What Do People Want?

I am curious about something. What is it that people really want? What type of liturgical reform do the traditional minded hope for down the road? Is it realistic to hope that some future Pope will do away with the Novus Ordo entirely and start from 1962 scratch? I don't think so.

So what is it that people hope will happen? What is it that YOU hope will happen?

Do think that Novus Ordo will be reformed to be more in line with Tradition? Will the two forms of the Rite eventually become one? Will the reforms called for by the council be applied to the Gregorian Rite resulting in a Reformed Gregorian Rite along side the Novus Ordo? Does the status quo of a more available Traditional Mass along side the use and abuse of the Novus Ordo continue for generations to come?

Tell us what you think? How will it play out? How do you hope it will play out? I know what I think, but what do you think? Let's hear it.

Trad bloggers finally touching the Third Rail

It is a subject that had to be addressed at some point; Cardinal Hoyos alluded to it when he filed his public complaints against traditional Catholics this past summer:

Cardinal Castrillon...said his office continues to receive letters requesting the Tridentine rite be used not just at one Mass a week but at every Mass, and that such Masses be available not just at one church in a town but at every church...Such people, he said, are "insatiable, incredible."

"They do not know the harm they are doing," Cardinal Castrillon said, adding that when the Vatican does not accept their demands immediately "they go directly to the Internet" and post their complaints.

...Asked about the status of those detailed instructions, Cardinal Castrillon told Catholic News Service that his office had completed its work and passed the draft on to the pope, who would make the final decision about its publication.

Is this the source of his frustration? Obviously, the delay in the publication of the PCED "clarification" comes from Pope Benedict XVI himself, not PCED or Cardinal Hoyos. Yet Cardinal Hoyos & the PCED have shouldered much of the blame for the perceived inaction of the Vatican in the face of recalcitrant bishops.

And some big guns in trad Catholic blogdom are daring to explore this reality, even if obliquely.

Damian Thompson at his Telegraph Holy Smoke blog writes,

Is Pope Benedict losing the confidence of the Latin Mass faithful?

Just over a year ago, Pope Benedict's decree liberating the traditional Latin Mass came into effect. But it contained so many loopholes that liberal bishops have been able to sabotage it - and a much-needed clarification from Rome has still not appeared.

But if the bishops of England and Wales (and of many other countries) are playing fast and loose with Summorum Pontificum, that's because Pope Benedict XVI is allowing them to.

The original document was not tightly drafted: it left plenty of room for confusion [...] they have not been clarified or amplified by Ecclesia Dei. Why not?

[...]there is still not the slightest indication that His Holiness will celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form publicly. Why? No one knows the answer.

Let us be blunt about this. If the Pope were to die tomorrow, he would be remembered for many fine achievements, most of all his encyclicals, but his liturgical reforms would peter out. Summorum Pontificum would remain on the statute book, but the Magic Circle in England and its powerful allies in the Vatican and Europe would quietly suffocate the work of Ecclesia Dei.

Even Fr. Zuhlsdorf is willing to grant now that the blame for any perceived delay lies with Pope Benedict XVI:

Holy Smoke: Are traditional Catholics losing hope? - Fr. Z responds

[...]Is Pope Benedict losing the confidence of the Latin Mass faithful?

Just over a year ago, Pope Benedict’s decree liberating the traditional Latin Mass came into effect. But it contained so many loopholes that liberal bishops have been able to sabotage it – and a much-needed clarification from Rome has still not appeared. [And it must be said that that is entirely the decision, or non-decision, of the Holy Father. The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei completed its part of the work a long time ago.]

There is only so much Cardinal Hoyos can do, when the delay in publishing the PCED clarification is at the sole discretion now of the Holy Father.

With the exception of the schismatics, most traditional Catholics have been loathe to criticize the present Holy Father. Its been the Third Rail that no trad blogger would touch. But with the Vatican's recent public criticism of the trad blogosphere, combined with few if any verified examples of Vatican intervention in favor of the rights of the laity and priests against intransigent bishops, these questions are going to increase.

Is it time to stop writing to PCED, and instead write directly to the Pope, begging him to put some teeth into what is now perceived to be his Summorum Pontificum toothless tiger -- at least in those dioceses in which the bishops are recalcitrant?

A bit of good news regarding bishops and Summorum Pontificum

I was commiserating with a friend recently about the seeming inaction of the Vatican in light of entrenched opposition to Summorum Pontificum.

He remarked that the Vatican IS taking action. Within the past year, at least one American bishop who had forbidden celebration of the TLM in his diocese received a call from "a Cardinal at the Vatican" instructing him, in no uncertain terms, that he was to permit the celebration of the TLM in his diocese.

He was also told that if he failed to comply, he would be receiving "a phone call from the Holy Father himself."

There are now several TLMs being offered in that bishop's diocese.

It is shameful that such would be necessary to convince bishops to obey the Pope, but that's the age in which we live. On the other hand, it is good for those of us in the trenches to know that the Vatican IS acting to enforce Summorum Pontificum, even if such interventions are not generally made public.

And given that such interventions are not generally being made public, but are occurring nonetheless, it is easier to understand the frustrations of Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos and other Vatican leaders. They may be well aware that such interventions are occurring, but are constrained from pointing them out.

Kudos to that "Cardinal at the Vatican" for correcting a recalcitrant bishop, and to our Holy Father for charging that "Cardinal at the Vatican" with taking action in this regard.

The New & Official PCED Summorum Pontificum Website

TNLM reports on an important new website from PCED:

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Official "Summorum Pontificum" Website of the Ecclesia Dei Commission Online

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei now has an official website called Summorum Pontificum. The address is http://www.ecclesiadei-pontcommissio.org. So far it is mainly in Italian, but versions in English, German, Spanish, French and Portuguese are apparently being prepared. This is Card. Castrillón's introductory letter (click to enlarge):


NLM translation:

To the end of keeping bishops, priests, religious and faithful permanently informed about every aspect concerning the Extraordinary Use of the Roman Rite and every expression of the Gregorian liturgy, on this Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei inaugurates the "web" site Summorum Pontificum.

We will strive to incorporate into the structure of this website official documents, study material, information about events, comments and audiovisual instruments helpful for the understanding and performing of the liturgical celebrations.

We do not aim in any way at establishing an interactive website, but rather at offering information and materials in complete fidelity to the "mens" of the Holy Father, who has manifested the clear intention of preserving and keeping alive, in extraordinary form, the theological, spiritual, religious and artistic richness of the Gregorian Liturgy.

(Good thing Patrick Archbold renamed this blog recently ;-)