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| Fr Joe Borg regularly writes against traditional Catholics. |
The below letter, dated 17 July 2016, published in the Sunday Times of Malta, is the latest in a sustained attack on those Catholics faithful who like the Tridentine Rite. Seems that this priest (who is a member of the Facebook Group of Pro Tridentina Malta) has never heard of what the contemporary Popes said about the Tridentine Mass. And by contemporary we mean Popes who were very much involved in the Second Vatican Council and who implemented the reforms ensuing from it.
To facilitate matters, he might want to refer to the following documents, among others:
- Veterum Sapientia - On the Promotion of the Study of Latin, issued by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1962;
- Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, promulgated by Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1963;
- Protocol N. 1897/71 issued by Archbishop Annibale Bugnini in 1971;
- Quattuor Abhinc Annos, issued by the Office of the Congregation for Divine Worship, in 1984;
- Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei, promulgated by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1988;
- Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI and the accompanying letter addressed to all bishops;
- Motu Proprio Latina Lingua, establishing the Pontifical Academy for Latin, promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI.
The text of the letter by Fr Joe Borg follows (emphasis ours):
Thank
you; but no thank you
Those of you who during the past 15 days devoted your time to watching
football, or lazing by the sea or cursing the English for Brexit, would have
probably missed the stirring of the ecclesiastical pot as a result of the
address given by Cardinal Robert Sarah during the opening of the Sacra Liturgia
conference in London on July 5.
Sarah exhorted priests to start celebrating Mass facing the east while
giving their backs to the congregation. Sarah is not an average Joe. As head of
the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments, his comments carry weight. More so since a couple of weeks earlier
he took the same position during an interview with the French magazine Famille
Chrétienne.
Social networks provided the battleground between those who were
exultant or in shock at the proposal made by such an authoritative darling of
the conservative wing of the Church. Our local brand of Tridentine
conservatives, fuelled by several priests who were ordained during the past 15
years or so, were thrilled to no end.
Like conservatives overseas they form a motley bunch more than a
monolithic block. Undoubtedly there are some moderate conservatives who have a
right to their views and with whom one can dialogue. Others share the views of
the extreme right, which consider the post-Vatican II Mass as ‘a protestant
rite’. Sarah fell foul even with these ultra-traditionalists, so much so that
the website askaCatholic describes Sarah as “a weak and incompetent neo-con
hero”.
The practice of orienting both the liturgy – and Church buildings –
toward the east is a very old tradition in the Catholic Church. It is still the
norm for Orthodox Christianity and Eastern Catholic churches. John of Damascus
wrote about it as far back as the seventh century. It is based on Matthew
24,27: “The coming of the Son of Man will be like lightning striking in the
east. And flashing far into the west.” This practice also means that the priest
celebrates Mass with his back to the people.
Sarah believes that if this practice becomes mainstream (instead of the
exception it now is) the Church will be putting God back at the centre of the
Church’s liturgical life. He quoted the “lament of God” proclaimed by the
prophet Jeremiah: “The people have turned their backs on me.” “Let us turn
again towards the Lord!” he said.
I have no doubt that Cardinal Sarah has taken this position because he
sincerely believes that it is for the good of the Church. However, he is
intelligent enough to know that his use of this scriptural quote is, at best,
very unfortunate, as it has nothing to do with the direction of one’s gaze or
the position of one’s back while celebrating Mass.
Sarah exhorted priests to start celebrating Mass facing the East while
giving their backs to the congregation.
Looking towards the east (as he suggests) or the west or in any other
direction will not in itself help people experience the beauty of the love that
is celebrated during Mass, which is the community’s sacrificial meal par
excellance. The Church’s celebration of the earthly liturgy will not give
participants a better foretaste of the heavenly liturgy just by looking towards
the east and by having the celebrant give his back to the congregation.
When congregation and celebrant face each other their communication and
bonding is definitively much better. This bonding will then help them
experience the presence of Christ that is guaranteed whenever people are
gathered in his name. The presence of he who is the way to the Father will then
help the community understand that “the liturgy is not about us but about God”
(to quote Benedict XVI). There is absolutely no need to revert to yesteryear’s
symbols to live this perennial reality.
Luckily, the Vatican immediately quashed all rumours that Sarah was
flying Pope Francis’s kite. Many got this impression as Sarah himself had twice
mentioned during his London address that he had the full support of Pope
Francis in his quest to “reform the reform”.
Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, the Vatican spokesperson, said that the Pope
met Cardinal Sarah two days after the London speech, making it clear that the
“ordinary” form of celebrating the Mass is the one promulgated after the Second
Vatican Council. He added that the “extraordinary” form, while accepted under
the means expressed by Benedict XVI, should not become the norm.
Francis practices what he preaches about the possibility of celebrating
Mass ad orientem in extraordinary and exceptional circumstances. Since his
election, he has celebrated this rite at least once a year, for the annual
tradition of the Pope baptising the newborns of Vatican employees in the
Sistine Chapel.
Lombardi added that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal states
that the altar should be built in such a way “that Mass can be celebrated at it
facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible”.
Lombardi also said that “it is better to avoid using the expression ‘the
reform of the reform’ (as Sarah did in his London speech), given that this has
sometimes been the source of misunderstanding”.
Those using the expression form a spectrum ranging from those who would
reasonably like to tweak certain exaggerations that some unfortunately indulge
in, to those eager to throw the clock backwards, thus deforming the reform.
Pope Francis is of a different opinion. Last year he celebrated the 50th
anniversary of the first Mass offered in Italian. In his homily he said that:
“Let us thank the Lord for what he has done in His Church in these 50
years of liturgical reform… It was truly a courageous gesture for the Church to
draw near to the people of God, so that they are able to understand well what
they are doing."
“It is not possible to go backwards,” he said. “Always forward! Those
who go backward are mistaken.”
My final comment to the good cardinal and to the local enthusiasts of
the deforming the reform movement: thanks, but no thanks.
