![]() One can hardly overstate the noise that freeing the older rites has introduced into liturgical discussions, even though the actual number of traditionalists remains small. A reactionary thought world is being cultivated as well. It is not just a matter of lace and Latin. Dubious pastoral practices have attended this development, such as using the Baltimore Catechism instead of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or reading the Douay-Reims Bible in preference to modern Scripture translations. ![]() Instead of promoting greater harmony with and closeness to the universal Church, broad availability of the older rites has been used as an opportunity to create a “church within a Church,” a community apart from the mainstream. We’ve certainly seen harmful results in the United States, which has the world’s highest proportion of locations offering the older rites. In a nice turn of phrase, the French bishops reported that those who desired the older rites were “pacified,” but not reconciled. Crucially, it observed that the goals of Pope Benedict’s project-reconciliation and enrichment-had not been reached. Only one document has been leaked: the summary report from France. The actual responses have not been made public. The results of the survey were deeply troubling, compelling him to act, he said in a letter accompanying his motu proprio. Pope Francis has, no doubt, been hearing for a long time about such tensions and difficulties, but a turning point was reached when he commissioned a worldwide survey of bishops to evaluate Summorum pontificum. ![]() Vatican II’s opening to the world-its commitment to ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, and discerning the signs of the times -has been sharply criticized and rejected by advocates for the older rites. It is no accident that the American Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the pope’s most public antagonists, is a worldwide chaplain to Catholic traditionalist communities, or that the Austrian who threw the Pachamama statue into the Tiber during the Amazon Synod was a traditionalist, or that when the disgruntled former Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, tried to unseat Pope Francis, he allied himself with traditionalists.Įven beyond the scandal of a series of attacks on a reigning pope, a political struggle over the enduring legacy of an ecumenical council has been hanging in the balance. His teaching on marriage and family, his call for pastoral accompaniment, and especially his commitment to ecological responsibility and economic justice, have been virulently opposed in such circles. Opposition to Pope Francis has also found a base in traditionalist communities. Pope Benedict did not believe the danger was there, but it was. Everything from the effort to restore the monarchy in France (a hopeless cause) to suppression of the indigenous peoples of Brazil (an ongoing problem) has flown under the flag of Catholic traditionalism. Traditionalist movements-both those that went into schism, as did the followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and those who remained in communion with Rome-have long been associated with hard-right and authoritarian political regimes. But, overall, opening up more space for the older rites has deepened conflict in the Church and led to politicization of the Eucharist. After thirteen years, however, it became evident that this dream was not going to materialize.Ĭlearly, some individuals find serene enjoyment in attending Mass according to the older rites and have no other agenda. He urged the bishops to trust that these “two forms” of the Roman Rite would peacefully coexist and enrich one another. ![]() He invented the term “Extraordinary Form” to refer to the older rites, and called the reformed rites the “Ordinary Form.” The Roman Rite had never existed in two forms at the same time, yet that is what he envisioned. This puts an end to the bifurcation of the Roman Rite that Pope Benedict endorsed when he wrote Summorum pontificum. Pope Francis, in his motu proprio Traditionis custodes, not only firmly abrogated Pope Benedict’s motu proprio Summorum pontificum (2007), which had “freed” the older rites, allowing them to be celebrated by any priest at any time, he also declared and established that the reformed liturgy is “the unique lex orandi ” of the Church today. Finally, after years of accommodating those who dislike or actually reject the liturgical reforms of the Council, the Catholic Church’s highest authority took a definitive step to re-establish the reformed rites as normative for the whole Latin Rite Church, without exception. Jwas a great day for the Roman Rite and for the legacy of the Second Vatican Council.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |