Affirming the Truth |
Liturgical reform and the freeing of the Mass of St Pius V are crucial but they are only the first steps in the renovation of the Faith now being implemented by Pope Benedict XVI. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, writing from Rome, brings this great project of stabilisation and reaffirmation into focus. |
As we wait for the promulgation of the Motu Propio that hopefully will facilitate the wider celebration of the Traditional Mass, we also need to focus our attention on many other problems that are seriously affecting the life of the Church. Even if the liturgy is central to the Church, the problems that mar the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are only the tip of the iceberg of the many difficulties that afflict her. At the same time it is evident that many of the problems that we see in the Church are caused by the improper celebration of the Liturgy. It is fitting to remember the judgement of Cardinal Ratzinger in his memoirs: "I am convinced that the ecclesiastical crisis in which we find ourselves today depends in great part of the collapse of the liturgy."
Within the process of doctrinal clarification, the homily of the Holy Father to the International Theological Commission on 6 October 2006 was significant. Rumours were rife that the Commission was ready to publish a report that would in some way or other eliminate the ancient doctrine of Limbo. However, this homily with uncommonly strong language on the role and function of the theologian, seems to be chastising the member of the Commission, when the Pope states: "Obedience to the truth must 'purify' our souls and thus guide us to upright speech and upright action. In other words, speaking in the hope of being applauded, governed by what people want to hear out of obedience to the dictatorship of current opinion, is considered to be a sort of prostitution, of words and of the soul." The Holy Father exalts the objectivity of the truth and as a consequence he denounces the democratic spirit that has entered into the practice of theology. The truth is not what the majority wants it to be, but it is a reality in itself, a category of reason which is independent of the more or less enlightened wishes of the majority. This also stands against another contemporary problem - the idea that the teachings of the Magisterium, to be valid, need to be received by the members of the Church.
Reform of the reform
On 17 October 2006 the first step was taken in the process of the reform of the reform, through a letter of Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, to presidents of the different episcopal conferences. This letter, which was approved by the Holy Father after serious discussion in Rome, establishes that the vernacular translations of the consecratory formula for the Precious Blood should follow precisely the Latin text. The Latin text states that the blood of Christ will be shed for "many", but in most translations "many" has been changed to "all", which is not a correct translation.
Here a theological precision is necessary; if on the one hand it is true that Christ died for all, on the other His saving death will have effect only for those who accept it, those who sincerely and honestly try to lead their lives in accordance with the will of God. As Cardinal Arinze points out in his letter: "The expression 'for many', while remaining open to the inclusion of each human person, is reflective also of the fact that this salvation is not brought about in some mechanistic way, without one's willing or participation; rather, the believer is invited to accept in faith the gift that is being offered and to receive the supernatural life that is given to those who participate in this mystery, living it out in their lives as well so as to be numbered among the 'many' to whom the text refers." So this new translation serves also to confront the widespread contemporary error of universal salvation, that all persons independently of what they might do will be saved.
A constant element in the teachings of Benedict XVI is his concern with relativism, in particular the fact that this evil condition has entered very much into the Church, as he underlined in his famous homily ("the dictatorship of relativism") of 18 April 2005, the day before his election. This leads to a crisis of culture and identity, as he noted in his address to the Lateran University of 21 October. This relativistic spirit can be seen even in the way the new rite is celebrated. Many times in its celebration it can be perceived that the communal horizontal aspects of the liturgy take precedence over the transcendental aspects. The opening towards subjectivity that can be seen even in some rubrics of the new Mass can also be a path towards relativism.
Against relativism
In his 'Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace', of 8 December 2006, Benedict XVI demonstrates that the protection of authentic human rights is a necessary condition for peace, arguing against legal positivistic views of those rights that stem from a relativistic view of the human person. So he denounces the fact that "many of our contemporaries actually deny the existence of a specific human nature and thus open the door to the most extravagant interpretations of what essentially constitutes a human being. Here, too, clarity is necessary: a 'weak' vision of the person, which would leave room for every conception, even the most bizarre, only apparently favours peace." And he notices how it "opens the way to authoritarian impositions, ultimately leaving the person defenceless and, as a result, easy prey to oppression and violence." The Holy Father showed later that human rights, are grounded "on man's very nature and his inalienable dignity as a person created by God." On this topic, his homily of 1 January underlined that, "Indeed, were the constitutive elements of human dignity entrusted to changeable human opinions, even solemnly proclaimed human rights would end by being weakened and variously interpreted."
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The essential equality of human persons springs from their common transcendental dignity, the Holy Father notes in this same message. All human being share the same essential nature grounded in an opening to the transcendent reality of God. At the end of this document the Pope, quoting Gaudium et Spes, underlines how the Church is "the sign and safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person".
The primary place where this transcendental dimension of the person is safeguarded is in the act of worship. But the new liturgy in many cases is celebrated in ways that are not focused on the transcendent reality of God, but on a communal horizontal celebration. As Fr Michael Lang of the London Oratory notes in Turning towards the Lord (p.102), celebration towards the people tends to diminish the transcendental dimension of the Eucharist in such a way that it generates the notion of a closed society.
The Holy Father in his substantial address to the Roman Curia of 22 December last year, presented a summary of his different activities during the year, analysing many serious problems that affect the world and the Church. In his opening sentences he underlined the very traditional teaching that peace is impossible without a right relationship with the Lord. He stated: "Peace on earth cannot be found without reconciliation with God, without harmony between Heaven and earth." Later he noted that, "Christ is our peace and reunites the separated: over and above all the differences in the historical epochs and cultures, he is reconciliation." Against different naturalistic views of peace as a mere coexistence of men of different contradictory ideologies, the Holy Father reaffirmed that true peace can only be found if the world accepts the teachings of Christ. This very basic teaching of the Church is extremely well presented in the first programmatic encyclical of Pius XI, Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio of 23 December, 1922.
In his address to the Curia, Benedict XVI brought together two of the main problems affecting the Church today: the lack of generosity with life and the teaching of the Faith. He stated with concern how Europe apparently no longer wants to have children, and said pointedly: "To foreigners this Europe seems to be tired; indeed, it seems to be wishing to take its leave of history." This sad fact, had already been denounced by John Paul II in the Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Europa, of 28 June 2003. Statistics show this decline with brutal clarity. Pope Benedict demonstrated that one of the main causes of the demographic winter that has settled over Europe and is also affecting other parts of the world is the chilling of faith. He stated, "Unless we learn anew the foundations of life - unless we discover in a new way the certainty of faith - it will be less and less possible for us to entrust to others the gift of life and the task of an unknown future."
Culture of disobedience
There is an obvious relationship between the problems that affect the new liturgy and the blatant disobedience to the Church's teachings on the transmission of life. In the mid-1960s there was a heated discussion within the Church as to whether the new birth control drugs that prevented conception were in accordance with the traditional teachings of the Magisterium. This happened at the same time that the largest liturgical reform in the history of the Church was taking place. Many saw that the acceptance of these new drugs was a departure from the constant teaching of the Church. Nevertheless, they thought that if the Church was introducing profound changes to the Liturgy, (which they had always been taught was essentially unchangeable), it was acceptable to assume that the teachings of the Church on birth control could also change.
Finally, the Church guided by the Holy Spirit, after a long and painful process, decided to maintain its traditional teachings, in the encyclical, Humanae Vitae of 25 July 1968. As a consequence of the dissent within the Church from this fundamental teaching of the Magisterium the climate of uncertainty regarding birth control continued to exist at the pastoral level and this was given force by the continuation and development of the liturgical reforms. This climate of liturgical uncertainty was strengthened at the end of 1969 with the introduction of the new missal and all the experimentation that went with its application. Many of the liturgical experiments conducted at that time, and which regrettably are still being conducted today, have resulted in the lessening in the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Talking of that period nearly thirty years ago, Prof. Frederick Wilhelmsen stated that, "The empty womb stripped of its child by an abortionist is analogous to the empty altar stripped of its God by the theological abortionist - the man who either denies, or, what is more frequent, ignores or plays down the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Blessed sacrament of the Altar." ('Empty Womb, Empty Altar', Latin Mass Magazine, March/April 1993).
The decrease in birth rates is also connected with the instability of marriage and worse, the fear of many young couples of entering into a permanent relationship. This problem was also analysed by Benedict XVI in his address to the Curia when he expressed his concern about those countries which are providing a legal framework to recognise de facto couples. He stated in a pointed way that, "When new forms of legislation are created which relativise marriage, the renouncing of the definitive bond obtains, as it were, a juridical seal." Therefore, governments through legal initiatives confirm the fear of commitment that many young people suffer in our days.
This concern led the Holy Father to consider the more serious problem of anti-natural unions which are receiving legal sanction in many countries of Europe. He showed how these unions are based on a subjectivist view of man that rejects the objective indications given by nature: "The union of a man and a woman is being put on a par with the pairing of two people of the same sex, and tacitly confirms those fallacious theories that remove from the human person all the importance of masculinity and femininity, as though it were a question of the purely biological factor. Such theories hold that man - that is, his intellect and his desire - can decide autonomously what he is or what he is not. In this, corporeity is scorned, with the consequence that the human being, in seeking to be emancipated from his body - from the 'biological sphere' - ends by destroying himself." He concluded by underlining the right and duty of the Church to address life and family issues.
Christian decline
The Holy Father, speaking about his visit to Germany, expressed his concern that in several parts of Germany there is a majority of unbaptised persons "for whom Christianity and the God of faith seem to belong to the past". There is plenty of data on the statistical decline of the Catholic Church and the many mainline Protestant ecclesial communities in Europe. According to information for 2004, Christians as a whole in Germany were 64.5% of the population (including Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox); Catholics were around 31.4%. So that means that 35.5% of the population consider themselves non-Christian. In Great Britain 71.6% of the population declares itself to be Christian according to the 2001 census. In France the situation is quite dismal: less than fifty percent of the population is nominally Catholic. This rapid look at the statistics shows that the aggiornamento of the Church has not been very successful. The Holy Father underlined this concern on the decline of the practice of the Faith in his homily to the Swiss bishops on 7 November 2006. "We know the churches are ever more empty, seminaries continue to be empty, religious houses are increasingly empty; we are familiar with all the forms in which this 'No, I have other important things to do' is presented."
Confronted with this situation Benedict XVI underlined the centrality of speaking about God among the many other things that the Church can preach. It seems a very simple thing, but this straightforward affirmation should lead to an examination of conscience on how many times we speak in the Church about the centrality of the Incarnation. Certain aspects of the message of the Church are fundamental, but they are not often mentioned. It is obvious that the Holy Father is calling us to deepen our knowledge of the central aspects of our Faith, obviously without losing sight of the rest of the message.
Due to continuing calls for the reconsideration of celibacy in the Latin Church, caused by the insufficient numbers of priestly ordinations, the Pope was concerned to present the theological basis for clerical celibacy. He showed how the priesthood has to be theocentric. As he stated: "The true foundation of celibacy can be contained in the phrase: Dominus pars - 'You are my land'. It can only be theocentric. It cannot mean being deprived of love, but must mean letting oneself be consumed by passion for God and subsequently, thanks to a more intimate way of being with Him, to serving men and women, too. Celibacy must be a witness to faith: faith in God materialises in that form of life which only has meaning if it is based on God."
This explanation that the Holy Father gives for celibacy is at the centre of the traditional theology of celibacy and is a reaffirmation of this millenarian discipline of the Latin Church. It would seem that there is a correlation between the drastic drop in priestly ordinations and the liturgical reforms introduced in the 1960s - there is a clear historical and statistically proven concomitance between these facts. We should ask ourselves in what measure the reforms of the liturgy as they were applied and implemented, diminishing the sense of sacredness in the liturgy and decreasing the role of the priest, are one of the causes of the decline in ordinations. The Holy Father demonstrates that the reasons for celibacy are theocentric; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the priestly function par excellence, so if the Mass is celebrated in a way that diminishes the manifestation of its theocentric nature, the theological basis for priestly celibacy is also eroded.
Relevance of Tradition
At the Angelus of the Feast of St Stephen, on 26 December, the Holy Father stated, "With special spiritual closeness, I also think of those Catholics who maintain their fidelity to the See of Peter without ceding to compromises, sometimes at the price of grave sufferings." This has been seen by many observers as a clear reference to the situation of the Catholics in Communist China who, not withstanding the constant persecutions of the regime, remain faithful to the See of Peter. This statement can also be applied to many Catholics worldwide who are suffering all sorts of persecution for their fidelity to the Traditional doctrine and liturgy of the Church but have remained in union with Peter and have not fallen into the temptation of becoming separated from their local Churches.
Before concluding we should remember how leading intellectuals in France, Italy, Poland and the English speaking world, called in December and early January for Pope Benedict XVI to "liberate" the Traditional Mass and allow the unrestricted use of this Mass as a means to assist Europeans recover the roots of their culture. It was particularly moving to see the manifesto in Latin published on 16 December in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio; probably the first time in many years that an article in Latin has been published on the front page of a secular newspaper.
The situation in the world and the Church looks quite bleak if we only look at the natural facts, but we should not loose hope in the intervention of God and in our response. We know that it is our duty to act in this time of crisis, and we will do so keeping in mind what Dante Alighieri once said: "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." Also it is evident that the Holy Father is putting in place the foundations for more permanent solutions that might rectify the course of the Church. Let us hope and pray that the Lord might grant him health and strength to finish his task.
We must remember what the Blessed Virgin Mary heard from the Archangel Gabriel when he announced her divine Motherhood: "With God nothing will be impossible" (Lk 1: 37). And also that St Mark reminds us that what is impossible to man becomes possible to the one who believes (cf Mk 9: 23). So we should not lose hope, but entrust ourselves to the Most Merciful Mother of God.
[Taken from "Mass of Ages" February 2007, The Latin Mass Society's quarterly magazine]