Posted on 05/02/2003 7:36:55 AM PDT by Tantumergo
The Pope might soon allow the world's Catholic priests the right to celebrate the old rite Latin Mass on Sundays and holy days without the permission of their bishops, according to sources close to the Vatican.
John Paul II is understood to be ready to grant a "universal indult" by the end of the year to permit all priests to choose freely between the celebration of Mass in the so-called Tridentine rite used up to 1962 - before the disciplinary reforms of the Second Vatican Council - and the novus ordo Mass used after 1970.
It will mean that a priest who wants to celebrate old rite Masses will no longer need to apply for an indult to Ecclesia Dei, a pontifical commission set up to study the implications of the Lefebvrist schism, after first gaining permission from his bishop. The indult may be announced as part of the publication of forthcoming juridical notes on Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the new encyclical on the Eucharist, published on Holy Thursday, in which the Pope affirmed the Church's traditional teaching of the sacrificial nature of the Mass.
It might also be announced at the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome on May 24, when Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy and the president of Ecclesia Dei, becomes the first cardinal prefect to celebrate an old rite Mass in a main Roman basilica for 30 years. Organised by the Latin Mass movement, Una Voce, the event is one of many indications that Rome is dropping restrictions on the celebration of the old rite.
Last month, the Holy Father, who celebrated a Tridentine Mass last summer, published a command called Rescriptum ex Audientia to authorise the celebration of the old rite Mass in St Peter's Basilica, Rome, by any priest who possessed an indult. The Vatican also asked the Scottish bishops, ahead of their five-yearly ad limina visit to Rome in March, to reveal what provisions they made for the celebration of the old rite Mass in their dioceses. Since the meeting, the Scottish bishops have stepped up their provision from just four a year in the whole of the country to at least one a month in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The same requests have been made in a questionnaire to the English and Welsh bishops, whose next ad limina visit to Rome will take place in the autumn. The bishops have invited the Latin Mass Society (LMS), set up to promote the practice of the old rite, to submit a report on the provision of the Tridentine Mass ahead of their low week meeting in London this week when they were scheduled to discuss the issue.
John Medlin, LMS development officer, confirmed that a "full document" had been circulated to the bishops but refused to discuss its contents.
They do exist. I seem to be one of the few people who remembers this (and I'm not a million years old), but in the late 50s-60's there was an English translation of the Tridentine rite that was occasionally used in certain parishes, with special permission, of course. It was extremely accurate and extremely beautiful.
Many people assumed that the "Mass in the vernacular" was simply going to be the Tridentine rite, translated to the local language, with perhaps a few standard parts kept in Latin. What a surprise when it turned out to be a whole new rite that bore only a passing resemblance to the old Roman rite...
A general indult, not depending on the permission of the bishop, would be the best thing that could possibly happen to the Church right now.
Here in Gainesville, FL, my sister and some friends are trying to start a chapter of Una Voce. It would be nice to be able to do this and then not have to fight with the local ordinary to get him to let us have an occasional Mass (usually at a strange hour and in some out-of-the-way location).
I think that's why so few practice contemplative prayer. I've tried making it a daily practice recently, but it's hard with my new job taking up a good part of the day. I think it is very benefitial to do so when you can though. If one were to confront their innermost thoughts and their lack of intimacy with God in contemplative prayer, it would probably reform their ways pretty quickly if they are God-fearing people.
Yes.
You have that ... sorta ... in the EWTN mass.
How will they handle the robes? At the Tridentine mass, they wear those elaborate ones. Will it be a requirement to wear those robes or can they wear the NO robes?
I can see where post Vatican II churches will definitely encounter some obstacles, should they try to incorporate the Tridentine Rite in their respective churches.
Our post VCII church will be moderately renovated this year, especially to update the baptismal font. They claim it doesn't conform to VCII directives? Some of the ultra contemporary churches have "babbling brook" fonts. What's with that?
As far as the baptismal font is concerned, the Second Vatican Council stated that both laving the forehead and immersion were valid methods of baptizing.
As usual, the churchwreckers have gotten gung-ho on immersion and like to claim that the Second Vatican Council requires immersion to be available, therefore it is essential to install a Zen-garden style "babbling brook" in the church so immersions can be practiced if anyone so desires and so the water in the immersion pool will not stagnate.
All that is nonsense.
Exactly, IMHO, where we will someday end up. My parish has used, during Lent, the last few years the Latin Sanctus and Agnus Dei, and the priests do the final "per ipsum" of the canon in Latin.
It is the beginning of a restoration of the Latin to the people. And none too soon, for those of us 30somethings, who are experiencing this for the first time ever.
SD
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