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.

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.

"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.

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.

I'm a Jew, so I have no immediate interest in this. I would like to applaud Ratzinger's courage in standing tall against the forces of liberalization that would seek to water down the teachings of Church, if that is the situation (as many of my Catholic friends have told me). I just hope my people and I aren't consigned to hell again. ;)

Still, the Catholic Church is a powerful force for good, on the whole, and it's nice to see a man like Ratzinger (and a man like John Paul II) at the helm.

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. ... During "liturgical gatherings," Latin will be relied upon as the universal tongue instead of English and other regional languages.

It's a shame that falsehoods like these are still being propagated, forty years after the Council closed. Bl. John XXIII would never have countenanced the discontinuance of Latin. Here, in fact, are the very words of this holy Pontiff:

With the foregoing considerations in mind, to which We have given careful thought, We now, in the full consciousness of Our Office and in virtue of Our authority, decree and command the following:
1. Bishops and superiors-general of religious orders shall take pains to ensure that in their seminaries and in their schools where adolescents are trained for the priesthood, all shall studiously observe the Apostolic See's decision in this matter and obey these Our prescriptions most carefully.
2. In the exercise of their paternal care they shall be on their guard lest anyone under their jurisdiction, eager for revolutionary changes, writes against the use of Latin in the teaching of the higher sacred studies or in the liturgy, or through prejudice makes light of the Holy See's will in this regard or interprets it falsely. (Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia, 22 February, 1962)

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.

I'm curious...is this guy Catholic?

Some Catholics, particularly elderly ones, would welcome these changes, whether they actually occur or not.

This guy's out of touch. It's today's elderly Catholics who foisted this garbage on the rest of us. The elderly who would welcome the changes he writes about pretty much died out in the 70's and 80's. It's young people clamoring for a return to traditional orthodoxy these days.

I just hope my people and I aren't consigned to hell again. ;)

When the Vatican II generation passes, we younger Catholics will be able to properly and prudently separate the good from the bad of all that pre-Vatican II stuff. So, restoring the Latin Mass or at least something more traditional is not seen as a return to the old days, but a positive and beautiful new tomorrow. Nice language, yes, but I think you understand the point.

It's today's elderly Catholics who foisted this garbage on the rest of us. The elderly who would welcome the changes he writes about pretty much died out in the 70's and 80's. It's young people clamoring for a return to traditional orthodoxy these days.

Right on, Pgkdan!!! This 26 year old can be counted as part of that number.

This writer and his ilk are either a) in denial of a fact that they know very well to be the case or b) so completely ignorant of reality.

How many churches have enough priests to do everything during Mass ?

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.

This is patently false. Vatican II never decreed any such thing. The bishops used V2 as an excuse to have Mass facing the people.

Please, give me a break with this garbage...

I'm curious...is this guy Catholic?

Well, he describes attending Mass with his family as a child in the article, he lives in the Niagara area and has a French last name, which implies that he is Catholic, and he teaches at St. Bonaventure.

Whatever Kerry is, he is.

instead of a global organization struggling to accept elements of modernity.

Not accepting modernity? How shocking! [irony, sarcasm]

"I'm shocked! Shocked to find gambling going on here!"

"Some Catholics, particularly elderly ones, would welcome these changes, whether they actually occur or not."

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.

Last year, we instituted the Kyrie and Sanctus for our All-School Masses only during Lent. After Lent, our junior high students complained wanting to know why we couldn't do the 'cool Latin stuff' all the time. (Yes, I took the time to explain to them the Kyrie is Greek.)

I smiled and said, "Well, I don't know. But if you really like it, I can ask Father and maybe we can do it all the time." We are blessed with a great priest so, of course, he said yes.

From this experience, we are now beginning a "junior high choir and bell choir" -actually a schola- for the purpose of teaching the choir, student body and then all the parish the ordinary parts of the Mass in Latin as well as Gregorian chant, traditional Catholic music and whatever decent modern stuff we can find. The kids are incredibly excited about it.

We've even transformed the choir loft back into, well, a choir loft for the schola -though for now the adult choirs will remain stuffed off to the left at the front of the church.

And we've done it all because it is the kids who want it most. Teenagers are great BS detectors. They can tell 'real' from 'fake.'

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