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PDF versionDC liturgy: cappa magna, glorious music, Latin glitches
Apr. 26, 2010
CNS photo
WASHINGTON
Analysis
Die 24 Aprile, A.D. MMX, Eduardus Jacobus Slattery, episcopus dioeceseos Tulsensis in Oklahoma, Missam sacram in lingua Latina secundum formam extraordinariam – id est, secundum ordinem Ritus Romani Tridentinam – in Basilica Sanctuarii Nationalis Conceptionis Immaculatae celebravit. Sermonem suam in lingua Anglica praedicavit. Plus quam tria milia in liturgia sacra participaverunt.
For the (I’m sure very few) NCR readers who have a little trouble with Latin – and with apologies to Latin experts who may find a minor error or two in the above – “On April 24, 2010, Edward James Slattery, bishop of Tulsa, Okla., celebrated the Mass in Latin in the extraordinary form – that is, in the Tridentine Rite – in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He delivered his homily in English. More than 3,000 people attended the liturgy.”
More relevant to me in the April 24 event in Washington were several elements:
First, there were no demonstrations outside or inside the shrine by clergy sex abuse victims after retired Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos withdrew as principal celebrant of the Mass.
Castrillon, former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy and former president of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei,” which oversees and promotes use of the Latin Tridentine rite in the Roman Church, made major news just a week before the shrine Mass when a French newspaper revealed that in 2001 he had praised a French bishop for breaking the law and refusing to turn over to civil authorities a priest engaged in sexual abuse of minors. Castrillon not only did not apologize for his letter; he reaffirmed it and said John Paul II had urged him to send it to bishops around the world.
Second, for the first time in my life – although as an altar boy in the 1950s into the late ’60s and as a seminarian for nearly 12 years I participated in numerous pontifical liturgies the Upper Midwest and in Washington – on April 24 this year I finally saw the grandiose display of the “cappa magna,” the 20-yard-long brilliant red train behind a bishop or cardinal that has come to be one of the symbols of the revival of the Tridentine Mass.
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Fifteen minutes before the Mass, Slattery processed up the shrine’s main aisle wearing the extravagant cloak, held up in back by a young altar server; before the main altar, there was a magnificent turn to exit stage left, at which point the cappa magna stretched almost the entire width of the sanctuary in front of the main altar.
In the actual liturgical procession starting the Mass 15 minutes later, Slattery was dressed not in the cappa magna but in normal liturgical robes, walking up the aisle in an alb and chasuble and carrying a crosier.
Third, and to me most important, throughout more than half an hour of pre-Mass entertainment with beautiful Latin music by an a capella choir (including Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina’s Tu Es Petrus and Thomas Tallis’s O Sacrum Convivium) and into the full first half-hour of the Mass, the entire basilica congregation of more than 3,000 sat passively as an audience to a musical concert, with nary a word to say in the liturgy.
The shrine’s magnificent pipe organ played instrumental accompaniment to the nearly 20-minute processional as altar servers of all ages (but only males), knights of various Catholic organizations, deacons, priests and a variety of other ministers processed to the altar. Many of the priests and deacons bore pomped birettas, the stiff square black caps once worn by all priests and seminarians in choir.
As the procession ended, the choir began to sing the Introit as the ministers accompanying Slattery engaged in a slow, silent pageant around the altar that included the old “Introibo ad altare Dei” antiphon from Psalm 42 (now 43) and extended to the Introit, Kyrie Eleison and Gloria, with some incense thrown in between.
It wasn’t until the Collect that any of the 3,000-plus Catholics filling the shrine’s pews and aisles actually heard a voice from somewhere near the altar.
By that point I had come to realize that this Tridentine liturgy was an elaborate ritual manifestation of ecclesiastical rank, not a Mass in conformity with the fundamental Vatican II mandate for full, active participation by the faithful.
A minor complaint, but certainly relevant for the Paulus Institute, which is devoted to promoting the Tridentine Rite and sponsored the Shrine Mass: The pamphlet for the Mass had several egregious typos in the Latin versions of the Mass’s prayers and Scripture passages.
In a quick reading before the Mass, I noticed that it had, in the prayer following the Confiteor, “Et plebs tea laetabitur in te” (obviously, “tua” was intended); and in the Introit, “et omnis mansuetudinus eius” – obviously should have been “mansuetudinis” – and in Peter’s epistle “Galatic” instead of “Galatiae” and “varlis” instead of “variis.” Also obvious in the Alleluia before the Gospel was the misprint “flilis” instead of filiis for reference to “the children of men.”
The Mass marked the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s formal inauguration into his ministry as pope.
Jerry Filteau is NCR Washington correspondent.
How sad. When Pope Paul VI
How sad. When Pope Paul VI tasked Moriarity with reforming the papal liturgy one of the primary objectives was to remove anything that smacked of monarchical power and royalty. The capa magna is royal/clerical, not liturgical.
When one reads the interventions of the council fathers regarding the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy almost without fail the bishops protest the pagentry of episcopal liturgies mandated by the rubrics of the time while their people struggle for clean water and food. They contend its a gross violation of evangelical simplicity.
This pomp and circumstance is sickening in light of the liturgical reform, but especially with the global crisis the church is suffering by its own hands.
The pope, every cardinal and
The pope, every cardinal and every bishop, should be wearing a burlap sack cloth for the next 25 years, as penance for the 25 years that Cardinal Ratzinger covered up horrendous crimes of the clergy. Instead, American Catholics are made to witness an ancient rite, with a pompous bishop, in self aggrandizing vestments, strutting like a peacock down the aisle of our National Cathedral.
Succinct! The mystery of
Succinct! The mystery of iniquity is at work here. Let's get back to the 'good 'ole days' when these peacocks (neutered of course) could condemn one to death.
unfortunately, it's some US
unfortunately, it's some US Catholics who desire this pomp. If the hierarchy was acting alone, there would be no one in the pews.
I'm sure the cappa magna has
I'm sure the cappa magna has its admirers but while the current clerical sex abuse crisis is licking away at ecclesiastical credentials wouldn't it be more sensible to keep this kind of erotic regalia out of sight?
The bishop is a successor to
The bishop is a successor to the apostles and holds the fullness of the priesthood. It is this priestly dignity which the cappa magna points to, and it's entirely fitting.
Leftist Catholics still mired in nostalgia for the seventies want us to be ashamed of our heritage and tradition. They want us to degrade and insult the priesthood because of the sins of a few so they can advance their sick program of demolishing the church from within.
Your time has passed. Your "reform" failed. The Catholic Church is back.
The apostles wore some pretty
The apostles wore some pretty fancy duds too, heh?
The apostles, like Jesus,
The apostles, like Jesus, were humble men who were willing to lay down their lives to take the gospel into all the world. Their holiness, the love of their Savior, and the power of the Holy Spirit gave them dignity, not elaborate ceremonies filled with pomp and circumstance. The nostalgia of traditionalists for the church of the '50s and '60s makes them ashamed of the ancient tradition of the Church: people gathered in one another's homes, searching the scriptures, and enduring the hatred of society, even death, for the sake of glory that they would taste only in heaven. The reforms of Vatican II, based on scripture and the ancient traditions of our Church, scaped off the encrustations of centuries. It will survive those whose understanding of tradition reaches no further back than their childhood memories.
You have got to be
You have got to be kidding!!!
I'll extend to you the same offer I've given a fellow blogger: I've got a west coast orange bridge to sell you, and I'll even toss in an extra one for no additional charge! Believe me, it'd be a steal!!!
I am sure that the apostles
I am sure that the apostles thought of themselves as a prince and wore exotic clothing to demonstrate their royalty.
Leftest Catholics? Sincerely, it is the "old guard", those that think Cardinals and Bishops should be treated as royalty (lets insert legionaires)are so far out of touch with reality it is pathetic.
The more one sees the immoral actions of these bishops and cardinals the more people turn away from the faith. We Catholics have no moral high ground - and that is not the result of moving away from Latin.
I guess you mean, Paul, that
I guess you mean, Paul, that a lowly priest is not a full priest. What percentage of one is he? If he becomes a monsignor, does his percentage rise significantly.
What a crock of baloney you restorationists believe and attempt to foist on the rest of us!
The "fullness of priesthood"
The "fullness of priesthood" has nothing to do with red cassocks. Being named a monsignor is nothing more than being given a title of honor -- like "Esq." after a man's name -- and the right to wear some red clothes. It is strictly ceremonial.
A bishop is said to have the "fullness of the priesthood" because he has the special sacramental powers a "regular" priest does not: The power to ordain (priests, deacons and sub-deacons) and the power to confirm. Theyv are not just ceremonies: Ordaining and Confirming are Sacramental -- they leave a permanent mark on the soul of the ordinand and the person being confirmed. Father O'Rourke (even were he Msgr. O'Rourke)from the parish down the road doesn't have the power to imprint those marks; Bishop Murphy does.
(In many foreighn countries, bishops and archbishops often are referred to as "Monsignor." That's not the same "style" as the monsignor who is, say, vicar general of the diocese, or the rector of the cathedral
The Reform has never left; it
The Reform has never left; it never failed. It is present when a faithful Catholic reaches out to another who is marginalized, impoverished, hunger stricken, or a victim of injustice. It is there when a faithful Catholic confronts his Cross and chooses service over power. This is not a degradation of the Church, it is never an insult to the priesthood.
Your obvious focus on pomp and circumstance betrays your orientation. Your attitude is precisely what Christ preached against while on earth. This type of display borders on obscene - it glorifies neither God or Church tradition, it glorifies the man made medieval hierarchy that is at the core of the Church's problems today. Sell the fancy duds and get back to the simple, gritty work that Christ demands of us. I will pray that your attitude changes.
Ah, another word from another
Ah, another word from another adult convert who longs for the past that never was and a future that cannot be.
did Jesus and the apostles
did Jesus and the apostles wear a "cappa magna"? Can you imagine Jesus in a "cappa magna'? He was a simple carpenter. I thought priests were supposed to be "alter christus" meek and humble of heart not filled with themselves and "lording it over others". Beware. Go back to Jesus' words to the pharisees.
That you see "erotic regalia"
That you see "erotic regalia" in the Mass speaks more to your own state of mind than that of the Church and its clergy.
Just fancy! One clever
Just fancy!
One clever contributor to the Catholica forum (www.catholica.com.au) discovered that the anagram for "cappa magna" is - hold your breath ! -
A CAMP PAGAN
I appreciate your articulate
I appreciate your articulate and focused outrage at the continued use of spectacle by the Vatican re:. I personally found the photographs accompanying this article chilling. Seems to me that the 'evil one' if there is such a thing, is particularly attached to the garb of high catholicism and attendant rites. Very cold this stuff! Catholics bowing before this character...what do they know about what he does with his...? Yeah, the Bishop. I'm close to letting go of Peter's Barque and plotting my continuing journey 'home' in another configuration.
Cardinal Ratzinger covered up
Cardinal Ratzinger covered up absolutely nothing on evidence to date - quite the contrary - and it is becoming tedious making this point again and again in the absence of any proof to the contrary.
But I agree that there is real need for repentance by certain bishops - and, preferably, prompt resignations so that they may more fully do so.
So this is sickening but the
So this is sickening but the dancefest in LA every year is "reform." I got ya.
This "pomp and circumstance"
This "pomp and circumstance" is precisely what has been missing in the Sacred Liturgy since the so-called "reform" of Vatican II. I cannot think of a more appropriate way to worship God the Father and Savior of all mankind than by liturgies marked by solemnity, magnificence and "pomp". The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is supposed to be a foretaste of the Beatific Vision of Heaven, and, despite what some "reformers" may have hoped for, when we finally get to see God face to face, He will not be dressed in felt and strumming a guitar.
Amen, amen, amen!!!
Amen, amen, amen!!!
I thought the Eucharist was
I thought the Eucharist was to be a community sharing of food as in the N.T. and early Church. What is the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass"? Does Jesus die over and over? Is the Mass about Good Friday or Holy Thursday?
I don't think God dresses in either ecclesiastical finery or, well, anything else. God is Spirit, and those who worship God do so in spirit and truth.
Wow... you must not, cannot
Wow... you must not, cannot be a Catholic then...
Are you serious?
bcoop The Mass is the
bcoop The Mass is the unbloody sacrifice of Calvary. That's Catholic doctrine, unchanged even by the incoherence of VII.
There are available several
There are available several brilliant and illuminating commentaries on the Dogmatic Constitutions, decrees, declarations and other Documents of the Second Vatican Council which might render them comprehensible and their coherence plain, even in Scranton.
The standard one stop shop for all our Roman Catholic needs of course is the HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism which bears coherent, comprehensive and clear indepth articles on the Council and her documents. I urge you begin there, as Faith seeks understanding.
You thought wrong.
You thought wrong.
your comment is not
your comment is not compatible with membership of the Catholic Church. If you claim to be Catholic, please speak to a priest for correct catechesis. If you are not a Catholic, and are interested in becoming one, please speak to a priest for correct catechesis.
Clint, How do you _know_ that
Clint,
How do you _know_ that God won't be dressed in felt and strumming a guitar? Perhaps the almighty is fond of strummed instruments. The lute has an ancient and honorable history....
That's right. Why can't
That's right. Why can't somebody that was given a talent by God to play any instrument return it back to God by playing at Mass!
"The Holy Sacrifice of the
"The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is supposed to be a foretaste of the Beatific Vision of Heaven, and, despite what some "reformers" may have hoped for, when we finally get to see God face to face, He will not be dressed in felt and strumming a guitar."
So God wears sixty foot, flaming, red capes? I have read the Gospels. Where does it say Jesus dressed in such a manner? Pilate? Maybe. Herod? Maybe. Jesus? No.
Steve
Nor will he be trailed by a
Nor will he be trailed by a 20 foot cappa magna.
You're right, it will
You're right, it will probably be longer:
"In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple." -- Isaias 6:1
The story says that the cappa
The story says that the cappa was 20 yards (i.e., 60 feet) long.
Somehow I don't think last
Somehow I don't think last Saturday's Tridentine Mass at the National Cathedral was what Jesus intended at the Last Supper when He said "Do this in remembrance of Me". How about His demonstration of service by washing His friends' feet? Where did that idea fit in last Saturday? Each and every time at the end of the Paul VI Mass we are called to "go forth to love and serve the Lord". The Lord's Body and Blood given up for us is the food we eat to strengthen us to follow Him in love and service. That makes sense to me, plain and simple. I fail to see that in what took place last Saturday.
We find God within the
We find God within the communal breaking of the tortilla
in my parish we use something
in my parish we use something more akin to poundcake.
Amen, Amen, and I say, Amen!
Amen, Amen, and I say, Amen! Mass is meant to take us to heaven, where the streets will be paved with gold and God demands to be worshiped how HE desires to be worshiped (hint: read Revelation and its description of golden thrones and fancy altars, etc). Mass is not meant to be a celebration of ourselves or our "community", or some sort of reaffirmation of baby boomers' personal preferences for entertainment and love for bad imitations of Joan Baez music. This is just one more article by a liberal who thinks that people in the pews are too stooooopid to understand what's going on in the liturgy that nurtured so many saints throughout the history of our Church. The people in the pews were not forced to be there, nor were they failing to actively participate. Ask anyone who was there to worship what they were doing during the liturgy, and they will tell you they were participating in prayer, joining in the sacrifice of the Mass, directed toward Almighty God. People like the author complain about "bureaucratic Rome" somehow "forcing" liturgies on people, but it seems these folks were silent in the period from 1963-1979, when "bureaucratic Rome" and hippie Bishops took away the peoples' liturgy, desecrated and defaced their altars of sacrifice, took the tabernacles out of their churches, and forced them to learn a new language (What on Earth does "Kumbaya" mean, anyway?) I'm young, and let me tell you something. It's you baby boomer hippies who are doing all the dictating around here. We HATE your guitar strumming music because it is BAD. We don't hate you, and we don't hate active participation in the liturgy. What we hate is disobedience of the successors of the Apostles, and disrespect for the liturgy that has saved the souls and made saints of so many and that causes man to lift his senses to the heavens, instead of wallow in the abstract simplicity of Earth and the celebration and acceptance of humanity's faults.
Thank you for expressing what
Thank you for expressing what many Catholics know and feel.
Since Vatican II many Catholics have been lost to the faith or are Catholics in name only. They do not believe or practice the teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church because of the radical teachings of many Catholics in leadership positions including laity, clergy and religious.
The church is made up of sinners on all levels. The sins of the past are being exposed and changes are finally being made to prevent them from reoccurring and to help the individuals who have suffered because of this.
Hopefully changes will come about to bring everyone who claims to be Catholic to follow/proclaim the teachings of the Catholic Church and not interpreted them to meet their own agenda/needs.
The highest number of vocations both clergy and religious are found in communities that are following the Catechism of the Catholic Church and yes many of them follow the Roman Missal and the Nuns wear more traditional religious garb.
radical teachings. Dislike
radical teachings. Dislike them term very much.
What is what is done
What is what is done disrespectfull or disobedience in the mass today. I fell that when the bishops and priest come filing in with all their pomp they clearly mean to bring more attention to themselves instead of to the gospel or the eucharist. Jesus was a smiple man.
Mark, hate is not Christ
Mark, hate is not Christ like; and simply disproves everything else you say.
There's a HUGE difference
There's a HUGE difference between drag and pomp and circumstance.
This is ecclesiastical drag at its most odious extreme.
Show me where God asked for worship to be a drag show.
No it isn't "pomp and
No it isn't "pomp and circumstance" which the liturgy has been missing. It is decorum, dignity, the use of the Church's liturgical patrimony, both eastern and western. It is not a return to the vainglorious triumphalism of yesteryear. The cappa magna could not be a better example of everything the Church should not be using to speak to the modern world. It is emblematic of a medieval hierarchy we will never see again and we shouldn't want to see again.
It was a big mistake for Pope Paul VI not to include it in his list of prelatical choir dress to be abolished. I have no doubt there were a number of more conservative cardinals who pressured him to retain it for those bishops who also mistook "pomp and circumstance" for real liturgical reform.
How would you know?
How would you know?
Yeah, right. We can't walk
Yeah, right. We can't walk and chew gum at the same time. And what does one have to do with the other?
Face it, the days of kumbaya Catholicism are waning. The younger generation is bored with the infantile banality and horrendous music associated with the Novus Ordo.
I'm not saying we all return to the extraordinary form, but just don't get so jacked off that it is a legitimate alternative and that some people find it beautiful, uplifting and spiritually satisfying.
Don't be so peevish at other people's satisfaction.
Let's face it, the days of a
Let's face it, the days of a universal church based in the Vatican that speaks only Latin are gone. This is an attempted CPR on a dinosaur.
I'm laughing! I'm 60, a
I'm laughing! I'm 60, a convert and staying away from the scene of the crime. They're all suspect as far as I'm concerned. Priests, etc. Perhaps this scandal isn't so bad? Look at the Borgia popes! Anyway, " mouth to mouth on a dinosaur" as it relates to Mr. Ratzinger and his bunch up on the hill.
Dr. Porch, I sure hope you're
Dr. Porch, I sure hope you're right!!!
God knows, we need to turn the Vatican --- and too many local chanceries around the world --- upside down and shake the hell out of them!!!
More than 30+ years of papal and episcopal reactionary/fundamentalist crap is more than I can tolerate.
Latin is no more a dinosaur
Latin is no more a dinosaur than is Mozart or Bach. Any burial service for Latin is premature because the patient has yet to die.
There is a place for it as long as the laity yearn for it some and at some time. I don't believe you can impose on everyone and the Church shouldn't even try.
You know you could take the
You know you could take the same attitude toward most corrupting things in the world.
You don't speak for the
You don't speak for the younger generation. If you haven't noticed acoustic folk and americana is all over the university scene not mention first, second, and third coast. So take your anal retentive NERVOUS ORDO back to the basement where it belongs. Kumbaya (Come by here Lord) is a comeback kid. Hide and watch.
Judge not least you be
Judge not least you be judged. Are we not ALL a priestly people and a priestly nation . Are we not ALL the body of Christ. We are to give birth to Christ not just ordained MEN that love power and domination over women and children. Soon the old will die so that truth may live.
IN THE ONE
This is a valid point that I
This is a valid point that I hope defenders of the Novus Ordo will take to heart. Gospel simplicity is great. I'm all for it. The latest Tridentine reaction has some popular support because the Novus Ordo people have their own version of the cappa magna - the imposition of ugly modern music, "hymns" written in the last 30 years by tone-deaf hippies with no sense of the sacred etc. I have been to simple Tridentine Low Mass that had no pomp and circumstance and to my mind was superior to Novus Ordo masses crafted by mediocre pastors and liturgists into a cross between Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live.
There is also the Gregorian Novus Ordo Mass with Schola. Ever hear of it? It's in English and Latin. The music is Gregorian Chant. It is the Mass of Paul VI with great solemnity. Novus Ordo enthusiasts don't seem interested in this very "root rite" of the reform. It is celebrated in Spokane, Washington every Sunday at 5 pm during the Gonzaga University school year, at Jesuit House. Novus Ordo people would do well to cultivate it. It is starkly simple and faithful to the reform, but with beautiful music and a few prayers sung in Latin by the participating congregation.
If Novus Ordo people intend to engage in liturgical warfare, where it's a case of a noisy, applause-ridden, shopping mall ambience Novus Ordo versus the Tridentine Mass, they have lost the battle already. Let's have a return to the original Mass of Paul VI or at least to its spirit. The coffee house folkies, the stocking clad dancers, the clowns and clapping -- all of the noise of the world -- needs to be confined to the parish hall after Mass.
Meanwhile Tridentine Mass people should teach themselves and their children Latin and be fluent in it. A missal with English/Latin translation is not enough. Jesus spoke in the language of the people and intended us to understand Him, otherwise you are breeding only an audience for a classical spectacle.
The vicious post-Conciliar suppression of the Tridentine Mass is partly responsible for its great attraction now. Catholics should have had the right to choose. Instead, in the name of peace and luhv a tyranny prevailed which outlawed the old Latin Mass, as did the Anglicans in 16th century England and Ireland. Many of those prelates who were most tyrannical in suppressing the old Mass are most implicated in facilitating child abuse. (Roger Mahony comes to mind).
It's one thing for a conservative to be bossy or intolerant, quite another for a "luhv"-spouting liberal. The Novus Ordo regime has a lot to answer for. I hope they turn over a new leaf and both generously facilitate the rights of the Tridentine parishioners while returning the Novus Ordo to a sense of the sacred. Catholics are to be in the world but not of the world. The Novus Ordo has become far too worldly in its sophomoric bid to be "relevant." I equate it with mediocrity. There is no gainsaying the beauty of the Tridentine Rite. The Mass of Paul VI does not have to be uncouth and vulgar. Food for thought. --Joe
Your analysis here is very
Your analysis here is very well written, dead on and insightful and I'm surprised that no one else has commented on it; perhaps because it hits too close to home for the "progressive" camp.
Great comment! All too often
Great comment! All too often the commentators who post here are a take it or leave it bunch - both on the right and on the left. It is good to hear some common sense (not that I agree with everything you said) for a change.
As a former acolyte who paid his dues at 6am Masses for years, and as one who currently sings in a choir every Sunday, I have sympathy for both sides, although my tastes run more toward Gregorian Chant than to guitar Masses. My experience has been that the older Latin rite was an exercise in contemplation for most of the participants, or at least those who didn't pop for a St. Joseph's Missal so that they could read along in English while the Latin was recited. Contemplation was the best state that could be expected; most were merely bored and passively sat/knelt until Mass was over. The Novus Ordo rite, on the other hand, demanded participation and at least attempted to break the silence of the participants. It probably also interrupted the daydreaming of the congregation, not a bad thing, really. The biggest problem with the Novus Ordo was its exposure of the content of the liturgy for examination; some of the elements that sounded so beautiful in Latin came across as banal at best, or at least uninspiring. It also interrupted the sense of magic/mystery that accompanied the Latin rite, which is one of the things that I hear many people long for in worship.
I will enthusiastically sign up for a ban on guitar Masses as currently practiced. There are more songs that are just not "right" in this class of liturgical adjuncts than any other. I suppose that it could be said that the music should motivate the congregation, and who cares what form it takes as long as it does its job, but in most cases it seems to clash badly with the idea of worship. We can do better. A lot better. I think that this is the area where the word "sophomoric" has some justification. This does not mean, however, that the entire Novus Ordo should be thrown out in an attempt to be aligned more appropriately with the idea of worship. I would much rather hear the words of the liturgy in English than to have to dust off my years of Latin to grasp some sense of what is going on.
It may be fruitful to ask what, beyond conservative reaction to the changes of Vatican II, is underneath the desire to roll back the clock on the form of the ligurgy. I have a hunch that at least in part the motivation is to allow the faithful some "quiet time", a contemplative respite from life so that they may reflect. Just reflect. Meditate, if you will. Yes, there will be those who use that time to daydream, but the folks I speak to who want a return to the Latin rite seem to be those who would be least likely to fritter away their time while experiencing true quiet. If for that reason alone, I could see the validity of the Latin Mass. Or, perhaps preferably, we should all cultivate the practice of silently being in the presence of God outside the Mass; in that way both aspects of being Catholic could be experienced without going at each others throats.
But when one reads the ACTUAL
But when one reads the ACTUAL Vatican II documents, no where does one read that the primary objective was to remove anything smacking of monarchical power and royalty.
In fact we read this
In fact we read this everywhere in "the ACTUAL Vatican II documents."
Collegiality, not monarchy.
The whole People of God.
NO WHERE in the Declaration
NO WHERE in the Declaration of Independence does it say that the delegates in congress have established a republic, but only a fool doubts the intent. Do you get my point?
Bad analogy, Henry. The
Bad analogy, Henry.
The Declaration of Independence, was exactly that, a declaration of independence from the British crown. Indeed, the colonies operated through the Continental Congress & the the Articles of Confederation.
The U.S. Constitution later established the republic.
The documents of the Second Vatican Council are the blueprint for reform, not the "Spirit of Vatican II". Said "spirit" appears to exist somewhere between what the documents actually say and what certain folks want them to say.
WELL, not so far fetched.
WELL, not so far fetched. They wanted no King but represented government.
It is clear, too, that the delegates to the Second Vatican Council wanted no King Pope.
Perhaps this bishop should go
Perhaps this bishop should go to Haiti and try to repeat this ceremony.
I did notice a slight error
I did notice a slight error in your use of the 3rd person plural of participo-are. However, your Latin is on the whole quite commendable, Mr. Filteau.
That said, I do have the strong suspicion that "Plebs Tea" in the official pamphlet was no error, but rather a conscious attempt to integrate the plebs of the Latin Mass movement into the ranks of the equally reactionary Tea Partiers.
Oh brother!!!!!
Oh brother!!!!!
Jerry Filteau wrote, "By that
Jerry Filteau wrote, "By that point I had come to realize that this Tridentine liturgy was an elaborate ritual manifestation of ecclesiastical rank, not a Mass in conformity with the fundamental Vatican II mandate for full, active participation by the faithful."
Pope John Paul II, at an address to the Bishops of the United States on their ad limina visit said on October 8, 1998:
"Active participation certainly means that, in gesture, word, song and service, all the members of the community take part in an act of worship, which is anything but inert or passive. Yet active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it. Worshippers are not passive, for instance, when listening to the readings or the homily, or following the prayers of the celebrant, and the chants and music of the liturgy. These are experiences of silence and stillness, but they are in their own way profoundly active. In a culture which neither favors nor fosters meditative quiet, the art of interior listening is learned only with difficulty. Here we see how the liturgy, though it must always be properly inculturated, must also be counter-cultural.
"Conscious participation calls for the entire community to be properly instructed in the mysteries of the liturgy, lest the experience of worship degenerate into a form of ritualism. But it does not mean a constant attempt within the liturgy itself to make the implicit explicit, since this often leads to a verbosity and informality which are alien to the Roman Rite and end by trivializing the act of worship. Nor does it mean the suppression of all subconscious experience, which is vital in a liturgy which thrives on symbols that speak to the subconscious just as they speak to the conscious. The use of the vernacular has certainly opened up the treasures of the liturgy to all who take part, but this does not mean that the Latin language, and especially the chants which are so superbly adapted to the genius of the Roman Rite, should be wholly abandoned. If subconscious experience is ignored in worship, an affective and devotional vacuum is created and the liturgy can become not only too verbal but also too cerebral. Yet the Roman Rite is again distinctive in the balance it strikes between a spareness and a richness of emotion: it feeds the heart and the mind, the body and the soul. It has been written with good reason that in the history of the Church all true renewal has been linked to a re-reading of the Church Fathers. And what is true in general is true of the liturgy in particular. The Fathers were pastors with a burning zeal for the task of spreading the Gospel; and therefore they were profoundly interested in all the dimensions of worship, leaving us some of the most significant and enduring texts of the Christian tradition, which are anything but the result of a barren aestheticism. The Fathers were ardent preachers, and it is hard to imagine that there can be an effective renewal of Catholic preaching, as the Council wished, without sufficient familiarity with the Patristic tradition. The Council promoted a move to a homiletic mode of preaching which would, like the Fathers, expound the biblical text in a way which opens its inexhaustible riches to the faithful. The importance that preaching has assumed in Catholic worship since the Council means that priests and deacons should be trained to make good use of the Bible. But this also involves familiarity with the whole Patristic, theological and moral tradition, as well as a penetrating knowledge of their communities and of society in general. Otherwise the impression is given of a teaching without roots and without the universal application inherent in the Gospel message. The excellent synthesis of the Church's doctrinal wealth contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church has yet to be more widely felt as an influence on Catholic preaching."
Yeah, Right! and Nero fiddles
Yeah, Right! and Nero fiddles while Rome burns...come to think of it, maybe he was on to something.
Spoken like a true
Spoken like a true Protestant, or, better yet, a "Know Nothing" from the 1850's.
The Grand Wizard of the KKK would be proud of you!
TNCath, aren't you the person
TNCath, aren't you the person who said that Jesus was a convert....I'm not a Protestant Christian, but a Catholic Christian and try to follow the Gospel of the Jewish Christ.....maybe you should read it.
Yeah and nero was wearing a
Yeah and nero was wearing a capa gagna!
"Conscious participation
"Conscious participation calls for the entire community to be properly instructed in the mysteries of the liturgy, lest the experience of worship degenerate into a form of ritualism."
You mean to tell me that those 3000 or more folks were listening interiorly to the choral music, understanding the Latin texts of "Tu es Petrus" and the other motets, to the point where it would be considered by someone like Pope John Paull II as "active, but interior" participation?
Oh, they were following along with the translations in their programs? Following along a complex Palestrina setting for double chorus? Really? That would mean we had 3000 or more folks with the hearing capability of Mozart or Bach, as polyphony is anything but clear (that was the whole argument of the early Church against the development in music known today, colloquially, as "polyphony.")
Wouldn't that make this liturgy an elitist art form, accesible only to those with the necessary knowledge of Latin, liturgical history, and a level of hearing that borders genius?
It just seems implausible and unrealistic. And the Paulus Society's event, as reported here, seemed like a visit to the museum at best, and a degenerate form of ritualism at worst.
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