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!

“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.

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.)

Also, why do some of the schismatics of the East forbid the organ altogether? Is it regarded as too secular?

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”.

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.

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.

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