Sacrosanctum Concilium 22.3 "No other person whatsoever, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on their own authority."
Now this is the Vatican II document, so it holds A LOT of weight. Now why shouldn't priests or "liturgical planners" be able to alter things in the liturgy such as words or actions? Because the mass, is at the heart of Christian life: "the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the source from which all its power flows." (SC 10).
Moreover, we are "catholic" in our actions. How we celebrate the liturgy here, should be essentially how we celebrate the liturgy there: "liturgical services have to do with the whole body, the Church" (SC 26" and "As far as possible, notable differences between the rites used in neighboring regions should be avoided" (SC 23). How many of our parishes differ drastically from mass to mass on a given Sunday? There will be a "youth" mass with bad music, an "old person" mass that is subdued, a "family" mass with trite and cliche music, and, possibly a "Hispanic" or "Vietnamese" or any other kind of mass. This is not the spirit of Vatican II. We are ALL Catholics, we all celebrate the same mass, we worship the same God. Although we come from different racial, economic, and social backgrounds, how we worship God in mass shouldn't be different from how our brothers and sisters in Christ worship God in mass. We can see that, in a sense, there is a false egalitarianism that is evident in the diversity of masses on a given Sunday. Instead of uniting groups of people around the Table of the Word and Body, we are cutting ourselves into groups and factions.
Ok, so in the Spirit of Vatican II, we shouldn't make things up during the Liturgy, and our masses should be relatively similar from place to place and from day to day, what about how the priest acts during mass? Coming from several documents, namely Sacramentum Caritatis, we see a strong note regarding the disposition of the priest.
Sacramentum Caritatis 23: "Priests should be conscious of the fact that in their ministry they must never put themselves or their personal opinions in first place, but Jesus Christ. Any attempt to make themselves the centre of the liturgical action contradicts their very identity as priests. The priest is above all a servant of others, and he must continually work at being a sign pointing to Christ, a docile instrument in the Lord's hands. This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart, and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality."
"Uh Oh!" some might think. "Uh Oh" indeed! The priest, besides not being able to change anything in the mass, unless he assault the unity and catholicity of the Body of Christ, the Church, should not, moreover, insert himself as a liturgical MC or an entertainer. He is there to lead the people to Jesus in the Word and Body, because he himself, by virtue of ordination, is marked by being able to act in persona christi. This is why, from Apostolic times until Vatican II, the priest and the people faced the same direction during the mass, in a position called ad orientem. This was not the priest "turning his back" on the people, as liturgically and historically confused people might think, but a shocking and strong sign that the priest was not important, that he and the people together were approaching the Good Shepherd. In fact, ad orientem was never abolished, and masses today in the Ordinary Form can still be offered in this beautiful and community-building manner.
When the priest turns towards the people and puts on a show, the point of the liturgy is defeated. Turning towards the Lord with open hearts has been disfigured into turning towards ourselves in vain affirmation. The priest should not be seen as the "other" in mass; he should not be, in a sense, opposed to , or seen as strongly different from the people, but, on the contrary, he should offer the mass for and with the people: "Offering the immaculate victim, not only through the hands of the priest but also together with him, they [the laity] should learn to offer themselves." (SC 48)
Clericalism is basically abusing the power of one's priesthood. For a priest to change actions or words in the Liturgy, or to call attention to himself, to insert himself and his personality into the mass is exactly an abuse of his power to act in persona Christi. In fact, one may say that, in such cases, he acts not in persona Christi, but in persona ipsius, in person of himself. This is clericalism, and during the mass, it is perhaps one of the worst forms of clericalism since the Liturgy is the source and summit of Christian life. This is not what the Church asks for, and this is not what the Church needs. Let us pray for our priests, that their selfless following of Christ may continue, so that, by being lead by the Good Shepherd, they may shepherd God's people as instruments of grace, healing, and conversion.
