Monday, June 16, 2008

Coming Soon (maybe) to a Parish Near You!!!!

Fathers' day weekend, combined with two birthday parties, kept me off line for the better part of three days. And what happenings is such a short time! First I saw on Sancte Pater blog a post that said, to my amazement that Card. Castrillon Hoyos had said that the Extrarodinary Form of the Mass, which he referred to as "The Gregorian Rite", should be offered in ALL parishes. He unmistakably said "not many - all." I nearly jumped out of my chair. Wow.
I re-read it again and again, just to be sure what I had seen. Then the amazing Father Z. posted it on his blog, and so it spread.

Now, as if to confirm, the CNS has posted this:

Pope would like Tridentine Mass in each Parish, Vatican official says.


Not that that was required to make it true, but to see it written so clearly in such a "progressive" but well accepted forum gives it all the more impact. The statement can no longer be discounted as a rumor in the rad-trad blogosphere. And once it gets out in the various dioscean papers, it will spark even more interest, and even more reaction, both positive and negative. Keeping in mind, of course, that the vast majority of Catholics have no idea that Summorum Pontificum exists, or even if the do, know little about what it means in terms of the future of Catholic Identity and the Catholic Church as a whole.

So, the die is cast, the gauntlet thrown, and the game afoot, etc, etc. We are on a journey now, the church that is! And nobody knows where it will end. Or, as the old song says, "nobody knows but Jesus".

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

An Anti Latin Tirade

Last Sunday, mass was said, to my surprise, by our retired pastor, our regular one being on vacation this week. Now allow me to say that I absolutely love this man. He is the one who brought me back into the faith, and his homiletics and loving, caring, strong pastoral care are almost beyond belief. To borrow a line from a Dan Fogelberg song - "a thundering velvet hand" - is the best way to describe him. When he hobbled down the aisle, tears came to my eyes.

THEN..... The Homily.... First, he reflected on the readings, telling how the Mass doesn't belong to the people, but to the Church, and it must be respected as such. Then, after a pause, he stated how there are "some young priests" in the diocese who want to bring back the Latin Mass. And added that you don't see any of us "old timers" wanting to go back to that!! This is all young people! (emphasis mine) This led into a long speech about how much better it was since "Vatican II clearly stated - Mass in the vernacular!!! (emphasis his) Then, after a bit of critique of the old mass, he pointed out, correctly, that a priest - any priest - can say the mass we use today, that is the mass of Paul VI, in Latin, whenever they want to. He even explained that it was in the sacramentary. Gradually, this progressed into a sort of admission that there had been a lot of abuses, "priests doing crazy things", but the solution wasn't Latin.

The whole thing was, while not a surprise, a sort of complete non-sequitur with the rest of his personality and attitude. I find myself amazed at how a priest with that amazing depth of knowledge and reverence could be so absolutely foursquare against both Latin and the old mass.

And I wonder...

Is he just that totally sold on the infallibility of the reforms he lived through and implemented?

Or is he right?