Motu proprio alert: Castrillon confirms ruling is coming
Print Friendly VersionBy JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
New York
The top Vatican official in charge of use of the Tridentine Mass has confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI “intends to extend to the entire church the possibility of celebrating the Mass and the sacraments according to the liturgical books promulgated by Pope John XXIII in 1962.” Those books contain the last approved version of the older "Latin Mass" celebrated prior to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), as well as rites for sacraments such as baptism and holy orders.
The remarks from Cardinal DarĂo CastrillĂłn Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, came in an address to the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The older Tridentine liturgy, according to Castrillón, “was never abolished,” and is today the object of both “new and renewed interest.” For these reasons, Castrillón said, the pope believes the time has come to facilitate wider access to this rite, noting that such a request was made by a commission of cardinals in 1986.
For some months now, speculation has swirled that Pope Benedict XVI is planning to extend wider permission for use of the older Mass, in the form of a document called a motu proprio, meaning “under his own authority.”
Castrillón’s speech at the CELAM meeting marks the first time the cardinal has publicly confirmed that such a move is imminent. Castrillón said that under the terms of the pope’s decision, the older liturgies will become “an extraordinary form of the one Roman rite.”
Castrillón did not provide additional details, such as how sweeping authorization to use the older liturgical books will be, nor whether individual bishops will still be able to place limits on their use, as is the case under current church law. Nor did Castrillón provide a specific date for when the pope’s decision will be released.
“This is a generous offering by the Vicar of Christ, who, as an expression of his pastoral will, wants to make available to the church all the treasures of the Latin liturgy, which, through the centuries, have nourished the spiritual life of so many generations of the Catholic faithful,” Castrillón said.
CastrillĂłn also said that Benedict XVI wants the Ecclesia Dei Commission to become a permanent agency of the Roman Curia, with the purpose of conserving and maintaining the value of the older Latin liturgies.
At the same time, Castrillón said, “it’s important to affirm with total clarity that this is not a matter of going backwards, of returning to a time before the reform of 1970,” referring to the introduction of the new rite of Mass following Vatican II.
“The Holy Father wants to conserve the immense spiritual, cultural and aesthetic treasures connected to the older liturgy,” Castrillón said. “The recuperation of this richness,” he said, is united to “the no less precious gift of the current liturgy of the church.”
Castrillón went on to describe a series of communities already existing within the Catholic Church which celebrate Mass and the other sacraments according to the older rites, arguing that they illustrate the potential benefits to be gained from the pope’s decision.
The full text of Castrillón’s speech, in Spanish, can be found here: http://www.celam.info/content/view/277/332/
On That, 3 different replies
On That, 3 different replies are possible:
1) This position is risky, just in case sacredness could be more a factor than generational conflicts. Again, tridentine freedom is necessary to make the tests.
2) It is also unlikely, because a lot of evidence seems to show that anti-sacredness is linked to some generation: it has been widely recognized that the postconciliar period (60s) was against sacredness, and explicitly so. So sacredness and antisacredness comes first, generational issues second.
3) Sacredness is less likely to be generational in a narrow sense, since the tridentine mass comes from 1570, even c. 500, if we use a larger appreciation.
I'm all for preserving the
I'm all for preserving the rich heritage of the Latin liturgy and am firmly committed to the Vatican II liturgical reforms. I lament the loss of so much that was beautiful in the so-called Tridentine liturgy. I'd also like to enrich the Church by allowing for the development of other liturgical traditions in various countries and cultures.
It's hard to find middle ground here. On the one hand, there are some who think that nearly any use of Latin in the liturgy is a step backwards. On the other side, we find those who think that the "new" liturgy does not offer any possibility of experiencing the transcendent.
Part of the problem is that each side offers worst-case examples of bad liturgy to bolster its position. Yes, I've been to some awful vernacular liturgies and yes, Latin liturgies can become rarefied exercises far removed from the experience of the people. However, if one looks to the best of each variety, I think that one could begin to find common ground.
Another part of the problem is poor education in liturgical matters among both clergy and laity. Because of this lack of education, people often misunderstand the nature and purpose of liturgy and they forget that sometimes it is work -- after all, the very term liturgy means "the work of the people." They forget that liturgy is not entertainment, whether of "high culture" or of "popular" culture. It is a common work, a work of the community, to which we should devote our best.
I welcome the more
I welcome the more extensive use of the Latin Mass for those who would profit from that type of worship experience. I do not see it as a step backwards, but as a step forwards in recognizing the growing diversity within the Roman Catholic Church. perhaps we can begin to speak of Roman RiteS, for indeed that is what we will have--TWO distinct rites (in the roman church) of celebrating the ONE Eucharist. So many posts argue in terms of "either-or" instead of looking at this situation in terms of "both-and". Personally, while I grew up in celebrating under the missal of John 23, I would not go back to this. The unity that Jesus spoke of is NOT a unity of language, or rite, or doctrine, for that matter, but a union of love lived out in practice. It is a unity grounded in the love of God that has shown forth in His Son, Jesus, and is empowered through their Spirit. So let us rejoice in this opportunity for diversity (a rarity in the Catholic Church, to be sure) and pray that more such opportunities present themselves.