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

In another entry someone asked if maniples can be used also for Mass with the Novus Ordo.

So… can they?  

(The answer is yes, but… you can post some details.)

Please stick to maniples for this discussion.  Thanks! 

The Washington Times has a positive article about Summorum Pontificum.

My emphases and comments.

Article published Oct 28, 2007
Mass appeal to Latin tradition

October 28, 2007

By Kristi Moore – Roman Catholic churches nationwide are rushing to accommodate a surge in demand for the traditional Latin Mass, which is drawing a surprising new crowd: young people.  [This is certainly an exageration, but it is a nice one!]

Since July, when a decree from Pope Benedict XVI lifted decades-old restrictions [So much more accurate than saying "gave permission".] on celebrating the Tridentine Mass, seven churches in the Washington metropolitan area have added the liturgy to their weekly Sunday schedules.

"I love the Latin Mass," said Audrey Kunkel, 20, of Cincinnati. "It"s amazing to think that I"m attending the same Mass that has formed saints throughout the centuries."

In contrast to the New Order Mass, which has been in use since the Second Vatican Council in 1969 and is typically celebrated in vernacular languages such as English, the Tridentine Mass is "contemplative, mysterious, sacred, transcendent, and [younger people are] drawn to it," said the Rev. Franklyn McAfee, [HEY!  Know him?] pastor of St. John the Beloved in McLean. "Gregorian chant is the opposite of rap, and I believe this is a refreshing change for them."  [There’s understatment for you!]

Susan Gibbs, the director of communications from the Archdiocese of Washington, said the attraction demonstrated by the young adults is "very interesting." [Uh huh…]

Besides the liturgy"s rich historical content and spiritual significance, the younger generations show an interest in the old becoming new again, said Louis Tofari of the Society of St. Pius X, an order of clergy that opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

"People who never grew up with the traditional Mass are finding it on their own and falling in love with it."

The Tridentine Mass helps people in their 20s and 30s who have grown up in a culture that lacks stability and orthodoxy see something larger than themselves: the glory of God, said Geoffrey Coleman of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter"s Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in Denton, Neb.

The Tridentine Mass "detaches me from the world and lifts my mind, heart and soul to heavenly things," said Michael Malain, 21, of Houston.

Kirk Rich, 21, of Oberlin, Ohio, remembers the first time he attended a Tridentine Mass and recalls thinking that a new religion had been invented.

"That"s certainly what it seems like when comparing the two forms of the Mass," Mr. Rich said.

The biggest difference between the two forms is that the Tridentine Mass is always celebrated in Latin, except for the homily. The priest also leads the parishioners facing east, the traditional direction of prayer. The New Order Mass can be celebrated in Latin, but usually is not. There are also differences in some of the prayers, hymns and vestments.  [Hymns are problematic and vestments are a mere external, but the observation is valid insofar as general practice is concerned.]

As a result, the overall feel of the Tridentine Mass is more solemn and serious.

"The coffee social is after the traditional Latin Mass, not in the middle of it," [I actually saw coffee and donuts served during "Mass" at a famous dissident parish in Minneapolis.] said Kenneth Wolfe, 34, of Alexandria. "No one can say, with a straight face, that the post-Vatican II liturgy and sacraments are more beautiful than the ones used for hundreds and hundreds of years."

Like the churchgoers now demanding the celebration of the Tridentine Mass, the priests learning the rite are usually younger as well.  [YES!   As I have been saying without ceasing, younger priests will learn the older form.  This will begin a slow by inexorable shift in the way the newer Mass is celebrated.  This part of the "gravitational pull" factor.]

The Society of St. Pius X trains priests in the liturgy of the Tridentine Mass and has received as many as 25 requests a week for instruction since July.

"The phone was ringing nonstop, and I was getting e-mail after e-mail,’ Mr. Tofari said. "The response was absolutely incredible; most of the people who call are below the age of 30."

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has collaborated with Una Voce America to host workshops for clergy in Denton, Neb. Una Voce America, which promotes the celebration of the Tridentine Mass, usually teaches the rite to 12 students a session. But in September, it increased that number to 22 to meet the increased demand for training.

Many priests think the changes approved by the pope will do more than bring young people into the church. They think the celebration of the Tridentine Mass will increase the faith of many followers.

The Rev. Paul Scalia, 37, has been celebrating the Tridentine Mass at St. Rita Church in Alexandria. He said the increase in young attendance is evidence that the Mass is something living and life-giving.

"The beauty is tremendous, as it draws us to God, who is beauty Himself," Father Scalia said.

In the wake of Summorum Pontificum, we need patience and foresight in exercising our rights.  Lot’s of patience. 

In that light, check out this nice story is in the Naples [Florida] Daily News. 

My emphases and comments.

A new old Mass

It’s not for every Catholic, but for some, the Latin Mass offers a kind of intimacy, a solemn focus

VICTORIA MACCHI, Special to the Daily News

Saturday, October 27, 2007

There is no music, no chatter [!] as people settle in for an early Sunday Mass. No one is late, [!] and the shuffling of feet is audible as the congregation rises and the priest enters.

As he reaches the altar, he turns away from the crowd so everyone faces the same direction. [Exactly right.] An altar server struggles to move a rail into place, closing off the altar from the congregation. Without a microphone, the priest’s recitation of the Mass in Latin is just loud enough for people to follow, [after all… how loud does it have to be?] in English, in the missalettes, but soft enough that as the parishioners kneel, sit and stand, the creaking of wood and knees echoes around the chapel.

At the Catholic Tridentine Mass, also known as the Latin Mass, [but not by the better informed] an average of 100 people attend every Sunday at St. Agnes Chapel in Naples since it began on Aug. 26

“People go to the old Mass to pray to God,” says the Rev. James Fryar, after the recently added Latin Mass at St. Agnes Chapel in Naples. “People go to the new Mass with more of an orientation on a ‘myself’ sort of thing. ‘What I understand, what I get out of Mass, how I can participate more.’ [Is that slightly unfair?   Probably, but he has a point.  That probably does characterize the majority of people in a regular parish with the Novus Ordo.] There is a certain amount of participation [I would say quite a lot, actually.] in the old Mass as well. … But it’s more oriented towards God.”

Treacy Gibbens switched from attending Sunday Mass at St. Williams Parish in Naples to the Latin liturgy this summer. “There are fewer distractions,” he says. “You can really pray. I love it.”

Born in 1923, Gibbens grew up with this Mass. As the director of the local chapter of Una Voce, an organization devoted to the promulgation of the Latin Mass, he is pleased with its addition to the schedule at St. Agnes.

“I can remember before Vatican II, as you’d be walking out of the church after the Mass, your mind was still on the Mass. There wasn’t all the talking after that Mass that there is nowadays,” he said of the new Mass, or the Novus Ordo. [This begs the question: If people behaved more reverently in church before and after Mass, would that do it for him?  At St. Agnes in St. Paul, people are very quiet and respectful in Church, and the Novus Ordo is used.  This isn’t an old Mass v. newer Mass phenomenon.  A lot has to do with the way the priest has formed the flock.]

From 1962 to 1965, the Second Vatican Council promoted [mandated] a series of reforms to the Catholic Church, including changes to the liturgy, in an attempt to bring the Mass closer to the people. This included allowing for the use of the vernacular during Masses and the use of local customs as permitted by the bishop. Since then, the use of local languages has flourished in Masses around the world, leaving a small but vocal group of Catholic laypeople and clergy, who support the use of the Roman liturgy or Latin Mass.

In a statement issued by Pope Benedict XVI on July 7, he asserted that the Latin Mass [the OLDER form of Mass in Latin] was to be more generally allowed and that congregations wishing to celebrate it had only to ask their parish priest, rather than request it of their bishop. The issue, however, was that since the reforms not all priests studied the Roman liturgy in the seminary, therefore not all parishes could fulfill the need.  [Give it time.]

This is why Fryar comes from Sarasota, where he arrived three months ago, to Naples every weekend to officiate the Latin Mass [Don’t phrases like this get you the sense that the author isn’t Catholic?] at 8 a.m. before heading back up to his parish of St. Martha’s for a 1:30 p.m. Mass on Sundays.

Three years ago, Fryar was ordained into [again] the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, a community of Roman Catholic priests who only celebrate the Latin Mass. In order to serve the needs of Catholics asking for the old Mass, he was brought down from Pennsylvania three months ago.

“I figured, look, if I want to be a priest, I want to go all the way and do the Mass as holy as I can,” says the 33-year-old priest. “You can tell it’s serious — this Mass, there’s no messing around.”

At the low Mass, which is the liturgy in its simplest form, the only sound that intentionally breaks the silences is when the servers ring small bells during the consecration. To receive communion, congregents must kneel at the altar rail, [Unless they have a broken leg or choose to stand…] and can only receive the host on their tongue, rather than in their hands as they do the new Mass.  [Wrong… they sadly still have the right to receive in the hand, though we are very glad they don’t.]

Several women at St. Agnes also carry on the tradition of using the chapel veil, or mantilla, a triangle or semi-circle of lace of lace often in white or black placed loosely over their hair.

Starting a Latin Mass in Naples was motivated by a demand from local Catholics, and by geography, says Bishop Frank Dewane of the Diocese of Venice, of which Naples is a part.

“We have a Latin Mass scheduled in Sarasota and parishioners often traveled up from the Southern deanery to attend, so we responded to the requests that we had,” says the bishop. “The diocese wanted to make the Latin Mass convenient [HURRAY! Generosity rather than stinginess!] to parishioners and the chapel at St. Agnes Church was chosen.

- – -

While some of the older parishioners rise early Sundays for a dose of religious nostalgia [GRRRRRR…. this is condescending.] — and others for the convenience of the early Mass — younger families make up at least half of the Latin Mass congregation at St. Agnes chapel.

Fryar says more than 90 percent of the participants at Masses performed by his order are young families.

“We like to bring our kids because it teaches them better. The outward signs (of the Novus Ordo Mass) don’t really represent what’s going on,” says Jared Kuebler, 27. [Interesting observations.] He and his wife Maria, 26, moved to the area in August from California so Jared could begin graduate school at Ave Maria University. They have attended the Latin Mass at St. Agnes since then.

The couple believes that their children, a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son, pick up on the sobriety of the Mass.

“It’s not somewhere where they can play around,” says Jared Kuebler.

“There’s things here that remind you this is something special, outside of your daily life,” he adds. “They notice the difference. They sit quietly and they play quietly.”  [Yes… I think this is about right.]

Music at other Masses, says his wife, had them wriggling around.

Gregorian chant, which is sometimes performed at the Latin Mass, might not be conducive to playtime.  [Truer words were never spoken!]

Joseph Pearce, 46, a professor of literature at Ave Maria University attends the Latin Mass. He says his young son “is a handful whatever Mass we go to” but the family comes to St. Agnes Chapel for the smaller community and the more solemn nature of the service.

“I like the reverence of it. We’re not exclusively Latin Mass people,” Pearce says, adding that while he and his family have attended the new Mass as well, they feel particularly at home with the Latin Mass congregation because of its size.

“But I think that what we mustn’t lose sight of is the focus of the Mass is Christ, particularly Christ’s sacrifice … And if the community aspect of the Mass eclipses that dimension — and at it’s worst, there’s a danger of that — then we’ve lost focus.”

- – -

But the issue of the Latin Mass is a sensitive one in the Church amongst the clergy and laypeople. [Only among some laypeople and clergy.] As the New Mass gained ground over the Roman liturgy following Vatican II, tensions emerged.

“People experienced the loss of the Latin Mass as the loss of something you love, and I think some of that is still there,” explains Fr. Robert Murphy, a priest at St. William Parish in Naples. “When the Mass went from Latin to the language of the people, there were a significant amount of people who never went to Mass again. It was a tough adjustment on everybody.”  [Folks… the sloppy term "the Latin Mass" has me chewing my own tongue off, but we have to be patient.]

For many priests, however, the Novus Ordo was what they learned in seminary, and there is little inclination to change their ways.

“I have no inclination to. I never had it, and I still have a vocation, and I love the Church. I don’t see myself taking the time to learn (it). I’m perfectly content in English.” [I wonder if that does not smack slightly of laziness.]

Murphy, for example, says he has no inclination to learn to preach the Latin Mass.

”I never had it, and I still have a vocation, and I love the Church,” says Murphy, who has been a priest in the Diocese of Venice nearly 14 years. “I don’t see myself taking the time to learn (it). I’m perfectly content in English.”

The demand for the Latin Mass at his old parish of St. Andrew’s in Cape Coral only came from one or two people, he says.

He believes it is “perfectly OK” to worship in the vernacular, adding the local need for Spanish, Creole and Polish-speaking clerics. “We try to serve all people,” Murphy emphasizes.  [Except those who want the older Mass?]

Fryar doesn’t disagree.

“People who are comfortable praying in English to God — by all means, pray to God the best way you can.” [Everyone do your own thing!]

After announcing the addition of Fryar’s Latin Mass to the congregation, Fr. Robert Kantor said people were curious about the larger picture concerning faith and church. The decision to bring it to St. Agnes was based on hospitality, [!] says Kantor, the administrator of St. Agnes. “I did want the people here to understand it was a result of need.

“These are people that are trying to be accommodated to celebrate a Mass that’s part of the Church,” he say “I don’t think this means anything other than the Bishop trying to serve people who like this Mass.”  [Excellent.]

Fryar says he believes it is unfair to compare the Latin Mass to more contemporary interpretations. “The Latin Mass has been around for 2,000 years, and it took maybe three centuries to get it perfected to one stage. … What you have in the 20th century is that the Mass has been perfected for 20 centuries. The new rite Mass is valid; it’s good; it’s holy … but it’s only been around for what, 40 years?”  [A good point.]

There are no immediate plans to expand the venues for Latin Mass in the Naples/Ft. Myers area, however, Bishop Dewane, however, “There are no immediate plans to expand the venues for Latin Mass” in the Naples/Ft. Myers area.  [Is there an echo?]

“It’s hard to say about the future. It depends whether the new generation that was not brought up in it wants to go back to it,” said Murphy.

“The future is that it will always happen as long as there are priests who want to say it.”  [That’s for sure!]

In the balance a very nice article, insofar as its content is concerned.

Today St. Augustine (+430) talks to us about how to prayer, especially in light of the Our Father.  We take an excerpt from his letter 130 to an elderly Roman widow, Proba, who was refugee in North Africa after Alaric the Goth sacked Rome in 411. 

Also, I make some remarks about how to treat newcomers at celebrations of the older form of Mass.  Since Summorum Pontificum is now in force, people who haven’t been to the older Mass will be getting first impressions.  Let’s make sure they are good impressions.

I also have some voicemail from a listener who phoned in.  This message is about the older form of Mass at a couple Catholic colleges in the USA.  Very positive!

 

 07-10-25 Augustine on how to pray; how to treat newcomers at the older Mass [46:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

046 07-10-08 Gregory the Great on when pastors should SPEAK UP; priests and getting your way
045 07-09-28 Augustine on pastors; my Motu Proprio sermon in England; chapel veils
044 07-08-27 St. Monica dies, Augustine weeps; Pope Benedict greets American seminarians
043 07-08-23 Benedict XVI on Mass “toward the Lord” and a prayer by St. Augustine
042 07-08-10 St. Augustine on St. Lawrence and how to be a Christian
041 07-08-09 Ratzinger on liturgical silence; silent Eucharist Prayer
040 07-08-02 Eusebius of Vercelli in exile; my column in on detractors of Summorum Pontificum
039 07-07-27 St. Augustine on Christ the Mediator; “for all” or “for many”?
038 07-07-25 Ratzinger on “active participation”; The Sabine Farm; Merry del Val’s music
037 07-07-18 The position of the altar and the priest’s “back to the people”

Notre Dame University’s dissident Richard McBrien has an article circulating about the older form of Mass and Summorum Pontificum.

I got this in the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, The Tidings.  He references… or better yet simple cribs… an article in America by the retired auxiliary bishop His Excellency Most Reverend Emil Wcela which I wrote about here.

My emphases and comments.

Published: Friday, October 26, 2007
The Latin Mass

The pope’s recent authorization of the Tridentine Latin Mass, without the need to seek the local bishop’s permission, has stirred some measure of debate within the Roman Catholic Church, especially in letters-to-the-editor and on blogs written by individuals who seem not to have day-jobs.  [Or by people who are smart enough to think and write quickly?]

The overwhelming majority of Catholics, however, are apparently unaware of, or have already forgotten, the July 7 papal letter, entitled Summorum Pontificum (Latin, "Of supreme pontiffs"). [I wonder if he consulted any books by J.N.D. Kelly on this point… if you know what I mean…. namely that a remarkable amount of his (unattribtued) material seems to be pretty much the same as Kelly’s….]  Indeed, those who attend Mass regularly would never prefer Mass in a language other than their own.

Those who do claim to prefer the Latin Mass, [claim?] whether Tridentine or Novus Ordo (that is, in keeping with the reforms of Pope Paul VI), constitute a tiny minority [in contrast to "overwhelming majority"] of the Roman Catholic Church, which is not to say that they have no right to speak their minds about the matter or to take advantage of the concessions which the Vatican has offered them.

But if such Catholics are under the ages of 45 or 50, they have little or no hands-on experience of the pre-Vatican II Mass. It is a mystery how one can be nostalgic for something one had never experienced.  [Here is the flaw: it isn’t nostalgia.  Unless he is obtuse, this is mandacity or intellectual sloth: it is too easy to reduce the desire people have for the older form of Mass to "nostalgia".]

In the past three months, liturgical scholars [care to name some?] have published articles which carefully pick apart the reasoning behind the papal document that authorizes the use of the Tridentine Latin Mass. (The document is technically known as a motu proprio, in that it is produced by the pope "on his own initiative.") Each critical analysis usually provokes a flurry of indignant reactions from a handful of Latin-Mass advocates.  [Again: this is just too facile.  The reactions could be justified, after all.]

Again, while no one should question their freedom of speech, not one of them, to my knowledge, has presented a credible justification for their preference. A few substitute ridicule for reasoning.  [Sort of like what McBrien is doing.   He is essentially saying that people who want the older form of Mass might have a right to express themselves, but they are stupid.]

The challenge to offer a specific, compelling argument for the Latin Mass has just been made more difficult by a witty, down-to-earth article in the October 8 issue of America magazine, written by Emil Wcela, [THAT article made a defense of the older Mass "more difficult"?!??] the retired auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Rockville Centre, who also happens to have a degree in Sacred Scripture from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute.  [And the Holy Father who issued the Motu Proprio also has university degrees.  So?  Bp. Trautman of Erie has a degree from the Biblicum.  Is this therefore a good credential?  Fr. John Echert has a degree from the Biblicum.  He has implemented the older Mass at his parish very successfully and irenically… which is itself a more compelling argument than anything offered here, so far.  It is concrete.]

Bishop Wcela, however, proceeds neither from biblical evidence nor an exegetical analysis of the papal document, but from common sense and long pastoral experience. [Okay… only people who are on McBrien’s side are allowed to assert their own experience and common sense analysis of the question.  Others need a "compelling argument" or "credible justification".] One does not have to be a liturgical scholar to understand what he is saying.  [Oh the irony.  McBrien says above that he hasn’t seen a well-articulated defense of the older form of Mass, and then he refers back to this blather in America?  But wait: Pope Benedict XVI is widely acknowledged as a liturgical scholar… and he issued the Motu Proprio….]

Entitled "A Dinosaur Ponders the Latin Mass," the article avoids the scholarly path favored by specialists in liturgical studies.  That type of work is absolutely necessary, but it is over the heads of most readers, who do not know a motu proprio from an encyclical—- nor do they care to know.

Unlike many Latin-Mass devotees, Bishop Wcela (who is 76) learned and recited the Latin prayers as an altar boy (all altar servers were boys in those days). [Odd… I think the Holy Father who issued the Motu Proprio is older.  So… we are supposed to grant some magical insight to Bp. Wcela on the grounds that he is 76?] There were no sermons at daily Masses, no congregational responses, and few Communions.  [Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad.  People who go to weekday Masses probably don’t want sermons, want some peace and quite as the go to and from work, and may not be able to go to Holy Communion because they haven’t been to confession… FWIW.]

He also recalls his years in the seminary where each day began with a Latin Mass. (At my seminary in Boston, there was a second Mass, called a "Thanksgiving Mass," which followed the community Mass. We remained—- always silently—- for only part of it.)  [Okayyy… here is deep analysis of the issue… he rehashes Bp. Wcela.  I sense a pattern. Is this his usual M.O?]

On Sundays and major feasts, a solemn high Mass was sung, complete with priest-celebrant, deacon, subdeacon, and a host of altar servers. The seminarians, however, would never receive Communion at this Mass since they had already done so at the early community Mass.

As a young priest, ordained in 1956, Bishop Wcela knew and celebrated only the Latin Mass, in which the celebrant "proclaimed" the Epistle and Gospel in Latin while facing the back wall. On Sundays, he would also read the Gospel in English from the pulpit, just before the sermon.

While doing graduate work in Rome in the early 1960s, Bishop Wcela and other student-priests celebrated a daily Latin Mass without a congregation, but with a priest-partner. Concelebration had not yet become common.

After teaching in the seminary for several years, he became pastor of a large parish. By 1979, he writes, "Latin had pretty much disappeared, except for some hymns." His parish, however, had the custom of a Latin Mass one Sunday a month—- and in prime time, at 10:30, with full parish choir.

During the summer months, however, the Latin Mass was suspended because of vacation schedules and the influx of visiting priests. "After one of those breaks," Bishop Wcela continues, "I suggested to the other priests an experiment: in the fall, we would not reintroduce it unless people asked for it. The months came and went without a word of interest. So the Latin Mass simply stopped."

More on Bishop Wcela’s thoughts next week.  [Good heavens.  Really?]

Fr. Richard McBrien is the Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. 

UPDATE 1734 UST 28 OCT 2007

Since I have the combox switched off, to avoid the sort of comment that creates more heat than light, I invited people to write in with reactions.  Here are a few pieces I received.

Father Zuhlsdorf,
 
You invited commentary by e-mail on Fr. McBrien’s speech about the inadvisability of saying or attending the usus antiquior Mass. I don’t need to address what you have already so accurately commented on in your posted comments; Fr McBrien obviously has a sarcastic streak that is inappropriate as the basis of serious discourse. I’ll write, rather,  on the larger issue of the damage that such speeches bring to a great number of the Catholic faithful who, taken in by glib and slick humour disguised as logical argument, come around to the speaker’s erroneous views.  Fr McBrien’s talk and the many comments with similar themes that we have heard  of late, run the serious danger of scandalizing the people of God (I use the verb "scandalize" and its other forms in their theological acceptation, i.e. "to cause to stumble, to tempt or trap into error").
 

Fr. McBrien, by dint of his considerable public speaking talents, other clergymen, by the authority of their offices, and certain prominent figures who have the ear of many believing Catholics have the obvious duty to preach and teach the truth regardless of their personal opinions (which they should make conform to the teachings of the magisterium – but that is another essay). This is where I find Fr. McBrien’s  speech so disheartening: by paying verbal obeisance to the free speech rights of everyone, including the advocates of the Summorum pontificum, ("while no one should question their freedom of speech") he appeals to a false "right" in order to establish a sense of fairness and to make his American audience feel good about their laws. This relatively subtle ploy has a dual impact on most people: it assures them that the speaker is not a bigot and reassures them that the right to say whatever you want is inviolable. In short, the gratuitous reference to free speech sets an emotional tone that soothes the listener into feeling that the speaker is, after all, on the side of the U.S. Constitution and that therefore the remainder of his argument rests on solid ground. Similar ploys are used in similar arguments against the Summorum pontificum: nearly all of them assure the audience that the authors have nothing against adherents of the Latin Mass and recognize their right to be attached to the older forms. The problem is that "freedom of speech" and "the right to one’s own opinion" are civil rights, wise and good in their own way but limited by the higher rules of common sense (and in some instances by Supreme Court rulings). The Church adheres to an analogous practice: it is okay and even good to argue points of contention, but for those figures with the authority to teach in the name of the Church, the freedom to express publicly opposing opinions ends when the matter is determined by the Church’s teaching magisterium. I am reminded that the famous Bishop Strossmayer did not take his vigorous opposition to the pronouncement of papal infallibility at the First Council of the Vatican back to his home diocese at Djakovo; indeed he became one of its greatest defenders after the dogma was pronounced. Such a change requires humility. [I am not convinced every Catholic has a right to express dissenting views.  In the case of dissent, people should avoid scandal and strive to conform their opinion to that of the Church.  When people can’t, they should simply keep their mouths shut and at least be obedient.  In the case of theologians, they can express their concerns to proper authority, such as the CDF, but not rake muck in the press or publish obvious dissent.]
 
Here is where the current detractors of the usus antiquior need to learn their lessons. Had Strossmayer persisted in his opposition and remained publicly opposed to it he would caused serious scandal among the faithful and led many into error (as the Old Catholics did in Germany and Poland). Certainly Fr. McBrien’s speech indicates a lack of the humility required to form one’s conscience to Holy Mother Church’s official teaching. Now that the Church  (of course, Fr. McBrien clearly does not understand that the Pope can speak for the Church)… now that the Church has determined that a wider use of the extraordinary form of the Mass is good and desirable, Fr. McBrien and others who have the faculty of preaching and teaching must conform to that determination. In this sense they do not have a "right to freedom of speech" because it causes harm and scandal to the faithful, just as shouting "Fire!"  in crowded movie theater causes harm.  [Exactly.]
 
On the one hand, it is natural to be angered by facile comments like Fr. McBrien’s. On the other hand, when the momentary anger diminishes, the sense of grief over the larger harm that such comments can cause  remains a heavy cross to bear.

Good observations.