A retired priest, Rev. Gerald Bednar, in the Diocese of Cleveland -- the former vice rector of the seminary there -- had a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal, taking an opportunity to oppose reciting the Saint Michael prayer after Mass, which is done at nearly all traditional Latin Low Masses, as well as a growing number of novus ordo liturgies in conservative parishes.
Father Bednar's letter from a few days ago follows. So does one, published in today's paper, from His Excellency Thomas John Paprocki, bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
Our thanks to Bishop Paprocki for a succinct response and defense.
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Wall Street Journal; October 22, 2024
St. Michael Is Out of Place At the End of Catholic Mass
In “Donald Trump Has a Prayer” (Houses of Worship, Oct. 11), Raymond J. de Souza notes the resurgence of reciting the St. Michael prayer after Mass. The Holy See suppressed this practice in 1964 because the prayer interferes with the integrity of the Mass. It ends the liturgy with a private devotion, a petition to a saint, while all of the petitions were concluded much earlier in the liturgy and addressed to God the Father. The end of Mass sends participants out on a positive mission, bidding them to expand God’s Kingdom through evangelization.
St. Michael is known as the captain of the guardian angels and we should, by all means, ask for his help. But believers should accept the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist as their primary protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil—and respond to his call to enhance God’s Kingdom, where the devil has no influence.
Rev. Gerald J. Bednar
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Wall Street Journal; October 28, 2024
St. Michael Disrupts Only the Devil, Not the Liturgy
Rev. Gerald J. Bednar is simply wrong to suggest that reciting the prayer to St. Michael is “out of place at the end of Catholic Mass” (Letters, Oct. 22). He mistakenly says that it “ends the liturgy with a private devotion.” The liturgy ends when the celebrant says, “Go forth, the Mass is ended,” and the people reply, “Thanks be to God.” The prayer, then, is recited after Mass, which the priest and people are free to do. It isn’t a private devotion when prayed publicly.
The end of Mass sends participants out on a positive mission, and while Rev. Bednar is correct in saying that the devil has no influence in God’s Kingdom, we aren’t there yet. Doing so together doesn’t hurt, and we pray it will help to invoke the intercession of St. Michael to defend us in our spiritual battles.
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki
