Whispered in the Sacristy

Catagory: If it weren't so funny I'd cry

I came across this recently on a site on the Traditional (Tridentine) Latin Mass:

"IF there is no Traditional Mass anywhere around," some people wonder, "What is a person to do?"

On very rare occasions, I have had to attend a Novus Ordo Mass on a Sunday (there was one time in 2006 that the snow was so bad, I was forced to attend Mass at the local parish). And there's only the Novus Ordo for daily Mass.

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There are a few things I do to get through it.

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The first trick is simply keeping your eyes closed. There are a lot of infuriating things that go on at the Novus Ordo that you completely miss simply by not looking. Even if you can't physically be at a Tridentine Mass, you can always use your imagination and imagine being at the traditional Mass, with its atmosphere more conducive to prayer.

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Another thing I have done, when having to be there on a Sunday, has been to bring my old missal along with me, and read the prayers for the traditional Mass instead of reading along with what the priest or deacon would be saying. That's another thing that makes praying a lot easier at the Novus Ordo Mass!

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One of the most aggravating things I find at the Novus Ordo is the so-called "Sign of Peace". I say "so called" because there are so many people who really believe it's not supposed to be a "sign of peace" but a "sign of conviviality". You see people waving to each other or having a quick chat and a laugh while that's going on – not to mention all the couples who like to use that as a time to 'make out'.

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What I usually do, besides simply not watching all that going on, is to keep my hands in my pockets. There is, after all, only one proper thing to do with the hands during Mass – keep them folded – and if you're not going to do that, then keeping your hands in your pockets is just as proper as anything else. One time I was not near anybody else in the pew and had my eyes closed during the "sign of peace", and somebody walked over to where I was and grabbed my hand to shake it. Ever since that happened, I've kept my hands in my pockets; nobody can shake your hand when it's in your pocket! This is also why I'm always careful to make sure I'm on the end of the pew. If the pew fills up, I can usually find a way to slip out the end of the pew and put some distance between myself and the overly-social types who seem to just be passing the time during the Mass until they get to the fun part where the sign of peace starts.

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At Communion time, I like to keep my eyes down at the feet of the person in front of me while walking up. That way I don't get infuriated watching the awful way most people receive Communion at a Novus Ordo Mass. I also find that being in the back of the church makes it easier to cross Communion lines if necessary to avoid receiving Communion from an extraordinary minister.

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That's what I do to put up with the Novus Ordo Mass when I can't get to a traditional Mass. Probably other people have their own techniques for keeping what's going on from distracting them from prayer. Whatever one does, it's certainly better than attending an Orthodox Liturgy or a Tridentine Mass at a church or chapel not in union with Rome just to avoid the Novus Ordo.

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Here We Go Folks! Round Two ...

Vatican to elaborate on Pope's liberalization of the old Latin Mass

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VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has begun drafting a document to elaborate on Pope Benedict's recent liberalization of the old Latin Mass because some bishops are either ignoring his move or misinterpreting it, Vatican officials said.

The Vatican's No. 2, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, said in comments published Thursday that the Vatican would be issuing an "instruction" on how to put the Pope's document into practice, since there had been what he called some "uneven" reactions to it since it went into effect last year.

The document the Roman Catholic pontiff issued in July removed restrictions on celebrating the so-called Tridentine Mass, the rite celebrated in Latin before the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s paved the way for the new mass used widely today in local languages.

Following the 1960s reform, the Tridentine rite could only be celebrated with permission from local bishops - an obstacle that supporters of the old rite said had greatly reduced its availability.

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In a gesture to such traditional Catholics, Benedict removed that requirement in his document, saying parish priests could celebrate the Tridentine Mass if a "stable group of faithful" requested it.

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Implementation, however, has been uneven, with some bishops issuing rules that "practically annul or twist the intention of the Pope," Msgr. Albert Malcolm Ranjith, secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for the Divine Cult and Discipline of Sacraments, said recently, according to the Vatican's missionary news agency FIDES.

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Such reactions amounted to a "crisis of obedience" toward the pontiff, he was quoted as saying, although he stressed that most bishops and other prelates had accepted the Pope's will "with the required sense of reverence and obedience."

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Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, said the forthcoming instruction would lay out criteria for the Pope's document to be correctly applied, according to an interview published Thursday in the Italian religious affairs weekly Famiglia Cristiana. He gave no date for its publication.

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He complained that reactions to the pontiff's document had been uneven.

"Some have even gone so far as to accuse the Pope of having reneged on Council teaching," Bertone was quoted as saying. "On the other hand, there are those who have interpreted the (document) as authorization to return exclusively to the pre-Council rite. Both positions are wrong, and are exaggerated episodes that don't correspond to the pope's intention."

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Despite such incidents, Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, who runs a blog that has charted implementation of the Pope's document, said he had seen growth in both interest in and celebrations of the older form of the mass.

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"In some dioceses in the United States, bishops have been stepping up to the plate and not only learning the older form, but celebrating it themselves," he said in an e-mail. "Younger priests are attending workshops. Several seminaries are offering training for their priesthood candidates."

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Even before the Pope's document was released, liberal-minded Catholics had complained that Benedict's move amounted to a negation of Vatican II, and some bishops and cardinals publicly warned that its implementation would create a rupture in the church.

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Jewish groups also complained because the old rite contains a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews. Bertone has said the issue could be resolved and that the church in no way intended to go against its spirit of reconciling with Jews.

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Benedict's document was also a bid to reach out to the followers of an excommunicated traditionalist, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split with the Vatican over Council reforms, notably the introduction of the new mass.

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Prester Thomas: Under the unfortunate heading of “I Told You So” the divisive character of the document allowing greater access to the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass (the 1962 Missal of Pope John XXIII) begins.  Anything that takes the local Ordinary/Bishop out of the loop with respect to the teaching and practice of the Catholic Faith weakens the office of Bishop and clearly points to a re-centralization of power around the Pope and the Curia. This puts Bishops in awkward positions and allows some priests or communities to operate in opposition to their Bishop.  This is similar to the stipulation in Redemptionis Sacramentum which encourages the laity to “go over the head” of their Bishop if abuse in the liturgy is perceived.  It encourages the idea that “extraordinary” means “better than,” as we are already seeing in some news articles and essays recently published.