This article will not be relevant to non-Catholics. Catholics who have embraced the "reforms" of Vatican II will be dismayed, but Catholics who hold to the traditions of Holy Mother Church will thank God and His Blessed Mother for the news that follows.
Under the heading "The 'Reform of the Reform' is in motion" Rorate Cæli has reprinted an article by Italian journalist Andrea Tornielle, writing in Il Giornale. According to Tornielli, the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship has proposed to Pope Benedict XVI a number of significant changes to the liturgical norms for the Novus Ordo (NO) mass instituted by Vatican II.
The NO mass has long been decried by traditionalists as "the victory of Protestantism" within the Church. Some go so far as to deny that it is a valid mass at all. Traditionalists welcomed the Holy Father's Motu Proprio restoring the traditional Tridentine Mass in Latin, only to be disappointed that the TLM remains an "extraordinary" rite, whose use has been resisted by many bishops, particularly in North America.
Now it appears that the CDW recognizes the numerous and scandalous abuses of the NO mass, and has a plan to restore a greater sense of the sacred to the central institution of Catholic worship.
You'll find a translation of the Il Giornale report on the Rorate Cæli website. Tornielli suggests that the CDW's proposals could be the basis for the "reform of the reform" the Holy Father has been seeking. In effect, elements of the Tridentine liturgy would be brought into the NO mass.
The CDW is reportedly advocating an end to the pernicious practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand. Readers will remember the controversy over what Canadian Prime Minister Harper -- who, as a Protestant, shouldn't have received Communion in the first place -- did with the Host he received from the hands of the priest. If he had dropped or discarded it, that would have been a terrible sacrilege. Yet thousands of hosts -- the Body of Christ -- are dropped, trodden on or abused every week because of this Lutheran-inspired practice.
It is also suggested that after some 45 years of having the priest face the people, there should be a return to celebrating Mass ad orientem. That means facing east. Before Vatican II it was the practice to build churches facing east, so that when the priest, on behalf of the people, faced the altar, he was looking towards Jerusalem, towards the site of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, towards the place where Christ will come again. Many new churches are aligned north and south, but the symbolism of having the priest face a proper altar, rather than the Protestant table now in use, can only be welcomed.
And while they're at it, one hopes the Blessed Sacrament will be restored to Its rightful position in the sanctuary, rather than an alcove somewhere out of site. The object should be make the focus of the Holy Mass not the priest, not the people, but Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tornielli writes that the CDW report was submitted to the Pope for further discussion and study rather than as a proposal for immediate change. However, it can only be seen as an indication that the liturgical pendulum is at last swinging back towards sanity.
Deus bonus est! Te Deum laudamus!
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