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Ever since Summorum Pontificum took effect in September 2007, Mary Kraychy has heard many laudatory comments regarding the traditional Latin Mass.
Kraychy is the executive director of the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei, a group formed to support Pope John Paul II’s 1988 apostolic letter, issued motu proprio (“on his own initiative”).
In the document, the Holy Father notified the Church of the excommunication of five clerics associated with the Society of St. Pius X, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre being the most notable among them.
However, Ecclesia Dei also contained the announcement of a pontifical commission by the same name, whose purpose was to facilitate the full ecclesial communion of those who had been associated with the Society of St. Pius X by allowing for wider use of the traditional Latin Mass.
“Pope John Paul II wanted the Society of St. Pius X to understand that, while he did support their appreciation for the traditional liturgy, he wanted to ensure that it would be offered under his guidance as the visible head of the Church,” Kraychy said. “He encouraged bishops to make ‘a wide and generous application of the directives’ released by the Congregation for Divine Worship in a 1984 letter regarding that very issue.”
That letter, Quattuor Abhinc Annos (Four Years Ago), was sent to the presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world. Bishops were informed that those who desired to worship according to the 1962 Missal would be able to do so, under certain conditions.
The two most significant were that those requesting such worship believe in the validity of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970 and that such worship occur in the times and places determined by the bishop.
However, four years after the letter was released, there was still very little response to the Holy Father’s lead, Kraychy said. She attributed this to a misunderstanding of the status of the 1962 Missal in the Church. “There was a belief, common among bishops and laity, that the traditional Latin Mass was peculiar, archaic or even downright unacceptable,” she said. “There was a widespread impression that the ‘old Mass’ had been outlawed forever and that ‘piano and guitar Masses’ in English were now the norm.”
Kraychy didn’t want to stand by while this notion prevailed.
In an attempt to improve the situation, she formed, along with 14 other laypeople, the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei (distinct from the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei). “We started doing everything we could to make known the status of the traditional liturgy and to encourage its broader availability,” she said.
These efforts met with success, but nothing along the lines of what happened after Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, also issued motu proprio, took effect on Sept. 14, 2007.
On that date, priests in the Latin rite were no longer obliged to ask permission of their bishop to offer the traditional liturgy.
The 1962 Missal was officially opened up to any priest who wished to use it and to any “stable group of the faithful” who wished to participate in its use.
The Holy Father’s action facilitated an upsurge in the number of traditional Latin Masses offered.
By September 2007, Kraychy counted 235 Sunday Masses regularly offered according to the 1962 Missal in the United States. Five years later, the number has grown to 475.
“We had seen a slow but steady increase in the number of Sunday Latin Masses prior to September of 2007, but since then, it has become a rapid and steady increase. If you take the previous five-year period [2002-2007], there was a net gain of 55 Sunday Masses, while in the last five years, there was net gain of 240,” she said.
When it comes to weekday Masses, the numbers appear to be even more impressive, Kraychy believes, although the coalition does not keep exact figures for them.
“In addition to the priests who offer the extraordinary form exclusively, there are many more who do so on a limited basis, usually during the week,” she said. “The former group is comprised mostly of order priests, such as those from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter [FSSP] and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The latter group is mostly made up of diocesan priests.”
Diocesan priests constitute the majority of participants at liturgical workshops sponsored by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. The classes on topics like the history, spirituality and rubrics of the traditional Latin Mass started just prior to the release of Summorum Pontificum and continue to this day.
Over the past five years, almost 1,000 priests and seminarians have been trained by the Canons Regular to offer Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Roughly 80% of these participants are from dioceses, and 20% belong to religious orders.
The next workshop will take place Oct. 23-26 in Chicago, where the 1,000th participant will be trained. This is in stark contrast to the years before Summorum Pontificum, when Father Scott Haynes of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius said training occurred only on an as-requested basis: “Before the release of the Holy Father’s motu proprio, we had one or two priests at a time come to us for assistance in learning the 1962 Missal. Then, immediately before it came out, we had our first official workshop, and we haven’t let up since. We’re very pleased with the Holy Father’s action, and we’re eager to help more priests and seminarians learn what is now called the ‘extraordinary form.’”
There is an online tutorial available at the Canons Regular’s website (Canons-Regular.org), along with other resources on the traditional liturgy, such as CDs, DVDs and books.
A new book, The Mystical Theology of the Mass, will be added to the assortment later this year. It was written by Father Haynes and includes a foreword by Cardinal Raymond Burke and an introduction by Alice von Hildebrand. The book — and many of the other resources — are designed for both clergy and the laity.
The Canons Regular also provide instruction for laypeople, and Father Haynes welcomes this opportunity to make the extraordinary form better understood and accepted.
“There are definitely laypeople who already have a desire to participate in the extraordinary form, but there are some who aren’t sure what to expect, and some are even apprehensive,” he said. “We want to assure them that while there are different forms of the Mass, we’re all Catholic, and we’re not in a competition. We’re simply trying to give due honor to almighty God through reverent worship.”
The goal of reverent worship has also been a hallmark of Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio’s life. The founder and president of Ignatius Press believes that the Mass can be offered reverently in both the ordinary form (according to the Missal of Pope Paul VI) and in the extraordinary form (according to the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII).
“While it may surprise some people, I think the ordinary form of the Mass, if it is actually conducted as Pope Paul VI intended, can be just as beautiful as the extraordinary form,” Father Fessio stated. “But it can’t be done arbitrarily, as it largely has been over the past four decades. It has to be done as it was truly intended by Pope Paul VI.”
What does such a Mass look like? Father Fessio indicates that it looks much like a Mass offered according to the 1962 Missal.
This is one of the reasons he doesn’t use the unqualified term “Latin Mass” regarding the older Missal. “The specific reasons people list for attending the extraordinary form are things such as use of Latin, the priest facing the same direction as the congregation, the employment of Gregorian chant. Yet all of these can be done with the ordinary form.”
Father Fessio utilizes these features at his own Masses, including those he celebrated recently at the Napa Institute’s second annual conference. “At the Napa conference in late July, there were four to five Masses per day, and all of them were done ad orientem — with priest and people facing in the same direction. This was true of the ordinary and the extraordinary form, and no one seemed to have a problem with it.”
A major reason why it went so smoothly, Father Fessio believes, was Summorum Pontificum, which made the extraordinary form more available than it had been. “There’s no question that Summorum has made the extraordinary form more available, so the faithful have been able to witness the beauty of the traditional liturgy firsthand. The horror and hostility expressed by some at the release of Summorum have been blunted by the reality before their eyes. For five years we’ve seen that there’s nothing to fear, but much to be thankful for.”
This gratitude has made Father Fessio’s work of restoring the novus ordo Mass much easier. “When the faithful realize the novus ordo was supposed to be an organic development of tradition, rather than a break from it, things go more smoothly in steering it to where it should be,” he said.
One major inspiration for Father Fessio’s labors is Pope Benedict, who taught him in graduate school. “I was very fortunate to learn from one of the best minds in the Church while pursuing my doctorate in theology,” Father Fessio said. “He has had important things to say on so many topics, but the liturgy is one realm that might stand out above the rest. Even in the 1970s, he was publicly questioning the reforms taking place, because they were not called for by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, and they did not constitute an organic development of the liturgy.”
These criticisms didn’t become well known in the English-speaking world until Ignatius Press published The Ratzinger Report in 1985 and Feast of Faith in 1986. Then, in 2000, came The Spirit of the Liturgy, his best-known work on the topic.
By the time he succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005, a number of observers expected Pope Benedict to do something grand regarding the traditional liturgy. Their expectations were met in 2007 with the release of Summorum Pontificum, a document that has helped in very practical ways to renew appreciation for the sacred liturgy in the hearts and minds of the faithful.
Trent Beattie writes from Seattle.
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As a note of clarification:
The excommunications of the 5 bishops of the Society of Pius X (including Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre) were lifted by the Holy Father in January of 2009.
Very nice article. I would love to see a reverent Novus Ordo mass in my city but I have not found one yet. We had a very cutting edge Bishop for many years and what people here consider as conservative masses include talking during mass, lots of noise, only guitar and drum music for masses, etc. I find it very difficult to connect with God with all the noise so I travel an hour every day to go to a Latin mass in a nearby city. After the last mass I attended in my own city, I had to go home and pray because I couldn’t pray with all the noise. Thankfully the Pope has been so kind as to encourage more reverent masses. I understand that most Catholics today like the noise but for me, it does not work.
The church should not operate with 2 different editions of the missal. They need to begin the change of BOTH masses soon and come to what was intended by the Second Vatican Council. In other words if in 25 years we are still offering the “1962 mass” and the “1970 mass” we have failed!
Leonard,
With all due respect, The Church has done quite well with multiple rites for a couple millenia. “Failure”? I trust the judgement of the Holy Father - I think he knows what he is doing.
Good point Jim Morlino,
People don’t seem to understand that there are many differents types of mass available that have been around for hundreds of years and these different rites have never seemed to be a problem until now when the Latin mass was allowed again. I guess there are Latin mass proponents that can’t accept the Novus Ordo an Novus Ordo people who can’t accept the Latin. Who knows, perhaps at some point there will be another ‘rite’ that will be specific to the Latin mass, and one for the Novus Ordo mass. After going to the Latin mass for six months, I went back to a Novus Ordo mass and it felt like a different religion. As a child I remember the reverence and quite of the Church, today it seems, the noisier the better. I was protestant for 30 years and honestly, the way Novus Ordo in our city is performed, it seems like a mega church service with spatterings of a mass added for flavor.
Excellent article and inspiring to read. Very importantly, Mary Kraychy is to be commended for her faithful work over many years in cultivating and supporting those attached to the presently known Extraordinary Form. I know of no one else with the data to help us back up the interest in and growth of the EF going back to at least 1988. When many despaired that the EF was gone forever, she faithfully applied her work of encouragment and education. Thank you, Mary Kraychy!
Grok Hadrian, You can see a Novus Ordo Mass as intended by Pope Paul Vl on you tube, “Novus Ordo in Latin, Part #2” Actualy 6 were excommunicated in 1988, Lefebvre, Mayor and the 4 newly consecrated Bishops. The excommunications against Lefebvre and Mayor have not been lifted. leonard nugent, The Church celebrates 26 different Rites and in 500 years its been no failure. Pope Benedict XVl has said both as Cardinal Ratzinger and as Pope, about anyone who rejects the Old Mass, “How could one have previously called the Mass of St. Pius V Holy, and now reject it as not being Holy. Such a one has a serious spiritual problem.” Pope Benedict as Card. Ratzinger said concerning the Old Mass, “To see its reality, what we need is a whole new generation of Bishops.” And that is what the Holy Father is doing now, giving us a whole new generation of Bishops who do not hate the Old Missal. It is well known to the Pope that it is Bishops and liberal priests and lay leaders who have forcefully prevented the Old Mass to flourish. In my own Diocese when Summorum Pontificum was issued many young priests were ready to say it. But the Bishop forbade it on weekdays and could only be said in parishes with his permission. Priests found out quick that if they said the Old Mass, the Bishop was ready to retaliate against them. This is not an isolated case, this is widespread practice. But it won’t last long, because the whole new generation of Bishops are being handpicked by the Holy Father himself. As for Bl. John Paul ll, it was his intention to allow exactly what Summorum Pontificum allowed. But he was threatend by Bishops, Many Bishops in the US vowed to go into schism and create the American Catholic Church. Bl. John Paul ll in the very beggining of his pontificate began work on the restoration of the Ancient use of the Mass.
The Latin Mass: Why You Can’t Have It
<i>“For those who experience difficulties in having the Traditional Mass celebrated in their locality, the inclinations of church authorities notwithstanding, much of that which they encounter may be strictly practical ...”
http://manwithblackhat.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-latin-mass-why-you-cant-have-it.html
Angelo,
Thanks for clarifying my point of clarification…
“In my own Diocese when Summorum Pontificum was issued many young priests were ready to say it. But the Bishop forbade it on weekdays and could only be said in parishes with his permission. Priests found out quick that if they said the Old Mass, the Bishop was ready to retaliate against them. This is not an isolated case, this is widespread practice. But it won’t last long, because ...”
... his decree is illicit. A bishop in Canada learned this the hard way, and came around within a week after it went all over the internet. A respectful letter to the Pontifical Commission via the Apostolic Pronuncio (as a diplomatic pouch is more reliable) with a cc to the local bishop, should set the matter straight.
This is not “the indult” anymore, and it’s time for everybody from the top down to stop acting as though it is.
We are soon to have the EF in the middle of a Monday morning on a priest’s day off, once a month. Best we can have so far. The nearest regularly offered TLM by the FSSP is 75 miles away. Some folks make the trip.
Until the Holy Father actually says the traditional mass himself in St Pater’s nothing significant for the liturgy will really develop.
He has said many strong and positive things about the traditoinal liturgy and many negative things about the new mass, but has done precious little in practise.
The liturgy wars will be won by demographics and fortunately the Latin Mass crowd is still having babies and encouraging vocations.
Jim Morlino, Our Holy Father intended “Mutual” enrichment of both masses in his moto proprio. It’s hard for me to find devotees of the 1962 mass who understands what the english word mutual. To me it means both masses will be changed in a positive way. In other words, the defects of BOTH masses will be eliminated.
Grok Hadrian the 1962 missal isn’t a separate rite unless I haven’t been keeping up
Rod Laroocque, you wrote:
“[The Holy Father] has said many strong and positive things about the traditoinal liturgy and many negative things about the new mass, but has done precious little in practise.”
This comment is not entirely fair. (No, I take that back; it’s totally unfair.) Pope Benedict celebrated this form of the Mass more than once as a cardinal, and is said to celebrate it privately in his chapel. As to St Peter’s, keep in mind that that would not only be a Pontifical Mass, but a PAPAL Pontifical Mass. Only one man gets to be the celebrant at any one time, and hardly anyone who attended to that celebrant at the last one is still alive. As an emcee for a parish church, I can assure you that reading about it in ceremonials is one thing, but actually doing it is something else altogether. Some of the parties involved in this form of Pontifical no longer exist, such as various ceremonial and protective guards (the Palatine, the Noble, etc). For all we know, people in the Vatican could have been working on it for the past few years.
How can the Mass of a doctrinal council with the seal of infallibility be deposed without destroying the Magisterium of the Church, and God’s promise? I was there before VCII to see almost perfect belief in the Real Presence, the preeminent doctrine of our faith, and you could tell by the reverence that they knew God was there. Now I can credibly believe by observing the inattention and disrespect at any Novus Ordo Mass that only 25 percent now believe in the Real Presence. That I will go to my grave believing is an unconscionable tragedy. How many sacrilegious Communions can anyone imagine at any Mass with 75 percent that don’t even believe the main doctrine of our faith?. I was not aware that a pastoral council could overrule a doctrinal council. I can’t help but wish that VCII had never happened but my loyalty will always be to the Magisterium.
Rob Rowland you just described the Novus Ordo…..a Mass of a doctrinal council with the seal of infallibility
No leonard, I described the Mass of Pius V, who said that anyone who changed it would inherit the wrath of Saints Peter and Paul. Does that explain the chaos that followed in the dissident wake of VCII?. How can you blame the Holy Spirit for Communion in the hand that has almost destroyed belief in the Real Presence? I would be cautious about that if I were you.
Bob Rowland this whole discussion has gone way beyond my paygrade. I think I’ll just drop out. See ya at mass!
The extraordinary form of Mass has been a great blessing to me over the past several years. I,like many others suffered with the post Conciliar evolution of what began as the Mass of PP XI. I know of no parish church in my diocese where the original approved novus ordo Mass is celebrated. I can’t tell you how grateful I was to learn of a traditional Mass being celebrated in my diocese. I found that my Catholic faith returned to me in great abundance and believe my spiritual life has grown greatly since I found this wonderful organically developed Liturgy of the saints. The difference between the reality of the new Mass and the extraordinary Mass is like night and day. Though I honor the validity of the new Mass, though poorly celebrated, I will never return to it. I relate to what someone else on this blog wrote that it seems like a different religion. Laudetur Jesus Christus!!
I love Summorum Pontificum. The celebration of the extraordinary form is a reminder that Tradition is alive, that our Church is the same Church of the first Apostles. It also promotes reverent liturgy, even in the ordinary form.
Regarding the ordinary form, I support it to be prayed ad orientem and the Eucharist should be received in the tongue while kneeling. And Gregorian chant should be used. But I am not sure about Latin; at least the Bible readings should be done in the vernacular.
Bob Rowland you were quoting Quo Primum. This may interest you….By this, he forbade alterations by other authorities, ecclesiastical or civil, or by private individuals, but obviously not by himself or by his successors, whose authority as Popes were equal to his own. He himself altered his Missal when, after the victory of Lepanto in the following year, he added to it the feast of Our Lady of Victory. In 1585, Pope Sixtus V restored the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, which Pope Pius V had removed from the Missal. Only 34 years after the publication of Quo primum, Pope Clement VIII made a general revision of the Roman Missal, as did Pope Urban VIII 30 years later.
I liked Fides et Ratio comment above. I have difficulty with the Latin but at the same time, it seems to bring me to a level of prayer that one can’t reach with words alone. I would find it interesting to see a Novus Ordo mass done as reverently and ad orientum as the latin mass. But I don’t know that this will ever happen.
Also, at our FSSP parish they always do the readings in English as well as Latin.
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