Letters

New Mass (letter)

Philip Robinson

Contents - Sep 2003 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The future of the Anglican Church - Peter Westmore New auxiliary bishops appointed to the Sydney Archdiocese - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World - AD2000 Dissident US group establishing a foothold in Australian parishes - Mary-Ruth Monsour Catholic summer conferences in the United States: signs of hope - Richard Egan Culture: Second 'Carnivale Christi' Catholic arts festival scheduled for Melbourne - Michael Gilchrist Events: Hearts On Fire Vocations Congress for Melbourne Archdiocese - Joanne Grainger Understanding the Catholic Liturgy since Vatican II - Dom Alcuin Reid OSB Pope John Paul II calls for greater use of Latin - Denis Murphy Homosexual conduct: how Gospel teaching can be distorted - Bill Muehlenberg Letters: Not closing ranks (letter) - Alan Gill Letters: Hidden agenda (letter) - Dr Arthur Hartwig Letters: Liturgical choices (letter) - Marguerite Fennell Letters: New Mass (letter) - Philip Robinson Letters: Converts (letter) - Kevin Tighe Letters: Selfhood (letter) - Robert Prinzen-Wood Letters: Prophetic words (letter) - Errol Duke Letters: Freedom to be born (letter) - George F. Simpson Abridged Papal encyclicals available - Fr M. Durham Letters: Correction - Chris Hilder Books: OLD THUNDER: A Life of Hilaire Belloc, by Joseph Pearce - Scott J. Bloch (reviewer) Books: Some Fell On Rock, by Fr John O'Neill - Fr Peter Joseph (reviewer) Books: The Practical Preacher: Handy Hints for hesitant homilists, by Paul Edwards SJ - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: Great books at the best prices! Reflection: A Christian response to bereavement: Jesus' ministry to the sick and dying - Fr Dennis Byrnes

Peter Howard ("New Mass", July AD2000) says that my letter in the June edition was a "simplistic criticism of Paul VI's New Mass". However, I did not criticise the Novus Ordo per se.

My first point was to try to correct a misunderstanding, widely held by many Catholics, both "Traditional" and "Novus Ordo", that the most important aspects of the Traditional Latin Mass are the Latin and/or the Gregorian Chant. They are certainly important, but "it is the Mass that matters".

A Mass celebrated in a battle zone on a makeshift altar, or in a humble country church, can be as efficacious as a Solemn High Mass celebrated on the High Altar of a Cathedral with Gregorian Chant. Some Catholics appreciate more than others this Mass, while others prefer the quietness of a Low Mass.

My second point, which I take Peter Howard agrees with, is that not all of the original instructions regarding the celebration of the Novus Ordo have been implemented. Latin and Gregorian Chant were just two things that were to be retained. I would be pleasantly surprised if someone could tell me that this is happening anywhere in Australia as a regular or normal part of the Novus Ordo Mass.

Fr Bouyer, an outstanding figure in the pre-conciliar liturgical movement and one of the most orthodox periti at the Council, stated in 1968: "We must speak plainly: there is practically no liturgy worthy of the name today in the Catholic Church"; and "Perhaps in no other area is there a greater distance (and even formal opposition) between what the Council worked out and what we actually have" (Decomposition of Catholicism).

Another noted liturgist, Monsignor Gamber, held a similar opinion: "One statement we can make with certainty is that the new Ordo of the Mass that has now emerged would not have been endorsed by the majority of the Council Fathers" (Reform of the Roman Liturgy).

Pope John Paul II's latest encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia, repeats concerns he expressed in Dominicae Cenae, a Holy Thursday letter addressed to bishops and priests in February 1980. Inaestimable Donum (1980) gave substance to this letter as it was issued by the then Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, wherein it detailed the abuses that had to be reined in. In the ensuing years little has changed, hence the new Encyclical.

PHILIP ROBINSON
Holt, ACT

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 16 No 8 (September 2003), p. 15