What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

The Diocese of Lake Charles in Louisiana, where His Excellency Most Reverend Glen J. Provost is bishop, has an article in the local newpaper, the American Press, about the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. If you open that PDF, scroll down.

My emphases and comments.

My dear People of God, there are two matters that I wish to address. Some of you have posed questions concerning two recent Vatican documents. The first is the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio allowing for greater freedom in celebrating the Latin Mass and the other is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s “Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the Church”. Documents from the Vatican often involve fine points that the popular press, in the interests of simplicity and ease, find difficult to convey. I cannot presume to answer all of the questions that have surfaced, but I would pray that what I say offers some clarification. I would address them in order.


THE TRIDENTINE MASS
A Motu Proprio is a document of great importance issued by a pope on a matter that adjusts a practice in the Church. In this case, the Motu Proprio is entitled “Summorum Pontificum” and states clearly that the Mass promulgated by Pope Paul VI (as celebrated today in our parish churches) and the Mass of Pope St. Pius V, reissued by Blessed John XXIII (typically called the Tridentine Mass and celebrated at present only with special permission) are, and I quote, “two usages of the one Roman rite.” In Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to the bishops, he writes, “It is not appropriate to speak of these two versions of the Roman Missal as if they were ‘two Rites.’ Rather, it is a matter of a twofold use of one and the same rite.” At a practical level, beginning September 14, 2007, any priest, competent in Latin and in the rite itself, can celebrate the Mass of Pope St. Pius V, in the form published by Blessed John XXIII. No further permission is needed. The role of the bishop is to insure “that all is done in peace and serenity” [Right.] (the Papal Explanatory Letter to Bishops of July 7, 2007). This, of course, I intend to do. Is this a return to the past? Pope Benedict XVI does not think so. Nor do I.  [Excellent!] “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too,” the pope writes. If one studies the history of the Church carefully, one finds that the Church has always found room for multiple usages in the Roman Rite. [YES!] I recall as a child encountering the “Dominican Rite” with its slight variations while serving Mass or learning about the ancient “Ambrosian Rite” celebrated in Milan, Italy. The history of the Church is rich, and the Church is universal. It is much broader than anyone can possibly imagine. In effect, what Pope Benedict XVI has done is respond to a need. In providing for the normal celebration of an older form, the pope is answering the need many have expressed. There are those for whom the older usage of the rite is expressive, uplifting, and prayerful. Why not provide for this need without prejudice to the newer rite? [VERY GOOD!]  As the pope states, “Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows” (the Papal Explanatory Letter to Bishops of July 7, 2007). As bishop, my role is to act as moderator for the liturgy in the diocese. For that reason I must insure that the Mass of the Roman Rite is celebrated authentically and reverently, whether in the form promulgated by Pope Paul VI or the form of Pope St. Pius V promulgated by Pope Blessed John XXIII.  [Very well said!]

[The rest of the letter from the Bishop concerns the recent CDF document.]

 What an excellent statement!

There is a fascinating piece of UCANews out of Indonesia about the older form of Mass.

My emphases and comments.

INDONESIA     Priests Asked Not To Refuse Providing Pre-Vatican II Latin Mass

DENPASAR, Indonesia (UCAN)—The bishops’ liturgical commission has asked priests not to refuse requests for Mass to be celebrated in Latin as presented in the Roman Missal Pope John XXIII promulgated 45 years ago.

Divine Word Father Bernardus Boli Ujan, the commission’s executive secretary, told the recent National Meeting of Liturgy, "Priests have no right to reject a request to celebrate the Eucharist according to the 1962 Roman Missal."   [Can I believe what my eyes are seeing?  They seem to have read that Latin subjunctive in Summorum Pontificum!]

The Liturgy Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia (KWI, Indonesian acronym) conducted the gathering July 31-Aug. 3 at Tegaljaya in Denpasar, capital of Bali province, 945 kilometers east of Jakarta.

Besides the commission’s plenary board members, the 97 participants included heads of diocesan commissions, experts and lecturers on liturgy.

Father Ujan informed them that, though the old Latin Mass is a cornerstone of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the society has no branches in Indonesia.

Even so, he said, "for the sake of faith development and unity within the Church, you may not prevent people who want to celebrate the Latin Mass from doing so," and a local bishop may need wisdom to fulfill the request.

SSPX’s official website (www.fsspx.org) says it is in 30 countries, has 463 priests, 85 brothers, 75 oblates and 160 seminarians, and maintains 159 priories, more than 600 regularly served Mass centers and seven retreat houses.

According to the SSPX website for Asia, the society has been active in Indonesia since October 2003, and a "Mass Center" in Jakarta provides "Mass every 2 months" (www.sspxasia.com/Countries/Indonesia/index.htm).

...

"The positive reason which motivated my decision to issue this Motu Proprio updating that of 1988," the pope wrote, "is a matter of coming to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church." SSPX is not explicitly named in the pope’s text, but many say he means reconciliation with that society.

Capuchin Father Emmanuel Sembiring, a member of the Liturgy Commission’s plenary board, told the meeting, "It is not urgent to discuss the apostolic letter here because the society does not yet exist in Indonesia."  [Oooppps… the document and derestriction is NOT intended only for people going to SSPX chapels!]

Despite that claim, Father Ujan told UCA News, "we will translate and disseminate it among all Catholics, to help people understand and implement the letter in accordance with local Church situation."

Bishop Martinus Dogma Situmorang of Padang, KWI’s president, told UCA News on Aug. 3 that the letter will not significantly impact Indonesia’s Catholics, and "Catholics will not celebrate a Mass just to experiment."

The Capuchin prelate said Indonesians are satisfied with the Mass in the local language, Bahasa Indonesia, because they can understand the liturgy.

He pointed out that Catholics tend to take active part in liturgy, "while in the Latin Mass, where the priest faces the altar with his back toward the Massgoers, they could only be active in the penitential prayer."  [4 erroneous clichés in 26 words!  Pretty good!]

The bishop added that Catholics used to share actively in the Eucharistic prayer when they and priest responded to each other, but the "dialogic prayer" was stopped in 2005, following a Vatican instruction. "We have the impression that it was hard for people to relinquish the dialogic custom," he remarked.

According to the bishop, implementation of the pope’s letter depends on the understanding, interest and attitude of priests, "because certain clerics may show an interest to experiment."  [The second time we read "experiment".  Look how he reduces interest to a passing whim or novelty.] Nonetheless, he said he is sure promulgating the Roman Missal’s use in Latin will not negatively impact seminary curricula.

"True, seminarians need to study and master Latin," the KWI head said, "but that is more to understand theology and the contexts of the Bible."  [Grrr….. they are going to be priests of the LATIN RITE, no?]

Oblate Father Fransiskus Xaverius Sudirman, pastor of Trinitas Church in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, told UCA News he welcomes the Mass in Latin "because sometimes my parishioners sing Gregorian songs."

Aurelia Andika, 21, agrees that the Mass could remind Catholics of its Latin roots, "and young people may have more insight and get to know the language."

The Mass in Latin is most solemn and sacred, 67-year-old Maria Agustina told UCA News. For her, it is "the Holy Spirit’s work to revive the Mass in Latin."

St. Ambrose of Milan (+397) in his work De officiis ministrorum, echoing Cicero, spoke about martyrs. He lingers over the conversation between St. Pope Sixtus II (whose feast we had the other day) and his great deacon, the Spanish born – but by adoption Roman – St. Lawrence, who died this day in 258 on the Via Tiburina.

1.41.204. What is to be said about little children of two years who obtained the palm of victory before they had any awareness of what was going on around them? And what is to be said of Saint Agnes? Exposed to the danger of losing the two most precious goods, chastity and life, she defended chastity and exchanged life for immortality.

205. We cannot pass over Saint Lawrence, who, seeing his bishop Sixtus being led to martyrdom began to weep, not because he was being led away to die, but because he would have to outlive him. He began, therefore, to shout loudly, "Where are you going, Father, without your son? Where are you hurrying off to, O holy bishop, without your deacon? You never offered the Sacrifice without your minister. What about me has displeased you, O Father? Perhaps you have found me to be unworthy? At least reconsider whether you chose a suitable minister. Do you not want him to whom you entrusted the Blood of the Lord to shed with you his own blood, whom you caused to participate in the sacred mysteries? Be careful that while your fortitude is being praised, your judgment doesn’t waver. The ridicule of a student is a bad mark for the teacher. It is necessary to remember that great and famous men are victorious through the victorious examples of their students even more than by their own. After all, Abraham offered his own son, Peter sent Stephen before him. O Father, let you also show forth your virtue in the person of your son. Offer up the one you instructed, so as to reach the eternal prize in the glorious company, safe and sure of your justice."

206. And Sixtus replied to him: "I am not leaving you, O my son, I am not abandoning you; but even greater trials are reserved for you. Because we are old an easier track to the contest was allotted; Because you are young, for you there is fated a more glorious triumph over tyranny. You will be coming shortly, so cease your weeping: you’ll follow me within three days. It is fitting that there be this interval between a bishop and a levite. It would not be worthy for you to come through to victory under the guide of your master, as if you were looking for help. Why are you asking to share in my martyrdom? I am leaving you my entire inheritance. Why are you requiring that I be present? Students who are still weak are going before their master, and those now strong, who do not have need for any more instruction are following him in order to win through without him. In such a way Elijah left behind Elisha. I am entrusting to you the inheritance of my virtue."

207. There was a contest between them, a truly worthy contest to be fought out by a bishop and a deacon: who would be the first to suffer for Christ? They say that in the performances of tragic plays the audience would burst out in great applause when Pylades said he was Orestes and Orestes, as he indeed was, affirmed that he was Orestes: Pylades who was to be killed in Orestes place, Orestes in order to prevent Pylades from being him in his stead. But both of them shouldn’t have been allowed to live since they were guilty of the crimes of parricide: the one because he truly committed the crime and the other because he was an accomplice. In our situation, on the other hand, Saint Lawrence was driven by no other desire that to immolate himself for the Lord. Three days later, while mocking the tyrant he was burned on a grate: "This side’s done," he said, "turn me over and have a bite." ["Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca."] And so it was that he bested the heat of the flames with the might of his spirit.

My friend Mr. John Allen, the well-balanced nearly ubiquitous former Rome correspondent for the über-lefty National Catholic Reporter has a blurb in his weekly notes about Jewish reactions to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.  This Motu Proprio derestricts the older form of Mass which on Good Friday includes a prayer for the conversion of Jews. 

Some Jews are angry that Christians should pray that everyone believe in Christ.  (Granted, they are also upset about the way that prayer expresses that wish.)

Here is Allen’s piece.  My emphases and comments.

Speaking of Catholic-Jewish relations, conversation continues to percolate on the subject of Pope Benedict’s early July motu proprio liberalizing permission to celebrate the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. Many leaders in Jewish-Catholic dialogue have voiced concern that the Good Friday liturgy according to the old rite contains a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, which refers to "the blindness of that people," asking God to remove "the veil from their hearts" and to deliver them from "darkness."

One little-known wrinkle is that on March 7, 1965, Pope Paul VI decreed a set of changes to the pre-Vatican II rite which removed the word "conversion" from the title "Prayer for the Jews" and deleted the language cited above. Instead, the revised prayer recalls God’s "promises to Abraham and his seed." Church historians say that Paul made the revisions after the Second Vatican Council voted in favor of a more positive approach to relations with Jews, and the pope wanted to implement its new vision in the liturgy right away, even before the post-Vatican II Mass was ready.

Many experts seem to believe that those changes do not apply under the terms of the new motu proprio. Msgr. James Moroney, executive director of the Secretariat for the Liturgy for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Aug. 9 that the motu proprio refers to the 1962 Missal alone, not to any subsequent amendments.  [Mr. Allen called on this one too.  I agree with Moroney.  The text of the older Mass we can use is the 1962 version, not the version with the revisions of 1965.  Until there is some change from the Holy See about this, only the 1962, as is, must be used in the Triduum.  Similarly, elements of the Triduum from editions previous to the 1962 may not be interpollated either.  It works both ways.]

"As of now, it seems to me that it would not be possible to use texts published in 1965 when the permission is for the 1962 texts," Moroney said, though without excluding the possibility that the pope might wish to make changes in the future.

Some canonists, however, argue that because the 1965 revisions were never abrogated, they should be considered part of the 1962 Missal, [that is not what Summorum Pontificum says.  It says 1962, not 1962 with subsequent revisions.] just as subsequent amendments to the new rite issued after 1970 are still considered part of that Missal. Experts are awaiting clarification from the Vatican. Some believe that while the amendments from Paul VI were an improvement, the prayer remains problematic even with them, and would like to see it revised along the lines of the Prayer for the Jews in the post-Vatican II rite. That text asks that God help Jews "progress in fidelity to Your covenant."

On July 18, Bertone seemed to signal openness to such revisions, telling reporters that the Vatican had no intention of rolling back the clock on Jewish-Catholic relations and that "the problem can be solved."

Three other quick points are worth making in this regard.

First, the prayer for the Jews is not the only controversial bit of language in the Good Friday rite. There’s also a prayer for "heretics and schismatics," referring to other Christians, and to "pagans," referring to followers of other religions. Many experts say both pose equally serious questions in terms of consistency with Vatican II’s ecumenical and inter-religious vision.  [I am not one of them.  I don’t see any of these prayers, which have been used since the original indult for the older Mass as having changed inter-religious dialogue one way or another.]

Second, the pre-Vatican II rite has been available with the permission of the local bishop since 1984, which means that a certain percentage of Catholics have been hearing these prayers on Good Friday for the last 23 years. Whatever their theological limits, they did not prevent Catholicism from pursuing pioneering efforts in Jewish-Catholic dialogue over that time, [exactly!] including John Paul’s visit to the Rome synagogue in 1986 and the trip to Israel in 1999. That, perhaps, is an invitation to caution about worst-case scenarios in terms of what all this might mean.

Third, Catholics who celebrate the pre-Vatican II Mass say that even though it’s sometimes called the "Missal of 1962," in fact many places don’t follow the ‘62 Missal because it was expensive, hard to find, and quickly superseded by the new Mass. What people are actually using is often a Missal from the era of Pius XII or even earlier, because that’s what they have lying around. This may mean they’re still praying for the "perfidious Jews," because that language wasn’t taken out until John XXIII in 1960. [I made that point to Mr. Allen by phone and on this blog on various occaisions.  It is very important that, when the older form of Mass is celebrated, we use the CORRECT edition, or at least make the necessary changes to the edition we possess to bring it into conformity with the 1962 edition.]  They’re also often using catechetical materials and devotional aids utterly untouched by the vision of the council or the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. Some experts believe the spotlight on the old Mass created by the motu proprio will encourage these communities to bring themselves up to date. If nothing else, it should mean that the actual 1962 Missal will become more readily available, and that catechetical materials reflecting official post-conciliar church teaching will be produced.

Ironically, therefore, a decision perceived by a wide swath of the church and the outside world as an effort to roll back the clock, may instead by experienced by the people actually affected by it as an invitation to step forward.  [Yes.  One of the Holy Father’s objectives, for sure.]

This is a good, well-balanced presentation of the thorny issue of how some Jews are upset by those prayers. 

St. Augustine of Hippo preached various sermons on St. Lawrence. Here is one the bishop preached around A.D. 401.  It might not be quite what you expect, however!  It sure wasn’t what Augustine himself expected!

Put yourself in the cathedral of Carthage on a bright sunny morning. Dust motes and tendrils of incense are floating in the shafts of light from the alabaster windows above.  In the presbyterium are bishops and emissaries who have come to Carthage for a great council to be held in a couple weeks. Maybe you came to see the interesting people from near and far. You are standing in the nave of the basilica.  It is August in N. Africa. It is blazing hot already in the morning.

You watch as the primate of Carthage Bishop Aurelius and bishops of the North African delegation pressure Augustine, a very junior bishop, into preaching in the presence of the representatives from Rome who are there for the upcoming meeting.  It is clear that Augustine, had had no idea he would be speaking today.

It is the feast of the martyr St. Lawrence.

Augustine reluctantly takes his seat in a chair in the center takes the scroll of the Scriptures in his lap and begins (sermo 305A).

1. Because the audience is getting bored and restless, the sermon was supposed to have been cancelled [subtrahendus fuit]; but out of respect for the martyr, it has to be given. So with the Lord’s help it will be so timed that it is neither burdensome, not yet cut too short to do justice to the subject. In Rome today has dawned as one of the greatest feasts there, which is celebrated by a great concourse of the people; we are uniting ourselves to our brothers and sisters there in one body, under one head, absent indeed in body, but still present in spirit. After all, it’s not only where the tomb of his body is, that the memory of his merits is celebrated. Devotion is owed to him everywhere; his flesh is laid in one place, but his spirit is triumphant with the one who is everywhere.

The blessed Lawrence was, as we have been informed, a youth in body, but a man gravity in spirit; the greener his age, the more unfading was the victor’s wreath that commended him so much to our devotion. Well, he was a deacon, subordinate to the bishop in rank, equal to an apostle in his crown. [And with that brief comment on Lawrence, Augustine spends the next ten paragraphs talking about everything except Lawrence!] Now this kind of festival of al the glorious martyrs has been instituted in the Church so that those who didn’t see them suffering may be led by faith to imitate them, and may be reminded of them by the festival. It’s probable, you see, that what wasn’t repeated by an annual commemoration would escape people’s minds altogether. And we can’t have fervent celebrations of all the martyrs everywhere, because then not day would pass without them; I mean, you could scarcely find a single day in the whole course of the year, on which some martyrs were not somewhere rewarded with the victor’s crown. But if fervent celebrations were a continuous event, they would induce boredom; while intervals between them renew our loving interest. For our part, let us simply listen to what we have been commanded, attend to what we have been promised. On the festivals of any martyrs you like, let us prepare our hearts to celebrate them in such a way that we do not cut ourselves off from imitating them.

At this point Augustine launches himself into to a long and rambling talk about the different ways people celebrate.  He never says another word about Lawrence! He seems to take a few swipes at the Roman delegation there too. Then he talks about home boy St. Cyprian of Carthage, who is far more interesting for the natives.  Then Augustine takes some shots at their overdoing the feast of St. Cyprian.

This is one of those sermons that Augustine, who is feeling a little testy and put upon, just doesn’t seem to be able to bring to a close easily. This often happens when people who don’t really want to speak are put in a position of having to say something.  It happens even now in our parishes, doesn’t it!

And his swift writing stenographers were there and caught every word for us.

If you are thinking that Father wasn’t on his game for that last Sunday sermon, remember that even Augustine had his off days.