A British take on the Latin Mass
Here's the editorial from the British Catholic weekly, The Tablet
Celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of Catholic identity, to the extent that regular attendance at Mass usually defines who is and who is not entitled to call themselves by that name. This may be why liturgical controversy in the Church sometimes takes on a hard and bitter edge. The latest display of ill feeling has been triggered by the somewhat unenthusiastic welcome in some parts of the Church given to Pope Benedict's motu proprio of last July, licensing the more general use of the Tridentine Rite. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican, this week accused bishops who were trying to limit use of the Tridentine Mass of being "in rebellion against the Pope" and guilty of "one of the gravest sins" - pride. Certain "theologians, liturgists, priests, bishops and even cardinals" had issued "interpretative documents that inexplicably try to limit the Pope's motu proprio", he complained.
The substance of his charge is somewhat perplexing, .... READ the rest here: Harsh words from Rome
The Latin Mass. Could it be
The Latin Mass. Could it be that many of those who still long for the good old days are really suffering from arrested development? Language is the weapon of choice for many who want to re-join the conflict between those who want to reach the future through the past and those who live in the present and plan for the future. I have a suspicion that the most ardent fans of Latin have not bothered to learn to speak Spanish to speak to the church of the present day.
The Red Sea parted ... as I
The Red Sea parted ... as I heard the tale, only when the last Hebrew nose was wet. The Church suffers today from a lack of obedience. Popes do not obey their role, the hierarchy do not obey their role, the priests and the laity do not obey their role.
The "Latin" or 1962 Mass is much stronger theologically than the New or 1970 Mass, in any language. The fact that it was in Latin served to provide many subtle psychological hints -- what you are doing here is different than out there, is tied to the past, and will continue into the future long after you are dead. The Mass in your own language cannot do that.
It is not a sign of arrested development to notice this simple fact of linguistics, or to perform an honest comparison of the two rites to the Church's teachings and find that one is precise and one is not. Stop and think -- if we were worried about the vernacular, why did the Council not just say "You may say the Mass in the vernacular"? Why did it also need to be revised? Why revised to something weaker?
It is a sign of 'not getting it' to think that God and the Mass are somehow different today than they were in the past. To think that only we get it, and all before us were benighted fools, is classic post-Enlightenment 19th-century gobbledy-gook, the "modern" of "post-modern" and "Modernist".
Dear Mavfan46. I find your
Dear Mavfan46.
I find your hyperbole interesting. Certainly you have no proof of your assertion. If it is true that you witnessed "a clown mass" that still utilizes the logical flaw of part for a while which anyone trained in the logic of aristotle would understand. People who yearn for the Tridentine Mass should have it, but given the history of the last 22 years, those bishops who who fear a return to the post-Trent counter reformation should be heeded.
Proof abounds that this
Proof abounds that this stuff happens today, padrepadre. Just go to Youtube and search for "clown mass oakland" or 'halloween mass', where an Extraordinary Minister distributed Eucharist while dressed as a devil -- isn't that just a bit odd?
And regarding the role obedience plays, if it was wrong for Archbishop Lefebvre to disobey the Pope, is it not also wrong for these bishops to disobey the Pope? What history of the last 22 years could you possibly mean? You speak as if the Mass of 1962 needs to be contained or something.
The same people who in the
The same people who in the 7o's had clown Masses are now the ones who are so upset that maybe once a week in a parish close to them the Latin Mass would be said. I find it interesting
The Latin/Tridentine Mass,
The Latin/Tridentine Mass, which today we term, the Eucharist Liturgy, should be unthinkable to many Catholics over the age of 65. Catholics attending the L/T mass were/are not "participants" in giving thanks to God for the life,death and resurrection of his Son. Spectators at the L/T mass had little chance of joining with the celebrant whose prayers were often mumbled, spoken in a language few understood, and whose gestures were hardly discernible. Can those longing for the L/T Mass recall how the scripture readings were in Latin?? The "Last Gospel" was read so rapidly as to be a blur? The distribution of the Eucharist was ... what can I say, an exercize unbecoming to what was actually occuring, i.e., a participation in sharing in Christ's divinity.
Let us remember the L/T Mass that somehow was appropriate for those times ... Today's Eucharistic Liturgy is for the people of God.