Fr Kramer of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter is the parish Priest of the Church of the Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in the historic heart of Rome, erected by the Vicariate of Rome as a personal parish to guarantee pastoral care for the community of Traditional faithful in Rome. On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which marked the second anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, Fr Kramer gave an interview for Vatican Radio.Fr Kramer especially emphasised that the restoration of the traditional form of the Roman Rite is not a matter of "going back" to the time before Vatican II. He spoke particularly of the greater warmth and communication between bishops and priests, and between priests and people. I agree with him. There was certainly warm and open communication in some cases but I think he is right that this has been greatly improved in recent decades.
Another important consideration is the reverence with which Mass is celebrated. One side of the "mutual enrichment" is surely that with the celebration in the vernacular of the newer form of the Roman Rite, it is much less acceptable for the priest to gabble through the rite, paying little attention to the words, in order to finish the Mass as quickly as possible. I think that this has fed into the present-day celebration of the usus antiquior. You are probably not going to come across the celebration of Low Mass in fifteen minutes. In that sense too, there is no going back.
The usus antiquior does not encourage the priest to impose his own personality on the Mass - you say the prayers devoutly and carefully but without arbitrarily imposed delays. Nevertheless, I think that priests who say the EF Mass nowadays do not do so in irreverent haste.
For the celebration of the newer form in the vernacular, we can also learn from this mutual enrichment. The Mass is not the place for the priest to show off his communication skills, to entertain the congregation, or even to show how devout he is by his pauses, his pious emphasis of certain words, or his theatrical expression. Our task is to say Mass devoutly, and to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through the Liturgy itself.
5 comments:
I've been undergoing a lot of sturm und drang this last year and a half at the parish I've been at for teh last 34 years, since the parish supply priest of 30 plus years was summarily retired with an accident he'd had.
I've been fequently attending TLM since this past Feb. San Diego also has a "personal parish" staffed by the FSSP. I recently mentioned to the pastor that the thing I most appreciated was that he was NOT "Fr. PErsonality" and "just said the Mass." Which was the thing I most wanted.
pCheck out my blog entries for this last week and you'll know why I find the most peace with those who just "say the black, do the red" and don't undermine the Eucharist.
No going back - I heartily agree. Especially to the rushed and garbled fifteen minute Mass.
Interestingly, Joyce makes reference to this in his story 'The Boarding House' from 'Dubliners' when he writes about 'short twelve at Marlborough Street'. This refers to the twelve o'clock Mass at the Pro-Cathedral which was over in time to allow worshippers who had over-indulged the previous evening to get to the pub for opening time and a 'hair of the dog'. My mother tells me that this was common ('the dipsos' Mass' was how she put it) in churches throughout the city.
The Mass is not the place for the priest to show off his communication skills, to entertain the congregation, or even to show how devout he is by his pauses, his pious emphasis of certain words, or his theatrical expression.
Extremely well put, Father. I've changed parishes because of "Father Extemporaneous" in my diocese.
Well said Father. Yes we can learn from the Novus Ordo. I remember some time ago hearing a priest saying the Mass in the vernacular at such a speed I was horrified, yet many Latin Masses were done in this way, a chore before breakfast to get over as quicly as possible. On catechesis there are now many things being said and those promot8ng the EF Mass are wisely saing that was never part of our teaching in Catholic Schools. I now know all about ad orientem and the Epistle being preached to the South and the gospel to the North. I have now explored the prophecy of Malachi and understood why the Mass was in one language. These things most catholics never knew. I now appreciate more that the Mass is Christ centred and not just a community service. I think God is leading us into a new understanding which we would never have reached without the Novus Ordo and the controversy surrounding it.
I do not believe in this "mutual enrichment" nonsense. Tradition has nothing to learn from man-centered didactivism and the ghastly 60s.
It would seem we soon shall have to start a new resistance in order to save the traditional Latin liturgy from the Mutual Enrichment crowd.
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