From Mundabor's Blog:

Latest News About The Instruction Regarding Summorum Pontificum

Posted on February 22, 2011 by mundabor

Messa in Latino has another post about the thorny question of the instruction. Once again, this beautiful site shows that it has pretty good feelers concerning Vatican affairs.

The process of the instruction is described as follows:

1) There was a first version, ready as soon as February 2008. A good version but with some questions left open. The then secretary of Ecclesia Dei, Mons. Perl, personally vouched with the Messa In Latino‘s blog post writer “Enrico” about this fact.

2) A second draft was prepared by the new Secretary of Ecclesia Dei and therefore called “Pozzo draft”. This was, we are assured, magnificent, as it was both exhaustive in its dealing with interpretation questions and able to greatly enhance the concrete possibility of use of the Tridentine Mass.What Summorum Pontificum freed in the juridical sense, this Instruction would have freed concerning its practical application.

3) The Pozzo draft was apparently “too good” and, well, not entirely popular among liberal Bishops. These then started to lobby to have it watered down. Messa in Latino mentions as helpers Cardinals Re, Kaspar, Arinze, Tauran. Together with Cardinal Levada, some (not all, see Kasper) of them are rather conservative chaps but alas, they’re no great friends of the Tridentine.

An added problem was that the merging of Ecclesia Dei within the CDF in the wake of the “Williamson affair” led to a deminutio of the latter, now merely a branch of the CDF and not in a position to vigorously defend the original document once pressure for change started to come from the CDF (Levada) himself.

The rest, as we will probably very soon say, is history.

What would seem to transpire (and at this point it seems to me that the people at Messa In Latino certainly know what they write) is that an original sincere intention to do things better and, most importantly, in an orthodox way goes through a process of internal “improvement” and comes out of the Vatican’s washer-dryer rather discolored in the best of cases, and gravely stained in the worst. One is reminded of Vatican II, really.

Let us hope that last-minute interventions will avoid great damage and that the bombing of Summorum Pontificum, so it should come, will prove not threatening for the edifice’s structure.

In the end and as I have written in the past, there is no way the resurgence of the desire for the Latin Mass can be stopped, though it can certainly be slowed down.

The real solution will come from the undertakers.

Will a New Papal Document Curtail Use of the Old Mass?

As usual, Dr. Robert Moynihan has put together an excellent overview of the current discussions regarding the anticipated clarification of Summorum Pontificum:

Will a New Papal Document Curtail Use of the Old Mass?

On the internet, there are increasing worries among traditional Catholics that an upcoming Vatican Instruction on how to implement Summorum Pontificum will curtail use of the Old Mass

By Robert Moynihan

====================

"Second-Class Catholics"?

Will the Vatican soon issue a document calling for some restrictions on the use of the old rite of the Mass?

The internet, especially in traditional Catholic circles, is abuzz with reports that this may be about to happen.

But for the moment, these reports are based only on rumors.

Officially, no one yet knows the content of the upcoming Vatican Instruction to give guidelines for the implementation of Summorum Pontificum -- the dramatic and controversial July 7, 2007 papal motu proprio in which Benedict XVI, after long hesitation, granted wider use of the old, pre-Vatican II liturgy, also known as the Tridentine liturgy or the Latin Mass.

The upcoming document is indeed being prepared; that much is certain. 

It is said to bear the date of February 22 -- just four days from now.

But it is not likely to be made public on February 22, but some days or weeks later, as often happens with Roman documents, and the document can even be rewritten during that time, after the date it is signed.

So we may be in for a considerable period of uncertainty on this question. And that will naturally allow room for fears based on uncertain or partial information to grow.

According to unconfirmed "leaks" of portions of the document's contents, the Instruction will, somewhat unexpectedly, contain two clauses which will restrict the celebration of the old rite.

I say "somewhat unexpectedly" because the expectation for this document was that it would concretize what Benedict said in 2007 was his desire for a  "generous" granting of permission to celebrate the old liturgy "widely."

It therefore seems strange to many that, if the reports are true, it may contain new restrictions, as if this would be out of keeping with Benedict's own expressed will.

First, according to these reports, the old Mass will not be able to be freely celebrated in places where "non-Roman" Western rites once flourished, especially in Milan, where the Ambrosian rite flourished. (This is of importance because Milan is one of the largest dioceses in the world.)

In an internet report on the Catholic website Rorate Coeli (http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2011/02/instruction-ii-ghettoization-must-start.html), we read:

"In its current draft, the Instruction definitely 'clarifies' that the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum is applied exclusively to the Roman Rite, in the strictest interpretation of the word. Therefore, not to the non-Roman Latin Rites: the clearly minoritarian or even forgotten Mozarabic, Braga, or Sarum rites. But the rule would apply also to the not few religious who have tried to rediscover their Traditional rites or uses: Dominicans and Carmelites, in particular, but also Carthusians, Norbertines... What is surprising is that the extension of the spirit of the motu proprio to other Western rites and uses had always been assumed...

"This restrictive rule," the web site continues, "would in particular (and would seem thus planned, considering the complications of the Italian Church) exclude the application of the motu proprio to the Traditional Liturgy of the largest diocese in the Old World, and third with most Catholics in the world: Milan. Excluding the enclaves of Roman Rite, the motu proprio would be void in the Archdiocese and in the Ambrosian zones of the Diocese of Lugano, Switzerland.

"For over five million Catholics in that area, and for religious priests dedicated to their rites or uses, the rules to be applied would not be those of Summorum (the Traditional Liturgy as a right of priests and groups of faithful), but only Ecclesia-Dei-like privileges and concessions, granted by the liturgical authorities of the Archdiocese (in the case of Milan) or the Superiors (in the case of the orders).

"Why such a restriction? In legal terms, nothing seems to demand it: the text of Summorum is sufficiently ambiguous that it can be interpreted in both ways...

"This first major point of the instruction has, thus, a clear repressive and punitive intention. Its sense would be extremely dangerous: that the Traditional liturgies of the West, rather than being encouraged (as the letter of the motu proprio makes clear), must be contained, regulated, oppressed. Not a clear declaration of rights, but a bureaucratic web of limited privileges and concessions: this small example seems to set the general new tone regarding the Traditional Liturgy.
 

"This may seem minor," the Rorate Coeli website concludes. "Yet it is quite significant in what it reveals: an interpretation of the rights recognized by Summorum as privileges or 'indults' that can be curtailed."

Second, and "much, much, more serious and insidious" says Rorate Coeli, is the report that "the Instruction, in its current draft, will explicitly prevent Bishops from using the Traditional Rite of Holy Orders."

In other words, bishops will not be able freely to ordain their seminarians using the old rite.

They will be able to celebrate all of the other sacraments -- baptism, confirmation, etc. -- according to the old rite, but not holy orders, unless they receive ask permission first from Rome.

There will be two exceptions, according to the leaked information, when bishops may use the old rite in priestly ordination ceremonies.

The first involves those institutes (the Ecclesia Dei institutes) and particular Churches dedicated exclusively to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

The other exception is that the Bishop that desires to ordain a certain seminarian in the ancient Rite will have to ask prior permission to Rome (to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei), which will then evaluate if said permission should be granted or not.

"What is to be achieved by this odious restrictive interpretation?" Rorate Coeli asks. "Why should bishops be forbidden to choose with which Rite to ordain their own deacons and priests? The intention is, among others, to ghettoize the Traditional Rite of this most pivotal of all Sacraments, Holy Orders; and, further, to identify 'problematic' bishops and future priests, with all consequences that could entail (including for their careers)."

The website concludes: "It is an alarming sign that the thrust of the Instruction is once again to make, even in law, all Catholics attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or those who merely appreciate it (and, in this case, even Bishops and poor hopeful seminarians) second-class Catholics."

Some web bloggers argue that the leaks that have been leaked thus far are disinformation, that there is an effort being made to confuse people just before the Instruction's appearance.

"These documents go through many drafts, with many changes," one blogger wrote. "My guess is that such info is disinformation, intending to influence the document or – perhaps more importantly – its reception... It might have happened like this: A few powerful German or French bishops communicate with or visit Ecclesia Dei, recommending that certain restrictions be in the Instruction. Then word is put out through sources that such restrictions will be in the Instruction. A similar MO [modus operandi] was used before Humanae Vitae was promulgated."

Father John Zuhlsdorf, whose popular website "What Does the Prayer Really Say?" (http://wdtprs.com/blog) has reported on the leaks, has encouraged his readers to pray for the Holy Father.

"If you are concerned about what might happen to Summorum Pontificum," he writes, "pray and fast. Don’t whine. Don’t panic. Don’t fret. Don’t behave like a suddenly headless chicken.

"Do what a committed Catholic warrior would do for a cause that is dear," Zuhldsorf continues. "Go to church and spend time before the Blessed Sacrament every day until this resolves one way or another. Ask Jesus to either stop the Instruction or to make Summorum Pontificum even better. Pray the Rosary for the Holy Father. Ask our Blessed Mother to move the Holy Father to keep Summorum Pontificum strong, to make it even stronger. Pray to the Holy Father’s guardian angels constantly during the day asking them to strengthen him and to weaken his many enemies, some of them very close to him."

Zuhlsdorf and others desire to "keep Summorum Pontificum strong" because they see the revival of the old liturgy as positive not only for the Church's cultural identity, but also for the holiness of her faith and morals.

One blogger, noting that he had just read through the "shocking" Philadelphia Grand Jury report, just published, on the investigation into the priestly abuse of minors in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, expresses a feeling widely shared by traditional Catholics: that the loss of the sense of the sacred which followed the introduction of the new Mass in 1970 -- for whatever reason -- also contributed to a loss of moral discipline, of a moral compass, among many Catholics, especially among the clergy, and that the return to the faith and practice inculcated by the old Mass is the best way to restore the holiness of the life of the Church and end the scandals.

But, this blogger notes, after four decades, a return to that faith and practice is bitterly opposed by many in the Church, some of them very powerful and highly placed.

==============================

A Petition on this Matter

At the following web address, you can find a petition in several languages which asks the Holy Father to intervene, if necessary, to revise the wording of this draft document: http://www.motuproprioappeal.com/

Here is the text of that petition:

Appeal for the Preservation of the Integrity of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum

An Appeal to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, Pertaining to the Instruction/Clarification of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum

Most Holy Father, we the undersigned:

1. Express our profound gratitude to Your Holiness for your personal liturgical example to the Universal Church. You are a true homo liturgicus whose love for the sacred liturgy is an inspiration; it teaches more clearly than words the centrality of the liturgy in the life of the Church.

2. Thank Your Holiness for your gift to the Church of your 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. Since 2007 it has brought forth many fruits, including greater unity in the Church of Christ and a widespread enrichment of the liturgical life of the Church.

3. Note with sadness the continuing and real opposition to the implementation of Summorum Pontificum in many dioceses and on the part of many members of the hierarchy, the suffering and distress this continues to cause many of Christ’s faithful and the obstacle this opposition is to an effective reconciliation within the Church.

4. Note with anxiety the apparent signs that a forthcoming Instruction on Summorum Pontificum will, in some way, take away from what you have legally established in that Motu Proprio and from its wide application in the generous spirit so eloquently explained by Your Holiness in the letter accompanying it: “Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows.”

5. Express our grave concern that any restrictive measures would cause scandal, disunity and suffering in the Church and would frustrate the reconciliation you so earnestly desire, as well as impede further liturgical renewal and development in continuity with Tradition, which is already so great a fruit of your pontificate.

6. Express our hope, our desire and our urgent appeal that the good Your Holiness personally initiated through Summorum Pontificum not be allowed to be hindered by such restrictions.

7. Turn to you with filial trust and as obedient sons and daughters, Most Holy Father, and ask that you urgently consider our concerns and intervene if you judge it necessary.

8. Assure Your Holiness of our continuing prayers, of our deep affection and of our loyalty.

If you go to the web site, you can add your name to this petition.

Fears that the clarification document will water down Summorum Pontificum

Here are two good blog posts summarizing what is known to date regarding the "clarification" document:

Ars Orandi: Fears that the clarification document will water down Summorum Pontificum
English Catholic: Summorum Pontificum threatened – or is it?

And of course, level headed advice from Fr. Zuhlsdorf at WDTPRS:

An initial comment concerning the Instruction about Summorum Pontificum

... If you are concerned about what might happen to Summorum Pontificum, pray and fast.  Don’t whine.  Don’t panic.  Don’t fret.  Don’t behave like a suddenly headless chicken.
Do what a committed Catholic warrior would do for a cause that is dear.

• Go to church and spend time before the Blessed Sacrament every day until this resolves one way or another.
• Ask Jesus to either stop the Instruction or to make Summorum Pontificum even better.
• Pray the Rosary for the Holy Father.
• Ask our Blessed Mother to move the Holy Father to keep Summorum Pontificum strong, to make it even stronger.
• Pray to the Holy Father’s guardian angels constantly during the day asking them to strengthen him and to weaken his many enemies, some of them very close to him.
• Fast and offer your hunger – real hunger, don’t fool around if you are going to do this -  for the Holy Father’s well-being and firm resolve.

Be prudent about fasting, of course, especially if others rely on you and you have health concerns.  But if you are young and healthy, fast.

If Fr. Z. is strongly recommending prayer and fasting, then one could safely assume there is reason for concern, no?

A month ago Fr. Zuhlsdorf at WDTPRS wrote about the imminent release of The Instruction concerning Summorum Pontificum.

Now the contents of that clarification are in doubt. See Damien Thompson's blog entry and the latest updates at Rorate Caeli blog:

Summorum Pontificum 'under threat', say Roman sources

By Damian Thompson Religion Last updated: February 16th, 2011

A priest friend emails me to draw my attention to an extraordinary post on the Rorate Caeli blog suggesting that a forthcoming “clarification” to Summorum Pontificum will severely limit freedom to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. “It seems there is some truth in this awful rumour,” he says.
I do hope not. But here, anyway, is the blog post, written in somewhat melodramatic language (with my emphases):

Strange, violent, and dark forces wish to derail the application of Summorum Pontificum. Lawyers (and those who know lawyers…) and legislators are quite aware how this goes: a lower-ranking interpretive text so modifies the clear letter of the law that renders the latter ineffectual.

Reports from different sources suggest that ill-intentioned people within the highest ranks of the Holy See wish to use the clarification document on Summorum Pontificum as a Trojan Horse, emptying the motu proprio of all its content, especially regarding Parish Priests and other members of the diocesan clergy (see e.g. Messa in Latino). This is a dangerous, clear, and credible threat. We must pray, indeed, but all priests and lay faithful must act. All Catholic faithful must send urgent and respectful letters to the Holy Father, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Secretariat of State, the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’, and other authorities, asking the Holy Father and curial authorities to defend the clear letter of the motu proprio that gave us freedom and thanking once again the Holy Father for the gift that was Summorum Pontificum, including references to the personal improvement brought to one’s Catholic life and family by the wider availability of the Traditional liturgy.

This is also a time for open letters to the Pope, from all concerned Catholic intellectuals, in Italy, in France, in Germany, in Britain, in America, and elsewhere. We must make our voices heard BEFORE the storm hits, and it may hit us very soon.

RorateCaeli is standing behind its reports:

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Let us defend Summorum Pontificum against the Trojan Horse

[Update: We will keep this up; all signs from different sources are aligning, and unexpected sources have confirmed our fears; the matter is too relevant to be kept in silence.]

Contacts (for anyone who wants to write in and plead for the correct implementation of Summorum Pontificum):

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
Palazzo Apostolico
Via del Pellegrino
00120 Città del Vaticano

His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Segretetia di Stato
Palazzo Apostolico
00120 Città del Vaticano

His Eminence Cardinal William J. Levada.
Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l20 Città del Vaticano

Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei"
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l20 Città del Vaticano

His Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3687

Transalpine Redemptorists: ‘When we left, the stones came from behind’

‘When we left, the stones came from behind’

Mark Greaves visits traditionalists in Orkney who are about to enter into full communion with Rome after decades of estrangement

By Mark Greaves on Friday, 1 October 2010


The Transalpine Redemptorists pictured with Bishop Peter Moran of Aberdeen

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, was an attempt to end decades of division over liturgy: to bring the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), and all the groups affiliated with it, back into the Church. The older Latin Mass, the Pope said, had never been outlawed; it was, in fact, the “same rite” as the newer Mass, the Novus Ordo. The Church must make “every effort” to achieve unity, he said, adding: “Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows.”

Negotiations with the SSPX have indeed begun, yet so far no traditionalist group has taken up the Pope’s call – except, that is, for one small community based on a tiny, windswept island in Orkney.

The community, known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, have paid a heavy price for their decision. Four brothers and two priests have left, and about 1,000 supporters in Britain have broken off contact with them – only one or two families are still in touch.

They have not been ecstatically welcomed, either. It is more than two years since they first approached Rome, yet they are still waiting for their bishop, Bishop Peter Moran of Aberdeen, to grant them legal status within the Church.

Fr Michael Mary, who founded the community in 1988, is a kind man but no softie. Later, when he gives me a rosary as a present, he says “don’t blub”. He is a New Zealander: he left in 1987 to join Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre at his Econe seminary in Switzerland.

When I arrive at their island, Papa Stronsay, the waters are calm. A seal is bobbing its head by the shore. I sit down with Fr Michael Mary in the monastery guestroom – he tells me it was once a herring shed, where women used to gut fresh herring. Next door is the chapel, where office is now sung in Latin for several hours a day.

When Summorum Pontificum came out, he says, he was back in New Zealand. He read it first on the Rorate Caeli website – the “BBC of tradition”. Later he printed a copy for another priest, Fr Anthony Mary.
They had no thoughts, at that time, of becoming reconciled with Rome. It was only months later, at an SSPX conference, that doubts about their status began to creep in.

It started when Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the SSPX, mentioned that he would ask Rome to give the SSPX jurisdiction for marriages. Currently, their marriages could be automatically annulled by the Church if the couple wanted a divorce; that, clearly, was a problem. The remark made Fr Michael Mary wonder, though: if the SSPX has “supplied jurisdiction”, as it has always claimed, why does it need to ask Rome? (Bishop Fellay later claimed that he did not make this remark.)

Several weeks later, on New Year’s Eve, 2007, Fr Michael Mary went to bed early. As he was going to sleep, he was struck by a very strong feeling. It was, he says, a “complete turnaround”. He got out of bed and wrote these words on an envelope: “I, Fr Michael Mary, believe tonight that Pope Benedict XVI is the true Pope of the Catholic Church, and that I must now do everything possible to live in union with him.”

Fr Michael Mary rustles his rosary beads loudly as he talks. Occasionally, when trying to remember something, he takes off his glasses and holds them in the air, his eyes directed at the ceiling.
He says he was eager, then, to resolve the question of jurisdiction. It boils down to whether the SSPX founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was right to claim “a state of necessity” that meant he could ordain bishops without permission from the Pope.

First, he contacted French Dominicans. These, he says, were the experts: they had huge libraries and produced dense periodicals. But when he asked them about jurisdiction, expecting them to have a treatise on it, they said they had nothing of the sort. He mimics their response to his question: a very knowing, drawn out, “Ah, bon…” They told him that to ask that question would be “the revolution” in his community.

After that he got in touch with Fr Josef Bisig, founder of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), who broke from the SSPX in 1988. Fr Bisig said he would email over the FSSP study, and wrote: “Excuse me for saying my personal opinion, but I think you probably are schismatic.”

Reading the FSSP document, says Fr Michael Mary, was depressing. “I thought, ‘this is bad news’. We are actually in a difficult situation.”

He printed off the study for each member of the community, and suggested they read it three times, letting it filter through. They reached the conclusion that they should seek communion with Rome “at all costs”. In March 2008, they had a vote. Each member put a bead in a voting box: a white bead for “yes”, a black bead for “no”. All the beads were white.

Without Summorum Pontificum, says Fr Michael Mary, they “would not have dreamed” of becoming reconciled with Rome. They were struck by the graciousness, and courage, of the Pope, and by his admission that the old Mass had never been outlawed. “Because nearly everybody would tell you it had,” he says.

At first they kept their vote a secret. After all, they did not know who to tell. Their contact with the mainstream Catholic Church had, for 20 years, been “zero or negative”.

On the advice of Fr Bisig, they arranged a meeting with Fr José Monteiro Guimarães, a Redemptorist official in the Congregation for Clergy (he is now Bishop of Garanhuns in Brazil). They travelled to Rome, staying in a hotel. It was, he says, very daunting. “We had the feeling that we should go back, that we had made a big mistake. We were completely out of our camp.”

In the months that followed they met officials at Ecclesia Dei, the body set up to negotiate with the SSPX. They met its prefect, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. Their priestly suspensions were lifted. Later they wrote a constitution, lifting parts of old Redemptorist constitutions from 1921 and 1936. That has been approved. All that is needed now is for Bishop Moran, their local bishop, to issue a “decree of erection” that will put them in canonical good order. (Last Friday Bishop Moran issued a statement which said he was waiting for guidance from the Congregation for Religious, to whom the matter has now been passed.)

The process, though, has not been smooth. Some in the community have family who are in the SSPX. Four Brothers left, two without saying a word to Fr Michael Mary. One priest, based on the next-door island of Stronsay, split off immediately, taking most of the parish with him. Another, Fr Clement, left more recently, for a traditionalist parish in Melbourne. “Nobody expected it to take this long,” says Fr Michael Mary.

Subscriptions to their monthly newspaper dropped by half, from 4,000 to fewer than 2,000. They received hate mail from people they thought were friends. They had to withdraw seminarians from an SSPX seminary in Australia after the rector told them they would never be ordained unless they defied Fr Michael Mary and started their own breakaway group. Fr Michael Mary is hurt by all of this. “When you leave the ghetto, the stones don’t come from the front, they come from behind you. If they can get you in the back with a good boulder – that’s how it felt.”

Despite all these hardships, the community has a joyful feel to it. At recreation there are roars of laughter. One brother, who wears Doc Martens along with his habit, has an apron that says: “Danger: Men Cooking.”

They are also very young – in their 20s and 30s, mainly. Two brothers are about to be ordained as priests; four more are seminarians. In total there are 15 in the community.

It is not an easy life here: in winter there are only six hours of sunlight, and the winds are ferocious — sometimes up to 120mph. “If you are small and frail,” says one brother, “you stay inside.”

Brother Jean-Marie, 32, and Brother Yousef-Marie, 35, are both from warmer climes. “When you first come here,” says Brother Jean-Marie, from India, “you feel like there’s ice on your face.”

Brother Jean-Marie was a student when he felt called to the religious life, but the orders he knew did not really impress him. He then came across a small leaflet about the Transalpine Redemptorists. “People were actually wearing their habits, they were not ashamed of it. I thought, this is something I feel inspired to give my life to.”

It attracted him partly because it offered what he describes as a masculine kind of Christianity. “You’re not just sitting on your thumbs. You’re mixing cement, slaughtering cows, handling boats and ropes. In monastic history, monks always did work, they built the monastery themselves. They didn’t have people to do it for them.”

Brother Jean-Marie and Brother Yousef-Marie, from Sydney, have an intensity about them. They have both just finished their studies and, once the community is canonically erected, they can be ordained. Right now they are in limbo. “It is not a pleasant feeling,” says Brother Jean-Marie. “But ultimately God is in charge.”

Ecclesia Dei: "no provision for the distribution of Holy Communion in the hand in this form of the Holy Mass"

From Kreuz.net:



Translation:

Dear Mr. XXXX

In reference to your letter of 15. June, this papal commission would like to point out that the celebration of Holy Mass in the extraordinary form envisages the reception of Holy Communion while kneeling, as the Holy Host is laid directly on the tongue of the communicant. There is no provision for the distribution of Holy Communion on the hand in this form of the Holy Mass.

With blessings,

UPDATE:
WDTPRS has weighed in:

6 July 2010

Pont. Comm. “Ecclesia Dei” letter about Communion in the hand

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULA — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 12:43 pm

Even yesterday I had a conversation about the thorny issue of just what Summorum Pontificum (the 3rd anniversary of its release is tomorrow, blessed day) might have revived.

Take the situation of the distribution of Holy Communion.

In the old days before the conciliar reform of the liturgy it was unthinkable – unless you were a heretic or Protestant – that people would receive Communion in the hand. There was no need for specific decrees about such a normal practice as reception of Communion, which was always given on the tongue to people who knelt if they could.

Today, however, there is (sadly) legislation which permits Communion in the hand under some circumstances.

Summorum Pontificum did not revive the old decrees of the long-gone Sacred Congregation of Rites or automatically resurrect the practices of yore.

Or did it?

I have always held that priests need to respect the laws in force about Communion today, even in the celebration of Holy Mass in the older form. Of course they can also do all they might to discourage Communion in the hand and promote a more reverent manner of reception. At the same time, it is unlikely that many who go to the older Mass will want to receive Communion in the hand.

I received from a friend in England the following very interesting news. This is on kreutz.net.

The Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" – remember them? – sent a response to a person making an inquiry about reception of Communion at the older, Extraordinary Form. Translation:

"Dear Mr. XXXX In reference to your letter of 15. June, this papal commission would like to point out that the celebration of Holy Mass in the extraordinary form envisages the reception of Holy Communion while kneeling, as the Holy Host is laid directly on the tongue of the communicant. There is no provision for the distribution of Holy Communion on the hand in this form of the Holy Mass. With blessings,"

I note from the graphic that there was no Protocol.

There is a stamp on the letter rather than a signature.

This is a form letter.

It is therefore more than a curiosity, but it is a great deal less than the final word.

We are still left with questions about Communion during the Extraordinary Form.

If people insist on receiving in the hand, are they to be denied based on the argument that in 1962 there was no permission to receive in the hand?

And on an additional note, keep in mind this and this.

COMMENTS (12)

• • • • • •

Vatican official: "The new Mass is a passing phase. In 50 years, that will be entirely clear."

In the May 2010 issue of Inside The Vatican magazine, in an article entitled "The Return of the Latin Mass," Dr. Robert Moynihan discusses the first "old Latin Mass" celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in 40 years. The Traditional Latin Mass commemorating the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI's installation was held on April 24, 2010, and the Basilica, the largest Catholic church in America, was filled to standing room only, with nearly 4000 in attendance.

His article is well worth reading.

It appears that the future of the normative liturgy of Roman Catholicism is still in doubt, with an ongoing debate over which liturgy will emerge on the horizon, a hybrid liturgy between the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo liturgy or a resurgence of the Traditional Latin Mass which will replace the Novus Ordo over the next several generations.

Here are a few excerpts worth considering.

A Passing Phase?

It is right that the controversy over the celebrant, Cardinal Castrillion-Hoyos vs. Bishop Slattery, did not "upstage" what was happening at this Mass.

For, in addition to the sacred mystery of the Mass itself (which was the most important thing of all, of course), something else of considerable importance was occurring on April 24 in Washington - of importance for the future of the Church, and so also of importance for the future of the West.

That "something" is this: the interest in this Mass - which was televised nationwide by EWTN - reveals that, in the West, in the United States, and precisely in Washington, DC, the capital of the US, despite a generation or more of "post-Christian" cultural pressure, there remains a desire, a hunger, to be connected with the Christian past, and to hand on to posterity what was handed down over the centuries, often in the face of much suffering.

In short, the celebration of this Mass, after 40 years and in the midst of an admittedly profound crisis in the Church, suggests that American Catholics, like their counterparts in Europe and around the world, may yet turn to the riches and treasures of their tradition to find a way forward.

And this will not be pure archaism.

It will not reflect a flight from present reality.

Nor will it be a rejection tout court of everything that came with the Second Vatican Council.

Rather, it will be an attempt to pick up the threads of our past and see if they may still be woven into the fabric of our present, in order to create the tapestry of our future.

It is our future that it looks toward - not just our past.

Having just been in Rome, having been present at the papal liturgies during Holy Week, having talked recently with a number of Vatican officials about liturgical matters and about the Second Vatican Council and its legacy, for me this liturgy reflected what Pope Benedict XVI is trying ceaselessly to teach: that the Catholic tradition has not been lost, that it remains to be discovered and lived.

How this will all work out, or course, is yet to be seen.

At least one Vatican official I talked to recently told me he believes the future of the Church's liturgical life will be a type of fusion between the old Mass and the new Mass of Paul VI.

This is the view of many.

But at least one Vatican official I talked to, also in the past month, told me he believes the future is solely and exclusively in a return to the old rite.

"The old rite is our past, and it will be our future, " he told me. "The new Mass is a passing phase. In 50 years, that will be entirely clear." (emphasis added.)

Dr. Moynihan concludes the article with an astute observation regarding Summorum Pontificum and the Orthodox:

And so the liturgy is of central importance to Benedict, and to the Vatican, today.

Benedict and his inner circle see the liturgy as critical to the future of Roman Catholicism. But not only to Roman Catholicism. There is another reason for Benedict's focus on the liturgy.

The Orthodox Connection

It is well known that the Orthodox, in a profound way, share Benedict's conviction that the liturgy is fundamental for faith, and so also for the practice of the faith.

For example, Eastern Orthodoxy's Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople quoted the phrase "lex orandi, lex credendi" in Latin on the occasion of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Istanbul in 2006, drawing from the phrase the lesson that, "in liturgy we are reminded of the need to reach unity in faith as well as in prayer."

I believe that Pope Benedict's approval, a few months after that November 2006 visit, on July 7, 2007, of wider use of the old Latin Mass in the Latin rite, was intended to help prepare the reunion of the two great divided branches of Christianity, Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

The path to this reunion must pass, in some essential way, through the liturgy.

Through a shared liturgy. The liturgies of the two Churches must express the same faith if the Churches are ever to be once again in unity - something Christ willed for his disciples in his prayer on the final night with them before his crucifixion.

Inside the Vatican magazine is an excellent publication, by the way. Please consider subscribing.

For more on Summorum Pontificum and the Orthodox, see this previous post:

Summorum Pontificum and reunion with the Eastern Orthodox

'For now, the Pope will not celebrate previous rites'

Why?

From ROME REPORTS® TV News Agency:

The Liturgy of Benedict XVI according to Guido Marini, his Master of Ceremonies

June 8, 2010. Italian Monsignor Guido Marini is 45 years old and has been Papal Master of Ceremonies since October of 2007. It is a delicate job keeping in mind that the careful attention to liturgy one of the core elements of Benedict XVI's pontificate.

Mons. Guido Marini
Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI
“I think the pope's attention to the liturgy, his lessons in this environment and his example, help many priests and many Catholics to rediscover the central value of the liturgy for the life of the Church and for the life of each person.”

According to the Papal Master of Ceremonies, the liturgy is not an area only reserved for experts. But he notes that Catholics need help to understand the full meaning of the liturgical symbols and gestures.

Mons. Guido Marini
Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI
“The liturgy has a popular dimension that should be preserved because through the liturgy we find ourselves with the mystery of God. There the mystery of salvation it is made real for the life of each person. So it is important to prepare people so they can read the gestures and symbols of the liturgy.”

In recent years, Benedict XVI has brought back some traditional liturgical elements that were rarely used. For example, the presence of the crucifix in the center of the altar or the receiving communion on the knees. They are gestures the pope has explained as the so-called “hermeneutic of continuity.”

Mons. Guido Marini
Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI
“The hermeneutics of continuity highlights that in the life of the Church there is an authentic growth in the way in which they don't cut the roots so that this development includes the richness of its history and tradition.”

He says that for now it is not expected that the pope will celebrate a mass according to rites prior to the Second Vatican Council.

Monsignor Marini regularly receives instructions from the pope, but the office of liturgical ceremonies also proposes elements
for each celebration.

Mons. Guido Marini
Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI
“In addition to putting into practice the instructions of the pope, we suggest some liturgical elements. He decides whether to accept them or not. It's to say, in every ceremony there are instructions from the Holy Father and suggestions presented by our department.”

In any case, since the pope has written many works on the liturgy, from his time as a cardinal, for the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations, it is very easy to know what the pope expects of every celebration. In other words, that the celebration helps draw people closer to the mystery of God.

JMB/IS
DC
– WP

The Hermeneutic of Fatima

As a follow up to yesterday's post, please note this interesting development:

News Briefs

Pope to visit Fatima next year?
September 24, 2009

Government officials in Portugal report that Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima next year. The report indicates that the Pope will make the trip in May, to preside at celebrations for the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13. The Vatican-- which ordinarily does not confirm a papal trip until a few weeks before it takes place-- has not commented on the reports.
Pope John Paul II traveled to Fatima on three occasions during his pontificate, making his final trip in 2000 to preside at the beatification of Blessed Jacinta and Franscisco Marto, two of the three children to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared there. (The third Fatima seer, Sister Lucia Santos, died in 2005; a cause for her beatification was opened in 2008, after Pope Benedict waived the rule requiring a 5-year waiting period.) Pope John Paul had a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, crediting her with saving his life when he was shot in St. Peter's Square on her feast day: May 13, 1981.
Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Portugal says Pope Benedict XVI to visit Fatima (AP)

Summorum Pontificum and reunion with the Eastern Orthodox

A tantalizing headline is making its rounds in Catholic news circles: Is Catholic-Orthodox Unity in Sight?

In his Inside the Vatican Newsflash Letter #29 today, Dr. Robert Moynihan examines the implications of recent meetings between Rome and a representative of the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow:

A fourth consideration is the relationship of the Roman Catholic Church to the world's Orthodox Churches.

It became clear last week, during a very cordial visit to Rome by a representative of the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, that relations between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, especially Russian Orthodoxy, at least on the surface, are much improved over the past few years.

Here are excerpts from an account of that visit I wrote for the Monday, September 21 edition of the Zenit news agency:
Recent Meeting Could Mark Turning Point

On September 18, inside Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer palace about 30 miles outside Rome, a Russian Orthodox Archbishop named Hilarion Alfeyev (photo), 43 (a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy, composer and lover of music), met with Benedict XVI, 82 (also a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy and lover of music), for almost two hours, according to informed sources.

(There are as yet no "official" sources about this meeting -- the Holy See has still not released an official communiqué.)

The silence suggests that what transpired was important -- perhaps so important that the Holy See thinks it isn't yet prudent to reveal publicly what was discussed.

But there are numerous "signs" that the meeting was remarkably harmonious...

In memory of the visit, Archbishop Hilarion gave the Pope a pectoral cross, made in workshops of Russian Orthodox Church...

It is especially significant, in this context, that Hilarion, Patriarch Kirill's "Foreign Minister," has some of the same deep interests as Benedict XVI: the liturgy, and music.

"As a 15-year-old boy I first entered the sanctuary of the Lord, the Holy of Holies of the Orthodox Church,” Hilarion once wrote about the Orthodox liturgy. “But it was only after my entrance into the altar that the 'theourgia,' the mystery, and 'feast of faith' began, which continues to this very day.

"After my ordination, I saw my destiny and main calling in serving the Divine Liturgy. Indeed, everything else, such as sermons, pastoral care and theological scholarship were centered around the main focal point of my life -- the liturgy."

These words seem to echo the feelings and experiences of Benedict XVI, who has written that the liturgies of Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday in Bavaria when he was a child were formative for his entire being, and that his writing on the liturgy (one of his books is entitled "Feast of Faith") is the most important to him of all his scholarly endeavors.

"Orthodox divine services are a priceless treasure that we must carefully guard," Hilarion has written. "I have had the opportunity to be present at both Protestant and Catholic services, which were, with rare exceptions, quite disappointing… Since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, services in some Catholic churches have become little different from Protestant ones."

Again, these words of Hilarion seem to echo Benedict XVI's own concerns. The Pope has made it clear that he wishes to reform the Catholic Church's liturgy, and preserve what was contained in the old liturgy and now risks being lost.

Hilarion has cited the Orthodox St. John of Kronstadt approvingly. St. John of Kronstadt wrote: "The Church and its divine services are an embodiment and realization of everything in Christianity... It is the divine wisdom, accessible to simple, loving hearts."

These words echo words written by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, who often said that the liturgy is a "school" for the simple Christian, imparting the deep truths of the faith even to the unlearned through its prayers, gestures and hymns.

Hilarion in recent years has become known for his musical compositions, especially for Christmas and for Good Friday, celebrating the birth and the Passion of Jesus Christ. These works have been performed in Moscow and in the West, in Rome in March 2007 and in Washington DC in December 2007.

Closer relations between Rome and Moscow, then, could have profound implications also for the cultural and liturgical life of the Church in the West. There could be a renewal of Christian art and culture, as well as of faith...

(Here is a link to the complete article: http://www.zenit.org/article-26932?l=english.)

At a superficial level, there would seem to be no relation between Vatican efforts at fostering closer unity with the Eastern Orthodox, and the subject of the rest of the Inside the Vatican Newsflash Letter #29, i.e., the impending "Perfect Storm" regarding negotiations between the Vatican and the SSPX.

However, this would be an opportune moment to review a column published more than a year ahead of Summorum Pontificum:

June 29, 2006

Archbishop Burke, Bishop Rifan comment: Will classical liturgy aid reunion with Eastern Orthodox?

By Brian Mershon

"Similarly, it must not be forgotten that from the beginning the Churches of the East have had a treasury from which the Western Church has drawn extensively in liturgical practice, spiritual tradition, and law"

— Unitatis Redintegratio, November 21, 1964.

Is it truly feasible that the "freeing of the classical Roman rite of liturgy" is a small part of the Pope's overall plan for paving the way for the reuniting of the Latin Church with the separated Churches of the East?

Bishop Fernando Rifan, who heads up the Apostolic Administration of St. John Mary Vianney in Campos, Brazil, said he believed a further liberalization of the liturgical rite of Pope St. Pius V would aid ecumenical relations with the East.

"I really think that the Traditional Latin Mass widely and freely available would be, among many other good reasons, a great benefit in the field of the true ecumenism with the Orthodox," he said. "This would be primarily because the Traditional Liturgy is much more similar to the Oriental [Eastern] rites in the aspect of the sacred, veneration, and beauty."

Bishop Rifan and his priestly society achieved full canonical recognition and regularization with the Church on January 18, 2002.

It is hoped by many traditionalists and the Holy See that the positive example of this group of priests, which offers all the sacraments exclusively according to the ancient rites, will serve as a model for other traditionalist priestly societies such as the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), to potentially reach full regularization with the Church.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, a notably obedient son of the Church, particularly with applying Pope John Paul II's request in Ecclesia Dei Adflicta to be "wide and generous" in allowing the Classical Roman liturgy for those Catholics who desire it, agrees with Bishop Rifan's assessment, but with a nuance.

"I wouldn't think that the Holy Father would be doing this simply as a strategy [for ecumenical relations with the Orthodox], but I do think it will be an effect of a restoration or in the 'reform of the reform' of the liturgy," Archbishop Burke said.

"It seems to me for the Eastern rites, and for those of the Orthodox Churches, the reform of the liturgy after the council and the concrete expression is so stripped of the transcendent, of the sacral elements, it is difficult for them to recognize its relationship with their Eucharistic Liturgies," he said.

Archbishop Burke agreed that the Eastern Churches would most likely identify more readily with the Classical Roman rite of liturgy, and its similarities with their own Divine Liturgies, than the Novus Ordo liturgy.

"It would be easier for them to see the unity, the oneness in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, by a rite of the Mass, just limiting ourselves now to talking about the Holy Mass, that it was richer in those dimensions — the elements of the transcendent — the symbols of the transcendent element of Christ — Christ in action in the Mass — the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of Calvary," Archbishop Burke said.

Not A Hopeful Indicator

Dr. Alcuin Reid, author of numerous scholarly books on the Sacred Liturgy and its history, is the recent author of Organic Development of the Liturgy, which contains glowing praise in its preface written by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. He affirmed that it was his opinion as a liturgical scholar, that the Novus Ordo liturgy, as practiced in the vast majority of Catholic churches, is not a hopeful indicator of eventual reunion with the East.

"I suspect that our current liturgical state does not exactly inspire confidence in them," Dr. Reid said. "The Holy Father is, no doubt, aware of this, and most probably hopes to give a sign that Rome wishes to set her liturgy in order once again, and that indeed Rome respects legitimate traditional liturgical rites."

Fr. Richard Jano is the pastor at Nativity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Springfield, Ore., an Eastern rite Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. As an Eastern rite priest, he has occasionally offered the Novus Ordo liturgy for area churches over the past 25 years, and he agrees with Dr. Reid's assessment.

"I think there would be some value in doing this [freeing the Classical Roman rite] as an indication of the respect the Church holds for liturgical worship that comes down to us from ancient times, and emphasizes the awe, reverence, and respectfully loving attitude that a Christian should carry into the Sacred Liturgy," he said.

"It would also illustrate the truth that the Church honors the genuine and authentic diversity of liturgies, not only in the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, but even within the Roman Church itself," Fr. Jano said.

...

Perhaps the better question is: "What is the common basis of doctrinal and moral issues for dialogue with increasingly more estranged, and increasingly less Christian sects with no valid priesthood?"

Pope Benedict XVI, able to tell "the tree by its fruits," clearly recognizes the advantage of having more than 500 priests in the SSPX in full communion. He also recognizes the accelerating number of priestly vocations produced in other traditionalist communities like the FSSP and the ICKSP. The current Pope's brand of "ecumenism" is one of Christian charity and justice, and perhaps recognizing "the signs of the times" called for so often in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and its aftermath by progressives.

He also understands that a united Church, East and West, may possibly be able to save Christianity in Europe and aid in re-establishing a more Christian worldview.

How does a gesture such as freeing the Classical Roman rite of liturgy fit into prospective ecumenical relations with the Orthodox, which was the primary group emphasized in the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio?

If the Church has abandoned (or even given the appearance of abandoning in many quarters) its own liturgical patrimony and traditional devotional traditions, how can it hope to achieve any measurable ecumenical gains with the Churches of the East?

...

Cheevers said that Orthodox liturgists have always tended to cringe at the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms of the Latin Church. "Organic development in liturgy is permissible. Radical invention is not."

"The Pauline liturgy implicitly seems to move away from the clear expressions of faith about the sacramental nature of the Divine Liturgy commonly understood in the undivided church of the first millennium."

Cheevers said that a restoration of the Classical Roman rite, or so-called Tridentine rite, in the Catholic Church would probably be helpful to fostering ecumenism with the Orthodox. "It's something that Orthodox can look at and say 'we recognize this.'"

...

One of the recurring themes of Pope Benedict's writings on the recovery of the sacred in the liturgy is the positioning of the priest "toward the East" or "toward God." As an Eastern rite priest who offers all Divine Liturgies toward the East, leading his flock in worship to the heavenly Father, Fr. Jano voiced his impressions on his offering Mass "toward the people" when occasionally offering the Novus Ordo.

"On the few occasions when I have served the Mass in Roman Catholic parishes, I have been very surprised to discover how uncomfortable I am with praying to God while facing the congregation," he said. "Probably the most jarring example for me, to illustrate this point, is when I have seen Roman priests reading a prayer at Mass and gazing intently at the congregation while uttering the prayer. I've never understood this," Fr. Jano said.

"If you have something important to say to your Father, why would you stare at your brother when you're speaking to Him?"

Salutary Effects

Fr. Thomas Kocik of Somerset, Mass., and author of Ignatius Press' Reform of the Reform?, agreed that the reformed Novus Ordo liturgy is not an ecumenical breakthrough with the Orthodox.

"The Orthodox are justly disturbed not only by abuses in the post-Vatican II liturgy, but also by approved practices such as female altar servers, Mass 'facing the people' and Communion in the hand," he said. "Given the East's intense conservatism, I think the freeing of the Tridentine liturgy bodes well ecumenically, because these problematic practices are simply not standard features of the Classical Roman rite."

"The Orthodox may interpret this as evidence of a renewed seriousness in the Roman Church about the ancient maxim, 'lex orandi, lex credendi,' meaning that as we believe so we pray, and vice versa," he said. "Doctrine and worship influence each other."

...

© Brian Mershon

(See also Fr. Zuhlsdorf's 8/29/2007 WDTPRS post, Moscow Patriarch in favor of Motu Proprio and older Mass. A counterpoint to the thesis that Summorum Pontificum may have represented, at least in part, an ecumenical gesture towards the Eastern Orthodox can be found in an 11/14/2006 Vivificat blog post, The prospects of the Tridentine Mass in the light of the impending new indult.)

The developments in Vatican relations with both the SSPX and the Eastern Orthodox may best be understood neither through a "Hermeneutic of Continuity" nor a "Hermeneutic of Rupture," but through a Hermeneutic of Fatima:

If you were the pope, in the twilight of your career, a true son of VII, yet you could see the severe problems that have wracked the Church since VII, what would you do? If you had a deep seated fear that the Church would continue its moral decline if nothing is done, what would you do? If you truly believed the actions of the Vatican regarding Fatima were, at the time, honest and forthright, but now you had a real doubt that all was not as it seemed then, what would you do?

You would look at the most important aspects of the Message of Fatima that may not have been addressed, and you would systematically work to undo the damage.

1) Restore the TLM.

2) Propose a reconsideration and reinterpretation of VII.

3) Figure out a way to bring Russia back into the fold.

How?

1) Summorum Pontificum

2) Lift the SSPX excommunications, and task them with addressing the problems of VII. Put them directly in contact with the CDF. Let the tail (the SSPX) wag the dog (CDF.) Then let the CDF wag the Church.

3) Make real moves towards reuniting Eastern Orthodoxy, and use the Grace of that unity to fight the errors of post-Christian western decay.

This may be the interpretive key to truly understanding the "Marshall Plan" of Pope Benedict XVI.