I'm told that even atheists groaned when Pope Paul VI agreed in 1969 to replace the traditional Latin mass of the Catholic church with the New Order of Mass. Even non-believers felt that something beautiful passed from this earth when the last Deo Gratias of the old mass faded from the world's cathedrals.
The Latin mass was transcendent. It was noble. It fired the human imagination. When accompanied by Gregorian chant, it seemed to give mortals a foretaste of something eternal.
That's what comes from more than 1,500 years of liturgical history. The traditional mass is the oldest continuous form of Christian worship. Over the years, various popes have fine- tuned it, but each of the modifications grew organically from the old.
That's not what happened after the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Though council members originally envisioned making only minor changes, such as having the Scripture readings in vernacular languages, what they got was a new Mass.
"Let those who like myself have known and sung a Latin-Gregorian High Mass remember it if they can... The Roman Rite as we knew it no longer exists. It has been destroyed," boasted Rev. Joseph Gelineau, S.J., an influential liberal on the committee that wrote the new Mass.
Today, young Catholics are beginning to discover their lost heritage. Pope John Paul 11 fueled the growth of the traditionalists movement with a 1988 apostolic letter calling for "wide and generous" availability of the old liturgy. Currently, about half of the 150 Catholic dioceses in America conduct at least one officially approved traditional Latin Mass.
Last May, more than 16,000 young traditionalist from around the world gathered in France, with the blessing of the Pope, to walk the 70 miles between Notre Dame in Paris and Chartres Cathedral. They journeyed, as they have for the last 14 years, to show their love for the older form of the Mass.
Also in May, a prominent Vatican official offered a traditional Latin Mass at the high altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, with a welcoming address from Cardinal O'Connor and a standing-room-only crowd. Presumably the Cardinal noted the predominance of young families in the overflowing pews.
The fact is, liturgical innovation has been devastating for the Catholic Church. Before the changes began, about 75 percent of Catholics in the U.S. attended Mass every Sunday. Today, the figure is barely 25 percent. In the past, Catholicism thrived during times of persecution and societal breakdown. In modem America that hasn't been the case.
I can attest firsthand that folksiness of the modem liturgy can easily lead young people to dismiss Catholic teaching-I did for a decade. In a nihilist world, we don't need a Mass that has been adapted to meet modem fashions. We need a Mass that is contra mundum-at odds with the world.
Like all humans, we need a glimpse of nobility and mystery to inspire us to strive for spiritual perfection. Our elders attended the "Mass of the ages" during their formative years. We got "folk" Masses. They were given a better headstart.
Recently, a woman told me about the death of her father, who passed his last days in a nursing home. In his youth, he had served as an altar boy. "At the end, he couldn't recognize the members of his family," she noted. "But if you said any line from the old Mass, he could give the response, instantly, in Latin."
Priest: Introibo ad altare Dei. (I will go up unto the altar of God.)
Server: Ad deum qui laetificat juventutem meam. (To God, who giveth joy to my youth.)
Kathleen Howley, a Boston-based freelance journalists
writes for the Boston Globe and Catholic World Report.
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