We thought that the current Synod involved all the Bishops in the world, rather
foolishly, since this would have made it a very different occasion.
So we sent the Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland the following :

To The Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland
To Feed The Flock
It is with the greatest respect and humility that we, as members of the Flock, make
our submission to you, our Shepherds, as the Extraordinary Synod approaches.
We act mindful of recent comments by the Pope, especially to the Brazilian
Bishop Krautler, that bishops’ conferences could have a decisive role in
the extension of ordination (“Tablet” 10 April 2014)
We act in the spirit of the document “Sensus Fidei in the Life of
the Church “ (2014)
74. In matters of faith the baptised cannot be passive. They have received
the Spirit and are endowed as members of the body of the Lord with
gifts and charisms ‘for the renewal and building up of the Church’,
so the magisterium has to be attentive to the sensus fidelium, the
living voice of the people of God. Not only do they have the right
to be heard, but their reaction to what is proposed as belonging to
the faith of the Apostles must be taken very seriously, because it is
by the Church as a whole apostolic faith is borne in the power of
the Spirit. The magisterium does not have sole responsibility for it.
The magisterium should therefore refer to the sense of faith of the
Church as a whole..

Vocations
It is very clear that the secular priesthood, as the major means of providing
the Eucharist , has ceased to function as such , and that our prayers for
vocations to a celibate, highly educated priesthood supported by a parish
are not to be answered. This has three consequences :
(a) obviously there is the spiritual nourishment of hundreds of thousands
in South America and South East Asia and inexorably, in due course, here
in Britain.
(b) there is the consequence of the spiritual vacuum therefore created in Europe,
powerhouse of the Church for so long, in the face of the hundreds of thousands
of immigrants who are creating what has been called Eurabia, sharing with us
worship of Our Father in Heaven, but not of His Son.
(c) There is China, the spiritual aspirations of which are so evident even in such
bizarre sects as Falun Gong. China may already be the greatest power in the
history of the world. It is not too much to say that we stand at a point in history
today, in 2014, when decisions can be taken which can influence the course of
world history and the path we can take to be one with Christ. Can we do this
without the Eucharist, which so many Catholics cannot receive ? And which
the millions in China cannot receive if we restrict its dispensation
to the secular priest ?
The Extension of Ordination and its Practicality

What we have to ask you is that you consider the extension of valid ordination
to members of individual parishes throughout the world, and to Britain in particular
to take the place of a resident priest and provide the Eucharist for the Flock.
Let us call them Ordained Ministers .
We do not feel that the practicalities of this are insuperable. In fact we put
before you a series of possibilities which can be applied to any parish
anywhere in the world, and which can provide the Eucharist for the Flock.
(i) the Ordained Minister, one of a number elected by his fellow parishioners,
is duly ordained, says Mass and helps to provide the Sacraments, under
the authority of the Bishop or Archbishop.

(ii) celibacy is already waived to permit convert Anglican clergymen to be
ordained as priests. It would still exist, of course for religious orders.

(iii) General Absolution would be a necessity.

(iv) the Ordained Minister will never preach off his own bat, and will have
no doctrinal input to the Church of any kind, doctrine being obviously
the preserve of the Bishop or Archbishop.

(v) it means the kind of clerical education we are familiar with is unnecessary.
The only training required would be in the techniques of saying Mass and
the distribution of the Sacraments.

(vi) Church property is not affected in any way.

(vii) such a system can be implemented, with good will, within a year.

(viii) the possibility of an Ordained Minister later bringing his position in the
parish into disrepute would imply outstanding powers of deception.
Local knowledge is likely to prove more effective than a perceived sense
of vocation has been. After all, 8.3 % of the Apostles betrayed Christ.

(ix) the election of the present Pope (and of the Bishop of Aberdeen ),
both from religious orders, may prefigure a situation in which all
members of the hierarchy are so recruited.

Disaffection and The Future

Perhaps two generations of Catholics everywhere are now disaffected ,
in different ways. The youngest is by far the most important. It is easy to
underestimate the idealism of current teenagers and the damage done by
paedophily and its cover up, as well as by sordid ecclesiastical financial scandals.
Let us face the fact that it is possible that for many young people the Tridentine
priesthood is irremediably tainted.
Television provides the major or possibly sole intellectual and emotional
input for most people in Britain. From a variety of motives, it has worked tirelessly
to demolish the image of the Christian cleric and create a figure of fun, firstly with
a host of stereotypical immature unworldly Church of England figures. With that
work professionally and effectively done, it has been repeated more savagely and
with a more obvious agenda in “Father Ted”. Even in US television drama,
thanks to recent scandals, every priestly character is linked in some way to
paedophily. In a world full of injustices, this must ring down through the ages
as a unique phenomenon and an appalling misuse of the medium .
Today, image is all. Like it or not, the image of the secular priest is
permanently smeared, irreparably damaged, and therefore no longer functional,
despite the appalling injustice so malevolently and viciously done to the vast
majority of holy and dedicated priests . This image can obviously never be
eradicated , and it would be a waste of time trying to do so, in our opinion.
But long before the box in the corner there was the church on the corner,
which carried Christ’s message so faithfully to the Flock and can do so again.

The Parish

In Britain, with diversity and multiculturalism almost compulsory, who
can imagine what Catholicism or even Christianity will be like in the next fifty
years? The secular priest has been the engine of the Church for a thousand years.
We put it to you that engines have changed, from water-powered to internal
combustion to atomically energised , and may continue to do so. It is the end
product which counts . And that is providing the Eucharist. We put it to you
that the dynamic which the Church needs just now, in 2014, to provide the
Eucharist to the Flock, could well be that of the individual parish.
If it is not too late , the creation of Ordained Ministers may provide
our young people with a way out of their apathy or even antipathy to participation
in the spiritual life of the parish. To see in Sunday Mass not just an elderly
and in some ways an alien figure but an parent, a relative, a well-known
parish figure bring the Eucharist and the spiritual energy of the Church
into their lives , in their own Church and their own district is something they
must not be denied. And to take a step which could bring the Eucharist
to China would be a pivotal moment in world history, and the lives our
young people will lead.
The function of the priesthood is to bring the Eucharist to the Flock.
It can no longer do this, and another method of providing the Eucharist must
be found of carrying out Christ’s Eucharistic imperative. But there can be
another method. We know there must be. And there is, as many of the
Church’s Bishops have, of course, suggested, in the extension of ordination.
There would seem to be really only one obstacle to this, and that psychological.

The Counter-Intuitive Element

We have depended on the secular priest for so long that he is part of
the very fabric of our being as Catholics. Inevitably , to consider any other means
of providing the Eucharist is counter-intuitive. The Brazilian Bishop was quoted
as saying in March of this year that he had 27 priests for 700,000 people.
If this change were promulgated, he would have 27 000 or more people
properly ordained to say Mass and distribute the Sacraments. Obviously this
figure at first seems shocking. This is simply because it is counter-intuitive to
how we have seen the priesthood in a small part of the world in a small part of
history, as a ministry by parish-supported celibacy.
Bizarrely paradoxical though it may seem, given Christ’s Eucharistic
imperative, can it be simply be felt by some that we cheapen the Eucharist
by making It available to all ?
This is surely the only real difficulty in accepting the extension of
ordination, brought up over generations , as we all have been , to see
the secular priest as the only dispenser of the Eucharist, with all the
complexities of custom, insecurity, deeply held faith and even nostalgia
which any idea of change must bring. Not to accept it is surely simply to
deny the potentiality of the Apostolic Succession.

That all the colours of the spectrum when blended produce the colour
white is counter-intuitive.

That aircraft pilots in stormy weather should fly up and not down for
safety is counter-intuitive.
But both are true. And any counter-intuitive reaction is an
accident of time and place.

That Christ should join us in our complex, confused and sordid existence
to offer us His Body and Blood is the most counter-intuitive action of all time,
past ,present and future.

The Extraordinary Synod

You will meet at the Synod, as you know, many Bishops whose task in
bringing the Eucharist to their people is unimaginably difficult without priests.
The agenda of the Synod, we are sure, has already been laid down, but the
Synod will also begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit. Should the agenda be laid
aside, as has often happened in the history of the Church, and the idea of
extended ordination become subject to debate, we humbly ask you to support it.

To Feed The Flock.

Point 1 of the simple ten point plan for extending ordination
anywhere in the world, mentioned in July on this site is:
(i) “The Ordained Minister, one of a number elected by his fellow parishioners, is duly ordained, says Mass and helps to provide the Sacraments,
under the authority of the Bishop or Archbishop.”
Simple though this is, there are certain caveats, we think.

(a) Pope Benedict some years ago mentioned the idea of the extension
of ordination , i.e. to individuals who were “probati”, ie “approved”.This
is obviously implicit in elected parishioners being ordained.
Any added level of “approval” below this is surely unnecessary. The concept of “vocation”, whatever that actually means,can be set aside here : acceptance for election should be enough. In any case, most regrettably for the secular priesthood, as the scandalised world knows, it has proved impossible to assess “vocation” accurately , even for the rectors of seminaries with six years to do it in.

(b) 25 years is considered a fair definition of a generation. Hence, Generation 1 : 1-25, Generation 2 : 26-50; Generation 3: 50 upwards.
Who to elect ? A fogey is a fogey , lay or clerical. Last week’s Jesuit magazine “America” warns about what it calls “clericalised laity”, although in a slightly different context. (Come on- you know them, I know them. One of the two priests hearing confessions last Christmas Eve in a Glasgow parish took ill. With many waiting, the other priest gave General Absolution -and was reported to the Archbishop).
At the far end of Generation 3 as the writers are, and given that many congregations are weighted in favour of age, we can say that perhaps we should consciously leave it to the other 2 generations. Yes, even the last part of Generation 1.
A moment, some may say. Young men of only 25 saying Mass and bringing the Eucharist to the people ? Years ago in Scotland on 29th June in any year dozens of young men would have been unleashed on Scotland’s parishes to do just that. Why not now ?
Once again you may feel that vineyard labourers, as ever, seem to be getting the rough end of the stick. Others, elderly secular priests possibly among them, may feel that if you fancied the job, you should have gone for it away back when.
But the point is, of course, the Eucharist. If it is not too late, the creation of Ordained Ministers may provide our young people with a way out of their apathy or even antipathy to participation in the spiritual life of the parish. To see in Sunday Mass not just an elderly and in some ways an alien figure but a parent, a relative, or even a well-known parish figure bring the Eucharist and the spiritual energy of the Church into their lives , in their own Church and their own district is something they must not be denied.
And to take a step which could bring the Eucharist to China would be a pivotal moment in world history, and the lives our young people will lead.

As a little holiday treat for our more senior readers, let’s look back to, say, about 1954, well within living memory. Let’s look back at Glasgow’s St Maeve’s. St Maeve’s: an elderly inner-city church, Puginesque of course, with Gothic diamond-leaded windows,granite pillars with incised maltese crosses celebrating its consecration, and a logistically effective 3 aisle configuration of brown rows of benches,quite slippery with the polish of wear, especially at the back of the church,worn kneelers, and tiled floors, often with the odd loose rattling tile, twin cubicle confessionals up each side aisle,three on each side,with saloon doors and velvet curtains, inside sliding shutters and grilles,above, powerful paintings of the Stations of the Cross,ahead statues of St Joseph and St Anthony, waxen stalagmites and stalactites around winking little candles or nightlights, holy water stoups recessed into the rear walls beside the pamphlet stall, all in silence and just a hint of incense from from a previous Benediction service.

Dominating all was the Main Altar, of white marble supported by toffee-coloured pillars, behind it and before Coia a complex tapestry of white and black Connemara marble, with saint recesses, always one for St Patrick, the latest probably St Teresa, the Little Flower, above them the stained glass windows, with other saints. And high above the Main Altar, on chains from the roof, was the figure of Christ on the Cross.

Beneath, for 20,000 or so parishioners, topped up with perhaps 500 baptisms a year, were 6 a.m. Masses on Holidays of Obligation for workers- no evening Masses then- 8.a.m. Masses, always available given a six curate parish staff, but particularly useful in Lent for schoolchildren, half-frozen but coming to as the heating pipes warmed up, 10.o’clock Mass for the elderly or marriages with Nuptial Mass and Papal Blessing and last on Sunday the often overcrowded- especially at the back- 12o’clock Mass often with 25 minute sermon and a sung Mass if your luck was out, and, before “Coronation Street” , of course, Holy Hour and Bnediction on a Sunday night.For all, after a fast from midnight, there was the Eucharist. The lambs and sheep were fed, as Our Lord asked.My great-grand parents, parishioners of St Patrick’s Anderston, Glasgow, could have immediately identified with a real St Maeve’s.My grandparents could, parents could, and I can. Most Catholics in their forties and upwards will be able to identify with it as a description of any senior parish church in the Archdiocese of Glasgow.

In 1954, in an ever-expanding Archdiocese, St Maeve’s and its associate churches were the engine rooms.

A little experiment, and you might need one of those packets of paper in 500 sheet loads that the supermarkets now sell.You may also require parents or even grandparents for this. Try to imagine a walk home from that 12 Mass ,then compare it with a walk home from Mass next Sunday,keeping in mind the social, cultural and spiritual differences in the life of the city. I told you lots of paper might be needed if you write them down. But it is 2014, and I doubt if anyone really imagines that we can go back to the interface that St Maeve’s had with Catholic life in 1954. But there are signs- you’ll find them on previous posts- that they’re beginning to get the message in Rome.

Can anyone tell us why the Scottish Bishops show no signs of joining them ?

It’s not just “To Feed The Flock” that’s on about extended ordination!
Bishop Helmut Kratzl of Vienna has called on his fellow Bishops to take up
the Pope’s request “to make courageous suggestions” to stop the Eucharist
from drying up. We take the liberty of quoting him from last week’s “Tablet”:
“We are silently accepting a scarcity of the Eucharist, which is already to a
certain extent perilous,because we are not prepared to change admission to the
priesthood. We must open new doors,including that of priestly celibacy.”
In this,of course,he joins a growing number of Bishops, some in England
recently, as well as the many in South America and Asia who have been
making the point for years.
Of special significance for Scotland this year was also his point that
“The Eucharist should be available where people lived”, a point which is
worth remembering as a policy of closing churches is enthusiastically under way.
To Feed The Flock’s belief is simple. The secular priesthood is the
traditional method of providing the Eucharist. It no longer works.
So we must try another method. Can we hear from the secular priesthood as
to why this is not acceptable?
And we’ve got to face the fact that some lay people don’t like the extension
of ordination either. Do tell us why! Do they really deny the validity of
ordination and the acceptance therefore of the Apostolic Succession ?
It’s as simple as that.
But the Scottish Bishops are not just sitting about. The seminary in Spain is
going to be re-opened.
What can one say?

This is the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Its Gospel is the most difficult to listen to of any Sunday Gospel

as we realise how many hundreds of thousands throughout the world

are deprived of the Eucharist.

They are deprived because of the shortage of secular priests.

The blazing intensity of the Gospel reinforces the need to

accept that the secular priesthood is no longer an effective 

means of providing the Eucharist.

Is there any real problem in creating a different and effective

method of Feeding the Flock simply by the valid ordination

of a few members of every parish in the world to take the

place of a resident priest?

Let us call them Ordained Ministers  for the sake of convenience,

and consider the practicalities.

1. The Ordained Minister, one of a number elected by fellow

parishioners, is duly ordained, says Mass and helps to provide the

Sacraments, under the authority of the Bishop or Archbishop.

 

2. celibacy is not  a doctrine, and is already waived to permit

convert Anglican clergymen to become priests.  It would

still exist, of course, for the religious orders.

 

3.General Absolution would be a necessity

 

4.. The Ordained Minister would never preach off his own bat

and will have no doctrinal input of any kind , doctrine being

obviously the preserve of the Bishop or Archbishop.

 

5. The kind of clerical education we are familiar with

is unnecessary. The only training required would be in the

techniques of saying Mass and distributing the Sacraments.

 

6. Church property and income is not affected in any way.

 

7. Such a system can be implemented , with good will, within a year.

 

8. The possibility of an Ordained Minister later bringing his

position in the parish into disrepute would imply outstanding

powers of deception. Local knowledge is likely to prove more

effective than a perceived sense of vocation has been.  In any case,

8.3% of the Apostles themselves let the side down, and rather

spectacularly at that.

 

9. The election of the present Pope  and the recent selection 

of Bishops in England and Scotland from religious orders

may prefigure a situation in which all members of the

hierarchy are so recruited.

 

Is there any real problem?  Some Bishops don’t see one.

Why can’t more of them join in ?      

“To Feed The Flock” wonders…

A French philosopher- well, you know the French- was all in favour
of strangling the last king with the entrails of the last priest.
We’ll have none of that nonsense here in Glasgow. We’ll actually need
the last priest for our Easter duties.
Mind you, he’ll probably be up on the Cathkin Braes, supported by two
pass-keepers, giving General Absolution to all members of the Archdiocese,
and those who have come in from surrounding areas. They’re used to big
crowds in King’s Park and Mount Florida because of Hampden Park,
but that day will be something special. Can you imagine the traffic
in Main Street, Rutherglen ?

Churches are going to be closed down.So we’ll be used to doing without
having many baptisms. Confirmation to see us along the road will be quite
rare. The last church service booklet for Nuptial Mass with Papal Blessing
will be in the People’s Palace if there’s not one there already. Many a
death bed scene will be a scene and a half.
And above all, we will have been deprived of the Eucharist despite Christ’s
quite explicit order to the Apostles to feed His lambs and sheep.
And forgive their sins.

All this is because the Eucharist and the other sacraments can only be
provided in Glasgow and everywhere else by secular priests, i.e. those
who are celibate ,have had a theological education and are supported by
a parish (I know about religious orders. I also know about deacons. )
Or of course they could be provided by ex-Anglican vicars with four of
a family, oddly enough, although there’s not many of them round about here. .

There aren’t enough secular priests to provide the Eucharist throughout
the world. But why does this mean we cannot receive It ? What is the problem
in extending ordination to a group of parishioners in every parish? Worldwide ?
When I am found lying on the kitchenette floor some day, waiting for the last
Sacraments from the local newsagent or garage mechanic or whoever is on duty
from my parish that day,I shall not ask him first if he is married or quiz
him about his knowledge of St Jerome. What exactly is the problem in extending
ordination ?

Glasgow? Well, we’ve worked out all sorts of clever ways of closing churches,
admittedly with some consultation with some parishioners, in at least one case
with an insistence that no minutes of the meeting be taken. We’ve got to
assume that all this being done in accordance with the latest developments in
the very respectable science of decline management. Well, we’ve got to assume this.

This blog is far from a voice crying in the wilderness. Within days of Pope Francis
being appointed,in March 2013, a group of Catholic MPs petitioned him to extend
ordination to married men. More significantly,in September,the then Archbishop
Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, pointed out that “celibacy is
not part of church dogma and the issue is open to discussion because it is
an ecclesiastical tradition.” In England this year , the Bishops of Brentwood,
Hexham and Newcastle and Menevia added their support for extending ordination.
Bishop Krautler of Xingu in Brazil, who has 27 priests for 700,000 people, had
an audience with Pope Francis in April, in which the Pope indicated that
“regional and national bishops’ conferences should seek and find consensus
on reform” and then communicate this to Rome.

At the end of May this year, Pope Francis pointed out, on his way back from
Jerusalem , that celibacy is not a dogma and is always open to change.
This may bring an end to the silence from the rest of the English Bishops
and all of the Scottish Bishops on the subject.In Glasgow, the response to
priest shortages is only to close church buildings. There has been no mention
of joining the above to petition the Pope to extend ordination,i.e.to provide the
Eucharist. And even if some gesture of token support is offered, that will not
be enough as the Flock drifts away. Idle words are inadequate.

“To Feed The Flock ” welcomes your opinion on exactly what the problem is,
here and everywhere else, about carrying out Christ’s Eucharistic imperative.

Christ commanded us to feed His Flock by providing the Eucharist.
In the Western Church, and therefore in most of the world, this
has been done principally by secular priests.

A secular or Tridentine priest is celibate,is one supported by a
parish and who has had a lengthy theological education. According
to Wikipedia, there are 50,000 parishes without these priests, not
counting parishes now closed .They can never now be replaced.

The fulfilment of Christ’s command is therefore being prevented
by the tradition- which is all that it is- that only the secular
priest can provide the Eucharist.

It is gradually being realised by some at all levels in the
Church that we have no right to deny the Eucharist to millions
simply because of a defunct tradition.

1. This blog,”To Feed The Flock” exists to join with these
in pointing out that there is mno real difficulty in finding
another way of providing the Eucharist, i.e.by extending
ordination.

2. It will also speculate as to why another way is not being
provided, and as soon as possible.

3. It will also highlight China, which will soon be the
world’s leading power. The spiritual longings of its millions
as we know, are being denied to them just now . In a
future,different,era, things will change. But it will be
impossible to provide the Eucharist for China’s people
unless ordination is extended. It has been said that
the Western Church has lost Europe, our young people,
and the poor.
How can weface Christ if we also lose China ?