Why Is the Liturgical Establishment Not Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Novus Ordo?

[Genesis315]

Why Is the Liturgical Establishment Not Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the <i>Novus Ordo</i>?

Sacred liturgy and liturgical arts. Liturgical history and theology. The movements for the Usus Antiquior and Reform of the Reform.

www.newliturgicalmovement.org

It has seemed odd that this pretty big anniversary has gone pretty much ignored. The author of this article proposes an interesting answer to why this is: basically, those who are the biggest supporters of the new Mass don’t want to draw attention that there was actually something else that came before.

My initial thought was that the fruits are sadly not worth celebrating. But our leaders have never been shy about touting their favored innovations as anything other than total successes, even if there were contrary evidence.

Anyone have any other thoughts on what should be a newsworthy anniversary, but largely hasn’t been treated as such? Maybe it is where you live?

 

[steph03]

We don’t have anything special for the 50th anniversary, but we faithfully do it every single mass. That is our celebration.

 

[DIERM]

Good idea,

I think it should be done on 26 September of 2020 (Feast Day of Saint Pope Paul VI), since it is the Mass of Paul VI, not the “Novus Ordus”.

It might still be considered the 50th anniversary, since it wasn’t until 1970 that it was written into the Roman Missal.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Anyone have any other thoughts on what should be a newsworthy anniversary, but largely hasn’t been treated as such? Maybe it is where you live?

Seems like an odd expectation? It’s the same old family and the same old rite. Just an updated model that’s more suitable for today. Should we celebrate the anniversary of updating a vehicle or a home?

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

Perhaps I’m ignorant, but is there some sort of celebration for the anniversary of the promulgation of the Extraordinary Form/Tridintine Rite?

I agree with @steph03: Faithfully celebrating/praying the Mass (or Divine Liturgy if you’re an Eastern Catholic) is how we celebrate every Sunday. Is there a need for further commemoration?

It’s time we start remembering that the current form of the Roman Rite has produced it’s own saints (if a form of the Mass can be said to “produce” saints): Pope St. Paul VI, Pope St. John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and, more impressively, the countless men and women worldwide who faithfully attend Mass either daily or weekly, and quietly live out their Faith unnoticed and unrecognized by the Church and the world at large. I’ve been blessed to know numerous such “holy nobodies.”

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Maybe it’s not done out of respect for traditionalists who may see it as a type of slight to the old Mass.

 

[CilladeRoma]

Just curious, did those who attend the EF exclusively celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Missal in 2012?

 

[Genesis315]

Whether you think it was positive or negative, the promulgation of the novus Ordo was a singularly unique watershed moment in the history of the Roman Mass. 1962 is only significant because of the novus Ordo, but otherwise is a mere blip in history, much like the analogous subsequent editions of the novus Ordo (like 1975 and 2002). Summorum Pontificum’s anniveraries are celebrated by communities that celebrate the vetus Ordo, but only exist because of the correction of its suppression accompanying the novus Ordo’s imposition.

I could see those who celebrate SP’s anniversaries also celebrating Quo Primum’s 450th, but even that document pales in significance, merely confirming and codifying what was already the tradition.

The Church has commemorated things like the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, the 50th anniversary of the closing of Vatican II, the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, the centenary of the Code of Canon Law (similarly significant compared to how law was organized before), the 25th anniversary of the 1983 Code of canon law, the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul’s meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras, the anniversaries of Rerum Novarum, and other papal documents, random anniversaries of the Pope’s visit to Lampedusa, etc., etc., etc… Many prelates, including the Pope, even commemorated the Reformation.

Yet the most significant anniversary to date of the most visible fruit of Vatican II–the one thing pretty much everyone in the pews associates with that Council–is not acknowledged? It just seems weird.