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To: steadfastconservative; Claud

"I attended an indult Tridentine Mass for three years but I stopped since I after all that time I still had not learned the prayers (I don't know Latin) and could follow the Mass only with a missal and since I got tired of attending Mass as a silent spectator."

I agree that many TLM venues unfortunately perpetuate the "silent Mass" syndrome. However, many SSPX and FSSP churches as well as my own indult in Berlin, NJ (www.materecclesiae.org), have priests who put a lot of effort in to encourage congregational singing and responding during the Mass. There is nothing inherent in the Old Rite itself to prevent full and active participation. The silence you and I have witnessed is an unfortunate accident of history deeply rooted in the persecuted Irish Church which influenced American Catholicism. The great pre-V2 Liturgical Movement was making gradual progress is fostering a deep sense of liturgical life among the laity. Its goals were unfortunately never fulfilled and taken seriously off track after V2.

When I read Sacrosanctum Concilium, I envision the TLM with vernacular readings and a robust active participation in LATIN for the other parts of the Mass among the congregation. The 1965 Missal accomplished the first part but the second part was never given much consideration.

Lastly, my wife who had never been to a TLM before she met me, is now a herself a 3-year veteran of the TLM. She can read and pronounce Latin perfectly, even though she doesn't understand most of it. She also can sight read a fair amount of chant. Why? Because, she and I both put the effort in to learn. The same principle applies to a parish where a committed pastor puts the effort in to teach his parishioners and challenge them to learn Latin and sing chant.



29 posted on 07/07/2006 5:58:21 AM PDT by jrny
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To: jrny

Sacrosanctum Concilium did call for a revision of the missal, for a simplification of the rites of the Mass. While I agree that it did not envision all of the changes that have been made to the Mass since 1963, it did not call for just adding the verncular to parts of the Mass while keeping the rites the same.

The rubrics of the Tridentine rite do not give any role to the laity. The fact that the Mass was entirely in Latin was itself an obstacle to the full and active participation of the laity. As you admit, priests have to make an effort to teach people Latin but many priests never bothered. The silence that was common during this Mass was not merely an "accident of history" but the logical result of the manner in which Mass was often celebrated: as a private act of the priest. Communion was often not even distributed to the laity or, if it was given to them, it was given to them at the wrong time during the Mass. While the era before the Second Vatican Council was not a liturgical dark age, it certainly was not a liturgical golden age.


31 posted on 07/07/2006 12:08:36 PM PDT by steadfastconservative
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