Laughin' Me Bum Off

I don't know if it's meant to be, but this article about the TLM is truly funny. To me. Excerpt:

When I was growing up in the years after the Council, I was taught that the New Rite had completely superseded the Old. The only people who attended the Tridentine Mass were hatchet-faced old men wearing berets and gabardine raincoats, who muttered darkly about Satan’s capture of the papacy. I had never been to the Old Mass and knew only two things about it: that it was said by the priest ‘with his back to the people’ — how rude! — and that most priests who celebrated it were followers of the rebel French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. These people were unaccountably ‘attached’ to the Tridentine Rite and its ‘fussy’ accretions — the prayers at the foot of the altar; the intricately choreographed bows, crossings and genuflections of the celebrant; the ‘blessed mutter’ of the Canon in a voice inaudible to the congregation. The New Mass, in contrast, was said by the priest facing the people, nearly always in English. It was for everyone. Including people who didn’t like it.

He concludes on a very serious note:

‘In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek,’ said St Paul. ‘Nor traditionalist nor liberal,’ adds Benedict. The Pope knows that the vast majority of Catholics wish to worship God in their own language — but he also knows that the communities that use the Missal of John XXIII are among the most dynamic in the universal Church. Summorum Pontificum tore down the liturgical veil separating the old from the new; now the social barriers must be removed. For that to happen, former traditionalists will have to stop thinking of themselves as a spiritual elite; and former liberals must turn their eyes towards the astonishing treasures that this greatest of modern Popes has reclaimed from the rubbish heap. As I said, this is an exciting time to be a Catholic.

True that.

Raymond Arroyo's WSJ Piece on Summorum Pontificam

Check it out.

The pope's decree also underscores for Catholics the origins of the new Mass and the continuity of the two rites. Pope Benedict tells his bishops that as a result of his decree, "the celebration of [the vernacular Mass] will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage." By placing the two Masses in close proximity, the pope is hoping that the new Mass will take on the sensibilities of the old. The pope is betting that sacrality and reverence will win out over innovation and novelty, no matter which rite people choose.

There are inevitable problems: Many priests today simply don't know Latin. But they can learn it, or at least enough of it to get through the Mass. The movements of the traditional rite can also be gleaned from older clergy and from groups like the Fraternity of St. Peter that offer intensive instruction in the ritual. Just as the laity have grown accustomed to the incessant hand-holding and hand-shaking that make the Mass look like a hoe-down, they will learn to embrace the gestures of the old liturgy. Parishioners can actively follow the Mass using a Missal, which usually provides side-by-side translations. Listening with attention will be required. But who said worshiping God should be effortless?

I loved that last line, and I know Cube will as well. "But who said worshiping God should be effortless?" I suppose if it was, raising kids would be effortless as well. But that's a dream, not reality. And as someone once said, "No ideal becomes reality without sacrifice."

Summorum Pontificam Networking Database

If you are interested in networking with other like-minded individuals who want to take advantage of the new Latin Mass rules, go here and enter yourself into the database.


Hat tip Universal Indult Blog.

Good Article on Summorum Pontificum

From CWNews. Excerpt:

Even before he became Pope Benedict XVI, in his many written works on the liturgy, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger remarked that the Novus Ordo liturgy was not the organic reform that had been recommended by Vatican II, but a break in continuity-- a new form that had been imposed upon the faithful, while the old order of the Mass was abruptly discarded. In the opening passage of Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict indirectly refers to that complaint when he says that the universal Church must uphold "the usages universally handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition."

These traditions, the Pope continues, "are to be maintained not only so that errors may be avoided, but also so that the faith may be passed on in its integrity, since the Church’s rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of belief (lex credendi).” Because the old Latin liturgy nourished the faithful for centuries, he reasons, it is incumbent upon the Church today to ensure that "this liturgical edifice, so to speak, might once again appear splendid in its dignity and harmony.”

A skimming of the comments show that there are still trads who embrace misery and pessimism as cardinal virtues and conspiracy theorizing as the "8th sacrament". Oh, well.

Summorum Pontificum

Here it is, babe. Someone emailed me an English translation, but I'm sure it will be available online soon.

Oh, here it is on the USCCB site.

The Big Z has the big scoop, so check it out here. Here are my favorite parts:

As a result, it is unacceptable to suggest that these provisions were made merely to accommodate a bunch of nostalgic old fogies who can’t get with the program. The provisions were made with anyone in mind who wants older forms, for any decent reason. People who want to avail of this extraordinary use are not second rate citizens.

They may not be treated any longer like the nutty aunt in the attic.

This is only bad news for all those people who want to be treated like nutty aunts. (ACLU lawyers, call your offices.)

The issue the Triduum and this reasonable restriction has nothing to do with the prayer about the Jews on Good Friday. This is simply a matter of what the Church’s logical practice is based on the sacred nature of those Triduum liturgies. The Jews were not part of the equation. Remember also that the 1962 Missale Romanum is used for the Triduum in those places where it will be permitted to use the older form at that time. The 1962 edition and not some earlier edition before the changes to those Good Friday petitions.

Uh, yeah. I've been subscribing to a Google news alert for keywords "pope, latin, mass" for about a year now. There are not just a few that warn about how upset the Jews may be about this. But I already blogged about that canard.

Everything goes into effect on September 14. This seems like it will be a big development. I'm guardedly optimistic; I have a Priest friend who celebrates the Latin Mass who has told me that he doesn't believe it will change anything. The only reason he gave was the Pope isn't strong enough to battle the bishops, so we'll have to wait and see.

Last Pre-release Post on the Universal Indult

Dan from the Shrine of the Holy Whapping delivers a very thoughtful piece called "Motu Proprio as Ressourcement". I love this paragraph:

The "Tridentine" Mass confronts us, then, with tradition - tradition in need of revitalization in many ways, but a great tradition nonetheless. It confronts us also in a tradition in which we are not defined by being particular sorts of Catholics but by being Catholic, and invites us to learn how to do this again without grinding our ideological axe. It invites us to return to the moment when it began to be violently abolished rather than gently modified, and to bury the pain and fear that have resulted on all sides since then, rather than to take it out on others. To forgive absolutely and free of charge, despite temptations to hold grudges and to speak bitter words. Such actions would only confirm and deepen the notion that tradition is equal to traditionalism, something that comes off as negative and ideological, unwelcoming and with an axe to grind.

I think he understands the mind of Pope Benedict more than people on either of the "sides" and effectively shows that the Holy Father is not taking sides but merely giving a part of the Church's tradition back to the Church.


I come to the Latin Mass as someone who doesn't "feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition" in the words of JP2's Motu Proprio. But I have always liked the contribution it makes to the Church's "liturgical portfolio", and I've always thought that it's wrong to treat it as a museum piece from another era.

7-7-7

That's the date set for the Motu Proprio "in which Pope Benedict XVI liberalizes access to the traditional Latin Mass" as the article says. That liberal!

The comments beneath the article are really good; they're funny. Someone notes that seven seems to be a very sacred number. Another says he "fears there will have to be an element of compulsion in this decree." Umm, yeah, that's probably true.

I agree mostly with commenter "Catholicity" who notes that while a Trid Mass can be celebrated sloppily, the sloppiness "is confined to the unyieldingly specific rubrics." I've always said this is what I like about the Latin Mass, it's like a "hedge" that keeps everyone from noticing the little things, e.g., the priest's personality, and helps us concentrate on the big things, e.g., maybe the Presence of Jesus Christ, hello?

Of course, a solemnly celebrated Novus Ordo with the priest facing ad orientem and serious hymns of adoration, incense, beautiful vestments and the like might be the ideal. But, honestly.... what is the over/under on that happening at this point?

My New Job as an Editor

This article is my first assignment.

Making the Latin mass more readily available may be a key to reconciliation between the Vatican and a[n] ultra-orthodox splinter Catholic group, a report said.

"The pope believes the time has come to favor access to this (Latin) liturgy," said Cardinal Dario Castrillon, who is negotiating the return of the Society of St. Pius X, which was established in 1970 and has about 450 priests worldwide, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

The Society of St. Pius X shuns the modern liturgy approved by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. The group's late founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was excommunicated in 1988 for causing a schism in the Catholic Church by contesting some modern reforms of the Council, ANSA said.

Although the Latin mass was not banned by the Council, bishops priests presently need authority permission from superiors their ordinaries to celebrate it.

Pope Benedict XVI, 80, is fond of saying mass in Latin. When he was elected, he celebrated his first official mass at the Sistine Chapel in the ancient language of the Romans official language of the Roman Catholic Church.

Fr. Z on Universal Indult

HT to Brian Kopp over at the UI Blog. Father Z provides 5 "rules of engagement" in regards to the motu proprio.

Fr. Z’s 5 Rules of Engagement for When and If the Motu Proprio Comes:

1) Rejoice because our liturgical life has been enriched, not because "we win". Everyone wins when the Church’s life is enriched. This is not a "zero sum game".

2) Do not strut. Let us be gracious to those who have in the past not been gracious in regard to our "legitimate aspirations".

3) Show genuine Christian joy. If you want to attract people to what gives you so much consolation and happiness, be inviting and be joyful. Avoid the sourness some of the more traditional stamp have sadly worn for so long.

4) Be engaged in the whole life of your parishes, especially in works of mercy organized by the same. If you want the whole Church to benefit from the use of the older liturgy, then you who are shaped by the older form of Mass should be of benefit to the whole Church in concrete terms.

5) If the document doesn’t say everything we might hope for, don’t bitch about it like a whiner. Speak less of our rights and what we deserve, or what it ought to have been, as if we were our own little popes, and more about our gratitude, gratitude, gratitude for what God gives us.

Brian's entire post is worth reading also. Charity is the highest virtue, thank you St. Paul. As can be seen in the comments for my a recent religious post, guns are loaded and cocked and hair triggers abound.

A Valid Concern

"Catholic and Jewish experts are concerned about relations between their faiths if Vatican plans to revive the old Latin mass include long-forgotten prayers for converting the Jews or roll back respect for their heritage."

First of all, let me say that I believe it's a valid concern. Many Jews applaud the changes in the Catholic liturgy made in the 20th century. Michael Medved recently talked about this at a lunch at the conference I attended in Grove City, commending the removal of the accusation of perfidy ("Oremus et pro perfidis Judæis") from the Good Friday Prayers.

In regards to the words themselves, I would rather have someone praying for me who believed I was a faithless wretch than have no prayers from someone who wrongly assumed I was a living saint. Although pogroms and Good Friday killings of Jews cannot and should not be denied, I'm not sure that the peasants who murdered a Jew on Good Friday afternoon would have been stopped if an earlier Pope had made the liturgical changes which Pope John XXIII did in 1960, removing the adjective "perfidious". But that is speculation on my part; words do have consequences. And either way, the adjective is unnecessary for a valid prayer, so good call, J23, on removing the phrase "perfidious Jews".

It is interesting to note the earlier changes made in regards to these prayers which took place before and leading up to the institution of the Novus Ordo. The missal which is used in the Tridentine Indult Mass is from 1962, so the removal of perfidious had already taken place. This should be pointed out to anyone who makes a dichotomy of the two liturgies. There are still quite a few Catholics alive who went to mass pre-1955, but the indult masses being celebrated now have the new wording in place.


Now I'm not an expert in these matters, but if a reader (Andy?) knows more, please chime in. I will probably consult with a priest friend of mine on this who celebrates both masses and is very balanced on the matter. The above cited article does not point out the distinction between 1962 and 1955, so I feel as if someone did not do their homework on this issue. So ignorance might be responsible for this, but I suggest there might be at least a teensy-weensy bit of bias in the mix here. Some Catholics are embarrassed by the traditionalists and the Latin Mass and face it -- the so-called "rad-trads" have made the whole Latin Mass movement more controversial than it need be. One reason is that some of those people are without a doubt anti-Semitic. But let's try to avoid a "baby/bathwater backlash" which will impoverish the rich liturgical tradition of the Roman Catholic church.

Ignoring Protests

There is a long tradition of ignoring protests in the Catholic church, from Christ ignoring Judas's protest about the perfume to JPII's going ahead with his historic apology of the sins of church members despite the hand-wringing of many in the Vatican. So it shouldn't surprise anyone if B16 is ignoring a few Cardinals regarding the liturgy, a topic that the current Pope has written volumes on.

My favorite lines from this article:

"This [papal motu proprio] would enable Benedict to ignore opposition from several cardinals." (Or he might be "enabled" simply by the fact that he is the Supreme Pontiff, hello?)

"The Pope's proposal will be cheered by Lefebvre's traditionalist followers." (Or not, if they are in a bad mood or the vestments don't have enough embroidery on the cuffs.)

I have been following this topic with much interest, but not blogging about it. I'm one of those folks who would like to see more of the Latin Mass although I'm not "attached" to it. Most traditionalists don't like my precise view -- the details of which I won't bore you with at this moment -- because I'm admittedly and hopelessly post-modern in my entire approach as a convert and a youngster. I just think the Tridentine liturgy rocks ass, simply put. Enough English already! And "sign of peace"? sign of schmeace.... dust off the missals, men, we're going to do some spiritual warfare.