Faux Prayers of the Faithful

Exceprts from an article by George Weigel:

Lord, please don’t hear this prayer: a reprise

A while back, I noted with a touch of asperity that the “Prayer of the Faithful” too frequently deteriorates into serial sermonettes, an AmChurch innovation without foundation in the Church’s liturgical tradition. I was particularly scornful of petitions that politicize the liturgy by promoting, as self-evidently desirable objects of the Lord’s attention, various planks in the Democratic platform.

...[Many of these t]hese petitions are not, in fact, prayers. They may be expressions of conventional liberal pieties. They may be guilt-trips aimed at suburban congregations. They may even be subtle advertisements for the Carter Center. But they’re not prayers of the sort envisioned by the Second Vatican Council when it mandated that, in the reformed liturgy, “intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world.” (Which raises another question: When was the last time you heard a petition that used the phrase “holy Church,” or that invoked the divine mercy “for the salvation of the entire world”? Not recently, I bet.)

"Holy Church" or "Holy Mother Church"? There's probably no faster way for a person to get his name placed on a parish's "watch list" than by using such phrases or terms. Many times, those not 'hip' to the 'spirit of Vatican 2' lingo, are considered relics of the past, to be ignored, if not ostracized.

Countless times during the General Intercessions have I refused to pray for those ridiculous petitions invoked at the direction of a looney liturgist or a priest who had lost sight of his authentic ministry, that for which he was ordained.

And, though Weigel doesn't address it, how about the chaos that ensues when Father Fidelity generously opens up the General Intercessions to those in the pews? (Never mind that the rubrics don't allow for this - the rubrics and liturgical laws only impedes the priest's ability to make the celebration 'relevant').

At one time, I had a list of petitions that I kept with me if by chance I happened to be unfortunate enough to find myself within the walls of one of these self-indulgent worship spaces. Whether it was Divine Providence or my own forgetfulness, it seems that I have misplaced it. Chances are, I most likely would never have had the opportunity to embarrass myself and others with my poignant petitions because I probably would have walked out long before then, anyway.