Fr Rocca mentioned this article at the end of his talk tonight. He was rather taken aback by the "demand" aspect. He would have preferred to see "Students respond to Campus Ministry's implementation of Pope's document on campus." Though there were a few who rolled their eyes, I think this is perfectly fair. There has been a known desire on campus for awhile - often implicit in the actions of students, but on a number of occasions made very explicit to the administration. Campus Ministry does deserve a lot of credit for responding as quickly as it did - there was no formal petition from the students "demanding" the Mass.
Anyways, I should fisk this article just like Fr. Z. would. In fact, maybe I just will. Miss Metz is a sophomore English major - according to facebook we have 3 friends in common. Like most of my generation I'm sure she is entirely unschooled in these matters and therefore, while I will highlight her errors, I won't tear them to shreds. I trust that most of my readers will be able to do that themselves. If not, there's the combox.
FYI some of the interviewees have mentioned that they were slightly misquoted.
Students demand Latin Mass after rescript [and here the problems begin..."demand" is inaccurate, and why use "rescript?]
By: Jenn Metz
Posted: 10/10/07
After Pope Benedict XVI brought attention to the discontinued tradition of Latin Masses [discontinued, my foot. Latin Masses, plural?] in early July, students began asking Campus Ministry to bring back the "Tridentine Mass" to Notre Dame. [well, hon, we've actually been working for it longer than that. ] Starting Sunday, they will get their wish.
The students' demand and Benedict XVI's papal rescript - which states the Tridentine Mass is optional for Catholics [poor wording again] - led Campus Ministry to decide to schedule the Latin Mass this year. The first of these Masses will be celebrated at 8 a.m. Sunday at the St. Charles Borromeo Chapel in Alumni Hall.
"In this document from Rome, they asked the pastors to make it available if there is a stable group of people who want it and if there are people [priests, we assume] who are able to do it," said Father Richard Warner, director of Campus Ministry.
Campus Ministry received more than 100 e-mails from students asking if the University would offer the Tridentine Mass after Benedict XVI released the document in early July, Warner said.
Brett Perkins, director of Protestant Student Resources and Catholic Peer Ministry at Campus Ministry, [and master of all awesomeness ;-)] said some students even formed a Facebook group requesting the Tridentine Mass.
"We knew there was going to be a number of students who wanted this. We knew that stable community would be there," Perkins said.
Members of Campus Ministry met over the summer to decide how to respond to students' demand and the "motu proprio" (as the papal rescript is called, Latin for "of his own accord").
The Tridentine Mass will be celebrated at 8 a.m. most Sundays of the year at Alumni Hall because its chapel has a door that opens directly to the outside and has a high altar, which is also against the wall, making it possible for the priest to celebrate the Mass in the traditional way, Perkins said. In the Tridentine Mass, the priest faces the same direction of the people, toward the altar. [Yes! Same direction! Not "facing away the people because they are icky and not allowed in the TLM." Thank you for understanding this!] The time was chosen so as to not interfere with previously scheduled Masses at the Basilica and in the chapels on campus.
A missalette will be available to students containing Latin and English translations. The rubrics will also be included, so that students can follow the Mass.
Having two forms of Mass on campus offers "the fullness of the Latin Rite - the Roman Catholic Rite," Warner said. "Students will be able to experience both forms, the ordinary and the extraordinary."
The papal document described two forms of the Latin, or Roman, Rite, Warner said. The first, the ordinary form, the Novus Ordo of Pope Paul VI, which came into effect in 1970, is the form of Mass usually celebrated on campus. The second, the extraordinary form, is the Tridentine Mass, which is based on Pope John XXIII's reform of the Missal.
Perkins explained how the two forms developed.
The word "Tridentine" refers to "what came out of the Council of Trent," Perkins said. The Council took place between 1545 and 1563 and was a time of response to the Protestant Reformation.
"The Church issued at that time what is known as the Tridentine Missal, that went through additions and edits from the 1560s to 1962," Perkins said.
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, called for a "renewal of liturgy," Perkins said. The result was the 1970 Missal, which became the normative way of celebrating the Mass.
The main difference between the ordinary and extraordinary forms, Perkins said, is the different emphasis each places on certain aspects of the faith.
"They are both beautiful, holy expressions of the same faith," he said.
The concept of the priest facing the same direction as the congregations presents the priest as a leader of the people, who are "all are on this same pilgrim journey towards God," Perkins said. [THANK YOU, BRETT! I know that was not a misquote :-)]
In the Novus Ordo, the congregation gathers around the table, sharing the Eucharist, he said, emphasizing the faith's sense of community.
Currently four priests on campus are able to celebrate the Tridentine Mass, but more are in training, Warner said. Priests must learn both the language - Latin - of the Mass and the rubrics, which differ from the ordinary form.
Altar servers typically participate in the Mass responses on behalf of the people, Perkins said. Between 20 and 30 altar servers volunteered to participate in the Mass. Only those who know the Mass will help in its celebration [ah. I know what she means, but she didn't say it very well] until others have witnessed the Mass and have been fully trained.
Campus Ministry sponsored a three-part lecture series titled "Three Days of Reflection on the Eucharist," to prepare the community for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass.
The first of these lectures, "The Theology of the Eucharist," given by theology professor David Fagerberg, discussed the importance of seeing the two forms of the Mass through the lens of continuity.
Father Michael Driscoll presented the history of the extraordinary form in a lecture titled "The Formation of the Tridentine Missal" Tuesday.
He also said the re-introduction of the Tridentine Mass as an optional form of celebration reflects continuity with the ordinary form.
"Vatican II was not a rupture of the [liturgical] tradition, but rather a continuation," he said.
The third lecture, titled "The Liturgical Reforms of the Second Vatican Council," will take place today at 6 p.m. in the Hammes Student Lounge in the Coleman Morse Center. Basilica rector Father Peter Rocca will speak on these changes.
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8 comments:
So you think you're Father Z now? What other sacerdotal pretensions shall you take to yourself? And for the last time, NO you're NOT serving the Old Mass!
Sincerely,
Don Coolio
I did not know the Notre Dame student body was "rapidly aging" until I read Professor Cunningham's article on Pope Benedict in the Notre Dame Magazine this month. He mentioned the pope was making the Extraordinary Rite available to provide "comfort" to those (rapidly aging) that prefer it. Perhaps some of you ancient undergrads need to contact the good professor and set him straight. T. McFadden, ND 76 and 79
ahahahaha Actually I am feeling rather old..grad school apps, GREs, "what am I going to do with my life." Trid Mass will certainly be a comfort to my rapidly aging self. haha It's true - but not the way he intended it. I'll have to go read that article and I'll be sure to mention this next time I run into him.
Mary Liz, I don't know this professor. Is he just another "doubleknit dinosaur" holdover from the "glorious days of the spirit of Vatican II." Tom
ps don't forget to take your geritol before going to Mass.
I suppose you could describe him as such. But then, while I've not taken a class under him, I've heard he's not too bad. He's a fairly regular fixture around the basilica which is how I know him. I doubt he knows me from a hill of beans, but he does know my roommate.
Mary Liz, I heard back from the good professor. Typically, he could not admit he was wrong but simply said the young who like it are a "tiny minority." I responded back, that's your view, but they're the ones who are committed and going to Mass. He (and his fellow travelers) just don't get it. I seem to recall the Oxfort Movement started out as a tiny movement and look what that yeilded for the Catholic Church in England! Tom
This may be the most poorly written article I've ever seen out of the Observer - and that's saying a lot.
Professor Cunningham is hard to pin down. He strikes me as being something of a "cafeteria Catholic," but he seems to personally prefer a lot of the traditional stuff.
While at (Tridentine) Mass tomorrow morning, the Notre Dame Latin Mass crowd will be in my thoughts and prayers! Again, congratulations!!
PS: Mary Liz, do you plan to pursue grad studies in history?
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