I can understand parishioners being grateful for their pastor’s exoneration and return to them after nine months. But when Fr. Ed McDonagh returned to his parish should they have used the Mass in such a way? I can understand celebrating a Mass of thanksgiving, but it’s just unseemly for the Mass to be used as a celebration of a man, rather than primarily the worship of God. I refer mainly to these two sentences in the article:
Before parishioners carried nine months’ worth of cards to the altar, McDonagh said he wanted to thank “those of you who were able to be with me, to cry with me, to suffer with me, to worry with me and to laugh with me.”
McDonagh ended the hour-long Mass to a standing ovation.
Carried the cards to the altar? I suppose during the presentation of the gifts. Who were the gifts being presented to? The priest or God? And who should rightly be applauded at Mass (if you’re going to engage in that sort of thing in the first place)? The priest or God?
I suppose I’m just being an old curmudgeon, but the Mass should not be about the man who celebrates it, but the Man who brings the Sacrifice before the throne of His Father. Ach, maybe I should just get my morning coffee and lighten up.
