Friday, February 18, 2011

International appeal in defense of Summorum Pontificum

Word just in of a joint international appeal by Catholics of like mind in response to sources confirming that there is a very real possibility for concern as relates to potentially restrictive elements in the forthcoming instruction on Summorum Pontificum. It is well-known that the Holy Father is under tremendous pressure from retrograde reactionaries in high places who wish to turn back the clock and keep it at 1969, with tie-died vestments and Joan Baez-style gathering hymns forever.

Whether or not you are a member of the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas [link], if you share a concern for preserving and promoting the well-established, time-tested, centuries-old Gregorian (Tridentine) liturgy, you may wish to join in signing the following international appeal:
"Appeal to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, Pertaining to the Instruction/Clarification of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum" (http://www.motuproprioappeal.com/, February 18, 2011).
As our source stated in the notice sent to us this morning: "The appeal does not presume to know or state what the actual contents of this proposed instruction are, however, in the light of the aforementioned reports, and given credible confirmations that there is reason for concern, it simply wishes to calmly and respectfully share our concern with the Holy Father about this potentiality, asking that, whatever is finally released, that the integrity of the letter and the spirit of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum be preserved."

Related:[Hat tip to N.C.]

2 comments:

Sheldon said...

Sheldon,

Let us pray for the Holy Father, as he requested during his inaugural homily in St. Peter's Square in April, 2005:

"Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another."

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html

Pertinacious Papist said...

I spoke with a gentleman who is a canon lawyer after Mass today about this, and his theory is that something (probably misleading or erroneous) was prematurely leaked to the press before the Instruction has been made public, perhaps in hopes of strong-arming the papal hand in some manner.

This was apparently the modus operandi of some of the left-leaning drafters of papal documents under the previous pontificate. It's not inconceivable that John Paul II may have decided, in choosing some of his battles, to grant the wishes of a prevailing consensus in favor of certain proposals in this manner, such as the matter of altar girls, where no intrinsic evil was thought to attach to the prospect. Pope Benedict XVI, however, may hardly be thought to be coerced in this manner.

In short, the gentleman was quite certain that Benedict would not admit into his Instruction any restrictions that would contravene the basic premises underlying the agenda of his recent Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, and related rulings.

With a wry smile, the gentleman in question added that if there is in fact anything restrictive, one could always respond to the left-leaning dissenters in kind by declaring that it isn't "in the spirit of" Summorum Pontificum. Heh. What can I say? Funny.