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(LifeSiteNews) — A woman who attempted to “concelebrate” a Catholic Mass in late August defended the liturgical abuse by arguing that the liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council would not have been possible if some priests had not acted against the liturgical order of the Church before the Council. 

Monika Schmid, the parish leader in the Swiss parish St. Martin in Illnau-Effretikon, said a modified prayer of consecration while standing at the altar during a Catholic Mass two months ago, as LifeSiteNews reported. 

In a Facebook post published by kath.ch, Schmid responded to criticism for her actions by German priest Fr. Rainer Maria Schiessler. She said that liturgical changes after the Second Vatican Council were only possible because certain priests had committed liturgical abuses before the Council: 

The liturgical reform in Vatican II would not have been possible in this way if individual priests in their parishes, university chaplains with their students, had not turned away from the high altar years before the Council and celebrated the Eucharist with the people in view, in their native language. Totally forbidden, of course, liturgical abuse ui, ui, ui! It was the same with women as lectors or with female altar servers.

Schmid stated that Schiessler would need “an update on church history,” since he might learn there that “changes in the Church have always begun in small ways, where people thought and acted in new ways: just did it! 

READ: Priest condemns ‘modern heretics’ risking people’s souls ‘for the sake of being inclusive’

Schmid committed the liturgical abuse during her farewell Mass which was to mark her leaving the parish. Schmid was joined by another woman, along with two priests – only wearing stoles over their albs, in blatant violation of liturgical law – and a deacon who was wearing a rainbow-colored stole. Schmid was also barefoot. 

Canon 907 of the Church’s canon law expressly forbids anyone but the priest to utter the words of Consecration. “In the eucharistic celebration deacons and lay persons are not permitted to offer prayers, especially the eucharistic prayer, or to perform actions which are proper to the celebrating priest.” 

In addition to her attempt to concelebrate, Schmid also changed the words of the consecration, which constitutes another liturgical abuse. 

The Vatican instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, approved by Pope John Paul II in 2004, points out that anyone making up liturgies “injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved, and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today.” 

Arbitrary actions, the document states, “are not conducive to true renewal, but are detrimental to the right of Christ’s faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church’s life in accordance with her tradition and discipline.” 

After facing public pressure, local Bishop Joseph Bonnemain, known for his support for same-sex civil unions and giving Communion to non-Catholics, launched a liturgical investigation into the case. 

Schmid’s actions drew support from heterodox forces within the Church, including the Central Committee of German Catholics, whose secretary general Marc Frings condemned the investigation into the liturgical abuse calling it a “crackdown” that “reveals spiritual powerlessness.” 

READ: ‘Incurring the wrath of God’: German Catholics demand bishop resign for launching pro-LGBT ‘ministry’

Others have condemned the liturgical abuse and the support for it, including the Swiss Catholic movement Pro Ecclesia which called the support of the liturgical abuse “outrageous:” 

[…] we find it outrageous that now, of all people, individual leading officials of the lay ecclesiastical structure in Switzerland are in the forefront of defending and even unmistakably approving of liturgical abuses that do not even stop at sacramental simulation. This is all the more disturbing because they would actually be obliged to bring the faithful closer to and facilitate the unabridged Catholic faith instead of confusing them and fabricating, at least in effect, a new secessionist Swiss Church.

According to a report by kath.ch, Schmid had been “concelebrating” at Catholic Masses for decades with the permission of Father Jakob Romer, the former parish priest of Effretikon, who died in 2005. According to kath.ch Schmid said that “Jesus does not need a priestly representation in persona Christi. 

Schmid appears to show no remorse for the grave liturgical abuses she committed, according to her statements. She rather seems to view herself as a pioneer to bring about “changes in the Church.” 

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