The Hermeneutic of Continuity

The indefatigable Fr Tom Regan OSB of Our Lady and St Michael's Church, Abergavenny, has Solemn High Mass tomorrow 14 September for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: to celebrate the feast, to celebrate the anniversary of Summorum Pontificum to celebrate 150 years of Holy Mass in our Church to prepare for the visit of the Vicar of Christ As our American cousins would say - OORAH! (The photo shows High Mass celebrated at Abergavenny for the 40 hours.)

The Italian news service Androkronos has just  reported Archbishop Raymond Burke as saying that at the older form of the Roman Rite, altar girls (or women) are not permitted to serve at the altar, nor is it allowed for lay people to distribute Holy Communion. Archbishop Burke said this in an introduction to a German Canonical Commentary by Fr Gero P. Weishaupt on  Summorum Pontificum . H/T Raffaella at  Il blog degli amici di Papa Ratzinger (In an earlier version of this post, I mistook the import of the Italian article. I thought it was referring to the clarification that we are expecting to be issued from the Holy See and/or any information or guidance resulting from the three yearly review of Summorum Pontificum. Nevertheless, Archbishop Burke's comments are significant. My apologies for the error.) At NLM, Gregor Kollmorgen has posted various links and an English translation of a key passage from Archbishop Burke's introduction. Preface of Msgr. Burke to Canon...

Today is the third anniversary of the publication of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum which established that the older form of the Mass has never been abrogated and that in consequence, no permission is needed to celebrate Mass or the other sacraments in that form. In the letter accompanying the Motu Proprio, the Holy Father said: In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place. On Saturday, 7 July 2007, we celebrated the old Mass in my parish and afterwards had a little champagne and cake . The effect of Summorum Pontificum has been extraordinary in itself. Although there are some dioceses around the world where positive obstruction is attempted, in many cas...

Sector Católico has apparently learned that Pope Benedict is preparing a great liturgical surprise for Maundy Thursday. Two suggestions are the abolition of the "universal indult" for communion in the hand, and the celebration of the Mass in Coena Domini by the Holy Father in the extraordinary form. I'm sorry to be a killjoy but first of all there is no "universal indult" for communion in the hand. It is an indult given to particular bishops' conferences - relatively recently in Poland. To abolish the permission universally would not be the Holy Father's style and would probably be massively counter-productive in terms of provoking open disobedience. As Mgr Marini pointed out in an interview recently, The Holy Father proposes rather than imposes . Papal EF Mass on Maundy Thursday? That would be great but we would probably have heard of that by now - the rumour has the date of the announcement as Maundy Thursday itself. On the other hand, the rumour ...

Today is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the second anniversary of the promulgation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum . I was lecturing at the seminary this morning but came back in the afternoon to celebrate a Low Mass in the parish, followed by the veneration of our relic of the Holy Cross. Of course, today is "Another Chance To See" the video I cobbled together during the night before Summorum Pontificum was issued:

Today, Pope Benedict has issued a Motu Proprio Ecclesiae unitatem , restructuring the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. In this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father observes that although he has freed up the use of the older form of the Roman rite and remitted the excommunications of the four Bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefevbre, The doctrinal questions, however, obviously remain, and, until they are not clarified, the Fraternity does not have a canonical status within the Church, and its ministers cannot exercise any ministry legitimately. Therefore, since the remaining questions are doctrinal, he has placed Ecclesia Dei under the Congregration for the Doctrine of the Faith, something he indicated his intention to do when the excommunications were lifted. The President of Ecclesia Dei is now the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of hte Faith, Cardinal Levada and a new secretary has been appointed, Mgr Guido Pozzi. Fr Z has some comment on the restructuring , pointing out t...

Many thanks to Jane at  Thoughts from an Oasis in French Catholicism  for news of a report compiled by the International Una Voce Federation concerning the application of Summorum Pontificum during the year since its promulgation. At the French Una Voce website, you can download the original French text . Jane has generously spent time writing a number of posts, translating and analysing various sections of the report. These will, of course, be particularly helpful if you cannot read the French original. (I hope that perhaps the Una Voce Federation will make available an English translation of this important document.) The report is written expressely to give the Holy Father information from the laity, pointing out frankly that in the past, reports from Bishops have failed to give a true reflection of the desire of the faithful for the traditional liturgy. The report accurately describes the varied character of responses to Summorum Pontificum and lists some Bishops who have been par...

Cardinal Hoyos has written the preface to the new edition of "The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described", originally by Adrian Fortescue and revised by Alcuin Reid. The new edition has been revised in the light of Summorum Pontificum and is to be published soon by Continuum. You can see the full text of the Cardinal's review at the Summorum Pontificum blog. Among other things, he says: The Holy Father is pleased at the generous response of many priests to his initiative in learning once again the rites and ceremonies of the Sacrifice of the Mass and of the other sacraments according to the usus antiquior so that they may serve those people who desire them. I encourage priests to do so in a spirit of pastoral generosity and love for the liturgical heritage of the Roman Rite. Seminarians, as part of their formation in the liturgy of the Church, should also become familiar with this usage of the Roman Rite not only in order to serve the People of God who request this form...

First the good news. About a year ago, it was announced that there would be a document from the Ecclesia Dei commission clarifying Summorum Pontificum . CNS reports: Asked about the status of those detailed instructions, Cardinal Castrillon told Catholic News Service that his office had completed its work and passed the draft on to the pope, who would make the final decision about its publication. The bad news is that Cardinal Castrillon has clearly been annoyed by some people pestering him with further demands. Cf. CNS Cardinal: Some not satisfied even after pope's Tridentine Mass decree (H/T Rorate Caeli ) I agree with the comment by New Catholic that there are also some bishops who could be criticised for their opposition to the expressed will of the Holy Father, but I think that we should listen carefully to Cardinal Castrillon. There is a battle going on in the Church over this issue, including, I should imagine, a lot of subtle but intense machinations at the Vatican. We d...

There is an interesting conference next month in Rome, 16-18 September, organised by Giovani e Tradizione (literally "young people and tradition"). The line-up of speakers is impressive, including Fr Nicola Bux, Fr Michael Lang, and Fr Manfred Hauke. The concluding Mass will be at the Church of SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini, the FSSP parish Church in Rome and will be celebrated by Mgr Camille Perl, the Vice-President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. A note adds that the Institute of Christ the King will be providing the music along with the Cappella Musicale of the Pantheon). A note concerning Masses on the Tuesday morning says "7-8am Holy Masses in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Peter (NB. Priests should bring their own “Missale Romanum” ed. 1962)" This confirms something that I was very glad to hear the other day. Apparently now there is no problem about celebrating Mass according to the usus antiquior in St Peter's Basilica - you simply turn up wi...

This is one of those important posts that I really want to get right. The Right Reverend Malcolm McMahon, Bishop of Nottingham came to the Merton LMS conference yesterday to celebrate Pontifical Vespers. The above is a photo taken by Br Lawrence Lew OP. There are more at the New Liturgical Movement Vespers was glorious and I really enjoyed being an assistant Deacon. As I explained to the priests at the conference this week, once you have learnt the ceremonies, there is no more to learn at the practical level. You do not need to "make up" the liturgy, all you need to do is observe the rubrics and try to do things properly. Practice makes perfect. After Vespers, Bishop McMahon came to the reception dressed with his purple ferraiuolo . Several priests also pulled out ferraiuoli from somewhere or another and I am now resolved to get one of these things. There followed the banquet for the last evening of the conference and here lies my concern to get things right. After dinner,...

A new journal for the study of the sacred liturgy has been announced: Usus Antiquior . On 14 September this year, there will be a reception for the journal's benefactors in St Wilfred’s Hall following solemn vespers. Contributions for initial editions will be commissioned and an invitation for submissions will be issued. The first issue is planned for 7 July 2009. Usus Antiquior is an initiative of the Society of St Catherine of Siena and will be committed to the study and promotion of the historical, philosophical, theological and pastoral aspects of the Roman rite as developed in tradition. As the website points out: Because the different forms of the Roman rite “can be mutually enriching,” Usus Antiquior also seeks to make a positive contribution to the discussion of questions pertinent to the liturgical life of the Church in our day. At the Subscriptions page , you can register an interest.

I mentioned the other day that Fr Zuhlsdorf of What Does the Prayer Really Say? has been interviewed for Zenit News . Here are the links to "Summorum Pontificum" one year later : Part 1 Part 2

Today is the anniversary of the publication of Summorum Pontificum so if you are not among the 85,274 viewers who have seen it so far, here is the rather flippant video that I posted last year. It was fun doing it but I don't pretend that it is a masterpiece or that it answers all the questions or that all Novus Ordo Masses are terrible, etc... Fr Zuhlsdorf has been on Zenit in Part 1 of "Summorum Pontificum" one year later (part 2 is going up tomorrow.) I remember last year in Blackfen, we had some champagne and cake to celebrate. The lads who were but novices then in the usus antiquior are quite expert one year on - and the one with the curly hair is now taller than me!

The Catholic Herald this week has a first-class major article by Shawn Tribe of the New Liturgical Movement , looking at Summorum Pontificum one year on. (Cf. In a year Pope Benedict XVI has reshaped the liturgical landscape ) His balanced analysis is accurate and to the point. He points out that: Whereas the ancient liturgy previously had a strong stigma attached to it, the legal clarifications surrounding its status, as well as the evident value that the Supreme Pontiff was attaching to it, created a more positive and open climate. He is aware of the obstacles that remain because of ordinary human reactions: [...] decades of thinking of the 1962 Missale Romanum as either an exception to the law, or an aberration, is not easily undone overnight, and so it is, again, perhaps no surprise that such conservative patterns of thinking can yet remain. Congratulations to Shawn on this excellent article and to the Catholic Herald for commissioning it.

Mgr Marini, the Master of Pontifical Ceremonies has given an interview to L'Osservatore Romano in which he has said that it will be a habitual practice at papal Masses for Holy Communion to be given on the tongue to the faithful kneeling down. Fr Z has translated part of an interview and added his own comments. ( Msgr. Guido Marini: Communion kneeling and on the tongue will be the standard for papal Masses ) In the same post, Fr Z has included the podcast of the sermon he preached here at Blackfen on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at a High Mass on the occasion of the promulgation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum .

This evening, I had the privilege of attending dinner at the Travellers Club in London with HE Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos and the Committee of the Latin Mass Society , together with the other sacred ministers for tomorrow's Mass, Frs Wadsworth and Conlon of the diocese of Westminster, and Fr Hudson of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, together with Fr Ronald Creighton-Jobe of the London Oratory. Fr Christopher Tuckwell, the new administrator of Westminster Cathedral was also there: we are all very grateful to him for his hospitality and for making available some of the Cathedral's finest vestments and plate for tomorrow's Pontifical Mass. After dinner, Julian Chadwick, the LMS Chairman gave a rousing speech in which he noted that the visit of Cardinal Hoyos does much to fulfil the legitimate aspirations for which the society has worked over several decades. Cardinal Hoyos replied in a moving and heartfelt address in which he expressed the hope that to...

Gregor Kollmorgen at NLM has picked up on some Important Assertions by Cardinal Castrillón in the introduction to the FSSP and EWTN training DVD for priests wishing to learn the older form of the Roman Rite. Here is the transcript: It [ the older form of the Mass ] is not a gift merely for the so-called traditionalists, no, it is a gift for the whole Catholic Church. And because it is a gift freely offered that the Holy Father is making, he makes it by means of this marvellous structure, the Church, which comprises the parishes, the priests, and the chaplains in the chapels where the Eucharist is celebrated. And they, by the will of the Vicar of Christ, must accept the petitions and the requests of the faithful who want this Mass, and they must offer it to them. And even if it is not specifically asked for or requested, they should make it available so that everyone may have access to this treasure of the ancient liturgy of the Church. This is the primordial goal of the motu proprio ,...

Fr Thomas Kocik has posted a thoughtful article at NLM on The limits of mutual enrichment . His comments relate particularly to the enrichment of the ordinary form of Mass and his commitment to the reform of the reform makes these especially pertinent. There are a number of important principles involved. The most important of these, I think, is that the priest should not himself innovate and change the liturgy sponte sua . Here, I think that there is a crucial distinction to be made. On the one hand, priests might make up new elements that have never been part of the Church's liturgy - for example improvisations in the Eucharistic Prayer, saying "Bertha. The body of Christ", clown outfits, balloons etc. On the other hand - and I believe that this is genuinely a different issue - there is the question of introducing elements that have long been part of the tradition of the Church into the newer form of the Roman rite. Here I think we can look at several different levels. 1...

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales has issed a press release regarding the revised prayer for the Jewish people in the Liturgy of Good Friday according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. The press release quotes the prayer and a translation and says: The new prayer was written by Pope Benedict himself and keeps the key idea of conversion to Christ. It situates the Jewish people as one group among all the groups of humankind who are offered conversion and salvation through Christ. Although the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews had previously been revised by Blessed Pope John XXIII, some still found a hint in it that it was offered at rather than for the Jews. This possible ambiguity has now been removed. Although some might wonder if there was indeed a pressing need to rewrite the prayer, nevertheless the Latin Mass Society in loyalty to the Holy Father’s clear wish will use the new prayer in all Good Friday services organised under its auspices. John Medlin, General M...