Filling in the Niches

About a week and a half ago, Monsignor Charles Pope, a priest of the Washington DC Archdiocese published an article in the National Catholic Register stating his conviction that interest in the Traditional Latin Mass (the pre-conciliar liturgy) is no longer growing and advocating a more aggressive evangelism among its devotees to restore the momentum of expanding the popularity of the old rite.  It was a remarkably balanced and well-written article although Monsignor’s observations are based on “anecdotal evidence” and not established statistics.  One facet of his observations is that as the number of TLM’s expands, the congregational base divides so that there are more Masses but those Masses are less and less crowded.  Monsignor Pope suggests that what is needed to restore momentum is a push for “evangelization.”

Now, to be fair to Monsignor Pope, he is a bit ambiguous about what he means by evangelization, but I would like to draw our attention to the fact that evangelization is not a matter of advocating for one form of liturgy or another, nor is the focus of evangelization advancing the Church.  Evangelization is spreading the Gospel (Ευαγγαλιον, Good News) of the Kingdom of God.  The Church is the agent of the Gospel, not its object, and while some rites might it express it more lucidly, every celebration of the Liturgy in whatever Rite is an expression of the Lord’s Paschal Mystery.  All Christians are call to evangelize; it is a responsibility given us at our Baptisms.  But this is not the focus of this post. 

According to Monsignor Pope, despite the availability of the TLM at five parishes in the Archdiocese the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington who attend the Traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form, not the Novus Ordo in Latin) are about one half of one percent of the Catholics who regularly attend Sunday Mass.  This translates to about one thousand people spread over five sites, or an average of two hundred people per site.  The neighboring Diocese of Arlington has a plethora of parishes that offer the TLM every Sunday but there too many of the sites draw less than 100 people for a Mass.  Across the country even as new TLM sites are springing up an equal (or even greater number) are closing down or cutting back for a lack of sufficient numbers attending. 

Monsignor Pope uses the example of a parish where he had often celebrated the TLM over the past quarter century.  When the Mass was first introduced, the Church was “almost full.”  Over the years the congregation has declined by two-thirds.  What is the reason for this?  One reason—and probably the most significant—is that with more parishes offering the TLM, people opt for a site closer to home.  A second reason is that just as some people have “graduated” from the Ordinary Form to the TLM, they go on to graduate school in the Byzantine or other Eastern Rites; some people are pilgrims and they migrate, never settling.  Still others make peace with the normative liturgy or find a place where it is celebrated in a way they can at least tolerate and return to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite.  And some simply lose interest in the spiritual journey, having sampled the honey from a variety of rocks, and just don’t go anywhere anymore.  But no matter what the reason, the impetus to return to the preconciliar rite seems to have lost momentum.  There will always be those who, for one reason or another, choose it but there seems to be little likelihood of it becoming universal practice once again.   

I think a big factor in the popularity (or survival) of the TLM is the reasons that motivate people toward it.  I hear all this “stuff” about “more reverent” or “a sense of holiness” but ultimately that is all pretty subjective.  Granted in the exceptional situation where it is a sung Solemn Mass there is a certain aesthetic beauty to it, but so too is there in a Novus Ordo Mass that is well done—just look at the papal Mass for Christmas Eve.  I know myself that I have some experience of worshipping with a Cistercian community and find the Liturgy—all very Novus Ordo—to be exceptionally beautiful and reverent.  And as for reverence, despite my liberalism I have yet to trip across a “clown Mass” or see some sandal-clad nun in wispy dress “preside” at Mass or any other such silliness.  I somewhat think such aberrations are a bit like the Loch Ness Monster: more a creature of legend than of fact.  If I have any criticism of the Novus Ordo it is that too many priests have fallen into a routine of how they “say Mass” and show all the enthusiasm of a tired mother at the end of the day folding the laundry.  But then I remember the 11 minute Saturday morning specials of my Tridentine youth and have no illusions how the TLM is inherently more reverent. 

I think people are drawn to the TLM for a number of reasons, not all of them spiritual.  I don’t mean to suggest an individual who prefers the TLM represents all of these characteristics and there may be other reasons as well.

1.    the TLM preserves that sense of individualism from the encroachment of a “community” of unknown (and undesired) strangers.  You don’t have to (and couldn’t if you wanted to) interface with your neighbor at the TLM

2.    The TLM permits you—if you wish—to pray via pious reverie rather than engage you with the Liturgy itself.  This is related to the sense of individualism in number 1.

3.    The TLM gives you an escape from the daily world and its pressures, allowing a peaceful and otherworldly respite for the duration of the Liturgy. 

4.    The TLM suspends the cultural tensions of our contemporary world and represents a retreat into a secure past with fixed answers and well-defined boundaries.  

5.    The TLM gives you a sense of intimacy with Christ that excludes others.

6.    The TLM marks you as different and distinct.  The sort of music, the use of Latin, the more formal tone gives you a certain status as a more cultured individual.

7.    The TLM draws people somewhat like-minded in their social and political views, namely of a strongly conservative conviction.

8.    For the spiritually restless, the TLM offers something new, foreign even, that creates an immediate semblance of religious experience. 

I don’t mean to suggest that all people drawn to the TLM have one or more of these (conscious or unconscious) motivations and do not mean to suggest that there are not other reasons.  But I think the movement in favor of the Traditional (Pre-Conciliar) Rites is, at best, a sort of niche Catholicism and I agree with Monsignor Pope that the niche is pretty well filled.  

Reason 7 Why the New Mass beats our the Old Rite

Fiat Lux: CardinalBurke chooses
to remain in the dark.   

I admit that one of my serious flaws is that I am a bit ADHD.  I never focus.  I am all over the lot with the things I do and the interests I have.  And it gets reflected in this blog as the various series I start take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to finish.  That Anglican history thing has been running for God-alone-knows-how-long now—and we are just at the Oxford Movement.  Of course part of that is that it does take a lot more research than other topics on which I write.  And I can easily get lost in the detail—but again that is a sign of my attention issues.  And the series on why the revised rites of Vatican II are superior to the pre-conciliar rites—a response to the ever-supercilious Professor Peter Kwasniewski of Wyoming Catholic College, that Notre Dame of the western prairies who wrote a remarkably shallow posting arguing the contrary position on Rorate Caeli.  I really need to focus on over the next couple of weeks tie up this series. 

I watched Pope Francis celebrated the Mass During the Night (once known as Midnight Mass) at Saint Peter’s Basilica this last Thursday evening.  (I watched it on television, of course, though I have often been at the Christmas Mass in person, even having a seat in the capella papale due to the generosity of a friend of mine who is a senior prelate in that world the other side of the Roman looking glass but who, “to preserve my (his) sanity wouldn’t be caught dead at one of those curial drag shows.”)   And I went to Christmas morning Mass at my parish.  I can’t believe that anyone would prefer the usus antiquior over the contemporary rite.  Both the papal Mass on television and our parish Mass were spectacular.  They were reverent.  The music was exquisite.  They were intelligible—both in regard to vernacular language (well, ok, the pope said the prayers of the Mass in Latin—which is a vernacular to me so I sometimes don’t notice—but the readings were in the language(s) of the assembly as were the prayers of the faithful.  Oh, yes, that is another difference in the rites—the novus ordo has the prayers of the Church.)  The music in our parish—led by a cantor but also helped out by a six-voice schola cantorum included both the old (traditional Christmas carols in both Latin and English) and the new (including a lovely piece by John Rutter called “Mary’s Lullaby.”)  What the parish Mass created was a sense of bonding among the worshippers that led people not to rush home but to stay around the church and chat over cocoa and Christmas cookies for over an hour.  It was the sort of environment that makes one want to come to Church. 

Well, enough about that.  Let’s get to reason number 7 in our list. 

The Liturgy introduces us to the life of discipleship as we follow the saints through the Church year. 

In the pre-conciliar rites there were plenty of Saints’ days.  In fact we had more saints than days, leading to pile-ups of collects at the beginning of each Mass as prior to the 1962 Missal revision, each collect had to be said in a sort of string of prayers at the beginning of each Mass.  There could be as many as seven collects said on an ordinary day.  I don’t want to say that there is any such thing as too many saints but frankly before Vatican II there were too many saints commemorated in the Liturgy.  Even Lent and Advent were overrun with saints confusing the focus of the liturgy and diverting from the temporal cycle.  The revised calendar trimmed back the number of saints commemorated in the Liturgy, leaving some saints of dubious provenance without a feast day.

Beginning back as far as the pontificate of Pius XII, so beloved of the traditionalists, there were attempts to scale back the Roman Calendar of Saints.  There was also from the time of Pius forward an increase of canonizations of more contemporary saints who were not just names or the subjects of somewhat outlandish hagiography but who could serve as real models for people in today’s world.  More and more saints were named from among the laity (though still not a proportionate number to the laity in the Church.)  The recently canonized Zelie and Louis Martin, a married couple (and parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux), are one example of recent saints.  Pier Giorgio Frassati, Gianna Molla, are other examples.  Among the religious you have Saint Marianne Cope, an American (though German-born) Franciscan Sister who worked alongside Father Damien at Molokai.  Pino Puglisi was an Italian priest murdered in 1993 for his opposition to the Mafia.  Jerzy Popieluszko was a Polish priest murdered by the Marxist government of that country for leading the Solidarity resistance.  Katherine Drexel was a wealthy American heiress who devoted her life and her fortune to educating Native American and African-American children. 

There are some interesting people in the “saint pipeline,” my favorite being Dorothy Day, an American social reformer and political radical whom Pope Francis mentioned in his address to Congress.  I am sure that is a boost to her cause.  Dorothy Day is a particularly important model because she had resorted to an abortion in her pre-Catholic youth.   Another person whose cause has not yet been formally introduced but who is being looked at is Monika Helwig, a German-born British citizen who was a leading American theologian.  Helwig had been a religious sister but with the encouragement of her superiors left religious life to pursue a theological education.  (The Constitutions of her religious congregation limited the work of the Sisters to Missionary and Medical work that precluded a theological education).  Helwig continued to live her vows as a lay woman and adopted three children and raised them as a single mother.  She was known not only for her theological prowess (she was chair of the Theology Department at Georgetown University) but for her charitable work and for her involvement in her parish.  As she died quite recently (2005), it is early for a formal process but her papers have all been carefully archived in anticipation and testimonies to her character have been collected. 

The calendar revisions which accompanied the 1970 reform of the Roman Rite retained the classic saints: the Apostles and other New Testament figures, the early Martyrs mentioned in the Roman canon, Martin, Patrick, Benedict as well as outstanding examples of faith or charity such as Thomas More, Vincent de Paul, the Curé of Ars and others.  It also made room for significant new saints such as the Korean Andrew Kim and companions, the Vietnamese Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, the Ugandan Charles Lwanga and companions, Edith Stein, Mary MacKillop and others.  The revised rite and calendar give us plenty of saints, including somewhat contemporary ones, from whose lives to draw the lessons of Christian faithfulness.  At the same time the calendar is structured to keep the focus of Advent and Lent on the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption.  Even such historically important figures as Patrick, Peter Damian, or Saint George get optional memorials, permitting but not requiring their feast to be celebrated. 

Thus there are plenty of saints including contemporaries but not so many that we lose sight of the story of Redemption that unfolds in the Temporal Cycle.  

By the way, one reader recently asked for the dates of the previous entries in this cycle.  The Professor in me is inclined to day: do your own damn research.  It isn't that hard with the label list on the right hand side of this page.  But I just happen to have the dates at hand, so here goes:

10 23 15

10 10 15

8   31  15

7   28  15

7   23  15

7   20  15

7   17  15

7   14  15

Rorate Caeli Is In For A Big (And Distressing) Surprise

The new Archbishop, Don Matteo
celebrating (not the Traditional
Latin) Mass.  

Most of the Katholik Krazy blogs are run by white post-menopausal matrons with too much time and too little understanding of our authentic Tradition and consequently are a bit down at the heels when it comes to any theological élan.  An exception used to be Rorate Caeli which, at one time had contributors who could present some cogent arguments for the neo-Traditionalist position.  Over the past three or four years however Rorate Caeli has retained the superciliousness of its glory days but due to contributors like the Reverend Doctor Richard Cipolla  and Francesca Romana and the increasingly pretentious Professor Peter Kwasniewski of Wyoming Catholic College has let the intellectual ground beneath it give way to the most vapid of neo-Traditionalist mush.    

In light of all this, I got a particular kick out of a Rorate posting by “New Catholic” entitled

New Archbishop of Bologna a friend of the Traditional Mass

Pope Francis named today as new Archbishop of Bologna Matteo Zuppi, up to now Auxiliary Bishop of Rome. He has been mentioned here in Rorate for his visits to Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, the Personal Parish of the Traditional Mass in Rome (run by the Fraternity of St. Peter) - for instance, in 2014 - and his discreet attempts to help the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

May God keep him faithful, and may he be a worthy successor of the faithful Cardinal Caffarra in the defense of Christian morality. 

First of all, all due respect to those who have entered the Catholic Church as adults, but you don’t let “new converts” speak authoritatively about all things Catholic.  It takes time to plumb the depths of our doctrine, our practices, and our culture.  It takes time and practice—and integration into the community of those who have been born and raised in Catholicism—to absorb a genuine experience of the faith.  Some of the clerical voices of the neo-trads—such distinguished priests as Father Z or the above referenced Rev. Dr. Cipolla or the English Father Hunwicke are all examples of converts who confuse incense with blowing smoke. They want to teach before they have even learned.  “New Catholic” is no different but this time unfamiliarity with Catholicism left egg all over New Catholic’s face and spattered onto the rest of Rorate.  Despite his having celebrated, as an auxiliary bishop of Rome, the Traditional Latin Mass for the FSSP parish at Santissima Trinita, Archbishop Matteo Zuppi is no friend of neo-traditionalism.   Quite to the contrary.  Don Matteo is a protégé Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the President of the Holy See’s Pontifical Council For the Family and a leading architect of the recent Synod and pusher of the “Kasper Agenda.”  Moreover Archbishop Zuppi has been life-long member of the left-wing Catholic Movement, the Community of Sant’Egidio.

In my Rome days I regularly attended Mass with the Sant’ Egidio Community.  In the early years when they were still in the Church of Sant’Egidio the Saturday night Eucharists were anything but rubrical.  Reverent, yes; beautiful, yes—but very unique liturgically.  Don Matteo was frequently the presider and very relaxed in his style of presiding over the two-hour plus Mass followed by the communal supper.  When the community outgrew the church of Sant’Egidio and moved into the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, the community began inviting various bishops and cardinals—invariably of the left wing of the Church—to preside and preach.  I remember often hearing Cardinal Kasper preach and in particular I remember the remarkable homily on the eve of the 2005 Conclave in which Kasper outlined what the Church needed in a “Good Shepherd.” (It was Good Shepherd Sunday) It was clear from his homily that Cardinal Kasper didn’t consider Cardinal Ratzinger as meeting the bill.  Very clear.  At Santa Maria in Trastevere liturgies became more “high church” and for the most part conformed to the Roman Missal  but remained good examples of Vatican II style liturgy with much contemporary music, communion in both kinds, and both men and women active in various lay ministries. 

Sant’Egidio was the main agency behind the Assisi Interfaith meetings which drew Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and others to Assisi in1986 and again in 2002.  The Community also sponsored yearly interfaith “prayers for peace” at various sites around the world.  John Paul II was an enthusiastic supporter of these prayer services and of the Community itself, but Cardinal Ratzinger had serious issues about what he perceived to be common worship with those not of Christian faith.  An interfaith meeting was held in Assisi in 2011 with Pope Benedict present but without a common worship service. 

The Community of Sant’Egidio has also been the principle Catholic voice calling for an end to the Death Penalty in the United States and those other countries which still resort to it.  In addition the Community of Sant’Egidio has maintained ties with dozens of organizations that promote a “peace and justice” agenda.  Both theologically and politically it sits on the far left side of the Catholic spectrum.  So while Archbishop Zuppi may know how to say the TLM he comes from a Church that is thoroughly in the Pope Francis model.  Good Luck, Rorate with men like Zuppi in key sees, the Church is getting tied in closer and closer to Pope Francis’ vision.  Let’s hope he gets to fill a few more sees and leave his stamp on the Church.