ASK FATHER: If traditional Catholics and converts will eventually merge, where does that leave people who want the Novus Ordo?

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I’m in formation for ordination to the NO diaconate in three years, Lord willing. I’ve been to one TLM mass in Florida years ago. My question concerns us faithful NO Catholics. When you say that the demographic sinkhole will make Traditionalists and Evangelical converts come together with the beauty of TLM, where does that leave us that are trying to be faithful in the NO? I greatly respect your opinion on this and thanks in advance!

I wouldn’t be overly concerned. This is not going to be a sudden change, even though the Wuhan Devil is accelerating the sinkhole.

I think it will happen.  It seem inevitable to me.

Still, as a deacon, you should know your rite.

Learn to serve as a server and as subdeacon and as deacon for the Traditional Latin Mass, Low, Sung, and Solemn.

That ought to be part of your formation anyway. It’s your Latin, Roman Rite.  You should know more than (the lesser) half of it.    It is important for your identity as a deacon.

You might try The Celebration of Mass by O’Connell.   Get familiar with the Roman Rite.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Comments

  1. Tito Edwards says:

    We’d be happy to receive you over at any Ordinariate parish. All the tradition without the Latin! (copyright pending)

  2. NOCatholic says:

    There are many of us NO faithful. I doubt the NO is going away, as there are a whole generation of Catholics who don’t know or remember the TLM. I do think the “mutual enrichment” envisioned by Benedict XVI will at least improve the NO and alter or remove its most problematic aspects, making the reverent celebration of the NO that already exists in many places (such as the EWTN Mass telecasts) much more common. Perhaps the NO and TLM will merge outright. Who knows?

  3. Semper Gumby says:

    NOCatholic wrote: “There are many of us NO faithful.”

    Let’s keep in mind that there is no need to allude to Mark 5:9 when discussing “NO faithful.”

  4. InFormationDiakonia says:

    Thanks Father Z. This gives me a further incentive (didn’t need much) to learn Latin and the beauty of the greater side of our rite! I am inquiring with my formation director about including this in our diaconate formation. We are already adding in chant (postponed this semester due to the Wuhan Devil) and I think that he will be open to including it. Of course it depends on the approval of the bishop to add to the curriculum.

    It is a good thought exercise for me to think about where we’d be if Trent had actually finished the re-institution of the permanent diaconate as they intended. Of course there is only one diaconate and every priest and bishop is one as well. Very humbling to this man!

  5. tho says:

    Is it fair to compare a Catholic who has no knowledge of Latin, with a Jew who has no knowledge of Hebrew? In the not to distant past one needed a year of Latin to get a high school diploma.
    It is mind boggling to think of a seminarian without a knowledge of Latin, no matter how imperfect. Again, we Catholics have been horribly betrayed by the Spirit of Vatican II. Our patrimony has been forcibly removed from our thoughts, as we look upon the many crimes, yes crimes, committed by those who are supposed to be helping us in saving our souls.

Comments are closed.