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

It has been visually interesting around here.

Last night I caught sight of a balloon, of all things.  This is a first.

Also, take a look at the feeder!

 
What have we here?  I think it is a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus.



And then…  I think this is a Purple Finch… Carpodacus purpureus.

Here is my piece for The Wanderer for Pentecost Sunday:

What Does the Prayer Really Say?   Pentecost Sunday (1962 Missale Romanum)

The more celebrations there are of Holy Mass with the older, extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, using the 1962 Missale Romanum the greater potential there will be for adjustments and corrections in the manner of celebration of the newer form with the Missale of Paul VI reissued by John Paul II.  Summorum Pontificum, Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio which derestricted the so-called “Tridentine” form of Mass, changed our liturgical landscape.  More and more young priests, and seminarians, are learning the older form now.  Unburdened with the liturgical baggage of their parents’ generation, young people are demonstrating interest in the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).  At Catholic universities students are asking their school chaplaincies to have celebrations of the TLM.  For example, at Franciscan University at Steubenville, OH, there was at first great resistance on the part of some faculty.  However, the students obtained celebrations of the TLM and things are proceeding calmly and joyfully.  A student sent photos of a Mass celebrated by Fr. Dan Pattee, TOR, which I posted on the WDTPRS internet blog. From Seton Hall University, where recently a TLM was celebrated, one student wrote to tell me:

In attendance were over fifty students, a great many of them seminarians. In his homily Father John Grimm stressed the importance of Catholic traditions, stating that the Extraordinary Form is the same Mass of countless saints including Padre Pio and Elizabeth Ann Seton. After Mass students who never experienced the Extraordinary Form were greatly impressed by the beauty and reverence of the Mass, remarking that they would like to see the Extraordinary Form celebrated on campus more often.

I have even heard that students at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, where controversy and conflict abound, have petitioned for celebrations of the TLM.

Celebrations of the TLM will exert a “gravitational pull” on the way the Novus Ordo is celebrated.  Combined with the good example provided by His Holiness Pope Benedict, many parish priests are rethinking celebrating Mass “facing the people”.  They have started to instruct their flocks about the deep advantages to ad orientem or sometimes ad Deum worship, where all face toward God rather priest and people facing each other in a closed circle over a table altar.  In the past I told you how at St. Mary’s Church in Greenville, SC, Fr. J. Scott Newman instructed his flock about ad orientem worship in the parish bulletins during Lent.  Now we read in the bulletin for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, “In the last of those five columns I announced that sometime during Eastertide we would restore the custom of ad Deum celebration here at St. Mary’s to follow Pope Benedict’s lead in recovering our own authentic traditions of liturgical prayer, and we begin this practice today.”

Pope Benedict issued Summorum Pontificum to help heal the rupture in our Church’s liturgical practice since the Council, as well as to reinvigorate Catholic identity and heal the tears in the fabric of the Church’s unity.  His initiative is bearing fruit on all fronts.  I read this week that a separated group called the Transalpine Redemptorists, religious men associated with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) founded by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, are rethinking their position of formal separation from Rome and the Vicar of Christ. They are not in formal union with Rome or the Redemptorist order.  In a declaration they wrote:

We must ask ourselves if a glimmer of light has not begun to show through the clouds of confusion that for many years have darkened the sky of eternal Rome.  For we now have a Pontiff, a successor of Peter, ready to allow us to adhere fully to this timeless tradition of the Church and its complete expression in Catholic life without apparent compromise. He seems ready to “let us do the experiment of Tradition” as Archbishop Lefebvre asked so many years ago.  This glimmer of light has manifested itself above all in recent months in the courage with which the successor of Peter stood up against opposition from many quarters in promulgating his letter Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. ...  Can we choose to remain where we are under these circumstances? We have argued for years now of our “state of necessity” and of the resulting supplied jurisdiction that the Church supplies to us.  [Fr. Z adds: A flawed argument in my opinion, but read on…] But can we continue to argue this when ordinary jurisdiction is offered to us without any compromise in the Faith? Can we choose freely to remain in this irregular canonical situation where we are? In other words, can a state of necessity be the object of a choice without moral fault? Clearly not.  And on the other hand: are the authorities ready to accord us regular faculties? If the answer to this second question is affirmative, then we are no longer in the same case of necessity!  All these serious considerations, dear friends, move us to go and see what Rome has to say.

I am deeply impressed with the attitude expressed by these traditionalist men.  Their willingness to start a new conversation with the Holy See is the direct result of Pope Benedict’s liturgical signals and his important document Summorum Pontificum.

Many of problems in Holy Church could be resolved through demonstrations of good will and generosity of spirit.  So many hurts could be healed between laypeople in their families, between laypeople and priests, between priests and their bishops, even between bishops and the Roman Pontiff.  May the Holy Spirit melt our hearts, bend in us what is too rigid to budge.

Let’s move to today’s Collect, which you will recognize as the prayer after saying the Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

COLLECT - (1962MR):
Deus, qui corda fidelium
Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti:
da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere,
et de eius semper consolatione gaudere.

I am pretty sure that this ancient prayer, from at least the time of the Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis and probably older, survived the Consilium’s expert scalpels to live in the Novus Ordo only as the Collect for a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. ­

I promised to tell you more about the Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis, or Gellone Sacramentary (LSGell hereafter). 

There is a critical edition of the LSGell in the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina edited by A. Dumas, whom WDTPRSers know as the guy who reedited Albert Blaise’s handy dictionary of Liturgical Latin we call Blaise/Dumas.  The manuscript of the LSGell is in the Bibliotèque National in Paris and dates to around 780.  It is part of the super complicated web of manuscripts descending from what we called the Gelasian Sacramentary, the source of so many of our ancient prayers found in the Roman Missal.  There are two types of Gelasians, “old” and “new”, which in turn descend from the far more ancient Roman Libelli.  The some dozen 8th century Gelasians that survive can be used to reconstruct a lost archetype sometimes called the Roman Sacramentary of King Pepin (+768 King of the Franks, son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne), thus showing the blending the Roman and Frankish influences in the Church’s prayer life. One of the keys to rebuilding the archetype is a manuscript called the Gellone Sacramentary, our LSGell, written perhaps in Meaux between 790-800.  King Pepin wanted a sacramentary, or missal, for use in his territory to promote liturgical unity. But this was later supplanted by what we call the Gregorian Sacramentary, a more prestigious book, which Pepin’s son Charlemagne obtained directly from Pope Hadrian in Rome between 784-791.  The Gregorian, put together by Pope Honorius (+638), was originally the book used by the Bishop of Rome.  It later developed into different versions, including the Hadrianum type, which Hadrian sent to Charlemagne.  In any event, the 8th century “new” Gelasians were later used to fill in gaps in the Gregorian.  So, Frankish developments from the more ancient Gelasians are exemplified in the LSGell which has 3024 prayers divided in two parts, the first mainly for Mass, and the second for other rituals.  The LSGell seems to have been an attempt at a complete book for liturgical services.  And now you know.  See why I put this off for a while?

In any event, our old Pentecost Collect from the LSGell was shoved to the back of the bus in the Novus Ordo in favor of two Collects from the Gelasian, also existing in the Hadrianum version of the Gregorian.  See how those references make more sense now?  Maybe? 

Again this week there is nothing especially challenging in the Latin vocabulary. The source of Latin consolation and wisdom, Messrs. Lewis & Short’s dictionary, says that sapio (infinitive  sapere) means first of all “to taste, savor; … to have a taste or flavor of a thing”. Logically it is extended to “to know, understand a thing”.  It is often paired in literature with the adverb recte, “rightly”, when wisdom is indicated.  Think of the English word “insipid” (the sap- shifts to sip-) for something without flavor and also a person without taste or wisdom.  A homo sapiens is someone of “good taste”, who knows the savor of life, as it were.  Sapiens is thus connected with Greek sophos, or “wise”, or “sage” (also a savory herb!).  Sapientia, “Wisdom”, is a figure for the Holy Spirit as well as one of His Gifts.  The Holy Spirit, Parácletus, is our Counselor, leading us rightly, and Comforter, bringing us consolation.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who taught the hearts of the faithful
by the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant to us, in the same Spirit,
to know the things that are right,
and to rejoice always in His consolation.

What leaps to my mind, steeped in the literature of late antiquity, is the connection of wisdom, inherent in the phrase recta sapere, with consolation.  There was a genre of consolation literature in classical times and late antiquity into the medieval period.  This was part of the province of philosophy (“love of wisdom”).  This literature was used as a moral medication for the soul.  In the famous work of the imprisoned Boethius (+525) before his execution, the Consolation of Philosophy, Lady Wisdom, Philosophy, comes to the author in his cell and diagnoses the true nature of his sickness of sadness.  She does this in a dialogue, so that Boethius can understand things rightly (like our recta sapere), and therefore be consoled. Lady Wisdom descended so as to raise Boethius up to God.  This is our pattern too, both in creation and in our renewal when we have sinned. Two weeks ago in these pages I told you how the Collect show influences of the ancient philosophical concept of that all creation proceeds from God (exitus) in and then turns (conversion) to thus take determinate form and return again to God (reditus). These prayers of late antiquity are echoes of these ancient philosophical concepts.  We can’t read them without knowing these things.  

Think now of our prayer and also the Veni Sancte Spiritus with which it is connected: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts (corda) of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.”

In the Holy Spirit, who breathed life into the Body of Holy Church on Pentecost, may we all be renewed.  May He help us to return to God when we have strayed, and to return to each other in the embrace of our Holy Catholic Church when we have parted from clear unity.

I was given a heads up about this article in the Times:

From Times Online
May 9, 2008
Pilgrims sing the praises of Latin
The Tridentine Mass is being revived by young Catholics while walking to Chartres Cathedral
Greg Watts

Religion may well be in decline among European youth but it is by no means dead. This weekend about 6,000 young Catholics will set off on a 75-mile walk from Paris to Chartres Cathedral — and as they walk they will all be praying and singing in Latin.

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision last year in his apostolic letter, Summorum Pontificum, to revive the Tridentine Latin Mass, was seen as a turning back of the clock [cliche] by some liberal Catholics but greeted with jubilation by some conservative Catholics.

Out of all of the reforms triggered by the Second Vatican Council, the introduction of a new Mass in 1969, replacing the Roman Missal of 1962, was the most controversial.

Instead of facing east with his back to the congregation, the priest now faced them and recited the words in the local language rather than Latin. While not technically banned, the Tridentine Mass soon fell out of use, but some groups of Catholics refused to give up their attachment to it.

This weekend’s annual three-day pilgrimage through northern France, which is in its 26th year, illustrates the appeal that the Tridentine Mass has for some young Catholics disenchanted with what they say is the lack of mystery, beauty and sacredness in the revised Mass.

Gregory Flash, 28, an investment banker from London, explains why he is taking part in the pilgrimage for the second year running: “The pilgrimage is a time of prayer, penance and fellowship. It’s great to be surrounded by thousands of Catholics around the same age who, despite their different nationalities, can sing and pray in the same language and in the same way.”

The pilgrims come from several countries, including Poland, Germany, Italy and the US, and include seminarians. Some bishops and even cardinals have joined them in previous years.

They begin their pilgrimage at 6am on Saturday at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, where a priest will bless them. Carrying banners and flags, they then snake their way through the south-western suburbs of the city and out into the countryside.

“At mid-morning we attend the first Mass of the pilgrimage. A priest sets up an altar in a forest and will celebrate a full sung Mass with a choir singing Gregorian chant,” Mr Flash says.

The pilgrims follow part of one of the ancient routes to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. They walk in small groups. Some sing the rosary in Latin; others make their confession to one of the traditionalist priests who accompany them. On Saturday and Sunday nights they camp in fields.

“When we arrive at Chartres Cathedral, the local bishop usually greets us. We then have a solemn Mass. Those who can’t fit inside [!] watch it on TV screens outside. Priests hear confessions in the side chapels or on plastic chairs in the cathedral square.”

Grace Readings, 23, who works as a PA to an MP, will be making her 13th pilgrimage. She first went as a pupil at St Michael’s School in Berkshire, which is run by the Society of St Pius X, a breakaway traditionalist group which the Pope is trying to lure back to Rome.

Abount 90 per cent of those making the pilgrimage are between 19 and 25, Ms Readings says. “You don’t meet many young practising Catholics nowadays, so it’s a great opportunity to encourage each other. When I come back, I feel, yes, it is possible to live out your faith in the modern world.

“I find the Tridentine rite more beautiful and reverent. A lot of the new Masses are happy-clappy. The Tridentine Mass is geared towards God more than the congregation,” she said.

She dismisses those who argue that the Latin language is a barrier to understanding the Mass. “Latin isn’t a problem. You follow the Mass in a missal that has the words in Latin and English. Latin is a universal language and it is very ancient. I like that.”

This youthful enthusiasm for the tradition is not restricted to the Chartres marchers. For example, members of Juventutem International Federation, a network of young traditionalist Catholics founded in 2006, will attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec in June and World Youth Day in Sydney in July. The group has the support of Cardinal Dario Castrillo Hoyos, president of the Vatican’s commission set up by Pope John Paul II to reunite traditionalist groups, such as the Society of St Pius X.

John Medlin, of the Latin Mass Society, reckons that about 20 per cent of those attending traditional-rite Masses are young or have young families. “When young people who have had no prior experience of the traditional rite come along to one of our Masses only a handful go away thinking well, I found that pretty off-putting. Some think, fair enough, but not a lot happened for me. But a surprisingly large number go away thinking, I’ve just come into contact with Catholic worship for the first time. I really felt something objective was going on.”  [Indeed!]

In July, at Merton College, Oxford, the Latin Mass Society is holding its second residential training course for priests wishing to learn how to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. It includes talks on the Latin language, the rubrics of the Mass and singing, along with opportunities for priests to have a dummy run at saying the traditional Mass. Last year nearly 50 priests turned up.

Father Stephen Langridge, parish priest of the Church of the Holy Ghost, Balham, South London, and vocations director for the archdiocese of Southwark, believes that those young Catholics who are drawn to the Tridentine Mass should be seen in the context of a search for a more meaningful spirituality.

“Some young Catholics might turn to the Tridentine Mass as a way of deepening their relationship with God,” Father Langridge says.

“They find it offers them a deeper spiritual experience than perhaps they have found at their parish Mass. In my experience others find something similar attending Youth 2000 retreats or becoming involved with some of the new movements.”
www.nd-chretiente.com/index-eng.php

By now quite a few people will have picked up on the fact that the Italian publication of the Paolini, Jesus, has a fine long interview with His Eminence Darío Card. Castrillon Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei". 

I’ve read it carefully and you should too.  There are some important statements here.

The interview is very well done and good questions were asked, not many softballs, and the Cardinal did well in responding, not dodging to much.  This is very useful.

There is another article in the same issue (9 May 2008) which I will get to, maybe tomorrow.  But for now…

Here is the article, in my translation, with my emphases and comments.

 

Darío Castrillon Hoyos: Tradition Without Conflict
by Vittoria Prisciandaro

The Cardinal, head of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", explains why Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio is a great spiritual treasure for the whole Church.  And, the way in which problems which have arisen to this point are being resolved.

His Eminence is satisfied. The telephone of the ground floor office in the palace of the former Holy Office is alive with new life. Correspondence from the whole world is piling up on the desks. [Like the old days!] After the promulgation of the Motu Proprio, the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" has in fact become an key link in the Vatican organizational flowchart. "Now I have twice the work I had at the Congregation for the Clergy", confides Cardinal Darío Castrillon Hoyos, a 79 year old Colombian, and a fervent supporter of the return home of the Lefebvrites, and, since the year 2000, President of the Commission. Established to manage relations with the Society of St. Pius X and groups moving in the orbit of the traditionalist galaxy, "Ecclesia Dei" has become today an inevitable interlocutor with dioceses and parishes concerning controversies relative to the use extraordinary rite.

Q: Eminence, at this point of a few months after the promulgation of the Motu Proprio, how do you assess the situation?

"With the Motu Proprio the Pope wanted to give everyone a renewed opportunity to take advantage of the enormous spiritual, religious and cultural riches in the liturgy of the Gregorian Rite. [An interesting way to put it, "Gregorian Rite", a term you don’t usually see.  Normally, you will see "Pian Rite", for St. Pius V.] The Motu Proprio originates as a treasure offered to all, not principally to meet part way with anyone’s complaints and requests. ["All", get it?  Not just a few people in usual pigeon holes.]  Not a few of those who at first were not involved in this Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite are showing great esteem for it. [It’s growing, brick by brick, friends.] Among the faithful I would distinguish three groups: [1] those who are bound up in an almost organic way with the Society of St. Pius X [For example the Transalpine Redemptorists, now moving closer to greater unity]; those of the [2] Fraternity of Saint Peter and, lastly, the most important and numerous group, [EXCELLENT!  3 – ] formed from people fond of the religious culture of all times, who today are discovering the spiritual intensity of the old rite, and among these people, many young people. In these last months new associations of persons belonging to this last group have been born."  [For example… the young people  attending WYD? ]

Q: Speaking of riches, some liturgists are underscoring the fact that the Extraordinary Rite does not offer the biblical riches introduced by the Novus Ordo… [A common complaint.  However, aside from the extra readings in the Novus Ordo often being beyond the ability of priests to preach on, and aside from giving the Novus Ordo that Mass is a "didactic moment", the older form, with fewer readings, helped people to know those readings very well and actually integrate them into their awareness and lives.]

"Those people haven’t read the Motu Proprio, because the Pope affirms that the two forms must mutually enrich each other. [This statement is going to irritate a lot of people, but clearly this is part of Pope Benedict’s purpose.  Still, I think it is more an influence more in one direction, than in the the other.] And it is clear that such a liturgical treasure should not be wasted.  In the Novus Ordo, over years, practically the whole Bible is read, and this is a treasure which shouldn’t be opposed to, but ought to be integrated in the extraordinary rite."  [Oooo… some people are not going to like that. But it really has to happen, eventually, in some way – who knows how.]

Q: Another objection is over the danger that separate and different celebrations can create separate communities…

"It is a diversity which enriches, it is a wider cultural freedom that the Pope is introducing in a daring way. [There is here an implicit admission that we are talking of different "cultures".  Thus, the issue of identity is really on the table.] Moreover, in parishes there are many differences in the the manner of celebrations, and lets not even talk about the abuses, because abuses are not the principle reason for the Motu Proprio."  [It goes far deeper… precisely to culture… identity.]

Q. Your secretary, [opps… Vice President, now] Msgr. Camille Perl, announced that soon there will be a clarifying document for the Motu Proprio. When will it come out?

"It was Cardinal Bertone who announced it, and he has the right to do that. But I, who am a servant of the Pope, will only announce it when the Pope will say so. [An indication that perhaps there is not smooth communication (harmony of vision?) between the Secretariate of State and the Commission.  That would be consistent with the past!  On the other hand…. there may be another reason.  More on that below.] Our Commission has informed the Pontiff that from every part of the world there are coming so many questions, very many of them justified, others owing to lack of knowledge. The Holy Father, and he alone, will say whether it is suitable to issue such a document, and when."

Q. What sort of questions have arrived here and what would merit a response?

"The first kind regards Latin, because – as they say – to celebrate in a language you do not know is not suitable. Unfortunately, seminarians, but also some priests, have not studied it, and therefore it is difficult for them to celebrate in the Extraordinary Form. To do this they ought know the at least the Canon of the Mass, the section of the consecration. We in "Ecclesia Dei" are equipping ourselves and are preparing meetings, courses and electronic resources for a deep-rooted knowledge of the previous liturgy. [This is very good news.  It signals that the resources of the Holy See will be put into implementing Summorum Pontificum.]  Some courses are already going on in France, Germany, Brazil, Central America and the United States. In Toledo, Spain, for example, it is being studied if it is suitable to found a special seminar [It is hard to tell here if "seminario" here means "seminary" or "seminar".  "Seminario" can mean both and the ideas are related.  Either way, the idea here is whether they should integrate the training in the local seminary or set up something separate.] for training for the Extraordinary Rite or to give special courses in the seminary of the diocese. In general, we’ve seen an interest for the return of Latin in academic world. It was sad in these years past to watch the abandonment not only of the language, but also of certain theological arguments connected with the semantic precision of the Latin language.  [Again… culture… identity.  Latin and its practical use in reading and study brings with it a world view]

Q: Another problem is the priest shortage …

"If in a diocese priests are lacking and only three or four faithful request the extraordinary rite, it’s a matter of common sense to think that it is difficult to satisfy this request. [Now PAY CLOSE ATTENTION…]  However, since it is the Pope’s intention, his mens, to grant this treasure for the good of the Church, in a place where there are no priests the best option would be to offer a celebration according to the extraordinary rite in one of the parish Sunday Masses. [That was really important.] It would be a Mass for everyone, and everyone, including younger generations, would benefit from the riches of the extraordinary rite, for example, those moments of contemplation that have disappeared in the Novus Ordo. [Remember that on the DVD prepared by the FSSP and EWTN, Card. Castrillon says that it is okay that priests establish a parish Mass even if there not requests. He seems to be saying something of the same thing here.  Think about it: even if there are not a lot of people making the request, offer a Sunday Mass anyway!  You can see where his mind is tending.]

Q: So you sustain that, even if there isn’t a consistent and stable group, in the future it is foreseen to offer one of the Sunday Masses in the extraordinary rite? [The journalist has adroitly picked up the key point!]

"I would say yes. On the other hand, this possibility had already been approved unanimously in 1986 by a Commission of Cardinals, in which there was also Cardinal Ratzinger, but back then it did not go into effect. Now I’m pretty be sure that it could carried out."  [Times have changed.  Also, I suspect that His Eminence has slightly pushed the border with the conclusion of the Commisione Cardinalizia, but, without question, Sunday Masses were foreseen back then.  Times, indeed, have changed.  And so those discussions back then have great chance of success now.  Part of what has changed is that fewer and fewer people are lugging around the heavy baggage of the ‘60’s.]

Q: Another point to clarify is the definition of a "stable and consistent group". What is meant by this exactly?

"This is a matter of common sense: why create problems if the people who ask for the rite come from different parishes? [Keep in mind that some bishops in the USA, lately the Bishop of Gaylord, MI, to name only one, has tried to impose on Summorum Pontificum’s provisions, that people must be registered in the parish if they wish to attend Mass – get that? – attend MASS? – in the extraordinary Form.] If they get together and request a Mass, they become a stable group, [OKAY… whew… this is a fairly open interpretation of "stable group".] even if they did not know each other before. Also the number (of the group) is a question of good will.  [In other words, if you have "ill will" you seek to restrict the use of the TLM by stating that there must be a minimum number.] In some parishes, especially in the countryside, on weekdays the people who come to the ordinary Mass are three or four, and the same occurs in not a few religious houses. Why, if those same three people request the old Mass, would it be pastorally necessary to refuse it?".  [Remember our WDTPRS argument that Latin coetus, in the MP, meant as small as 3 people?]

Q: So the future document should be more welcoming to requests from just a few? [I like this journalist!]

"Yes, but it must be understood not as something that ought to be to the detriment of others, of the majority, but for their enrichment, and always avoiding any type of antagonism, even the smallest."  [See the Rules of Engagement.]

Q. Then there is the problem of the sacraments: I have in mind the Rite of Ordination or of Confirmation, which refers to a different Code of Canon Law and uses different formulas... [This was clarifed years ago when I was at Ecclesia Dei.  The French bishops, probably trying to pplace some sort of obstacle, asked if the old sacramental form for Confirmation was valid.  The answer was, of course, yes, it is valid.  The same stands for Holy Orders.]

"Certainly at first sight there are some problems with regard to the Holy Orders, with Confirmation and also concerning the difference of the calendar. Regarding Holy Orders, in the ancient form there were tonsure, the minor orders, and the subdiaconate. This form is still in use and will continue to be in the institutes permanently bound to the old rite, such as the Fraternity of Saint Peter, the Soceity of Saint Pius X [Holy cow!  Card. Castrillon is either talking about the SSPX as if it is already in some way under the canonical umbrella or he is making a promise… an obvious promise, granted, but a promise.] and other institutes. Concerning Confirmation, even before the Motu Proprio, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had already clarified that there is no conflict between the two formulas, [What I was talking about above.] given that both the new formula, just as the the old, are valid and the same can be said for the other sacraments where the formula is different. With regard to the calendars, which do not always coincide, some problems are arising, as in the case of feasts of the patrons of a parish, of shrines, of congregations and religious institutes, etc.  The necessary adaptions with be made with prudence and the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" will also deal with this."  [Interesting.  So, to resolve conflicts right now, perhaps it is best simply to write to the Commission?  Pile their desks a little higher?  Would bishops become a bit more involved at a local level, some problems could be resolved now.  It seems to me that flexibility is the key, and not a rigid solution such as was suggested recently in the UK and Wales.]

Q. What timeframe do you foresee for the reconciliation with the Society of Saint Pius X?

"There are positive signs, there is an uninterrupted dialogue. A few days ago I again wrote a new letter to [Bishop] Fellay, Superior of the Society, as a response to one of his previously. In addition to meetings and correspondence, we also speak together by telephone. I consider reconciliation with the Society of Saint Pius X to be viable because, as we have often said at "Ecclesia Dei", this does not concern a true schism [!] but an anomalous situation which developed after the "schismatic action" of Msgr Lefebvre in conferring the episcopate without pontifical mandate, nay rather, against the expressed will of the Pope. [So, it was a "schismatic act, which echos John Paul II’s 1988 Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei adflcita, but one that did not result in a formal schism.] In my heart I have great faith that the Holy Father will be able to mend up the fabric of the Church with the arrival of these brothers in full communion. There still remain some differences, as we always had in the history of the Church".

Q. But with the Lefevbrites there is also a problem of the acceptance of ecumenical dialogue…

"Yes, as a matter of fact there are difficulties with the interpretation of texts of the Council in this regard and with some concrete ecumenical procedures, but no bishop of the Society of St. Pius X will say that we don’t have to seek the unity of Christians."

Q: After the Motu Proprio have some of the Society of St. Pius X returned to communion with the Church of Rome?

"Yes, and others have desire to do so. But I hope that the whole group comes, I don’t want them to split up. [Interesting… he is sending a strong message that the identity of the Society, with its aspirations and reasons for existing, will be respect as such.  Interesting.] But if an single person comes and says he wants unity with the Pope right now, he must be accepted. The Motu Proprio also caused other people to approach us. For example, on 28 March, I received a letter from a bishop, not Catholic, who has decided to enter the Catholic Church with other bishops and priests who celebrate the Tridentine Mass".

Q. Don’t the new powers of "Ecclesia Dei" come into conflict with the ministry of bishops?  [This is, I think, the main cause of fear about Summorum Pontificum for many bishops.  It is about who has power.]

"The Pope, who has the authority over the whole Church, over every member of the the faithful and over bishops, has laid down new norms in the Motu Proprio, and the Pontifical Commission is only an instrument in service to the Vicar of Christ so that his decision can be implemented. "Ecclesia Dei" is attending to the implementation the Motu Proprio in fraternal harmony, understanding and collaboration with the bishops. Attitudes of conflict with shepherds on the part of people, groups or institutions, because of the Motu Proprio, must be avoided. Certainly the shepherds, in obedience to the Pope, will have some sympathy for those faithful who have a special love for the liturgical tradition. I’ve always found this sympathy in bishops who have gotten into contact with us."

Q. In the introduction to the reprint of the Compendio di Liturgia Pratica by Trimeloni [I looked at this book here.  This is much like Fortesque/O’Connell.  It is very thorough.  Trimeloni’s edition is somewhat revised, to reflect legislation subsequent to 1962.], you write that the Pope avails himself of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" because in the diversity of forms of worship the riches of the treasures of faith and spirituality of the Bride of Christ can shine forth. What do the difference between the liturgy of John XXIII and the one reformed by Paul VI consist of?

"Pope John included the liturgy also in his desire for a dialogue of the Church with contemporary culture. Paul VI gave coherence to the reforms born of this desire. [Which statement doesn’t really explain why there are so many divergent practices today which don’t, in fact, show authentic diversity of worship… but I digress…] The Holy Spirit, Who always accompanies the Church, inspires necessary changes in every moment of history, without violent rupture in the process of perfecting which He Himself has inspired in the course of history. With this Motu Proprio, Benedict XVI sharing the riches of the two phases of the process, also healing in this way, the hardship of all those who believed that the liturgical sphere there had been an unacceptable rupture."

Q. After the reformulation of the Good Friday prayer it was said there was a set back of 40 years in JewishiChristian dialogue. Were these criticisms expected?

"Isn’t it a good thing to pray for our brothers, the sons of Abraham? Abraham is the father of the faith, but in a salvific chain in which the Messiah was expected. And the Messiah arrived. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that, in one day, five thousand Jews converted. I am not challenging the prayer in the Novus Ordo, but I consider perfect the present prayer in the Extraordinary Rite. And I gladly pray for the conversion of my close Jewish friends, because I truly believe Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of all".

Vittoria Prisciandaro

 Great interview.

I am especially mindful of the comments His Eminence made about having a TLMin a parish on Sunday even if a very small number of people request it.  Really, this is hand in glove with having a TLM even if no one requested it.  I think that is what His Eminence is aiming at.  This is effectively what he said on the DVD made by the FSSP and EWTN, as I pointed out here:

The cardinal said that parishes and priests should make available the Extraordinary Form so that “everyone may have access to this treasure of the ancient liturgy of the Church.” He also stressed that, “even if it is not specifically asked for, or requested” it should be provided. Interestingly, he added that the Pope wants this Mass to become normal in parishes, so that “young communities can also become familiar with this rite.”

About the comment about Card. Bertone:  This could be some subtle pressure to hurry the process of getting the document out.  Some time ago during a visit to Ecclesia Dei, I asked about it and they told me that their part was done.   I don’t know if there have to be other revisions.  That is possible.  But this seems like a way of turning the heat up under the back burner.

Have you seen this yet?

http://www.vatican.va/latin/latin_index.html

This is the new Vatican website for documentation in Latin. 

The fine Andrea Tornielli posted on his blog a blurb about the new personal parish which Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome, directed his Vicarius, Camillo Card. Ruini, to establish at Ss. Tirnità (I like the Roman dialect way sometimes) dei Pellegrini. 

Tornielli conveys pretty much what I posted here and here.

In short, Pope Benedict issued Summorum Pontificum, which clearly speaks of personal parishes for those who desire the sacraments with the older, pre-Conciliar forms.   

Summorum Pontificum did not specify how many people had to want them.  It does not give a minimum number of people who have to request this. 

As a matter of fact, the number of people going to the old Mass in Rome is not all that great, even if you tally up those going to San Gregorio, Gesù e Maria, and S. Giuseppe a Capo Le Case.

But the numbers are not the point.  

This is the right thing to do.

And the Holy Father has directed that the FSSP be given the task, which I think it significant itself, in a parish complex which will to a certain extent bring the Traditional apostolate along side some of the doing of the ecclesial movement of the Community of Sant’Egidio.

Papa Ratzinger said in a book long interview with Peter Seewalk something of his future vision of the Church.  He said that parishes would remain the building block but he foresaw the strong influence of movements.

Pope Benedict is acting in continuity with his convictions and the need for continuity with our past. 

Thus is a future made brighter.

I got this today via e-mail.  This is pretty interesting.

Take a look at this story from Newsday about what is going on in the Diocese of Rockville Centre with my emphases and comments:

Bishop calls end to some non-Mass Communion offerings
BY BART JONES | bart.jones@newsday.com
May 9, 2008

For three decades, students at elite Chaminade High School in Mineola could receive Communion during a 15-minute "Communion Service" just before lunch.

But that practice will end following a pastoral letter Bishop William Murphy [hurray!] is releasing today prohibiting Catholic schools, parishes and other institutions from distributing Holy Communion at most non-Mass events.

Several schools and parishes who take part in the practice said yesterday they would abide by the bishop’s order. Some said they were nonetheless disappointed, while some church analysts [hmmmm] such as papal biographer David Gibson suggested it was a move by Murphy to "tighten up" and crack down on nontraditional practices.  [Note the language: "crack down".  Make it sound like Myanmar.]

But others saw it as an opportunity to reflect on the sacrament of Holy Communion and head off what may be a trend among some Catholics to take it too casually.
 
"I think it’s positive and something to be embraced," said the Rev. James Williams, president of Chaminade. "The bishop is the teaching arm of the church."  [Not to mention governing and sanctifying, and while the bishop is not himself the Magisterium, he is the one who presents it in his diocese.]

In his eight-page pastoral letter, his seventh since becoming the spiritual leader of Long Island’s 1.4 million Catholics in 2001, Murphy said he was ordering the Communion service practice to end by July 1.

That, he said, would bring the Diocese of Rockville Centre "into conformity with the liturgical norms of the Church." The order will not affect practices such as nonpriests’ giving Communion to sick people at home or in hospitals.

"The Eucharist is the greatest gift Jesus left us," Murphy wrote. "The celebration of the Eucharist gives us our identity as well as our life."  [YES!  This bishop gets it.  What just jumped into my mind was the phrase uttered by ancient Christian martyrs just before they were killed for the Faith: "sine dominico non possumus – without the Eucharist (Its Sunday celebration and the Blessed Sacrament Itself) we cannot endure, we cannot bear to live."  He made absolutely the right connection with Catholic identity.  This is one of the reasons why Summorum Pontificum is so very important.  The Holy Father has reintroduced, in a powerful way, a new discussion of who we are as Catholics.]

During the Communion services, Communion hosts previously consecrated by a priest and stored in a tabernacle are distributed, often by deacons, nuns or eucharistic ministers. The services do not include the Liturgy of the Eucharist, [i.e., Mass] during which a priest consecrates bread and wine and, according to Catholic belief, turns them into the body and blood of Christ though a process known as transubstantiation.

The services originally were intended for use on Sundays only in remote, missionary parishes where priests could rarely visit, and has since been inappropriately adopted to other uses, said Julia Upton, a theology professor at St. John’s University.

Schools such as Chaminade and Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale say they conduct the brief Communion services because they lack the time to celebrate a Mass amid classes.  [What does that say?] Some schools also lack priests to celebrate Mass.  [A tougher problem.]

At local parishes, church workers often hold the services on weekday mornings because no priest is available for Mass. Catholics are not obligated to attend Mass on weekdays.  [But this isn’t just a matter of obligation, for younger people, is it!  We have to help them understand who they are in relation to the Eucharist, Its celebration and the Sacrament, for the sake of their identity and salvation.]

The Rev. Bill Brisotti of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch said the service allows him to take off Sunday night and spend at least one night away from the parish without having to return early Monday.  [I can understand this, but… ]

"People liked" the service, he said. "I’m disappointed but we’ll follow the regulations of the diocese."

WDTPRS high kudos to Bishop Murphy!  

Let us pray that the priests of the area will be touched with concern for these young people and perhaps be more available in the next school year.

UPDATE: 11 May 0150 GMT

It seems the German Section of Vatican Radio picked up on this:

Vereinigte Staaten
Außerhalb der Messe darf in einem amerikanischen Bistum im Bundesstaat New York keine Kommunion mehr gespendet werden. Das hat der Bischof von Rockville Centre, William F. Murphy, entschieden. Grundlage seien entsprechende Richtlinien im römischen Meßbuch, heißt es in einem Hirtenbrief vom Freitag. Mit der Abschaffung von Kommunionfeiern wolle er die Diözese in Einklang mit geltenden liturgischen Normen bringen. Die Spendung der Krankenkommunion sei davon allerdings nicht betroffen. In einem Schreiben wendet sich der Bischof auch an die Laien; diese sollten sich durch das Verbot nicht in ihren Rechten beschnitten fühlen. In Wortgottesdiensten werden die bereits konsekrierten Hostien in der Regel von Ordensfrauen oder beauftragten Laien verteilt. (cns)

 

I had a call from a priest friend who told me that for some High School seniors, who are having an end of the year school-sponsored "lock in" all night party  – why, I can’t fathom – have scheduled, for entertainment, a hypnotist.

Now I of of the mind that perhaps… perhaps… in a clinical setting some use of some kind of hypnotism might be useful, say to stop smoking, etc. 

But this is entertainment.

I have serious reservations about hypnotism.  

It strikes me that it does not respect the dignity of the human person because it compromises in the will, in a sense.

Also, I believe that it could weaken a person’s resistance to demonic oppression.  And if you don’t believe in the attacks of hell, you are a fool.

In any event, this is not the sort of thing I would want to have high school age kids involved with.   As in occult activities, such as ouija boards, etc., there is no telling if some of the young people might then try to do these hypnotic things on their own and therefore open pathways for all sorts of dire influences.  Just as ouija boards are not toys for entertainment, but rather tools of demonic influence, so too I fear that hypnotism, misused as a toy, could be the same.

I am especially concerned because of the age of the young people.

So, I did a brief search on line for solid documents on the Church’s understanding of hypnotism and didn’t come up with anything terribly useful. 

I will enlist your help.   Could you readers dig around a bit?   Maybe we can have a discussion here about this issue.  I would like to provide a resource online for others who may be faced with this problem.

Also, there is still time to get this party hypnotism thing cancelled for this event.

Please stay on topic with this.   Let’s make this useful.