Saturday, July 07, 2007

• Apostolic Letter “Motu Proprio” Summorum Pontificum on the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the reform of 1970 - Here is a non-official English translation, issued by the Vatican Information Service, of Benedict XVI's apostolic letter "Summorum Pontificum," issued "motu proprio," on one's own initiative, concerning the use of the Roman Missal promulgated by John XXIII in 1962. The original text written in Latin can be found on the Vatican's Web site.

• Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu Proprio with which Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional norms for the majority required to elect the Supreme Pontiff - un-official English translation courtesy of Zenit News Service.

Responses & Commentary

Ongoing compilation . . .

• Some Key Points of the Motu Proprio, Letter to Bishops and Explanatory Note - the highlights, conveniently assembled by Teresa Polk (Blog by the Sea).

• Gerald Augustinus provides a translation of an excellent article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung laying out the need for the moto proprio:

  Looking at the situation, Joseph Ratzinger is right. By now it's two generations of Catholics who sing new songs off copied sheets whose linguistic banality and musical vulgarity have reached the level of simplistic elevator music. So-called family Masses have replaced the Gospel reading with fairy tales from Ireland. Whoever resists these forms of self-secularization of the Church, is viewed as reactionary and 'pre-conciliar', even if he just insists that neither the liturgy of the Church should not be a training ground for clerical do-it-yourself men nor the sanctuary a stage on which unsettled priests, self-aggrandizing laypeople and 'equal-rights'-clamoring women fight their battles.

  Does this basic problem of the new liturgy consist only in an execution problem which could be solved through "liturgical education" or long documents such as "Sacramentum Caritatis" ? Can the break with tradition be healed by today's rescinding of the "prohibition" of the old Roman Rite by the Pope? [READ MORE]

• Summorum Pontificum: my intro comments and the text, by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf. What Does Prayer Really Say; also, see his response to Cardinal Ricard's hand-wringing:

  [Cardinal Ricard]: Not all priests are adequately prepared for this. They lack formation.

  [Fr. Z.] Priests are smart. We can learn. I will teach any priest how to say the older Mass and help him with Latin. This is not astrophysics.

  [Cardinal Ricard]: Books are lacking.

  [Fr. Z.] Print new ones? We have the resources of entire conferences of bishops to back this initiative if the spirit of this MP is embraced.

  [Cardinal Ricard]: Priests will have to prepare two homilies.

  [Fr. Z.] How ‘bout… make ‘em a little shorter?

  . . . . and so on.

• Brief Summary of the Pre and Post MP Scenarios - Shawn Tribe (The New Liturgical Movement) provides a concise look at the implications. Spelled out in this manner, one can see just how significant (and a blessing) this document is.

  Also "testimony time": Why are people so excited about this motu proprio and the freedom of the 1962 Missal?

  Between Fr. Z, Rorate-Caeli and The New Liturgical Movement, you can find your fill of news and commentary on this topic. They have been blogging in anticipation of this day for a looooooong time, and -- to quote Shawn Tribe -- can rightly say "Rejoice!":

  You have witnessed a moment of history today. Rejoice, celebrate and soak it in. Lest anyone worry about it being anti-climactic from here, worry not. Once the celebrations are complete, be prepared, we have much work to do. We have scholas to build, priests to help get training and resources to, and much more. But do celebrate for awhile yet and enjoy the moment!

• "Ten Questions on the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Missale Romanum", by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). (The U.S. Bishops also offer a 12 page discussion of the Moto Proprio [.pdf format], which includes another Q&A list of "Twenty Questions on the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum."

• 'Being Heard' John Heard - 'Summorum Pontificum', Young Catholics And The Roman Rite, by John Heard. Dreadnought July 6, 2007:

  Certainly, even before the Pope’s motu proprio, many young people had developed a sense of alarm about liturgical reform. Faced with what the Pope has called ‘arbitrary deformations of the liturgy’ in the years since Vatican II, young people have looked at the Catholic liturgical past and sometimes regretted the way our liturgical present fails to match up.

  We are, after all, the generation who grew up with the Clown Mass, too many emcee-style priests and homoactivist protesters inside the cathedral.

  That the 1970 Missal proved to be vulnerable in the hands of such people has been a cause of great concern but not a reason to doubt the Council itself. Rather, it spoke to a necessary ‘reform of the reform’, an ongoing process of education and discipline, but not a reactionary break.

  By liberalising the use of the 1962 Missal, the object is not then the scrapping of the ‘new’ Mass, rather a perfecting of the Roman Rite as a whole and a way of more perfectly implementing the teachings of Vatican II on the liturgy, in their entirety.

• As to be expected, "Moto Proprio Madness", by Fr. O'Leary. (And, appropriately, a fisking of Fr. O'Leary's Response to the Motu Proprio by Barbara Nicolosi (Church of the Masses).

As for the overall mood in St. Blog's Parish, I think this about sums it up:

Lastly, as Dr. Blosser (Pertinacious Papist) reminds us: let's pray for our pope!:

Many of us have long awaited and prayed for this day. Let us remember the Holy Father in our prayers. Let us also pray for the impossible, for a warm and welcoming reception of the Holy Father's Motu Proprio.

Let us also pray for joy -- joy on this occasion, as well as joy in the good will and wisdom of the Holy Father in leading the Church to this pass. Finally, whatever its reception, let us pray that the Motu Proprio may, in due course, powerfully help to facilitate a renewal of liturgical faith throughout the Church and a renewed desire to worship God in the spirit of truth, which is the root of all liturgical renewal.

Labels: benedict, liturgy, ratzinger

|

Against The Grain is the personal blog of Christopher Blosser - web designer and all around maintenance guy for the original Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club (Now Pope Benedict XVI).