Posted on 05/10/2004 9:01:42 AM PDT by CatherineSiena
By Richard Fausset and Joy Buchanan, Times Staff Writers
Conservatively dressed Roman Catholics packed into a tiny wooden church a few blocks from the sand in Huntington Beach on Sunday to pray and chant in Latin, and to celebrate the priest who delivered them from all that they believe is lax, laid-back and touchy-feely in their religion.
They came to say goodbye to Father Daniel Johnson, the 75-year-old retiring priest who tripled the membership of this parish with his emphasis on the church's centuries-old traditions. Chief among them was introduction of the Latin Tridentine Mass, the ancient, highly choreographed rite that for hundreds of years was the only Mass celebrated by Catholics worldwide.
Because of Johnson's retirement, the Diocese of Orange has decided to stop offering the Tridentine Mass at St. Mary's by the Sea, saddening conservative Catholics who came from all over Orange County to experience the Eucharist the way it was celebrated for generations of sinners and saints: with all the pageantry and plainsong and traditional language of Rome.
Starting next week, St. Mary's will continue to hold Sunday Masses in Latin, but it will be in the form of the modern Mass, with different prayers from those of the Tridentine service.
The Tridentine Mass is "more holy somehow," said parishioner Georg Christa, 70, who learned the Mass as an altar boy in Augsberg, Germany. "The reason we have problems in the church is that we're getting step-by-step away from the holiness."
Parishioner James Lewis, 64, said he chose the Tridentine Mass because he did not want to be subjected to the modern Mass, with its "peace hugs," its "campfire music and hootenanny music."
"I think that stuff is distracting," he said. "It's inappropriate for a holy Mass."
The loss of the old Mass at St. Mary's does not spell its end in Orange County, where two churches, St. Michael's Abbey in Silverado Canyon and the Mission Basilica in San Juan Capistrano, still offer the service.
But the frustration of St. Mary's parishioners and their fondness for Father Johnson's conservative practices reflect a continuing tension in a religion seeking to maintain its relevance in the modern world without losing its reverence for tradition.
Believed to have existed since the 6th century, the Mass was officially standardized for Western churches by Pope Pius V during Rome's Council of Trent in 1570. For hundreds of years, it was the only Mass celebrated by Catholics worldwide. Then, during the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, a new service was introduced — using familiar languages and allowing priests to face their congregations — and has been in use ever since.
The point, reformers argued then, was for the liturgy to be adjusted to fit individual priests' styles and worshipers' needs. Some conservative Catholics, however, were outraged, arguing that the Mass should not have been changed. Some priests even continued using the Tridentine Mass against the Church's orders until 1984, when Pope John Paul II decreed that it could be celebrated with the permission of local bishops.
That was like a clarion call to Johnson, who introduced the Tridentine Mass at St. Mary's in 1992. Johnson considers the old Mass a sacred liturgy symbolizing the Passion of Christ.
"I'm quite traditional," said the man ordained in 1954 who calls himself a "simple parish" priest. "The greatest thing that a priest can do is the celebration of the holy Mass. Maybe the modern way isn't the only way."
Five years ago, Johnson — who was born to devout Catholic parents in Michigan and grew up in Los Angeles, where he served as an altar boy — developed a cancer on his ear that required multiple surgeries and more than 30 radiation treatments. More recently, he came down with Bell's palsy, which paralyzed the right side of his face and prompted him to turn his favorite golf putter upside down for a cane. He plans to retire in Torrance with his brother.
Johnson stopped leading the church's weekly Mass several weeks ago, when the disease began affecting his speech. But on Sunday, after altar boys helped him to his feet, he delivered a long, often passionate sermon in English summarizing the success he has had in bringing some of the lost traditions back to this church.
With his head listing to the right and his voice wasted with age, Johnson's words were sometimes difficult to make out. But it was clear that he was no fan of New Age influences that have crept into some church services.
In the early church, he said, pagans were attracted by Christianity because Christians showed their love for one another. They didn't say, "Look at how ecumenical they are, or look how they're dialoguing with non-Catholics," he said.
He also paid homage to the Tridentine Mass, which many parishioners say was a key to the expansion of St. Mary's from 500 families to about 1,600 under Johnson's 25 years of stewardship.
Johnson quoted theologian Frederick Faber, who once called the old Mass "the most beautiful thing this side of heaven."
"I would agree with him," Johnson said.
The 2 1/2-hour service was indeed a far cry from the "folk Masses" many U.S. Catholics have attended in recent decades. A sign at the door asked visitors to wear "proper dress," and women were encouraged to wear lace veils over their heads.
At the beginning of Mass, 11 altar boys, most in red satin robes, announced the entrance of a coterie of priests with candles and incense. Father Justin Ramos, who said the Mass, walked down the aisle in a gold brocade cape.
Their arrival at the altar was marked by unadorned male voices from the choir that delivered Gregorian chant. Then Ramos walked back up the aisle, sprinkling the congregation with holy water that prompted members of the standing-room-only congregation to bow in waves.
In Latin, Ramos led a prayer for mercy and salvation:
"Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam."
"Et salutare tuum da nobis," the worshipers responded.
Some church members followed the Mass in a missal that carried the English translation. French native Liliane Rains, 63, followed with a tattered Latin and French missal that once belonged to her father.
"When we went to Spain or Germany or Italy, it was in Latin, and always the same," said Rains, who grew up in Bordeaux. "You went to Mass and you felt that you were home. It was a wonderful tie, and I think we should go back to it. It made Mass universal."
Rains said she could understand why the church translated the Mass into different languages. Others took a stricter stance.
"Is this your first time going to a real Catholic Mass?" James Scott, 59, of Tustin asked a St. Mary's visitor. "Well, this is what it really is. Everything else is garbage."
Damian Garcia, a layman at the church, said he would miss the elements of the Tridentine Mass that give it its "vertical thrust," or emphasis on the adoration of God.
Parishioner Thomas Chand- lee, 72, said he would miss the beauty of the old Mass. Chand- lee was one of the many people who packed into the building next to the chapel to bid farewell to Johnson. Eight years ago, Chandlee converted to Catholicism, and he has attended the Tridentine Mass ever since.
Now, he said, he plans to start his Sundays in San Juan Capistrano so he can keep hearing the echoes of centuries.
"There's no question," he said. "It's like comparing Andy Warhol with Michelangelo."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
BTW, this is way off-topic, but in my Novus Ordo parish, there has recently been a kind of mini-movement among women (naturally, on the 'non-Extraordinary Minister' side of the church (*grin*)) to begin wearing chapel veils.
We have a fine, orthodox (and young!) pastor...perhaps this has helped to encourage orthodoxy among those laity so inclined.
Then came the famous Mahoney pronouncement about how he wished the mass to be in the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Mother questioned his concordance with Rome on her show. Mahoney was furious and she was told to withdraw her criticisms and apologise. She did,in her fashion.
At the same time Mahoney,incensed,I understand,went to Rome and tried to have her pulled off the air,probably using canonical law and calling his allies in the curia to assist him,he was unsuccessful.
He returned to this country and was shooting around garnering support from some B/bishops whose chips he held or who were sympathetic to his ideological agenda. Concomitantly,he tried to wrest control of the station from her using civil law and/or financial mechanisms,rather than church or canon law.He was unable to do that either.
Poor bishop Foley,who had presented many good catechism programs on EWTN must have owed Mahoney one. He wrote a letter to his priests forbidding them to say Mass "ad orientum".This of course,affected all the priests,who celebrated Mass in his diocese which included EWTN's Masses.It was an awful thing to do since as I said earlier,the church was designed with that position in mind.
Mahoney pushed his agenda on the hapless bishops and they passed one of their nasty little nonsense papers forbidding that position. This kind of got tangled up in the "scandal" and remained in question in many dioceses. Many of the priests and B/bishops were looking for relief in this new document the Vatican recently released. The first draft included that as optional to the priest,the final did not. It made me know that no matter how much the B/bishops here may be improving,the ilk of Mahoney still must still have heavy influence in the Vatican. Ugh!!!
Max,have you been on the threads that have talked about the influence of the Vatican's Secretary of State on the hierarchy? This structural change was a result of Vatican II organizational tweaking. I am thinking Sodano is the heavy hitter who's working contrary to some of the orthodox,Catholic Sacred Congregations.
I notice, however that Bishop Foley is 74 years old.
So works the demon and the lackey in L.A.
BTW, Cardinal Mahony isn't Irish -- he was adopted, and only God knows where he came from.
This happened 20 years ago with St. Vincent's in Kansas City. The diocese refused to sell to the SSPX at full price, but then later sold at half price to a black protestant minister. They didn't realize the minister was only acting as an agent for the SSPX. It demonstrates the attitude of the NO dioceses: it's better to be protestant than a traditional Catholic. And it also illustrates how stupid they are on virtually all practical matters, a stupidity which cost them $600,000 in this case, but which has cost them many hundreds of millions in settlements and bad business dealings in the meantime.
"When we went to Spain or Germany or Italy, it was in Latin, and always the same," said Rains, who grew up in Bordeaux. "You went to Mass and you felt that you were home. It was a wonderful tie, and I think we should go back to it. It made Mass universal."
Bingo!
Isn't that what it is supposed to be? "Universal" was not what I have experienced over years, when going from parish to parish. Of course, all this is post VatII (and not being able to find a Tridentine Mass around me). It can't be more simple than that...how are we to be "universal" if we keep the N.O. mass at "anyone's guess," depending on where it's said?
Fortunately, many of us are blessed in Phoenix that The Tridentine Mass is returning, albeit in only a very few parishes. I understand some of the younger priests are learning The Tridentine Rite, and are brushing up on their latin. Also, there are those who are (re)learing the Gregorian Latin Chants.
Though it is sad that this wonderful priest is retiring, he has left a raging, growing hunger for many to return to the holiness and reverence of Mass. I don't believe it will end there. The faith and desire kept vigil in Phoenix, and it finally is happening. I'm sure in other areas, it too will grow and flourish.
What a shame. And what a condemnation of the entire New Mass hierarchy. If they cannot even approve such a simple and uncontroversial thing as Mass ad orientem, then there is no hope for them whatsoever.
the threads that have talked about the influence of the Vatican's Secretary of State on the hierarchy? This structural change was a result of Vatican II organizational tweaking. I am thinking Sodano is the heavy hitter who's working contrary to some of the orthodox,Catholic Sacred Congregations.
Not too much. I have heard this theory before. It's impossible to know whether or not it is true, since the entire theory is based upon secret levers of power in the Vatican. Sodano is often named as the bogeyman, but it seems to be impossible to know whether this is true or not. Besides which, why look for secret agents operating behind the scenes when the guys in the headlines every day are doing as much as they possibly can to push their modernist agenda? I also wonder about the existence of "orthodox,Catholic Sacred Congregations." I don't know of any. Some are very slightly less modernist than the others. But not by much.
I'm biting my tongue so hard, it's bleeding.
Thank God for that! There have been too many traitorous clerics with Irish names. It has become a heavy shame to bear for those of Irish descent. As to where he came from, we have our theories (think Mia Farrow in a NY apartment).
Yes, I think you are right. It's like an underground stream that is bound to burst forth in one place or another.
Which is why they no longer broadcast (a few very rare exceptions) the Sunday Mass from the Shrine at Hanceville.
I remember reading Bishop Foley's letter, and it seems I recall him saying that if his decree was not followed, he had the authority to remove the faculties of any Priests from his Diocese who celebrated a televised Mass ad orientum.
I know there were a few times Priests from outside his jurisdiction did celebrate a televised Mass from the Shrine ad orientum. One of them was a canon lawyer who I have met at my Parish.
Keep that thought. It's a good one.
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