Understanding a liturgy in Latin: exchange in the Catholic Herald

You can't hear what they are saying, but you can see what they mean.

My letter to the Catholic Herald criticising Mark Shea has itself elicited a response. Despite the fact that I wrote in general terms about 'liturgical restoration', Mr A.K. Whitehead has launched a frontal assault on the Extraordinary Form, on the basis of his childhood experiences, and on the new translation of the Ordinary Form.

'Joseph Shaw (Letters, August 23) provides something of a conundrum. On the one hand he knows what other people can't possibly know, such that "liturgical meddlers have done incalculable damage to the spiritual lives of Catholics", and yet, as chairman of the Latin Mass Society, he says we must "allow the liturgy to speak to us" and "be sensitive to its symbolism" and "nuances."

A dramatic presentation of Something very special

I don't think Mr Whitehead knows what a 'conundrum' is. But I do know that liturgical meddlers have done terrible damage, for both Bl Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict said so. John Paul II:  (Dominicae caenae 12): 'I would like to ask forgiveness--in my own name and in the name of all of you, venerable and dear brothers in the episcopate--for everything which, for whatever reason, through whatever human weakness, impatience or negligence, and also through the at times partial, one-sided and erroneous application of the directives of the Second Vatican Council, may have caused scandal and disturbance concerning the interpretation of the doctrine and the veneration due to this great sacrament [the Eucharist].'

Pope Benedict, Letter to Bishops accompanying the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum: 'I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.' 

A visible way of honouring the congregation: no words, but incense.

But back to Mr Whitehead.

But speaking as an "ordinary Catholic", for us to be sensitive to any text, and if that text is to have any "nuances" for us, we must first be able to understand it. Yet I know (with the same degree of perception as Dr Shaw) that at least 99 per cent of English congregations today do not understant Latin. Indeed, in the actual days of the Latin Mass, I was an altar boy and could recite every response both without difficulty and without understanding a word. For me, it had nothing recognisable as a "nuance" and there neither did it "speak" to me, nor have any "symbolism."

Mr Whitehead has forgotten that the liturgy is not just a text. Can you not see the symbolism of, say, the priest washing his hands at the Lavabo, without hearing the text he is reciting, in English? It is a problem if not: the text is to be said silently even in the Ordinary Form. Silly old Paul VI and Bugnini: wrong again!

... So unless Dr Shaw has devised a means of mass (sic) teaching of Latin to almost the whole of English-speaking Catholic congregations, his impressive-sounding references to "nuance", the "liturgy speaking to us" and to its "symbolism", members of the Latin Mass Society would be better to resign and form an English Mass Society, ...to eradicate just the latest work of "meddlers", eg "sending your Holy Spirit on them like the dewfall" (which belongs to and should have been left in the Old Testament), because for 99 per cent of Catholics the previous version was fine, did speak and did have nuance and symbolism.

Yours sincerely,
AK Whitehead, Pontefract, Yorkshire.

'The man who learns to believe, learns also to kneel': Pope Benedict

Now it is the Holy Ghost who is under attack, for using obscure imagery in Sacred Scripture. He should have known better: 99% of people are unmoved by poetry and don't know what 'dewfall' is anyway. Or so Mr Whitehead appears to think.

This is one of those letters which seems to teeter on the brink of coherence. One has to be selective, in any case, in choosing what points to respond to; I wrote, and have been published this weekend, as follows.

The Lavabo: another silent symbol.

I am sorry to read that Mr A.K. Whitehead (Letters, August 30th) learnt the responses to the old Latin Mass as a child ‘without understanding a word’. To do so he must have consistently resisted the temptation to look at a translation; these were ubiquitous on the eve of the Second Vatican Council, so I suppose this is an achievement of sorts, though not one he should be congratulating himself upon half a century later.

But there is more to engaging with the Latin liturgy than looking at a translation. Bl John Paul II wrote (Dominicae Caenae 1980, 10), speaking of those educated in this liturgy, that ‘through its dignified character [it] elicited a profound sense of the Eucharistic Mystery.’ The fact that it is in a beautiful, ancient, and universal liturgical language, and not our cradle tongue, communicates something to us which, as the late Holy Father worried, is difficult to communicate in any other way.
In a recent survey in America, the respected Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate found that not only do only half of self-identified Catholics believe in the Real Presence, 37% were not aware that this was the teaching of the Church. They attend Mass in their native language: do they understand it? It seems not.

The Asperges on Sunday: a poetic image, of sprinkling and washing, acted out.

Prayer and Fasting on Saturday

From the Catholic Herald:

On Saturday Pope Francis will lead thousands in St Peter’s Square in a prayer vigil for peace.

During his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis said: “We will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace.”

The vigil will include a recital of the rosary, eucharistic adoration, Scripture readings, a papal blessing and remarks by Pope Francis, said the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi. During the event, which will last from 7 p.m.-11 p.m, priests will be available to hear confessions.

For all Catholics, the Pope has proclaimed Saturday a “day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East and throughout the world.” On fast days, adult Catholics in good health are expected to eat only one full meal.

Cong for Clergy urges priests to celebrate Mass daily

This interesting document is in danger of not being noticed because it has so far been published only in Italian and German. It is short, however, and (with a bit of help from Google) the main points are clear enough. Priests are urged to celebrate Mass every day, even in the absence of the Faithful. The arguments in favour of this traditional practice are, at bottom, the spiritual life of the priest, and the good of the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

This position strikes at the heart of the liberal conception of the Mass as a 'shared meal' in which the congregation's role is as important as that of the celebrating priest. On such a conception Missa sine populo - Low Mass literally without any congregation, perhaps not even with a server - doesn't make any sense.

The document also sheds some light on the meaning of the buzz-word of today: Pelagianism.

'To omit this daily celebration - except in the case of impossibility - means [as priests] depriving ourselves of the main food needed for our sanctity and the apostolic ministry of the Church, and to the risk of indulging a kind of spiritual Pelagianism , trusting in the power of man more than the gift of God.'

(Google, with corrections.)

Here it is, in Italian. How about someone doing a proper translation?



Photos: private Masses at the Latin Mass Society Priest Training Conference at London Colney in 2009. No Pelagians here!

Baltimore Catechism on Kindle!

This is fun: the Baltimore Catechism Number 3 is now available for the Kindle book-reader.

Number 3 is the most comprehensive of the series, excluding the teachers' version, which is called Number 4. So this is the one suitable for preparation for Confirmation.

New Kindle Catechism

We are pleased to announce our new Kindle version of the classic Baltimore Catechism just in time for the return of students to the classroom this fall. Now anyone can have the truths of the Catholic Faith available to him on his own electronic device wherever he goes. This comprehensive eBook edition of the Baltimore Catechism contains the constant, authentic doctrine and moral teaching of the Catholic Faith. More than 500 clear and concise questions and answers are included.

Fr. Connell's catechism is superior to any other catechism, including any other Baltimore catechism. Answers are well developed with thorough explanations and Sacred Scripture is used extensively to amplify the answers. In addition, each chapter concludes with study helps, exercises, and a summary essay for teachers and students.

This eBook edition by The Seraphim Company of Fr. Connell's 1949 Baltimore Catechism No. 3 was originally published by Benziger Brothers. In addition to the original content, this eBook edition includes an excellent section of essential Catholic prayers at the beginning and twenty-two beautiful engravings with explanations. It is not only excellent for adults and children, but is also perfect for religious programs and anyone desiring information about the Church.

The Kindle version is available currently through Amazon and can be sampled there, CLICK HERE.

To watch a brief video about the catechism itself and for a link to the book version as well, CLICK HERE.

Besides saving time and the costs of shipping and handling, the Kindle version brings several advantages to the use of the catechism:

• Convenience – access the Faith anywhere or anytime using your electronic device like a smartphone.
• Usability – highlight, annotate, bookmark/tab, cross-reference, search etc. within the book very quickly, easily and at great depth.
• Readability – increase point sizes, use backlit screen, enhance contrast for easier reading by anyone of any age.

Walsingham Pilgrimage Part 2

Continuing from my earlier post about the Pilgrimage, since we had four priests we had Solemn Mass each day, which was a treat; private Low Masses followed and/or preceded to give all the priests a chance to say Mass.



One of the high points of the pilgrimage is always Oxburgh Hall, and Mass in the private chapel of the house, which is quite substantial: you see here the transition from secret chapel in the attics to public mission church, which became the basis of the parochial system in the 20th Century.



Mass at the Catholic Shrine was very well attended - more than 200 people were there, not only the walking pilgrims but others who had travelled in the LMS coach from London, or in their own cars, or who happened to be around the shrine. There always seem to be lots of Keralan Catholics about the place, and it is the weekend of the Youth 2000 pilgrimage.



We can't fit that kind of number into the historic Slipper Chapel, where the shrine image is, so we use the 'barn', the Reconciliation Chapel. This, it must be said, is a strange structure, with even stranger, rather municipal, orange lighting. But the sanctuary doesn't impede the ceremonies of Solemn Mass, which is something.



Before Mass we had the Asperges; because the priest, Fr Michael Rowe from Australia, is away from the sunlight of the window shining from behind, I could get a decent photo.



After Mass is the procession to the ancient shrine, down the 'Holy Mile' leading from the Slipper Chapel (where medieval pilgrims left their shoes) to the site of the Holy House, and the Priory which was built next to it.

 

There we had our final devotions and blessing from Fr Bede Rowe.



But there is a sort of postscript to the pilgrimage's devotions which I'll blog about tomorrow.

Young Catholic Adults retreat in September

Book now for the Young Catholic Adults weekend event at Cold Ash Retreat Centre (a couple of miles from Douai Abbey, which was booked up this year).

* It will be include the following speakers:- Fr Gregory Person OP, Fr Matthew Goddard FSSP Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP, Fr. Gabriel Wilson O.S.B.

* There will be a Marian Procession, Rosaries, Sung/High Masses, Confession and socials.

* Gregorian Chant Workshops will also be running, this year led by the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge.

Prices start at £35 per night.

Go here to book.

Loftus attacks God

The Walsingham Pilgrimage has again put me behind with Loftus' outpourings, this one is from 25th August (Catholic Times). He is still talking about what Pope Francis said on the aeroplane. What the Holy Father said, Mgr tells us, is

in direct contradiction to fundamentalist legislism which enshrines values immutably, as though in tablets of stone.

So, who did that, writing laws on tablets of stone? Er, God. Loftus is calling God a practitioner of 'fundamentalist legalism'.

Loftus seems to get cold feet about this and later in the article says that some things can't change - 'they go to Faith'. I wonder if he means Faith as opposed to Morals. In any case, what he really lambasts in this article is the notion of the Christian society. Referring to Rahner, he writes:

Pure and unadulterated Christianity is not meant to be protected by taboos, or by some sacral aura, from all opposition or criticism. Christianity is no less complete without Christendom than it was with it.
     But if Christianity today is not to become a fundamentalist sect, then the smaller it is, the more open it must be to the world about it. Only in this way can we preserve the 'Catholicism' or universality. And this can call for some quite dramatic changes.

The public manifestation of the Catholic Faith: in Walsingham 

While Loftus fantasises about the changes an ever-shrinking Church must make to enable it to blend in with an ever-hardening Christianophobia around it, the rest of us can reflect on the fact that the obligation to convert society to reflect the truth about morality is not only firmly fixed in the Ordinary Magisterium over many centuries, but is famously reiterated in Vatican II. While talk of 'religious liberty' might seem to point in the direction of a state and society which was neutral on controversial moral questions, and away from what Loftus quaintly calls 'taboos', Dignitatis Humanae, the Council's 'Declaration on Religious Liberty', goes to the trouble of explicitly excluding any such conclusion. Thus, DG 7:

Furthermore, society has the right to defend itself against possible abuses committed on the pretext of freedom of religion. It is the special duty of government to provide this protection. However, government is not to act in an arbitrary fashion or in an unfair spirit of partisanship. Its action is to be controlled by juridical norms which are in conformity with the objective moral order. These norms arise out of the need for the effective safeguard of the rights of all citizens and for the peaceful settlement of conflicts of rights, also out of the need for an adequate care of genuine public peace, which comes about when men live together in good order and in true justice, and finally out of the need for a proper guardianship of public morality. 

When wondering what the 'guardianship of public morality' means we must keep in mind that when this document was promulgated, in 1965, divorce, abortion, homosexual acts and contraception were prohibited or strictly limited in a great many jurisdictions, not just in South America and Africa but in Europe and North America. We could argue about what DG means for the public manifestation of the Christian revelation (look at the prefatory note and the earlier magisterium on that), but that's public morality for you. You can't escape Natural Law by talking about changes in social conditions any more than about religious liberty. If Rahner disagrees, so much the worse for him.

And in Oxford: the LMS Oxford Pilgrimage, in October last year.