The New Old Liturgy
Catholics with a special interest in liturgical matters could be forgiven for scratching their heads last month over several news stories that centered on the celebration of the Mass. First, Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa, Okla., announced that in his cathedral he would henceforth be celebrating Masses ad orientem, that is, facing East with his back to the people. Explaining his decision, the bishop called the Second Vatican Council’s “innovation” of the priest facing the congregation a “serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition.” On the other hand, a few weeks before, Vincent Nichols, the new archbishop of Westminster, wrote the following to the Latin Mass Society regarding the Tridentine Rite: “The view that the ordinary form of the Mass, in itself, is in some way deficient finds no place here.” The Tablet of London praised Nichols for a “timely display of clear leadership” in the matter. But then, in a letter to The Tablet, one of Nichols’s auxiliary bishops wrote that the archbishop had not intended to marginalize the Tridentine Rite in any way.
These recent developments fall under the rubric of reaction to Summorum Pontificum, issued motu proprio by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, which encouraged greater use of the old rite. It has been taken as a signal of the Vatican’s approval of forms of the Mass other than what most Catholics are now used to seeing every Sunday—in the vernacular, with the priest facing the people. Thus bishops are now navigating among several desires: to hew to tradition, to respond to the needs of the faithful and to listen to the pope. But another voice also needs to be heard: that of the Second Vatican Council, which clearly opted for encouraging the Mass that we have come to consider familiar.
Repentance for My Lai
William Calley has apologized for his leadership role in the massacre in 1968 of over 300 civilians in the village of My Lai in Vietnam. Now 66, he told Kiwanis Club members in Greater Columbus, Ga., in August, “There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day.”
A young lieutenant at the time, he received a life sentence, but President Nixon reduced it to three years in Calley’s apartment at nearby Fort Benning. Calley was the sole U.S. army officer convicted, although over 20 soldiers were arrested. Seeing bodies, three helicopter crew members tried to stop the massacre, landing their helicopter between a group of still living women and children and U.S. troops who were ready to fire on them. After testifying before a Congressional committee about the atrocities, the helicopter crew received hate mail and death threats.
One survivor, Pham Thanh Cong, who saw his mother and brothers killed in the massacre, said he accepted the apology, but “his apologies come too late.” Cong, director of a small museum in My Lai, told the news agency AFP, “We want him to come back...and see things here. Maybe he has repented for his crimes.” War-related massacres have always been common, but apologies have been very rare. In the case of My Lai, the conscience of the individual most directly responsible prompted long-overdue repentance. We hope other deeds of repentance and signs of reconciliation will follow, not only for atrocities in Vietnam, but for crimes of war committed elsewhere as well.
Wheels of Misfortune
Every year drunk driving causes more than 17,000 fatalities and 500,000 injuries. Alcohol-related fatalities in the past 25 years, according to the Web site AlcoholAlert.com, total well over half a million. A recent case in upstate New York has drawn extensive media coverage and elicited public outrage. Returning with her children and nieces from a camping trip, a young mother drove the wrong way on a parkway, crashing head-on into a vehicle carrying three men. Eight lives were lost in an instant. Since the driver herself was killed, no criminal penalties can be imposed.
But what about the drunk driver who survives? States use varying criteria to impose penalties. In a case from 2006, an intoxicated young man drove the wrong way on an expressway and hit a limousine head-on, killing the driver and decapitating a young flower girl returning from a wedding. Found guilty of two murders, he was sentenced to 18-to-25 years. But penalties meted out when there is no fatality often range from a slap on the wrist to a few months in prison.
In response to demands for stiffer penalties, some states are now drafting harsher legislation and calling for mandatory installation of ignition interlocks after a person’s first violation. The driver must blow into the device, which then registers blood alcohol level and renders the vehicle inoperable if the driver fails the test. This year 21 states have passed new legislation about driving while under the influence of alcohol (see Dui.DrivingLaws.org). Still, the number of accidents reportedly holds steady: our nation’s highways are becoming killing fields. Government agencies, legislators and prosecutors must change their approach to the problem—and soon.
Council, which clearly opted for encouraging the Mass that we have come
to consider familiar."
Where? Where did Vatican II encourage this? The 1964 Missal was said at the time to fulfill all of the requests of Vatican II.
No, I'm afraid that the Mass "we have come to consider familiar" is nothing but a shell of its former self, a banal on the spot product, the product of a commission, representing the aesthetical and theological tastes of an already superseded generation that effectively gave up on its own heritage.
This is why younger people yearn for the past... not because we think the Church can't develop, but because we feel robbed of the greatest treasure of our faith. And for what? For what did we trade the Church's greatest treasure? Innovation, novelty, experimentation...
No, the young people of the Church are also a voice that must be heard... we love the Traditions of the Church, and we will NOT accept any substitutes or novelties in its place.
Any openings available in another diocese for his transfer? Will entertain any offers!
Jay Rothmeier is quite correct in this observation.
I would also add that the first Synod of Bishops in 1967, a first expression of post-conciliar collegiality – made up of Bishops nearly all of whom had been at the Council - rejected by vote what was put before them as an example of the reformed liturgy. And, of course, that example had few of the features which were later introduced in the 1970s.
Following what Pope Benedict himself has written on this before his election, I in no way wish to express disobedience to matters authorised by Pope Paul VI. However, no theologian would deny that there is a distinction to be made between the wishes of the Council Fathers (approved by the Pope) on the one hand, and Papal authorizations of a disciplinary nature, subsequent to the Council, on the other. (There is plenty of evidence to hand to show Pope Paul was himself often reluctant in giving such permissions). As the history of the liturgy shows, such disciplinary (non-doctrinal) authorisations can, and have been, revoked by subsequent popes.
Although I’m no great fan of the so-called Tridentine version of the Mass, I make two observations:
I understood that Summorum Pontificum called for the allowance of choice of lturgicaal style. Vatican II ushered in changes that were often returns to the earliest forms of divine liturgy (much older and authentic than the Tridentine Liturgy. The error was that they were mandated, rather than allowed to be phased in. Perhaps the Holy Father wishes to remove the coercion, and allow some variety. What should be standard is the Proper of the Mass, but otherwise, let many flowers blossom.
As for Bishop Slattery's insistance on ad Orientum worship, lets hope that the Tulsa Cathedral truly faces East, in the manner of all Europen churches prior the the building of St. Peter's second basicilica. In its wisdom, the Church has allowed the siting of subsequent churches to be sited as local considerations considerations.
Regarding the "Wheels of Misfortune" editorial, third sentence: I suspect that the location of the Taconic Parkway disaster in Westchester County is more accurately described as "Downstate" rather than "Upstate." Perhaps in America's point of view Upstate begins at West 262nd Street. How did this lapse pass review?
Mai Lai was a war crime. But no less was the Democrat led Congress' betrayal of the entire South Vietnamese Government leading up to their annihilation on April 30, 1975. What moral responsibility does a former "anti-vietnam war" "peace" protester have, I wonder? None? You got what you wanted: the US pulled out, the South fell. Now it's been plowed under Communism for 34 years. Satisfied? Out of sight, out of mind? Someone elses' moral responsibility? Interesting ethical theory that I look forward to seeing applied elsewhere on OTHER issues.
Something to think about when we contemplate the human cost either of staying in Iraq and Afghanistan or pulling out without victory. War is full of atrocities, but so is defeat.