DC Diocese Shake-Down Preempts ALL Homilies This Past Weekend

On Sunday I asked whether or not the ADW parishes were ordered to scuttle the homily for that day's Mass to make way for the Annual Appeal sales pitch.  I asked several DC area friends what happened in their churches.  So far I received six replies from different parishes.  They all report that the sales pitch replaced the homily in its entirety. 

I was prepared to give the chancery the benefit of any doubt, to surmise that perhaps they merely gave permission to scuttle the homily.  However, according to one report, the priest announced that the homily would be replaced, and did so with noticeable displeasure.  The evidence points to an order from the chancery dictating that the homily be completely scuttled in favor of the sales pitch.

Sunday's post linked to the GIRM's stipulations regarding a homily at Sunday Mass.  Clearly the rubrics were shredded this past Sunday, apparently by the direction of the chancery and the Archbishop.

Consider the irony of this archdiocesan blunder, if you will.  Recall how they went into "damage control mode".  Whoever wrote that flyer pretended that our only concern regards the McCarrick abuse scandals.  Horrific as that is, that is not our only concern.  We want to see the DC chancery actually proclaim the faith, to recall that its primary mission is to save souls, not to be "social justice warriors".  We demand that dignity and reverence and adherene to sacramental norms be implemented and enforced.  Clearly that did not happen this past weekend, when the homily was completely jettisoned for a glib sales pitch.  Either some people in the chancery are completely tone deaf, or (more likely) they really don't give a flying fig about our concerns, let alone fidelity to the Church's real mission.

While such a state of affairs lasts, we will have no choice but to pass up this collection.