Reactions to Latin Liturgy

Dear Editor: I am writing to wholeheartedly support the recent document of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI of the “Roman” Catholic Church authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine (“Old Latin”) Mass.

Ecclesiastical Latin is truly our Catholic language dating back to the time of St. Jerome (c. 340-420 A.D.) and St. Ambrose (340-397 A.D.) — St. Jerome’s Holy Bible — and developing, through borrowing and assimilation, from koine Greek (i.e., the language of the New Testament) and Hebrew into the fruits of canon law, papal bulls, the Latin of the liturgy of the Mass and Ambrosian hymns, and the Latin of the scholastic philosophers, particularly the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. 

Ecclesiastical Latin is not to be confounded with classical Latin, although they both share the same vocabulary, forms, and syntax, since ecclesiastical Latin is a dynamic language, borrowing words and assimilating constructions from the original koine Greek, thus adapting Latin words to the authentic theological meanings of the New Testament as written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the evangelists. 

The Church is temporally characterized by disunity precisely because of the plethora of biblical translations and interpretations in the vernacular since the time of Luther’s German Bible. Ecclesiastical Latin only serves to unify the Catholic Church in word and act comparably with the Greek of Orthodox Christianity, the Hebrew of Orthodox Judaism, and the Arabic of Islam.

I would like to encourage English-speaking Catholics to study Latin — perhaps the introduction of Latin language classes in our local parishes would be an excellent ministry — so that we could appreciate the richness of our Latin heritage. The English language owes its evolutionary versatility to Latin and French, with over 60% of the roots, prefixes and suffixes of Modern English having been derived from Latin after the Norman French conquest of England in 1066 A.D.

Our Latin heritage is linguistic, political, legal, scientific, medical, literary, artistic, philosophic and religious. What higher sense of awe can a Catholic feel when saying, “Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam?” (“I will go unto the altar of God.  To God Who makes my youth joyous?”) (Old Latin Mass liturgy). 

John F. Collins’ A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1991) shall be an excellent resource as we embark on a learning experience of who we are as “Roman” Catholics. Now is the time to thank His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for giving us the opportunity to experience our Catholic language and heritage.

Joseph N. Manago
Briarwood

Dear Editor: I thank God for the action of the Holy Father in the unrestricted reinstatement of the traditional Latin Mass.

I pray that the piety and solemnity of the Mass will influence the celebration of the Novus Ordo which as late as last Sunday, July 1st was celebrated in my parish in the fashion of a three-ring circus: band of musicians in the place where the side altar once stood, the main aisle dance of the pastor as he walked up, down and side to side to deliver his homily, and the constant “editorializing” by the celebrant during the parts of the Mass including a fussy and wordy call to the prayer in the words Our Lord taught us, and finally the excessive use of the additional terms “boys and girls” as well as “brothers and sisters.”

Let us hope that such nonsense will be eliminated and the focus of the Mass be less on the “personal performance” of the celebrant and more on the gift of the Eucharist.

Doris McCarren
Brooklyn

Dear Editor: Pope Benedict has authorized a more amplified use of the Tridentine Rite of the Eucharist. The Holy Father also assures all that this ‘nod’ to traditionalists ought not to be a source of worry.

I am writing to you because it is a source of worry for me. Our public worship is the manner in which the Body of Christ in this day sacramentally joins the eternal passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. This is the celebration in which the fullness of human nature and the entire universe is inspired, nourished, and promised. This is the awe and the mystery. Awe and mystery are not better proclaimed in Latin than in any language whatsoever. No language can truly express the “depth and breadth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.” 

If a ‘nod’ may be given to traditionalists, may a ‘nod’ not also be given to single parents, mothers or fathers; to divorced, or re-married baptized; to adults seeking a voice in the community of the Church into which they are baptized, which baptism bestows all the rights and privileges thereof? 

What about a ‘nod’ to children in foster care, or those who are orphans?
What about parishioners who find themselves compelled into a new community by a process into which they have had no input? What about a ‘nod’ opening community sharing and hoping for an extension of the service of priesthood in the Body of Christ? 

A further reason for my worry is that our baptized brothers and sisters are very distressed by the constant changes or rumors of changes in our public worship. Latin Masses, new translations, new “do’s and don’ts” seem to present a constant flow of unease for us. There are so many things unnerving these days: fewer priests; unavailable bishops; friends who are leaving the community; children who reject outright the attempts to pass on the faith; many who regard the practices of the faith — for example First Communion and Confirmation — as merely ‘cultural’ signposts. 

Would that the revelation of the eternal, overwhelming, awesome, unconditional love of our Father be shared among us at this time of our world, with our technology and our lack of or appreciation of our own human dignity. 

Brother James Loxham, FSC 
Brooklyn 
 

Dear Editor: As someone who attends the Tridentine Rite (TR) — it’s the rite that’s important, not the language: the Novus Ordo (NO) rite is, after all, a Latin rite — however, I am sensitive to the words reporters use when writing about it. 

Vatican II didn’t “open a door” to the NO so much as slam the door on the TR (codified in the 16th Century, as you say, but parts of what it codifies can be traced back to the fourth century). The TR was suppressed with the same authority that some prelates now fear the new papal document will undermine. As those responsible for the suppression were not overly concerned about the pastoral impact of their liturgical revolution, we should not take seriously the concern their successors feign over the impact of a counter-revolutionary move.   

The nearly universal alienation of today’s Catholics from their immemorial Rite is what makes the papal initiative merely a benign gesture that will change nothing unless Benedict sets an example by his actions.

Anthony Flood
Manhattan 

Dear Editor: I have worked and worshiped in many parishes. I have attended Mass in Italian, Spanish, Creole, English, and Chinese. I have seen language communities fight with one another in a parish. I have attended theology classes that focus basically on social justice. I have read about the Church torn apart by scandal. I pray to Mary and St. Joseph and see all the numerous cultural celebrations. I have heard people praise and complain. I saw church real estate sold.

But reading the article about the Tridentine Mass made me focus on only one aspect of the Church. Strip away everything and focus only on the sacrifice of the Mass.

Until the pope, hierarchy, and priests focus on the Blessed Sacrament and teach the laity to do the same all will fail, as it has in other parishes. Nothing is possible without Christ in the Hoy Eucharist and the belief and teaching about His presence!

James Sullivan
Brooklyn

Dear Editor: I think the title of the letter (June 23) should have read “The Beauty of Latin.” You see Latin was the “vernacular” of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

At a time when world travel has become so common, it is indeed ironic that the Church should see fit to practically delete its use. For anyone who traveled, it was always comforting to be able to participate in the Mass in a language familiar to them, whether in Europe or the Americas.

Latin was like the metric system – beautiful - for those who took the time to understand it or who used their missals. For just as the metric system is feared by those who are ignorant of its beauty, so also in many instances the same can be said of Latin.

I feel confident that if Latin was reintroduced with the same reverence used prior to its general exclusion, Mass attendance would increase. The world needs a continuance of a liturgy that was used for hundreds of years. It was comforting to the weary traveler as well as the newly-converted. It set liturgy apart from the common vernacular.

Thomas C. Cullinane
Bayside