Very recently, I had the opportunity to attend Mass with a group of "breakaway" Catholics. I call them that because while the Mass they celebrate is valid, and is celebrated by a priest in good standing with my diocese, they are not part of any parish. To the contrary, they deliberately broke away from their old parish over 50 years ago, choosing instead to share facilities with a Presbyterian church. This same church also houses the local chapter of Dignity, a pro-gay Catholic group that has (at least in some dioceses) been forbidden due to its explicit rejection of certain Church teachings.
These breakaways are a true and living testament to all that is "Spirit of Vatican II" progressivism, and they would be very proud to tell you so themselves, as well.
Let me tell you a little bit about their Mass.
Being held in a Presbyterian church, obviously, the setup is different from a typical Catholic Mass. The pews are arranged in a very modern "peninsula" style, set up on three sides of a very centrally arranged altar. But of course, there is no altar - simply a makeshift table that is set up in the "sanctuary" space and will be broken down and removed after Mass. There is no tabernacle. For the Liturgy of the Word, a lectern is placed directly in front of the altar table and then is moved away to the side for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. There are also no kneelers. The people all stand during the typical "kneeling parts" of Mass, except for after Communion when they sit.
Before Mass began, a laywoman from the community got up to give everyone a summary of the day's readings and a very brief exhortation on how to live them out.
Despite all coming from a CD (they don't have any live music), the hymns were very peppy. The recessional hymn even included a couple of lively sax solos! They made sure to play each track to its completion, as well--no stopping in the middle, even if the Mass is clearly ready to proceed.
There was no Creed at this Mass, neither Apostles nor Nicene. Instead, as frequently occurs during Easter season Masses in the Novus Ordo, the profession of faith was made as a renewal of baptismal promises accompanied by a sprinkling rite. Only, with this particular community, those baptismal promises don't take the form of rejecting Satan and all his works and empty promises, believing in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or anything else you might consider "credal." Instead, the profession of their Christian faith sounded like this:
"As a people called to life and peace, we reject all that causes human hurt and destruction to self and others, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As a people called to community and love, we reject making idols of class, wealth, power or position. As a people called to reconciliation and unity, we reject imposing our ways on others, as individuals, as church, and as nation. As a people called to live in Christ, we reject all that leads to the indifferences and injustices in our world. We accept the responsibility an challenges of our faith to create a world of love, of respect, and support for all."
I'll let you judge for yourselves how worthy a replacement that is for the norm.
The priest celebrating Mass was a retired Jesuit. His homily largely centered around how before Vatican II, the mission of the Church was entirely entrusted to priests and nuns. They knew everything, they did everything, and all the laity was expected to do was shut up, listen, and do as instructed. Drawing from the day's reading from Peter, he said the "spiritual house" built only by the "stones" of priests and nuns was pretty small and uninspiring. Then, the beautiful miracle of Vatican II came along and said "No, no, the mission of the Church is for everyone." And a lot of old frumpy traditionalists didn't like that, but the young people totally embraced it and got with the new program right away. And now, thanks to people like those in this community, the Church is much bigger and better thanks to the mission of the laity. And he, as a priest, is delighted that basically, all he has to do now is "show up."
After the prayers of the faithful were read, everyone was given the opportunity to shout out their own prayers and intentions. One very enlightened woman prayed that the Church will finally see fit to ordain women deacons.
In response to the Orate Fratres, the people do not reply "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands," but rather "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at our hands." Only fitting, you see. Remember, all the priest has to do is show up. We're all priests, after all. (Amazing how so many people are well-versed in the first part of Lumen Gentium 10, but conveniently ignore the second part.)
For the Ecce Agnus Dei, the priest and the three women serving as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion elevated the consecrated species! Then they all took turns breaking the bread (a large, leavened homemade loaf, by the way).
The people self-communicate. I'm not even sure the priest says "the Body of Christ." He just holds a paten (made of glass) out like a serving tray and people come along and help themselves to a Morsel. Then, the Precious Blood has been divided into individual shot glasses (again made of glass) which are again held on a serving tray with no remark about "the Blood of Christ." The people down their shots, and then deposit their used glassware into a nearby bucket of ice water. What ultimately becomes of these glasses, the water, and the buckets (one for each side of the church, mind you), and anything else to which lingering droplets of Precious Blood may still be clinging? Your guess is as good as mine.
Mass concludes, after the sax-heavy recessional hymn mentioned above, with a warm round of applause.
Now, why am I telling you all this?
This kind of modernist dreck is lifted straight from the 60s and 70s and hasn't really changed much since then. It's boring, it's asinine, it's horizontal, it's navel-gazing, and it has nothing to do with actual Catholicism and the worship due to Almighty God.
And except for the direction of the political leanings, it's pretty much exactly what the Neocatechumenal Way does.
Consider: no altar, no tabernacle, no kneelers, a priesthood of believers with merely a "celebrant" or "figurehead," and Mass more or less in the round.
Consider: loud, peppy music that is played and full, regardless of the needs of the liturgy.
Consider: a rejection of the Nicene Creed, whether outright or simply doctrinally softened.
Consider: a sneering rejection of the pre-conciliar Church, and a celebration of how much more "real" and "authentic" the Church has become since the Council.
Consider: Self-communion with homemade leavened bread, with little or no thought given to stray Particles or Droplets.
Consider: a community that comes together to celebrate itself, its values, and its activities; a community that believes it has done right by separating itself from the parish(es) to which it formerly belonged.
Consider: if a born-and-raised Neocat were to leave his community and, for the first time in his life attend a Mass other than his usual Saturday evening Eucharist: do you suppose he'd feel more at home at a "regular" Novus Ordo at the local Catholic church, or at the Mass which I just described?
I think the answer is obvious.
The two communities are liturgical stepsisters, cut from the same heretical modernist cloth. But the Way encourages large families and shows up at pro-life rallies, while members of this other community are rabid pro-choice feminists. The Way aggressively recruits (excuse me, "evangelizes") while the other community is very content in its self-containment. Members of the Way will bemoan the waywardness of the German bishops (as a priest privately did in one conversation I had with him), while the other community likely celebrates them as heroes. Et cetera.
And because of all that, the Way is celebrated and embraced as a beautiful movement in the springtime of the New Evangelization, and communities like this other one are sidelined, privately shunned, and largely ignored. The Way opens seminaries all over the world and ordains hundreds of priests, and this other community scrounges for whatever retired boomer priest can make time in his schedule. The Way is given a free pass for endless liturgical shenanigans, while practically the exact same abuses are being committed behind the closed doors of Protestant churches because they're no longer welcome in the Catholic ones.
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, but votes pro-life, is it a chicken?
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