Let Us Pray: A Call for More Orthodoxy, and Latin Mass, for the Troubled Church

The New York Times, New Jersey section (not published online) | May 26, 2002 | Benedicta Cipolla

[BlackElk]

The reason that the AmChurch and other Church liberals did not simply adopt the Latin Novus Ordo is that to be liberal is to have an infinite number of itches that allow you no peace and which make one want to share the constant state of irritation with everyone else. If you find peace and repose, they are outraged because you will pay their inflated petty egos no attention. Why the Novus Ordo in the first place, regardless of language?

Liberals want us to think that this is a matter of language. Actually it is a matter of the historic formulas of the Mass itself. For those not old enough to remember the Tridentine Mass culture that was the norm of your ancestors, let me assure you that no one other than itchy liberals was interested in the culture wreckage that is now the norm. It is a quite valid Mass but a cultural abomination, lacking much of a sense of the sacred unless being offered by the most orthodox and competent of priests. The Roman Catholic Church is a profoundly conservative institution and therefore despised by all creatures liberal. The liberals will leave nothing whatever in peace. They crave constant attention to their imbecilic enthusiasms such as We are Church or the libellously named Catholics for a Free Choice or Call to Action or varous idiot "renewal" schemes.

[frogandtoad]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post. It was a very fair article, considering its source. The first name of the reporter told a lot. You might want to post more detailed info. about getting to the Church. PATH, but what station in Jersey City, there are a few. How far from the station. Which way to walk after alighting from the station. etc. As you know, I am a convert. The Catholic Church is a good Church, whether Novus Ordo or Traditional, and we must fight to keep it that way.

[ELS]

The first name of the reporter told a lot.

It's interesting that you mentioned that. Fr. Baker told those of us who had gathered after the Mass that her father is a priest! He had been an Anglican priest and the entire family converted to Catholicism. hehe But, yes, Benedicta means blessed. (Cipolla means onion.)

[Romulus]

Thanks, and a bump back! Askel was asking last week if I'd seen any of the pix you took at ConSpiratio. If they came out and are presentable, I'd love to see them, and I'm sure Askel would too.

[ELS]

You might want to post more detailed info. about getting to the Church. PATH, but what station in Jersey City, there are a few. How far from the station. Which way to walk after alighting from the station. etc.

You can exit the PATH at the Pavonia/Newport station or the Grove St. station. I haven't walked from the Pavonia/Newport station, so I can't give detailed directions from there. From the Grove St. station, one should head northwest on Newark Ave. Essentially you can turn right on any of the north/south roads and then turn left when you reach 6th St. The church is at 344 6th St. between Monmouth and Brunswick Streets.

The address for Holy Rosary Church is 344 6th St., Jersey City, NJ 07302. If you go to Mapquest or MapsOnUs you can get a detailed map of the roads near and an accurate estimate of the distances between the PATH stations and the church.

[ELS]

I haven't even seen any of the pix I took at ConSpiratio! The primary roadblock has been my computer. It has gotten flaky and I need to make more space available on my hard drive (4 gig just isn't what it used to be...). I was trying to fix things for a while then slacked off. This is my cue to get moving again. I really do want to get them posted online. I apologize for not getting them posted sooner.

[grammarman]

Latin doesn't equal holy, pal.

Same as 'pro multis' doesn't equal 'for all'.

[yendu bwam]

Beautiful and majestic, indeed.

[maryz]

Plus, the present scandal demonstrates just how out of touch the bishops are regarding the wishes of the laity. We request the Latin Mass and are ignored;

As I recall it -- and I was old enough to know what was going on -- no one except the liberals chattering about "listen to people" ever wanted the Mass changed. Most people I knew or knew of were dragged kicking and screaming; some stopped going to Mass "until the real Mass comes back."

[maryz]

How easy was it for you to catch on to the different ways things are done in the old Mass?

I'm old enough to remember the old Mass, but when I went to the indult Tridentine Mass last week for the first time, the church provided Latin-English booklets that appeared (I was using my own Missal but I could sort of see those near me) to have explanations and instructions as to when to stand, etc.

[maryz]

Pretty much everything in the latin mass (both Tridentine and Novus Ordo) has that quality. It is generally true for the corpus of church latin pertaining to liturgy, prayer, devotion, and chant.

Latin seems to my ear to be more suited to chant -- I've heard English words set to chant, but there are always a lot of awkward spots. Without having done an actual analysis, I think this stems from, among other things, the fact that English lost declension and conjugation endings after the Middle Ages, leaving it with a lot one-syllable nouns, verbs and adjectives. Most Latin monosyllables are prepositions. It affects the rhythm.

Chant is descended from synagogue chant -- and Biblical Hebrew also has few monosyllables. (While we're on Hebrew, note that orthodox Jews insist that to lose Hebrew is to lose Jewish identity -- they point out as an example that the Jewish community of Alexandria, which went to Greek, dissolved, while the Jerusalem community, retaining Hebrew, didn't.)

[maryz]

Same as 'pro multis' doesn't equal 'for all'.

And 'Credo' doesn't equal 'We believe,' and 'sabaoth' (from tsva'ot = 'armies' or 'hosts') doesn't equal 'power and might.'

[Siobhan]

On Sunday our family attended a Maronite-rite parish for the Holy Qurbana. A Maronite priest who is a friend of my parents was the visiting preacher. The Maronite Liturgy is out of this world. When they get to the Consecration in the Canon it is in Aramaic. It always takes my breath away to hear Our Lord's own language in worship.

It is not impossible to have a beautiful Mass in English. The Anglican Use Latin-rite parishes in the US do so at every Mass. One can only pray that the Third Edition translations are elegant and accurate. I would love to see how a team assembled by Joseph Pearce would translate the Mass into English. And how much better it would be for us to have Msgr. Ronald Knox's New Testament as the version read at Mass.

I think the Novus Ordo is very useful for Weekday and low Masses. But for a Solemnity or on Sunday nothing inspires me like the 'Tridentine' Mass.

[yendu bwam]

But for a Solemnity or on Sunday nothing inspires me like the 'Tridentine' Mass.

Thanks for the post. Where can one go to find out where the Tridentine Mass is held?

[Siobhan]

Good question. My guess is that your Chancery should be able to tell you where you can find an Indult Mass in your area.

[Romulus]

Global Registry of Latin Masses

[ELS]

If you click on the link for the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei I provided in the article, and then scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a link to a directory of approved traditional Latin Masses.

There is also a directory of independent traditional Latin Masses available at Traditio.