Universal Indult?
Is the pope going to liberate the Traditional Latin Mass?
If he does, will it really make much of a difference?
A few comments are in order ...
The Mass is a very important piece of the puzzle; the Novus Ordo is so elastic, so watered down, so deficient that it is certainly correct to locate in this Mass the source of much of the current apostasy and crisis.
Ohhhh, you can't say that!
The heck I can't. I'm just repeating what the pope himself said years ago in his book My Life: "The drastic manner in which Pope Paul VI reformed the Mass in 1966 provoked extremely serious damage to the Church ... I am convinced that the ecclesial crisis in which we find ourselves today depends in great part on the collapse of the liturgy."
But as important as the Mass is, it most certainly is not - to borrow a phrase from Luther, of all people - the articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae (colloquially, "the be-all and end-all"). Restoring the Tridentine Mass will not bring orthodoxy to the average diocese.
On the contrary, it is the "Novus Ordo World" - the universal embrace of modernity by mankind - that makes the "Novus Ordo Missae" possible. If men and women were living like true Catholics, the Novus Ordo could never survive. For that matter, it would have never been successfully promulgated - there would have been such an immediate uprising against it, a universal rejection of it, that Pope Paul VI would have backed down faster than you can say "Bugnini."
Alas, this is a Novus Ordo World. So the Novus Ordo Mass isn't going anywhere.
What will happen is that certain benevolent priests who fancy themselves broad-minded will begin to offer the Tridentine Mass as an "option" in their parishes - probably in the evening on Sunday, or in the afternoon.
But since they have had no training - and let's face it, the rubrics of the Old Mass are infinitely more complex and demanding than the rubrics of the New Mass - they will of necessity be either butchering the Tridentine Mass, or will be skipping the difficult bits as they see fit.
This already happens at Indult Masses all over the country. The priests offering the Mass have no special attachment to or reverence for it, so they have no inclination to do it well or to enforce the rubrics. Want to receive communion in the hand while standing? No problem. Want to wear jeans and a sweater, or shorts and sandals to Mass? Go for it! Or, as I have seen happen from time to time, the priest will have put all of his mental energy into preparing a homily based on the Novus Ordo readings for the day, and since he won't have time to prepare anything based on the Traditional readings, he'll simply substitute the Novus Ordo readings instead.
Seen it happen.
On the other hand ... this has got to be a good thing for all of those poor priests who have felt convicted and conflicted over the New Mass, who have desired strongly to be able to say the Old Mass, but who do not wish to cause any trouble with their local ordinary. This will be a great relief for them, no doubt, and certainly the Masses they are eventually allowed to celebrate will be done well, and with reverence.
But what is most frightening is the thought of setting these two Masses side by side and letting the people cast the final vote. I fear that, because we live in a Novus Ordo World, the majority of layfaithful will not want to assist at the Old Mass. It's too demanding. It's too "out there" and unreachable for them. So they'll stick with what's easy and comfortable, and then the liberal bishops will have made a point: the people have spoken, and they don't want your silly old museum piece of a Mass.
If he does, will it really make much of a difference?
A few comments are in order ...
The Mass is a very important piece of the puzzle; the Novus Ordo is so elastic, so watered down, so deficient that it is certainly correct to locate in this Mass the source of much of the current apostasy and crisis.
Ohhhh, you can't say that!
The heck I can't. I'm just repeating what the pope himself said years ago in his book My Life: "The drastic manner in which Pope Paul VI reformed the Mass in 1966 provoked extremely serious damage to the Church ... I am convinced that the ecclesial crisis in which we find ourselves today depends in great part on the collapse of the liturgy."
But as important as the Mass is, it most certainly is not - to borrow a phrase from Luther, of all people - the articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae (colloquially, "the be-all and end-all"). Restoring the Tridentine Mass will not bring orthodoxy to the average diocese.
On the contrary, it is the "Novus Ordo World" - the universal embrace of modernity by mankind - that makes the "Novus Ordo Missae" possible. If men and women were living like true Catholics, the Novus Ordo could never survive. For that matter, it would have never been successfully promulgated - there would have been such an immediate uprising against it, a universal rejection of it, that Pope Paul VI would have backed down faster than you can say "Bugnini."
Alas, this is a Novus Ordo World. So the Novus Ordo Mass isn't going anywhere.
What will happen is that certain benevolent priests who fancy themselves broad-minded will begin to offer the Tridentine Mass as an "option" in their parishes - probably in the evening on Sunday, or in the afternoon.
But since they have had no training - and let's face it, the rubrics of the Old Mass are infinitely more complex and demanding than the rubrics of the New Mass - they will of necessity be either butchering the Tridentine Mass, or will be skipping the difficult bits as they see fit.
This already happens at Indult Masses all over the country. The priests offering the Mass have no special attachment to or reverence for it, so they have no inclination to do it well or to enforce the rubrics. Want to receive communion in the hand while standing? No problem. Want to wear jeans and a sweater, or shorts and sandals to Mass? Go for it! Or, as I have seen happen from time to time, the priest will have put all of his mental energy into preparing a homily based on the Novus Ordo readings for the day, and since he won't have time to prepare anything based on the Traditional readings, he'll simply substitute the Novus Ordo readings instead.
Seen it happen.
On the other hand ... this has got to be a good thing for all of those poor priests who have felt convicted and conflicted over the New Mass, who have desired strongly to be able to say the Old Mass, but who do not wish to cause any trouble with their local ordinary. This will be a great relief for them, no doubt, and certainly the Masses they are eventually allowed to celebrate will be done well, and with reverence.
But what is most frightening is the thought of setting these two Masses side by side and letting the people cast the final vote. I fear that, because we live in a Novus Ordo World, the majority of layfaithful will not want to assist at the Old Mass. It's too demanding. It's too "out there" and unreachable for them. So they'll stick with what's easy and comfortable, and then the liberal bishops will have made a point: the people have spoken, and they don't want your silly old museum piece of a Mass.
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