Tuesday’s election of Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has brought about the usual comments from the usual places. Immediate commentary has ranged from nitpicking his response to the COVID vaccine to unevidenced accusations of his handling of claims of clergy sexual misconduct.
No one need look any further than coverage of this USCCB election to understand the divisions in the Church run deep.
As president, then, Archbishop Broglio inherits a pivotal leadership role at a time when the Church in the U.S. desperately needs unity.
What can bring this about? Holiness, as outgoing USCCB president Archbishop Jose H. Gomez simply reminded the U.S. bishops in his final presidential address just ahead of the elections. As the late Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I. of Chicago, himself a past president of the conference — once said: “The major task of the bishop is to look for the saints and encourage them.”
One of the bishops’ recent top priorities — the National Eucharistic Revival — is aimed at directly that: fostering sanctity among the faithful. None else can be the fruit of a greater Eucharistic faith, devotion and piety. No other can bring about the unity needed by the Church.
Even an event centered upon the source and summit of the Faith, however, has seemingly become fodder for the promotion of partisan agendas.
Oddly, there has been debate among the bishops as to the worthiness of personal and communal adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It is the Eucharistic celebration of the Mass, some say, which is the source and summit of ecclesial life. It’s this kind of sacramental hairsplitting that has no basis in theological thought or practice.
Enter Archbishop Broglio, who will serve as president of the USCCB for the duration of the revival. His press conference after today’s election showed a poised, capable, and direct leader. Perhaps a talk on the Eucharist he gave in 2013 can help chart a way forward amid our new Eucharistic controversies?
A few relevant highlights:
To those diminishing Eucharistic adoration and devotion, Broglio says: “The Church tells us that this Eucharistic Presence in the tabernacle is a prolonging of the Sacrifice of the Altar.”
To those who seek to divide through broken, divisive Eucharistic theology, Broglio says: “[Jesus] is present in the midst of every parish and every community to make palpable His mission to unify what is divided, to heal what is sinful, sweeten the bitter, and give eternity to our joys and sorrows. The tabernacle must be the center of the community and the priest is there to make present in the same community Jesus in sacrament.”
To those who misunderstand Eucharistic adoration and its esteemed position in the Church’s life of worship and prayer, Broglio says: “[N]ever far from our minds is the basic doctrine of the Church regarding Eucharistic adoration: it is born of the Mass and guides us to the Mass. Obviously, it is impossible to have adoration without first having had a celebration of the Mass. Adoration offers us the opportunity to adore the very special and unique presence of the Lord. We celebrate His presence in our midst.”
To those who erroneously want to separate Christ by putting the Mass at odds with Eucharistic adoration, Broglio says: “Adoration … leads us to the celebration [of the Mass]. We must cultivate this desire for union and presence in the culminating moment of our salvation. The accent is also on the community. The celebration knows no limits of time and space, because it transports us to the liturgy of heaven.”
As plans for the Revival continue to unfold, and its fruit continues to be borne out in the life of the Church through teaching and practice, Archbishop Broglio’s leadership will be crucial. Let’s pray for him as he begins his formidable new role.
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Nothing could drive home the presence of the Eucharistic Christ at Mass more than a period of 5 minutes of complete silence and meditation following reception of Holy Communion but BEFORE the final prayer, blessing and dismissal. The greatest sacrilege and affront to the Real Presence is to receive Holy Communion and just a few minutes later, making a mad dash to be the first out of the parking lot.
Think of this as you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner with your loved ones: imagine gobbling down the main course and dessert as quickly as you can and then grabbing your coat to make a mad dash to leave the house as soon as you can – without even stopping to thank the host. What conclusions would (could) be drawn by those who slavishly but lovingly spent hours preparing that grand meal? Right off the top of my head, I’d conclude that in your mind that event had no personal meaning for you at all and that you had no real relationship with the host nor those others present.
The good Deacon nails the reason for the collapse, lack of contemplation in loving union with God. We have essentially zero SPIRITUAL catechesis and instead only a sacrament-dispenser institution, and no sacrament is fully effective without love of God.
Most Masses are utterly devoid of any time for contemplation, everything programmed to keep everyone busy, even during Holy Communion, them made to sing and sing and sing and sing and sing.
Churches are generally locked outside “group activities”, nor do most churches inspire any sense of holiness even when unlocked.
Any “adoration” periods more resemble a cross between a library reading room and an internet cafe, with attendees page flipping and screen tapping, generally front and center.
The Church needs to get back to spiritual catechesis of the laity, which is the starting point of priests and bishops, and for sure make certain that priests and bishops “spiritual life” consists of more than rote obligatory recitals of readings and prayers.
This lack of concrete teaching on how to know and experience God is why people have been leaving the Faith, this problem existed well before Vatican II and is the root cause of what happened after Vatican II. A self-referential sacrament dispensing station is not enough. Especially one devoid of any authentic loving union with God and only fixated on latest greatest social causes, whether those causes truly compatible, or not, with Christianity.
The entire purpose of the religion is to teach that loving union with God. Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is not hyperbole, but a literal command.
But wait, your proposal does not lend itself to a delegated process of some sort, you know, $28 million dollars of managed contracts over two years. Besides, folks are not making a “mad dash” for the parking lot. How dare you? There’s the social hall, and donuts to be thoughtfully sampled. With sprinkles, even!
Worse than zooming for the parking lot: How seriously can the USCCB take the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and this hand waving “Revival”, after having denigrated and desecrated the Holy Eucharist with masking tape, diametrically un-Christian “social distancing”, In Persona Christi Face Masks, and Holy Hand Sanitizer, withheld or banned the Holy Sacraments for 70+weeks? In my diocese we are even today still denied the Precious Blood. The TRUTH is that many of the bishops in the USCCB believe the Holy Eucharist to be unhealthy, unsanitary, and dangerous to the Faithful.
Until the bishops repent and offer up reparation for these grave sins against the Eucharist and the Faith, the bishops’ hand waving is recognized by all as hypocrisy of Biblical proportion. Truly Astonishing.
“[P]oised, capable and direct”. Well-chosen, I’d say.
The other day I was watching a documentary on the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep, (Some say hewas the grandson of Joseph or in Egyptian Yuya) and I noticed a striking resemblance to the Egyptian One God Aten or the “Disk God” as depicted in some stone hieroglyphs and the Eucharist in a Monstrance. Maybe coincidence or as the Egyptian Pharaohs according to the bible had the ability to dream about the future maybe Amenhotep got a glimpse of our resurrected corporeal Lord in glory.
He officiated at my Confirmation in October this year and I wish him well.