Posted on 03/04/2008 7:11:19 PM PST by Titanites
The Mass is celebrated publicly about 176 times each week at Notre Dame when the University is in session, says Father Richard Warner, CSC, the director of campus ministry. Different Masses meet different spiritual needs. Congregants may pray together in English, Spanish or Latin and choose from a sampler box of musical styles and aesthetic surroundings. All of these Masses are celebrated according to the reformed Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI introduced in 1970.
All except one, that is. At 8 a.m. on October 14, some 100 people gathered with Father Thomas Blantz, CSC, in the Saint Charles Borromeo chapel in Alumni Hall to participate in what was likely the first Tridentine Mass on campus in nearly 40 years.
"It's very exciting," says senior Mary Elizabeth Walter. "Had you told me three years ago we would be having the Tridentine Mass here on campus I would have said 'Yeah, right, I wish.'"
For years, pockets of Catholics have secured permission from local Church authorities to celebrate the Mass using the 1962 Missal of Blessed John XXIII. The reforms issued under Paul VI had turned the priest toward the congregation, allowed translation of the entire Mass into the vernacular, changed other important customs and prompted reactions from the faithful that ran the spectrum from elation to acceptance to devastation.
Unlike most Catholics born after Vatican II, Walter grew up with the Tridentine Mass at her family's parish in Baltimore, which she says also offers Sunday Masses in English and Lithuanian and brings all three communities together for vibrant parish functions.
Church leaders hope Walter's experience of unity in liturgical diversity is the norm. At Notre Dame, the decision to initiate Sunday celebration of the old Mass came swiftly last summer after Pope Benedict issued Summorum Pontificum, an apostolic letter affirming it as the "extraordinary form" of the Roman rite established after the Second Vatican Council.
The move also reflects the persistence of students, who have expressed their interest to Warner and his staff in person over the past few years. Recently, more than 150 students showed their support on Facebook, the social networking website, by joining a group called "I am interested in having the Tridentine Mass at Notre Dame."
Brett Perkins, who runs Notre Dame's programs for Catholic peer ministry and outreach to Protestant students, says many of these students are as attracted to contemporary prayer services as they are to older devotions. "They're not willing to be . . . labeled as a particular type of person," he says. "What they are is fully Catholic."
For students like Walter, love for the old Mass and its reverence for God's transcendence runs deep. Some critics of the pope's letter have dismissed their preference as "nostalgia," a take that makes Walter cringe. The history and medieval studies major started exploring the Mass more critically in high school. "I wanted to check it out for myself and make sure it wasn't this irrational attachment just because my parents loved it," she says. "They're both the Mass. They're both beautiful. But there's a particular richness to the Tridentine Mass. The prayers are so much deeper there. It heightens your awareness of the sacred."
"It's an acquired taste," says John Gerardi, a sophomore classics and philosophy major who is one of six volunteers qualified to serve the old Mass because of his knowledge of Latin and his training in the traditional gestures, or rubrics. "I know the first time I went I was lost. . . . Once people get comfortable with it, you see a lot who start really preferring it."
Gerardi's experience -- more than six years' worth -- is hard to come by, which is one reason Benedict's letter will have limited impact on Catholic parish and campus life. Eleven priests attended a training session that Perkins and Father Peter Rocca, CSC, rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, set up to prepare for the Mass. Some were older priests who wanted to get reacquainted with rubrics they hadn't practiced in decades. Others were younger priests who, Father Nicholas Ayo, CSC, warns with a smile, will have "quite a bit of homework" to do.
Ayo celebrated the old Mass for 11 years after his 1959 ordination and, though he prefers the new missal and believes Catholics would get more out of it if they were better instructed, volunteered because he was capable. "If we're going to do it at Notre Dame, we're going to do it right," he says.
"The language comes easily, [but] I'm having to look at the book and read what it tells me to do, when that should all be done by memory and routine," he says. "It would become contemplative for me, too, if it was just second nature."
Father Warner sees the reintroduction as a learning opportunity for students, too. Before the first Mass, campus ministry hosted a series of talks explaining the Eucharist, the history and theology of the Tridentine Mass and the meaning of the Vatican II reforms. "We had three excellent presentations, good questions and a lot of interest on the part of the students," he says.
Walter and Gerardi believe that interest will only grow in the years to come. They hope the low, recited Mass in Alumni Hall may be joined by the occasional high, chanted Mass in the Basilica and by baptisms and weddings in the Tridentine form for those who request them. But for Warner, whether interest waxes or wanes over time is beside the point. "What matters for me is that people truly feel nourished by our encounter with God through the Eucharist."
John Nagy is an associate editor of this magazine.
(January 2008)
It’s good to see the Tridentine Rite making a comeback ...
Introibo ad altare Dei.
Didn’t notice in the title of this article that this was a Caucus thread.
Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
When I was 9 years old, our class of altar boys were trained in the Latin mass. It is sad, but I remember very little of the Latin now.
For those who don't remember the Latin, this is a handy reference:
The Ordinary of the Mass
Even unto the God of my joy and gladness.
Why art thou so heavy, O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God, for I will yet give Him thanks who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
The main reason God gave us quadrigesima was not that we could see how great how sins are, but that, seeing a little of how great our sins are, we could see how God's love is greater beyond reckoning.
Holy God. Holy and Mighty. Holy Immortal One. In the balance against your justice, our sins are heavy. But against your love they are like feathers.
We had sold ourselves to become prisoners to your enemy. But you have burst the bars and shattered the gates. The triumph of your love has washed him away as the waters washed away Pharaoh's army.
Whatever becomes of us (and we entrust ourselves to your mercy) your victory will ring through all ages. You have conquered the adversary, and even now you conquer him in our hearts. And we will yet give you thanks who are the help of our countenance and our God.
Looks like a good candidate for one - but you might want to ask the Religion Moderator to modify the title, to indicate it's a "Caucus" thread up front.
I should add this disclaimer: The site referenced belongs to a Traditional Roman Catholic Parish that I don’t believe is recognized by the Diocese of Spokane. I just like the format that is presented.
Evidently that was the intent, so I changed the title.
At the same time, it doesn’t strike me as a thread that could turn into a flame-war or have troubles like some other threads.
When Notre Dame stops allowing the performance of the Vagina Monologues on campus and gives McBrien his walking papers, then I'll place some credence in what you're saying, Father Ayo. Until then, it's all just window dressing.
I believe that the Vagina Monologues is not performed on campus, but off campus sponsored privately by a campus group. McBrien is a different story, but ND has been rated a homophobic campus because there are not gay lifesytle support groups, but rather groups that educate and support gays in living a truly Catholic life. ND has a long way to go, but is headed in the right direction.
They have over 120 masses said on campus a week, including one in every dorm. That grace is at work.
Funny how they never say that the reforms caused the Priest to turn his back to God.
Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas,
et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine:
“Pepsi cola Priest “
MD, maybe those days a “Pepsi cola Priest” are what brought you where to are today my friend. Maybe its a past to thank God for.
The Second Vatican Council’s “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” did not say anything about the priest celebrating Mass facing the people. However, when the Consilium, which was charged with implementing the decrees of the Constitution, issued its first Instruction, it ordered that the altar be placed in such a way as to permit the priest to say Mass facing the people. In other words, priests were permitted but not ordered to say Mass facing the people. Priests are free to say Mass “facing east” if they wish.
There are legitimate arguments against the current practice of the priest celebrating Mass “versus populum” but you need to get your facts straight.
I’m very happy for them.
My son serves this Mass. It isn’t “window dressing.”
Any change in the right direction is good even if it is just a small change. And there are many such small changes going on at ND, which should, over time, make the university more Catholic. It isn’t realistic to expect or demand radical changes. It is too bad that you can’t appreciate the good things that are happening at ND.
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