The SSPX is de facto split

Arch. Lefebvre lying in state

Bishop Richard Williamson, consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988, and subsequently expelled by the SSPX earlier this year, has preached a retreat between 17 and 21 December 2012 for the newly founded Society of St. Pius X of the Strict Observance (SSPX-SO). This event has signalled the de facto split between the SSPX under Bishop Bernard Fellay and a growing group of former SSPX priests. 

Bishop Williamson is now touring several independent (read sedevacantist) traditional groups, including the SSPX-SO, two religious communities in Brazil, and other independent churches and chapels around the world. The SSPX-SO has already received applications from men who wish to enter its seminary. The SSPX-SO has in fact announced the formation of a seminary for September 2013 in Boston, Kentucky, under the patronage of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

The SSPX-SO comprises a growing number of former SSPX priests in the United States, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Mexico and South America. Apparently, priests from Europe and Australia are also toying with the idea of leaving the SSPX and joining the SSPX-SO.

Such a scenario may lead to further divisions in the Roman Catholic Church, something unwarranted considering that negotiations are ongoing between the Holy See and the SSPX to heal the current situation. It could also be a blessing in disguise because certain ideas - like sedevacantism - have no place in the Catholic Church and cause unnecessary harm to traditional Catholics worldwide.

FIUV Position Papers Published

The book's cover

FIUV's book of the Position Papers, edited by Dr Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, has been finalised and is now available.This book is very useful to all those interested in the Roman Missal of 1962. It can be bought from this site.

The review below, by Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, Apostolic Nuncio to the Ukraine, says it all:

I think I would have enjoyed writing additional reviews [on my blog] and could have weighed in much more heavily on behalf of a project which has enjoyed my favour since I first became acquainted with it, namely The FIUV Papers on the Liturgy, which discuss specific issues concerning the 1962 Missal. The Papers have become one of the pillars of the internet presence of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce. The genius of the 13 papers, to my mind, is that they do indeed teach and quite comprehensively, offering important lessons about why we need to focus more or better on the very real issue of what to do about the rupture in the continuity of our liturgical tradition which has come to be and not through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 

As important as it may be to get about the business of repairing, I find the work done by these papers to be of a prior importance to any decision about "reforming the... More > reform" or "rebooting" after choosing a restoration point and establishing principles for the organic development of a restored Roman Rite. The FIUV Papers on the Liturgy really grapple with what the Holy Father calls the mutual enrichment of the two forms of the Roman Rite. Without wanting to be a reductionist about assessing their worth, let me say simply that reading and ruminating over the FIUV Papers on the Liturgy could serve as a marvellous primer for anyone, clergy or laity, on how to address what often ends up being controversial, doing so in a very different and respectful manner.

Liturgical abuses have to stop!

Pope Paul VI

One of Pope Paul VI’s famous speeches was the so-called “smoke of Satan” that he used on 29 June 1972. There were many who interpreted it to suit their own agenda, until His Eminence Virgilio Cardinal Noè, Paul VI's Master of Ceremonies revealed that it concerned liturgical abuse of the Novus Ordo Missae (aka Paul VI's Mass) by several priests. Extracts from the interview follow (Source for the whole interview).

How did the Holy Father take the liturgical reform desired by Vatican II?

Noe: With pleasure.

Paul VI’s denunciation of the presence of the smoke of Satan in the Church is unforgettable. Still today, that discourse seems to be incredibly relevant…

Noe: You from Petrus, have gotten a real scoop here, because I am in a position to reveal, for the first time, what Paul VI desired to denounce with that statement. Here it is. Papa Montini, for Satan, meant to include all those priests or bishops and cardinals who didn’t render worship to the Lord by celebrating badly (mal celebrando) Holy Mass because of an errant interpretation of the implementation of the Second Vatican Council. He spoke of the smoke of Satan because he maintained that those priests who turned Holy Mass into dry straw in the name of creativity, in reality were possessed of the vainglory and the pride of the Evil One. so, the smoke of Satan was nothing other than the mentality which wanted to distort the traditional and liturgical canons of the Eucharistic ceremony.

It is thought that Paul VI was the real culprit as the cause of all the ills of post-Conciliar liturgy. But based on what you have revealed, Eminence, Montini compared the liturgical chaos, even if in a veiled way, actually to something hellish…

Noe: He condemned craving to be in the limelight and the delirium of almighty power that they were following the Council at the liturgical level. Mass is a sacred ceremony, he often repeated, everything must be prepared and studied adequately, respecting the canons, no one is “dominus” [lord] of the Mass. Sadly, in many after Vatican II not many understood him and Paul VI suffered this, considering the phenomenon to be an attack of the Devil.

Your Eminence, in conclusion, what is true liturgy?

Noe: It renders glory to God. Liturgy must be carried out always and no matter what with decorum: even a sign of the Cross poorly made is synonymous with scorn and sloppiness. Alas, I repeat, after Vatican II it was believed that everything, or nearly, was permitted. Now it is necessary to recover, and in a hurry, the sense of the sacred in the ars celebrandi, before the smoke of Satan completely pervades the whole Church. Thanks be to God, we have Pope Benedict XVI: his Mass and his liturgical style are an example of correctness and dignity.

                                                ++++++++++++++++++

This interview reminded me of a testimony by a Pro Tridentina (Malta) symphatiser who confided the following example of a recent liturgical abuse in Malta. Some details have been omitted to protect the identity of this person, the priest and the other laity.

The Mass was said for the intention of the soul of a deceased brother of one of the employees. It took place at a room at the employer's site that was tentatively transformed into a chapel. Behind the table which had been transformed into an altar, there was a priest sitting. On the altar there were 2 plastic bottles (0,33l), one contained water, the other one – wine. Next to the bottles there were two plastic margarine containers which contained....hosts (hopefully non consecrated ones). There was a crucifix standing with two candles. Behind the crucifix there was a... mobile phone.

The priest commenced the Mass so our friend stood up but then the priest and the people around her told her to sit down again. They informed her that this was going to be a “seated Mass”. The Gospel was read and heard while everyone was sitting. The sermon was about the computer screen being a window to heaven (very useful when IE, Google Chrome and Firefox play pranks).  For the universal prayer and the offering the priest remained seated (looking every now and then at his mobile phone).

For the Transubstantiation (consecration) the priest remained seated. Our friend knelt down together with perhaps 2-3 more people. The Our Father - as by now it became obvious - was said in a sitting position (while the priest kept looking at his mobile phone). And finally there was the Sign of Peace. It was the only moment when the priest stood up to approach each and every faithful to shake his/her hand. Then he returned to the altar, sat down and kept saying prayers. 

Then he announced he would distribute Holy Communion under 2 forms. He warned the congregation, that “wine is somewhat sour and may therefore taste strange” so if anyone wanted to receive the Body of Christ 'only', he/she had to inform the priest beforehand. The priest distributed Holy Communion while sitting behind the altar table. In fact he was making strange signs with his head trying to find out under how many forms do people wish to receive the Holy Communion. He gave the final blessing while sitting and he didn’t even finish drinking the Blood of Christ from the chalice, he didn’t purify the sacred vessels, so one wonders what he did later with the Flesh and Blood of Christ.

When our friend approached this priest to tell him to celebrate Holy Mass in a dignified manner he just said that everyone was entitled to his/her opinion. 

Surely Pope Paul VI never imagined that the Novus Ordo Missae he introduced in 1969-1970 would be abused to such an extent. And, unfortunately, this is one of several similar cases that are happening regularly in Malta. 

New pages on this Blog

 

A number of documents that are useful to understand the developments, over time, regarding Latin and the Tridentine Mass are being posted on this Blog. These documents complement the two that govern the Roman Missal of 1962, namely Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae. They are to be found in separate pages:

• Quo Primum (1570);
• Veterum Sapientia (1962);
• Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963);
• Quattuor Abhinc Annos (1984);
• Ecclesia Dei Adflicta (1988);
• Latina Lingua (2012).   

Tridentine Mass in Cospicua

On the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, an Italian who symphatises with the aims of Pro Tridentina (Malta), sent this Blog a photo of  a Tridentine Mass celebrated in Cospicua.

Together with Ta' l-Ibraġ, Cospicua is the locality where the greatest number of Tridentine Masses have been celebrated since the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum in 2007.  

Quo Vadis the Maltese Church?

 

Martin Scicluna

 

 

Some interesting quotes from today's opinion on The Malta Independent by Martin Scicluna, one of the main promoters for the introduction of divorce in Malta in 2011: 

 

Although increased involvement of the laity at parish level, Mass in the vernacular with the priest facing the people, an opening out to other faiths and religions are concrete signs that some of the aspirations of Vatican II have been realised, the Church remains monolithic, monarchical and hierarchical in an era when a better educated and more discerning laity is no longer prepared to accept blindly the dictates handed down by Rome.

 

Attempts to open up the Church undoubtedly appealed to many of the younger priests and members of religious orders in 1962. But now, in the twilight of their careers, these same people find themselves disillusioned by the current attempts to claw back changes that resulted from the Council, or simply to ignore the urgent need for the Church to move with the times – as we saw so vividly demonstrated in Cardinal Martini's extraordinary plea from the grave in his death-bed interview with the Corriere della Sera.

 

The lower clergy, in particular, are resentful of the disconnect between them and the church hierarchy, who rarely consult them on liturgical changes or appointments, yet expect them to deal with increasing unease in their parishes. In addition, the initially inept management of the clerical abuse scandals by Church leaders around the world, the lack of accountability and honesty that characterised their responses, have left deep wounds among an increasingly secularised and cynical laity.

 

Without entering into the merit of Scicluna's opinions, one can say that Vatican II never envisaged the priest facing the people - and in the process turning his back to Jesus Christ in the tabernacle. But somehow many consider this as a positive development, a sort of good manners... Secondly, whether wanting or not, Scicluna concedes that today's clergy are not following those that were ordained in the sixties. Thirdly, Scicluna admits that liturgical changes are ongoing - albeit usually these occur at the whim of the priest in question and not following any dictates from the hierarchy.

The Tridentine Mass and Judaism

Many have associated traditional Catholics with anti-Semitism. It is however interesting to note that Catholics who have a certain affinity for the particularly Judaic character of their faith are more likely to be drawn to the Tridentine Mass than those for whom Judaism is a category on the other side of a boundary they would consider it bad manners to try to cross.

Symbols of Judaism

Of the criticisms that early Protestants made against Catholicism, the one that arguably cut deepest was that the Roman Catholic Church presumed to revive the Levitical priesthood, which the spilling of Christ's blood on Calvary now rendered obsolete. They attacked passionately the Holy Mass, which they saw as overtly Judaic in its tone, structure, and purpose.

The Protestants were indeed right that Mass, in its aspect as a sacrifice, could not be fully understood outside the framework of pre-rabbinic Judaism.

The post-Vatican II liturgical reform, that led to the Novus Ordo Missae, reformed the Mass to such an extent that the visible and audible distinctions between Mass and the worship services of the mainline Protestant churches were now greatly softened. For an in-depth analysis of the liturgical reform, one of the best authors is the late Michael Davies, former FIUV President, whose books can be found here.

The Circumcision of Jesus by Rubens

Many Catholics and Protestants saw it as an appropriate ecumenical gesture. However it was a step away from 'Jerusalem', from the Temple and the daily sacrifice priests used to perform there. Another casualty was the most Jewish of feasts in the Catholic calendar, the Feast of the Circumcision, celebrated originally on 1 January (as is still the case in the Eastern Orthodox Church and according to the Tridentine Calendar) but nowadays amalgamated with and celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus on 3 January.

The Circumcision of Jesus is the event that, according to the Halakhah (Jewish law), males should be circumcised eight days after birth during a ceremony. During this ceremony they are also given their name.