Skip to main content

What a Mess

The following appeared on the Church Militant site (a great site for Catholics)-- my comments appear in red:
Did the Second Vatican Council Change the Mass?
Examining the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and the average mass today
by Michael Lofton  •   May 20, 2015 

In a previous article on the Second Vatican Council, it was asserted that the council did not change the Faith. Some responded by saying that the Second Vatican Council changed the Mass, and as a result, changed the Faith. But is that true? (If it is, it did, under lex orandi lex oredendi)
The Second Vatican Council began to reform the Roman Rite through its first constitution, known as Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. The reforms taken by the Council were modest and explicitly intended to keep the substance of the Mass the same, only changing some of the elements that were not divinely instituted:
For the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change. These not only may but ought to be changed with the passage of time if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it.
The Council sought to guard against extreme novelty by prohibiting priests from changing the liturgy. "Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority."
It requested that the revisions made to the liturgy would maintain "sound tradition": "That sound tradition may be retained, and yet the way remain open to legitimate progress careful investigation is always to be made into each part of the liturgy which is to be revised."
It also put further restrictions on legitimate progress by stating, "Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them."
The Council cautioned against the laity performing functions not proper to their role, and the same for priests. "In liturgical celebrations each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the principles of liturgy."
It also wished to preserve Latin in the Mass. "Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites." (bolded mine)
It even gave Gregorian chant the highest position of honor in the liturgy. "The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services." (bolded mine)
 The reforms of the liturgy requested by the Second Vatican Council were implemented faithfully in the revision of the Mass made in 1965. This liturgy was almost very much like the liturgy before the Second Vatican Council, with only a few changes. Pope Paul VI claimed this edition of the Roman Missal was the faithful implementation of the Second Vatican Council: "The singular characteristic and primary importance of this new edition [the 1965 edition of the Mass] is that it reflects completely the intent of the council's Consitution on the Sacred Liturgy" (Klaus Gamber, Reform of the Roman Liturgy, 33).
Though the 1965 Roman Missal was a faithful and complete fulfillment of what the Council requested, Pope Paul VI allowed for a further refom of the Mass by Abp. Annibale Bugnini and his Consilium, which went way beyond, and perhaps at times against, the instructions laid out by the Second Vatican Council. The result was the 1969 edition of the Roman Missal, the edition used today (though this edition has been revised several times). It was this edition that made the many changes we see between it and the Mass prior to the Second Vatican Council. But even the current edition didn't change the direction the people face during Mass, nor did it require Communion in the hand and the overuse of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.
What was requested by the Second Vatican Council is not what we see in the average parish today. In fact, we are twice removed from what they requested, as the 1969 edition of the Roman Missal that Novus Ordo parishes use today is not a faithful implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and much of what we see in the average Novus Ordo parish isn't even faithful to the 1969 edition of the Roman Missal. For this reason, the Second Vatican Council itself cannot be faulted for the liturgy we often see in the average Novus Ordo parish today.
As outlined in my book, this development resulted from the failure of those bishops who, perhaps because they felt intimidated by the liturgical “experts,” allowed them to propagate teachings at odds with Sacrosanctum Concilium. In effect, the bishops allowed the imposition of newfangled liturgical “reforms” on their flocks, resulting in a liturgy which has proven “spiritually destabilizing” in many cases. The question which continues to puzzle is, why such poor shepherding? If the maxim lex orendi, lex credendi is true, and it is, then the lack of resemblance between what the Church teaches concerning the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reality of what is taking place in its celebration in parishes in the United States today warrants that we come to understand those developments in the Liturgical Movement under the influence of modernist thinking, and their impact on the Church. This is one reason I penned Smoke.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News

DANCING WITH MR. D:   This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News : 'via Blog this'

Things Catholic

In my second chapter I discuss why the political terms "liberal" and "conservative" are misnomers for adjectives modifying the term "Catholic." This is especially important now, when, following the resignation of Benedict XVI, pundits will misuse these terms in discussing the Holy father's legacy. Read more on this here.

Women Warriors?

A s a Catholic man and history teacher, I always tell my classes that, for reasons of masculinity and chivalry, I oppose women in the military (I teach at an all-female Catholic girls high school). So this article gives a better explanation of my view from a Catholic man's perspective: WOMEN DON'T DESERVE COMBAT by Mr. Gabe Jones “For whenever man is responsible for offending a woman’s personal dignity and vocation, he acts contrary to his own personal dignity and his own vocation.” (Pope St. John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem, 10) December 3, 2015 ought to be remembered as the date that any remaining vestiges of our country’s collective sense of chivalry died a tragic death. It was on this day that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced his decision to require combat positions in every branch of the United States military – including the Marine Corps – be opened to women. Despite being one of the most significant news items in recent memory, if you did not p...

The Pope and the Pill

C atholic teaching on the natural moral law reveals that man does not have unlimited dominion over his body or his sexual faculties, as Paul VI reminded us in Humanae vitae , for both of these must be used within the limits of the order of reality established by God (HV 16). When these limits are ignored, rejected or exceeded, horrifying consequences result. Here we are brought to Pope Paul's prophetic words: "Let [responsible men] first consider how easily [artificial birth control] could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings . . . need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and e...

Dancin' With Mr. D: Non-Binary?

A n LGBT activist has admitted that the battle over men accessing women’s bathrooms and vice versa has little do with transgenderism,  and everything to do with re-working society and getting rid of the heterobinary structure—eliminating distinctions between “male” and “female” altogether. Male and female He made them. Riki Wilchins, who has undergone “sex change” surgery and is a far-left social change activist, has written   that p eople should be able to enter whatever bathroom “fits their gender identity,” but the fact that we even have “male” and “female” bathrooms reflects something about society that needs to change.  He added that there are many “genderqueer” or “non-binary” people, pointing to a student who recently “came out” to President Obama as “non-binary” at a London townhall as an example.  “Non-binary” people don’t identify as male or female and they often want to be referred to as “they” or “hir” or “zer.”  So the fact that there...

Nuns' Story, or Call the Sisters

(Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham / Fr James Bradley) I have been watching the PBS series, Call the Midwives , which f ollows the nurses, midwives and nuns from Nonnatus House, who visit the expectant mothers of Poplar, providing the poorest women with the best possible care. As I observe the way these Anglican nuns are portrayed, it strikes me that they are more like Catholic nuns than many Catholic nuns after Vatican II (see chapter 5 of my book). Thus, the story featured in this post does not surprise me, especially after Pope Benedict's  launching of the United States’ ordinariate for disaffected Anglicans seeking communion with the Catholic Church.  From  the Apostolic Constitution  Anglicanorum Coetibus , given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on Nov. 4, 2009: “In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately.”

Several Hundred people do Not Lie!

At present many Catholics and non-Catholics like have little to no understanding of the emotional causes of homosexual attractions and behavior, largely due to spiritual laziness or lack of will to do extensive research into causes of the disorder.  Nor is there an awareness of the powerful role that Catholic spirituality can play in the healing of this disorder. In fairness, the reasons for this state of ignorance include the scant literature available on the value of the Catholic Faith and the sacraments in the resolution of homosexual attractions and acts, this in spite of the hundreds of success stories for those seeking to resolve the disorder--hence this blog post. Furthermore, traditional therapy has failed to resolve homosexual behavior, because by definition there is an all-powerful divine element excluded from the process. Add to this the views within the media and educational, social service, health and political fields, and the matter grows more complex. It is no s...

Homosexual Marriage

The urgency of the issue of gay marriage at this time and the compelling arguments raised against it here, make this paper an important resource: Answering Advocates of Gay Marriage KATHERINE YOUNG AND PAUL NATHANSON Claim 1 : Marriage is an institution designed to foster the love between two people. Gay people can love each other just as straight people can. Ergo, marriage should be open to gay people. Claim 2 : Not all straight couples have children, but no one argues that their marriages are unacceptable Claim 3 : Some gay couples do have children and therefore need marriage to provide the appropriate context. Claim 4 : Marriage and the family are always changing anyway, so why not allow this change? Claim 5 : Marriage and the family have already changed, so why not acknowledge the reality? Claim 6 : Children would be no worse off with happily married gay parents than they are with unhappily married straight ones. Claim 7 : Given global overpopulation, why w...
George Weigel has just published a proposed blueprint for  the “New Evangelization,” entitled Evangelical Catholicism which, to the extent that it is read will greatly amplify the New Evangelization, i.e., t he Church’s duty   everywhere and at all times  to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was Pope Paul VI   who in Evangelii Nuntiandi observed that the work of evangelization was so necessary because of the de- Christianization of the twilight year of the 20 th century. Pope Montini noted the multitudes of baptized Catholics living lives that did not distinguish them all that much from those ignorant of the Gospel; also those who, while ignorant of the full gospel, nevertheless had faith and lived according to the natural moral law, and Catholics who desired a more heartfelt relationship with Jesus Christ not given emphasis in the catechesis they received as children. His successor Pope John Paul II said that his predecessor’s use of “New Evangelizati...

Royal Wedding: One-Half American

W ell, folks, the Royal Wedding-watchers were treated to British tradition, yes, as seen in my f avorite musical portion   and in the hats (especially  the Duchess of Cornwall's )   But three was a decidedly American flavor to the event, as seen in the marvelous rendition of Stand by Me , and  by a sermon now trending on Twitter by American Episcopalian Bishop Curry, which, sadly,  lost its thunder in the peroration: French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, great spirits of the 20th century. Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a true mystic. Some of his writings from his scientific background as well as his theological one, some of his writings said, as others have said, that the discovery and harnessing of fire was one of the great technological discoveries of human history. Fire, to a great extent, made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ...