Posted on 06/14/2008 6:23:31 AM PDT by yankeedame
By Damian Thompson
Last updated: 1:47 PM BST 14/06/2008
The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today. In addition, all English seminaries must teach trainee priests how to say the old Mass so that they can celebrate it in all parishes. Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly known as the Tridentine Rite.
The announcement by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, speaking on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, will horrify Catholic liberals, including many bishops of England and Wales, who were opposed to the Pope's decree last year removing their power to block the celebration of the old Mass.
Pope Benedict now clearly intendeds to go much further in promoting the ancient liturgy. Asked whether the Latin Mass would be celebrated in many ordinary parishes in future, Cardinal Castrillon said: "Not many parishes – all parishes. The Holy Father is offering this not only for the few groups who demand it, but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist."
In the traditional rite, the priest faces in the same direction as the people and reads the main prayer of the Mass in a voice so low as to be virtually silent. Cardinal Castrillon said that this reverent silence was one of the "treasures" that Catholics would rediscover, and young worshippers would encounter for the first time.
Pope Benedict will reintroduce the old rite – which the Cardinal said should be known as the "Gregorian Rite" - even where the congregation has not asked for it. "People don't know about it, and therefore they don't ask for it," he explained. The revised Mass, adopted in 1970 after the Second Vatican Council, had given rise to "many, many, many abuses," added the Cardinal.
However, the new rite – in which the priest faces the people and speaks in the vernacular – will definitely not be phased out. The Pope wishes to see the two forms of Mass existing happily side by side.
In practice, these sweeping liturgical changes will cause intense controversy. At the press conference, a journalist from the liberal Tablet magazine, which is close to the English bishops, told the Cardinal that the new liturgical changes amounted to "going backwards".
Liberal bishops in England and America have so far attempted to limit celebration of the Pope's 2007 decree by saying that the 2007 rules require a "stable group" of the faithful to request the old Mass. But Cardinal Castrillon said that a stable group could consist of as few as three people, and they need not come from the same parish.
The Cardinal, head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, made his comments as he was preparing to celebrate a traditional Latin Mass at Westminster Cathedral, the first time a cardinal has done so there for 40 years.
The Catholic Church in England and Wales was unavailable for comment.
Won’t the Muzzies get this stopped as being “hate speech”?
This is wonderful news. I grew up with the Latin Mass and always found it beautiful.
God Bless Pope Benedict.
I’ll be glad when that happens here. Where I live, there seems to be some hesitation for parishes to begin the Latin Mass. I believe there is only one church out of about 40 that is having the Mass, and it is at 7 AM which is a little early for me on a Sunday.
Would love to hear the Mass in Latin again...and a church organ instead of a guitar. Also eliminate this “shake hands with your neighbor” and I’ll be real happy.
Me too.....the Mass introduced in the sixties was about.....the sixties. Fads, even those of forty years, in the end, do not last.
I’ve had some major guilty pangs because I so dislike that “shake hands with your neighbor” thing. It seems so superficial to me, but I thought that was just me.
Dittos, also, on the Latin Mass and the church organ. I would love to see the quiet spirituality of all that brought back.
“Also eliminate this “shake hands with your neighbor” and I’ll be real happy.”
Amen and amen!
This is incredibly major news, if correct! It means that Rome has gone beyond waiting for the bishops to cooperate (which many had no intention of doing, obviously). I think this is probably not the Pope’s chosen way of dealing with it, but it’s obviously the only way.
And I’m sure it doesn’t apply only to England. This must be what Rome has been mulling over for the last few months since the disastrous non-reception of the Motu Proprio.
“The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales...”
I don’t understand. England had a special right to the old rite! even Wikipedia gets this right:
After the New Order of Mass was introduced in 1970, the late John Cardinal Heenan obtained in November 1971 a Papal Indult, under which any Bishop in England and Wales could permit celebration of the Old Mass for the benefit of a group of the faithful and, in October 1984, Pope John Paul II granted an Indult to every Bishop in the world allowing the celebration of the Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962.
In 1974, following an appeal to Cardinal Heenan, the Hierarchy of England and Wales “recognised the right of Catholics to leave instructions regarding the rite to be used at their Requiem Mass”, and they accordingly so informed the clergy. Small cards bearing this statement are issued to all members on enrolment.
End paste.
So, since 1971, it was up to the Bishops. Rome never really banned the use of the old Mass in England then. The English bishops did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't mind a truly reverent Novus Ordo Mass. I think the solemn Masses that they do at the National Shrine (as shown on EWTN) are a tremendous model for how the Novus Ordo can and should be done.
And, frankly, I actually prefer the Lectionary cycle used with the Novus Ordo (particularly as supplemented by the Liturgy of the Hours), as compared to that used in the Tridentine Mass. I like the increased emphasis on Holy Scripture. I like the fact that the Scriptures are read in the Vernacular.
Having said that, there are, frankly, theological differences between what happens during the Liturgy of the Eucharist in the Novus Ordo and the Tridentine rituals. I believe that the Tridentine celebration is vastly superior to the Novus Ordo when it comes to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It corresponds far more to what the Divine Liturgy should be, from a theological standpoint. (However, having the celebrant face Ad Orientam in the Novus Ordo would go a long way to fixing that particular problem)
The biggest thing is that the Protestant influence needs to be weeded out from the Mass.
England had the right and now everybody has the right, thanks to the Motu Proprio. The problem is that that the English bishops rarely permitted it, and the recent Motu Proprio has been generally ignored and rejected by many bishops worldwide.
If I’m reading this correctly, Castrillon Hoyos is saying that there will be a Gregorian Mass (Traditional Latin Mass) in every parish in England and Wales, whether the bishops like it or not, and that seminary training in that Mass must be offered in every seminary, whether the bishops like it or not; and that a program is about to be announced to ensure that this is done worldwide. In other words, if this report is accurate, it sounds like the Pope has moved from asking to ordering.
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I also believe this applies to US churches as well, probably the bishops are just stalling the news, to see how they can spin it. Must not let any control go!
You can do a decent Novus Ordo, but the mere fact that we have to discuss whether this is possible indicates that there’s a fundamental problem with the form, even if there are no puppets or dancing nuns present...
I think the Lectionary is a separate question. Personally, I liked the older one because it repeated the same readings year after year, and those became fixed in one’s mind for ready reference in connection with that feast. I’m not sure people have benefitted much by simply having a large number of constantly changing texts thrown at them. Memory is an important part of learning and stocking the brain with images that it can call up at need, so to speak, and repetition is one of the best ways of achieving this. However, there have been suggestions for maintaining the new Lectionary in the revived Gregorian Mass, so I think it’s a question that is still up in the air. Initially, of course, these masses have been celebrated with the old cycle of readings.
I agree with you on the Protestant stuff. I live in a diocese in Florida where we have a couple of priests who conduct what sounds for all the world like “praise services.” They start the mass by screaming “God is good!” to which the congregation screams back, “All the time!” I thnk BXVI has got some work to do here! And of course, meanwhile, the bishop of this diocese hates the Gregorian Mass and has done nothing but present obstacles to it and intimidate both the priests and the laity who request it.
i'm STILL angry it was switched to english...
The churches around here look just like protestant churches. No holy water anymore, no incense, dress so casual you could go straight to the beach or lake. I must say that most protestant churches seem to require a more proper attire than the Catholic. The sacristy is moved over to one side and it is sad to see the old people genuflect to a barren altar, of course the young people don't bother. I guess they deep sixed the statues somewhere, altho a few allowed the Blessed Mother to remain. The prayers are read by women, all very politically correct and all very strange.
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