(ZENIT News / Jerez, 08.08.2024).- Salesian priest Marco Antonio Martínez Moreno celebrated a “Mass” for adolescent at the edge of a pool during a summer camp with young people: in the water in a bathing suit. He invited a boy in a bathing suit and a girl in a bikini to elevate the Chalice and Consecrated Host during the most sacred moment of the Mass, namely, after the Consecration.
The priest published the images on the social networks, dressed with alb and stole in front of a table placed just one the edge of the water. He removed the photos on July 30, after the information was spread by the Spanish media.
Other extravagances have been registered by the same priest in other Masses: in 2020 he did magic tricks during a Mass with students of Our Lady of the Rosary School of Rota, with a loss of the sense of the sacred through the quest for an attractive evangelization.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal establishes rubrics for the celebration of Mass: “in a church or, if there is no church or if it is too small, then in another respectable place, which, however, is worthy of such a great mystery.”
The removal of Moreno’s images suggests he has realized that his actions were inappropriate.
Bishop José Rico Pavés of Asidonia-Jerez deplored the images in which the priest seems to be “celebrating the Eucharist in a way that is manifestly contrary to the liturgical norms of the Catholic Church.”
After the scandal caused by the publication of the photos, the Bishop asked the priest for a clarification, who said the following,” as stated in a press release”
“I am very sorry for the harm it might have caused our beloved Church. Evidently the context of the para-liturgy we celebrated is missing. The Eucharist was not celebrated in the pool and that moment did not belong to the Eucharist. Before beginning, an explanation is always given of the different parts of the Eucharist. That day, in fact, it was necessary to explain that moment and its meaning together with the Our Father.”
And the press release continues: “From the Bishopric he was reminded that ‘young people (children and adults) are badly educated when they are not even helped to distinguish the Liturgy from the beach and scandal is caused to all when a priest does and undoes the liturgy at will. We are not owners of the liturgy or of the sacraments, nor are we so of the Gospel or of the other goods of salvation that the Church has placed in our hands. We are servants and, as such, we are called to evangelize.” At the same time, to leave a record, Father Marco Antonio has been sent a written warning, in keeping with the Law (cf. CCC 1339).”
The priest has reiterated his apology for the harm he has caused, has said he is very sad for what happened and is grateful for the fraternal correction.
