Monday, June 23, 2008

And the Times Online had this to say

Pope says old-rite Latin Mass should be on offer in every Catholic parish
June 17, 2008

The Vatican is writing to seminaries to request all student priests are trained in how to say the Tridentine Mass, a liturgy abandoned for Mass in the vernacular in the 1960s

Pope Benedict XVI wants every parish in the West to offer believers the Mass in the Tridentine or Gregorian Rite, the Latin-language liturgy used until the 1960s by every Catholic church in the world.

The Vatican is now writing to seminaries to ask that student priests be required to learn the rite, which, in widescale liturgical changes following the modernising church council Vatican II (1962-5), was largely replaced by Mass in the vernacular.

The Pope wishes every parish to offer both rites for Sunday Mass, an eminent Vatican Cardinal announced in London on Saturday. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, said: “The Holy Father is willing to offer to all the people this possibility, not only for the few groups who demand it but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist in the Catholic Church.”

It was a “gift” and a “treasure,” Castrillon Hoyos said, hours before celebrating a Tridentine liturgy attended by some 1,500 worshippers at Westminster Cathedral on June 14. “This kind of worship is so noble, so beautiful – the deepest theologians’ way to express our faith. The worship, the music, the architecture, the painting, makes a whole that is a treasure.”

He attacked claims by Catholics who claim the Tridentine revival is a step backwards liturgically, saying: “Others think that the Holy Father is going against the Second Vatican Council. That is absolute ignorance. The Fathers of the Council, never celebrated a Mass other than the Gregorian one. It [the Novus Ordo] came after the Council ? The Holy Father, who is a theologian and who was in the preparation for the Council, is acting exactly in the way of the Council, offering with freedom the different kinds of celebration.”

He added: "The experience of these 40 years has not always been so good. Many people abandoned the sense of adoration (of God)?

There is (now) an atmosphere that makes it possible for these abuses and that atmosphere must be changed,” he said in English. “It is not a matter of confrontation but of dialogue — fraternal dialogue — making efforts to understand the precious things contained in the new and the old rites.”

Used worldwide in Catholic parishes from 1570 until the 1960s, the Tridentine Rite also differs in key aspects from the modern Catholic liturgy. In the modern Mass, a priest will face the congregants, in the Tridentine Rite, he will pray facing the altar, traditionally placed facing East, towards Jerusalem, and thus the direction of the place from which Christ is believed to have ascended to heaven.

In July 2007. Benedict XVI announced that every priest who wished to do so might celebrate Mass in the Tridentine Rite – without requiring, as had previously been the case, permission from their local bishop.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos added: “Today for many bishops it is difficult because they don’t have priests who don’t know Latin.

Many seminaries give very few hours to Latin – not enough to give the necessary preparation to celebrate in a good way the Extraordinary Form.”

4 comments:

Appalachian Muse said...

Very odd how things go. Im so glad you responded to me, otherwise I would not have read your blog about the resurgence of the Tridentine Rite.
I lost touch after Vatican-II, like Im sure so many others have.
I miss the "tradition".
Perhaps I can re-engage myself again if I can find a priest who knows how to say Latin.
I hope you can enjoy my silly blogs.

V

Steve said...

I am a recent convert...well 8 years ago anyway, and I have never experienced the Latin mass, though I must say that a part of the reason I was so intrigued by the Catholic church in the first place was because of the tradition. I really have no stomach for the contemporary mass at my parish; it seems less than fitting for speaking with God, and I find it distracting.

Moreover, we had someone last Sunday who I think was from another church, because everytime Father said Jesus' name, she'd holler "AMEN!!!". She was the only person out of 800+ worshippers not using an air of reverence for the mass, and it drove me nuts. She must have said "Amen" at least 30 or 40 times.

At any rate, I look forward to being able to participate in a Latin mass soon.

Baino said...

Annie, I've seen you comment on a number of other blogs so thought I'd visit, hope you don't mind. The man in white is about to visit our fair city for World Youth Day and the city is in lockdown during our two-week winter holiday ...I'm expecting to learn more about him (although I raised my kids as Catholics, I'm not a follower of the faith) It will be interesting to see what he has to say to the world of youth! Latin Mass? I think has little relevance if the Church is to attract younglings. It isn't even taught in Catholic schools here anymore. Then again, we in the antipodes are not greatly loved by the Vatican - we're too rebellious!

Sue Seibert said...

Happy Independence Day, Annie! Love you, girl!