Insulting faithful Catholics after Vatican II in order to manipulate and abuse them came from the highest places of the Church:
An article from 1Peter5 posted below brings back so many memories of that mixed bag of Church history from 1965 to 1970. Let me be clear, as a teenager I loved the vernacular and at first loved Mass facing the people. It was exciting to see Church history unfold before my eyes. But I did not understand at the time was that the changes I like would lead to the crisis of Church division and scandal so prevalent until this day.
What do I mean?
1. Destruction of traditional church interiors and new construction to accommodate the elimination of tabernacle’s central position replaced by the priest’s throne as well as elimination of altar railings, statues, crucifixes and other art and altars projected into the nave surrounded by flexible seating
2. The simplification of the Mass actually dumbing it down in the most clerical way to accommodate the stupid laity who couldn’t participate in an active way otherwise, in other words, the denigration of the laity
3. Folk Masses with choirs, instruments in the sanctuary facing the congregation
4. Standing for Holy Communion, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion made ordinary and receiving Holy Communion in the hand
5. Off the cuff remarks by the priest at various points in the Mass, improvisation, creativity and asking the laity to gather around the altar, hold hands and say prayers out loud with the priest.
6. Prayers proclaimed while looking at the congregation as though the prayers were directed to them.
Read the 1Peter5 article, quite a good history:
Not Authorized: The Untold Story of the Death of the Old Mass
Introduction: A Time of Confusion Although it is now frequently claimed that the traditional Latin Mass (TLM) was never abrogated (totally abolished) following the Second Vatican Council, this position is squarely at odds not only with the lived experience of …
16 comments:
Joseph Goebbels would have been proud of the liberals efforts!
The massive propaganda efforts were despicable. I never experienced any joy from the destruction of the EF. Maybe my experience was different from many who post here, but our nuns
taught us to properly pronounce the Latin, to sing Gregorian chant ordinaries, and how to use our missals. Personally I found the "deforms" unnecessary, insulting, and unwelcome. I am just grateful to have lived long enough to see the EF being restored to its proper place. After all, it is the Mass of "noble simplicity" in stark contrast to the hydra-headed OF.
From 1965 to 1970 I would have been between 14 years old and 19 years old, which makes us roughly contemporary.
As a teenager, I questioned many of the Church's doctrines, in the immature way that teenagers are prone to do; however, I could not shut out of my mind the extraordinary pull of the Mass I had served as an eight-year-old boy in 1959, although I saw it disintegrating around me.
At University I read myself back into the Faith (not that I had really lost it) but found the actual praxis (as evidenced by the way the Novus Ordo was practised) difficult to come to terms with. I gave the Novus Ordo the benefit of the doubt and went out of the way to find the official Latin texts for it.
And so on for the next 35 years. As a Territorial Army officer Sundays, if not whole weekends, were devoted to training. I tried to get to the (London) Oratory as often as I could, and I shall never forget the first Easter Vigil I attended there, in 1979.
Once upon a time the opportunity of attending a Tridentine Mass every Sunday would have been unthinkable. Now I can do so easily. It's almost becoming commonplace - but the Mass is supposed to be commonplace in the true meaning of the word.
I heard a sermon from a priest recently who suggested that, as at the time of Trent, all liturgical rites lacking 200 years of usage to the present should be abolished.
If I recall correctly, this was part of the sermon during the Solemn Vigil of Pentecost celebrated according to the pre-1955 missal and was said in the presence of several priests and seminarians of the diocese. Would that they would heed the priest's excellent advice.
Father Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP gave an excellent lecture on this very subject at the Catholic Identity Conference in 2018. This talk carries a tremendous impact. The lecture is called Weapons of Mass Destruction. He will again speak at this years conference along with Bishop Athanasius Schneider. You can watch his 2018 lecture at:
ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4D2mmgv5qw
Bee here:
I was 10 in 1965 and 15 in 1970,, so just a few years younger than you, Fr. McD and you, John Nolan.
At that age I was open to the changes because, heck, as a kid everything was new, and it was assumed there would be improvement in the faith of Catholics, and we would become better Catholics through the changes. But I sorely began to miss the Catholicism I had known: the devotions, the feast days, being embedded in all things traditionally Catholic as I grew up. Even as they introduced guitars and the priests sported longer hair styles and tried to be "cool," I missed the old Mass and the music and ways we had done things.
I hit very rough waters after 18, when I entered a secular university and was bombarded with atheistic thinking and disparagement of my faith in every class it seemed (as I recall, even in my Spanish class.) I was a science major and my faith was openly ridiculed at every turn. I recall in one freshman biology lecture the professor openly mocking Mendel, the father of genetics who was also a Catholic monk, saying Mendel must have lied, because his numbers were too perfect. I could not believe this professor would openly disparage such a great scientist, as if to discredit him. It was clear it was because Mendel was a Catholic.
The priest at the Newman center was so modern that he was zero help. I had not been taught apologetics in high school, even though I went to a Catholic high school, and so, an 18 year old kid up against PhD's schooled in secular attacks against religion was for them like shooting fish in a barrel.
When I did seek out help from priests, even in my home parish, they were as flaky and wishy-washy as the ones we have now. Remember, this was Chicago. Cardinal Cody was the ordinary from 1965, and then we got Bernardin in 1982. Cody acted like a political "boss" and was much like the mayor at the time, Richard J. Daley. He was socially conservative, but had no problem implementing the changes from Rome. He was somewhat dictatorial in his approach. He was mired in scandal for financial improprieties and for apparently having a mistress. You all know Bernardin's reputation.
I bet if my parents had not been such committed Catholics I would probably not be a practicing Catholic today. They were not educated people, and could not teach me the faith though books, but only by telling me the truth as they had learned it, and hoping I believed them. Only after I reached my 30's did I begin to seek out Catholic books published before about 1950, and begin to make some progress in understanding the kinds of things I should have been taught.
I decided early on I wanted to go to heaven, and whatever the clergy was doing I didn't care. I was keeping my eyes on Jesus Christ, and ignoring all their double-speak that was meant to confuse me and obscure the religion. They could go to hell if they wanted to. I didn't have to join them.
God bless.
Bee
Bee,
Beautiful personal account of a very troubling time. I recall one “priest” (he was ordained but pretty worthless) accused me of being a 14th century Catholic because I refused the Spirit of Vatican II Koolaid. I asked him if there was a better kind of Catholic and he left me alone after that.
I remember this sort of thing from many quarters. Now we find out that wasn’t correct. So were they stupid or lying? And to top it off they covered up for homosexual recruitment of seminarians, rape of children, fiscal malfeasance, and so many other crimes we tire of the recitation. Taken all together it is actually a good thing because we an disregard practically anything they say, write, or do as complete hogwash. So I say shred Vatican II and reverse everything ever done pursuant to it, officially or in spirit. I am most disappointed in the men who didn’t do any of this but still turned a blind eye.
I read the 1Peter5 article yesterday and it reminded me why I won’t call it the EFM or TLM as it is the Mass of the Ages and all the modernist can go to hell with their fellow sodomites. I laugh at every attempt nowadays by our NO priest’s begging for more money or our USACP loving Bishop and his pathetic annual appeal. Why do they think the coffers are light these past few years; it’s because they’ve driven the weak to become nones and sickened the faithful catholic so much that we hold back our hard earned money.
Father McDonald please stop going on about saving Bugnini godless mass as it’s an abomination that will only end with Our Lord’s return which I pray for everyday.
God be Just with your punishment.
So Paul, the NO Mass is "Godless"? Really? Gee, I wonder why I am going to a "Godless " Mass along with hundreds of others at my parish in 30327 every Sunday. I must be duped. Maybe the scattering of Latin we have at our 10:00 Sundays helps (We sing the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei in Latin at that Mass) make our pitiful situation, well not so pitiful.
And so the NO Mass will end with the Lord's return? I did not realize he left instructions for the Mass when he (as they say in the creed), "ascended into heaven."
That isn't to say there could not be some changes made to the NO---maybe move the peace (if we have it at all) to a less disruptive time (like the offertory) But if the intent of NO is to "drive Catholics away", it aint working here in Atlanta. Our diocese (rather, Archdiocese) had about 30,000 members in 1962 amidst Vatican 2, now over a million two generations later.
Certainly, just as probably every denomination does, we can have some options for Sunday worship, whether NO, Latin or some of Eastern Rite liturgies.
'It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people.' (39 Articles, 1563)
'If anyone saith ... that the Mass ought to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue only ... let him be anathema.' (Council of Trent, 1562)
'Since no Catholic would now deny the lawfulness and efficacy of a sacred rite celebrated in Latin, the Council was able to grant that 'the use of the vernacular language may frequently be of great advantage to the people.' (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 1970)
It appears that some bishops aligned themselves more with the first proposition than the second, and the opening clause of the third statement presumed too much. The preamble of the GIRM goes on to say: 'The enthusiasm in response to this measure [permission for the vernacular] has been so great everywhere, that it has led, under the leadership of the Bishops and the Apostolic See itself, to permission for all liturgical celebrations in which the people participate to be in the vernacular, for the sake of a better comprehension of the mystery being celebrated.
The idea that the virtual disappearance of Latin between 1964 and 1967 was a result of popular demand was absurd when I first read it 45 years ago, and the second part is even more absurd now, when it would appear that most practising Catholics in the US (and probably elsewhere) either have no comprehension of the mystery being celebrated or actually reject it.
Anonymous,
I assume the growth in Atlanta comes from the Yankees fleeing the North or are you suggesting their have been massive conversions? What percent actually attend Sunday Mass? Although I agree with you that the OF is not “godless,” it is spiritually impoverished compared to the EF, a real snorer
“I wonder why I am going to a ‘Godless ‘ Mass along with hundreds of others at my parish in 30327 every Sunday.”
Probably similar to the reason billions of people go to mosques, Protestant meetings, Hindu temples, stay home, etc.
John Nolan,
Joseph Goebbels would have no problem with this statement:
"The enthusiasm in response to this measure [permission for the vernacular] has been so great everywhere, that it has led, under the leadership of the Bishops and the Apostolic See itself, to permission for all liturgical celebrations in which the people participate to be in the vernacular, for the sake of a better comprehension of the mystery being celebrated."
I thought the "Big Lie" was generally relegated to the secular realm, but it would now appear it found its way into the religious realm. This statement was a lie then, and it is a lie now. There was no popular demand for the vernacular and it certainly did not result in more folks coming into the Church. In fact, we lost millions of Catholics.
Unless things change, I believe if I live another 20-25 years, the majority of OF parishes that exist today, will be shuttered, and the parishes that offer the EF will continue to expand, albeit gradually. I don't know your experience in England, but that is what I am witnessing in the US. At least the folks who go to the EF are committed to Christ and His Church.
Between 1965 and 1970 I would have been between six and eleven years old, but when it comes to the Church, it was a time I will never forget--and not entirely for positive reasons. My foggy memory informs me that the appearance of the folk Mass came almost immediately after the premiere of the Novus Ordo--but I could be wrong. What I am NOT wrong about is how jarring and unsettling this entire rupture was and its effect on older Catholics. My maternal grandfather converted to the Catholic faith in 1912 and he was appalled by the changes, complaining that those who instructed him in the faith assured him that the Catholic Church, unlike the Protestant churches, would never change. His religious practices became much less enthusiastic and much more private after the initial shock.
I was definitely an outsider when it came to the changes. Most of the kids my age thought the changes were "cool". Even though I was just a little boy, I knew something was just not right. I could not understand this sudden repudiation for all that we had been taught before. This was especially a problem at Mass, where we were once encouraged to show reverence. Suddenly, we were all guests at some kind of raucous "love-in" where anything goes. It would take years for me to fully understand how and why this travesty came to be, but now, as an older man, I still mourn the Church's loss--or should I say trashing--of so much of its beautiful patrimony.
I will never forget coming back to class from a Friday afternoon school Mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and complaining to one of the nuns who taught us--a nun who no longer looked like a nun--about the changes in the Mass. She said, "But isn't it wonderful that now young people can participate in the Mass?" It was so insulting to hear that. We had already been TAUGHT to participate, by following the prayers in the Missal--with English translations right next to the Latin text. Isn't PRAYER the most important participation factor? I didn't have the words back then, but I am closer to it now: The whole thing smacked of pandering. Pandering didn't spread Christianity from 11 men in Jerusalem to every corner of the earth. Pandering didn't create saints and martyrs. And pandering will not last.
Pope Pius XII said, "I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soulI hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past."
I am still convinced that the Church, at some point, is going to have to get real and stop ignoring and rebuking its past. The model that has been foisted upon us back in the 1960's cannot sustain itself. Its "fruits" are visible in every scandalous headline we read about a Church that became so tolerant that it welcomed worldliness instead of working to transform the world.
And I would add that my mourning is NOT "nostalgia". It is a genuine regret and sadness for wonderful faith and culture that has been lost.
Paul McCarthy has a good point: Part of the reason the world is as bad as it is and our whole US society has become so degenerate can be traced right back to the "revolution" in our Church. Our bishops and priest no longer preach fearlessly about social issues that need correction. Instead, they talk about vague topics like "peace" and "community" or, in some dioceses, push the whole LGBT agenda. If they had put 1/10 as much energy and effort into opposing abortion, militant homosexualism, school "health" clinics that distribute contraceptives, birth control and various other social innovations we now just accept, we might just live in a different world. The fear of giving offense has taken all the flavor from the salt. I wish we had more bishops who were MEN. Instead, we've got what we deserve--ear ticklers and wimps.
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