MOUNTAIN VIEWS: NEW POPE TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK ON REFORMS IN CATHOLIC CHURCH?

OLEAN -- Various columnists for this paper already covered the making of a new pope last spring to a fare-thee-well, driving the tormented editor to declare an informal moratorium on writing further copy about the pomp and circumstance surrounding Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's ascension to Benedict XVI.

We complied. So, in general, did the rest of the American print media, which these days, sadly, are trained by watching too much television to ignore anything that doesn't photograph well, or lend itself to colorful video, or where religion is concerned doesn't contain elements of movement and ceremony.

But in recent weeks, I've noticed a few short items creeping onto inside pages about the Holy Father's vision -- predicted here and elsewhere -- of a venerable Roman Catholic Church that more resembles the one of four decades ago instead of a global organization struggling to accept elements of modernity.

Starting the first week in October, a synod of Catholic bishops from around the world will meet in Rome to plot the future of the church under Ratzinger's leadership. A hefty working text has already been prepared for official consideration, and some sections have sporadically leaked to the Vatican press -- enough to suggest that Benedict XVI has no intention of mellowing from the hardrock conservative positions he held in his previous position as Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican office tracing its pedigree directly back to the Inquisition.

Bottom line: Pope John XXIII's liberal changes stemming from the Vatican II conclave to take into account this planet's social and cultural and scientific developments not previously sanctioned by Rome are in deep trouble.

There are some key words in the working text that constitute predictable indicators -- some superficial, some profound. The "translations" below are my predictions, not actual descriptions in the Vatican document of suggestions.

Parish priests will be urged to prevent "profane" types of music from being played during Mass. Translation: Lose the guitars, flutes and drums, boys. It's back to Gregorian chants (which are specifically mentioned in the aforesaid text as more appropriate).

The tabernacle, a large container -- usually bejeweled and gold-plated -- which holds the wheat wafer Host that devout Catholics believe is the actual (not representative) body of Christ after consecration, must be given a "prominent" position on the altar instead of the corner or side repository popular after Vatican II. Translation: Altars, with the tabernacle right in the center as unmistakable focal point, will be turned back around to allow the priest to celebrate Mass in relative solitude with his back to the congregation, instead of facing and speaking directly to the faithful as Vatican II decreed.

Lay persons will participate in the Mass only in a "minimal" fashion. Translation: No more reading of Scripture lessons by members of the congregation, or carrying of the wine and water up the aisle to facilitate Holy Communion, or letting the non-ordained help distribute the Eucharist during that sacrament. Priests only, please, just like in the old days.

During "liturgical gatherings," Latin will be relied upon as the universal tongue instead of English and other regional languages. Translation: A return during celebration of Mass to the Latin liturgy, viewed as confusing mumbo-jumbo by many Catholics before Vatican II, cannot be far behind.

Priests should not be "showmen." Translation: All those brave fathers in Central and South America and Africa and elsewhere who have the courage to question corrupt and dictatorial governments, or the temerity to suggest social and cultural reform, will be muzzled.

The working document, by the way, singles out Catholic politicians who support abortion and divorced persons who remarry for particular criticism and specific proscription against receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion without first making a true confession to a priest. This will also affect various areas of the planet where an acute shortage of priests has triggered the practice of taking Communion after making one's peace with God in one's mind because the preparatory sacrament of confession simply isn't available.

Some Catholics, particularly elderly ones, would welcome these changes, whether they actually occur or not. Many of them hate the Vatican II reforms. I was sitting next to my late beloved and curmudgeonly father in the early 1970s when a bearded guitar-wielder first strode to the altar to play some inspirational song of hope. My father actually stood up in the pew to leave before my mother dragged him back down to the kneeling bench.

I also secretly prized during those days the frequent look of repugnance on his face during the newly instituted "kiss of peace," which soon evolved into a hearty-handshake-with-those-nearby section of the Mass. My father was one of the friendliest gentlemen on earth; he just liked to reserve his handshakes for persons he knew, or trusted, or was happy to see.

Casting aside all the paternal nostalgia, I'm wary of Benedict XVI's plans. This is a man whose mind sees cultural development as conspiracy.

He still condemns the use of condoms to fight AIDS in Africa. He's already bounced, without adequate explanation, the respected editor of a liberal Jesuit magazine in this country.

Many Catholics are unaware that Ratzinger even criticized the immensely popular Harry Potter books as harmful to children.

In a letter of praise two years ago to a narrow-minded German critic of author J.K. Rowling, then-Cardinal Ratzinger described her astoundingly successful books as "subtle seductions" for youths and works that "act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly."

Get real. I personally think J.K. Rowling deserves some Nobel-level award for becoming a one-woman assault squad on illiteracy. Do you know how hard it is to pry kids away from the TV or iPod or cell phone and get them to actually read a book? The numbers are there. Rowling actually has children reading again, using their TV-stunted imaginations anew to convert print into thought, to transform type into imagery. Her harmless books are stimulating and superbly written, and most children understand they are merely interesting works of fantasy about magic and good and evil and pretend sorcery -- stuff kids are intrigued by and will find anyway.

If the new pope really wants to do some good in this vein, he should take a gander at the hideously violent and often demonically promotional TV fare that is available to the majority of toddlers and youngsters in this country. Talk then about conditioning senses and warping vulnerable minds.

In his years as a promising priest and bishop, Ratzinger was viewed as somewhat of a liberal and reform-minded theologian. He once wrote a short book that viewed Vatican II with enthusiasm and promise. In his previous post as protector of the faith, however, the native of Germany became more and more conservative until he was known and routinely described as "God's Rottweiler" -- a ferocious defender of venerable Vatican views and practices.

In an excellent article in the July 25 edition of the "New Yorker" magazine, Anthony Grafton describes him in this role as "a snapping guard dog who threatens all dissidents with appropriate punishment." Ratzinger, writes Grafton, "was a censor, and he did his job well."

Since last April, Catholic writers around the world, particularly in Europe and North America, in article after article, have speculated that Ratzinger will realize he is now the spiritual head of the oldest and largest religious organization on the planet and -- as the "New Yorker" writer puts it -- will now "show a milder countenance in his new office." Not very likely. As Grafton writes, Ratzinger has repeatedly denounced "the intellectuals who confused social reform with Christianity" and is at heart himself fearful about intellectual conclusions.

I agree with author Grafton. A prelate who's fearful that Harry Potter books will block the spiritual growth of young Christians "may find it harder than he thinks to take on modernity in all its sprawling strangeness."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Hanchette, a professor of journalism at St. Bonaventure University, is a former editor of the Niagara Gazette and a Pulitzer Prize-winning national correspondent. He was a founding editor of USA Today and was recently named by Gannett as one of the Top 10 reporters of the past 25 years. He can be contacted via e-mail at Hanchette6@aol.com.

"St. Peter would have loved the Jews, but I think he had more important, manly things on his mind than depressed women and their problems."

St. Peter was a Jew.
However, in his day, the Jewish establishment railroaded his Savior to his death and outright murdered his Savior's brother, James. The Jewish establishment murdered the disciple, Stephen, and sent Saul of the Sanhedrin to find as many Christians as he could, try them and have them beaten and put to death.
I am afraid that in Peter's day, the Jewish establishment was the established religion, and dealt with early Christians as brutally as the Christians dealth with others later in the Spanish Inquisition or European witch trials.
Of course Peter would have nevertheless loved the Jews, and everyone else.
At any rate, he's still alive and can hear you and answer you, if you will take the trouble to talk to him.

"Like my ex-husband, the church is better off without me. You can all say 'good riddance.'"

No, the Church is not better off without you.
And you are not better off without the Church.
You've taken some bad knocks.
Don't slap away the hand from the hereafter which is the only one likely to truly give you sympathy.
Men are stupid and mean, but the angels are wise, and dead sainted men are wiser than the living.
Repose your trust on the living, and it will all fall down.
Repose your trust on the eternal, and you will not ultimately be let down.

You said you wanted to talk to Peter.
So talk to him. He'll talk back too.
Don't take my word for it, do it.
You'll see.

I will concede that the facing the people is appropriate at certain times of the Mass. Those would be the didactic (readings, etc.) parts of the Mass, while the core of the Sacrifice (Offertory through Communion), all should face in unison towards the "mystic" East.

Those who brought us Mass facing the people had an agenda contrary to Tradition and tradition. That is a verifiable fact. This whole argument is not about how one feels comfortable or not with changes, it's about what is objectively and historically and liturgically correct - and that is Mass ad Orientem. The other posters here have already made this point.

A side note...
The present practice of having the priest not be at the altar during the Liturgy of the Word arose out of the rubric in the Tridentine Pontifical Masses, where bishops would say the first part of Mass from a Throne or Faldstool off to the side. What was an exception for a special liturgy became the norm for everything (as is the case with many changes).

The Last Supper was indeed a Mass. It was the anticipated sacrifice that would happen on Good Friday.

As to the issue of which way Jesus faced...it wouldn't matter simply for the fact that He is God, and so He could face whatever He wants. This kind of questioning sort of reduces to speaking about Christ in purely human terms, which when carried to its logical conclusion, gives rise to those who seek only the "historical Jesus" - aka Arianism.

That is the central bottom line (the consecration is valid as long as the priest does what the Church sets in stone). However, reverence is a virtue often lost today. People are often too concerned about holding hands, banging the bongos, and "looking pretty" to be concerned about reverence at Mass.

The question of validity is not at stake here. Yes, it's valid. I even attend the Novus Ordo on rare occasions when I absolutely have to in order to fulfill my Sunday obligation. But to reduce the matter of liturgy to validity is a very minimalistic way to approach the issue.

Bread and water are valid food, but no exactly nourishing enough over the course of time.

The way the mass is now I can't even get my Roman Catholic husband to attend church.

Have you looked at the Indult option? These are Masses that are said in rare numbers in dioceses in the Traditional Latin Rite. Also, there are plenty of independant chapels that offer the Traditional Sacraments nationwide.

You can find indult Masses here, and a list of all Traditional Masses here.

God Bless you!

Well, this tidbit of information is perhaps an indication of things to come under Pope Benedict.

"A hefty working text has already been prepared for official consideration, and some sections have sporadically leaked to the Vatican press -- enough to suggest that Benedict XVI has no intention of mellowing from the hardrock conservative positions he held in his previous position as Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican office tracing its pedigree directly back to the Inquisition."

You said you wanted to talk to Peter.

SAINT Peter. There are some men by that name who didn't live up to the honor floating around somewhere awaiting final judgment. It would be my luck to get the wrong one. I'll ask God in the name of Jesus Christ if He would ask St. Peter to give me a few minutes of his time if he isn't too busy with something else. The ball is in the heavenly court now. I won't ask for a sign.

I hope God will provide a translator, if one is necessary :).

Thank you for your assistance.

"The intellect," he once told a gathering of about 800 priests, "does not always grant vision, but provides the conditions for intellectual games, and artfully conjures syntheses into existence where there is really nothing but contradiction." Only faith, believes the new pope, will abide.

So, tell me what part of this the 'esteemed' and short-of-faith journalism instructor doesn't comprehend.

It's so obvious, I guess it's unfathomable to someone who has eyes to see, but doesn't see; ears to hear, but doesn't hear; an intellect to comprehend, but doesn't 'get it.'

St. Peter is alive, as are all of the other sainted dead.

This is true. I have had a devotion to Pope John Paul the Great since I went to Rome, Italy (missed seeing him due to the tour I was with). I have prayed for him; have his photo as my screen saver; and now converse with him regularly during prayer time.

The other evening, I had a dream in which Pope John Paul the Great was still alive and retired. Towards the end of my full color dream, I told him of my devotion to him. He was bent over a desk, reading and taking notes. He slowly turned his face toward me and said: "Why?"

That question ended the dream and shortly I woke up. I recall the dream very clearly and am surfing the internet for a monestary with an interior similar to what I saw in my dream.

Answering that question has not been simple. I thought I knew why, but it's been a soul searching experience. Not only am I finding an answer to why I am devoted to him, but also why I am a Roman Catholic (after many years as an LCMS-Lutheran and years in the Assembly of God).

I never expected a full color dream and didn't request it in my prayers. For whatever reason and timing, Pope John Paul the Great asked me "why?" And I'm in the process of a spiritual awakening as a result.

+Pace e Bene+

"Poor Mr. Regis, he's going to be so surprised when he finds out it is particularly the young who will welcome these changes. I know I was."

I'd like to extend my apologies to Regis for the above quote. It should read, "Poor Mr. Hanchette...." In my haste to post, I inserted the poster of the article's name rather than the author's name. My apologies.

And thanks, Regis, for the article. I don't know why, but for some reason, when I see the libs this upset, it just tends to brighten my day a little -as if I can rest assured things are going right in the world. -)

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