I, Liturgist

There have been a great many letters and articles in the NOR [New Oxford Review] dealing with the crisis in Catholic worship. One recent correspondent, Fr. Andre J. Meluskey (letters, Jul.-Aug. 2004), compares the state of our liturgy to the action of a pendulum. I know whereof he speaks, for I have swung to and fro in my liturgical affections. I have had grotesque "Kumbaya" moments--as when I attended a cursillo Mass and was glared at by a woman when I hesitated to hold her hand during the Our Father--that have sent me reeling in a Tridentine-or-bust mode. And conversely, there have been times, watching the unruly children in the public housing project across the street from the Boston indult church, when I have believed that our bordello-cum-mall of a society is truly missionary territory, and that only a vernacular Mass will do. Is there a way to halt the proverbial pendulum and have a Roman Rite that is both timeless and new?

I submit, first, that the Tridentine Rite should be available--unadulterated--to all interested Catholics, without need of an indult. When those of a modern bent are allowed to practice yoga and the enneagram at local parishes, it is absurd that anyone should have to petition the chancery in order to assist at the Mass of the Ages. To require episcopal permission for the ancient liturgy is to suggest that the "old" Mass is somehow disturbing, like an exorcism.

In a spirit of fraternal correction, I offer the "reform of the reform" party a few suggstions.

THE SANCTUARY: We desperately need to have the Tabernacle back where it belongs, in the middle of the sanctuary on the high altar. A cultural anthropologist from another planet, upon seeing the "presider's chair" in the middle of the average sanctuary, would think that the priest himself ws the object of worship. It is especially disconcerting to see lay ministers and other congregants genuflect or bow to a Tabernacle-free sanctuary. Unless a relic is embedded in the altar table, homage in such a case is being paid to a table or a chair.

And let us restore the altar rail. Our extraterrestial ethnologist, witnessing the manner in which Communion is usually distributed, would interpret the event to be a mere breadline.

MUSIC: As Pius V, in the bull Quo Primum, banned all liturgies less than 200 years old, I propose that all music less than 50 years old be precluded from use at Mass. (This standard would leave room for "O Holy Name," written in the 1930s by Boston's William Cardinal O'Connell.) I know that such a policy would be heartbeaking for fans of the Irish singer Dana, but is there any reader of the NOR who does not believe that "Taste and See" sounds like an advertising jingle for margarine?

SATURDAY VIGIL MASSES: In whichever manner this practice originated (unionized sacristans demanding flexible hours?), would it not be sensible to delay the offering of the Mass of the Lord's Day until after sunset on Saturday? For a similar custom, see "Sabbath, Jewish" in your Catholic encyclopedia.

DRESS AND DECORUM: Cellular phones that ring during Mass should be seized and sold at the parish Christmas bazaar. Body parts that affect the custody of the eyes should be covered. (We are called to clothe the naked, after all.) And let us leave room for the Holy Spirit (five inches, you know) during the Rite of Peace hug-a-thon.

ORIENTATION: How about if our priests performed the Consecration facing Jerusalem? (It would be handy, of course, if the nave of each church were pointed in the right direction.) The confection of the Sacrament upon a table facing the people reminds one of a cooking demonstration on a Saturday morning television show.

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER IV WITH A SIDE ORDER OF WON TON SOUP: There should be a difference between a Missal and a Chinese menu. Enough said.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Mass in a modern language, if the missal translation is faithful and if the ruberics of the liturgy show due reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. But as long as pro multis ("for many") makes a detour through pseudo-Aramaic and comes out "for all," while our bishops persist in their fear and loathing of kneeling, the "new Mass" will be problematic.

It is apparent from the half-empty pews that somebody in authority needs to do something. In too many places, the Roman liturgy has degenerated into a Missa Buffa. If the Church in the West continues to decline in numbers and influence, Catholics in general may end up like those underground traditionalists who hear Mass in the modern catacombs of converted hotel rooms and American Legion halls. One wonders if this is what the proponents of liturgical "priminivism" had in mind all along.

Jim Macri

[Jim Macri, a cradle Catholic and a volunteer with Massachusetts Citizens for Life, writes from Malden, Massachusetts. [Reprinted with permission from New Oxford Review, 1069 Kains Ave., Berkeley CA 94706, U.S.A.]

Recommended for additional reading:

Thomas M. Kocik, Reform of the Reform?: A Liturgical Debate: Reform or Return (San Diego: Ignatius Press, 2003)--an excellent book.