Friday, October 19, 2007

Latin Mass OK with Pope

...And it's OK with me, too!

In Rapid City, SD:
When Jean Carlson returned to the Latin Mass of her childhood, she immediately found something she had been missing.

"There's just a sense of humility when you walk in and participate in the Mass," she said. "There's a mystery about the Mass."

The sense of mystery and awe, lamentably in some cases, has been obscured. Nevertheless, if we are unable to find a church which celebrates the extraordinary form of the Mass, we can always look for a place where the ordinary form is celebrated with the reverence and dignity it so rightfully deserves.

Of course being a secualr report, here again we have a reporter who fails to check facts:

In the Extraordinary Mass, priests face away from the congregation. The Mass is celebrated in Latin, and there is less interaction between the congregation and the priest. A different liturgical calendar also is followed.
The priests faces toward God as do the people - as he leads them toward God in the Holy Sacrifice.

Ordinary Mass is celebrated in the vernacular, with priests facing the congregation. There is also more interaction between the congregation and priest.

After Vatican II, churches could celebrate Extraordinary Masses in Latin only with the permission of their bishops.
Again, and unless I'm mistaken, the Novus Ordo was always permitted to be celebrated in Latin.

The article relates the story of a young priest who now celebrates the Extraordinary form of the Mass even though he grew up with the Ordinary form:
The quiet contemplative atmosphere of the Extraordinary Masses appealed to him. "The new Mass ... There's so much distraction."
Quite understandable...there are plenty of distractions, at times, for the faithful as well.

Read more about, if you like, here.

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