Stupid Times Headline

Pope set to bring back Latin Mass that divided the Church. Oh for heaven's sake! You could just as well argue that the introduction of the Novus Ordo divided the Church. I wouldn't personally support that view entirely - I think that the division goes down to basic doctrine first of all. You could also make a cogent argument that the Classical Rite itself united the Church - that I would go along with.

We are told that the Old Rite was "restricted by most bishops". Actually it was totally outlawed by most Bishops - the ones who allowed restricted use were the more sympathetic ones. Apparently, this
led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences.
Well that's a telling turn of phrase! It is true that a liturgist of some note told seminarians some years ago that they should use Terry Wogan as a model for developing their skills at "presiding". For that kind of celebration, "audience" would be about right.

The article refers to Fr Martin Edwards' meeting with Cardinal Zen and a post on the "Cornell Society blog" (which is in fact called the "The Cornell Society for a Good Time"): Universal Indult Already Signed? Naturally, I am not the only one to have visited their blog in response to this mention. They have an excellent post in response Here Comes Everybody in which they say:
To anyone who has found his way here from any blog or news service, even those of dubious enough reporting quality to rely on rumors in half-named blogs for important news, we offer you our welcome. Our Queen is the Blessed Virgin Mary; our King her Son; our regent the Supreme Pontiff. Please enjoy your time here, be kind if you should choose to comment on our posts, and, before you leave, please take a moment to pray for us and our intentions to the Triune God.
The Times summary of the "Tridentine Mass" is amusing:
The Tridentine Mass is celebrated entirely in Latin, except for a few words and phrases in Greek and Hebrew. There are long periods of silence and the priest has his back to the congregation
Not that "Alleluia", "Amen" or "Hosanna" are in the new rite at all. The priest has his back to the congregation - except when he is speaking to them, of course. And, the Novus Ordo can be celebrated facing Eastwards; and in Latin ... oh why bother!

The journalist, Ruth Gledhill, also has a post on her blog Rite of Return, with a lengthy quote from Cardinal Ratzinger and a YouTube video of Benediction in the St Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Ecuador.

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

Image
On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more