Where the Liturgy goes... .

[12 minute read]

The liturgy is the action of Jesus Christ. How, then, can it be anything other than the answer to our divisions and also the most fundamental source of the renewal of the Church? - Pope Benedict XVI

Catholics of the Latin Rite have for decades endured something of a slurry of strange practices - liturgical experiments and gooey devotions - to a degree that many parishes appear to trap people in superficial religion. The most unsettling symptom of a pseudo-faith is that the very source and summit of the life of the Church, the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Himself present among us, is treated with casual indifference, like a snack or mere treat.

While there are pockets of zealous disciples in Europe and the Americas, the mission to bring the Faith to the heart of every society and culture has been significantly inhibited by an abundance of timid witnesses who lack a clear identity, a Eucharistic identity in Christ.

Catholic politicians, a rather obvious cohort manifesting the slide into cheap religion, are evidence that a generation of ill-formed Catholics has taken its cue not from the wisdom and charity offered by the Church but from a chaotic world filled with temptations to power, fame and fortune, pride, shallowness and death. That Catholics continue to vote for other Catholics whose shabby example impacts societies in devastating ways - e.g., their active participation in the enactment of pro-euthanasia and pro-partial-birth abortion legislation, and their active role in devising policies that rob parents of their rights and permit the indoctrination of children in destructive ideologies - is confounding, to say the least.

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. - Revelation of Saint John 3:15-16

Catholics who merely warm pews, and are seemingly glad to do so, are fading into irrelevance. So, too, fades their tepidity that mocks healthy religion.

So the Liturgy goes, so goes the Church.

Catholic identity in Christ is made known in and through the Sacred Liturgy. Unfortunately, that identity has been obscured by tinkering enabled by devious men in the 1960s and 1970s.

Let's listen to three learned voices who have identified the pathogen at work in the Church since those impoverished decades of "free" love (debauchery), antinomianism and anarchy. Their presentation of primary source material, that makes explicit the then emerging misappropriation of authority, confirms the need for the cure proposed in the opening words of this post.

The liturgy is the action of Jesus Christ. How, then, can it be anything other than the answer to our divisions and also the most fundamental source of the renewal of the Church? - Pope Benedict XVI

Credit is due.

Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may, but at the length truth will out. - The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 2

The heavy lifting has been done by Yves Chiron at Church Life Journal (2021), Hugh Somerville-Knapman, OSB, at the Catholic Herald (2019), and Carl Bunderson at The Pillar (2023).

I. How The Novus Ordo Mass was made.

Excerpt from https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/how-the-novus-ordo-mass-was-made/

From October 8 to 17, the Consilium’s eleventh plenary session met to work on the Mass, but also on other rites (notably the Blessing of an Abbot and Religious Profession). (Pope Saint) Paul VI hosted the participants on October 14 and gave a long allocution. Its tone was graver than on any previous occasion. The pope issued several warnings: “Reform of the liturgy must not be taken to be a repudiation of the sacred patrimony of past ages and a reckless welcoming of every conceivable novelty.” He insisted on the “ecclesial and hierarchic character of the liturgy”:

The rites and prayer formularies must not be regarded as a private matter, left up to individuals, a parish, a diocese, or a nation, but as the property of the whole Church, because they express the living voice of its prayer. No one, then, is permitted to change these formularies, to introduce new ones, or to substitute others in their place.

More than this, Paul VI for the first time publicly deplored abuses committed by certain conferences of bishops:

This results at times even in conferences of bishops going too far on their own initiative in liturgical matters. Another result is arbitrary experimentation in the introduction of rites that are flagrantly in conflict with the norms established by the Church. Anyone can see that this way of acting not only scandalizes the conscience of the faithful but does harm to the orderly accomplishment of liturgical reform, which demands of all concerned prudence, vigilance, and above all discipline.

• See also: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/01/27/lament-for-the-liturgy/

Communion (should not be received) in the hand.

In 1965 Cardinal Lercaro, president of the Consilium, considered “placing the host in the open hands of the faithful” to be a deplorable and fanciful initiative. Neither the 1969 Missal nor the Institutio Generalis provided for the possibility of receiving communion in the hand. Yet the practice had already spread in several countries. The Congregation for Divine Worship therefore published a lengthy Instruction on the topic dated May 29, 1969.

As Jean Madiran was later to point out, this Instruction looks like a composite document. On the one hand, the Instruction uses different arguments (theological, spiritual, and practical) to defend the traditional manner of receiving communion (on the tongue, kneeling at the altar rail) and states that it must remain the norm: “In view of the overall contemporary situation of the Church, this manner of distributing communion must be retained. Not only is it based on a practice handed down over many centuries, but above all it signifies the faithful’s reverence for the Eucharist.”

For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. - Ephesians 1:9-10

Commentary

“Reform of the liturgy must not be taken to be a repudiation of the sacred patrimony of past ages and a reckless welcoming of every conceivable novelty.” Unfortunately, the Consilium enabled just that. That is, it enabled the repudiation of the sacred patrimony and enabled trivial novelty. An antipathy toward the patrimony has coalesced into a habit of mind and heart to the point that, if there is engagement with tradition-minded worship at all, so-called progressive Catholics are most likely to have a near allergic reaction to anything that even hints at the patrimony.

Looking around, I was astonished to see many college-aged men and women among the crowd. The priests seemed to be in their 30s. Clearly these people were too young to remember times before Vatican II. Yet something had drawn them here. Parental influence? Doubtful. It seemed to be a shared spirit of ultra-conservatism. I found it frightening to reflect on how the closed, Latin Mass mindset had managed to replicate itself over time and spread like a virus. - Zita Ballinger Fletcher, National Catholic Reporter

In the same 2019 article, there is a prolonged attacked on women in veils, a demand for communion in the hand (... while ignoring the fact that communion on the tongue is still the normative custom of the Church), and many a mischaracterization of practices associated with tradition-minded worship.

"The stubbornly resistant, anti-modern practices of these Latin Mass adherents border on cultism."

"All people inside the church are expected to kneel on cue at various points. The priest is at the center of the spectacle. He is separated from the people he is supposed to serve by an altar rail — a barrier that gives him privileges. To receive the Eucharist, people must kneel at his feet." (No, Miss Fletcher, they're kneeling as they receive the Body of Christ. Catholics kneel in the Presence of the Lord. The writer would know that if she took the time to learn the Faith.)

"Meanwhile, the Latin tradition oppresses women. Women are expected — indeed, in some cases commanded — to wear skirts instead of trousers, cover themselves with long clothing and wear veils over their heads. No such rules exist for the men. It is discrimination, and therefore the Latin Mass actively endorses sexism. Instead of a unifying form of worship, the Latin Mass has become an instrument of oppression and a gathering point for Catholic fundamentalists." (When viewed through the distorted lens of angry feminism, everything appears to be a threat. Let's jump, then, to a series of conclusions, why don't we.)

Miss Fletcher sounds like many others suffering from the effects of the dictatorship of relativism. Her unfounded complaints are those of an adolescent protesting unfair rules imposed by a mean old parent.

Given a pervasive animosity toward anything patrimonial, one could argue that the many blessings that have arisen since the Council have occurred in spite of the reforms, not because of the reforms. The growth of traditional communities that honour the sacred patrimony represents a trajectory that confounds and often offends progressive theologians and bishops who have no frame of reference other than the novelties that have formed them and that continue to blind them to the pressing need for restoration and liturgical authenticity.

II. The Strange Birth of the Novus Ordo Mass.

Excerpt from: https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-strange-birth-of-the-novus-ordo/

The Consilium is arguably the most ambitious but ill-starred committee in the Church’s history. Its membership was large and international in spread. Its initial 42 members (later 51) were mostly bishops; assisting them were more than 200 official consultors and unofficial advisers. Despite the use of working groups, plenary sessions of the Consilium were unwieldy and procedurally flawed.

The assessment of the Consilium’s first plenary meeting in the diary of Ferdinando Antonelli OFM, a full member (later a cardinal), was not flattering: “Merely an assembly of people, many of them incompetent, and others well advanced on the road to novelty. The discussions are extremely hurried … and voting is chaotic … Of 42 members, yesterday evening we were 13, not even a third of the members.”

By the eighth meeting, in April 1967, he found attendance improved, if far from full, though serious procedural problems remained, especially voting by show of hands. “But nobody counts who has raised a hand and who has not … It is disgraceful.” Even at this late stage no minutes were being recorded.

The real force in the Consilium was Fr Bugnini. Antonelli observed in 1967 that “Fr Bugnini has only one interest: press ahead and finish.” The French Oratorian Louis Bouyer, a leading light of the pre-conciliar Liturgical Movement and consultor to the Consilium, recalls Bugnini in his Mémoires as a “mealy-mouthed scoundrel … a man as bereft of culture as he was of honesty” whose “manoeuvres” Cardinal Lercaro was “utterly incapable of resisting”. When Bugnini faced opposition which was “not only massive but, one might say, close to unanimous” he would carry the day by declaring that “The Pope wills it!” From Paul VI himself Bouyer would learn that Bugnini pressed the pope to approve the removal of the cursing psalms by asserting a unanimous, but non-existent, recommendation from the Consilium.

Commentary

A movement or reform founded upon a lie will attempt to propagate itself by spreading lies, for it is a sterile thing that otherwise cannot bear fruit. Division within the Church is the result of a loss of conformity to truth, goodness and the beauty of God modelled by the saints.

Acid or Ambrosia?

One person - e.g., a Bugnini or a McCarrick - can effect a massive distraction and spark rebellion, a turning away from truth and goodness and beauty. One person, another person, e.g., a Pope John Paul II or a Pope Benedict, or a well-read and holy bishop such as Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, can redirect our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ and His agenda and ignite a return to principles and practices blessed by centuries of God's grace working in and through people's lives.

We can learn from the blessed past in order to move forward in faith and in hope. Embracing the legacy of the Holy Ghost, i.e., by embracing principles and spiritual practices He has inspired and are proven disciplines that dispose one to God's grace, we may better discern the signs of the times and adopt approaches that help us keep the commandments of Jesus Christ (St John 14:15-31). As it is, the cult of the "new" and shallow lingers. People seeking empowerment unwittingly wander into the demonic.

III. Radical Renewal of Worship.

Excerpt from: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/benedict-xvis-radical-renewal-of-worship

“Benedict XVI fundamentally and irreversibly changed the way the Church understands divine worship, and the effect of that radical renewal is only just beginning to be seen,” said Fr. James Bradley, a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America, and a PhD candidate in liturgical studies at the University of Vienna.

And while the former pope’s expansion of the use of the 1962 Missal is no longer in effect, Bradley believes Benedict’s more enduring contribution to the Church is in the way that the liturgy is emphasized and understood.

Bradley suggested that Benedict’s writings – both during his papacy and leading up to it – have helped the Church understand the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council.

“His entire conception of the Christian life was intimately wrapped up in the sacred liturgy, and for him it was the absolute priority: God first,” Bradley told The Pillar.

“From the perfect worship of the Trinity flows the life of the Church, and so in the period following the [Second Vatican] Council he saw the liturgy not as a point of division to be fought over, but of divinely given unity to be prized and held up.”

Bradley told The Pillar that Pope Benedict XVI pursued a “deeply liturgical life not just for himself but for the whole Church.”

“He sought to draw people to God not according to a program or man-made itinerary, but through the action of Christ the High Priest in authentic Christian worship,” he said.

“The liturgy is the action of Jesus Christ. How, then, can it be anything other than the answer to our divisions and also the most fundamental source of the renewal of the Church?”

Commentary

An opportunity for renewal and restoration is dawning, has dawned. Those oriented to the East and the rising sun, symbol of the Lord returning in glory, those ad orientem Catholics turned toward the Lord, are a leaven in the dough. Might it also be said that those dis-oriented Catholics -  versus populum Catholics? - are facing away from that dawn, the Dawn? Those facing one another, and enamoured in each other, cannot see Who and what approaches because they are physically and spiritually turned inward towards themselves.

The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is closed in on itself. - Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p.80

In a very real sense, versus populum "worship" enables people to project themselves into the Mass not as an oblation or gift of themselves but as a demand that God conform to man's will. That is, man's demand that the Mass must conform to a little god, the little tyrant that is me-myself-and-I. Arrogance! Whereas, ad orientem worship establishes us praying toward the liturgical East, toward the Lord returning in glory, and we offer our gifts - of money, time, talent, hopes, hurts, contrition, gratitude, and the bread and wine that symbolize those gifts - in faith that the Lord will receive them, symbols of our very selves, and transform them - transform us. At the hands of the priest, Jesus the High Priest transforms the bread and wine into His very Body and Blood. How is it, then, that a person (made in the image and likeness of God) can encounter the most sublime Gift of God, and wander away after Mass unchanged, almost indifferent to the joy, hope, love and mercy offered by God?

Poorly formed Catholics stubbornly cling to various caricatures of the Faith born of the protest that followed in the wake of the Council: irreverent reception of Holy Communion; heterodox music; narcissistic preaching; careless ritual and clumsy architecture; and social justice programs that perpetuate violence against the most vulnerable and attempt to substitute an embrace of sin for authentic charity and holiness.

The reform initiated by the Holy Ghost through Saint Francis is not the protest of a Luther and a Calvin or a Zwingli. "St. Francis showed people how to faithfully follow Jesus, which brought about many conversions (Louise Merrie @ Catholic Exchange, 5 October 2022)." Is the Holy Spirit calling us to respond and repair the Church from the parish up? Not a call for the creation of a new Church, mind you, but the renewal of the same Church founded by Jesus on the shoulders of Saint Peter? 

Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania?

Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?

Perhaps they rage because they abandoned God and common sense, and substituted a me-centric agenda for a God-centred renewal?

Let us work together to "draw people to God not according to a program or man-made itinerary, but through the action of Christ the High Priest in authentic Christian worship(.)"