By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-10-29 18:31:57 | Updated at 2024-10-30 21:38:48
1 day ago
CV NEWS FEED // The Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, this week explained in an open letter in the Wall Street Journal that it is not a disruption to the Mass for the priest and people pray the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of Mass, after the liturgy has concluded.
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki issued the explanation with his open letter titled “St. Michael Disrupts Only the Devil, Not the Liturgy,” published in the Wall Street Journal on October 27.
The bishop’s open letter came after a priest argued against the prayer’s inclusion after Mass in a separate open letter in the Journal. Fr. Gerald Bednar posed his initial argument in an open letter published on October 21, noting that Raymond J. de Souza has observed “the resurgence of reciting the St. Michael prayer after Mass.”
“The Holy See suppressed this practice in 1964 because the prayer interferes with the integrity of the Mass,” Fr. Bednar wrote. “It ends the liturgy with a private devotion, a petition to a saint, while all of the petitions were concluded much earlier in the liturgy and addressed to God the Father.”
“The end of Mass sends participants out on a positive mission, bidding them to expand God’s Kingdom through evangelization,” he continued.
He recognized that St. Michael is regarded “as the captain of the guardian angels and we should, by all means, ask for his help.”
However, he concluded, “believers should accept the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist as their primary protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil — and respond to his call to enhance God’s Kingdom, where the devil has no influence.” Fr. Bednar is a retired priest in the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio.
In his own open letter, Bishop Paprocki wrote, “Rev. Gerald J. Bednar is simply wrong to suggest that reciting the prayer to St. Michael is ‘out of place at the end of Catholic Mass,’” referencing the title of the priest’s letter.
“He mistakenly says that it ‘ends the liturgy with a private devotion,’” Bishop Paprocki continued, explaining that the prayer is not a part of the liturgy but rather takes place after Mass ends.
The liturgy concludes with the celebrant’s words, “Go forth, the Mass is ended,” and those in attendance respond, “Thanks be to God,” Bishop Paprocki noted.
As such, praying the St. Michael prayer after Mass is something “the priest and people are free to do,” he wrote. “It isn’t a private devotion when prayed publicly.”
“The end of Mass sends participants out on a positive mission, and while Rev. Bednar is correct in saying that the devil has no influence in God’s Kingdom, we aren’t there yet.”
He concluded: “Doing so together doesn’t hurt, and we pray it will help to invoke the intercession of St. Michael to defend us in our spiritual battles.”
