NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

Bringing back best of old Mass can bring out better in the new

Guest column: Rich Leonardi
Cincinnati Enquirer
July 17, 2007

In the discussion over Pope Benedict XVI's liberalization of the rules permitting the celebration of the "old Mass," i.e., the form of the Mass celebrated before - and during - Vatican II, much has been made of its goal of reunifying Traditionalist groups with the Catholic Church.

What's been overlooked is the extent to which the Holy Father hopes this liberalization will reform the celebration of the "new Mass" that followed, but is distinct from, Vatican II. As Benedict writes in the letter announcing the change, "in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear."

Those "deformations" undoubtedly contributed to plummeting rates of Mass attendance. From a high of 75 percent of Catholics in the early 1960s, attendance rates have sunk to a national average of around 25 percent.

In defiance of the decrees of Vatican II, which call for solemnity-inspiring things like the retention of Latin and the singing of Gregorian Chant, celebrations of the new form of the Mass have all too often become lazy, careless affairs subject to the whims of local worship committees.

Benedict seeks something better. "The celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI [the new form of the Mass] will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage."

In other words, exposure to the dignity, solemnity and contemplation that characterize the "old" form of the Mass might inspire similar sensibilities in the celebration of the new.

What can be done to encourage these sensibilities? Benedict reminds pastors and those charged with the celebration of Mass that "[t]he most sure guarantee that the Missal of Paul VI can unite parish communities and be loved by them consists in its being celebrated with great reverence in harmony with the liturgical directives. This will bring out the spiritual richness and the theological depth of this Missal."

Rich Leonardi, publisher of the blog "Ten Reasons" (http://richleonardi.blogspot.com), writes from Hyde Park.