Traditionalists Still Hopeful on Access to Latin Mass

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Catholic traditionalists say they’ve abided a biblical amount of time hoping the Vatican will permit widespread celebration of the “Latin Mass,” and a few more days, months, or even years won’t dim their desire. “We’ve been waiting for this for 40 years,” said Britt Wheeler, co-chairman of the Saint […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Catholic traditionalists say they’ve abided a biblical amount of time hoping the Vatican will permit widespread celebration of the “Latin Mass,” and a few more days, months, or even years won’t dim their desire.

“We’ve been waiting for this for 40 years,” said Britt Wheeler, co-chairman of the Saint Gregory Society, a New Haven, Conn.-based group dedicated to preserving traditional liturgy. “Hope springs eternal.”


Wheeler and other traditionalists say recent indications from the Vatican hint that permission may be imminent, and they’re making all the necessary preparations.

The “Latin Mass,” as it is commonly called _ traditionalists call it the “Tridentine Mass” or “classical Roman liturgy” _ employs songs, rites and Gregorian chants that were common before the Second Vatican Council ushered in a host of changes in the 1960s. Among other features of the older rite, Latin is spoken and sung almost exclusively and the priest celebrates the Mass facing away from the pews.

Proponents say the Tridentine Mass strikes a more reverent and transcendent tone, in which worship is clearly directed toward God. But the Mass is only celebrated in U.S. dioceses under the special permission of a bishop, which some have been reluctant to grant.

Even in dioceses where the old Mass is allowed, it is sometimes pushed to inconvenient times such as the late afternoon, making it difficult to gather interested Catholics, said Richard Dobbins, secretary of the Saint Gregory Society.

“That’s really what we’re fighting against,” Dobbins said.

Pope Benedict XVI, however, has expressed admiration for the traditional rites, and rumors have spread he will try to foster more widespread celebration of the Tridentine Mass through a “motu proprio,” or personal papal declaration.

Hopes have run particularly high since April, when a well-connected Vatican cardinal, Tarcisio Bertone, told the French newspaper Le Figaro that Benedict will indeed issue a motu proprio to celebrate the older liturgy.

“The pope has expressed interest,” said Monsignor Anthony Sherman, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ liturgy office. “Popes don’t usually express interest unless they intend to do something.” Sherman cautioned, however, against guessing how “widespread” the permission may be.


Still, it seems less a matter of “if” permission will be granted than “when,” said Shawn Tribe, a Canadian lay Catholic and editor of The New Liturgical Movement, a Web-based journal.

The New Liturgical Movement, which has been buzzing with activity, draws together various streams of tradition-minded Catholics to discuss liturgical issues and their importance to the church. Since the fall of 2005, it has drawn more than 1 million Web “hits” or viewings, Tribe said.

Besides its role as a vehicle for divine worship, “the liturgy is one of the most potent forms of catechism that we have,” Tribe said. “The liturgical texts and music, the ceremonial actions, all of these things powerfully combine to draw us into worship of God and teach us about the nature of the Mass.”

For example, Tribe said “when the priest and the faithful face in the same, common direction in liturgical prayer, as was traditionally done in the Roman rite, this speaks powerfully of the liturgy as being the sacrifice of Christ offered to God the Father, and of our communal unity, both priest and laity, in joining in the offering of that worship to God.”

Rocco Palmo, a correspondent for the English journal The Tablet and a highly regarded Vatican watcher, said some in Rome fear widespread celebration of the Tridentine Mass will lead to divisions among Catholics.

“It’s amazing because the liturgy is supposed to be the uniting ground of people,” Palmo said. “The Mass is the Mass is the Mass, wherever you go.”


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And while U.S. Catholics have traditionally been loyal to their local parish, they may pick up the more Protestant habit of “voting with their feet” and driving to whichever Mass they like best, Palmo said.

Those looking for a specific date for the permission from Rome may want to circle April 30, according to Palmo. It’s the feast day of St. Pius V, the pope who codified the Tridentine Mass in the 16th century, and Benedict has a appreciation for significant dates, Palmo said.

But don’t look for a big announcement.

“It’s going to drop one morning the Vatican bulletin. It’s going to mystically appear,” Palmo said.

KRE/LF END BURKE

Editors: To obtain a file photo of a priest celebrating the old Mass in 1953, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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