That’s all?

Gene Kennedy outdoes himself with this paean to

. . . the mystical energy of the church as the Sacramentum Mundi, the mystical mirror in which the beleaguered world can see a reflection of its profound longings and strivings.  . . . . [sacraments as] static objects to be regulated rather than living symbols to be celebrated . . . . [Vatican regulators ignore] sacramental depths but are endlessly preoccupied with their surfaces . . . . [Eucharist (the mass) is] a Mystery that symbolizes the life-death-resurrection rhythm of human existence . . .

Etc.  What was it Flannery O’Connor said to Mary McCarthy on the mass as a symbol?  O’Connor wrote about it later to a friend:

“. . . toward morning [during a Manhattan literary soiree] the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. [Mary McCarthy] said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the ‘most portable’ person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, ‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.’

Later, on reflection:

“That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

That said, what the hell is Kennedy talking about?

Later:  Reader:

My pastor has so many personal quirks in his Mass verbiage. I can’t wait until he has to study the new Missal and get in sync. He’s still in Vatican II “improv” mode. Disgusting he can’t follow a simple “script.

Major issue here: priest as center of things, vs. altar and sacrifice, with all that conveys to a world struggling with stuff no therapy can alleviate.