Thursday, October 01, 2009

Could somebody clue in Father Richard McBrien on Adoration of the Eucharist?

Once again (70 x 7?) it's time to pray for priests. Once again, it's time to pray for Father Richard McBrien. And, if I might say so (and I hate to do it), once again, it's time for priests—good, orthodox priests—to face the fact that some o' their brother priests aren't exactly following Catholic teaching and, maybe...even say something about it?

Notwithstanding Pope Benedict XVI's personal endorsement of eucharistic adoration and the sporadic restoration of the practice in the archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today.

Now that most Catholics are literate and even well-educated, the Mass is in the language of the people (i.e, the vernacular), and its rituals are relatively easy to understand and follow, there is little or no need for extraneous eucharistic devotions. The Mass itself provides all that a Catholic needs sacramentally and spiritually.

Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward.

Source: what else?