Pope to Revive Roman Latin Mass
Pastor Dale Morgan
May 26, 4:17 PM EDT
*Pope to Revive Roman Latin Mass*
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- It was one of the most radical reforms to emerge
from the Second Vatican Council. The Mass, root of Roman Catholic
worship, would be celebrated in the local language and not in Latin.
Now, little more than a generation later, Pope Benedict XVI is poised to
revive the 16th-century Tridentine Mass.
In doing so, he will be overriding objections from some cardinals,
bishops and Jews - whose complaints range from the text of the old Mass
to the symbolic sweeping aside of the council's work from 1962-65. Many
in the church regard Vatican II as a moment of badly needed reform and a
new beginning, a view at odds with Benedict, who sees it as a renewal of
church tradition.
A Vatican official, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, confirmed earlier
this month that Benedict would soon relax the restrictions on
celebrating the Tridentine Mass because of a "new and renewed interest"
in the celebration - especially among younger Catholics.
In recent decades, priests could only celebrate the Tridentine Mass with
permission from their bishop. Church leaders are anxiously awaiting
Benedict's decision, to see how far he will go in easing that rule.
Castrillon Hoyos denied the move represented a "step backward, a
regression to times before the reforms." Rather, it was an attempt to
give the faithful greater access to a "treasure" of the church.
Benedict also was acting, Castrillon Hoyos told bishops in Brazil, to
reach out to an ultratraditionalist and schismatic group, the Society of
St. Pius X, and bring it back into the Vatican's fold.
The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1969 in
Switzerland, opposed to Vatican II's reforms, particularly its
liturgical reforms. The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he
consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent. The bishops were
excommunicated as well.
Benedict has been keen to reconcile with the group, which has demanded
freer use of the old Mass as a precondition for normalizing relations.
But bishops in neighboring France, where Lefebvre's group is strong,
have objected publicly to any liberalizing of the old rite, saying its
broader use could lead to divisions within the church, and could imply a
rejection of other Vatican II teachings.
"Such a decision risks endangering the unity among priests as well as
the faithful," according to a statement issued late last year from the
bishops of Strasbourg, Metz and Besancon.
Progressive Belgian Cardinal Godfried Daneels echoed that concern,
saying that greater celebration of the Tridentine Mass could polarize
the church and, depending on how the document is written, could lead to
the "negation" of Vatican II reforms such as support for religious freedom.
"The rite is not the important thing, but what comes after," Daneels
told The Associated Press. "We can't go back. Vatican II is a council
like all the others."
Other concerns have come from groups involved in Christian-Jewish
dialogue, because the Tridentine rite contains prayers that some
non-Christians find offensive. By its very nature, the Tridentine
liturgy predates the landmark documents from Vatican II on improving
relations with Jews and people of other faiths.
Rabbi David Rosen, who is in charge of interfaith relations at the
American Jewish Committee, said he wrote to several cardinals in March
expressing concern about a prayer for the "unfaithful" in the Mass, as
well a prayer used during the church's Holy Week liturgy which had
contained references to "perfidious," or faithless, Jews.
He was assured by Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is in charge of the
Vatican's relations with Jews, that the Tridentine missal used now
doesn't contain the reference to the "perfidious" Jew.
But in a letter, Kasper added: "I was unable to obtain a clear answer"
concerning the prayer for the unfaithful.
Monsignor James Moroney, the liturgy expert at the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, said he didn't think the move would have a terribly
significant impact because it affects so few people.
However, he said that in resurrecting and promoting the old rite "by
definition you are rejecting the judgment on liturgical matters of
pontifical and episcopal development" over the last 40 years.
Despite such concerns, Benedict is going ahead with the document, though
a date for its release hasn't been announced.
The Tridentine rite differs significantly from the New Mass that emerged
after Vatican II.
In addition to the Latin prayers, which are different from those used in
the modern liturgy, the priest faces the altar, so that he is seen as
leading the faithful in prayer. The rank and file don't participate
actively in the service.
The pope's plans are being welcomed by "traditionalist" Roman Catholics
who are still in good standing with Rome. These Catholics simply prefer
the Tridentine service over the modern one - and their numbers are
reportedly growing, particularly among the young for whom the old Mass
is actually new.
"I don't think the pope would be addressing this if there weren't a
growing number of people ... an increased interest not just among laity
but among clergy," said Michael Dunnigan, the U.S. chairman of Una Voce,
an international lay movement that seeks to preserve the Latin liturgy.
There are no global statistics on participation in Tridentine Masses.
But in the United States - where demand appears to be higher than in
much of Europe - 105 of the 176 Roman Catholic dioceses offer at least
one traditional Mass each Sunday, Dunnigan said.
Ginevra Crosignani, 34, is a regular at the 10 a.m. Tridentine rite
celebrated each Sunday at the Gesu e Maria church in central Rome. She
says she started coming about 10 years ago and finds it a much more
transcendent experience than the modern services, which she said were
more like going to a "nightclub" because of the music and showman-like
role of the priest.
"The New Order became a social celebration rather than a religious
celebration," she said one recent Sunday as she put away the white lace
scarf she wore over her head.
The pews at the Mass had been full - and more than half the people
looked to be under 40.
"Before, it was more old people attached to that rite," she said. "I
think young people (now) are looking for something, they're eager to
find it and they don't find it in the New Order."
In a 1988 document, Pope John Paul II urged bishops to be generous in
granting the so-called indults to allow the Tridentine rite to be
celebrated. But many proponents say bishops have been stingy - either
for personal reasons or because they simply don't have enough priests
who know how to celebrate it.
To counter that, Una Voce is teaming up with the Priestly Fraternity of
Saint Peter, a traditionalist community, to run a training seminar for
priests to teach them the ritual-filled Latin Mass. "We've got a waiting
list now," said Dunnigan.
Similarly, the seminaries of another small traditionalist community, the
Institute for Christ the King, are overflowing, said the institute's
vicar general, Monsignor R. Michael Schmitz.
"There is no vocation shortage at all," he said. "On the contrary, we
have so many vocations we can't take them all."
Benedict has made clear for years that he greatly admires the Tridentine
rite and has already incorporated Latin into Masses at St. Peter's.
In a recent document, Benedict urged seminarians and the faithful alike
to learn Latin prayers, and in the 1997 book "Salt of the Earth" he said
it was "downright indecent" for people who are still attached to the old
rite to be denied it.
"I am of the opinion, to be sure, that the old rite should be granted
much more generously to all those who desire it," then-Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger said. "It's impossible to see what could be dangerous or
unacceptable about that."
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Associated Press writer Rachel Zoll contributed from New York.