Cardinal Ratzinger of the Congregation of the Faith in a June 23, 2003 letter to Dr Heinz-Lothar Barth of Bonn revealed his personal views on, and dreams for, a single Rite in the Latin Church. It appears that this is now a work in progress as the new term for the desired accommodation of the Novus Ordo to the liturgy of Pius V is ‘mutual enrichment’
Just what does this "desired accommodation of the Novus Ordo to the Liturgy of Pius V" mean? We can only guess.
This of course, as most things I write on this blog, are my opinions on what we will see happening, because, well, we've seen them happen at papal liturgies which his MC has indicated is the style of Pope Benedict to propose to the Church before he mandates:
I take it that the 1962 missal as an extraordinary expression of the one Latin Rite will not itself change dramatically. I also take it that the 2012 missal (actually revised in Latin in 2003) will not change dramatically either. However it is the 2003/2012 missal that will in some ways change from a closer look at what was lost theologically and spiritually from the 1962 missal.The 1962 missal will enrich the future reform of the Novus Ordo Mass. Just my opinion folks, you know I'm not clairvoyant, but maybe I am.
Just off the bat, what I think are the most obvious changes coming; but when I have no idea:
1. Kneeling for Holy Communion. I think this will be the single most radical recovery and the single most important recovery and enrichment. The pope has modeled this now for most of his papacy. He has explained why he does this. It makes sense!
2. Some Latin will be mandated; I think it will be the Sanctus, Pater Noster and Agnus Dei; why these? I don't know, but these are now in Latin in the normal part of the revised Roman Missal.
3. Ad Orientem or the Benedictine Altar Arrangement. Of the two I think Ad Orientem makes better sense, but I recognize that facing the people has been very well received by most Catholics, but I do believe it confuses people in terms of priestly prayers that look like these are directed to or are being read to the congregation, very odd for prayer to be perceived that way by anyone.
4. The Introit and offertory and communion antiphons will be mandated to be sung in sung Masses as these are now required for spoken Masses (except the offertory antiphon), not to be replaced by "devotional hymnody, no matter how good." This doesn't mean your favorite hymns won't be sung, but they will clearly be seen as filler and add ons, in other words what these really are, devotional music imposed on the Liturgy. (I don't mean imposed to be understood negatively). Also the gradual as an option to the Responsorial Psalm will be encouraged.
5. The 1965 transitional Missal's Order of the Mass will be recovered which is basically a minor reform of the 1962 missal. However, I think the Dismissal and blessing will remain the blessing and dismissal that we currently have at the end of Mass. However, the 2012 missal apart from its Order will not change and all the options that are in it will remain options including all the new Eucharistic prayers, which in the revised English, are all very, very good!
This is what is different in the 1965 Order of the Mass compared to the 1962 Order:
2. If another Liturgical action precedes, such as wedding nuptial or the Asperges, the prayers at the foot of the altar are omitted. (This is new too).
3. There is an option that after the prayers at the foot of the altar or another liturgical act, the priest goes up an kisses the altar and then goes and presides from the Chair. At this point the Introit would be sung or said as this is done and then the Kyrie, Gloria and Collect would be prayed from the chair.
4. It is made explicit that the priest is not to recite any prayers or antiphons, such as the Introit, Gloria, Credo independently of the congregation and schola as they sing these. The priest joins in singing these at the same time. This also is extended to the canon, the priest does not say the sanctus to himself as the choir sings it, but sings it with them; therefore he does not say the canon quietly as the choir sings the sanctus. This is new to the 1965 missal and a revision of the 1962.
5. General Intercessions are allowed as an explicit option (according to local custom). This is not in the 1962 missal. There is the option of the presentation of the offerings in a offertory procession.
6. The offertory prayers are from the 1962 missal exactly and the paten is placed under the corporal after it is the host is offered which itself is placed on the corporal.
7. The Roman Canon with its rubrics is prayed and in quiet voice (no change from the 1962 missal). However, the "through Him, with Him..." is revised to eliminate the signs of the cross over the chalice and coporal with the Host. It is revised as is currently done in the OF Mass.
8. The Lord's prayer through the priest's Communion is the same as the 1962 missal except the placing of the paten under the Host eliminates holding the paten sideways and kissing it. The priest simply places the host onto the paten after the "Deliver us..."
9. The Communion of the people is made explicit in the 1965 missal but not in the 1962 missal but there is no change (the additional confiteor was removed in the 1962 missal and remains removed in the 1965 missal).
10. The dismissal still precedes the final blessing and the final blessing still has the "Placeat tibi...prayer"preceding it. The Last Gospel, alas, is suppressed, not there, kaput!
No one could say that the 1965 missal wasn't revised and simplified according to what Vatican II envisioned.
17 comments:
How about a real offertory as well? If there is a "major" problem with the Mass of Paul VI it is here.
Father,
Why not just return to the 1965 Missal as the structure and as the "Ordinary Form" with the new Lectionary?
In my opinion, this Missal was the simplified Mass envisioned by the Council (as you indicated). But even it allowed the error of the Propers (Introit, Offertory and Communion Antiphons) being subsituted by devotional hymnody.
One could restore the Offertory from 1965 instead of the Talumudic prayer now used and mandate the Roman Canon for Sundays and Feasts.
Of course some fusion of calendars needs to occur.
The 1962 Missal can never be done away with...but, in the Sung Mass, some addition chanting by the Priest..."per ipsum..." the communal singing of the Pater Noster are two examples as well as reforming the dismissal in line with the OF. I would also add a "Lesson" to the Readings with the Gradual following that and the Alleluia following the Epistle.
If there could be some harmony between the sanctoral and temporal cycle, we could have one unified Lectionary.
Of course, the OF must return to the Gesima Sunday and the Octave of Pentecost and both should have restored the Octave of Epiphany.
As for Holy Week...throw out 1955 except for the Hours of the Services and the reception of Holy Communion by all and go with it.
I have the actual 1965 altar missal and in mint condition and still in its box! It does not allow for the Introit, offertory and communion antiphons to be omitted. And it makes it clear that the Introit is sung or said after the Prayers at the Foot of the altar, but before the Kyrie. Because of this "traveling music" with a choral hymn could be sung at the procession and prior to the prayers at the Foot of the altar. And of course additional music is allowed after the official offertory and communion antiphons. There is no prohibition to a recessional hymn although none is prescribed in the missal, including the 2012.
On a personal level, I appreciate and very much like the 2012 missal for everything else including the additional Eucharistic prayers, revised orations, prefaces, etc. Also I appreciate the revision of the Holy Week Liturgies, and especially the Easter Vigil but also Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
I really wouldn't change anything in the 2012 missal except the "imposition" of the 1965 order of Mass.
I personally like the canon to be prayed audibly. I don't think any authentic "organic" changes that in harmony with the ancient Mass will be jettisoned.
I agree though about the season of Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost--these could easily be added to the revised Roman Calendar in a heart beat as well as Saints Christopher and Valentine and any others who got suppressed.
Fr. McDonald, I wonder how you'd feel about a requirement that the Eucharistic Prayer EITHER be chanted OR recited in a rather low (though not necessarily absolutely silent) voice.
I've heard the EP chanted in a way that draws one into participation and elevates the liturgy. Whereas it almost always seems to me that listening to the EP recited in a normal speaking voice reduces one to a passive role as merely a spectator, not much different from sitting on a couch and watching on TV. (Perhaps as a versus populum celebrant you've noticed peoples' 30-yard stares during the recited EP?)
Call me skeptical, but I hope that the result of this mutual enrichment will be yet another Novus Ordo, not a replacement for the EF.
Henry the chanting of the Eucharistic Prayer is marvelous and certainly not something that is at all in the 1962 missal. Here at St. Joseph, at our two principal Masses 9:30 and 12:10 on Sunday we sing everything, including the Sign of the Cross, greeting, introductory remarks for the penitential act and preface, everything, but the Creed (but the days are coming for that too). I only chant the Eucharistic Prayer and usually from the Epiclesis through the consecration and first paragraph after for very solemn occasions as this is the only way we can have some semblance of "progressive" solemnity here.
I'd love to chant the readings too, but our deacons are tone deaf, but when we don't have a deacon I have chanted the Gospel and it is very well received.
BTW we chant everything that is suppose to be chanted at our monthly High EF Mass including the Credo!
I think there will be an EF option always for those who want it but I think a revised
NO Mass more like the EF will allow it to fade away naturally.
Excellent nutshell coverage of historical changes and analysis of the future, Father! Thanks--
Would that the Paters in the trenches understood all this as well as you, and were as committed to holy, transcendant liturgies. We in the pews might not be suffering to the extent that we do, and knowing that our children & grandchildren are never exposed to the beauty we once knew..
I doubted it at the time, but now (thanks to Pope Benedict) I suspect Fr. John McCloskey, writing in the year 2000, got it just about right in this "letter to a new priest at his ordinarion in the year 2030", from an older priest reflecting on what had happened during the first 3 decades of the 21st century:
2030: Looking Backwards
http://www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/2030.html
"I saved the best for last of this rather personal and quirky take on the development of the Church in your lifetime, which probably, in truth, has been written as much for me as for you. Arguably the worst aspect of the distortion of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council was the abuse of the liturgy. I will spare you the details because they are truly too painful to recount. The sacrileges, blasphemies, irreverence, and down right ugly bad taste has gradually petered out during the years of your childhood. As it turns out, contrary to some opinions, the problem was not at all with rites but rather with reverence, obedience to the rubrics, and the interior lives of those celebrating the sacraments. Now that the priesthood and the religious life are generally healthy in belief and spirit, the Mass being celebrated the way the Council intended in order to give glory to God, foster devotion in the laity through their active participation. While the Tridentine rite in all its glory continues to be celebrated in some churches, every parish has a Latin Mass every Sunday morning, along with other vernacular Masses, celebrated with reverence, a well prepared homily, sung chant, incense, and beauty in appointments that leaves no one among us who remember the old Mass nostalgic for it. The lay faithful realize when they walk into a Church that it is not a meeting place but rather a place of worship and personal prayer, where Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament complete with Benediction, and other devotions such as the Way of the Cross and liturgical Morning and Evening Prayer can almost always be found."
As a former Anglican, my own view is that restoration of kneeling wouldn't be as big of a deal as ad orientem (although it would be both important and welcome). Given my experience, kneeling just doesn't seem a part of the remote past. Ad orientem, though, would be such a departure from the horizontal and from the seeming attention of the priest on the people that it would be jarring, and in a good "It isn't all about you, folks" kind of way. In other words it would be the greatest challenge to the mindset of the American (read: egalitarian, self-centered) Catholic.
Here is something that is ancillary, but may have a big impact on this change: Confession. The local FSSP parish places the Sacrament of Confession in great prominence. This establishes a mind set of humility that makes the reverent nature of their Mass a natural and comforting feature.
rcg
Father, I am a little confused about the way you phrased parts of your post. You say you like the 2012 Missal and say it will not change. But then you say the OF will become the 1965 Missal. Are you contradicting yourself, or am I just not comprehending what your are trying to say. Could you please explain it a little clearer for a moron like myself, how the OF will both remain the 2012 Missal and become the 1965 Missal?
Of course everything I write here is all conjecture on my part, but like CBS show, "The Mentalist" I think there are clues that we will eventually see a revision of the OF Mass so that it is more like the EF Mass in style of celebration and spirituality. But I can't predict the future, or can I?
I think the OF Missal, not necessarily its order, but everything else in it, orations, prefaces, calendar, language will basically remain what has already been revised.
What could change is the Order of the Mass more like the Extraordinary Form--this would be extremely easy to do and all it would require is an insert into the current 2012 missal to accomplish it. But again, this is purely conjecture on my part.
I don't see a radical elimination of the OF missal by a long-shot and much of it is "organic development." What might be called into question is the "ethos" of the OF Mass which seems to have been a breach with the EF rather than in continuity. But much of that has to do with progressive liturgical theologians that so influenced the way the OF Mass was to be celebrated in the 1970's and the detrimental influence they had on church renovations and architecture which in many ways robbed the Church of her liturgical identity, but more of her Catholic identity and tried to impose a new model altogether different. I hope this helps.
The only other way to make the OF Mass appear more like the EF is keeping everything as it is and truly encouraging Ad Orientem for the Liturgy of the Eucharist and kneeling for Holy Communion, just doing these two things and nothing else would be a tremendous move forward with the reform within continuity movement also known as the new liturgical movement.
I could be fairly happy with the OF under the new Missal if a) we has (in my parish) the Kyrie in Greek, and the several parts which would most benefit from it, in Latin. It would also be a huge improvement if there were no improvisations with respect to the Gloria (attempting to add a refrain) or with the text of the responsorial psalm. I have seen some instances already in which the responsorial used is almost completely different than in the Missal.
As far as the OF 2012 Missal, in my opinion, it just needs to be tweaked a little. I would like to see "rites b and c" of the penitential rite eliminated (sad, but in my parish, we still have not prayed the Confiteor, and I have really been looking forward to praying "mea culpa"), Eucharistic Prayer 4 supressed (does anyone use EP4??? I'm in my 40s, and have NEVER heard it in Mass), eliminate the protestant portion of the Our Father, and the "handshake of peace".
The real deal would be to change the rubrics to closer match the EF. That's where the real power struggle will lie. After all, actions speak louder than words.
I tried my hand at imagining a reintegrated Rite of Entrance, with the Penitential Rite and Pax resituated.
http://lookin4ahero.blogspot.com/2012/01/experimenttum.html
Father, I do like your ideas to continue the "Reform of the Reform" within the Novus Ordo Mass. They are certainly needed!!! I do like your reference to using the 1965 "Transitional" Roman Missal as the NO Mass. I do agree with the idea of for example that in a Nuptial Mass, the Wedding Ceremony should take place right before the actual Mass itself, as in the EF as well as the Asperges. The use of black (or violet) vestments for Requiem Masses. The 3 additional Eucharistic prayers should be suppressed, and the Protestant line at the end of the Our Father (for the kingdom, the power...)as well as the so-called "Sign of Peace" should be suppressed. I am totally agreeing with you on the reception of Holy Communion which should be universally, KNEELING AND ON THE TONGUE!!! Restoring altar rails, etc. Latin should be used at every Mass, and the only Latin required should be in the Canon (which is to be done in silence), and the musical parts of the Mass, which are recited in Low Masses. Other parts of the Mass in Latin, should be up to the priest celebrant. Restoring the levels of Mass (low, sung, solemn high). Also to a further extent, restoration of the sub-deaconate. As for the prayers at the Foot of the Altar, psalm 42 should be included as in the 1962 Missal (omitted in Requiem Masses). I prefer the use of the Last Gospel after all Masses (except during Passiontide) and the Leonine Prayers to be restored after Low Masses (which are so desperately be needed to be prayed for the world in which we live in today). There should be guild lines for liturgical vestments, the roman fiddle-back chasubles, semi-gothic in the "Catholic" style and made of the traditional vestment material. No modernist vestments, chasubles, etc. The priest is to wear the amice, and the maniple and wear is cassock or habit underneath his liturgical vestments. If an additional priest is to assist in the distribution of Holy Communion, he should wear the surplice or rochet over his cassock or habit, not the alb! The use of the General Intercessions should be totally optional and so should the procession of the offertory gifts by members of the faithful. One big note, ONLY THE PRIEST (and deacon) SHOULD DISTRIBUTE HOLY COMMUNION!!! SUPPRESS THE USE OF EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS!!! EM's seem to be the ordinary ministers of the Eucharist in most places and that needs to stop!!! Other abuses that need to end immediately are "altar girls," and guitar masses!!! Gregorian Chant and Polyphony should only be used for the musical parts of the Mass! And of course, the organ should be the only musical accompaniment. Get rid of all of the Protestant "songs" in hymnals and have hymnals with only Catholic Hymns!!! Lay lectors should only be instituted lectors (seminarians). The deacon/priest should do the epistle and Gospel. For the Novus Ordo, I would like to see the 1962/EF calendar in use, a unified liturgical calendar!! However, update the 1962 calendar with the newly canonized saints since 1962 for the NO. Here, you will also see the restoration of the Octave of Pentecost, Season of Septuagesima, Ember Days, Vigils, Commemorations, certain votive Masses, Feasts of Saints that have been suppressed since 1969/70, etc. Also, keep in place the Traditional lectionary, where the readings actually relate to the meaning of the day's Masses or saint's feast. Not trying to get through the entire Bible in 3 years (on Sundays and Holydays) and in 2 years (on weekdays) with readings that don't relate to the Mass of the day/liturgical season. I prefer that the NO should be celebrated Ad Oritenem!!!
May God Bless!!! And hopefully we will come to see someday very soon a Novus Ordo that's looks like an Extraordinary Form/1965 "Transition" Mass!!!
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