From a reader:
On Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the closing Mass of Musica Sacra-Florida’s Gregorian Chant workshop that was held in Ft. Lauderdale Friday and Saturday. The Mass was held at St. Michael the Archangel parish in Miami. It was a hybrid Novus Ordo Missa cantata. [Quite a mix of terms here. I take it that the "hybrid" part means both English and Latin, but that it was a Novus Ordo Mass with traditional outward elements, such as vestments.] The antiphons, readings and the common of the Mass (except for the Credo) were chanted in Latin by the schola (attendees of the workshop) and the celebrant chanted the other parts of Mass in English.
Elements of Summorum Pontificum could be noted thought this liturgy:
1. The priest wore a traditional Roman chasuble.
2. Benedictine arrangement of the altar
3. Ad orientem celebration
4. Latin chant of the antiphons
5. Dignified liturgy
6. Periods of silenceThis was a magnificent liturgy. Unfortunately it was not advertised in the local Catholic media, I only found out about out through a post in The New Liturgical Movement (my second favorite web site…..after yours). I hope to be able to attend many more such liturgies, as you say “brick by brick.”
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Actually,
It was advertised in the Florida Catholic under NewsBriefs. Interestingly, the “Black Catholic Music” seminar, another music seminar, is also advertised for next week with a request that “All parishes are asked to send representatives to this seminar…” The Archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Affairs is sponsoring. Now, don’t misunderstand my point… I all for outreach to the Black community by our Archdiocese! I am just not sure why the Archdiocese didn’t request that “all parishes send representatives” to the Gregorian Chant seminar.
Very happy to hear of these good things in Florida.
Luis, because the Gregorian Chant seminar is what the Church wants. Keep up! Keep up!. Tom
I missed it, no one wanted to go with me
Just to ask for clarity for I cannot resist:
By traditional I presume a fiddleback, or do we mean truly traditional and St. Borromeo would uphold?
May God bless you!
-Christopher
Luis – “…in the Florida Catholic under NewsBriefs. Interestingly, the “Black Catholic Music” seminar, another music seminar, is also advertised for next week with a request that “All parishes are asked to send representatives to this seminar…” The Archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Affairs is sponsoring. Now, don’t misunderstand my point… I all for outreach to the Black community by our Archdiocese! I am just not sure why the Archdiocese didn’t request that “all parishes send representatives” to the Gregorian Chant seminar.”
Well, whoever organizes the event writes the copy. So, whoever wrote the copy for CMAA or the University didn’t think of that phrase. No big whoop. Besides, the Chant workshop information didn’t even mention any involvement with any Archdiocesan office.
Archdiocese reaching out to the Black community? Reading the OBC copy, I think it’s more a case of part of the Archdiocese (the Black Catholic community) reaching out to the whole Archdiocese, and other Christians as well.
I live in Miami and I was able to attend this mass with a friend of mine that invited me. I was very impressed with this young priest. A parishioner told us that he uses fiddleback vestments and lace albs all the time. But what they love most about him is that he gives great homilies and celebrates the mass with reverence and a true love for the Lord in the Eucharist. It was a beautiful mass. I hope they do it again soon. God Bless!
Charivari Rob,
You are probably right about the ad copy… I will nominate myself for the Sour Grapes Award! : ) I know that Father Marino at St. Michael the Archangel parish http://churchofstmichael.org is doing his part to bring the EF to Miami, as is Father Huesca at St Robert Bellarmine http://www.saintrobert.org but I wish, at times, that the Archdiocese would be more encouraging. Perhaps the Archdiocese is encouraging the EF but this fact is under reported?
“Elements of Summorum Pontificum could be noted thought this liturgy:
1. The priest wore a traditional Roman chasuble.
2. Benedictine arrangement of the altar
3. Ad orientem celebration
4. Latin chant of the antiphons
5. Dignified liturgy
6. Periods of silence”
Are any of these elements really detailed in SP? Elements 3,4,5,6 are simply doing what the GIRM has always allowed for (Silence – GIRM 43, 45, 45, 51, 54, 55, (Heading before) 56, 66, 71, 78, 128, 130, 136, 147, 164, 165, 271; Importance and Dignity of the Eucharistic Celebration – GIRM Chapter I; Latin – GIRM 12, 41)
Number 1 has always been allowed unless the use of the Roman chasuble was abrogated or disallowed in a particular diocese. And with number 2 Neither SP or GIRM are explicit about altar arrangement. It can be argued that GIRM has always allowed for the Benedictine arrangement as well (yet, if it was explicit that the Benedictine arrangement was not allowed, its use would be illicit).
I make this point, not to be anal, but to point out that the GIRM (especially when read in light of Redemptoris Sacramentum) demands the “dignified” celebration of the Mass. Priests & communities celebrating without dignity speak more about those priests and communities than the documents of the Second Vatican Council being a break in tradition. The documents must be read with a hermeneutic of continuity, as a continuation of what had come before, not a break with tradition.
Am i out of line for bringing this up?
I agree with you tradsem. However, while SP technicallydoes not directly have anything to do with what was listed, I do think it has had a strong indirect effect with the EF influencing how the OF is celebrated.
I offered to pay for Four Scholarships to this Workshop but my Pastor did not respond to my offer.
However, I did go to a Missa Cantata in Palm Beach Gardens…
http://palmbeachchant.blogspot.com/
and I look forward to this Sunday. The EF Mass is, truly, the best thing this side of Heaven.
Kudos to Fr. Kevin Nelson who desired to learn the EF Mass so as to be a “blessing” to his spiritual flock. Kudos also to Prof. O’Connor who initiated the Gregorian Schola.
The EF Mass is a spiritual Well in the vast desert known otherwise as the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida.
What is very cool is that in the music section of our new Lenten missalettes (our parish is also in Miami) there they are, bold as brass, “Sanctus” and “Kyrie” and “Pater Noster”
COOL!
(and also a lot of other traditional, Latin “stuff”. (Sorry, I got all excited and hit send too soon.)
Perhaps the Archdiocese is encouraging the EF but this fact is under reported?
The Diocese was informed about the Workshop. The Diocese had all of the pre-event publicity material. The Diocese did not send anyone. The Diocesan paper did not publicise the event.
The Diocesan paper also did not mention the EF Mass at St. Patrick offered by Fr. Kevin Nelson the First Sunday of Lent. I am highly doubtful they will publicise the Missa Canatata this Sunday.
One would think the Diocesan Paper might have, oh, I dunno, sent a photographer and a reporter to report on the first EF Mass offered in these parts in more than forty years but I guess that doesn’t qualify as news.
The conclusions to draw from these realities are obvious.
Wonderful news, a great event and progress for the Church as a whole.
Only sad note is the posters reference to “hybrid”. Shows how far we have to go when people assume introduction of Chant and Latin and non-new-age vestments into the Mass is not PART of the ordinary (Ordinary or Extraordinary) expression of Mass, but a foreign introduction.
Over the years I’ve gotten a number of TLM items published in both Catholic and secular newspapers, and even on TV newscasts. Instead of just dropping a stack of PR stuff on them — you might as well short circuit the process and throw it in the dumpster yourself — the key is to write usable copy yourself and provide it in electronic form so they can plug it in immediately with no further effort.
Diocesan papers, in particular, rarely have enough staff to write much copy themselves, and they’re really pressed for time as deadlines approach. So often it has nothing to do with ideology or priorities, but with who makes it quick and easy for them.
Don’t even think of expecting a diocesan paper to send a photographer to cover your events. Take your own photos and provide them in the appropriate format to simply be dropped into the paper. And provide captions so they don’t have to think about this. If they’re looking at a photo and have to take the time to phone someone for a caption, they may simply move on to the next one. Diocesan papers always have a huge backlog of photos sent in by people who know how to do it.
A particularly effective strategy — when you’d like them to publish a brief story accompanying the photo, but aren’t confident they will — is to write a paragraph-sized mini-story caption for your photo that tells what you want to say. This makes it really easy for them.
But if you wait for them to send out a reporter and photographer merely because it’s the liturgical event of the century … Well, don’t hold your breath while you’re waiting.
Forgive my ignorance, but was this “hybrid” Mass approved? It sounds to me that rubrics (the red) were mixed, which seems contrary to Abhinc quattor annos.
Mike: Nothing described indicates any “mixture” of rubrics. Everything mentioned is fine for the Novus Ordo. Ad orientem, propers chanted by a schola, Latin ordinary … All are normative for the new Mass, however rarely seen by ordinary U.S. Catholics. My only question would have been why the Credo was apparently in English; I’d have thought a chant workshop Mass would at least chant the entire Ordinary in Latin.
In any event, I wonder whether the restrictions of Abhinc quattor annos still apply, as Summorum Pontificum says “The conditions for the use of this [1962] Missal as laid down by earlier documents ‘Quattuor abhinc annis’ and ‘Ecclesia Dei,’ are substituted as follows:”
Whereas the 1962 rubrics probably are sufficiently rigid to exclude any 1970 practices, no so the reverse, and I for one am glad to see a new Mass celebrant take advantage of the flexibility of the 1970 norms to introduce traditional “reverences” where not excluded by the norms.
<i…the key is to…usable copy… and provide it in electronic form so they can plug it in immediately with no further effort.
That was done, well in advance of the workshop.
Diocesan papers, in particular, rarely have enough staff to write much copy themselves, and they’re really pressed for time as deadlines approach. So often it has nothing to do with ideology or priorities, but with who makes it quick and easy for them.
This Diocesan paper has a list of “unique” Masses (such as “Healing” Masses) they list each week. They did not include the Missa Cantata.
Don’t even think of expecting a diocesan paper to send a photographer to cover your events.
Mr. Edwards. It was not “my” event. It was a Missa Cantata in response to Summorum Pontificum. I expect a Diocesan paper to cover important and unique events just like i expect Sports Illustrated to cover important and unique sporting events.
But if you wait for them to send out a reporter and photographer merely because it’s the liturgical event of the century … Well, don’t hold your breath while you’re waiting.
I never hold my breath. I trust in my Lord and Saviour and, through prayer and Longanimity, I have seen what I thought were merely irrational seeds of hope, come to fruition in this EF Missa Cantata Mass.
I am giving the Diocese all the rope of reality it can use. Whether they make of the rope a lifeline to those of us whose rights have been denied for two score and more years or make of that rope a hangman’s noose for their own selves is a decision I leave up to them.
Dear “Not Spartacus” and Mr. Edwards,
I think you both make some important points. I think that what we need in Miami is an organization that will promote the EF in more parishes. Something like a Miami Latin Mass Society http://miamilatinmass.blogspot.com/ Perhaps if there were more lay organization then the Archdiocese would take more notice? It also doesn’t hurt to write the copy and set up the story for the Paper!
Dear \”Not Spartacus\” and Mr. Edwards,
I think you both make some important points. I think that what we need in Miami is an organization that will promote the EF in more parishes. Something like a Miami Latin Mass Society http://miamilatinmass.blogspot.com/ Perhaps if there were more lay organization then the Archdiocese would take more notice? It also doesn’t hurt to write the copy and set up the story for the Paper!
Perhaps if there were more lay organization then the Archdiocese would take more notice?
Dunno. They don’t seem so keen on taking note of Summorum Pontificum and the Magisterial follow-up to S.P. so I don’t know why they’d be interested in a lay organisation devoted to the EF Mass, Gregorian Chant etc.
There is an old adage that the Funeral Rite is where many of the Church’s problems are resolved. That is where the liberals are headed and they are being replaced by youth hungry for the true, the good and the beautiful and a Mass that is solemn, reverent, and spiced with silence.
The signs abound but liberals, spiritually sated by sugary liberal pap, have not even eyes to see the signs.
The orthodox are ascending. The liberals are dying out.
YIPEE !!!!!
I don’t know why they’d be interested in a lay organisation devoted to the EF Mass, Gregorian Chant etc.
Actually, lay organizations play an essential role in support of the TLM at the present time. The young priests who are anxious to get on with it need support that (in most dioceses) only lay organizations are ready and able to give, without waiting until “they” do something.
Practically none of the successes reported at my TLM community’s web site could have occurred — or would ever have been heard of — without extensive lay support. The bishop can say “Ok”, but then someone has to go ahead and actually do it. For instance, our diocese (as such) was not asked to and in fact did not contribute anything to the “TLM success” reported at
https://wdtprs.com/2008/04/knoxville-tlm-success-and-eye-candy/
other than the use of the church itself. A lay organization provided all the other TLM essentials you see in the photos there, and made all the arrangements necessary for this glorious occasion to happen. Thus, the overflow crowd you see in the pictures found out about it through the publicity we ourselves provided and placed.
This (with other examples at our site) illustrates what a lay organization can do. None of this would have happened without the lay involvement and support that Summorum Pontificum renders important — by placing the principal initiative at the local level instead of at a higher hierarchial level.
I would urge those who hope for liturgical reform to exercise restraint in posting any opinions in comment boxes. The comments contained here are not only in some cases misled or erroneous, they are harmful to those working for reform with due patience and charity.
I would like to clarify that the Archdiocese did indeed accurately report and advertise the conference according to the information which was sent to them. Any accusation of wrong-doing or omission on the part of the Archdiocese or its Communications Office are libelous and unnecessarily inflamatory.
I would also like to point out that a reporter from The Florida Catholic was present to document and report on the event.
In conclusion, those who would hope to see the glorification of God and the sanctification of His people through solemn and dignified worship are best-advised to be sure of the information on which their public statements, including comments on blogs, are based.
I would like to clarify that the Archdiocese did indeed accurately report and advertise the conference according to the information which was sent to them. Any accusation of wrong-doing or omission on the part of the Archdiocese or its Communications Office are libelous and unnecessarily inflamatory.
“This Diocesan paper has a list of “unique” Masses (such as “Healing” Masses) they list each week. They did not include the Missa Cantata.” (is what I wrote)
I was writing about The Diocese of Palm Beach County, Florida. I was not writing about The Archdiocese. If you have evidence the Diocese of Palm Beach County reported and advertised the Gregorian Workshop, please post it. The last thing I desire to do is engage in libel.
Charity ought also extend to those whose legitimate rights and legitimate desires have been scotched for more than two score years.
Rashly and unjustly accusing others of libelous actions ain’t that helpful.
What happened on this thread was a bit of confusion and it does not help to have that innocent confusion cast as libel. I apologise for anything I wrote that contributed to the confusion.
Actually, lay organizations play an essential role in support of the TLM at the present time. The young priests who are anxious to get on with it need support that (in most dioceses) only lay organizations are ready and able to give, without waiting until “they” do something.
Mr. Edwards. I am quite aware of that reality, having been part of the Indult Community in Maine prior to moving to Florida where I used to drive 90 miles,one way, to St. Robert Bellarmine in Miami for The Indult.
There is talk of a Latin Mass Society forming in our area and I will do what I can (under the radar) to help them because I recognise I am too intemperate and too quick to battle against the entrenched anti-EF establishment (liberals).
I understand the best way I can help is to go to the Masses and give them money and shut-up. The last thing any Latin Mass Society needs is me speaking publicly.
FWIW. Today I received my March 13-26 edition of Florida Catholic.
There is no story or coverage or announcement of either the EF Missa Cantata or of the Gregorian Chant Workshop.