Father, what can I do about the abuses that are occurring the Catholic Center at my College. People don't kneel when the Eucharist is consecrated and some students and the Priest break the host into many different pieces. Since when can regular people do that? They have no business being up there!
Ouch. Well, there's not really much you can do, unfortunately. Ultimately it's really a question of what the priest wants to do.
Lack of reverence stems from lack of faith, which can in turn simply come from misunderstandings and/or lack of education. So don't judge them; it's almost impossible for us to tell if irreverence is really done out of hatred for God, and what degree of guilt a particular act of blasphemy or sacrilege may imply.
So if there's a way for you to kneel, do so! But try to avoid ostentatiously doing it in the front row as if you're trying to make a statement. Just treat God like God... wherever you usually sit.
Regarding the breaking of the bread, here are the official norms:
The priest breaks the Eucharistic Bread, assisted, if the case calls for it, by the deacon or a concelebrant. Christ’s gesture of breaking bread at the Last Supper, which gave the entire Eucharistic Action its name in apostolic times, signifies that the many faithful are made one body (1 Cor 10:17) by receiving Communion from the one Bread of Life which is Christ, who died and rose for the salvation of the world. The fraction or breaking of bread is begun after the sign of peace and is carried out with proper reverence, though it should not be unnecessarily prolonged, nor should it be accorded undue importance. This rite is reserved to the priest and the deacon. (GIRM #83)
So clearly the lay faithful shouldn't be doing so. But again there's not a whole lot you can do. Even writing to the bishop, while certainly a valid recourse, isn't always helpful; the bishop himself can't be there policing every Mass! Ultimately the priest has a lot of autonomy, even if he's denying you your right (Code of Canon Law #214) to celebrate the Eucharist as it should be.
If it gets to the point where these abuses are disturbing your peace and distracting you so much during Mass that you can't focus on Christ, then you may need to end up "voting with your feet" and seeking another Catholic community to call home while you're at college...
God bless you and I pray for some sort of resolution!
- Father Shane