Tridentine Mass Reactions

Dear Editor: On a recent Sunday, the reading from Isaiah couldn’t have been more appropriate in expressing my feelings regarding the Holy Father’s motu proprio permitting greater use of the Traditional Latin Mass, “Exult, exult with her all you who were mourning over her!” 

Finally after four decades, the Church had permitted the widespread restoration of the ancient liturgy. Then the disappointment set in when I saw the coverage in The Tablet. The upshot was that the pope issued the decree to satisfy a small, right-wing group of schismatics! Not to worry, the impact would be minimal.

Now that the document has been released, the truth is that Pope Benedict’s objective is far more ambitious and momentous, namely, to restore to the Universal Church, a beautiful, historic rite that can serve to correct the “deformations” that have accompanied the reformed Mass over the years. A move that could, dare we hope, strategically enrich the liturgical life of the Church!

Despite what many believe, there is a widespread yearning for the solemnity and reverence of this ancient Mass and we’re not talking plain nostalgia. 

My experience with the Tridentine Mass has been the impressive number of young adults with their families who are drawn to these liturgies. People, young and old, want beautiful, solemn ways to express their worship of God. 

Much more importantly, it has resulted in an impressive increase in the number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Unfortunately, the coverage focused on Cardinal O’Malley’s comments and observations.  I was particularly struck by his comment “that interest in the Tridentine Mass in the United States was low.”  Well I would respectfully suggest, given the attendance figures in his Archdiocese or any other diocese in America, that interest in any Mass, Latin or otherwise, is low!

The article would have been more balanced if the other main American prelate in attendance, Archbishop Raymond Burke ot St. Louis, had been interviewed. His comments would have been of great interest to your readers, in light of the fact that he had celebrated a Tridentine Pontifical High Mass, ordaining two priests of the Institute of Christ the King (a traditional order of priests) only 12 days earlier in his cathedral.

Why then all the opposition? If this restoration of the classical Latin Mass results in a widespread revival of prayerful, authentic liturgy, all Catholics should applaud it.

After all, any student of history knows that the ancient Latin liturgy succeeded in Christianizing the pagan world.  Maybe it can do the same for the modern one?

 Michael Mattes
Neponsit

Dear Editor: “The Editor’s Space” (July 14) on “Mass in Latin...”  brought back many heartfelt memories of the years my brother, Msgr. Michael Dempsey, and I spent as altar boys serving Mass in Latin at St. Patrick’s Church in Astoria. We served for so many years and got so tall that we eventually towered over the priest. At that point we decided to retire.

I remember that when we were assigned to serve in the adjoining convent, we had to take off our shoes so as not to mar the glistening wood floors. I also remember having to go outside (even in the winter) to bury the charcoal embers after benediction.

Those were the days!

Bob Dempsey
Brooklyn

Dear Editor: The recent developments regarding the promotion of the Tridentine Latin Mass and Pope Benedict’s acceptance of this form of liturgy as equal to the current form I find very disturbing. 

For me, the Tridentine Latin Mass represents the negative aspects of Catholicism that were corrected by the reforms of Vatican II, and I find it alarming and, yes, rather scary, that some people in our Church have a desire to return to certain aspects of the Pre-Vatican II Church. 

For me, the Pre-Vatican II Church was closed-minded and authoritarian, focusing more on fear and guilt than on the love of God. I believe that in the dark period between the Protestant Reformation and Vatican II we were often guilty of having a sense of superiority over our brothers and sisters in other Christian denominations, and our use of Latin represented exclusivity, since we were using a language that shut others out. 

We also were guilty of the sin of clericalism, viewing the Church as the hierarchy and the priests rather than as the people of God.   

Yes, I realize that Vatican II and the years that followed were times of traumatic change and turmoil and there was certain negative fallout. But I also know that Vatican II was the time when our beloved Pope John XXIII opened the windows of the Church to let in the fresh air of the Holy Spirit, that Catholics and Protestants began to view each other as brothers and sisters in Christ instead of as enemies, when liturgy became more understandable to the people who could now freely participate instead of having to read along in our missals while the important events were happening in the front of the church, when we became free to express our worship of God and love of community in our own language, culture, and musical expression, when lay people – even women like myself – became empowered to take our place in serving the Church as lectors, eucharistic ministers, and in other ministries and were able to have some voice in what was happening in our parishes, and when the riches of Scripture were opened up to us.  Vatican II represented long-needed correction of our ways, and I suspect that if the reforms and the openness that characterized the spirit of Vatican II had existed in the 1500s at the time of the Reformers, the Mystical Body of Christ might have remained intact and undivided.

To me it seems that at a time when the Church should be moving forward toward greater ecumenical dialogue, greater empowerment of the laity, and greater openness to the Holy Spirit, some people in the Church seem to want to move backward. Once set free we should not seek to put on the yoke of slavery once again.

I can appreciate the concerns of many that the Mass and the Eucharist might be taken too casually by some and that there needs to be an awakening of a greater sense of reverence and awe for the Sacred Mysteries.  The Tridentine Latin Mass seems to represent the image of the Transcendent God: holy, awesome, mysterious, and untouchable, while the current liturgy represents the image of the Immanent God, the God Who loves us so intimately that He became one of us to live among us and within us. 

The Tridentine Latin Mass seems to focus on the vertical dimension of prayer (the individual and God), while the current Liturgy focuses on both the vertical and horizontal (communal) aspects, bringing us together as God’s family.  So perhaps the attraction of the Tridentine Mass is a signal that both dimensions of God need to be addressed in our Liturgy, since God is both Transcendent and Immanent.

Since the spirit of Vatican II provides for diversity in worship (and 1 Cor. 12 demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is One Who gives unity in the midst of diversity rather than equating unity with uniformity), if some people choose to worship in Latin, then provision for this type of worship is acceptable, just as my preference for Folk Masses and Charismatic Masses.  However, my concern is that the growth in the Tridentine Mass may represent a desire by some to cause us to forfeit the openness, freedom, and progress we have made as a result of Vatican II and to turn back the clock instead of moving forward.  I am also concerned that with the shortage of priests and with fewer Masses in most parishes, the Tridentine Latin Mass might be imposed upon people like me who would prefer to worship according to the current liturgy.

Arlene B. Muller
Glendale 

Thanks for a Riveting Edition

Dear Editor: The July 21 issue of The Tablet was riveting. If only other, so-called “serious, mainstream” newspapers provide such reading as Bishop DiMarzio’s Middle Eastern report or Latin Mass voices!

Sincere congratulations!

Piotr Kumelowski
Forest Hills

Rockaways’ Good Samaritans

Dear Editor: The Gospel was about the Good Samaritan.

Yesterday in Rockaway Beach, I witnessed a community of good Samaritans who honored many of our war heroes via the Wounded Warrior Program.

This is nothing new for the communities of Rockaway, Belle Harbor and Breezy Point, who lost over 50 members of their communities on 9/11.

It’s been done a few times before being the brainchild of many of the firefighters who live there, and is apparently growing. There were 36 Wonderful Warriors and their families who were there for the weekend and housed very proudly at homes in these communities. You had to be “tough” to witness first hand what one only sees on TV news stations or in the newspapers. They have been given the grandest weekend and when they return to their respective hospitals for continuing rehabilitation, they will also remember what they were taught here in the County of Queens.

The outpouring of love and support for these brave and selfless soldiers was truly magnificent. So it was quite ironic that unknowingly the Gospel paralleled this event.

Patricia Whalen
Richmond Hill