When I was an assistant priest in St Leonards I had a young woman who had discharged herself from the local psychiatric hospital, she claimed she had be sexually abused by a psychiatrist, she was sleeping on the beach. Very vulnerable, very frightened. The next time I said Mass I asked if anyone could take this girl in for a day or two. The only people to offer were these two sisters, the McCauley's, Irish women, in their late sixties, both were nurses, one had married, the other had remained single. I had always been wary of them, they were very much into the Old Mass, they weren’t quite taken seriously by the other clergy in the presbytery, there were three of us then, now there is one.
Anyhow they took this girl in, they had a room in their house for “Life”, just in case any woman wanted to keep their baby and needed somewhere to say. They took the girl in, not for a day or too but for six months, she had lots of problems, it really wasn’t at all that easy, she had real mental health problems, while she was with them they retaught her her faith. She said the Rosary with them in the evening, came to weekday Mass with them, gradually they helped her to come to terms with all that had happened to her. I would like to say that they got her back on her feet but the truth is one day she simply disappeared.
Recently I needed a home for another young girl who needed to get out of Brighton, this time it was a couple that offered to help, the members of my parish couldn’t, and again they were devoted to the Old Rite .
Those who come to the Tridentine Mass we have once a month in this parish can be counted on one’s fingers and toes, there are lots of reasons for this, mainly that it has happened until now in the middle of the afternoon and even once a month the priest hasn’t always been able to get here, the weather has been foul, we have moved it to 6pm but it has been dark even so working on these numbers the numbers in this country who want the Old Mass are minute. I used to be very anti, we were taught to be dismissive of it in the seminary, as we were of pre-Concilliar theology and even of such ultra-conservatives as Ratzinger, I used to wrap his books in brown paper covers.
Yet the story I relate made me rethink my attitude, it was practical Christianity, these two sisters were hard nosed, and yet they saw not a problem but a soul. I am fascinated by the huge number of seminarians and monks in the modern Old Rite seminaries and monasteries, and even convents. I am taken aback by the zeal of the two FSSP priests who drive from Reading to Brighton to celebrate Mass for less than twenty, they want to celebrate weekly, we await the Motu Proprio.
Personally I don’t really want to celebrate the Old Rite, because of the poverty of my Latin, my poor memory for texts, but it isn’t the Liturgy that fascinates me, it is actually the spirituality. When we talk of “Rite” we do mean the words and rubrics, but there is a broader meaning of the word which involves people and spirituality, the way in which people live out their faith, the sense of God that people have, the way in which they catechise their children, the home environment they create, the values they have, the understanding of "man" they have. The question is, can we have what the adherents of the Rite have, without the Rite?
Anyhow they took this girl in, they had a room in their house for “Life”, just in case any woman wanted to keep their baby and needed somewhere to say. They took the girl in, not for a day or too but for six months, she had lots of problems, it really wasn’t at all that easy, she had real mental health problems, while she was with them they retaught her her faith. She said the Rosary with them in the evening, came to weekday Mass with them, gradually they helped her to come to terms with all that had happened to her. I would like to say that they got her back on her feet but the truth is one day she simply disappeared.
Recently I needed a home for another young girl who needed to get out of Brighton, this time it was a couple that offered to help, the members of my parish couldn’t, and again they were devoted to the Old Rite .
Those who come to the Tridentine Mass we have once a month in this parish can be counted on one’s fingers and toes, there are lots of reasons for this, mainly that it has happened until now in the middle of the afternoon and even once a month the priest hasn’t always been able to get here, the weather has been foul, we have moved it to 6pm but it has been dark even so working on these numbers the numbers in this country who want the Old Mass are minute. I used to be very anti, we were taught to be dismissive of it in the seminary, as we were of pre-Concilliar theology and even of such ultra-conservatives as Ratzinger, I used to wrap his books in brown paper covers.
Yet the story I relate made me rethink my attitude, it was practical Christianity, these two sisters were hard nosed, and yet they saw not a problem but a soul. I am fascinated by the huge number of seminarians and monks in the modern Old Rite seminaries and monasteries, and even convents. I am taken aback by the zeal of the two FSSP priests who drive from Reading to Brighton to celebrate Mass for less than twenty, they want to celebrate weekly, we await the Motu Proprio.
Personally I don’t really want to celebrate the Old Rite, because of the poverty of my Latin, my poor memory for texts, but it isn’t the Liturgy that fascinates me, it is actually the spirituality. When we talk of “Rite” we do mean the words and rubrics, but there is a broader meaning of the word which involves people and spirituality, the way in which people live out their faith, the sense of God that people have, the way in which they catechise their children, the home environment they create, the values they have, the understanding of "man" they have. The question is, can we have what the adherents of the Rite have, without the Rite?
21 comments:
Father, can I be the first person to mention "lex orandi, lex credendi"?
If, or when, the Motu Proprio comes it won't make much difference to the average parish because there is little or no demand for it. But it will silence the aggrieved who think it is the solution for the future. They will no longer have a constituency as their requests will have been granted. Nor will it halt the slow decline of the Church in the West
The answer to your question is probably not.
But even such differences as the type of music used and the way things are laid out on the sanctuary and the position of the priest and servers makes a huge difference.
We have got fixated on the silly notion that words are the most important thing in life, whereas what counts is the entire action.
Small world, Father. I know the sisters well. I used to live in the next parish to yours at St Leonards, and for a time organised the Old Rite masses that used regularly to be said in the local hospice chapel. The day after my first wife's death was the feast of Candlemas, and I brought my brother-in-law, who had flown in from New York for a last word with his sister (he arrived fifteen minutes too late). The Mass was sung by the young curate who had driven fifty miles from his parish to sit with my wife into the small hours, two days earlier. Her brother, a liberal Catholic for whom the "Latin Mass" he had served as a child had disappeared from the radar for thirty years, was absolutely astounded. He kept talking about "the early church" afterwards and the "spirit of the early church". I don't suppose either of us was especially coherent in the circumstances, but there was no mistaking the profound effect of that Mass on my brother-in-law. It really shook him up, and caused him to question a great number of things he had been taking for granted most of his adult life - among them, ironically, the then universally asserted claim that the Novus Ordo was "closer to the spirit and practice of the early Church".
Three days later my wife lay in that extravagantly pre-Raphaelite sanctuary of your old parish church as the first High Mass of Requiem in thirty years was sung over her. These marvelous sisters were in attendance, together with other quietly faithful, inconspicuous Traditional Catholics, since gone to their reward. May they rest in peace.
Sorry, Father - I completely neglected to answer your question.
No.
I'm rather sticking my neck out here, Father, by identifying myself, but I have to confess that the difficulty is that in a sense everyone is right on this one. The new rites are certainly valid; they present in an unbloody fashion the one all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord on Calvary ex opere operato and so do give glory to God and sanctify the people. The problem is that they don't do it as well (partly ex opere operantis) as the old rites do. They are less efficient tools, and one has to run a lot faster to make them work, if I can put it like that.
Someone said to me recently that the new rites are 'poison'. That is patently not true, (I would't celebrate them if I thought that) but I think that they are less nourishing than the old rites. People have become accustomed to the new rites; they are sweet to the taste for many people, just as a child might wish to eat nothing but ice cream, despising the meat and vegetables which don't immediately taste so nice, but which do really nourish — and which, once the taste has been acquired, are perceived by the taster as being infintely more satisfying.
And I remember Miss McAuley; a fine lady.
One thing has always struck me about the medieval period, is that people ‘lived’ through the liturgy and the yearly cycles of the Church. Their days, months and years, from birth to death, were regulated by it, and it was through it that they gave expression to their existence. It formed the basis for seeing the world and their fellow man. The liturgy wasn’t just something you did. This was no superficial expression as can be seen from everything material and ideological which has been left to us. Yes, it was no ‘golden age’ but it’s the spirit or spirituality that to me answers so much as to what made many of the people do what they did in totally selfless ways. The reality of the world in a material sense was not the whole story, and the Mass certainly reinforced this.
Yesterday in answer to a question on WDTPRS I made a comment about Pius XII’s encyclicals on the Mystical Body of Christ. These in relation to the liturgy and the life of the Church both lay and clerical form, I think, a fascinating expression of so many ideas and even the questions that you pose. I think that the pre-Vatican II liturgy reinforces so much of this and a much truer sense of ‘community’ too, a community which would be more united in its liturgical expression, but also aware of its origins and connection with what lies beyond the here and now. Right now we have become like children without our family history, in some ways. The ‘old’ Mass in particular contains such a deep spiritual expression of mystery and doctrine, which in turn reinforces the understanding of a reality of existence beyond matter and material life. It is totally Christ centred. There is no room for doubt.
So… in practical terms why does this have an effect? Well I am sure it is extremely complicated, but some generalizations can be made.
Someone already said ‘lex orandi, lex credendi’ totally. It is because the liturgy is Christ centred that therefore it will inform acts which are Christ centred. But this doesn’t mean that a new liturgy can’t exist, or that the Missal of Pius V is the only way. No things can change, indeed they have over the millennia, BUT and here is the HUGE BUT… so as to reflect the doctrine of the Church and be in fact Christ centred, and retaining a reflection of God mystery. Make it ordinary and it looses its purpose and attraction and therefore stops teaching that there is mystery. People need to be shown and lead into a meaning and expression of life beyond the temporary, the material of here and now. It’s that which will be ‘the light’ to lead in darkness. This is far from easy, as for forty odd years (and perhaps longer) people having grown up without this leadership and mystery don’t even know where to start finding it. There is no quick fix.
A bit more about Angela and Rita McCauley, they used to help me when i took over as prison chaplain at Northeye in Bexhill. The prisoners seemed to love them, they took no nonsense but actually indulged them terribly, acting as surrogate aunts, giving sensible advice normally about love lives and bearing crosses.
I am so pleased that some of you knew these remarkable catholic ladies.
Sadly, I gradually lost contact with them after I moved and they moved from their house in St Leonards to a flat in Bexhill.
Dear Peter
If you believe this a question simply of indulging the grievances of a handful of irreconcileables so as to silence their complaints, I fear you have failed entirely to read the signs of the times.
I'm sorry to hog your combox Father, but in telling that story about my brother-in-law, I notice I missed out the most important thing: what had impressed him most profoundly, and provoked all his reflections about "touching the early Church" was not the chant, or the Latin or the orientation of the priest - but something about the congregation themselves.
I was at a confirmation recently, as a sponsor of a fifteen year old. The bishop obviously didn't believe in the rites of the Church he was celebrating. Any sense of the sacred was played down. When we came to the bishop, he vaguely laid hands the head of the candidate whilst annointing her, then he chatted briefly, about nothing really, like meeting the Queen, he shook her hand and sent her on her way.
It seemed more of a Graduation Ceremony than the bestowing of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
I will not mention his name but it seemed pretty obvious that he had no concept of the action of God through him. Indeed it seemed he wanted to obscure it. Everything he did was obscured by his personality.
It was such a contrast with a confirmation celebrated by Bishop Hopes of Westminster, in Latin, in the present Rite, at which I was also a sponsor.
Wait and see.
I am a regular reader of 'Mass of Ages', the magazine of the Latin Mass Society. A friend passes it on. I enjoy the optimism of the articles but the accounts of the regional Masses at the back tell a different story. Constantly there are appeals for new local organisers because the present ones are often too old or unwell to continue, accounts of cancelled Masses because priests cannot be found to say them, small congregations that pose a threat to their continuity. In London things are different, and some of the annual diocesan events in cathedrals are better supported. The contrast is dramatic. Sorry though I am to agree, I think, on this evidence, that Peter might have a point. The situation in America is, I believe, entirely differfent but it is a bigger country with a more polarised Church than England and Wales.
John, the big crisis is the post - Concilliar Church no longer believes in God.
Father, during your rather impressive homily on Sunday you told that old story about the statue that had had its hands blown off and to which a priest had attached a sign saying, "I have no hands but you". Well, isn't this i9s the problem with, the Church today. We forget that God does indeed have other hands, I suppose this is one aspect of the theology of Angels, insofar as God normally needs the co-operation of Man but is not dependant on it.
The theology of Traditional Catholicism and Orthodoxy is that we live and move in God's world. Whatever comes God is at work, God is in charge. It is not a question of Rite especially, it is a question of expectation and confidence, of faith and of hope.
For all its "fizz" the 1960s where an incredibly depressive time, the Liturgy and Theology of that period reflect that.
We turned our backs on the past, we thought every think depended on us, it was the age of revolution and individualism. We had the sense that we were the saviours of the world, that God had no power but through us, "no hands but us".
Maureen, I have been thinking about what you said, I see your point, put it down to vestiges of 1960's liberalism.
I like your point about Angels too. We are called be co-operators with God. A Saint, I suppose is one who co-operates with God, but you are so right God is not in need of us, but the incarnation means that God chooses to rely on us. But God does have other hands than us.
I correct this error.
The question is, can we have what the adherents of the Rite have without the Rite?
I don't know about that, Father, but isn't the 1970 Missal intended to be merely a revision of the old Roman rite?
By this, I mean that some parishes such as mine offer the Novus Ordo Mass, except in Latin, ad Orientem, with a Gregorian schola to sing the propers, liberal use of incense, Tridentine-style vestments and architecture, and so forth. Almost the entire Mass is sung like a Tridentine Missa Cantata. The congregation can sing the Gloria, Credo, Agnus Dei, and all the other responses; "Confiteor Deo..", "Suscipiat Dominus...", "Domine, non sum dignus..." and so forth; just fine. The priest intones/sings the Canon/EP I in a soft voice. Latin is mandatorily taught at the parish school starting from 5th grade.
None of those things are restricted only to the 1962 Missal. You have the ability to celebrate a very traditional Mass with the Missal you already have. Isn't that what the Council really intended? A mere revision of the Tridentine Mass with a few things added (like the extra Scriptural reading, acclamation after the consecration) and a few things removed (Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, Last Gospel)?
Dear Father,
This was an exceptional post u made. You have given me a new perspective. I myself always struggle with the "rad trads". I love jesus in the eucharist, confession and the sacraments (daily mass etc) I am 22yrs old and im often to only person under 50 at daily mass if i do meet young people who love jesus they often wear mantilla and love the trid and latin
and i get fed up of the trid's who moan about "the evil spirit of vatican 2" and only go to the trid. I find adlibbing masses intolerable and upsetting but this doesn't mean i will remove myself from my parish to avoid liturgical abuse.
I have always written off the rad trads as nutters and those who seek jesus in the ascetically pleasing trid, which somehow to them reveals more of the transcendal... I have always thought it lacks any serious substance or a "friendship with christ" which is key to growing in christ.
Your post brought me joy, because in the tridentine inclined you have seen people who are living the faith and this is wonderful for me to hear and will make me slightly less dismissive of the trad's in the future.......
Archbishop 10K
Very nice. You're still left with texts in the both the Ordo and the Propers which have shifted the lex orandi.
Tricking out the Novus Ordo in a "Tridentine" body kit will not fix the stability, suspension, steering, range, efficiency, crash safety.
The traditional rite, celebrated very simply in the vernacular is infinitely to be preferred to the NO with Latin, chant and "deacon of honour".
I,and no doubt many more have not got the foggiest idea what this is all about
i think those two sisters were
great. l wonder if there are any
more such people.
You'll be interested to know that Fr. Tim Finnigan has recently reported on the turnout to protest against the SOR regulations act last night (Wed 21st March) outside pariliament.
The Catholic groups that turned out were: Latin Mass Society, Faith Movement (who on the whole are supportive of the old rite) and SPUC (which has a lot of members who attend the old rite).
Now I could go on and say, "Where were the Catholic Charismatics or Youth 2000?!!" but I won't. There are nominal and uncharitable Catholics in both spheres - traditional or modern. But for some posters to suggest that the hallmark of being uncharitable lies only with traditional Catholics is complete codswallop.
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