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From Brian Mershon’s interview with Fr. John Berg, the Superior General of the F.S.S.P.:
Q: After one year as Superior General, what has been most surprising to you?
A: The thing that has surprised me the most, or perhaps that has been the most revealing aspect, is that what people seem to really thirst for and need with the Traditional Mass is to have a full-time priest there and having a parish set up.
I was in Sacramento for years where we were able to purchase a church with a school, a hall and a rectory on the premises. Having all of this there, I did not realize how difficult it is in other places that do not enjoy it.
The indult given by Ecclesia Dei has been in existence for 19 years. I think there are many bishops who have tried to be generous with the indult situation of one Mass each Sunday in a location, or they maybe even have a variety of places within one diocese. But in the end, such a situation is not the thing that is really helpful and doesn’t give a good picture of the Catholic life to those who attend, which is what families desire and need, and certainly deserve to have—that parish life—that idea that you have a place where you feel at home.
Exactly. Mershon had better write and tell me that this interview with Berg happened before my post to Cardinal Sean was published - I’m suspecting Berg of plaigerizing! ;) This is the issue to which I was trying to draw attention in my recent post about Cardinal Sean: “if you build it, they will come”. If you give them a dump, with one Mass, one uninterested priest, and so on, only the die-hards will attend and families with children will go elsewhere. And then, as a consequence, there will be the perception, though far from accurate, that there is zero interest in the old rite of the Mass.
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort,
Pope St. Pius X,
St. Joseph,
St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Francis (and St. Clare),
St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Alphonsus Ligouri,
St. John Chrysostom,
What the? How is everything so quiet in Catholic blogland the week after the Motu Proprio? Are people on both sides still recovering from hangovers, or what? Where is JSP? Where is Johnboy?
To make my last post relevant, hopefully the Motu Proprio will effect what Fr. Berg desires by opening up new avenues of access to the Latin Mass.
First we go back to the necessity of the 2/3 majority for Papal election, (good move) then a strong letter to the Church in China emphasizing the necessity of all bishops being united to the Supreme Shepherd, followed by the Motu that no traditionalist could have written better, and today the affirmation that the Catholic Church is the One True Church. He’s on a roll—or better yet, a Blitzkrieg.
Did anyone see the EWTN special on the Motu Proprio Monday night?
Raymond Arroyo was interviewing the Bishop of Lincoln, some Monsignor from the USCCB committee on the Liturgy, the North American superior of the FSSP, and the editor of Homiletic and Pastoral Review.
Here’s what stuck with me -
Bp Bruskewitz - who represents the best of the modern episcopacy - still does not see the inherent spiritual danger of the Novus Ordo. I can understand why the Novus Ordo cannot be dumped immediately - pastorally this would be terrible — but through catechesis and gradual reforming of the Novus Ordo, this should be the goal. Not so, according to Bp. B. He sees the advantages and disadvantages in both the Novus and the Traditional Mass.
The Monsignor from the USCCB seemed ready to start reading ambiguity into the Motu Proprio and use it to his advantage — mixing the modern lectionary with the Old Rite and I can only guess what else he will permit if the USCCB put out some “guidelines”: for instance, altar girls and communion in the hand at Traditional Masses.
Fr. Baker was adamant in his rebuke of the Monsignor - that the lectionaries cannot be mixed and innovations that have come into the Novus cannot be brought into the Latin Mass.
It was fun listening to Arroyo take calls from the some of the EWTN charismatic crowd!
Some dude with a strong Texas accent asked “I play guitar and this has been my ministry at Church for the last 20 years. Can I still have a role at a Latin Mass?”
To which Fr. Baker replied, “Put down the guitar, grab a hand missal and start praying. You most certainly cannot play a guitar at a Traditional Mass.”
Another gal called up about her Eucharistic Ministry and asked if she could assist at a Traditional Mass..
These nuts have been brain washed by the Nervous Disorder for so many years, no big changes will happen overnight.
You want a “ministry” - get out of the sanctuary, go home and make 10 babies for the Church, raise them up to be great saints, and if you have some spare time in between diaper changes, homeschooling, piano lessons, doctor appointments and the host of other activities of large Catholic families, pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Also I was talking with a priest last night and he said that Pius XII called for active engagement at mass not active participation. Iosephus, can you check the Latin on this – but this priest said that the proper translation is engagement, not participation. The ancient and pious practice of private devotions and prayers during mass can and should come back. People need not know Latin. What happens on the altar is the priest’s job. That’s why he went to seminary for so many years. Our job is to pray, pray, pray and offer our prayers and petitions through the priest to God. 50 years ago, the little old ladies praying their rosaries in the back of the Church were more engaged at Mass then all the Novus Catholics scrupulously reading their missals
I don’t see why a guitar playing in the proper style wouldn’t work…
Fr. Josef Mohr apparently had Franz Xavier Gruber write “Silent Night” for guitar and voices after the organ was broken and they needed a hymn for Mass at Christmas.
I can’t imagine Silent Night with the original guitar accompaniement (which I’d guess was in a more classical style than we’re used to hearing) would be out of place at a Low Mass with vernacular hymns.
Other guitar playing as solos in the classical style or as appropraite accompaniement would seem to be permitted under the rules of Musicam Sacram:
“63. In permitting and using musical instruments, the culture and traditions of individual peoples must be taken into account. However, those instruments which are, by common opinion and use, suitable for secular music only, are to be altogether prohibited from every liturgical celebration and from popular devotions.44″
“Any musical instrument permitted in divine worship should be used in such a way that it meets the needs of the liturgical celebration, and is in the interests both of the beauty of worship and the edification of the faithful.”
40 years ago when the classical style was more widespread it would have been hard to argue that the guitar was culturally suitable only for secular music.
Given that since then it has been widely admitted into that role, it would be even harder to argue so now.
Guitar at the Traditional Latin Mass!!!!!!! JUST SAY NO!
IS THERE NOTHING SACRED to Novus Ordo people??
Leave ALL of your add-ons: your guitars and communion in the hand and altar girls and extraordinary ministers and lay lectors and cantors and new translations and vernacular language and the accumulated Novus Ordo stuff at the door of the church when you come to the TLM.
This is meant to restore HOLINESS into the life of the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH.
Come with reverence, dressed in your best, modest clothing — ladies in dresses with chapel veils, please — and try, for once in your life, to come to the HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS with the sole intent of WORSHIPPING GOD.
And you will need to come several times before you start to understand what the Mass is supposed to be. After a few weeks, you will begin to gain a modicum of understanding of what our ancestors knew and what was denied to us. In other words, be humble before God and come to Mass on His terms, not your own. Worship God, not yourself.
God bless Fr. Baker for his instructions and his understanding.
We can always learn from the Old Testament and I came across a point that can be very relevant to the account mentioned in a comment by JSP.
At two critical junctures in the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites fell into disfavor with God when paganistic practices of the day, from the Egyptians and the Moabites, penetrated their culture and eventually their worship. Subsequently, the relationship with the Isrealites and God became more and more distant.
With something as sacred as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, should we not be wary and circumvent in adding secular elements to the Mass? Should we rather focus on distilling our modern life in terms of our relationship with our Lord?
While implementing secular things as the organ and maybe the guitar can be done properly into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I would think it would be better to err on the side of caution and let the Extraordinary Rite remain as close to its original architecture. The Mass should not be seen as “customizable”.
Once upon a forever ago, someone suggested that the acoustic guitar (presumably played in a suitable classical style) would not sound all that different from the lyre or cithara of old. Did King David play a lyre (which, like the guitar, has a, what is that called? a sound box?) or a harp?
Also, why do some of the schismatics of the East forbid the organ altogether? Is it regarded as too secular?
As far as “If you build it, they will come,” the Cardinal and others know this but don’t want it. I heard that in Boston a while back, there were two parishes (one was Lithuanian, scheduled for closing) where the people had some interest in the Traditional Mass and the Pastors told them to petition the Cardinal. Both Pastors were reassigned and that was the end of it. Therefore, when you find a priest who is sympathetic to the Traditional Mass, you have to be willing to follow him as he’s shuffled around. This time, however, he can say an unscheduled Mass for any number of people, (1-1000) on a Sunday or any day of the week, without seeking permission from the bishop.
I did not see the EWTN Special but someone who did was not impressed with Bishop Bruskewitz either. He may be doing his best at what he does now but it appears that he will not be the Athanasius we are looking for to lead the Traditional Cause in the U.S. There are a few bishops who served under Cardinal Ratzinger in the CDF and I would hope there is one who will stand up soon. (Obviously, Cardinal Levada, is not one who I have in mind—hopefully he will not come to New York.) Meanwhile it’s encouraging to see that the Bishop of Vermont, who currently has no Traditional Mass in his diocese, will offer a Traditional High Mass on the feast of the Assumption in his cathedral. I think that shows a lot of class and will prompt other bishops to do the same.
Sam, as far as guitars at Mass, since we can’t be singing Silent Night all year long, may I suggest, “Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore?” (Deja Vous.)
Traditionally the organ was invented by St. Cecilia the holy patroness of music. The East probably rejects it because it’s a Western tradition to have one. I don’t know how this makes it a secular instrument. The King of All Instruments is certainly a Catholic invention, albeit a Latin rite one.
“With something as sacred as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, should we not be wary and circumvent in adding secular elements to the Mass?”
Yes it’s a promise that trads will be wary of this, as they always have been. Eventually the Church should simply let it organically develop in a proper way as it did for centuries.
Well, I think people were tinkering with organ-like instruments even before St. Catherine. And as I said above, David was playing something other than an organ. What was it? If it was a lyre or cithara, would the sound have been all that different from a classical guitar?
And no, I do not want guitar music at Mass, either — got enough of that back in the 80s, thank you. I am just trying to feel out the matter — is the guitar innately wrong for Mass, or wrong because of its associations in Western culture? I tend toward the latter. That said, I think these associations are solid and should be maintained — no guitars at Mass.
After seeing the EWTN special JSP is referring to, I recognized Fr. Gabet, the North American District Superior for the FSSP, whom some of us have seen offer the Extraordinary Rite at St. Michael’s in Scranton.
A great homilist, his most distinguishing feature to me is his final blessing in which he fully extends his arms towards heaven before deeply bowing to the Altar and turning around to say “Benedicat vos, Omnipotens Deus, …”
An enthusiastic supporter the Extraordinary Rite indeed!