Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s New Book on the Mass — A Masterful Doctrinal and Devotional Synthesis

Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The Catholic Mass: Steps to Restore the Centrality of God in the Liturgy. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2022. Hardcover $21.95. Ebook $9.99. Available from Amazon.com or directly from publisher.

The Mass of Paul VI “Well Celebrated”—a Myth! (Guest Article by Cyril Farret d’Astiès)

Rorate Caeli is pleased to offer a translation of Paix Liturgique newsletter 833 of November 15, 2021, with permission of the editor Christian Marquant. Cyril Farret d’Astiès’s article is preceded and succeeded by remarks from Paix Liturgique.

INTRODUCTION

A few weeks ago, a group of priests, religious and lay people, led by our friend Denis Crouan of the association “Pro Liturgia,” seized the opportunity of the publication by Francis of his motu proprio Traditionis custodes to launch a plea to our pastors to “finally” implement the Novus Ordo according to its liturgical rules and to abandon all the initiatives which, according to them, distort it and constitute one of the motives for which the faithful attached to the traditional liturgy distance themselves from the Novus Ordo.

Benedicite, glacies et nives, Domino . . .

Father Brian Hess offers Holy Mass ad orientem amidst the beauty of God's Creation upon an altar made of snow in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, during this week's winter expedition for the freshman class of Wyoming Catholic College.

Post title from the Benedicite, the Canticle of the Three Hebrew Children (Daniel chapter 3) -- "Bless ye the Lord, ice and snow . . . ."

Photo reposted from Diocese of Cheyenne's Facebook page to which it was supplied by Father Hess.

Guest Op-Ed: Discovering the Lord in the Silence of the Liturgy

By Veronica A. Arntz

Reflections on Cardinal Robert Sarah’s Interview

Yet again, Cardinal Robert Sarah has blessed the faithful with another interview, available in English from Catholic World Report, about the beauty, sacrality, and perennial importance of the sacred liturgy. The faithful would do wise to listen carefully to what Sarah has said concerning the liturgy, for it cannot be emphasized enough that we must change our current liturgical praxis, putting properly celebrated liturgy back into the center of our Christian life, if we wish to see any other mission within the Church succeed.

As a Church, we talk about the New Evangelization, social justice endeavors, and attempts at peace—but these initiatives never seem to get very far. While all of these activities depend solely on God’s grace, it is safe to say that the sacred liturgy is necessary to receive God’s grace, which will assist us in bringing the Gospel to others. Thus, above all else, we should be attentive to Cardinal Sarah’s words—as they are an echo of our previous pontiff, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s own thought on the liturgy—so that we can reflect on our own experience of the liturgy and the way that we celebrate it today. Specifically, I would like to highlight three key points from Cardinal Sarah’s interview: the centrality of Christ, the importance of silence, and the role of the faithful in the liturgy.

“The Sacrifice of Praise and the Ecstatic Orientation of Man” — Dr. Kwasniewski's Lecture at Silverstream Priory

This conference was delivered to local clergy and religious at Silverstream Priory on Thursday, July 28, 2016. The text is reproduced below in full (for those who prefer it, here is an audio link). Among other topics, Dr. Kwasniewski addresses the importance and necessity of ad orientem worship.

The Sacrifice of Praise and the Ecstatic Orientation of Man

Peter Kwasniewski

Does the USCCB letter on ad orientem establish a virtual "indult" regime?

Over the weekend, the liturgical website Corpus Christi Watershed posted the following letter from the USCCB's Committee on Divine Worship regarding the recent discussions on the celebration of the Novus Ordo ad orientem.

So far, there have been few posts and discussions online about this letter. (Perhaps this will change in the coming days.) Discussions touching on this letter have focused on 1) the continued misinterpretation of GIRM 299, based on the misleading official English translation; 2) the letter's acknowledgment of the rubrical status quo as far as the Novus Ordo is concerned, which means that ad orientem will not be mandated but definitely remains an option, many would even say the norm; and 3) Bishop Anthony Taylor's letter that de facto forbids the celebration of the Novus Ordo ad orientem, citing this same letter from the USCCB. 

We understand that many liturgy bloggers (many of whom we consider as friends, even if we sometimes vehemently disagree with them) are intent on presenting this letter in a way that can be spun positively. Nevertheless it seems strange to us that little to no direct reference seems to have been made so far to the biggest problem in this letter, contained in its last two sentences (with our emphases):

Contra Cardinal Sarah: The Bitter and Noxious Fruits of Ideology

By Father Richard G. Cipolla

It is quite remarkable to be living at a time when a Cardinal of the Roman Church and the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship is publicly contradicted and humiliated.  I do not know Cardinal Sarah personally, but from his writings, I suspect that he is using his humiliation in a spiritually profitable way.  But one has to wonder at the absence of any sense of fatherly concern and mercy in the Year of Mercy.

It seems that there is no limit to the nonsense that Father Lombardi allows himself to spew forth in defense of the indefensible.  We hope that once he lays aside this burden, as he will very soon, he can return to more spiritually profitable endeavors. The ideology that lies behind that repudiation of Cardinal Sarah’s exhortation to return to the Traditional posture of the priest at Mass rang out quite clearly in the Clarification.  It is an ideology that has for so many years prevented the Church from restoring the liturgical life of the Church that is necessary for the mission of the Church to the world.  It is an ideology that has no basis in Tradition and in fact is a break with Tradition.  Anyone who still believes that the Mass of Paul VI is continuous with the Roman Rite of Catholic Tradition needs to get out into the fresh air more. 

Sarah and Cupich: Going in different directions

While Cardinal Sarah is advocating that the Latin Rite return, as a whole (that is, including the New Mass of Paul VI), to worshiping ad orientem liturgicum, Archbishop Cupich of Chicago seems intent on reinforcing the status quo favoring ad populum -- even extending it (at least momentarily) back to sanctuaries from where it had already been banished.

Guest Op-Ed - God at the Center: Reflecting on the Sacred Liturgy

By Veronica A. Arntz

Photo via New Liturgical Movement.

On November 26, 1969, Paul VI gave what many consider the “eulogy” for the Traditional Latin Mass. In essence, he gave the reasons behind why he thought the liturgy ought to be “changed.” In this remarkable address, he recognizes that some individuals will be upset by these changes: “We shall notice that pious persons are disturbed most, because they have their own respectable way of hearing Mass, and they will feel shaken out of their usual thoughts and obliged to follow those of others. Even priests may feel some annoyance in this respect” (4). He furthermore says, after insisting that our “first obedience is to the Council” (5), “the introduction of the vernacular will certainly be a great sacrifice for those who know the beauty, the power, and the expressive sacrality of Latin” (8). He admits that we “will lose a great part of that stupendous and incomparable artistic and spiritual thing, Gregorian chant” (8).

Results of Versus Populum—and Remedies

In the past, Rorate has had occasion to quote a true and faithful son of St. Benedict, Dom Mark Kirby, O.S.B., Prior of Our Lady of the Cenacle Monastery (a.k.a. Silverstream Priory) and author of the admirable Vultus Christi blog. We all know about the sufferings that versus populum worship have inflicted on the faithful who are simply hungry for worship in spirit and in truth and who long for a manner of celebrating the Mass that is focused absolutely on Christ our God (as the 2,000-year tradition of ad orientem worship palpably demonstrates), but we do not perhaps reflect as much on the ravages that the versus populum stance have visited upon the clergy.

Here are some excerpts from a recent post of Dom Mark's, "Lex orandi, lex credendi: the ground of priestly piety". (In the article you will also find highly pertinent texts from Pope Pius XII's Mediator Dei that back up these points.)