Via Media, Via Pacis

And it goes like this, here it goes

Paranoia, the destroyer

Here it goes again

Paranoia, the destroyer

- The Kinks

POINT 1. The TLM world has been turned upside down: Traditionis Custodes; the dubia. Anyone who has rubbed shoulders with Latin Mass (1962 Missal) enthusiasts is aware that there is among said adherents an understandable zeal for the older missal and at times reserved disgust (and at times a not-so reserved disgust) for the Ordinary Form (Missa Normativa), the Liturgy of Pope Saint Paul VI. Keep reading.

POINT 2. Many among the blog-mob are saying that Latin Mass enthusiasts have brought the wrath of Rome down upon themselves. Is that a fair judgement? The Latin Mass folk in our neck of the woods freely admit there are among them a few individuals who are borderline sedevacantists. A very small minority; hardly enough opposition to warrant concern and a prohibition of Mass according to the 1962 Missal.

POINT 3. The vast majority of Latin Mass attendees in the local diocese are more interested in preserving a beautiful liturgy than attacking the Pauline Mass, the authority of the local bishop and the unity of the flock.

POINT 4. Were those same Latin Mass enthusiasts to be polled about the state of most celebrations of the Pauline Liturgy, they could hardly be faulted for comments echoing observations made by Stephen P. White at The Catholic Thing.

I have been many times to Mass in the Novus Ordo form, at which the priest insists on making himself, rather than the sacrifice he offers, the center of attention. I have been to too many Masses in which all hint of transcendence is intentionally masked, and the entire celebration seems contrived to convince anyone in attendance that what is happening there is either profoundly silly or utterly pointless.

You're Next!

POINT 5. During these coronavirus times, the temptation to dine on fear-fueled conspiracies and spit out wrath as a defense mechanism is common. Many (most?) of our Latin Mass brethren are wound tight with fear and indignation. Can you blame them? It is somewhat annoying, however, to hear TLM-ers and others crow "You're next", i.e., that the Ordinariate is the next community/liturgy to be restricted (by Rome). What so-called traditionalists in the Latin camp forget or ignore is that the Ordinariate came into being by the promulgation of nothing less than an apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus 

III. Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared. 

Article 15, Complementary Norms of the Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 09.04.2019

§1. Divine Worship, the liturgical form approved by the Holy See for use in the Ordinariate, gives expression to and preserves for Catholic worship the worthy Anglican liturgical patrimony, understood as that which has nourished the Catholic faith throughout the history of the Anglican tradition and prompted aspirations towards ecclesial unity.

§2. Public liturgical celebration according to Divine Worship is restricted to the Personal Ordinariates established under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus. Any priest incardinated in an Ordinariate may celebrate according to Divine Worship outside the parishes of the Ordinariate when celebrating Mass without a congregation, or publicly with the permission of the rector/pastor of the corresponding church or parish.

§3. In cases of pastoral necessity or in the absence of a priest incardinated in an Ordinariate, any priest incardinated in a Diocese or in an Institute of Consecrated Life or Society of Apostolic Life may celebrate according to Divine Worship for members of the Ordinariate who request it. Any priest incardinated in a Diocese or in an Institute of Consecrated Life or Society of Apostolic Life may concelebrate Mass according to Divine Worship.

Dear Latin Mass friends of a certain bent - tame your frustrations. Please cease from splattering fury in Ordinariate forums. When there is a need to vent there are plenty of popular "traditionalist" TLM sites that give host to frustration.

Continuity

POINT 6. I have yet to meet an Ordinariate Catholic who still holds a grudge against his or her former community. The many stories to which I've been present express gratitude for their Anglican upbringing and gratitude for Pope Benedict's beneficence. Tested by many unjust, undeservedly harsh and inhospitable circumstances, former Anglican clergy and laity have moved on in mind and body to become the pillars of thriving Ordinariate communities characterized by hope, hospitality and thanksgiving. Their zeal to preserve the Anglican Patrimony and the mission to invite separated brethren into unity with Christ and His Church is shared by Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, the same Francis who promulgated the Ordinariate Missal.

The Ordinariate is (a) realized ecumenism, offering a way of being Catholic that aligns with the Second Vatican Council. Which is to say, the Ordinariate is true to Tradition and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Ordinariate preserves the insight of Saint John Henry Newman found in his An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

The Ordinariate avoids the unnecessary imbalance - i..e., tradition pitted against development - too often seen in "traditionalist" circles. Thus, the Ordinariate maintains unity within Christ's Church and provides a vehicle that enables unity with Christ and His Church for those seriously considering Christ's prayer to the Father - ut unum sint, that they all may be one (Holy Gospel according to Saint John: 17:21).

Class warfare?

POINT 7. Is it not odd that the socialist method of defining everything in terms of class warfare to effect division to till society for realignment to the socialist cause seems to have an analog in the Catholic liturgisphere? "Traditionalists" demonize their opposition as much as "progressives", and the same "progressives" dismiss anyone who points out deficiencies in the celebration of the new rite as an anti-Vatican II Neanderthal, in order to create a flux by which the "true Catholic class" may then assert itself. Odd, this is, and so harmful to the mission of Christ and His Church.

How many times have readers encountered at various "traditionalist" and "liberal" sites the same miserable war of words, a battle to claim the liturgical and theological high ground at the expense of charity and truth? How many times have we witnessed commentators attempt to manufacture conflict by pitting seemingly opposed ideals against one another, resulting in comboxes filled with pseudonymous contributors aggressively attacking those deemed adversaries?

Via Media, Via Pacis

POINT 8. We in the Ordinariate must stay the course, the via media between misbehaving brethren who are consuming themselves and attempting to consume others. When we encounter attempts to draw Ordinariate Catholics into a conflict, we should counter demands for us to comply with an agenda that forces a conclusion of either this liturgy or that with an invitation to explore the Ordinariate experience.

“I have no doubt that if you read the Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) that actually the Ordinariate is the first occasion where that vision of that document has been fulfilled,” Msgr Newton said.

“When people are looking for what ecumenism really is, here it is, in a living form.”

What that means is the ordinariate, which became possible in 2009 through Pope Benedict XVI’s promulgation of the apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, gives former Anglicans a way to express their tradition, heritage and elements of worship but still be in full communion with the Catholic Church.

The community, which operates similarly to dioceses, has its own approved Missal, places a great emphasis on beautiful music and worship, and retains many Anglican-rooted aspects of pastoral care.

“What we pray is who we are and therefore the liturgy form that is now fully Catholic, approved by the Holy See, encapsulates a lot of the patrimony pre-reformation and post-reformation of the Anglican tradition,” Msgr Entwistle said.

“There is a poetry in the language, there is a rhythm to the language and somehow that connects with people’s desire and search for truth, and beauty and holiness.” - Emilie Ng at the Catholic Leader

Liturgical Hospitality

POINT 9. The Ordinariate experience is beyond false dichotomies, and beyond the politics of "traditionalist" versus "progressive". The Ordinariates have arrived on the seen precisely at a time when the Church needs what God is offering to the Church in and through His mustard seed, the Ordinariate initiative. The Personal Ordinariates propose among the many treasured gifts of the Anglican Patrimony a much needed sense of equilibrium that is nothing less than a gift of the Holy Ghost, a very Catholic way of looking at life that invites the wider Church to fervently embrace the good, the true and the beautiful, and to take up again with verve the universal mission to save souls. 

The liturgical hospitality clearly manifest in the Ordinariate Mass flows into the fellowship after Mass, and is vital to the care and formation of souls. The fellowship so well known to Catholics nurtured in their former Anglican and Methodist homes is not merely something tacked on to gatherings after Mass. The fellowship after Mass is a fruit of the hospitality of Christ Whom we have received as Eucharist, in holy communion. This same fellowship is a bridge to living eucharistically in the world.

Unity in the truth for the salvation of souls.

POINT 10. God always wills the good. Hope, mercy, truth, justice, love and compassion abound in the Mass, in Divine Worship. Let us share the many treasures of Divine Worship with our brethren by consistently celebrating the sacred mysteries with due reverence, with attention to detail, and with a sober enthusiasm for the Anglican patrimony, the patrimony bequeathed to us by those courageous souls who have laboured for many, many years to faithfully preserve the gifts they have received.

Let us pray for all bishops and priests, that they may be good and holy stewards of the sacred mysteries. Let us pray that God may grant us all the grace to love Him and serve His people according to the state in which we find ourselves, be it a lofty one or a humble one or any one in-between. May we in the Ordinariate be constant examples of unity in the truth for the salvation of souls.