Thirty five years ago, give or take a year or two, the great majority of Catholics in the pew, and certainly most priests, had a view of the Church that was settled and accepted happily by all. This is not to say that there were no underlying tensions here and there, and that nobody had any complaints about certain issues - no. What there was, however, without any shadow of doubt, was a universality of belief and practice and a widespread comfort and acceptance of what the Catholic faith was all about. Most people in the pew could not explain the finer points of theology or give a coherent explanation of the mystery of the Mass, but their faith was sure and it was deep. We need think only of our parents and grandparents.Nowadays, following the constant and destabilising changes, both in liturgy and catechetics, the universality of belief and practice has fragmented and disappeared. It was said that, because of the confusing ticket structure, no two people travelling on a British Rail train paid the same fare. Now, because of the confusion of the past 35 years, it could be said that no two people in a Catholic church on a Sunday morning believe the same thing; despite the nonsense of the deliberate mistranslation of Credo from the first person 'I believe' into the plural 'We believe'.
Two of the great casualties in this fog of confusion have been the tabernacle, once the focal point of high altar and sanctuary, and the angels. One, the tabernacle, demoted and removed from its rightful place of honour in the promise that this would in some strange way increase our faith, and the other, the angels, banished to the margins as not being relevant to our more mature attitude to our faith these days. Well, it appears that the pendulum is now swinging back.
On page 5* we find a summary of the recent debate at the American Bishops’ Conference where they have finally acknowledged the serious problem in their midst. Their overriding concern now is to try and restore the sense of the sacred in their churches. All the bishops who spoke revealed a strong sense of obligation to make Catholic sacramental teaching clear to a confused society and not a single bishop defended moving the tabernacle from a central position within the church. Many on the side of tradition have argued that the tabernacles should never have been moved in the first place but it would be churlish not to give this sea- change of opinion in the U.S.A. a cautious welcome and hope that this lead is followed on this side of the Atlantic. The theme of the tabernacle, and the angels, is continued through the Newsletter. On page 16*, it is explained how the rubrics must govern our attitude, both clergy and laity, to the Blessed Sacrament during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to the presence of Our Blessed Lord in His tabernacle.
On page 15* we find Cardinal Ratzinger ordaining the deacons at the American College in Rome. What is not included in this article, but which has been reported previously in our Newsletter, is that the tabernacle at the American College was restored to the high altar recently at the insistence of the seminarians.
After many years of struggle, in whatever field, it is never a good idea to get too carried away when a chink of light appears from the darkness, or something occurs that raises the spirits. It cannot be denied, however, that there are signs, and maybe they are very faint but they are there, that the pendulum is starting to swing back. It has a mighty long way to swing but swing it will.
Leo Darroch: Editor.
[Taken from the Latin Mass Society's May 2000 Newsletter.]
*of the newsletter distributed to members of the Latin Mass Society.