A dispute over prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. The priest wrote to a... influential newspaper

One of the American Catholic priests has problem refusing at the end Holy Prayer Mass to St. Michael the Archangel. He wrote a letter to the editorial board of the influential business paper The Wall Street Journal. His misconception was rapidly reposted by Bishop Paprocki.

In a letter addressed to the editorial board and published on 21 October this year, retired Rev. Gerald J. Bednar of the Diocese of Cleveland wrote that the Vatican "repressed" the "practice" of praying to Saint Michael the Archangel in 1964 due to the fact that "this prayer disrupted the integrity of the Mass." “It ends with a private liturgy, a request to the saint, although all requests end much earlier in the liturgy and are addressed to God the Father,” wrote the priest. He added that "the completion of the Holy Mass sends participants with a affirmative mission, calling them to grow the Kingdom of God through evangelization."

Although the priest continued, we should make petitions to St. Michael, who is the "captain of the guardian angels," nevertheless the faithful should "accept the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist as their primary protection from the wickedness and ambush of the devil, and respond to the Lord's call to strengthen the kingdom of God upon which the devil has no influence."

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, responded to the priest's remarks, stating that the priest's view of opposing the prayer to St Michael at the end of the Mass was "just wrong".

In response, published on 27 October this year, the hierarch challenged Fr Bednar's message that the prayer to St Michael, which was recited after the Holy Mass, "completed the liturgy with a private service."

“Liturgy ends erstwhile the celebrity says, “Go, sacrifice accomplished”, and the people answer, “God bless you”. Prayer is so refused after Holy Mass. This is not a private service erstwhile it is denied in public," wrote Bishop Paprocki.

"The completion of the Holy Mass sends participants with a affirmative mission and although Fr Bednar is right, saying that the devil has no influence on the kingdom of God, we are not there yet. This joint prayer does not harm, so let us pray for St. Michael's intercession to defend us in our spiritual struggles."

St. Michael the Archangel is described in the Bible as a “great prince” who fights against Satan in behalf of God's people. Pope Leon XIII in 1886 – influenced by the frightening imagination of demons gathering over the Eternal City – arranged 3 prayers to St. Michael, the shortest of which he ordered to refuse at the end of all Mass. It sounded as follows:

Sancte Míchaël Archángele
Defénde nos in prǽlio
Contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto præsídium
Ímperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur
Tuque princeps milítiæ cślestis
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malignos
Qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo
Divína virtúte in inférnum detrúde

Prayer to St. Michael was a permanent part of Mass until the Second Vatican Council. Pope John Paul II in 1994 asked Catholics to make her a permanent part of their lives again.

Source: wsj.com, catholicnewsagency.com

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Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel