Mary and the Moslems by Bishop Fulton Sheen

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The absolutely prophetic nature of this essay by the great communicator and servant in the Lord's vineyard, Bishop Fulton Sheen is profound and begs to be repeated again and again.

Remember when you are reading that Sheen wrote these words in 1950.

Emphasis throughout is mine: s

Mary and the Moslems

by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

J.M.J.

Moslemism is the only great post-Christian religion of the world. Because it had its origin in the seventh century under Mohammed, it was possible to unite within it some elements of Christianity and of Judaism.

Moslemism takes the doctrine of the unity of God, His Majesty, and His Creative Power, and uses it as a basis for the repudiation of Christ, the Son of God.

Misunderstanding the notion of the Trinity, Mohammed made Christ a prophet only.

The Catholic Church throughout Northern Africa was virtually destroyed by Moslem power and at the present time, the Moslems are beginning to rise again.

If Moslemism is a heresy, as Hilaire Belloc believes it to be, it is the only heresy that has never declined, either in numbers, or in the devotion of its followers.

The missionary effort of the Church toward this group has been, at least on the surface, a failure, for the Moslems are so far almost unconvertible. The reason is that for a follower of Mohammed to become a Christian is much like a Christian becoming a Jew. The Moslems believe that they have the final and definitive revelation of God to the world and that Christ was only a prophet announcing Mohammed, the last of God's real prophets.

Today, the hatred of the Moslem countries against the West is becoming hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world power.

It is our firm belief that the fears some entertain concerning the Moslems are not to be realized, but that Moslemism, instead, will eventually be converted to Christianity — and in a way that even some of our missionaries never suspect.

It is our belief that this will happen not through the direct teaching of Christianity, but through a summoning of the Moslems to a veneration of the Mother of God.

This is the line of argument:

The Koran, which is the bible of the Moslems, has many passages concerning the Blessed Virgin. First, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception and in her Virgin Birth. The third chapter of the Koran places the history of Mary's family in a genealogy that goes back through Abraham, Noah, and Adam. When one compares the Koran's description of the birth of Mary with the apocryphal Gospel of the birth of Mary, one is tempted to believe that Mohammed very much depended upon the latter.

Both books describe the old age and the definite sterility of Anne, the mother of Mary. When, however, Anne conceives, the mother of Mary is made to say in the Koran: "O Lord, I vow and I consecrate to you what is already within me. Accept it
from me."

When Mary is born, her mother, Anne, says: "And I consecrate her with all of her posterity under thy protection, O Lord against Satan!

"The Koran has also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and nativity.

Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying, "O Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth."

In the nineteenth chapter of the Koran, there are forty-one verses on Jesus and
Mary. There is such a strong defense of the virginity of Mary here that the Koran, in the fourth book, attributes the condemnation of the Jews to their monstrous calumny against the Virgin Mary.

Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true 'Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself.

However, after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: "Thou shalt be the most
blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary."

In a variant of the text, Fatima is made to say, "I surpass all the women, except Mary."

This brings us to our second point, namely, why the Blessed Mother, in this twentieth century, should have revealed herself in the insignificant little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would be known as "Our Lady of Fatima.

"Nothing ever happens out of heaven except with a finesse of all details. I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as "Our Lady of Fatima" as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her Divine Son, too.

Evidence to support these views is found in the historical fact that the Moslems occupied Portugal for centuries. At the time when they were finally driven out, the last Moslem chief had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima.

A catholic boy fell in love with her, and for him she not only stayed behind when the Moslems left, but even embraced the Catholic faith. The young husband was so much in love with her that he changed the name of the town where he lived to Fatima. Thus, the very place where Our Lady appeared in 1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.

The final evidence of the relationship of Fatima to the Moslems is the enthusiastic reception that the Moslems in Africa and India and elsewhere gave to the Pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Moslems attended the Catholic services in honor of Our Lady; they allowed religious processions and even prayers before their mosques; and in Mozambique the Moslems, who were unconverted, began to be Christian as soon as the statue of Our Lady of Fatima was erected.

Missionaries in the future will increasingly see that their apostolate among the Moslems will be successful in the measure that they preach Our Lady of Fatima. Because the Moslems have a devotion to Mary, our missionaries should be satisfied merely to expand and to develop that devotion with the full realization that Our Blessed Lady will carry the Moslems the rest of the way to her Divine Son.

As those who lose devotion to her lose belief in the Divinity of Christ, so those who
intensify devotion to her gradually acquire that belief.

Interesting letters from Ecclesia Dei

This is a valuable link from TheNewLiturgicalMovement to the blog by the SaintBedeStudio .

Blogger, Michael Sternbeck has posted some j-peg's of letters from the Ecclesia Dei Commission pertaining to what is actually permissible within the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Missal of 1962.

It is fascinating reading, particularly as we in wait in hope for the Motu Proprio from His Holiness Benedict XVI freeing up the use of the Traditional Latin Mass.

I find if fascinating because as friends will attest, these are things which I have expressed my opinion on as to organic development of the "Mass."

Amongst these:

• At a Low Mass, the celebrant may read an approved translation into the vernacular of the Epistle and Gospel. (my emphasis throughout)


• At a Solemn Mass, the celebrant and ministers may join with the schola in singing a plainchant Gloria and Credo, without the requirement of reading them together beforehand.


• At any sung Mass, the entire congregation may join with the Celebrant in singing the Pater noster.


• The additional prefaces which were included in an appendix of the 1965 Missale Romanum may be used at any celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Furthermore, prefaces from the 1970 Missale Romanum may also be included.

According to Mr. Sternbeck, "In addition to these Decisions, the Commission attached to the letter its permissions regarding the form of the Conventual Mass which may be celebrated by the Traditionalist Benedictines of France. By this was intended that the form of celebration described may be celebrated elsewhere."
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• If the celebration of the Divine Office precedes Mass, the Prayers at the Foot of the altar may be omitted.


• The rites accompanying the readings from scripture may be celebrated at the sedilia.


• The readings may be proclaimed facing the people, whether in Latin or the vernacular and the celebrant is not required to read them or the Gradual chants separately.


• Bidding Prayers may be offered after the Oremus, immediately preceding the Offertory.


• The "Secret" prayer may be sung aloud.


• The celebrant may sing the entire doxology Per ipsum, whilst elevating the Host over the chalice.


• The Pater noster may be sung by all with the celebrant.


• The final Blessing may be sung, and afterwards the Last Gospel may be omitted.

I agree almost 100% with the above, though I doubt I would want the last Gospel omitted. I have long thought that the readings and additional chanting by the Priest of the Secret and particularly, the Doxology are some of the elements of the Novus Ordo that would enhance the Traditional Latin Mass.

What I find equally interesting is that there is also permission granted to insert new saints under some guidelines.

At the end of the day, the 1962 Missal after being "freed" will need to be updated. Perhaps we can look forward to a 2010 Missal incorporating officially, these various changes suggested by Ecclesia Dei and in keeping with the desires of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

Well, there may be some rigid "traditionalists" that won't like this, but if we are serious about bringing forward the 1962 Missal to then we should also accept that it is not a "relic of history." It is a holy, living liturgy which has always gone through "organic growth." I would classify the above as being consistent with "organic growth."

Pope Pius XII, Moscow and Liberal Catholics

An excellent discovery by Gerald Augustinius at The Cafeteria is Closed is this article from National Review.

Here's the beginning, but you must click on the link to read the rest...compelling!

Does anyone still doubt Bella Dodd?

January 25, 2007,
7:40 a.m.
Moscow’s Assault on the Vatican
The KGB made corrupting the Church a priority.
By Ion Mihai Pacepa

The Soviet Union was never comfortable living in the same world with the Vatican. The most recent disclosures document that the Kremlin was prepared to go to any lengths to counter the Catholic Church’s strong anti-Communism.In March 2006 an Italian parliamentary commission concluded “beyond any reasonable doubt that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla,” in retaliation for his support to the dissident Solidarity movement in Poland.

Who crushes the serpent.

In Canada, we know little of Our Lady of Guadalupe, yet she is considered to be for the "Americas." Perhaps, it is our own inferiority and fear of the elephant next door that we never refer to ourselves of being part of "America" that keeps us from recognizing our beautiful Patron and Mother.

It is so remarkable that the apparition to Juan Diego has gone so ignored amongst the "elites." Political correctness and revisionist history would have us believe that all native societies in the Americas were so benign until the "white Europeans" arrived. While that may be true to some of the natives of the plains in Canada and the United States and the east coast, it certainly was not of the Iroquois, Apache, Haida and many other nations. But nothing was as evil and vile as the Aztec and Mayan "civilizations." While in many ways they were gifted in intelligence with their ability to develop a pretty accurate calendar, that is not enough to praise them as so many are wont to do. Human sacrifice was so integral to their culture of death that at one feast over 80,000 were estimated to have been sacrificed. Children were the most favoured. And these were not merciful deaths! Hearts wripped out, disembowlment, boiling--and then cannabalism. And, it wasn't the Spanish that were shrinking heads.

Except today, we slaughter millions of babies, 40,000,000 in the United States since Roe v. Wade. Here in Canada there is no regulation, total free access to abortion. Our societies and cultures are dying, for the sake of sexual delight. Are we much different from those who practiced human sacrifice? Actually, we are worse. They did not know any better!

How powerful a symbol yet how ignored that within five years of the Apparition of Our Lady at Guadalupe the pagan culture and its human sacrifice was ended once and for all and the people were converted.

What else is there about this Apparition of Mary? What is the less than obvious connection with Fatima and Islam?

Could the little unknown village of Fatima been chosen by God for Mary's appearance be mere coincidence? Or was there a more profound reason, Fatima, was named for a convert from Islam and the wife of a Portuguese Prince. Fatima was also the name of Mohammed's daughter.

What is the connection between the River of the Wolf (Guadalupe) in Spain and Coatlaxopeuh which in the Aztec language translates to "crushes the serpent." The words themselves are remarkably similar and pronunciation identical.

What is the connection with the statue of Our Lady holding Jesus allegedly carved by St. Luke which was discovered in 1326 after having been lost for 600 years by a shepherd near the town of Guadalupe in Spain? He dug after being instructed to do so by an apparition of Our Lady. But had it gone lost? Or was it directed to be buried in the 8th century to save it from the Mohammedan hordes?

The Koran frequently mentions Mary and holds her higher than all women. While not be the same expression, Mohammedans acknowledge her Immaculate Conception, Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel, Virgin Birth of the Messiah, Jesus and her perpetual virginity!

One could almost say that given what they deny about Jesus, they almost hold Mary in higher esteem!

"And I shall put enmity between your seed and her seed, and she shall crush your head, and you will bruise her heal."

"And behold, I saw a woman clothed with the sun with the moon at her feet."

As we gaze upon the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, let us look at that upon which she is standing. It is the moon. Yet, it is no ordinary moon, it is a "crescent" moon and it was Mary through the power of God who placed the image on Juan Diego's cloak.

Perhaps she is trying to tell us something more?

Mangled Liturgy older than Vatican II?

Well this is something which I have always believed, not that I have a great recollection of the Tridentine rite from my youth. I was about 8 or so when English was used and I served it as an altar boy a few years later. I conduct a choir now for the splendid Tridentine Mass said with care and dignity. I also love the Novus Ordo when said properly without shortcuts and improvisations. I simply love the mass.

Having conducted a schola and choir for the Tridentine since May, I can see that it too could have been open to abuse.  

Just follow my train of thought. I can't remember the saint, somewhere around the 12th century but he had doubts about the Real Presence and there was one person in the church. He thought the man a fool after he said the words of consecration and he was stunned to see actual flesh and blood on the paten. So my point is, with the Canon said in silence and the fact that all men are sinners and heretical or careless priests did not just come along in 1970; it is possible that he could be just saying yada, yada, yada and the faithful would never know. It's one advantage about the Novus Ordo--we can clearly see and hear the abuses!

Which brings me to a most excellent column on the Holy Eucharist by Benedict M. Ashley, O.P. and as Father Richard John Newhaus would say, "you're always considered a convert" as was Father Ashley.

Here is the first paragraph which you can click on to link.

We have all suffered at Mass from the intrusive, even sometimes heretical modifications of the liturgical texts by "creative" priests; from the banal translations of some of these texts; from the inaudible or mangled reading of them by lay readers; from fatuous hymns or badly strummed guitars, etc., etc. Should we blame this on Vatican II and its Novus Ordo and call for a return to the "Tridentine" Mass?

More Discovery of Gregorian Chant and a little something on Donnie and Marie

In the appropriately named town of Bethlehem in Connecticut the Abbey of Regina Laudis can be found. These are Benedictine Nuns following the Divine Office as prescribed by St. Benedict. The Office begins at about 2:00 A.M. with the nuns rising to sing the Office of Matins. Yes, that is AM! Going back to bed, they rise early to sing Lauds followed between their daily chores by Prime, Terce, Sext and None. At some time in late afternoon before supper there would follow Vespers and then just a few hours later before bed, Compline.

In its compromise to the modern world, the Church’s Liturgical “periti” renamed and restructured the Divine Office in the early 1970’s as the “Liturgy of the Hours.” This much reduced form of the Divine Office includes the Morning Prayer (Lauds), Evening Prayer (Vespers) and Night Prayer (Compline).

In yesterday’s Hartford Courant, writer William Weir discovers the nuns and their office and the Divine sounds of the chant. More and more we can see the secular world taking notice of this beautiful tradition, in no small way due to the election of Benedict XVI. Prior to his election as Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger’s views on liturgy, polyphony and chant were well known. At some point very soon the Pope must respond to last years’ Synod on the Holy Eucharist. The report from the Commission was received by the Holy Father in June. Presumably, he has been using part of his time at Castel Gondalfo to ponder his response.

Whether by accident or design (and in these matters, there are no coincidences) a convergence of issues all related to the liturgy is near.

The Vox Clara Commission must soon complete its work on the ICEL translation of the Roman Missal for the English speaking world. A translation more literal from the Latin original and poetic will be the result.

While Bishop Fellay of the SSPX has said just recently that there has been no action on the reunification of the Society and that it may take “years,” Benedict has made church unity a major goal of his pontificate. Where else to start than with traditional Catholics?

Can we hope that the “Reform of the Reform” so often talked and written about is not that far away?

The Nuns of Regina Laudis know something about Gregorian Chant and its relationship to prayer, contemplation and worship. Now the readers of the Hartford Courant know, we can only hope (and pray) that soon the Catholic in the pew will find out what these Benedictines never forgot.

Gregorian chant signals return to tradition
By William Weir Hartford Courant

BETHLEHEM, Conn. – On a recent Monday at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut, about 35 nuns gather in a dim chapel to chant, as they do every day at noon. Making their way through Psalm 118, the nuns sit or stand; some face different directions, while others bow steeply. Throughout, their voices remain in unison.

Pope Benedict XVI would approve. After a concert of 16th- and 17th-century music recently, the pope said he would prefer to hear Gregorian chant and other traditional types of music play more of a role during Mass. That’s good news for the cloistered nuns at the Bethlehem abbey, which is known around the world for its devotion to Gregorian chant and is one of the few places where it is sung with such frequency and intensity. The nuns sing seven times a day; some interrupt their sleep to chant at 2 in the morning.

But the pope’s comments also raise certain questions: What is sacred music supposed to sound like? And what’s wrong with new music in church?

It’s a debate that has raged since 1963, when Vatican II reforms brought contemporary music to Catholic churches. Just as the Latin Mass almost immediately disappeared amid attempts to modernize, chants gave way to guitars and snappy folk tunes. The new music helped fill pews, but it left church conservatives and formally trained musicians reeling. How could the church that brought about Gregorian chant, polyphony and musical notation – all profound influences on Western music – be the same one leading sing-alongs of “Love Is Colored Like a Rainbow” and songs from hit musicals?

What, bemoaned the purists, had the folkies wrought?

Going to church, critics say, should not sound like shopping at the mall or driving your car. They charge that “liturgical pop” is spiritually bereft and demands nothing from the churchgoer. It’s friendly, pleasant and easy, they say. They mean that in a bad way. Understanding God is hard work, the argument goes, and similarly, music in church should challenge us. A sermon that says only what people want to hear would lack moral authority. The same goes for music.

“There’s a sense of mystery and religious atmosphere that seems to be lost in the new days,” says Scott Turkington, the choirmaster at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Stamford. “The fact is that the older music is better. Ask any serious musician, and he’ll agree with that.”

The chants sung at Regina Laudis are more than 1,000 years old. But Sister Elizabeth Evans says “old” doesn’t mean “irrelevant.”

Sister Elizabeth, 46, was a corporate securities attorney and law professor before she came to the abbey in 1997. Each of the nuns is assigned certain responsibilities; hers are music and dairy. Sitting in a small room behind a wooden screen (which symbolically separates the nun’s world from the visitor’s, although there’s enough space to shake hands), Sister Elizabeth remembers stumbling onto the sound of chant when she was 14. To her, it was anything but off-putting. She played it for her friends, who were equally taken. “And I mean, these were 14-year-old gum-chewing delinquents like myself,” she says.

To the untrained ear, the unaccompanied chant named after Pope Gregory the Great can sound emotionally muted, droning at times and otherworldly. That it’s sung in Latin doesn’t help.
But to Sister Elizabeth, it sounds more recognizably human than any other music, down to earth and in tune to the rhythms of life. It’s based on the Scriptures, after all, which are filled with human foibles.

She says chant is like blues legend Muddy Waters – a comparison that conjures the improbable image of nuns chanting “Baby, Please Don’t Go.” She explains that both have a certain earthiness and deal with the nitty-gritty of life.

What they chant depends on the time of the day (the morning lauds, for instance, often celebrate beginnings and creations; at noon, they chant the sext, which deals a lot with chasing down noonday demons). Subjects also change along with the seasons. Lately, they’ve sung about taking in harvests, filling storage houses and other day-to-day concerns.

So if chant is like Muddy Waters, what’s contemporary Christian music?

“Donny and Marie,” Sister Elizabeth says, laughing.

© 2006 Journal Gazette and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.http://www.fortwayne.com

Pray for the Land of the Cedars

While most of my BLOG commentary deals with sacred music and the state of the liturgy, at times like this it seems that even these important matters becomes trivial.

Over 120 years ago in 1886, my maternal grandfather, Domenic Haykel left the beauty of Mount Lebanon for an unknown future in Canada. Leaving Halifax his port of entry, Domenic made it as far as Fredericton, New Brunswick, became a British Subject and a few years later returned to find the love of his life, Naza (Elizabeth Deeb). They had one child in Lebanon and then returned to Canada's Maritimes and had 9 more. They were active at St. Anthony's Church in Fredericton. 

In 1910, Wadea Doumit (the family name means "Dominic") and his bride, Farida Francis (a first cousin) came to Toronto and lived in a walk-up tenement building on York Street where the new Toronto Stock Exchange now stands. For a short time they were members of St. Anne's Parish but eventually became part of St. Patrick's.

Both grandfathers became merchants. Three of Domenic and Elizabeth’s sons became millionaires and their Alma Mater was the school of hard knocks. Wadea and Farida never owned their own house but during the Great Depression Wadea fed the locals from the back door of his store at Queen and St. Patrick Streets and he later bought two houses for his young married sons one of which I now own.

My maternal grandfather must have been one of the first Lebanese to leave that beautiful land to come to Canada. At that time Lebanon was a province within the Ottoman Turkish Empire and not too many from Mount Lebanon were happy about that. The Maronite Catholics on Mount Lebanon were a faithful and brave lot. They kept their faith in Jesus Christ despite the Mohammedans and their ultimate victories against the Crusaders. But then like now their persecution was sometimes too much to bear. For almost 100 years it was the Druze that murdered thousands.

Yet, they prospered and like their Phoenician ancestors they explored the world. Originally they spoke Aramaic, the language of Our Lord, the same Jesus who walked in their cities of Tyre, Sidon and Cana, site of His first miracle. Eventually they became part of the Arab world but never Arab. That is why they are so resented; for keeping a focus outward to Europe and the Americas and Oceana unlike the Bedouin and Mohammedans.

After the Ottoman Turks crumbled came the French who rescued the Christians from the Druze and who helped to prepare the land for its independence in 1946, two years before another new land, the State of Israel.


So ironic today that Lebanon which other than participating in the initial 1948 conflict never, ever attacked Israel or joined in any of the middle-east wars since 1948 should be so brutalized.

But is this brutality solely the fault of Israel?

The Palestinian terrorists, even the name Palestinian has become synonymous with the “t” word, who first came on the scene in 1972 in Munich took the name “Black September.” Eleven innocent Israeli Jewish athletes were brutally murdered during the Olympic Games. The next few years would see more hatred and turmoil and loss of innocent life at the hand of Black September, Fattah and the PLO. Allied with other Marxist terrorist groups of the cold war period including the Beider-Meinhoff, IRA, Basque Separatists and the Red Brigade in Italy, terror reigned supreme.

A few years before Munich, Black September took place in Jordan. Trans-Jordan, the nation of the Hashemite Kingdom was under a British Mandate along with Palestine after the Ottoman Turkish Empire collapsed at the end of World War I. The new Kingdom of Jordon became home for thousands of Palestinians, most of whom got on with life and have become part of broader Jordanian society. Yasser Arafat, born in Egypt of Palestinian parents was the leader of the Fattah movement. With his followers they attempted to subvert the government of King Hussein in Jordan until in September 1970 they were attacked and deported for the treason they committed on a welcoming land. A treason that they repeated in Lebanon and Kuwait later.

The goal of the PLO has never changed. Israel must be wiped from the face of the earth. Not necessarily every Jew killed but every Jew killed if necessary.

And then they went to Beirut.

More preoccupied with developing a pluralistic, dynamic, prosperous society, the Lebanese then as today had not much of an army.

With thousands of Palestinian refugees in south Beirut, in Tyre and throughout the south, often in camps, Arafat exploited their poverty and suffering and upset a finely balanced government plunging Lebanon into chaos. He subverted the government, betrayed the Lebanese people and invoked the wrath of Israel and the disdain of the civilised world (well most of it, anyway).

All those years of suffering amongst the Lebanese people has begun again. Why?

Is it as simple as the Palestinians who can’t have their own land right now have to destroy the only pluralistic land in an otherwise intolerant region?

The Palestinians are suffering, no doubt; and tragically they have been deceived by their leadership and the Arab world and from the suckling at their mothers’ breasts have learnt nothing but hate.

They must reject Mohammad, join their few brethren who belong to the Melkite Rite and accept Jesus Christ as their LORD and Saviour. Then, they will have the peace they so long for.

New book shows Pope's concerns for liturgy

Rome, Apr. 27 (CWNews.com) - The Italian publication of a book on the liturgy, with a preface by Pope Benedict XVI, is calling fresh attention to the Pope's interest in liturgical reform, and particularly in recovering the elements of the traditional Latin liturgy.

The Italian publisher Cantagalli held a public presentation on April 27 to introduce Rivolti al Signore, a book written in 2003 by Father Uwe Michael Lang, with a preface by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In the book, Father Lang argues in favor of celebrating Mass ad orientem-- that is, with the priest and the congregation facing in the same direction. Rivolti al Signore appeared in English as Turning Towards the Lord, published by Ignatius Press in 2004. The introduction of the Italian-language edition drew special notice because the preface highlights the Pope's desire for a "reform of the reform" in the liturgy.

The April 27 presentation came at a time when Vatican-watchers are still speculating on whether Pope Benedict might issue a document allowing broader use of the old Latin Mass. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, made one of the presentations at the conference introducing Rivolti al Signore.

His participation added further evidence of the importance of the book. In his preface, written in 2003 when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger notes that Vatican II did not require the celebration of Mass with the priest facing the people, nor did the Council abolish the use of Latin in the liturgy. The future Pope writes that Father Lang's book provides a valuable opportunity to discuss the liturgical changes of Vatican II-- a discussion which Cardinal Ratzinger says is long overdue. The effect of such a discussion, the preface argues, could be to correct erroneous interpretations of Council documents and provide for a more dignified and reverent liturgy.

In his own 2001 book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Cardinal Ratzinger made arguments similar to those found in Turning Towards the Lord. He expressed regret that liturgical changes had decreased the spirit of reverence, and particularly that the Mass sometimes appeared to be a "one-man show" featuring the priest-celebrant. Father Uwe Michael Lang, the author of Turning Towards the Lord, is a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London, who studied theology in Vienna and Oxford and has written several works on patristics.