The contrast between the Novus Ordo in general and the Mass on Sundays two dioceses away where I direct the music in the traditional Rite is like night and day. It has become, for me, simply too much to bear.
Dysfunction of the liturgy is embedded
The inherent dysfunction of the Novus Ordo, is impossible to reform. Priests who have tried to do it have been, and continue to be, persecuted. Cardinal Sarah is now open to being persecuted already by Federico Lombardi!
I have given it 30 years. I was once denounced publicly from the Ambo on Good Friday by the Pastor of the parish I grew up in for delivering a Good Friday liturgy in accord with the Novus Ordo Roman Missal. He was a priest of the Polish Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel, and even denied my mother's funeral in her parish church because the request was for it to be in Latin, and according to the Novus Ordo! Another, a "baby priest" at 27, wagged his finger after Mass in front of the parishioners at me and said, "I told you never to sing in Latin, I am the priest and you must obey!" To which I responded, "No Father, you told me not to sing that which was not in Catholic Book of Worship II and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops have put it in the hymnbook, perhaps you should take it up with them." Fortunately, that effeminate and rageful clericalist is no longer in Toronto but now in the Archdiocese of Detroit and is a Pastor. Keep him away from you boys, he was once also from the CSMA.
I will give the Novus Ordo, no more of my time. It is a useless exercise. It is a liturgy which was an error and remains so. It was and remains, an abomination. It cannot be reformed, it will not be reformed until the Pope and Bishops find the determination to do it. Nice words from Cardinals are not enough as we have no seen.
"Person" centered worship
It was not from the Holy Spirit. It is simply not possible. It is a cult of man, not of God. It is illogical and blasphemous to think that it could be from the Holy Spirit.
Look at the fruits!
God knows all things. Sees all things. He knows the future. Father, Son and Holy Spirit know all, see all. This great God could see the damage to souls and the faith that the new order of the Mass has produced. He saw it all. Why would He cause it? He permitted it, to be sure, but the Novus Ordo and the theology that formed it has caused the literal collapse of the faith because it is the point at which most Catholics come together. Why would God debase a liturgy that is meant to worship Him and sanctify us? It is simply not possible that this was from the Holy Spirit, it simply defies logic.
Valid?
Yes. That is a different matter.
Yet it remains a liturgical abomination, I am convinced of it. After 30 years, of labour, there is no fruit, there are no seeds sprouted, the ground is barren. My time and talents will now be spent exclusively with the traditional Latin Mass. Week by week, we see the fruit, the growth, the faith.
Cardinal Sarah himself has stated that the "faithful are now unfaithful." He also knows why.
I raise the possibility of looking again at the Constitution and at the reform which followed its promulgation because I do not think that we can honestly read even the first article of Sacrosanctum Concilium today and be content that we have achieved its aims. My brothers and sisters, where are the faithful of whom the Council Fathers spoke? Many of the faithful are now unfaithful: they do not come to the liturgy at all. To use the words of Pope Saint John Paul II: many Christians are living in a state of “silent apostasy;” they “live as if God does not exist” (Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Europa, 28 June 2003, 9). Where is the unity the Council hoped to achieve? We have not yet reached it. Have we made real progress in calling the whole of mankind into the household of the Church? I do not think so. And yet we have done very much to the liturgy!
The Novus Ordo and any reform of the reform is a dead letter. Unless it is put in the Missal and ordered by the Pope, it will not be carried out. It will not be fixed, not by this Pope. Leave it. If you wish to remain Catholic, get yourself to the traditional Mass.
The proof is for all to see
Anthony Spadaro's little tweet is evidence of this. It may also disclose what Francis thinks as Spadaro is a confidant. Cardinal Sarah's recent talk in Rome was just that, talk, and his views, virtually alone.
Spadaro is also wrong. He is not only wrong, he is manipulative. The paragraph in the GIRM appears again at the Pax Vobiscum. Why? Because it is presumed that one is actually, not "FACING THE PEOPLE" or the direction would not be there.
In the original Latin, the GIRM, presuming the priest has just incensed the altar and performed the Lavabo, states:
146. Ad medium altaris deinde reversus, sacerdos, stans versus populum, extendens et iungens manus, populum ad orandum invitat, dicens: Oráte, fratres, etc. Populus surgit et responsionem dat Suscípiat Dominus. Deinde sacerdos, manibus extensis, dicit orationem super oblata. In fine populus acclamat: Amen. 146. Upon returning to the middle of the altar , the priest , facing the people , extending and then joining his hands, invites the people to pray , saying : Pray, brothers and sisters, etc. The people rise and make their response May the Lord accept . Then the Priest, with hands extended , says the Prayer over the offerings. In the end, the people make the acclamation, Amen.
Why would it say, "facing the people" it it were not the norm? It specifically instructs him to face the people thereby presuming that he was not, previously!
Not only Spadaro, but now Cardinal Nichols of Westminster has ordered his priests to ignore the Cardinal's request; saying that is not for priest to “exercise personal preference
or taste,” citing GIRM 299.
Again, like Spadaro, Nichols displays his twisted logic and in fact, discloses his bias.
Again, like Spadaro, Nichols displays his twisted logic and in fact, discloses his bias.
GIRM 299 states:
The altar should be built apart from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible. The altar should, moreover, be so placed as to be truly the centre toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns. The altar is usually fixed and is dedicated.’”
Note that?
"Can" not must.
"Desirable" not mandatory.
Father Z addresses the matter at his blog.
It seems that that this Cardinal Nichols knows how to pray to pagan gods but he won't permit his priests to face the True God?
Is he even Catholic?
The Congregation for the Liturgy and Discipline of the Sacraments has already address this in Prot. No 2086/00/L
Father Z addresses the matter at his blog.
It seems that that this Cardinal Nichols knows how to pray to pagan gods but he won't permit his priests to face the True God?
Is he even Catholic?
The Congregation for the Liturgy and Discipline of the Sacraments has already address this in Prot. No 2086/00/L
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has been asked whether the expression in n. 299 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani constitutes a norm according to which the position of the priest versus absidem [facing the apse] is to be excluded.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, after mature reflection and in light of liturgical precedents, responds:
Negatively, and in accordance with the following explanation.The explanation includes different elements which must be taken into account. First, the word expedit does not constitute a strict obligation but a suggestion that refers to theconstruction of the altar a pariete sejunctum (detached from the wall). It does not require, for example, that existing altars be pulled away from the wall. The phrase ubi possibile sit (where it is possible) refers to, for example, the topography of the place, the availability of space, the artistic value of the existing altar, the sensibility of the people participating in the celebrations in a particular church, etc.
Benedict XVI wrote in the Spirit of the Liturgy that Mass facing the people was a community "turned inwards on itself." He had the opportunity to order this change. He did not. Now Cardinal Sarah voices the desire and immediately, it is rejected by a prominent Cardinal and a confidant of the Bishop or Rome.
Lombardi contradicts
Just after the announcement that he is being replaced by a layman, professional journalist Greg Burke, Federico Lombardi said:
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/father-lombardi-cardinal-sarahs-ad-orientem-suggestion-misinterpreted
Exactly padre, they're already there!
How much longer do we need to keep repeating the same thing over and over again whilst expecting a different result? That is insanity!
Lombardi contradicts
Just after the announcement that he is being replaced by a layman, professional journalist Greg Burke, Federico Lombardi said:
"There are therefore no new liturgical directives foreseen from next Advent, as some have wrongly inferred from some of the words of Cardinal Sarah, and it is best to avoid using the expression ‘reform of the reform’ when referring to the liturgy, as it's sometimes been a source of misunderstandings.”
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/father-lombardi-cardinal-sarahs-ad-orientem-suggestion-misinterpreted
Exactly padre, they're already there!
How much longer do we need to keep repeating the same thing over and over again whilst expecting a different result? That is insanity!
What will happen in Toronto?
This photo is of then Archbishop and now Cardinal Thomas Collins celebrating a Latin Ordinary Form Mass at the Toronto Oratory, he is celebrating "ad orientem." After the Mass, which I attended, I greeted him downstairs. I kissed his ring and thanked him for what he did at Mass. His response? "I think I should do this in the Cathedral some time."
Yes, he said that to me.
Those writing last week with effervescent enthusiasm were premature. Until Rome orders it and authorises it in writing and prohibits the persecution of priests by bishops for doing it, nothing will change.
Mass facing the people is illogical. It is the single worst problem with the Novus Ordo and it is not even mandated! It is against 1,935 years of liturgical history. It is against the practice of our Jewish forefathers in faith. It points to man, not God.
The Reform of the Reform of the Novus Ordo is a dead letter. Spadaro and Nicholls prove it.
There is only one option.
Take it.
Vigil of Pentecost, June 7, 2014, Solemn Mass in the Presence of a Greater Prelate
Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto together with Diocesan priests and seminarians at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Scarborough, Ontario
28 comments:
I agree with everything you say. The problems of the NO Mass & the desecration of liturgy, sacraments, reverence is there for all to see, many of us writing to our Bishops & even Rome about such matters. However, the fact that the NO Mass has been declared as valid & is essential to our faith, makes it impossible to opt out. That is only an option where there are Traditional Orders offering TLM within reasonable distance, not the other end of one's country.
Europe is sorely in need of TLM but all our Bishops (like Nichols) are NO Modernists & are now beginning to show their teeth. Cardinal Sarah is already fingered for demotion (not that he should care) & others will follow. They are not interested in upholding the Deposit of Faith, Magisterium or Tradition. They would like to sweep away all the centuries of solid Catholic formation (& succeeded to do in seminaries) & join the countless Protestant & Schismatic sects in order to appeal to the wider populace. This will fail as it is not founded on the True Faith given us by the Second Person of the Holy Trinity whom many Cardinals & Bishops I suspect don't believe in.
Do you know what Vox i might do the same here in England.I have just read what Nichols has said and his Modernist views are there for all to see.The Novus Ordo is a failed enterprise and flawed one at that.I am 63 yrs old and have been through the Demolition of the sixtes and can't take much more-i need to save my soul and get to Heaven.How can i do that when Protestant Hymns are sung at Mass and Communion given out like sweets.Tridentine Mass every time!god Bless.
I applaud your decision Vox. Was that young bozo of a priest now in Detroit by chance a Basilian?
I hope Cardinal Collins can be convinced to start some ad orientem Masses at the Cathedral when the renovation is finished. Perhaps even a TLM with Una Voce for a major feast could be held when reopened? This would at least get tradition in the door as an introduction to the Cathedral parish. The rector himself doesn't strike me as a particularly orthodox or trad friendly priest but I could be wrong.
Thanks be to God for the Ordinariate, a shelter from all this liturgical abuse. I have not attended a Novus Ordo mass on Sundays for months and months and have no inclination to do so.
The modern Mass has to be offered facing the people, particularly in places like Holland and France, so that the priest knows that his three parishioners are present for Sunday Mass.
Imagine offering the Mass ad orientem, and the first time the priest turns around, he sees the place completely empty. What a shock for the poor soul!
The three people that used to come to his Mass are now either sleeping or at the beach, everyone else having abandoned the whole idea years ago.
In order to avoid causing such shock, we have to keep Mass facing the people.
DJR
The animosity to anything that reflects Catholic belief is a a hard one to overcome.
I have never seen it overcome by simple demonstration / performance.
Those sitting in the pews just don't "get it" because, I believe, they don't have the ability to appreciate what is being put before them.
Keep up the good work!
P^3
It's probably not empty some refugees may be brushing their teeth or sleeping by the sides of the church...
Vox, let us hope that Father McDonald at Southern Orders blog is correct about the following: Father McDonald stated that Robert Cardinal Sarah would not have exhorted priests to offer Mass ad orientem without Pope Francis' approval of same.
Vox, also, as Father McDonald has noted, Cardinal Sarah revealed that His Holiness Pope Francis informed him (Cardinal Sarah) to "...begin a study of “the reform of the reform”, that is of adapting the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council...and seek “to enrich the two forms of the Roman rite”.
Therefore, let us be hopeful that at least to some extent (and that's better than not doing anything positive), Pope Francis will inject Holy Tradition into the Novus Ordo.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
The Catholic Church is indefectible. The novus ordo church and its invalid "missae" is an abomination.
“The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium.”
(Satis Cognitum 9, Pope Leo XIII.)
“Let them innovate in nothing, but keep the traditions.”
(Pope St. Stephen I.)
“Let nothing novel be introduced!”
(Pope Pius XII.)
“The preaching of the faith has lost nothing of its relevance in our times. The Church has a sacred duty to proclaim it without any whittling-down, just as Christ revealed it, and no consideration of time or circumstance can lessen the strictness of this obligation.” (Pope Pius XII.)
“I have neither permitted, nor shall I permit, the things which have been settled by the holy fathers to be violated by any innovation.” (Pope St. Leo the Great.)
“Let nothing new be introduced, but only what has been handed down.” (Pope Benedict XV.)
“Let whoever attempts to disseminate anything other than what we have received be anathema.”
(Pope St. Simplicius.)
“Nothing new is allowed, for nothing can be added to the old. Look for the faith of the elders, and do not let our faith be disturbed by a mixture of new doctrines.”
(Pope St. Sixtus III.)
“Nothing can ever pass away from the words of Christ, nor can anything be changed in the doctrine which the Catholic Church received from Christ to guard, protect, and preach.”
(Pope Pius IX.)
“From the time the Christian religion began to be spread, she has held unchangeable and taught uncorrupted throughout the world the doctrines which she has received once and for all from her patron and founder, Saint Peter.”
(Pope St. Nicholas I.)
Greg, you surely realize that liturgical Holy Sacrifice is not the same as Old Testament sacrifice?
Orthodoxy is perfectly safeguarded and expressed in the traditional Mass, much less so in the NO Mass. And to say Jesus doesn't care about the Mass is actually you saying you don't know first thing about it. Don't ever write nonsense like that again.
Rab
it's already been cut off at the knees.....francis is vile.
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2016/07/no-need-to-face-east-cardinal-sarah-corrected-by-pope-francis/
Way back a wise priest once said to me that God is not tied to the sacraments. We know that the Novus Ordo is protestantizing, "as we pray so we believe", it does that in and of itself. I do not go to the N.O. even though I have no access to the Trid. Mass. God is able to straighten out this mess and until such time that He does, I pray the Divine Office daily, and the Mass and rosary. I have a little oratory in my home. Why would I want to take part in the dishonor that takes place at the N.O. That's just me.
First off get a more authentic Bible translation and second read this and ask yourself how you will EAT the body and blood of Christ without the sacrifice of the mass... I do not expect you to be compelled but the words below speak of not just eating in the original text but gnawing so not its not "symbolic"
52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 54He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.
John 6: 52-58
Our Lord instituted the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and the Catholic priesthood on Holy Thursday.
He is True God as well as True Man.
Where does you theology come, is it just like, your opinion?
- His mind doesn't change, but Christ fulfilled the Old Law, so things aren't the same. Otherwise Jews are just fine, no need to convert.
- Christ is the New Pascha, not the old one. Old one didn't had quite the effect, eh?
Are you implying that pride, arrogance, etc. have something to do with the wish for return of the traditional Mass?
Thanks Vox. Good stuff. Agree heartily. But. Don't you think that just maybe the whole point of the Novus Ordo Mass was to destroy the Catholic liturgy and make it Protestant. On this basis it has been a great success, so much so that victory has been declared, and a new battle front to destroy Catholic doctrine is now in progress, e.g. Amoris Laetitia.
@Greg J Ben
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Liturgy is the mature expression of the Church's True Faith. It is a grave matter to distort it. Your quotes are not relevant regarding what is being discussed here - the form of the Liturgy.
Your "theology" is a product of ignorance and arrogance. Try reading orthodox Church theology - Councils, Popes, Holy Fathers, Doctors, etc. if you really seek the truth about this.
Dear Greg, The Church stands on three legs: Holy Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium.
The pillar and bulwark of the truth is ..... the Church!
Greg, we only know what constitutes the canonical Bible, as well as proper interpretation of it, from the Church's millenial Tradition. Read the commentary in the Haydock Bible if you must. Tradition is just as important, if not even more important, in determining not just the dogma of the Faith but the liturgy and all it entails.
Your statements are so far away from Catholic belief and thought I don't even know where to begin. You have either received a very bad formation from someone or you are for all intents a Protestant. Don't ever make an utterly blasphemous statement like Christ doesn't care about the Mass or how we worship Him. The Holy Mass, in its true reverent form, is infinitely the most important thing that happens on Earth.
Uhh, "reading the word of Jesus" is just one single component of being a Christian. You reading it yourself and deciding what it means is exactly 'listening to yourself', Greg. What a ridiculous Protestant statement. More important than just reading His Word is actually worshiping Him in the Mass, and following the expounding of His teachings through the One True Church's perennial Magisterium, which decides what Scripture and the Will of God is, not you. If you believe the Church's teachings are "man-made gibberish", well, then you know what you are. It is certainly not Catholic.
@ Greg
And by reading Bible in aaaall those languages (you only really need Greek) you came to the conclusion Liturgy is phariseical gibberish our Lord Jesus Christ doesn't care about?
Also, "Faith is only what is needed"? Really, man?
"Church is confusing people". No, heretics like you do that.
Talking to you is useless. Write what you want, just don't expect others to accept your distorted views.
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