Fr. Z's Blog

It is important that people have exposure to the older form of Mass celebrated well.

From a reader:

Hi Father,

So my wife and I went to our first TLM this last week at the TLM community here in Pittsburgh just to "see what it was about" (we moved up recently and have wanted to go for a while).  She blogged on her experience/thoughts and I thought you might enjoy reading them (she does not know your blog [WHAT?!?   o{];¬)   ] but I am a faithful reader and know you like this sort of thing).  ["this sort of thing…." hmmm…. okay… let’s move on…] We’re both fairly recent converts to Catholicism and don’t know much about liturgy, but I thought it was neat how she picked up on a lot of the points you’ve made about the TLM without looking for them….Maybe we’ve found a home…

Thanks,
Bryan S.

Going to Latin Mass  (http://www.joggermom.blogspot.com/)

I got to smell some incense on Sunday- we went to our first Latin Mass. I’d have to go several more times to begin to feel like I’m picking it up and to unpack my impressions, but here’s what I noticed was different. I’d also like to know why these things are not done anymore… [YES!  That’s the perfect question at this point.]

•    The prayers were stunning in their portrayal of God’s holiness and the egregiousness of our sin (an English translation was provided) – definitely not of the ‘Jesus is my best buddy’ variety [Yah… a stark contrast, that, for many people.]
•    There was a line for confession during Mass. I think the priest stopped hearing confessions right before the Eucharist
•    We received the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling
•    Almost all the women wore chapel veils
•    No ‘passing of the peace’
•    Choir was men only
•    Less music
•    Less scripture read

[These things can be done in the Novus Ordo also, with the possible exception of the number of readings.  Say the Black Do the Red, after all.]

Throughout the Mass, I couldn’t help but think about how God is a mystery and the ways of heaven are mysterious.  [If she doesn’t know WDTPRS, she is doing a darn good imitation.  Liturgical worship must lead to an encounter with mystery.  That’s the whole point.] Maybe that was just me drawing a parallel between not being able to understand what the priest was saying, but it’s still the dominate impression I have of the Latin Mass as I think back on it now. After going to this Mass, I’d like to know more about why the liturgy was changed. [As you study this, you might get a little angry.  So many of the things that were done in the name of the reforms required by the Second Vatican Council really had little or nothing to do with the actual reforms required.  The Consilium and its…. staff… went far beyong their mandate and the exagerated "spirit of Vatican II"… spirit of discontinuity did untold damage.  All so sad.] I can understand why making the switch from Latin to English seemed important, but the other changes?  [The Council Fathers explicitly stated that nothing was to be chnaged unless it was truly for the good of the Catholic people.  That was ignored, to our tragic loss.] It felt appropriate to kneel for the Eucharist and the prayers were beautiful and true. It seems odd that people decided these things were no longer useful for Catholics. I know very little about liturgy, but I think I can see why people would cringe over some of the changes.

Very perspicacious.  Very interesting.

Bon voyage!  The more you drill into this whole other dimension of your Catholic heritage the more you will want to know.

As a convert, I had the experience of discovery.  I recall the powerful moment of comprehension that when I became a Catholic all of "this sort of thing", … the music, the liturgy, the lives of saints, the art, the architecture, suddenly became mine.  It was my inheritance.  My patrimony. 

And then I saw with crystal clarity that some people had conspired to take it away from me, to insult both me and my "new" Catholic forebears by running it down and working to destroy it.

Remember, dear readers, whether you are personally into "this sort of thing" or not, the TLM, and everything that grew with it and from it through the centuries is yours.  This is your patrimony.  This is the greater share of the foundation of your Catholic identity even if you have never heard of it. 

You cannot be more fully Catholic until you have also come to know this dimension of who you are.

It is out there waiting for you to take possession of it.

Some will try to keep it from you or run it and you down for wanting even to know it.  Others are working to put it into your hands, heads and hearts… where it belongs.

After all…. it is yours.

From the Philippines we have this news.

This brings to all the good news that WORD Communicators Apostolate, Inc., an N.G.O. Catholic apostolate in media registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission {S.E.C.}, has finally received approval from National Broadcasting Network {N.B.N.} of its proposal to have the Christmas Midnight Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) celebration at St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana Church telecast live. 

WORD Communicators Apostolate, Inc. (WORDCOM) is an accredited program provider for TV Maria, the first Filipino Catholic TV channel. 
 
…

The celebration envisioned for the live telecast will bring together celebrants and servers from the parishes in Metro Manila currently celebrating the TLM regularly, to participate in the celebration of a Solemn High Mass with the Rev. Fr. Grato Germanetto, C.R.S., parish priest of St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana as main priest-celebrant.  The assignment for deacon and sub-deacon are still being finalized. 
 
The MCs will be Bro. Mark Bunag and Gerald Cenir from the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy (PLDM) at Sikatuna Village, Q.C.,  Thurifer and acolytes will be the senior altar servers of SJESS.  Torch bearers will be the junior and senior altar servers from SJESS and PLDM..  Liturgical music will be provided by the Van De Steen Chorale whose members are alumni of the Manila Cathedral Boys? Choir.  The live telecast is envisioned to be educational & informational for the Filipino Catholic Faithful (both lay and clergy). 

The celebration of the TLM in SJESS and PLDM  fulfills the instructions of Pope Benedict XVI in his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, to have the Traditional Latin Mass available to the Catholic Faithful who wish to worship in this rite.  To date, the celebration in the parishes mentioned have developed a following among the Filipino youth as well as among those who grew up worshipping in the rite as students in the 40s, 50s and 60s.  The live telecast will provide visual images to those who have not yet participated in a TLM celebration.  Hopefully we are able to provide liturgical insights and a historical background on the TLM prior to the telecast (this will be arranged). 

The live telecast will provide those involved in the propagation of the TLM, a promotional tool which can be viewed live on TV by thousands, if not millions, of Filipinos locally, and hopefully worldwide.  As Fr. Grato always reminds us, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should be a uniting bond among the Catholic Faithful.  This event provides all of us working for the propagation of TLM celebrations, an opportunity to unite in bringing this event to a success and in fulfillment of our common vision.  All for God?s glory!! 

In the Washington Times today there is an interesting article.

Remember: I posted about this here and here.

My emphases and comments.

Seminary discovers Latin  [This title brought a smile.  Ironic, no?]
Julia Duin
Thursday, December 11, 2008

An unusual Mass, with all the stops pulled out, was celebrated Monday at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg.

At least it was unusual for the seminary’s 150 students who, for the first time in four decades, got to take part in a Tridentine Mass rite involving incense, ornate vestments, a sung liturgy in Latin and a supporting cast of several priests.

Chantry, a Renaissance church music choir from the District, [of Columbia, I suppose…] did the chants and polyphony. Several clergy made the 90-minute drive to take part, including the celebrant, who was Monsignor Charles Pope, coordinator of the Latin Mass for the Archdiocese of Washington. The Rev. Paul Scalia, a priest in the Arlington Diocese, was the deacon and the Rev. John Fritz, a Rockford, Ill., priest studying at Catholic University and a graduate of "the Mount," was the subdeacon.

"They were very moved by it," said the seminary’s rector, Monsignor Steven Rohlfs. "It was the first time many of them had been exposed to the Latin Mass and I wanted them to see it at its best."  [Did you get that!?  The RECTOR of the seminary said, "I wanted them to see it at its best".  O most excellent rector.  O students, so happy in your rector.]

The 58-year-old rector said he had grown up with the Mass, "but the vast majority of parishes have never experienced Mass like this as most church choirs are not able to do this kind of music."  [Remember that Card. Castrillon said that the old form of Mass should be offered in all parishes so that people have the chance to experience it.]

The 16th century Tridentine Mass was the church’s official rite until it was phased out after Vatican II, which ended in 1965. On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI restored its use, [Well…. not quite.  Paul VI never abrogated it and even in his pontificate it was still used under indult.  John Paul II expanded its use under indult.  Benedict XVI changed the entire game by making sure every priest has faculties to say it and described the rights of priests and lay people to have it.] ordering bishops in a letter called "Summorum Pontificum" to make it more accessible to the faithful. At the time, one-third of 195 U.S. dioceses had no Latin Mass at all and there was only a handful in four dioceses stretching from Richmond to Baltimore.

Since then, interest has shot up worldwide, especially among young Catholics seeking a more transcendent worship. [Exactly.  Young people are less interested in the horizontal, the immanent in worship and more interested in the real point of worship: mystery.] Locally, the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has set aside one of its crypt-level chapels for the rite. Last spring, students at Georgetown University petitioned to get the Mass offered twice weekly in a small chapel.

In September, 15 mostly young Archdiocese of Washington priests attended a three-day workshop in LaPlata, Md., on how to stage such a Mass. Monsignor Pope said some already have begun doing the Mass on their own.

"There is a beauty to the old liturgy if it’s done well," he said. "This is the Mass that most of the canonized saints knew."  [This is a good point.  I think it must be made clear to people that the older form of Mass doesn’t need a defense on this point.  It nourished the lives of saints.  The older form of Mass can be known from its fruits.  On the other hand, it is too early to see what the fruits of the Novus Ordo are.  The jury is still out, as it were.]

Opportunities to take part in the Latin rite have "slightly increased" in the archdiocese, he said, but "frankly, there haven’t been huge requests from the laity."  [Time will tell.]

There might be if there were more priests offering it, which is why Mount St. Mary’s required all students be present at Monday’s event. Currently, 20 seminarians are undergoing two years of course work on how to do the Mass.  [I am not sure it takes two years, but GREAT!]

"First, we make sure they know sufficient Latin," [useful for far more than just Holy Mass, of course] Monsignor Rohlfs said. Most of the seminarians prefer the English-language rite used in parishes today, "but they need to appreciate the extraordinary [Latin] form of the Mass.  [And be able to use it.  After all Canon Law requires that seminarians be trained in Latin and Latin Rite priests should know how to celebrate their own rite in their own language… which includes Latin.]The pope wants seminarians and priests to make the Mass available to people."

But it’s a learned habit.  [In the common sense of the word, all habits are learned.]

"I’ve found the first time you do it, the church is full," he said. "The second time, it is half full, the third time it is one-quarter full and eventually you get to about 75 people who like that form of worship and want to stay with that." [Maybe so, but in that is what happened to the Lord John 6.]

• Julia Duin’s "Stairway to Heaven" column runs Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Julia Duin.

Good article.  Well written and informative.