Q: I have read your newsletter, but I do not understand why you are doing
this. Shouldn't this sort of thing come from experts or from the pulpit?
A: It is very important to keep in mind that the liturgy belongs to the
whole people of God. It is not the exclusive domain of liturgical experts.
Even the most humble person has the right to study and inform himself
of what constitutes authentic Catholic liturgy and to compare it with the
liturgies he experiences, making his voice heard among the people of
God when something inauthentic is found.
 
Q: But why is it important to make your voice heard when something
inauthentic is found? If paying attention to the liturgy is so important,
then why doesn't the Vatican say something about it?
A: Pope John Paul II has forcefully spoken against liturgical abuses and
even issued a papal letter, Inaestimabile Donum. This papal letter was
prepared by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship 
and approved and confirmed by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on April 17, 1980.
 
Q: By telling others what is right or wrong, are you disobeying Jesus'
teaching not to judge others?
A: Absolutely not. We do not tell lay people that they are right or wrong.
The objective of our apostolate is to present authentic Catholic teaching on
the liturgy. Once a person reads it, it is up to him or her to adhere
to it (and possibly research it further) or to ignore it.
 
Q: Why do your refer to what you are doing as an apostolate instead of
as a ministry?
A: At Vatican Council II, the Council Fathers were extremely careful,
When speaking of lay activity in the Church, never to use the word ministerium
("ministry"), but words like officium ("office") or munus ("duty") and
particularly apostolatus ("apostolate"). The reason for this approach was to
safeguard the traditional significance of "ministry," which, in the Catholic
scheme of things, implies participation in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
After the council, especially in the United States, many people became very
careless in their terminology and quite indiscriminately began to use
"ministry" or "minister" for any Church-related work or person working for
the Church. This kind of theological impression was censured at the 1987
Synod on the Laity and by Pope John Paul II in his post-synodal apostolic
exhortation Christifideles Laici (The Christian Lay Faithful), wherein we
read the following: "A critical judgment was voiced [among the Synod
Fathers] ...about a too indiscriminate use of the word 'ministry,' the
confusion and the equating of the common priesthood and the ministerial
priesthood ...[and] the tendency toward a 'clericalization' of the lay
faithful and the risk of creating, in reality, an ecclesial structure of
parallel service to that founded on the Sacrament of Orders." He also
reminds all that "a person is not a minister simply in performing a
task, but through sacramental ordination" (No. 23).
 
Q: What can I do to learn more about the liturgy?
A: First, purchase a copy of Inaestimabile Donum. You can get this
From Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Paul's Ave., Boston, MA 02130, phone:
617-522-8911, fax: 617-541-9805, email epd@pauline.org
<mailto:epd@pauline.org> . Second, read the book "Mass Confusion." You
can get this from Catholic Answers, 2020 Gillespie Way, El Cajon, CA 92020,
Phone: 1-888-291-8000, Fax: 619-387-0042, email orders@catholic.com
<mailto:orders@catholic.com> . Third, read the Catholic Answer Books
(1, 2 and 3). You can get these from Our Sunday Visitor, 200 Noll Plaza,
Huntington, IN 46750, phone 800-348-2440, osvsales@osv.com
<mailto:osvsales@osv.com> .