HOW PRIESTS SHOULD BE RESPONDING
to the Summorum Pontificum - except they don't
The Pope's decree has became law in mid September, but to date, it is now October 2, 2007, there have been no clerical acknowledgment about the MP in this diocese. [It is May 11, 2008 now. Nothing has changed.] Not so at the Saint John the Beloved Catholic Church in Mclean, Virginia. There the pastor wrote to his congregation back in July 16, 2007, less then ten days after the Holy Father's Motu Proprio. The following is what the good shepherd of Saint John wrote, in part, in the “From the Pastor” cloumn of the Parish Bulletin:
“Despite what the media tells you, the Pope is not renouncing the Second Vatican Council, he is authentically implementing it. He is correcting the mistakes and misinterpretations that came after the Council. One of them is with the return of the Mass. Contrary to what most of the media tells us, Vatican II did not:
1. order Mass to be said in the Vernacular
2. tell priests to face the people at Mass
3. establish Communion in the hand
4. tell people to stand for reception of Communion
The Mass we now say at St. John’s whether in English or Latin came after the Council. The Council ended in 1965, the new order of the Mass came in 1970.
The Church, since the days of Pope St. Pius X, has encouraged actual participation at the Mass. The 1962 missal contains changes that foster that participation, so the charge of the congregation being dumb spectators is not true.
Why was the Motu Propio issued? Pope Benedict, as a Cardinal, wrote extensively on the liturgy and frequently mentioned the suppression of the older form of the Mass by Pope Paul VI when promulgating the new reformed missal of 1970 (the Mass we now celebrate either in English or Latin) after an intervening period of a temporary missal (1965).
He believed and continues to believe that something so ancient (going back 1500 years) and sacred could be forbidden and those who were attached to that form considered, as one author put it, like “the nutty old aunt in the attic”.
The Pope does not question the holiness of the new missal, but he says that the way in which it came about was alien to the Church’s traditions. Many who were enthusiastic about a renewal of the Mass during the years of the Council felt betrayed by the reformed missal of 1970. They claim (as does the Pope) that this was not what the Council had envisioned.
Is the Holy Father leading us backwards? Most people would say no, but I would say yes – in order to lead us forward. He wants to bring the church into contact with that form of the Mass which was the only western liturgy (outside the rite of Milan) that was celebrated during the Second Vatican Council. There was a rupture after Council in the liturgy, the Holy Father wants to go back to heal that break so that the liturgy may continue as a living continuum. That is why he says we need internal reconciliation. The Church has been suffering these past 40 years because of the unintended rupture. The Church must reconcile herself with her own tradition, for that is who she is, it is her own identity....” Taken from the 2007-7.15 Parish Bulletin of Saint John Catholic Church in Mclean, Virginia.
Respect for liturgical norms is an expression of love for the Church and "Priests who faithfully celebrate Mass according to the liturgical norms, and communities which conform to these norms, quietly but eloquently demonstrate their love for the Church" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 52).
The Pope's decree has became law in mid September, but to date, it is now October 2, 2007, there have been no clerical acknowledgment about the MP in this diocese. [It is May 11, 2008 now. Nothing has changed.] Not so at the Saint John the Beloved Catholic Church in Mclean, Virginia. There the pastor wrote to his congregation back in July 16, 2007, less then ten days after the Holy Father's Motu Proprio. The following is what the good shepherd of Saint John wrote, in part, in the “From the Pastor” cloumn of the Parish Bulletin:
“Despite what the media tells you, the Pope is not renouncing the Second Vatican Council, he is authentically implementing it. He is correcting the mistakes and misinterpretations that came after the Council. One of them is with the return of the Mass. Contrary to what most of the media tells us, Vatican II did not:
1. order Mass to be said in the Vernacular
2. tell priests to face the people at Mass
3. establish Communion in the hand
4. tell people to stand for reception of Communion
The Mass we now say at St. John’s whether in English or Latin came after the Council. The Council ended in 1965, the new order of the Mass came in 1970.
The Church, since the days of Pope St. Pius X, has encouraged actual participation at the Mass. The 1962 missal contains changes that foster that participation, so the charge of the congregation being dumb spectators is not true.
Why was the Motu Propio issued? Pope Benedict, as a Cardinal, wrote extensively on the liturgy and frequently mentioned the suppression of the older form of the Mass by Pope Paul VI when promulgating the new reformed missal of 1970 (the Mass we now celebrate either in English or Latin) after an intervening period of a temporary missal (1965).
He believed and continues to believe that something so ancient (going back 1500 years) and sacred could be forbidden and those who were attached to that form considered, as one author put it, like “the nutty old aunt in the attic”.
The Pope does not question the holiness of the new missal, but he says that the way in which it came about was alien to the Church’s traditions. Many who were enthusiastic about a renewal of the Mass during the years of the Council felt betrayed by the reformed missal of 1970. They claim (as does the Pope) that this was not what the Council had envisioned.
Is the Holy Father leading us backwards? Most people would say no, but I would say yes – in order to lead us forward. He wants to bring the church into contact with that form of the Mass which was the only western liturgy (outside the rite of Milan) that was celebrated during the Second Vatican Council. There was a rupture after Council in the liturgy, the Holy Father wants to go back to heal that break so that the liturgy may continue as a living continuum. That is why he says we need internal reconciliation. The Church has been suffering these past 40 years because of the unintended rupture. The Church must reconcile herself with her own tradition, for that is who she is, it is her own identity....” Taken from the 2007-7.15 Parish Bulletin of Saint John Catholic Church in Mclean, Virginia.
Respect for liturgical norms is an expression of love for the Church and "Priests who faithfully celebrate Mass according to the liturgical norms, and communities which conform to these norms, quietly but eloquently demonstrate their love for the Church" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 52).
