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Views from the Choir Loft

Liturgy & Clericalism

Fr. David Friel · June 1, 2014

O PRIEST ever wants to be accused of “clericalism.” To be accused of clericalism is an insult to every priest, from the most progressive to the most traditional. It seems, however, that it is more common for priests who are traditional to be considered “clerical.” Why?

Most “traditional” priests have a special love for liturgy. (Shouldn’t this be true of every priest?) There is life outside the liturgy, to be sure, but should not the sacred liturgy be fundamental to every priest’s existence? There is a sentence in the introduction to the new collected works of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI that captures this sentiment quite frankly: “The liturgy of the Church has been for me since my childhood the central reality of my life.” That is a profound claim.

Very often, this love for liturgy will be used by a particular priest’s detractors as evidence of his clericalism. Many such accusations, though, boil down to nothing more than a healthy sense of priestly identity. Love of liturgy—and, specifically, employment of its traditional forms—is not clericalism. The liturgy, after all, is not about the priest. It is about Jesus Christ, the spotless, innocent Lamb.

Clericalism subsists, rather, in the priest who believes that the Church and her faithful exist to serve him, instead of the reverse. A true clericalist is one who interiorly rejects the image of Christ as One Who came “not to be served, but to serve.”

Towards the end of my time as a student at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, we were blessed by the presence of an old priest who had been assigned to live there and work as a spiritual director. He was well admired by everyone on campus. In some five decades of priestly service, he served as a beloved professor, confessor, and pastor. In his sprier days, he had been the quarterback of his high school football team, but by this point he was tethered to an oxygen tank and never strayed too far from his rollator. Everyone called this priest “Father Meehan.”

Fr. Meehan gave a homily one day, shortly before his death, that struck me deeply. He sat to give this homily, not in defiance of the rubrics, but because he lacked the strength to stand. It was close to the end of the academic year, so ordination was imminent for many of the men in our community. Father spoke movingly about the meaning of priesthood and the life of Christian service to which all priests are called. Some priests, he observed, think of being ordained as an achievement, or a promotion, or a reward for enduring seminary formation. He pleaded with us all to forget those ideas. To the contrary, he explained: “Ordination is not a step up; it is a step down.”

A “clericalist” is not one who loves liturgy, but one who rejects the wisdom of Fr. Meehan.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Latin Mass, Pope Benedict XVI, Summorum Pontificum, Traditional Latin Mass Tridentine Rite Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another… It teaches that all are to be tolerated, for all are matters of opinion. Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy. […] Men may go to Protestant Churches and to Catholic, may get good from both and belong to neither.”

— Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman (May of 1879)

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