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More noises from the CDW - I wonder if Cardinal Arinze is made nervous by all of Archbishop Ranjith Don’s talking with the media? From the media reports, one would think that Archbishop Don was the Prefect of the CDW and not Arinze; not to mention the things themselves which Archbishop Don says in these interviews. Perhaps Arinze is already living in a state of the semi-retirement? Of course it’s clear who is the Pontiff’s ally in that dicastery, so maybe this has embolden Archbishop Don to speak more freely. From the I Media news agency in Rome (via the CWNews synopsis):
Every day, the archbishop disclosed, the Congregation for Divine Worship receives new complaints about serious liturgical abuses, and complaints that local bishops have failed to correct them. If the Church fails to curb these abuses, he said, “people will attend the Tridentine Mass, and our churches will be empty.” Liturgical guidelines are set forth clearly, he observed, in the Roman Missal and in Church documents. Now “some discipline is necessary regarding what we do at the altar.”
I have more than a little skepticism about Rome’s ability to pull this reform off or to restore discipline. Until we see heads roll - and probably lots of them - it’s not to be believed. And what, I wonder, does Archbishop Ranjith Don think the finished product should look like?
Iosephus, would you mind too terribly E-mailing me? Thank you very much.
KevinJ@kevinsymonds.com
Peace!
-KJS
“[P]eople will attend the Tridentine Mass, and our churches will be empty.” Excuse me, Your Eminence, but last time I looked, churches that held the Old Mass were still part of the Catholic Church, despite your obvious (erroneous) opinions to the contrary. Why don’t you do us all a favor and retire?
Those are actually the words of Archbishop Ranjith Don - yeah, I didn’t like the tone of them either. But one really has to be careful: it’s coming to us through CWNews summary translation of an interview in Italian. Better, for starters, to be able to see what he said in full, in Italian.
Sorry, by putting that picture with the post, I probably confused things. But we can’t find other pictures of Ranjith Don! And I really like that pic of Arinze in the flaming mitre.
Josephus: blimey, that does not sound like Mons. Ranjith. I think you’re right: it does sound like something lost in translation.
I excerpt below the original French of the interview. Ranj says: What is happening now is that our [ordinary] churches are emptying, and people are opting for churches which have the Tridentine Mass. But note his further statement: The Tridentine Mass does not belong to the Lefebrists. Now that’s significant. It is a clear signal that he believes the Tridentine Mass belongs to everyone. Please God it soon shall, again.
French:
“Il est de notre responsabilité d’être vigilants. Car, à la fin, les gens vont assister à la messe tridentine et nos églises se vident. La messe tridentine n’appartient pas aux Lefebvristes. C’est le moment de cesser les affrontements et de voir si nous avons été fidèles aux instructions de la Constitution conciliaire Sacrosanctum Concilium . C’est pourquoi il faut de la discipline pour ce que nous faisons sur l’autel. Les règles sont bien indiquées dans le Missel romain et les documents de l’Eglise.”
http://www.kipa-apic.ch/meldungen/sep_show_fr.php?id=3100
Ecclesiastes, thanks for including the French; a very interesting snippet. Given that he is a friend of Mons. Fellay, I assume he is being cautious. By the way, his comment about the churches emptying now (”car, a la fin, les gens vont assister…”) is actually constructed in the future. It would translate as something like: “At the end of the day, people are going to go to the Tridentine Mass, and our churches will empty.” Sorry, I’m a French professor!
Christopher Ferrara, as always, has some good insights into Archbishop Don’s comments:
http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Arc
hives/archive-2006-0731-ranjith.htm