[Erin] The battle for liturgical propriety

Via Damien Thompson at The Spectator comes this intriguing look at the clash in the Catholic Church in the UK over forms of the liturgy:

On Saturday 14 June Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, one of the most senior figures in the Roman Curia and an ally of the Holy Father, celebrated a Pontifical High Mass at Westminster Cathedral. The bishop of the diocese, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, did not attend; nor did any of his four auxiliary bishops. Pope Benedict is rumoured to be furious at this display of bad manners.

What can explain such a breach of protocol? The answer lies in the content and style of the liturgy being celebrated. Cardinal Castrillón processed into the cathedral wearing the cappa magna, a scarlet cape with a 20ft train of watered silk. It is many years since this vestment has been seen in the cathedral -- for, although it was never abolished, it is associated with the Tridentine Mass, the ancient Latin rite in which the celebrant faces east, reciting its main prayer in a voice so low that the church falls silent. And that was the Mass that His Eminence celebrated on 14 June, becoming the first cardinal to do so in Westminster Cathedral for 40 years.

Last summer -- to the horror of the liberal English bishops -- Pope Benedict issued an apostolic letter, Summorum Pontificum, that granted universal permission for the old Mass, which had been effectively banned from normal parish life after the Second Vatican Council. England's Latin Mass Society seized its chance. It invited Cardinal Castrillón, head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which is responsible for the old liturgy worldwide, to celebrate the society's annual traditional Mass at Westminster Cathedral, normally a low-key affair regarded with amused condescension by diocesan liberals. [...]

Many Mass-goers are unaware of the fact, but the Catholic Church in England and Wales is sliding towards civil war. A mixture of anticipation and panic is in the air. For worshippers used to the low-calorie ceremonial of Westminster Cathedral, the sight of a curial cardinal presiding over the cruelly complex rubrics of the old Missal must have been thrilling or distasteful, depending on their point of view.

Catholic readers in particular might want to check out the whole thing--the battle seems painfully familiar, though there are at least some bishops in this country who are welcoming--or, at least, not openly hostile to--what the eminently knowledgeable Father Zuhlsdorf says may soon come to be known as the "Gregorian Mass" or, possibly, "Gregorian Rite;" that is, the traditional Latin Mass that is sometimes called the Tridentine Mass at present.

Still, traditional-leaning Catholics in America have been just as discouraged, in many cases, as their British counterparts over the obstacles, refusals, and negative attitudes by many high-ranking clerics toward the older (or "extraordinary") form of the Roman Rite. Far from being freed by Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio on the matter, the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite is almost as much a "rara avis" now as it was before the motu proprio was written. Meanwhile, the "anything goes" approach to the Novus Ordo continues to prevail in many dioceses and parishes; the false "Spirit of Vatican II" under which the various abuses of the liturgy were permitted to flourish is proving to be a stubborn ghost, difficult to lay to rest.

I should probably say for the record that I'm not one of those who has any sort of emotional attachment to the extraordinary form--my unfamiliarity with it has made the tiny number of Masses I've attended in this form completely confusing to me. And I've had the privilege of attending some Novus Ordo Masses which were celebrated with all the reverence and restraint which is liturgically proper, so I don't think the Novus Ordo Missae itself is the cause of liturgical carelessness or exploitation--though certainly it's easier to tinker with something written in the vernacular; Heaven spare us from ad-libbing priests!

But my personal leanings aside, I have a lot of sympathy with those who wish most sincerely for the older form of the Mass; moreover, I think an increased presence of this form of the Roman Rite could serve as a good influence on all of our Catholic liturgies, reminding us that the rules for celebration aren't arbitrary or decided at the whim of the presiding priest, but the result of slow centuries of careful and reverent worship.

So, it's a little discouraging to have Pope Benedict XVI's clear wishes in this regard overlooked and ignored by so many of the bishops in America, the UK, and many other places. Still, some progress has already been made, and will continue; and even the most recalcitrant of bishops will eventually celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday, upon which occasion he must submit his mandatory resignation.

Update: Hey, gang, next time I leave out the link to the article I'm encouraging everybody to go read--let me know, 'k?