Saturday, December 18, 2021

The Problem With The "Golden Unicorn"


 This is going to be a basic, repetitive post as I feel I've been making this point for a few years now. But in light of the Holy Father's now cemented antipathy to my people (fellow traditionalists), maybe it's worth posting. 

A couple years ago in St. Louis I attended a Latin Novus Ordo celebrated ad orientum, replete with chant, incense...the works. All the "smells and bells." My friends who belonged to the parish at the time referred to it as the "golden unicorn" of extremely rare Novus Ordo masses that tried to combine the best elements of the Tridentine Mass superimposed on the Novus Ordo. 

I guess, to be fair (according to OLV, where I attended that particular weekend), 

"Many Catholics are surprised to learn that the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal allows for certain traditional options that are now seldom seen in the U.S. But the ordinary form Mass, as celebrated with these options at St. Mary of Victories, is actually very close to the style of worship contemplated by the Fathers of Vatican II when they promulgated the Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC) in 1963. They decreed, for instance, that Latin was to continue as our main liturgical language (SC #36), and did not call for priests to change their location on the sanctuary. (The celebrant traditionally stood in front of the altar during the Eucharistic Prayer, facing the same way as the people.) It was not the Fathers of Vatican II, but Pope Paul VI some years after the Council, who decided to legitimize the reception of Communion standing and in the hand as well as kneeling and on the tongue (the traditional manner that Benedict XVI, as pope, asked from those receiving Holy Communion personally from him). Nor did SC ask for new Eucharistic Prayers in addition to the First – i.e., the ancient ‘Roman Canon’, the centerpiece of the Roman-Rite Mass. It did, however, insist strongly that the Church’s great treasury of sacred music, especially Gregorian chant, should be not only retained but given “pride of place” (SC #116)."

This was a historically Hungarian parish, adjacent to and under an underpass, which had seen better days. Like many traditional parishes, it was in the "bad part of the town," but didn't enjoy the growth and crowds that many TLM parishes did (like SFDS Oratory, run by the ICKSP, for one). It was in desperate need of repair, and despite the best efforts of some of the more dedicated parishoners, it was dying.

I always feel I have to pardon the expression whenever I say it because it sounds kind of harsh, but the expression "lipstick on a pig" is one I have used to describe this situation (the Novus Ordo celebrated ad orientum in Latin). I don't have any issue with people who attend the Novus Ordo, or like the smells and bells of these kinds of liturgies. But I find it offensive when proponents of the NOM purpot it as some kind of 'split the middle' solution of a reverent liturgy in the New Rite to those of us who attend the Tridentine Mass. Someone in our area started a "Trad-lite" Facebook page kind of pressing this point. Hard pass.

Keep in mind liturgy is not my strong suit. I know what I know, and not much beyond that. And I don't want to come off snobby or snotty. But from my limited vantage point, one of the  obvious problems with the liturgical Golden Unicorn are that it is untenable.

The Novus Ordo is be definition malleable. It can be celebrated with mariachi bands in Spanish, or with incense and chant, or gospel style, or whatever. The pastor seeking to right-the-boat with a more traditional, Anglican-style high liturgy has to face the fact that the next pastor 3-5 years down the road can simply come in and dismantle the whole thing unilaterally. The rubrics of the Tridentine Mass prevent such 'freedom expression' and limit what one priest can and can't do within it.        

Sorry, this is kind of a lazy post, as half of us have COVID and I'm having to attend to my wife who has fallen ill. I'm sure there are other things which liturgical experts like Peter Kwasniewski could expound upon (I reviewed his book, here). But I have no interest in the Novus Ordo at this point, even if it is celebrated in this style. I am open to hearing points as to why I should. But if push came to shove and things got as bad as they are projected to, I think we would defer to the East (Byzantine Catholic) as a matter of recourse. I just can't understand the Holy Father's vindicitive animosity at this point; I'm just kind of...numb to it. If they want to destroy the Church (I don't buy the 'unity' claim) by restricting those of us who just want to give God due worship according to the ancient rites...well, I guess we'll see how it all plays out. I pray it backfires.

4 comments:

  1. Its a sad time to be a faithful Catholic . All we can do is pray

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  2. As an assistant in my Catholic high school's Mass music program, I suppose I might me one of the folks trying to put "lipstick on a pig" (to use your words). But in recent months following the publication of Traditionis Custodes, I have found myself wondering a lot, what would happen if all of the TLM folks came (back?) to the Novus Ordo parishes and, instead of just complaining about what they have lost or going Byzantine, wholeheartedly threw all of their talents and sensibilities into making the NOM the best it could be? What if the TLM crowd exerted pressure on pastors to more closely follow Sacrosanctum Concilium, just like many LifeTeen sympathizers have tried to pressure me and my school's administration to go all in on a LifeTeen music model?

    To be sure, I find Pope Francis' crackdown on the TLM very difficult to stomach, despite never regularly attending the TLM. But in an opinion that I have not publicly uttered until now, I find myself thinking, and in some ways (dare I say) hoping, that maybe now, the TLM crowd will come back to the NOM parishes and help us fix the NOM as it is celebrated in many parishes today.

    Admittedly, though, it's probably a fool's hope...

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    Replies
    1. (1st sentence edit --> "I suppose I might BE...")

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