Thursday, May 23, 2013

REFORM OF THE REFORM



I've been convinced for years and now more than ever that there shall not be (short of divine intervention) a wholesale return to pre-conciliar liturgical use across the board anytime in the near future. I cannot fathom short of a miracle of grace that the novus ordo would be abrogated and replaced by the traditional Mass in my lifetime. Sadly, I suspect that until the generations of those whose identity, spirituality and piety (or lack thereof) have been formed by the post-Conciliar liturgy have passed to their reward, there is little hope of a full liturgical restoration to tradition.

I believe rather that since the great majority of Catholics worship daily and weekly according to the Missal of Paul VI (albeit in rupture with tradition and not  in continuity with tradition), there will need to be rather an proliferation of celebrations of the Missal of Paul VI in continuity with the traditional liturgy:  ad orientem, Latin ordinary, Gregorian chant, celebrated with maximum ceremony in as close a proximity with the traditional Mass as possible in order for a complete transition to take place on a grassroots level. The liturgical minimalism which is the trademark of the Missal of Paul VI alongside the widespread liturgical abuse has directly contributed to the loss of faith of whole generations of Catholics.

I liked what the Italian blog 'CORDIALITER' has to say about the subject so dear to my heart:


Years ago the Abbé Claude Barthe gave an interview to the association "Paix Liturgique," in which he said that the traditional Mass can not hope to reintegrate heavily in ordinary parishes without the rebirth of a favorable environment, fed by the vital support of the reform of reform. In this regard it would be hoped that the rite of Paul VI can be celebrated in the most traditional way possible (versus Deum, Communion kneeling, Roman Canon, Gregorian, etc..), Thus creating a favorable environment for the transition to the Tridentine Mass.

I agree with the Abbé Barthe, because experience shows that those who devoutly celebrated in the past with the Missal of Paul VI, after the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum" have joined the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. Think about the various don Alfredo Morselli, Don Nicola Bux, Father Stefano Manelli, and many others. In short, if all the new priests had celebrated Mass in the traditional way, today the Tridentine Mass would be the "ordinary" form of the Roman rite. Moreover, without a miracle, it would be unthinkable that a priest who used to mangle the liturgy with irreverence and various abuses, suddenly would decide to adopt the traditional Mass.



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