A BENEDICTINE liturgist has criticized Pope Benedict XVI (how shameful for that priest!)for trying to turn back the clock in bringing back the old liturgy, saying the growing movement promoting a “reform of the reform” was threatening to derail changes brought by Vatican 2.
“Dark clouds (or a clear sky, blah!)are forming ominously on the Western (Catholic)horizon. They move hurriedly and decisively toward the direction of the sun that burns radiantly in the sky. They cast upon it stronger shadows (or greater things) to hide (show) it from view. Suddenly it is dusk, before the appointed time. In reality of our day, the realness is called by the passing clouds. This cannot (could really) put the clock back to yesterday’s evening hours,” Fr. Anscar Chupungco, O.S.B. said in his speech during the 2nd Annual Edward Schillebeeckx Lecture last February 22 at the UST Hospital auditorium.
The forum discussed the Vatican’s recent approval of the new English translation of the Mass, which takes effect on Advent in the United States.
Other priests in the forum, such as Fr. Mitchell Joe Zerrudo (of which we are fans) of the Diocese of Cubao and Jesuit Fr. Timoteo Ofrasio (the strong and venerable Liturgist), welcomed the changes in the English version of the Roman Missal, which adhere to the Latin (very well) and are closer to the biblical texts.
“In general, the new translation of the Roman Missal will be more formal and theologically deeper, more provocative emotionally and intellectually,” Ofrasio told students of the Central Seminary and the Ecclesiastical Faculties. (do we hear a great Amen!)
Ofrasio said there was a need (and there really is) to preserve the Mass and guard against tendencies to tinker (and bastardize) with the liturgy (of which Fr. Chupungco and his padawans are experts of).
The traditionalist movement in the Church, which is critical of changes in the Mass following the Second Vatican Council, scored a victory (weh? I don't think so) in 2007 when the Pope issued the “motu proprio” Summorum Pontificum. The decree liberalized ("liberalized", in 1986, the Pope John Paul II asked a Special Committee of 9 cardinals if the TLM was forbidden, they responded "No!") the use of the Traditional Latin Mass, or the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal, in which the priest and the congregation offered Mass facing one direction (and the rest of things sacred and old).
The 1970 New Order of the Mass released by Pope Paul VI in the wake of Vatican 2 permitted the use of the vernacular in the liturgy, with the priest facing the people (and allowed priests to change parts of the Mass for "pastoral reasons" when it is really the "reason of the pastor").
Last year, the Vatican approved the new English translation of the Mass of Vatican 2, which, critics claim, contained a number of errors (these critics obviously did not read the text). Pope John Paul II last revised the New Mass in 2000, but the English edition had to wait until the release of translation guidelines in 2007.
Chupungco, head of the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in Malaybalay, Bukidnon (place of liturgical abuses and shenanigans), placed the changes in the context of the liturgical “reform of the reform” pushed by Benedict XVI even before he became pope.
He said there was a need to distinguish (weh?)between papal decrees and the “theological musing” of Joseph Ratzinger, who, as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II, wrote the celebrated book Spirit of the Liturgy, which decried abuses in the aftermath of Vatican 2 (when in reality he had the same mindset. No wonder Chupungco is really rantable).
In the book, Ratzinger said changes in the liturgy undermine (undermine? I do not understand this) the sacrificial nature of the Mass as worship, placing the focus on the priest (which should be) and tending to celebrate the community (when in the Misa ng Bayang Pilipino, too many bastardizations happen).
But Chupungco, who had served as president of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome and consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship and Congregation for Catholic Education (and also "kicked out" by Card. Ratzinger in the San Anselmo of Rome), said these moves were coming at the expense of “active participation,” (define active participation: is it a point where the Mass turns into a showcase of padawans and aliping sagigilid dancing?) pointing out that the old prayers and language had long been discarded (but were still there: Chupungco does not recognize Trent).
It’s too simplistic (weh)to claim that before Vatican 2, many churchgoers became saints by simply going to Mass, he said (opposite: prayer and actions are offered in the Mass, and that solemn and proper Masses inspire people to greater heights of holiness).
“The agenda is an attempt to retrieve the discarded liturgical practices and paraphernalia, sometimes at the expense of active participation (when they, as we said earlier, were still preserved and kept, unlike the Misa ng Bayang Pilipino, which gathers dust in the Vatican),” he said. “This movement has entered the Philippine shores, those that manifest the use of the defunct Latin language and the singing of distant generations. It is no longer a requirement to understand what is said, sung, or read,” Chupungco said. (he tries to hit us, when instead that he should be the one to be well-criticized)
Chupungco said liturgical tradition is not necessarily Church Tradition (with the capital “T”) (but really is, since it was passed down by the Apostles and added to by Saints, unlike your MBP that is too recent and modernistic) that must be preserved through the ages. The need to emphasize the sacred nature of the Mass need not involve turning back the clock, he added (but in this time of diabolical disorientation, there should be a need for such).
“The liturgy does not need to be backtracked to its early context that was understood after the Council of Trent, which the Pope is trying to revive, but should be “in the atmosphere of mysterium tremendum et fascinans (a mystery that creates fear and yet fascinates).” (huh?)
‘Mass is a treasure’ (it should be)
Meanwhile, Ofrasio, a professor of systematic theology at the Loyola School of Theology, said it was the Church’s prerogative to promote “renewed evangelization.” (do I hear a Amen?)
Pointing to various liturgical innovations, he said the Mass is not “free [for priests] to tinker with and change depending on their understanding.”(agree)
“The Mass is a treasure entrusted to them by the Church which they must cherish, guard, and preserve,” (and not bastardize) Ofrasio said. “The Mass that they celebrate is not their Mass (So be it in this era of bastardization). It is the Church’s, given to them, entrusted to them by God through the Church. [The priest] is just a steward (and not its master).”
Zerrudo, parish priest of the Lord of the Divine Mercy Parish in Quezon City, said: “We should not be afraid of the coming of the new translation.”
He said the new translation of the liturgy also called for a new translation of music for the Mass using the Latin liturgical text.
“Much of the liturgical reform is really academic – the books, the prayers, the rites were studied, revised, and rearranged by experts,” Zerrudo said. (and not by free-lancers)
Zerrudo, whose parish offers the Traditional Latin Mass every day, is an alumnus of the Central Seminary. (they should be thankful)
The Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan is taking the lead, implementing some changes in the Mass effective March 9, Ash Wednesday. (Amen!)
“The English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal will soon receive the approval of the Holy See to be used for the entire Philippines. Even before the actual implementation of the new English translation, some phrases and responses in the Order of the Mass have been decided on by the Apostolic Instruction Liturgicam Authenticam foremost among which is the translation ‘Et cum spiritu tuo’ which was translated in the 1970 Missal as ‘And also with you,’” Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a circular last February 11. (A KUDOS to Archbishop Socrates Villegas)
As a result, the new response to the priest’s greeting, “The Lord be with you,” is “And with your spirit.”(and many more....)
Before the consecration, when the priest says “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,” the people’s response is “It is right and just,” instead of “It is right to give him thanks and praise.” J. M. Orillaza and B. B. Tabora
