
According to a story that seems to originate in the biography by F. A. Forbes, first published in 1918, St. Pius X disallowed applause at St. Peter’s, which had become customary at papal services, saying, “It is not fitting that the servant should be applauded in his Master’s house.”
Archbishop Villegas also cited the words of Benedict XVI, who wrote in The Spirit of the Liturgy that “Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.”
The archbishop said that while ovation does signify a sense of gratitude and recognition of a job well done, it is often ordered to the actions of priests or parishioners. The Mass should be directed at God alone, he said.
“Clapping can be shallow and cheap,” he said, adding that while applause for benefactors is justified as an inspiration to greater generosity, “We need to inspire our benefactors to seek treasures that ‘moth cannot decay destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal‘.”
He noted also that “it can even brood unpleasant competition, jealousy and resentment because somebody received less applause than the others.”
And rather than applauding for ministery well done by the choir or servers, “let us lead our people to aim to decrease so that the Lord may increase,” he exhorted.
“In public prayers and liturgy, self-consciousness must bow down to God- consciousness. We are a Church called together by God not a self-organized mutual admiration club.”
He urged ministers to resist applause for their works: “Resist the ego booster and aim for greater things. Be an arrow pointing to God.”
The archbishop encouraged relatively shorter homilies, saying that applause shouldn’t be used to keep parishioners “alert and awake.” “A well prepared, brief, inspired and inspiring homily has a longer lifespan than intermittent clapping as you preach.”
He also urged that priests not acknowledge persons or groups for their work or donations at the post-communion: “You must do this appreciation outside the Mass, by sending a greeting card, sending a text message or even visiting them in person. Be God centered and to Him alone be the glory.”
Archbishop Villegas also stressed the Mass’ dual nature as both joyful and sorrowful: “The Eucharist is a happy feast AND a memorial of Calvary. Who would have clapped at Calvary? Would the Blessed Mother and John the Beloved have clapped? The breaking of the Bread is a commemoration of the violent death that the Lord went through. Who claps while others are in pain? It is pain with love; yes, but it still pain.”
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Washington D.C., Feb 24, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- The Supreme Court will decide if the city of Philadelphia was correct to terminate its relationship with Catholic Social Services because the agency did not work with same-sex couples in providing foster care.
The case, Fulton v. Philadelphia, will be heard by the Supreme Court at the opening of the next judicial session in October.
In March 2018, Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (CSS) was informed that the city would no longer be referring foster children to the agency for assistance because of its faith-based stance on same-sex marriage. The city then passed a resolution calling for an investigation into religiously-based foster care services, after a same-sex couple claimed they were discriminated against by a different faith-based agency.
For over a century, the city of Philadelphia worked with CSS to facilitate the placement of children in foster care. Catholic Social Services also assisted with home visits, training of foster parents, and placements.
CSS has not been the subject of any discrimination complaints by same-sex couples, and had never been asked to certify or endorse a same-sex couple. The agency says that it assists all children in need, regardless of a child’s race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, and, according to Becket, a law firm that promotes religious liberty, no couple had ever been turned away from fostering due to the religious beliefs of Catholic Social Services.
Two foster mothers who worked with CSS, Sharonell Fulton and Toni Simms-Busch, brought the lawsuit against the city. They are being represented by Becket. Fulton has fostered more than 40 children with the assistance of CSS over a period of more than 25 years. Simms-Busch adopted the children she fostered through the agency.
“CSS has been a godsend to my family and so many like others. I don’t think I could have gone through this process without an agency that shares my core beliefs and cares for my children accordingly,” said Toni Simms-Busch in a statement released by Becket.
She said she was “grateful” that the Supreme Court would be considering the case, and hoped the court would “sort out the mess that Philadelphia has created for so many vulnerable foster children.”
Both Simms-Busch and Fulton said that they chose to work with CSS, instead of one of the more than 20 other foster care agencies in Philadelphia, becausue the Catholic organization matched their personal beliefs and values.
The City of Philadelphia’s website says that prospective foster families should look to “find the best fit” when picking an agency.
“You want to feel confident and comfortable with the agency you choose. This agency will be a big support to you during your resource parent journey,” says the website.
Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement that she was “relieved” that the Supreme Court will consider the case, especially in the light of growing numbers of foster care cases in many states.
“Over the last few years, agencies have been closing their doors across the country, all the while children are pouring into the system,” said Windham. “We are confident that the Court will realize that the best solution is the one that has worked in Philadelphia for a century–all hands on deck for foster kids.”
Around the same time that the city severed its relationship with Catholic Social Services, Philadelphia issued a plea for more families to sign up to take in children in need due to a shortage of homes.
Before the relationship ended, CSS served about 120 foster children in 100 foster homes. In 2017, the charity says it helped more than 2,200 children in the Philadelphia area.
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