‘The Rolls-Royce of Masses’

The Tablet ^ | 28/06/2003 | Elena Curti

[sydney smith]

She was right on target in the opening lines of her 4th paragraph. She is clueless.

[royalcello]

Thank you for a glorious--and colorful--post. Long live the Hapsburgs!

[royalcello]

Is there no one left on the continent or on the island who still comprehends, none the less supports, Christian civilization?

In addition to HIRH Archduke Otto...

Peter Hitchens
Organization of Polish Monarchists

[narses]

England, like most of Europe, is essentially pagan. How sad.

[Tantumergo]

"Is there no one left on the continent or on the island who still comprehends, none the less supports, Christian civilization?"

Ahem!!!!!

There are many of us, but still greatly outnumbered I fear!

[EsclavoDeCristo]

But interest in the old rite is growing, particularly among those too young to remember it the first time around. “It is like learning a different language”, says Gilly, a woman in her 20’s who says she appreciates both the old and new rites. “There are different forms of spirituality. The old rite fosters an extremely profound spiritual sense of the Church as the Mystical Body.”

I would fit into this catagory also (22 yrs old). The main reason I like this Mass is that it shows the Mass as it is, a sacrifice and not as a celebration of community. I also would have to say that I feel the same as this woman who said:

“The priest is facing God and we are facing east, which is traditional. When the priest faces the people he is turning away from God. The old rite is God-centred rather than people-centred”,

The action of priest and congregation both facing Christ in the Eucharist is the best way of forming 'community.' I can't explain the awesome feeling I have during the consecration, knowing that a miracle is happening right before my eyes and we are all united as one with Christ as the object of our piety, respect and admiration. All eyes are glued on the host as the priest consecrates it and it miraculously becomes the body of Christ, soul and divinity! It sure is a lot better than strumming the guitar and playing Patridge Family style music as the communion hymn!

[Dajjal]

Then the priest stands up and makes some announcements before delivering the sermon. It is the first and only time I hear him speak in English during the Mass.

??? In which language did he deliver the sermon ???

[Dajjal]

Thanks for the Hapsburg & Polish Monarchists websites.

[Askel5]

Do you remember?

[Askel5]

===The old rite is God-centred rather than people-centred

Hear hear.

[Aquinasfan]

The priest quotes the Athanasian Creed and St Augustine.

I'm 41 and have never heard the Athanasian Creed quoted in a homily. I can't remember ever hearing St. Augustine's name. (My fellow Catholic co-worker: "What did St. Augustine do?") Sad.

[Maximilian]

Thanks for the links. Peter Hitchens just seems like a run-of-the-mill conservative, which admittedly is rare these days now that the "conservative" party has become just as liberal as labour. I don't see any religious references on his page, except for a few general references to Europe having a Christian heritage. It would be unfortunate if that's as good as it gets.

As a "former Marxist," Hitchens has the fervor of a convert, but does he have any real sense of what a Christian civilization would look and feel like? One wonders if it's all just an intellectual game. Here is a story from today which in contrast does give you the look and feel of a truly Christian European civilization.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/barnhart2.html

The Polish monarchists sound pretty good. I wonder if they have any actual organization in Poland?

[Maximilian]

There are many of us, but still greatly outnumbered I fear!

It's not so much outnumbered, as cowed into submission, that I am concerned about. Evelyn Waugh suffered paranoid delusions when he first began to realize how far outside the mainstream he had become. Until the mid fifties he was one of the in crowd, the toast of the literary world. The Catholic themes in some of his literature were considered an allowable eccentricity. But then society moved so far away that the great abyss between them and him could no longer be ignored. He actually started hearing voices and believing that people were out to get him, due to the psychological pressures.

If even Waugh could crack up under the pressure, is there anyone today who could stand it? His own son who died recently seemed to have inherited his father's eccentricity, but not necessarily his belief in a Catholic, monarchical European civilization. Someone like Roger Scruton comes to mind, but his "conservatism" doesn't involve religion as I understand it, and until recent years apparently it didn't even involve morality. He defends some shreds of "Western Civ," but one won't find him on his knees in the chapel when the battle is starting.

[Maximilian]

traditional Catholics here are are more interested in preserving the old Mass for sentimental reasons than in preserving the old religion.

This is a rather damning critique. Do you think this is really true? There is "Christian Order" magazine. Do they have much of a following like The Wanderer or The Remnant here?

[royalcello]

I would say that Peter Hitchens is significantly to the right of mainstream British "conservatives," having recently declared that the Tory party is not worth saving. His book The Abolition of Britain (which begins by denouncing, among other things, the "murder of unborn infants"--when was the last time you heard a Tory talk about that?) is explicitly Christian (albeit Anglican), with an entire chapter ("Hell Freezes Over") lamenting secularism and the watering down of religion.

Thanks for the LRC link. I am not a libertarian, but this kind of article is exactly why I keep going back there.

My impression is that most monarchist organizations in traditionally Catholic countries are also committed to Catholicism, especially in France. But of course they face overwhelming odds, not so much hostility as apathy.

[Guelph4ever]

My greatest fear is that morals and mentality have become so twisted that people do not even realize what they are doing. It is truly becoming a case of "calling evil good and good evil; putting darkness for light and light for darkness". A bit more organization and you could call it brain-washing.

Anyway, I'm always glad to see the Tridentine Mass celebrated (and I have always found the sign of peace a bit distressing as well) and glad to see more supporters of Erzherzog Otto von Habsburg. Gott, Kirche und Familie is the way it ought to be. --Gott Erhalte Unser Kaiser!

[BlackVeil]

Evelyn Waugh suffered paranoid delusions when he first began to realize how far outside the mainstream he had become.

The sense of being out of step with contemporary culture was a part of Waugh's crisis, but it was also brought on my overuse of bromides - sleeping draughs which were readily available then - combined with heavy drinking. Despite a breakdown and hallucinations, Waugh later went back to using these drugs he could not do without them.

Not the first creative genius to be a substance abuser. It is sadly common.