I am now 53, so I remember the Traditional Rite just before it started to change after the Council, round about 1964. Indeed, I served it, as a boy altar server. I have loyally followed the Novus Ordo, and I believe that the Novus Ordo is a valid form of Mass.
But about 4 years ago, a colleague asked me to learn to say the so-called Tridentine or Traditional Mass, which we celebrate each Saturday in our Monastery (
www.prinknashabbey.org) in Gloucester, UK, at 11am just for lay people. (Our monastic community has lots of Latin in its liturgy, but it is the “new” Latin of the new Solesmes antiphoners, not the old forms; and we sing a lot of Gregorian chant.)
I would say that we are very blessed in our present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, who, in giving back the traditional rite to the Church as a whole, has been accused of giving in too much to the traditionalists.
I think, however, that he is doing something quite different.
Because he holds the Petrine office, he knows that he must above all else promote the unity of the Church, and reconcile divisions with all his power and strength. In setting the two forms of Mass, the Trad and the Novus Ordo, side by side, he is already symbolically doing just that, making the two one. Of course, there will be much struggle, many tears, many difficulties to overcome, but there will come about a kind of cross-fertilisation - something he alludes to in his letter that goes with the Indult - so that some of the dignity, silence, Latin, and awesome presence of the trad Mass will “rub off” on the New, while the better cursus of biblical readings (even if said in Latin) and the richer collection of Prefaces from the New will enrich the old. And not only these things, but other rapprochements of a more personal kind will take place. We all ought to thank God that we have such an enlightened holy man at the helm of the Church.
Frankly, however, when I look at the state of Mass in many parishes, I wonder whether I would want to become a Catholic, were I not already one. And here, I want to say that this is not an accusation - because sometimes unfortunate things are done and said for the very best of intentions, as an attempt to involve people and be “pastoral”.
For me, now, and even within my own monastic community, one of the key issues is communication. Some would say (and even Pope Benedict has raised this question himself) IF LATIN IS BASICALLY A DEAD LANGUAGE, NO LONGER SPOKEN OR LEARNED BY THE VAST MAJORITY, AND NOT EVEN LEARNED IN OLD EUROPE, CAN WE REASONABLY EXPECT THE LITURGY TO RETURN TO LATIN?
This is a valid question.
There is no easy answer. Certainly, I think our African churches experienced Vatican II and the New Mass as a liberation, and will need to develop their own forms of the Mass, the African Rite, over the next few centuries, probably without Latin.
But there is then the question of SYMBOLISM. What draws us to Latin, and particularly to the Old Mass, is the fact that SOMETHING IS BEING SAID BEYOND IMMEDIATE UNDERSTANDING OR COMMUNICATION. In other words, you are in tune, even if you are not a Latin scholar. (I am, incidentally, so have no problem on that level). In a world which is a barrage of words and symbols, the fact of a SILENT MASS (as it were) is a profound statement about the transcendence of God. That is why it appeals - and perhaps especially to the under 30’s.
But above all, let us seek understanding, especially of those who do not agree with us. In the end, what matters is that we be conformed to Christ, transformed into Christ totally and completely, through the matrix of our Holy Mother the Catholic Church.
Other than that, which I’m sure will get better in time, I totally fell in love with it. I hope that I can get a car so I can go next week and hopefully forever after!