SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

The Absolute Worst Liturgical Abuses

By Jimmy Akin, Catholic apologist

In 2004 the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued an instruction titled Redemptionis Sacramentum. This document introduced a way of ranking liturgical abuses by severity. It offered a three-fold division, classifying them as “graviora delicta” (Latin, “more grave offenses”), “grave matters,” and “other abuses.” 
The examples it gave were not exhaustive, but it indicated several of the absolute worst abuses by putting them in the graviora delicta category. Here are seven things you should know.

#1 Special Handling 
These offenses are so grave that the Church has a special procedure for handling reports of them. Instead of being handled on the ordinary, diocesan level, they are handled by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome. 

#2 Sacrilege with the Sacred Species 
The first of the graviora delicta that is reserved to the CDF is “taking away or retaining the consecrated species for sacrilegious ends, or throwing them away.” 
For example, taking the consecrated Host to use in a Satanic or other non-Christian ritual or pouring the Precious Blood down a sacrarium. (A sacrarium is a special sink in churches that drains into the earth rather than the sewer system.) 
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Categories: Liturgical Abuses