I have no problem with the Ordinary Form Mass or the vernacular just as I have no problem with the EF Mass and Latin, be it in the EF or OF.
I would like to see some minor revisions to the OF to make it more in continuity with the EF and I insist that we have that glorious revision in the Ordinariate's new Roman Missal. Its genius needs to be given to the normative Latin Rite revised Roman Missal.
It really isn't that hard and it is being done already for a small fraction of Roman Catholics.
17 comments:
They need to suppress the myriad of options in the OF. There are too many. And of course lefty priests ALWAYS choose the options which least resemble the EF
Just last week I attended a funeral visitation for the dentist who took care of me during my childhood and younger adult years. He died at age 92 and was actually a Lutheran but, as we have no Lutheran Church here in Waycross, he attended the local Episcopal Church. Interestingly, he shared with me once how he was not a fan of regular offering of Holy Communion under both species in his church (as a dentist, he had health concerns about the common cup). He believed, as we do, that to receive under one Form is completely Christ and to receive both is unnecessary.
The point of this post is that I spoke with a young transitional deacon (Episcopal) and I informed him that I am Roman Catholic. He immediately asked me if we had ad orientem worship in our Church. I then told him that it was a legitimate option, though rarely used, in the newer vernacular Mass but that it is the norm in the older Latin Mass which I suggested he attend at the Cathedral in Savannah some time.
I was previously acquainted with this young man from the court system (he is a mental health counselor and often appears in the court I work in to help us with some of the defendants). His father was savagely murdered about 20 years ago here when he went out in front of his home one morning to offer help to a couple of young men who appeared to have a stalled truck. They literally beat this man's head in with a ball pein hammer.
I did a double-take when this young deacon came up to shake my hand and he was wearing a tab-style clerical collar. I never knew he was an Episcopal deacon. Anyway, back to the point---it seems that even in the Episcopal Church there are some younger clergy who are interested in returning to mostly discarded liturgical traditions. It made my day.
JJ, I took my wife and youngest to see Bath and visited the Abbey there. A very elderly Episcopal minister approached and we discussed the current state of the Liturgy. He seemed nostalgic for the old form and hinted that he hoped for reconciliation of the Churches. So some of the older folks are interested, too.
Joseph, I don't think there has ever been any edict in the Episcopal Church in terms of the direction of the altar; from what I hear, the current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia (based in Savannah), Scott Benhase, prefers the Eucharist facing the people. However, in Savannah there is still old St. Johns Church, a few blocks from the Cathedral, which still uses the old 1928 Book of Common Prayer (their version of what Catholics would call the old, per 1965 or so Latin Missal) and the Eucharist celebrated away from the congregation. In fact, if you go to St. Johns' website, the rector there wrote a recent piece for their church bulletin on why ad orientum worship is the way to go.
Here in Atlanta, most Episcopal churches I have visited (such as for weddings and funerals) have copied modern day Catholic ones and put their altar in the middle, with the priest or bishop facing the people.
I suspect Waycross has a pretty small Episcopal (and Catholic) population, but the local Episcopal one down there did produce a record of sort---the longest-serving diocesan Episcopal bishop in America, Charles C.J. Carpenter (bishop of Alabama 1938-1969), was stationed there in the 1920s. Carpenter also served as rector of the aforementioned St. John's Church in Savannah before being elected bishop of Alabama in 1938. Maybe someday a Catholic bishop native to Waycross will be named!
I agree, Father. There was a time when I thought priests just needed to begin offering one Sunday Mass each week celebrated with the more traditional options provided by the liturgical norms. However, it is by now undeniably clear that powerful forces extending from chanceries to parishes simply will not allow any room in the life of the Church for those Catholics hungering for liturgical reverence or solemnity. Therefore, there must be mandates, with consequences.
Talking about OF options that least (or most) resemble the EF, I have a question for Father McDonald or any of our other priest commenters here:
Is there some kind of mandate in place for the use of the Roman Canon (EP I) at Mass on Holy Thursday? Last Holy Thursday I noticed that our pastor used it (he otherwise never uses its that I have seen). I favorably commented to him after the Mass that I appreciated his use of it (with all the Saints' names) and he made some remark to the effect that this was the only time he would use it. I seem recall hearing EP I at other Holy Thursday Masses.
What's the deal?
In Germany if you visit a church which looks like a Catholic church (high altar with reredos and a centrally placed prominent crucifix) it is a clear indication that you have entered a Lutheran church.
Lutherans in Germany were less destructive than English Protestants, so do not be surprised to find a late medieval altarpiece by the likes of Tilman Riemenschneider (c.1460-1531) in a Lutheran church.
The Reformation in England led to the loss of nearly all religious art and a large amount of polyphonic music, much of which existed only in manuscript.
John Nolan,
And our Vatican II "reformers" aka phillistines, took their cue from the English Protestants!
Joseph Johnson,
There is a special insert for the Roman Canon on Holy Thursday, which is enough to prompt some priests to EPI, but there is no mandate to use that canon.
I don't recall where I read this since it was a long time ago, but I seem to recall that the Roman Canon should ordinarily be used on Sundays, but that obviously fell on deaf ears. The Roman Canon is the most beautiful of the Canons and there is kind of a lilt, cadence, that you don't find with the others
Dialogue
There are Proper 'Communicantes' in the Roman Canon for Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost (and a Proper 'Hanc igitur' for Easter and Pentecost). This would suggest that EP I should be used on these days.
I can't find any variation for Maundy Thursday.
The Roman Canon is the oldest anaphora to have come down to us and it is odd that the 20th century reformers were so anxious to get rid of it and replace it with new compositions when they were forever bleating about 'ressourcement'. I desperately wanted to like the Novus Ordo but as more and more comes out about its dubious provenance and the intentions of those who authored it, not to mention its abject failure in attracting congregations or renewing devotion to the Eucharist, I have to conclude we were sold a pup.
It won't last; it is a 'domus aedificata super arenam' and the result is not in doubt: 'et descendit pluvia, et venerunt flumina, et flaverunt venti, et irruerunt in domum illam, et cecidit, et fuit ruina illius magna.'
Something is not a "canon" when it is an option. Therefore, there is no "Roman Canon" in the Novus Ordo service. What purports to be the Roman Canon, EPI, has changed the Words of Consecration, which are the most important aspect of the Roman Canon.
Marc,
True, the Roman Canon as used in the EF is not exactly the same as EPI (also referred to as the "Roman Canon" in OF Missals and missalettes). Anyone who isn't familiar should read "Pope Paul's New Mass" by the late great Michael Davies. The book has a whole chapter devoted to this subject and the other new EP's.
The official Missal calls them canons. Marc doesn't.
Who is right?
The new missal also calls itself a "Mass," but...
John Nolan,
In the Proper of Time's "Thursday of Holy Week: Mass of the Lord's Supper", number 23., the priest says, "On the day before he was to suffer...'that is today'...". Granted, it's minor, but enough to convince some priests to use this canon.
Dialogue
You're right, of course. In my CTS missal it's not where you'd expect to find it, but in the Propers of the feast itself, where one finds (insertions in square brackets):
Communicantes, [et diem sacratissimum celebrantes, quo Dominus noster Jesus Christus pro nobis est traditus] ...
And:
Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostrae, sed et cunctae familiae tuae, [quam tibi offerimus ob diem, in qua Dominus noster Jesus Christus tradidit discipulis suis Corporis et Sanguinis sui mysteria celebranda] ...
And:
Qui pridie quam [pro nostra omniumque salute] pateretur, [hoc est hodie] ...
If the first two were to be added to the 1962 Missal it could be considered an example of 'mutual enrichment'; the third is more problematic, as there is no tradition of making additions to the text at this point.
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