SP October 31, 2007

Panorama: document from Ecclesia Dei soon

Solemn Pontifical Mass of Bishop Peter J. Elliott, Australia

Who's really nostalgic? Richard McBrien, that's who.

SP October 30, 2007

Rorate Confirms What We Expect

-(1) a document is being prepared by the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" explaining some points of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, including what criteria may be used to identify a stably existing group (no specific minimum number) and clarifications regarding the differences between the calendars of both forms of the Roman Rite - the document may be published, accoding to Ingrao, "in the next few days";

-(2) the possibility of a traditional Mass celebrated by the Pope in December (according to Ingrao, not in Saint Peter's, but maybe in Saint Paul Outside the Walls);

-(3) the probability that the excommunications of the Bishops involved in the consecrations of June 30, 1988, in Ecône, Switzerland may soon be lifted.

FSSP in England

SP October 29, 2007

Two Takes on Tridentine Mass
A secular newspaper and a priest measure response to the motu proprio. Guess who gets it right?

Naples, FL: implementing Summorum Pontificum

Steubenville's Response: Reluctant Acceptance

SP October 28, 2007

Two Takes on Tridentine Mass
A secular newspaper and a priest measure response to the motu proprio. Guess who gets it right?

SP October 27, 2007

The Dinosaurs Doth Protest Too Much
My take on the Fr. McBrien's protest.

Father Z. gives it the once over here.

And the Source:
The Latin Mass by Fr. Wacko Progressive Condescending Dinosaur (aka Fr. Richard McBrien)
But if such Catholics are under the ages of 45 or 50, they have little or no hands-on experience of the pre-Vatican II Mass. It is a mystery how one can be nostalgic for something one had never experienced.

Don Guido speaks: Motu proprio "an act of justice"
"[It is] as the Church wishes and teaches, not more and not less. I am not the kind of person who looks for inventions and oddities. I may even seem banal, but the liturgy is respect to the rules laid down by the Church, and I see no reason for which I should disobey it.

"Ordinary" and "Extraordinary": A Discussion about Interpretive Keys to their Meaning

SP October 26, 2007

Interview: Cardinal Arinze on the Church, its sacraments and the Latin Mass


The Latin revival has begun
Damian Thompson say "I never thought I’d say this, but three cheers for Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, two of whose parishes have begun celebrating the ancient Latin Mass five times a week, including on Sundays."

Arkansas priests get overview on Latin Mass
Seminary professor leads three-day program on 'motu proprio'

SP October 25, 2007

Fellay speaks: I am confident
Williamson and I are on the same line, that which believes that we could hardly re-enter a Church as is. And the reasons are quite simple. Benedict XVI has indeed liberalized the ancient rite, but I cannot explain for what reason he made such a decision if he then allows the majority of Bishops to criticize and disobey him regarding what he determined. What should we do? Re-enter the Church and then be insulted by all those people?

Continuing reaction to the Steubenville Saga.

SP October 24, 2007

Shawn gives Dan a Holy Whapping?
A discussion of the reform of the reform in the post motu proprio world.

Students Push for Addition of Latin Mass
(Georgetown) Campus Ministry Says Training, Scheduling Concerns Pose Problems .
Father Z. comments here.

Steubenville Soap Opera
Will the real FUS please stand up?

SP October 23, 2007

"There is something with Rome, but it is, in any case, discreet."
Rorate has the scoop on some possible discreet talks with the SSPX.

A Quick Synopsis of the FSSP Training Kit

Santa Maria Maggiore and two Canadian FSSP apostolates experience growth in frequency

SP October 22, 2007

Fastest turnaround in the history of a Publishing House

Summorum Pontificum and the Future of the Liturgy
We had to wait a long time for the Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, to be promulgated, but it was worth it. The document is well thought out and gives some precise juridical norms for the use of the traditional Latin liturgy of the Church. Over the next ten years this new legislation will have a profound effect on the worship of the Catholic Church.

The Astonishing Work of St. John Cantius
I’ve heard wonderful things about St. John Cantius in Chicago, and I had the opportunity to interview of its priests for Sacred Music, but nothing could have prepared me for the full glory of the reality that this parish is. I was here for a training session in the sung Mass for celebrants, from Wednesday through Friday, so I was not there for Sunday. Nonetheless, I was overwhelmed.

SP October 19, 2007

Tridentine Mass II: An apology
By Rev. Peter J. Daly

I'm sorry.

Some weeks ago I wrote a column about the recent "motu proprio" from Rome permitting wider celebration of the Tridentine Mass (The Tidings, Aug. 17).

In 20 years of writing columns I never got so much angry mail. The only columns that even came close were about gun control and immigration.
The old Latin ritual was universal. No matter where you were, from Korea to Chicago, it was the same. Its universality united us and set us apart.

On conservative Catholic blogs my name has been mud. I have been called everything from a heretic to a fool.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone. And it may surprise my correspondents, but I actually agree with many of them.

“The use of the Latin language is to be preserved”
Will Benedict XVI’s motu proprio result in more Tridentine Masses in California?

Lecture on the Motu Proprio

SP October 18, 2007

Madison (WI): Bishop to celebrate Missa Pontificalis

AUDIO STREAM: The Colorado Catholic Herald Show
Bishop Sheridan discusses pope's Latin Mass document
Oct 12, 2007 3:00 PM
Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Colorado Catholic Herald Show on KFEL.


On Rorate CÆLi:You report: Traditional Masses around the world.

SP October 17, 2007

Father John Trigilio responds to Priestly Rant
A response to the rant of Father Pat on the motu proprio.

Seminarians (parishioners) “traddy cliques”? Be careful.

Liturgical music in England

While the Motu Proprio has left us all with lots to do, liturgical music has to be one of the priorities, and I agree very much with the emphasis this blog places on music. Although a 'nice quiet Mass' is many people's fervent desire after being subjected to bad liturgical music, nothing is so attractive, I believe, as really good music for those who haven't yet seen the 'point' of the liturgy, be they Catholics or non-Catholics.

Summorum Pontificum October 16, 2007

The Latin Mass, Hitler, Martin Luther, and Much More!
One of the more staggeringly crazy rants to date. Not to be missed!

Summorum Pontificum October 15, 2007

What does the Pope know about liturgy anyway?
Damian Thompson reports that Robert Mickens of the Tablet is peeved:

But now for the really bad news. “His replacement as MC, Fr Guido Marini (no relation), has degrees in canon law and communications, while over at the Congregation for Divine Worship not one of the top three officials is a liturgist.”

And, wait for it… “Nor, just for the record, is the Pope.”

An Unfortunate Article on the Motu Proprio From Lubbock
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal published an article Saturday called, "Local clergy not expecting big demand for 'Dominus vobiscum.'" Right out of the gate the headline is strange. The article is based upon an interview with a Lubbock pastor and other local sources who seem very negatively inclined to the Motu Proprio.

From Rapid City:Latin Mass OK with pope

Msgr. Perl of the Pont. Comm. “Ecclesia Dei”: we are drafting an instruction on the interpretation of Summorum Pontificum

SP October 12, 2007

Read an absolutely unbelievable statement from His Excellency Most Rev. Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments. This constitutes an clear shot across the bow of every foot dragging obstructionist bishop. Read and leap for joy.

“The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum on the Latin Liturgy of July 7th 2007 is the fruit of a deep reflection by our Pope on the mission of the Church. It is not up to us, who wear ecclesiastical purple and red, to draw this into question, to be disobedient and make the motu proprio void by our own little, tittle rules. Even not if they were made by a bishops conference. Even bishops do not have this right. What the Holy Fathers says, has to be obeyed in the Church. If we do not follow this principle, we will allow ourselves to be used as instruments of the devil, and nobody else. This will lead to discord in the Church, and slows down her mission. We do not have the time to waste on this. Else we behave like emperor Nero, fiddling on his violin while Rome was burning. The churches are emptying, there are no vocations, the seminaries are empty. Priests become older and older, and young priests are scarce.”

SP Happenings

Wow. Sorry if I am a little behind the eight ball on this as I was traveling all yesterday and did not have access to a computer. With that said, we have some big happenings, or so it may seem.

First. Le Croix reported yesterday that:

Due to these difficulties in the application of the text [of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum], the commission Ecclesia Dei is considering the elaboration of a directive which may detail the forms of application. And the Pope could celebrate the Mass in the Extraordinary, that is pre-Conciliar, Roman Rite soon.

This has been followed up by Andrea Tornielli:

The Pope himself would be quite displeased by some of the instances of "resistance" being shown even in Italian dioceses and it is likely that quite soon some interpretive norms will be issued to correct the application of the document according to the meaning desired by Benedict XVI.

So it would seem that a major clarification may be on the way. Excellent. Father Z. calls it an "Attitude Adjustment".

What is more in Le Croix we have this incredible snippet indicating that the episcopal excommunications of the SSPX may soon be lifted!

[At a conference at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, on October 5] The head of the Lefebvrists [Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior-General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X - FSSPX/SSPX] also hopes that the excommunications pronounced in 1988, at the moment of the illicit episcopal ordinations in Écône, will soon be lifted. "Maybe from now to the end of autumn."

Wow. You can't miss a day around here.

SP October 10, 2007

Lost in Translation...Actually Before Translation
An update to Fr. Z's post on the USCCB motu text.

SP October 9, 2007

Latin mass worshippers 'thrown out'

But the group says that the church has now stopped them holding the weekly services and only offering them once-a-month mass, forcing them to move to St Mary Magdalen's Church in Penwortham.
...
"It has upset a lot of people who simply do not know what they have done wrong. A monthly service is no use to us, we are committed to our faith and need to celebrate it every week."

Nix the SSPX secret talks.
News reports disseminated primarily on French language websites and blogs last week asserting that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has been in secret doctrinal discussions with theologians of the Holy See are incorrect, according to the Society’s official news service.

Is there a stable and continuous text of Summorum Pontificum?
It is no wonder we have translation problems.

SP October 8, 2007

Sooner Insanity!
The following is a letter published in the Sooner Catholic, a diocesan newspaper serving Oklahoma City. This letter, unfortunately, is by a priest and is a reaction to the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Read at your own risk. You will almost certainly lose a few IQ points by the end.

Paranoia will destroy ya!
Some more craziness from Oklahoma. This time from Tulsa. "So pardon me if I remain offended by this further slide back in to the abyss"

Latin Mass’ popularity growing in R.I. parishes
Yesterday, as more than 400 people filtered into what some people still call the “new” St. Bart’s (having replaced the original building in 1969), 10 altar servers, all grown men, two deacons and two priests gathered in a room to don cassocks and robes, hoping that they would not forget what they had learned in three weeks of rehearsals.

SP October 7, 2007

Hell-sinki
The renewed Roman liturgy—and especially the rite of Holy Mass—was not any sort of an expression of modernism in the church. According to the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, the new liturgy was implemented with the permission of Pope Paul VI, so that the faithful could completely and actively participate in the liturgy and personally feel the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Cardinal George on the Motu Proprio

"We are somewhere else now."
John Allen Jr. of NCR has a wide ranging interview with Cardinal George of Chicago. In it, Allen asks the Cardinal about the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. I have excerpted those questions and answers here with my emphases and [comments].

SP Weekend October 6-7, 2007

Cardinal George on the Motu Proprio
—‘We’re somewhere else now.’

Hmmmm?
Secret theological discussions with the SSPX in Rome?

Stably Existing Bad Translations
They continue to get "continenter exsistit" wrong.

Fr. Paul Scalia offers the Traditional Latin Mass:

SP October 5, 2007

Polish bishops' guidelines on motu proprio
Warsaw, Oct. 4, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Polish bishops' conference has issued guidelines for the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, setting out a list of 10 considerations to guide the use of the traditional Latin Mass.

Missale Romanum 1962
The full Missale Romanum is online, hosted by the CMAA and thanks to a generous gift from Fr. Robert Skeris. HT to Fr. Z.

A note about the uncomprehending
"Wow, I had never thought of it like that before! Here I was stuck in the Middle Ages but now I suddenly feel called to Build the City of God and Sing a New Church into Being!"

SP Today

Vatican does not plan to reprint the Missal of '62
From an interview with Father Giuseppe Costa, the new director of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican Publishing House (Petrus)

In Holland, They're Inventing Their Own Mass – Copyrighted by the Dominicans
The experimentation is already underway. In place of the priest are men and women selected by the faithful. And all together pronounce the words of consecration, which are varied as desired. In the view of the Dutch Dominicans, this is what Vatican Council II wanted.

Summorum Pontificum October 3, 2007

Mahrt guides Gregorian chant's long legacy at Stanford
BY CYNTHIA HAVEN
For nearly two millennia, the sound has been a regular pulse beneath the skin of Western civilization. It reverberated through Dante's mind as he scratched out the cantos of the Purgatorio. It was the inaudible vein of thought running beneath the chords of Mozart's Requiem. Crusaders trudged to the East with these melodies in their heart, but they were too late—Jerusalem had echoed with it centuries earlier. It was ubiquitous, universal—that is, until about 40 years ago.
The tide may be turning, and, if so, it will be William Mahrt's moment in the sun.

Enjoy an article by Bp. Arthur Seratelli on liturgical unity through gestures and postures

Introibo ad altare Dei (I will go in to the altar of God)
The Latin Mass returns to Pawtucket

Summorum Pontificum October 2, 2007

Dappled Things:The Monastery, the Motu Proprio, and the Heart of the Church
by Philip Carl Smith
“The liturgy is the heart of the Church,” the abbot responded with a serene expression, “and Pope Benedict knows what medicine the Church requires.”

Why Did God Make the Dinosaurs Extinct? He couldn't take the condescension.
The Most Rev. Emil A. Wcela, recently retired auxiliary Bishop of my home Diocese of Rockville Centre, has an article in this weeks America Magazine. The somewhat ironic piece is entitled "A Dinosaur Ponders The Latin Mass". See how many tired and used up cliches you can spot.

Life in the post-motu-proprio world: A reflection on the reform of the reform.

Statement From Fresno

Recent Stories:

Bp. of Victoria (Canada): “the Ordinary and Extraordinary, will no doubt, influence one another”
Will the Pope celebrate a Traditional Mass on December 2?
A wonderful letter to the editor of the Georgia Bulletin by a 16yr old.

Pastoral Message aired on KNXT-TV during October 2007

Bishop John T. Steinbock, Diocese of Fresno

My Dear People of God,

The document Pope Benedict XVI issued on July 7 regarding the use of the Latin Mass, reformed and published with the authority of Pope John XXIII in 1962, took effect in the Universal Church on September 14 of this year. The Holy Father declared that both this 1962 Latin Mass, referred to as the Tridentine Mass, and the Mass we now celebrate, the Mass of Paul VI published in 1970, form one and the same Rite.

The Holy Father has given permission to a priest, in Masses celebrated without the people, to celebrate the extraordinary form of 1962 in Latin, on his own authority. He does not need permission of the Bishop. Masses celebrated without people are private and non-scheduled Masses. The Holy Father states that Christ’s faithful, with due observance of law, who spontaneously request it, may be admitted to these celebrations.

In parishes where a group of faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition exists stably, if the pastor is able, he is asked to accede to their requests for the celebration of the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962. If a group of lay faithful does not obtain what it requests from the pastor, it should inform the diocesan Bishop. If he cannot provide for this celebration, the Holy Father says that the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei.”

As the Bishop of our Diocese, I have always allowed a Sunday Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Missal, both in the South and the North, the Bakersfield area and the Fresno area, for those people, coming from many different parishes, who have an attachment to the Mass in Latin. I thank those priests who have provided this Mass through the years. It is a reality that there are very few priests left that are able to celebrate the Mass in Latin either in the ordinary or the extraordinary form.

I cannot foresee, at this time, a regular Sunday Mass in Latin in any other parishes, unless the pastor of a parish is personally able and willing to celebrate this Mass in Latin. Most priests are already celebrating two, three and sometimes four Masses, both on Saturdays and Sundays. As the Bishop, I also have to tell everyone, quite frankly, that because of the shortage of priests, we are now preparing to have some of our parishes staffed, not by a priest, but by a Permanent Deacon, a Religious, or a Lay Person, who will be called a “Parish Life Coordinator.” This person will be in charge of leading the parish community, with a priest coming to celebrate Mass and hear Confessions when available.

Hopefully, the document of the Holy Father will have a significant impact in Europe, where relatively few faithful are coming to Mass on Sunday. Here in our Diocese, our parish churches, with multiple Masses, are filled with people, who experience a vibrant and devotional Sunday Liturgy. We are blest, in so many ways, but we are in great need of priests. Let us pray for vocations especially from within our parish communities. +