Posted on 07/15/2007 3:58:33 PM PDT by NYer
'AND then how shall I lie through centuries,/And hear the blessed mutter of the Mass," exulted Browning's bishop ordering his tomb at Saint Praxed's church, in the well-known poem. His repose would have come to a raucous end in 1969, when the New Mass was imposed on the Catholic faithful; but he might have relapsed into contentment from next September 14, when the motu proprio of Benedict XVI restoring the Latin 'Tridentine' Mass comes into effect.
Not since 1850, when Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman hurled his pastoral letter 'From Out the Flaminian Gate' like a grenade into the heart of the British establishment, proclaiming the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, has a Roman document provoked such consternation among the ungodly.
It is important, however, to keep this development in perspective. Benedict XVI is not the awaited Pope of Tradition who will fully restore the Church; but he is a holy man of deeply orthodox convictions who is paving the way. On the other hand, the motu proprio may be a modest step, but it has significance far beyond its actual contents - beyond even the Catholic Church. For the first time in living memory, a major institution is reforming itself by turning back to earlier precepts: David Cameron might profitably take note.
The bishops of England and Wales tried furiously to prevent the liberalisation of access to the Traditional Mass, lobbying the Vatican against it, although they had recently approved the regular celebration of a Mass for homosexuals. On the eve of the publication of the Papal document, Bishop Kieran Conry, of Arundel and Brighton, said: "Any liberalisation of the use of the rite may prove seriously divisive. It could encourage those who want to turn the clock back throughout the Church." So, a liberal opposes liberalisation - why are we not surprised?
As for turning the clock back throughout the Church, it is the only possible remedy for the crisis that has afflicted it since the Second Vatican Catastrophe. The Novus Ordo (New Order of Mass) was invented by Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, assisted by six Protestant pastors, after the Vatican Council. When this appalling confection was presented to the 1967 Synod of Bishops it was indignantly rejected. Yet two years later it was universally imposed. Bugnini described it in 1974 as "a major conquest of the Catholic Church".
Strange language from a Catholic bishop; but there were stranger things to come. In July, 1975 Bugnini was abruptly sacked after Pope Paul VI was shown evidence he was a Freemason. Bugnini denied the fact, but when the register of Italian Freemasonry came to light in 1976, it recorded Bugnini as having been initiated on April 23, 1963, with the esoteric code name 'Buan'. So, even during the Vatican Council, Bugnini was already under automatic excommunication for Masonic membership. What possessed Paul VI to sack the author of the New Mass, but retain his liturgy for universal use? At least this episode throws light on the handshake at the 'kiss of peace' in the new rite.
For decades now, the assorted Lollards, Shakers and Fifth Monarchy Men who have capered in Catholic sanctuaries have used the Bugnini Mass as their plaything. It is at its bleakest when, on high days and holidays, it attempts to mimic past solemnities, the concelebrants in minimalist vestments fronted by a communion table rather than an altar - three dentists behind an ironing-board. It is the New Mass that is now on the danger list. The Vatican talks about "reform of the reform"; but the "reform" is beyond reformation.
For 40 years frenzied efforts have been made to stamp out the Traditional Mass and yet it has flourished. It is now past the point where there is the remotest prospect of extinguishing it. As Pope Benedict said in his explanatory letter accompanying the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum ("Of Supreme Pontiffs"), one of his reasons for freeing the Old Mass was the number of young people now flocking to it.
That is what the faded 1960s trendies who are now bishops and seminary rectors fear: the impossibility of maintaining a revolution that has burned itself out. The Second Vatican Council means as little to today's youth as the Council of Chalcedon. Its elderly adherents are like dads dancing at the school disco. Many young people are seeking the mystical and the numinous. The Mass of All Time answers that need.
Within the past month the Vatican has issued two other documents: one restoring the requirement for a two-thirds majority at Papal conclaves, which rules out the future election of an extreme radical; and a reassertion of the doctrine that the Protestant sects cannot be recognised as 'churches'. It will not damage ecumenism, because that died long ago. Its premise was that Rome must endlessly divest, while Canterbury ordained priestesses and moved ever further from Catholicism. When you see a Church of Scotland congregation praying the rosary you may believe ecumenism is a two-way process.
The task facing traditionalists is to claw back, inch by inch, everything that was lost in the 1960s, until the Church is restored to its full integrity. It will mean trench warfare for decades, probably generations; but, for the first time, the heretics are on the defensive and they will be defeated.
There is a revived spirit infusing the Church, a spirit once defined by GK Chesterton: "I am very proud of my religion; I am especially proud of those parts of it that are most commonly called superstition. I am proud of being fettered by antiquated dogmas and enslaved by dead creeds (as my journalistic friends repeat with so much pertinacity)... I am very proud of being orthodox about the mysteries of the Trinity or the Mass; I am proud of believing in the Confessional; I am proud of believing in the Papacy."
Triumphalism, so monotonously condemned by the Catholic agnostics, is the only logical response to the glory of the Resurrection. Tremble, all Modernists and you who presumptuously claim We Are Church - the spirit of Trent is abroad once more. Welcome to the Counter-Reformation.
Related topic
Hear! Hear!
Mass x velocity = momentum ping.
They left questionnaires to be filled out at the back of the church. Overall, they're leftish (should your parish have more financial transparency? -- I'd like to see some financial transparency on the part of RENEW) and inane. I tried to look into it on the internet -- one thread from a few years ago on FR talked about Wiccan elements, which today aren't obvious on their website.
They offer books for sale -- but there's not enough description to make a judgement, and no authors are listed. They use the phrase "the Catholic tradition" (reminiscent of the Paulist Center!), and the Dominican nuns involved have a "Palestinian solidarity" project.
Have they improved over the years or are they just more devious?
Such good reading. I’m really encouraged. Happy Sunday, all. We have our Divine Liturgy at 5 pm because we don’t have our own church building yet. I will remember to pray for all the promise of the COUNTER-REVOLUTION to come to pass.
Our old parish in MN had been involved, but for some reason wasn't doing anything with it by the time we arrived. I seem to remember some kind of "home church" mentality, but the thing that most struck me about it was the stubborn hatred for any Latin music, for Tradition, or for the old ceremonies. They were responsible for removing the black cassocks and white surplices of the altar boys and replacing them with slouchy, dingy "robes," altar girls, and a lot of other post-V II stuff. Wish I could be more help...
That is not an accurate reading of the motu proprio. I'm sure it is one of the questions that will be answered by the Ecclesia Dei Commission. The text of the document only says that no private Masses, in either ordinary or extraordinary form, may occur during the Easter Triduum. That has always been the case. It says nothing to the effect that the traditional Triduum cannot be offered. And certainly at those parishes or chapels where only the extraordinary Mass is offered, the traditional Triduum can take place.
You’ve at least confirmed some of my suspicions! Thanks!
It is possible to do a very reverent Novus Ordo Mass in Latin, during the Triduum. Be patient!
BTW - I stumbled upon my old missals the other day and showed them to my pastor, to read the prayers for the Jews on Good Friday. In the 1959 version, the prayer begins with "Let us pray for the faithless Jews .... " By 1970, however, the prayer is drasticaly altered to reflect a more brotherly understanding and approach.
As Roy Schoeman, a Jewish convert, often points out ...
Romans 11 - “God cast a veil over the eyes of the Jews so they would not recognize Jesus until the full number of the Gentiles come into the church and then they will raise the veil from the eyes of the Jews, and they, too, will accept Christ.”
Art. 2. In Masses celebrated without the people, any priest of Latin rite, whether secular or religious, can use the Roman Missal published by Pope Blessed John XXIII in 1962 or the Roman Missal promulgated by the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI in 1970, on any day except in the Sacred Triduum. For celebration in accordance with one or the other Missal, a priest does not require any permission, neither from the Apostolic See nor his own Ordinary.
ORIGINAL: Art. 2. In Missis sine populo celebratis, quilibet sacerdos catholicus ritus latini, sive saecularis sive religiosus, uti potest aut Missali Romano a beato Papa Ioanne XXIII anno 1962 edito, aut Missali Romano a Summo Pontifice Paulo VI anno 1970 promulgato, et quidem qualibet die, excepto Triduo Sacro. Ad talem celebrationem secundum unum alterumve Missale, sacerdos nulla eget licentia, nec Sedis Apostolicae nec Ordinarii sui.
If that article is read carefully, I think you will see that what is forbidden is a priest offering a PRIVATE Mass - using either Missal - during the Sacred [Paschal] Triduum, a prohibition which is not new.
In other words, all Masses during the Sacred Triduum, using whichever Missal, must be public Masses, scheduled Masses.
I have attended parishes where two completely parallel Triduums were celebrated - one in English, one in Spanish - at different times, obviously; and one parish which was being used by a temporarily homeless Ruthenian (Eastern Rite) parish, who celebrated all (or almost all) of their many Holy Week/Triduum liturgies around our (Roman Rite) far fewer services.
At the very least, it would seem to be possible for one parish to be designated for the "Sacred Triduum according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII."
But I don't think there is any intention in the Motu Proprio to pick the three most sacred days of the liturgical year on which to restrict a Rite that Pope Benedict clearly intends to be universally available! I think that would be completely contrary to the spirit with which the Pope has approached this matter.
That is magnificent prose!
We can also adapt it to current American politics, thus:
The task facing conservatives is to claw back, inch by inch, everything that was lost since the 1960s, until the Republic is restored to its full integrity. It will mean trench warfare for decades, probably generations; but, for the first time, the heretics are on the defensive and they will be defeated.
I thought I read here that Bugnini wasn’t a Freemason.
What is true?
Bravo! A beautiful essay. The light of Truth can only be concealed — never extinguished!
Check “Our Staff”. Do these nuns have habits? Where is the Episcopal input?
F
So many quotable lines in this one. = D
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