The Mass – Old and New
Leo Darroch recalls the desolation felt by so many when the new Mass was imposed in 1970 and analyses the collapse of faith and discipline which followed. He has little hope that Cardinal Arinze's recent disciplinary document, Redemptionis Sacramentum, will recify matters and calls for Rome to reintroduce the traditional Mass.
I think it is true to say, for many of us, that we do not fully appreciate our parents until after they have gone. When they are with us we take them for granted because they have always been there, reliable and seemingly with an air of surety and permanence. But when they have gone we are left with a huge hole in our lives that for the rest of our days is never adequately filled.
A direct correlation can be drawn with the old rite of Mass. For the great majority of Catholics until 1970, the Mass had always been there. In our parishes we attended every Sunday and Holy Day and occasionally, if the mood took us, on a weekday. There was an established pattern to Catholic life, a sense of purpose and permanence, and we drew great comfort from that. We didn’t bother ourselves too deeply with the ‘why’ and ‘wherefore’ of everything, we simply accepted our good fortune and got on with our lives. After all, are we not but sheep? We have it from the highest authority. Jesus said to His Apostles, “Feed My lambs, feed My sheep”. It is the vocation and responsibility of the clergy to feed His sheep and ours, the sheep, to respond accordingly by living Christian lives, attending Mass, receiving the sacraments and raising our families in the Catholic Faith.
There was a three-pronged contract, unwritten perhaps and unspoken, but clearly understood on the part of the laity, that the clergy would feed and nourish the flock in our churches, that our teachers would teach our children the Catholic Faith in its fullness in our schools, and that the laity would provide the physical and financial support to underpin this arrangement. We were happy and content to send our children to Catholic schools and we accepted without question that we would pay for the upkeep of our parishes and seminaries because we had no reason to do otherwise. The contract was adhered to by all parties and the results were there for all to see. The Catholic population was increasing, new parishes were being established, new Catholic schools were being built, and we were quietly satisfied with our lot. This may indicate a very mundane existence but order is infinitely preferable to disorder and peace of mind is a prize to be treasured.
A prized inheritance
Such was life in the Catholic Church in the UK in the time leading up to the Second Vatican Council. We were blessed with the knowledge that we were members of the One, True Church; that we were part of an international Church where, no matter where we were in the world, we could attend and follow the Mass – the same Mass of our parents, grandparents and forebears throughout the centuries; the Mass that countless thousands of missionaries had used as their cornerstone to spread the Faith around the globe; the Mass of all the great saints and popes of nearly 1,500 years; and last but certainly not least, the Mass for which the heroic and blessed martyrs of the Reformation gave their lives that it might live. How fortunate we were, and how fortunate would be our children and grandchildren to have such a prized inheritance.
For this reason, to the ordinary Catholic in the pew, time and place held no special significance in the practice of his religion. The Mass was the Mass and would always be the Mass (as we say in the Gloria Patri, “...As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.”) This is what we believed, all of us. This is what we had been taught from the day we could first walk and talk. In St. Peter’s Basilica or in the smallest village church in the most remote country in the world, the words of the pope or the most newly-ordained priest in his role as another Christ, an alter Christus, would be exactly the same when celebrating the Mass of the day. It was the most precious of all things: sacred, untouchable, divine.
And then, to put it bluntly, the only Mass we had ever known, and which had enriched the lives of countless millions of Catholics down through the ages from all nations and cultures and languages, was taken away from us and we were bereaved. And as with any bereavement we were hurt, confused, angry and bewildered. Even more so because the victim, the Mass, had been in exceptionally good health, or at least appeared to be so in the eyes of the faithful.
The Mass an embarrassment?
In a Church of some 2,000 years of history, the Mass which had nourished and fed the lambs and the sheep and had spread the flock to every corner of the globe was cast aside by the shepherds as if it were some family embarrassment that everyone remembered but was forbidden, virtually under the pain of sin, ever more to speak of. The supposed ‘dead’ language of Latin was ditched without ceremony, explanation or apology, and in direct disobedience to Sacrosanctum Concilium, the liturgy constitution of Vatican II; the newly discovered ‘bad manners’ of the priest in having his back to the people had to be rectified immediately; and the inexcusable ‘exclusion' of the laity from the celebration of ‘the Eucharist’ was corrected with such enthusiasm that sanctuaries had to be enlarged and strengthened to hold all the people who suddenly saw it as their right to stand shoulder to shoulder with the priest when he was ‘presiding’ over the assembly.
The solidity and certainty of 2,000 years was jettisoned by those liturgical ‘experts’ who had, suddenly and miraculously, discovered new insights into the Faith, and who decided that they knew better than the great popes, doctors and saints of the Church. They invented a Church of slogans and jargon. Ad nauseam, we were told we are a pilgrim Church; we are the Easter People; we all have charisms; we all have ministries; we are a Church on the move. Well at least these ‘experts’ got one thing right; we are a Church on the move. Unfortunately, literally millions have moved in the wrong direction – to the exits. This has been the overwhelming tragedy of the past forty years. Too many of our liturgical shepherds have been (and still are) so wrapped up in themselves and their new ‘insights’ that they seem oblivious to the fact that the flock has scattered. The fact that the Good Shepherd left His flock to retrieve the missing one sheep is obviously an irrelevance to our modern liturgical gurus. The arrogance of these ‘experts’ can be summed up in a comment from a priest who said recently, “Unfortunately, the clergy have not yet given the laity the Church that they need”. Those who do not agree with the new ways are expendable. What we will have, claim the experts, will be perhaps a smaller Church but one which contains a better, more tolerant, type of Catholic: people committed to the new ideas; people who have abandoned the liturgical and theological dead wood of pre-Vatican II days, and who are enlightened, ecumenical and forward looking.
A collapsing Church
The worry is, of course, that with the present rate of defection, we will not have a Church left at all. The catastrophic level of lapsation shows no sign of diminishing. The evidence of devastation is everywhere in failing congregations, redundant churches, falling vocations, and empty seminaries and convents. And this is described as renewal! How scattered does the flock have to become before any of our liturgical masters displays even a tinge of doubt or regret about the loss of the great majority of their sheep? Is there a point at which this liturgical experiment (because this is what it is) will be abandoned?
For the moment it would appear not. There is a real problem here – not that the shepherds have abandoned their sheep, which they have, but that the sheep have now lost faith in their shepherds. The sheep are now leaderless and are milling about in a perpetual state of confusion, desperately searching for direction and certainty. And such is this deep sense of betrayal and abandonment by those who are supposed to be their guides, that the laity are now wary of anything that falls from the lips of their ‘pastors’, and trust and respect has evaporated.
This combination of abandonment by the shepherds and resentment by the sheep has fuelled a disintegration of the Catholic Faith on a scale never witnessed in the history of the Church. The leaders no longer lead and anarchy is often the norm at diocesan and parish level where individual ‘creativity’ is now rampant. The clergy and the laity now inhabit different worlds. The bishops, in particular, cling to a world of their own creation, a world in which they are so wrapped up in social and political initiatives outside their own legitimate sphere of church goverance and spiritual authority that they manage to ignore the fact that the people for whom they are directly responsible are disappearing like the snow in spring.
Vatican impotence
In recent years there has been some recognition in the Vatican that things at diocesan and parish level are in a parlous state, for instance in August 1997, the Holy See issued its Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priests. Clear, unambiguous guidance was given for the resolution of abuses, but, though it was signed by the highest authorities in the Church, it was treated with indifference by the bishops’ conferences around the world and disappeared without trace. One English bishop even said to one of his priests that anything he gets from Rome he just throws into a bottom drawer. Such is the institutionalised disobedience of our shepherds!
Old or new?
But what about the Mass? I think it is particularly significant that in pre-Vatican II years with the universal Latin Roman rite, people said they were going to Mass. It was quite specific. Nowadays, with the multi-form, multi-lingual, multi-vocal new rite, the more common expression is that they are going to church – perhaps, because, since they are not quite sure what awaits them when they get there, it is best not to be too specific! To repeat the question: What about the Mass? The Novus Ordo Missae of 1969 is undoubtedly a valid Mass in itself. Unfortunately, as we all know, it allows such freedom to the celebrating priest that many Masses in the intervening years have strayed so far from the rubrics, and abuses are so rife, that many ‘celebrations’ are completely unrecognisable as ‘the Mass’ to those of us who attend the traditional Latin rite. We traditional Catholics believe there is no comparison between the traditional rite and whatever variation of the new rite is being offered in our parishes at any particular time by any particular priest. The accusation is often made that we are old fogies who will not move with the times and who are locked into a particular period like liturgical fossils. In fact, the opposite applies; those who understand Tradition have a greater appreciation of the immensity of our Church and its great sweep of history over two millennia. It is the modernists who are locked into one period of time – their own. Such is the legitimacy and doctrinal depth of the traditional rite that it has attracted over the years ever increasing numbers of young men, women and converts who have discovered the beauty, dignity and sheer sacredness of the old Latin rite and have marvelled at what they have found.
John XXXIII
The Mass of the traditional Roman rite, as promulgated in the Missal of Pope John XXIII (1962 edition), is a work of literature that encapsulates the clarity and precision of the Catholic Faith in every prayer and phrase. It has been refined over centuries by the greatest writers, doctors and saints of Holy Mother Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It contains not only the clarity and precision of our Faith but is celebrated in Latin, an angelic language described by Pope John XXIII in Veterum Sapientiae (1962) as having “proved so admirable a means for the spreading of Christianity throughout the West.” It refreshes the soul and creates a common link not only with fellow Catholics in every country but with every member of Holy Mother Church down the centuries and back to Christ Himself. At Easter we are reminded in the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ that Pilate had an inscription placed on the Cross in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. The traditional Roman rite also includes Hebrew, Latin and Greek and so it transports us back to the very Cross of Sacrifice on which our Saviour gave His life for us.
Pope John XXIII also said in Veterum Sapientiae that, “The Church…values especially the Greek and Latin languages, in which wisdom itself is cloaked, as it were, in a vesture of gold.” He went on, “Thus if the truths of the Catholic Church were entrusted to an unspecified number of [vernacular languages], the meaning of these truths, varied as they are, would not be manifested to everyone with sufficient clarity and precision.” The Missal of Pope John XXIII of 1962 is “true, right, noble and beautiful” and the truths contained therein are conveyed with absolute “clarity and precision.” For this reason alone it must not be lost to our Church and the faithful.
What must be done?
It is now beyond dispute that with each passing day the crisis in our Church and parishes is growing worse. Our bishops and priests, in the main, seem to be helpless or indifferent in the face of this terrible malaise. There is no point in the laity standing on the sidelines bewailing their plight. We are members of the Church Militant and we must do what we can within the boundaries of faith, hope and charity to further the cause of the restoration of true Catholic liturgy; the heart and soul of the faith.
The recent document from Rome, Redemptionis Sacramentum, to correct abuses in the new rite, may have some mild impact but, sadly, the rot is now too deep and widespread for it to have any notable success. Rome must grasp the nettle and admit that nothing will change until abuse is replaced by obedience and respect for legitimate authority; until disorder is replaced by order; until shabby ways are replaced by dignity; until local and personal whim is rejected in favour of love and respect for the universal Church. And where will the antidote be found? I suggest it is encapsulated in the traditional rite of the Mass, the traditional Sacraments and traditional popular devotions. In other words, allow any priest the freedom to celebrate the traditional Mass alongside the modern. Remove the shackles from the traditional priestly orders such as the Fraternity of St Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, and let them exercise their ministry among the faithful. They have been ordained to feed Christ’s sheep; let them do so without restriction.
The ever-beautiful Mass
The Mass of the traditional Roman rite is indeed the most beautiful treasure there has ever been. Is it not remarkable that the ‘old’ Mass contains all the things praised by Pope John XXIII and that in 1961, the year before the Second Vatican Council, he described the Church as “a Church vibrant with vitality.”? And is it not even more remarkable that the ‘new’ rite of Mass includes those things specifically condemned by him and that by 1968, only seven years later when vernacularism had already taken hold, his successor Pope Paul VI bemoaned the fact that the Church was in a process of self-destruction?
The Holy See must fully restore the traditional Roman rite to our altars and sanctuaries and remove all restrictions on its celebration. And this must be done for the sake of our children and future generations. The Mass of Pope John XXIII, of Pope St Pius V, and of Pope St Gregory the Great cast its blessings over untold generations in the past. Let us not deny future generations the blessings we ourselves have experienced. The restoration of the Mass of Ages which unified and nourished the Church for 1,500 years would be only the first step, but it would be a huge step on the road to recovery.
Leo Darroch: May 2004
And now, in March 2004, after much speculation and anticipation, Rome has issued yet another document, Redemptionis Sacramentum, in an attempt to rectify world-wide abuses in the liturgy, this time concerning the Holy Eucharist. The very fact that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments should find it necessary to produce a document consisting of 8 chapters and 186 paragraphs to eradicate just the major abuses surrounding the Blessed Sacrament, the most precious jewel in the Catholic Church, should give even the most rabid and self-indulgent liturgist pause for thought. One would imagine that the various bodies of episcopal conferences around the world would be giving a huge collective sigh of relief that someone has attempted to solve their problems and that they can pin the blame for pulling everyone back into line on someone else. However, such is the now-ingrained hostility to Rome on any and every matter, the bishops will no doubt reject this gift horse and carry on with their disobedient and self-satisfied ways, and just ignore it. After all, they have been doing it now for nearly 40 years and no one has been sacked so why worry too much about yet another unwelcome instruction.
Paragraph 184 of Redemptionis Sacramentum does exhort any Catholic, whether priest, deacon or lay member to lodge complaints regarding liturgical abuses to their bishop or the Apostolic See but how many at parish level will do this; especially when the first complaint has to be submitted to the diocesan bishop who often is primarily responsible for sanctioning the abuses in the first place. Why should the might of Rome delegate responsibility for eradicating abuses to the poor individual lay person in the pew? From the hundreds of thousands of pleading letters it has received over the years Rome knows full well what is going on, where it is going on, and who is doing it. Why, then, does it not act DECISIVELY and instruct its nuncios to do their duty and inform the Holy See about all abuses that are ongoing in their respective countries. All erring prelates should be summoned to Rome, asked for obedience and if none is forthcoming, their resignation demanded. This type of action would be lauded from the rooftops by a longsuffering laity who simply will not get involved in actively reporting abuses. Abuses are covered in canon law – let canon law be applied.
[Taken from the Latin Mass Society's August 2004 Newsletter.]
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