William F. Buckley on the New Mass (the now OF)

[JReducation]

What is “OF”?

OF is the Ordinary Form of the mass. It’s the form of the mass that was implemented after Vatican II.

EF is the Extraordinary From of the mass. It’s the Tridentine form of the mass. Though now they are talking about changing its name to the Gregorian form.

And, when they broadcast anything from Hanceville, we’re treated to the nuns singing behind gilded jail bars, which is strange to begin with. And, on top of that, most of their singing is incomprehensibe. How do you tell those people anything?

They are not jail bars. Cloistered orders have used grills to separate them from the world of the secular and the laity for more than 1,000 years. It dates back to the time of Benedict and Basil, the foundes of Western and Eastern monasticism.

The grill used to protect the monks and nuns from intrusion by the laity and secular people. The reason for the separation is that the enclosed life is the highest vocation in the Church. The Church has believed that this is the highest and most complete form of cosecration to God. These people devote their entire lives to adoring God and support themselves by the work of their hands. They rarely beg. They’re very productive. They never leave the enclosure except for justifiable reasons such as going to the doctor or to move to another monastery. They don’t even visit family. Their families visit them once a year.

As to how we tell these people anything. The answer is simple. We don’t. We are not allowed to interfere with their lives. They are protected by the Holy See and they answer only to the Superior of their community, the local bishop and the Pope.

Why would you want to say something to them or change the way that they do things?

The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration were founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1222. They have been using plain chant ever since then. It’s only supposed to be comprehensible to them. A cloistered order exists first for the sanctification of its members through adoration of God, second to pray for the Church, third to do penance for the world, fourth to live in community and enjoy each other’s graces. That’s it. That’s a lot do deal with. The last thing they need or want is the secular and lay world in their world.

The holiness of their life would be contaminated by the lay and secular people. That’s why St. Benedict and St. Basil insisted on the grill and why St. Francis insisted on perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. To keep them holy and close to Christ.

JR

 

[Howard_Roark]

I watch EWTN every day, for hours. I am disappointed that they don’t have any priest talented enough to sing the Eucharistic prayer. With all the exposure that they get, with international audiences, you’d think they’d try harder.

Heh…you think the criteria for a lightning-rod is his singing voice?

 

[JReducation]

“I watch EWTN every day, for hours. I am disappointed that they don’t have any priest talented enough to sing the Eucharistic prayer. With all the exposure that they get, with international audiences, you’d think they’d try harder.”

I’m not sure what part is so difficult to understand. The friars who celebrate the mass on EWTN are Third Order Fraciscans. It is not a custom of any of the Franciscan orders to sing the Eucharistic prayer.

St. Francis forbade the First Order from using Gregorian chant in the mass and the Liturgy of the Hourse. They can only use plain chant.

The Missionaries of the Eternal Word were trained by the Capuchin Franciscans, who belong to the First Order Franciscans. It is most likely that in their training they were taught of the tradition NOT TO USE GREGORIAN CHANT in either liturgy (Mass or Divine Office).

JR

 

[turtle18]

I wonder if anyone had the decency to have his funeral Mass celebrated EF style.

He could NOT have been that traditional of a Catholic. He was pro-choice. How many individuals do you know who celebrate “EF style” are pro-choice?

 

[Brennan_Doherty]

He could NOT have been that traditional of a Catholic. He was pro-choice. How many individuals do you know who celebrate “EF style” are pro-choice?

William F. Buckley may have started as somewhat pro-choice (prior to 1967, apparently), but after reflection ended up being pro-life for the rest of his life. And there’s no question he preferred the TLM.

Here is an excerpt on the subject from LifeSite News:

For instance, the National Review magazine that Buckley was pivotal in founding and guiding has been one of the most prominent pro-life voices among magazines without explicit religious connections.

Buckley himself used his column in the National Review to speak out with typical eloquence for the cause of life. For instance, during John Kerry’s 2004 campaign for president, Buckley lambasted the supposedly Catholic democratic candidate for his purported private opposition to abortion yet public promotion of child slaughter.

Criticizing those who would reduce opposition to abortion to a sectarian view based on religious faith, Buckley wrote that the Catholic Church does not oppose abortion because of the Gospels, but because of “the proposition that human beings are human beings even if they have not yet been born. Those who are helpless are, it is all but universally held in America, to be protected. The one-day-old child is protected with the full force of the law. The proposition that he is without rights when he is minus one day old is nothing more than a social convention conflating various concerns.”

Hence, Buckley continued to make clear that the pro-life cause was not one to be reserved to Catholics, or those who are religious, but could and should embrace any person of good will still convinced of the fundamental equality of each human being.

As late as May of last year, Buckley urged his readership to recognize the serious moral question of the rights of pre-born children. In an article reflecting on Mitt Romney’s position on abortion, Buckley recounted how he had argued in 1966 that Catholic’s could not dictate their abortion opposition to non-Catholics by opposing state legislation allowing abortion. A response from a fellow founder of the National Review prompted Buckley to reflect on his position and prompted him to deeper pro-life convictions. Subsequently, Buckley articulated a pro-life stance in natural law language accessible to those without the Catholic faith.

In the same Romney article, Buckley writes “We need to remind ourselves that deep moral questions have at other times in American history engaged public thought.” He goes on to cite slavery and the civil rights movement as instances of political issues that required moral principles to access and could not be left to the prejudices of the ruling majority. He reminded readers that perfectly good, kind, intelligent, and well-read people accepted the institution [of slavery] many without question, for years.” Thus, anti-life practices like abortion cannot be accepted merely because they have long been permitted by the law of the land.

lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022904.html

 

[ProVobis]

An individual who wishes damnation on any other person is either seriously ill, terribly ignorant of the meaning of the mass, or given to Satan who wishes to steal souls from Christ at all costs.

JR

You may want to tell that to your cohorts who take great pleasure in condemning Lefebvre.

 

[ProVobis]

Unfortunately, I have not read a great deal written by Buckley.

JR

Then you missed some pretty good TV shows as well. I very seldom missed his show and those of Bishop Fulton Sheen. No, I don’t want to equate them in any way but I just enjoyed listening to them both. What he said about the New Mass very much sounded like Buckley when he spoke about anything he didn’t agree with. Oververbose and very undiplomatic perhaps but he made his points crystal clear. Politically, a libertarian.

 

[EasterJoy]

What he said about the New Mass very much sounded like Buckley when he spoke about anything he didn’t agree with. Oververbose and very undiplomatic perhaps but he made his points crystal clear. Politically, a libertarian.

I know, and I agree that the quote sounds like him. Given the amount of stuff on the Internet that sounds true but isn’t, though, I would want like a better citation before I would ever pass this on as an authentic quote. The Internet is neck-deep in unsubstantiated rumor as it is! Stop the madness! Insist on authentication!!

Anybody?

 

[Brennan_Doherty]

I know, and I agree that the quote sounds like him. Given the amount of stuff on the Internet that sounds true but isn’t, though, I would want like a better citation before I would ever pass this on as an authentic quote. The Internet is neck-deep in unsubstantiated rumor as it is! Stop the madness! Insist on authentication!!

Anybody?

Hi EasterJoy,

This is the most specific reference I could find so far:

(The following is taken from The Remnant’s May 15, 1979 edition. Unfortunately, I don’t have a footnote for it but as my father attributed it to the late Mr. Buckley at the time I can only conclude it is, in fact, his. It certainly seems to be Buckley, as his inimitable style is, well, inimitable. A friend tells me that the quote also appears in Buckley’s Nearer My God. Pray for the repose of the soul of Mr. Buckley who died this year. In many ways, that brilliant man was but another sad casualty of the Spirit of Vatican II. MJM)

As a Catholic, I have abandoned hope for the liturgy, which, in the typical American church, is as ugly and as maladroit as if it had been composed by Robert Ingersoll and H.L. Menchen for the purpose of driving people away.

Incidentally, the modern liturgists are doing a remarkably good job, attendance at Catholic Mass on Sunday having dropped sharply in the 10 years since a few well-meaning cretins got hold of the power to vernacularize the Mass, and the money to scour the earth in search of the most unmusical men and women to preside over the translation.

The next liturgical ceremony conducted primarily for my benefit, since I have no plans to be beatified or remarried, will be my own funeral; and it is a source of great consolation to me that, at my funeral, I shall be quite dead, and will not need to listen to the accepted replacement for the noble old Latin liturgy. Meanwhile, I am practicing Yoga, so that, at church on Sundays, I can develop the power to tune out everything I hear, while attempting, athwart the general calisthenics, to commune with my Maker, and ask Him first to forgive me my own sins, and implore him, second, not to forgive the people who ruined the Mass

—William F. Buckley, Jr. (circa 1979)

Editor, National Review​

remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/archive-2008-buckley.htm

I know an even more specific quote would be good, but I don’t have a copy of Buckley’s book mentioned above.

I also remembered that at one time I ordered a transcript of a debate on Firing Line between James Hitchcock the Catholic historian who took a pro Latin Mass position and a Priest (I don’t recall his name) who took a pro Novus Ordo in the vernacular position. I remember that Buckley definitely seemed to side with the pro Laitn Mass position judging by some of the comments he made on that show.

 

[EasterJoy]

Hi EasterJoy,

This is the most specific reference I could find so far:

(The following is taken from The Remnant’s May 15, 1979 edition. Unfortunately, I don’t have a footnote for it but as my father attributed it to the late Mr. Buckley at the time I can only conclude it is, in fact, his. It certainly seems to be Buckley, as his inimitable style is, well, inimitable. A friend tells me that the quote also appears in Buckley’s Nearer My God. Pray for the repose of the soul of Mr. Buckley who died this year. In many ways, that brilliant man was but another sad casualty of the Spirit of Vatican II. MJM)

As a Catholic, I have abandoned hope for the liturgy, which, in the typical American church, is as ugly and as maladroit as if it had been composed by Robert Ingersoll and H.L. Menchen for the purpose of driving people away.

Incidentally, the modern liturgists are doing a remarkably good job, attendance at Catholic Mass on Sunday having dropped sharply in the 10 years since a few well-meaning cretins got hold of the power to vernacularize the Mass, and the money to scour the earth in search of the most unmusical men and women to preside over the translation.

The next liturgical ceremony conducted primarily for my benefit, since I have no plans to be beatified or remarried, will be my own funeral; and it is a source of great consolation to me that, at my funeral, I shall be quite dead, and will not need to listen to the accepted replacement for the noble old Latin liturgy. Meanwhile, I am practicing Yoga, so that, at church on Sundays, I can develop the power to tune out everything I hear, while attempting, athwart the general calisthenics, to commune with my Maker, and ask Him first to forgive me my own sins, and implore him, second, not to forgive the people who ruined the Mass

—William F. Buckley, Jr. (circa 1979)

Editor, National Review​

remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/archive-2008-buckley.htm

I know an even more specific quote would be good, but I don’t have a copy of Buckley’s book mentioned above.

I also remembered that at one time I ordered a transcript of a debate on Firing Line between James Hitchcock the Catholic historian who took a pro Latin Mass position and a Priest (I don’t recall his name) who took a pro Novus Ordo in the vernacular position. I remember that Buckley definitely seemed to side with the pro Laitn Mass position judging by some of the comments he made on that show.

As I said, it sounds very much like him. Still, I keep researching stuff I get from relatives, and find that the quotes I get are sometimes authentic versions, sometimes doctored versions, sometimes spliced versions (the authentic version with something else tacked on), sometimes mis-attributed and sometimes just plain made up by impersonators who have varying degrees of skill.

Having said that…it is at least true that The Remnant web site says they believed it to have been Buckley’s work at the time they published it the first time around, in 1979. If it was misattributed, 1979 is when it happened, not now.

If somebody runs across it in their copy of Nearer My God, please post to that effect!

 

[JReducation]

You may want to tell that to your cohorts who take great pleasure in condemning Lefebvre.

I did not know that I had cohorts.

Secondly, in my mind there is a difference between saying that he was excommunicated and that he is damned in hell or wishing such a fate for the Archbishop. Even Pope John Paul, who excommunicated him called all Catholics to pray for his sould when heard of the Archbishop’s death. I know that I certainly do so.

JR