Sunday 16 September 2012

Who said ...?

The use of the old Missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language; neither of these is found very often. Already from these concrete presuppositions, it is clearly seen that the new Missal will certainly remain the ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, not only on account of the juridical norms, but also because of the actual situation of the communities of the faithful....

.... the two Forms of the usage of the Roman Rite can be mutually enriching: new Saints and some of the new Prefaces can and should be inserted in the old Missal. The “Ecclesia Dei” Commission, in contact with various bodies devoted to the usus antiquior, will study the practical possibilities in this regard. The celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage. The most sure guarantee that the Missal of Paul VI can unite parish communities and be loved by them consists in its being celebrated with great reverence in harmony with the liturgical directives. This will bring out the spiritual richness and the theological depth of this Missal.

Answer here.

My experience, and, I would expect, that of most practising Catholics, is that only a small minority are interested in the celebration of the Extraordinary Form, and that the impression otherwise created by the electronic media does not reflect a real situation in pews. Since Summorum Pontificum there has undoubtedly been an increase in such interest; but not such as to make it anything other than still a small phenomenon for the Church as a whole.

If there is not an effort for mutual enrichment - a common calendar seems a clear suggestion to me, implied by the suggestion of including new saints in the old Missal, and an explicit interest by those attached to the Extraordinary Form in promoting the sacrality of celebration of the Ordinary Form - then the majority of Catholics are being excluded from the benefits and intentions of Summorum Pontificum. In this respect, I wonder whether the attention of the  Pontifical Council Ecclesia Dei to just the communities attached to the Extraordinary Form will turn out to have an element of dis-service to the wider Church, analogous to the dis-service that the traditionally inclined see in the work of the post-Conciliar Consilium.

"Brick by brick" - but the building is not going to be finished if you refuse to use the vast majority of the available bricks, use bricks of only one size and shape, and you concentrate on only one corner of the plan...

My previous posts on the theme of Summorum Pontificum can be found from this link. And. oh, how I wish I could lead a Catholic existence without feeling forced to adopt a stance "for" or "against" the Extraordinary Form!

1 comment:

Patricius said...

"I wish I could lead a Catholic existence without feeling forced to adopt a stance "for" or "against" the Extraordinary Form!"

Courage! Hang on in there!
I just want to assure you that you are not alone. It strikes me that it is all very well to discuss liturgy- from almost any point of view- but that there is a danger of losing sight of the object of it all, namely the worship of God.