The averager Catholic will never see an abuse that is that extreme and you know this very well. I wonder why you are pretending otherwise.
Papist, you are missing the point. The very fact that clown masses and other travesties are being held, and continue to be held, in the first place, points to either a breakdown in episcopal oversight, or, where bishops themselves have promoted such services (such as the unfortunate fellow in the Haloween mass), have not been brought to book by their superiors.
In the RCC, is it not a bishop's responsibility to "rightly proclaim the word of Truth", in other words, to oversee his flock, and ensure that proper order and teaching is observed by his clergy? Please do not see me as judgemental, but if an Orthodox clergyman was to conduct a clown liturgy or a Halloween liturgy, he would be taking his pick from the shovels, pronto. He would be hauled before his superiors before he knew it (through the action of his flock), and, at the very least, be asked to explain himself. I guarantee that the very least that would be required of him would be to "cease and desist".
The episcopate should not be a dictatorship or fiefdom, far from it. Pastoral economia (at least, among the Orthodox, I can't speak for the RCC) is a well-established principle, where allowances can be made for individual circumstance. But it is imperative that all clergy know what is permissible, and what is not, and that bishops be not afraid to act on practices which dilute or distort the truths of the church, or reduce worship to a caricature or mere entertainment. I am not Roman Catholic, but I have family and many friends who are, and it grieves me, and them, to know that gross travesties like these "masses" are allowed, by omission or commission, to occur.
Remember the case of the RC priest in Australia who conducted baptisms in the name of "the Creator, Liberator and Sustainer"? Last I heard, the Vatican has decided that all these baptisms need to be "regularised", as the Trinitarian formula was inadequate. Even "mere words" have great significance. What then, of messing around with liturgical form and praxis? Think about it, folks.
