Prominent Cardinal suggests "more traditional" Catholic worship

Walt knows that this item is going to be relevant only to a minority of WWW readers, including Agents 9, 10 and 3. But I'm posting it anyway because I think it's important for traditional Catholics and the world at large to know that the modernists in the Vatican have not yet succeeded in stamping out the yearning for the Mass of All Time and forms of worship that are more spiritual and respectful than the dreadful Novus Ordo Mass, particularly as "performed" in the USA.

Yesterday, L'Osservatore Romano (the official Vatican newspaper) published "Silenziosa azione del cuore", an article written by Robert Cardinal Sarah, in which the prelate discusses the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Modernists, including Pope Francis (known for his "anything goes" celebrations of the Mass) should be mortified to read Cardinal Sarah's call for a more faithful implementation of its text.

The Cardinal laments the continuing misinterpretation of the Constitution's teaching on "active participation", and suggests (shock! horror!) an appendix to the Roman Missal that might better manifest what he thinks is the continuity of the ordinary (Novus Ordo) and extraordinary (Tridentine - traditional Latin) forms of the Mass.

It should be noted that Cardinal Sarah is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, so should know whereof he writes. In a telling criticism of priests and bishops who see the Mass as a kind performance or entertainment, and make themselves the focal point of the liturgy. He writes, "The liturgy is essentially the action of Christ. If this vital principle is not received in faith, it is likely to make the liturgy a human work, a self-celebration of the community."

Discussing the peculiar American practice of having not just the priest but everyone involved -- holding hands during the Our Father, raising their hands during the consecration, shaking hands and kissing during the abominable "sign of peace" -- Cardinal Sarah criticized the "contemporary Western mentality" in which the faithful are to be "constantly busy" and in which the Mass is to be rendered "convivial".

"To speak of a 'celebrating community'", he writes "is not without ambiguity and requires real caution. The participatio actuosa [active participation] should not therefore be understood as the need to do something. On this point the teaching of the Council has often been distorted. It is instead to let Christ take us and associate us with his sacrifice."

Instead, the Cardinal recommends modification of the Novus Ordo liturgy to include some of the elements and practices of the traditional Tridentine Mass which the modernists -- not least Pope Francis -- have been trying to suppress. He advocated ad orientem (East-facing) workship, in these words: "It is entirely consistent with the conciliar constitution, it is indeed opportune that, during the rite of penance, the singing of the Gloria, the orations, and the Eucharistic prayer, everyone, priest and faithful, should turn together towards the East, to express their will to participate in the work of worship and of redemption accomplished by Christ."

He also recommends less noise! The Tridentine Mass has long periods of silence during which the priest prays in a low whisper, or even silently, allowing the faithful to meditate or pray silently. Cardinal Sarah says that "sacred awe" and "joyful fear require our silence in the presence of the Divine Majesty. It is often forgotten that sacred silence is one of the means set forth by the Council to encourage participation."

And there's more! Cardinal Sarah recalled the Council’s teaching -- ignored even before the ink dried on the documents -- that the faithful should "be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them," and said that the liturgy "must stop being a place of disobedience to the requirements of the Church."

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, he emphasized, should not be read with a "hermeneutic of rupture". Walt can imagine Pope Francis and the likes of Cardinal Dolan saying, "Really? But we thought it was supposed to be a break with the past!" But Cardinal Sarah disagrees strongly: "It would be wrong to consider the extraordinary form of the Roman rite as coming from another theology." To manifest that the ordinary form and the extraordinary form are "in continuity and without opposition," he writes, "it would be desirable that there be an appendix in an upcoming edition of the Roman Missal that would permit celebrants in the ordinary form to use the penitential rite and the offertory of the extraordinary form."

So there. Vatican II did not call for the suppression of the Latin Mass. Indeed, it could not be, because, as John Vennari points out in "Traditional Mass Never Forbidden", the Papal Bull Quo Primum of St. Pius V solemnly proclaimed that the Latin Tridentine Mass could never be forbidden, and that all priests and faithful will always have the right to avail themselves of this liturgy."

Now, all Cardinal Sarah has to do is convince Pope Francis to not just read but heed what the Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy actually said, and put its recommendations (and his) into practice. The Pope could, himself, set the proper example. But, dear Catholic readers, don't hold your breath...

Further reading: "Derive liturgiche. Ma il cardinale Sarah riprende il timone", by noted Vaticanista Sandro Magister, in L'Espresso.