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larsont7
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Hard to believe this came from the NY Times, but a good article nonetheless.
www.nytimes.com
UMUAKA, Nigeria — In August, under a bright blue sky and in front of 2,500 worshipers, Bishop Gregory Ochiagha performed the first traditional Latin ordination in Nigeria since the vernacular liturgy was introduced after Vatican II. Near the end of the Mass, the 86-year-old bishop nearly fainted. “I am so happy, I am so happy,” he whispered as he was led to a chair.
Catholics attached to the Latin Mass have suffered a great deal since the introduction of the vernacular liturgy after Vatican II. But 10 years ago, they enjoyed a sublime vindication. Pope Benedict XVI declared in his document “Summorum Pontificum” that all Catholics have the right to the traditional liturgy. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too,” Benedict wrote. Bishop Ochiagha generously distributed copies of “Summorum” to his brother bishops in Nigeria, many of whom had criticized his support for the Latin Mass.
Though traditionalists remain a tiny minority in Nigeria, as throughout the world, their number is growing. Catholic traditionalists see the ancient language of the Latin Mass as a sign of their faith’s stability and unity, an indication that Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. They would like to see it return worldwide, but for now, some of its strongest adherents have been in places like Nigeria, where historical tumult and ethnic strife have given traditionalists special reason to value this aspect of their faith. Six years ago, Bishop Ochiagha buried his friend Emeka Ojukwu, who had led the Biafran Republic in its rebellion against the Nigerian state. Bishop Ochiagha served Biafra as a diplomat and watched the rape and pillage that accompanied its defeat in 1970.
At that fraught moment, foreign priests were expelled from Nigeria by the government, and the vernacular liturgy was introduced by the Vatican. “The time of the liturgical change was not easy,” Bishop Ochiagha told me. “People thought the church was collapsing.” In one stroke, Catholics were cut off from their past. They also found it harder to pray. “The traditional Mass encourages reflection and prayer,” he said. “The new Mass gives itself to jamboree.”
So when one of Bishop Ochiagha’s priests asked permission in the 1990s to celebrate the Latin Mass again in Nigeria, the bishop agreed. The priest, the Rev. Evaristus Eshiowu, had studied in Los Angeles, where he was shocked by what he saw as the irreverence of American worship. He felt called by the Virgin Mary to revive a liturgy in which her son would be rightly honored. Returning to Nigeria, he began monthly recitations of 2,000 Rosaries, marathon prayer sessions that stretched from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and ended with the Latin Mass.
Opinion | The Latin Mass, Thriving in Southeastern Nigeria (Published 2017)
The older service appeals to the poor and links faraway lands to Rome, and Catholic traditions.
UMUAKA, Nigeria — In August, under a bright blue sky and in front of 2,500 worshipers, Bishop Gregory Ochiagha performed the first traditional Latin ordination in Nigeria since the vernacular liturgy was introduced after Vatican II. Near the end of the Mass, the 86-year-old bishop nearly fainted. “I am so happy, I am so happy,” he whispered as he was led to a chair.
Catholics attached to the Latin Mass have suffered a great deal since the introduction of the vernacular liturgy after Vatican II. But 10 years ago, they enjoyed a sublime vindication. Pope Benedict XVI declared in his document “Summorum Pontificum” that all Catholics have the right to the traditional liturgy. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too,” Benedict wrote. Bishop Ochiagha generously distributed copies of “Summorum” to his brother bishops in Nigeria, many of whom had criticized his support for the Latin Mass.
Though traditionalists remain a tiny minority in Nigeria, as throughout the world, their number is growing. Catholic traditionalists see the ancient language of the Latin Mass as a sign of their faith’s stability and unity, an indication that Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. They would like to see it return worldwide, but for now, some of its strongest adherents have been in places like Nigeria, where historical tumult and ethnic strife have given traditionalists special reason to value this aspect of their faith. Six years ago, Bishop Ochiagha buried his friend Emeka Ojukwu, who had led the Biafran Republic in its rebellion against the Nigerian state. Bishop Ochiagha served Biafra as a diplomat and watched the rape and pillage that accompanied its defeat in 1970.
At that fraught moment, foreign priests were expelled from Nigeria by the government, and the vernacular liturgy was introduced by the Vatican. “The time of the liturgical change was not easy,” Bishop Ochiagha told me. “People thought the church was collapsing.” In one stroke, Catholics were cut off from their past. They also found it harder to pray. “The traditional Mass encourages reflection and prayer,” he said. “The new Mass gives itself to jamboree.”
So when one of Bishop Ochiagha’s priests asked permission in the 1990s to celebrate the Latin Mass again in Nigeria, the bishop agreed. The priest, the Rev. Evaristus Eshiowu, had studied in Los Angeles, where he was shocked by what he saw as the irreverence of American worship. He felt called by the Virgin Mary to revive a liturgy in which her son would be rightly honored. Returning to Nigeria, he began monthly recitations of 2,000 Rosaries, marathon prayer sessions that stretched from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and ended with the Latin Mass.
- See article for rest of story *