It is Passiontide and the New Liturgical Movement has been posting pictures of Churches that have veiled their statues from the 5th Sunday of Lent or Passion Sunday, (depending on whether you are following the usus antiquior or recentior.) I was surprised that this was considered a rare practice but visiting Churches in Paris, I did not see any statues veiled. Except the one in the above photo which I visited the other day. It was a strange experience compared to visiting most Churches in France (or elsewhere in Europe.) The Church was being cleaned but there were people there praying. The notice board had plenty of the expected initiatives for catechesis, social work and devotional events.
Unusually, there was no forward-facing altar, so the original plan of the Church could be seen without distraction, leading the eye to the High Altar and the tabernacle.
There were plenty of side altars. Normally these are used as storage spaces or display rooms. In this Church all the altars had altar cloths and candles. Astonishingly, the confessionals were set up to be used, with a notice indicating the priest who would be there and when. There was also a duty priest available for fixed hours throughout the day.
The Church is St Nicolas du Chardonnet which was occupied by the Society of St Pius X in 1977. They simply processed in and took the place over. (Discuss.)
Yesterday evening I attended to the normal scheduled weekday Low Mass. (I didn't take photos in case there was some rule in force, but if anyone from the Society would like me to do so, I'll be happy to oblige on a future occasion.) In most respects, it was exactly as you would expect. The Mass was the same as I celebrate on Saturday morning with a few very minor variations. It seemed in a low-key way to be a "Dialogue Mass" in that some of the congregation joined in with the responses. The most significant adaptation to this was that the priest said "omnipotentem" rather loudly at the end of the Orate Fratres as a cue for people to make the response "Suscipiat". But in fact only some of the congregation did with any volume. People were left free to participate in the way that was suitable for them.
For those interested in such details, the Epistle was read in French by the priest, the Gospel was read in Latin and then repeated in French, there was the "second Confiteor" at the Holy Communion of the faithful and the Leonine Prayers were in Latin. However, these are details: my servers would have had no difficulty stepping in. The Mass was celebrated reverently with full, conscious and active participation of the faithful, whether they were saying things out loud or not. And yes, sorry to raise the point, but the average age was a long way short of 65.
My impression was of a healthy, active parish offering catechesis, spiritual and social outreach, three Masses on a weekday, generous provision for Confession, and a well cared-for Church which was unmistakeably a place of prayer. It reinforced my sincere hope that the discussions currently taking place with the Holy See can lead to a resolution of those issues which deprive us of full co-operation with this most effective apostolate.
12 comments:
Amen, Father. May it be so.
We are seeing in the West a horrible sign of apostasy in every way.
In the USA, the health care legislation (which supposedly does not include federally funded abortion; but probably will) is going through with the "blessing" of the major group of women religious in opposition to our Bishops.
Liturgically, we are in bad shape, but so is the rest of the West, I guess...there are spots of hope and light, thanks be to God, but all is not well.
I pray the SSPX will come into full communion with Rome and will be able to be a part of the much needed New Evangelization.
Thanks for the report.
Thank you for posting this, Father. Clearly the SSPX has something good to offer the Church. May these talks bear much good fruit, and before too much more time passes.
It might be worth discussing that the reason the SSPX have continued use of this church is that (unless my memory fails me) all pre-Revolutionary Catholic churches in France are property of the Republic, and designated to be used for religious purposes.
Hello friend
I am very much happy to have my site in your blog in your posting, and if you put more posting, then naturally my blog would move to the next page. People who are in search of current things happening in space may not have the opportunity to visit my blog if its moved to the next page.
Will you add my blog in your "other great blog" section.
My blog name is http://spacestation-shuttle.blogspot.com/
please add and i will happy to see my blog with your friend's list.
"True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost."
"Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise"
Thanks friend and i follow your blog.
Andrew;
quite so !
Father;
of course, one has to remember that one of the reasons S. Nick's continues to flourish is not only that it's SSPX, and that it has plenty of wealthy 'parishioners', but also that it has very definite political connections, which provides an additional incentive for it staying 'alive and active'.
Yes, my first thought about the property dispute was to do with State ownership of pre-1789 (or was it pre-1905?) churches in France.
I discovered a glorious (and daily, evening) FSSP mass in Köln on a recent trip there - also surprisingly well attended for a weekday evening. Such a pity that even in London all the daily masses are (unless I am mistaken) in the morning - which makes them rather more inaccessible for those of us who travel from afar into the city, unfortunately.
one thing that comes to mind is that in many ways my FSSP parish is much more traditional than the SSSPx in St Nicolas (nooo one would think of re-reading the epistle/Gospal in the vernacular there), having said that they have to share the Church with Novus Ordo and so can't offer the impressive 3 weekday mass's - still thats what happens when you have don't bother with details such as rules and jurisdiction
On a recent school visit to Paris I was amazed to find that St Nicolas de Chardonnet was over the road from our hostel, so I was able to attend Mass each morning in Latin while my pupils were finishing their breakfast.
It's a beautiful church, put to beautiful use by those occupying it.
I do not understand the issue between the SSPX and Rome, but I am sure they are doing something right that we are doing not so right.
Dear Father Finigan
Thanks so much for yet another charitable and fair posting on the SSPX.
I always find that the need to score little points off the SSPX rather vitiates the otherwise good blogs of some traditionally minded priests.
Dominic Mary, thank you for rehashing the old canards peddled by Mgr Leonard in "Light on Archbishop Lefebvre", so effectively demolished by Michael Davies.
"Wealthy 'parishioners'",
"Very definite political connections". Ooh! Haven't you forgotten the albino monks? For good measure, shouldn't you have thrown in that old chestnut, "Action Francaise"? Surely it's time to move on.
Read what the Holy Father has to say about the SSPX and try to understand what he wants for the Church. Instead of scoring silly points, perhaps you could join Fr Finigan in helping to build bridges.
"Just another mad Catholic" made an interesting comment about the SSPX's liturgical traditionalism. I should point out that Mgr Lefebvre was never a real liturgical traditionalist; he was quite happy with the first reforms during the 1960's - it was only when the Novus Ordo came out that he decided to stick with the 1962 missal, and that was for doctrinal reasons, not out of any blanket rejection of change in the liturgy.
Lamentably Sane;
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.
My remarks had nothing whatever to do with SSPX : they were a reflection of the fact that S. Nick's is well known in Paris (and indeed elsewhere in France) as one of the cultural centres of the pro-Monarchist tendency in France, and is also popular with the (politically) extreme Right : but that does not imply that the SSPX is in any way connected with any of those things.
The most you could say is that supporters of those political viewpoints in France appear to prefer the traditional Mass - which in France tends to mean SSPX - but it's certainly not trying to 'score points' off SSPX.
With resepct, if anyone is rehashing canards, it would seem to be you, seeing meanings that simply weren't there.
FWIW, and apart from the fact that I would support the Holy Father in any event, my own reasoning and preference entirely concurs with his approach to SSPX.
Dominic;
when you say that all the daily masses are in the evening in London, do I assume that you mean EF masses ?
I have heard it said from French Catholics (the very few that still keep the faith) that the SSPX has saved a fair few churches from being turned into mosques.
I attended a sung Mass at St Nicholas a couple of years ago. To my amazement I saw quite a few members of the congregation, liber in hand, singing along to both the propers and the ordinary. They were definitely members of the congregation - I was sat at the back, the choir was at the front. Now that is "active participation of the faithful" if ever I've seen it!
Post a Comment