Truly celebrating the eucharist
Letter to editor
In response to Thomas Cooney's letter on Mar. 21 responding to Salvadora Hernandez's critique of the Basilica's policy of reserving large sections of seats for people at certain regularly scheduled masses:
In my view, Ms. Hernandez's letter reflected an authentic, and quite traditional, appreciation for the communitarian meaning of "liturgy," "eucharist" and "church," rather than an "ultra-touchy and whiny attitude," as Mr. Cooney puts it.
The liturgy is the "work of the people" giving praise and thanksgiving to God. It is the work of all the people, together. The community celebrating the eucharist, doing so as the church, shares one baptism, one profession of faith and one Christ. To paraphrase one theologian, the eucharist is a festival of fellowship and love, a participation in the passover from sin to grace. It is not a graduation ceremony or a "fundraiser-thank you," even though we rightfully celebrate the generosity of people within it. It is not about "space-management."
The introduction of rank and privilege into this reality — together with ushers to enforce this rank and privilege — is simply incompatible with the nature of the mass itself. With a block of 250 people given a place of privilege in the middle of the Basilica, one can easily see why Ms. Hernandez felt shoved aside, and why it did not "fit" with what she, and everybody else, was doing there. Who was discourteous to whom? And more importantly, who was acting out a sense of the meaning of the mystery of the celebration and who wasn't?
Mr. Cooney argues that the 5 p.m. mass in question is analogous to a wedding mass. It is worth pointing out, though, that a wedding is normally not held at a regularly scheduled mass time, and is a bit more personal. When my wife and I got married, our parents sat in the first row and everyone else just filled in. I've been to a lot of weddings, but I've never seen a huge chunk of space set aside in the manner described by Cooney and Hernandez. The Basilica needs to think this through.
James Ball
Graduate Student
Theology
March 22, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, March 23, 2000
