Within a few weeks (maybe only a few days) Pope Benedict XVI will issue a motu proprio regarding the celebration of the Tridentine Rite Mass (the Old Rite--all Latin, all the time.)
It is rumored that this document will significantly "liberalize" the celebration of the Mass, in no uncertain terms, and that (perhaps) a priest will not have to seek permission from the Bishop to say the Mass.
We'll see.
In Milwaukee, about 75% of the active priests will recoil in horror and run around their condos, screeching, wailing, and snorting in utter disgust. They'll be so....revulsed... by this....divisive... document that, that....well....that they'll all have to run down to Marshall Field's and SHOP! to assuage the pain...
Mincing will temporarily be discontinued as hissyfits take over.
It would be fun to watch.
How likely does the following sound:
ReplyDelete"Private Masses are not the 9:30am Mass that the Parish Bulletin advertises for every weekday.
"Private Masses are not, in fact, to be advertised, because they are 'private'.
"You can have a few people around but under the same conditions as for a "House Mass" in the Novus Praxis.
"No priest can be forced to say Mass in the Old Rite (as if any could, but the Bishops will make a big deal about the pressure the Old Massians will put on a few simple priests).
" 'Parish Masses'(however defined by the local Ordinary) must be in the New Rite.
"No priest can celebrate the Old Rite who has not passed a test, and we will establish a committee to set one: it will put in place conditions by 2012.
"No unreordering of Churches may take place just to favor celebration of the Old Rite.
"The Novus Ordo must always have primacy over the Vetus Ordo.
"And we have leant so far back to accomodate you that any cavilling against our authority is an attack against the Church."
I'm probably wrong: the Bishops will welcome the opportunity for Mass to be celebrated always and everywhere as it was always celebrated. And I can recognize a flying pig when I see one.
It is unlikely that the local bishop will be left out of any provisions for the Old Mass, and most of the recent news would indicate this. A more likely scenario will be an indult with more forceful language. In other words, a priest would be allowed unless the bishop says otherwise. The burden would shift from the petitioner to the petitioned.
ReplyDeleteFather Zuhlsdorf has published what appears to be the best speculation to date. (Some of the comments are worth reading.) I provide a link to him in a recent post on mwbh, along with my own two cents worth:
Critical Mass: The Eighth of December
In any case, what a few people are still touting as a "motu proprio" will more likely be a component of a post-synodal exhortation on the Eucharist. I could be wrong, but this seems more plausible, given what we already know about the current Pope's modus operandi, and the total context of his writings on matters of the sacred liturgy.
Tadhg, I think you've got it, in general.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I quibble with this:
"And we have leant so far back to accomodate you that any cavilling against our authority is an attack against the Church."
It will not be "an attack against the Church."
It will be "considered Di-visssssss-ive"
This is why I go to Chicago for the Latin Mass at St John Cantius. www.cantius.org I cannot stand how the priests in Milwaukee have squandered our inheritance of the Holy Mass.
ReplyDelete