TRADITIONALISTS

04 November 1998 18:29

This news item seemed of particular interest.

3-Nov-98 — ZENIT News Agency

VATICAN CITY, NOV 2.

“In a spirit of fraternity I invite all bishops to understanding and renewed pastoral care of those faithful who are dedicated to the old rite and, on the threshold of the third millennium, to help all Catholics to live the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries with deep devotion which will be food for their spiritual life and a source of peace.”

With these words John Paul II ended his talk to the pilgrims who had come to Rome for the tenth anniversary of the creation of the “Ecclesia Dei” commission, and the tenth anniversary of the foundation of Saint Peter’s Fraternity for Priests.

The group of some 3,000 faithful devoted to the old rite were in the Eternal City last weekend — some coming from as far as Australia and New Zealand — to hear Cardinal Ratzinger speak on the old Mass, to attend a solemn pontifical Mass according to the old rite, and to hear the Holy Father’s address in Saint Peter’s Square.

As a result of the episcopal consecrations carried out by French Bishop Marcel Lefebvre without a mandate from the Holy See, on July 2, 1988, Pope John Paul II published a “motu propio” in which he declared the act to be schismatic. In the same document — entitled Ecclesia Dei — the Pope opened his arms to embrace all the faithful, anxious to receive the sacraments according to the rituals prescribed by Pope John XXIII in 1962, and not willing to accept the rupture, but wishing to continue united to the Church under papal authority.

On that occasion, the Holy Father said, “I want to tell all the Catholic faithful who are attached to some of the previous liturgical and disciplinary norms of the Latin tradition, my desire to facilitate their ecclesiastical communion, by taking the necessary measures which guarantee the respect of their legitimate aspirations.” And, the Pope added, “In this matter I request the support of the bishops and all those involved in the pastoral ministry of the Church.”

Since then, the road has not been easy. Over the past ten years, some fifteen institutions have joined “Ecclesia Dei,” the majority of which have been established after the Lefebvrist rupture. “The variety of communities which have arisen thanks to this pontifical text” said Cardinal Ratzinger “have given the Church a great number of priestly and religious vocations which, full of zeal, joy, and profound union with the Pope, serve the Gospel at this time in history in which we live. Because of them, many of the faithful have been confirmed in the joy of being able to live the liturgy and in their love for the Church or have

found both things thanks to them. In quite a few dioceses their number
is significant; they serve the Church in cooperation with the bishops and
in fraternal relation with the faithful. All of this can only make us
deeply grateful.”

On Saturday, October 24, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave an address, which was preceded by a Mass officiated by Cardinal Stickler, who concelebrated with Dom Gerard, Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Magdalen; and attended by, among others, Michael Davies, president of the International Association “One Voice;” and German philosopher, Dr. Robert Spaeman.

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith began his address with an evaluation:

“Following the publication of the motu propio “Ecclesia Dei,” What

assessment can be made? Above all, it is an occasion for thanksgiving.
But — he added — it would be unrealistic not to mention the less
positive aspects. The difficulties continue to multiply because,
bishops as well as priests and faithful, regard devotion to the old
liturgy as an element of division which does nothing but disturb the
ecclesiastical community, giving way to suspicions about a
conditional acceptance of Vatican Council II and to obedience to the
legitimate pastors of the Church.”

Ratzinger made immediate reply to these objections. “It is quite easy to
refute these arguments.” He pointed out that the Council did not
reform the liturgical books in themselves, it only requested a ‘revision’
and, to this end, it gave some fundamental regulations. The Cardinal
said that what must be avoided is creating an opposition between the two
forms of Roman liturgy (that of Paul VI and the preceding one), as both
are sources of wealth in the life of the Church. Instead there must
be obedience, in both rites, to the essential regulations of the
Constitution on the liturgy, as they are the criteria by which liturgical
celebrations must be judged, be they according to the new books or
the older ones.”

“It is good to remember — he added — what Cardinal Newman said: in all her history the Church has never wanted to prohibit a form of orthodox liturgy, something which would be absolutely foreign to the spirit of the Church.”

The Cardinal did not want to evade the thorny problem of the practical application of the liturgy. “The free space which the ‘Novus ordo Missae’ leaves for creativity in the liturgy is, often, excessively broadened. The difference in the liturgy according to the new books, as it is practiced in fact in many places, is often greater than the difference between the new and the old liturgy, when both are celebrated according to the prescribed liturgical books.”

Ratzinger did not want to minimize the dangers threatening the old celebration (passivity on the part of the faithful), but also the new (to minimize the sacrificial character of the Mass by emphasizing unilaterally the character of assembly). The Prefect revealed that, the abuses notwithstanding, there is a return to the Mystery, to adoration, to the sacred and eschatological in the liturgical celebration.