07/07/07 – 12th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Today is the 12th Anniversary of the release of the of Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Just for fun, this blog’s page on that day: HERE

I call the Motu Proprio “The Emancipation Proclamation”.

Summorum Pontificum was a hugely important gift to the entire Church.  It was perhaps the most important thing that Benedict XVI did in his pontificate.

I’ve called this important Motu Proprio a key element of Benedict’s “Marshall Plan“.  Summorum Pontificum was a key element of Benedict’s vision of revitalizing the Church by jump starting, as it were, the organic development of liturgical worship, so critical to our Catholic identity.  Benedict hoped to rebuild the Church in the wake of post-Conciliar devastation and against the onslaught of the dictatorship of relativism.

No initiative we undertake in the Church can succeed without it being rooted in our sacred liturgical worship.   However, our collective sacred liturgical worship is presently in a state of cataclysmic disorder.   I believe with all my heart and mind that we, collectively, cannot in this present state fulfill properly our obligation to God according to the virtue of religion, that virtue which directs us to give to God what is His due.   Hence, according to the hierarchy of goods which we all must embrace, we are, collectively, disordered.  Nothing we can do as a Church will succeed in this state of affairs.  We have to see to our worship of God.

The use of the TLM will help us to correct our downward trajectory.  The knock-on effect that learning the TLM has on priests is remarkable.  That knock-on effect ripples beyond the sanctuary to congregations.

So much more has to be done.  An alarmed Enemy is fighting back and fighting hard.

The revitalization fo the Church through a restoration of our Catholic identity will require nearly heroic courage from priests.

Priests will need to work hard to acquire tools that they were systematically cheated out of in their formation.  They will be intimidated.  They will fear that they can’t do it.  They can do it, but it will take hard work and support from others.  Graces will be given in this undertaking, because the connection of the priest and the altar is fundamental to the Church’s life.  No other thing that the priest does is more important.  Priests must also be willing to suffer attacks from libs, many of whom are not malicious but who are blinkered and nearly brainwashed.

Next, it is going to require nearly heroic courage and spirit of sacrifice from lay people who must support their priests and encourage them in projects that they will be reluctant to undertake.  Lay people must also be ready to engage in their parishes on a new level.

Remember, friends, that we are our rites.  As the Church prays, so do we believe and live.

Everything that we are and do as a Church flows from and returns to sacred liturgical worship.  We are our rites.

Summorum Pontificum is a great gift.  Pray for Benedict XVI and thank God for this gift.

Finally, a nostalgic image from back in the days of the “Sabine Farm”.

And with a little help from a one-time reader…

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Benedict XVI, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Linking Back, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM. Bookmark the permalink.

5 Comments

  1. Charles E Flynn says:

    There must be a deep significance attached to the fact that Pope Benedict XVI and his champagne flute cast no shadows.

  2. Remember that day well. Took our good Father Z’s advice and cracked some bubbly and lit up a Cohiba (before lung problems forced me to forego such pleasures) to HE Benedict’s health.

    Good times. And brick by brick, it’s having the necessary and long-wished-for salubrious effect. It takes time, pilgrims. Maybe not in our lifetime(s), but it will happen eventually.

  3. mysticalrose says:

    Hard to believe its been 12 years. 7/7/07 was such a joyful day . . . so joyful, in fact, that it seems like ancient history compared to these long dark years in the Church. But the MP lit a spark that will not be extinguished no matter how hard the enemy tries!

  4. CradleRevert says:

    In 2010, I was a lax, clueless Catholic-in-name-only who was slave to some pretty serious sins and had gone years without a confession.

    One Saturday, I curiously walked into a local parish’s monthly TLM just to see what it was about. I was floored. My discovery of the TLM lead me to a self-exploration of what the Liturgy really is, which in turn lead me to learn for the first time the richness of the Church’s theology and philosphy. I reformed my life as a result.

    This parish wouldn’t have had a TLM were it not for Summorum Pontificum. This move by Pope BXVI snatched me from the fire, by the grace of God.

  5. pacelli says:

    i also celebrate Papa Ratzinger’s motu proprio but i do not remember a time he publicly celebrated Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

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