Tridentine Community News - Side Effects of the Rethinking of Litúrgiam Authénticam; differences in the Dominican Rite Mass & Rosary; TLM Mass schedule

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (February 12, 2017):

February 12, 2017 – Septuagésima Sunday

Side Effects of the Rethinking of Litúrgiam Authénticam

“All the continuous tinkering in [the] name of Vatican II serves only to strengthen the movement & clamoring for the traditional Latin Mass.” – Fr. Kevin Cusick, Jan. 27, 2017

On January 11, 2017, Vatican journalist Sandro Magister reported that Pope Francis had instructed Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, to set up a commission to revisit the guidelines of Litúrgiam Authénticam, the 2001 instruction which established the criteria for translating the original Latin of the Ordinary Form into vernacular languages.

Widely seen as being representative of then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s thinking, this document required translations to be more faithful to the words and the meaning of the Latin. This was in contrast to the theory of “dynamic equivalence” which guided the original 1970 translation of the Ordinary Form. Those of us in English-speaking countries saw the fruits of this instruction with the new translation of the Ordinary Form Mass, introduced in 2011. One oft-cited example of the difference:

1970 excerpt from Eucharistic Prayer I: “When supper was ended, he took the cup…”.

2011 version: “In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took this precious chalice in His holy and venerable hands…”

It is now believed that Pope Francis will seek at least a partial return to the previous philosophy of translation. This development almost certainly puts the brakes on the current work to revise translations of other books and rites, such as the Ordinary Form Sacrament of Baptism. It raises a number of questions:

Will Catholics spiritually benefit from translations that are less faithful to the original Latin meaning?

How often can we expect translations to change? Who will pay for the new books that parishes will require? How will the faithful be expected to keep up?

How decentralized with the new translations become? Will, for example, Canada and the U.S. have different English translations established by their respective National Conferences of Bishops?

Will the global unity of Catholic faith and awareness of doctrine on the part of the faithful be impacted by the forthcoming changes and possible differences from country to country?

This writer believes that a not-small number of Catholics will tire of the repeated changes to Catholic worship and will find solace and refuge in the unchanging texts of the Traditional Latin Mass. Because there are no official vernacular translations of the Tridentine Mass, wording based on and similar to the hierarchical English of the Douay-Rheims Bible has long been the norm for hand missals and Propers handouts. Only a very small number of hand missals have attempted to use modern English, one example being the Maryknoll Missal. Even those still strive to employ reverent language.

While certainly not the preferred way to promote Sacred Tradition, Rome’s potential further tweaking of the Ordinary Form is more likely than not to strengthen the Extraordinary Form, so let’s not despair at the news, but instead look forward to the pleasant side effects it may very well bring.

Differences in the Dominican Rite Mass & Rosary


The traditional Dominican Rite has been getting quite of bit of press in recent years as it regains popularity in Dominican-run parishes and houses of formation. While similar to the Tridentine Mass, there are some notable differences, as seen in the adjacent photo by Gregory DiPippo of The New Liturgical Movement. At certain points in the Mass, such as during the Canon, the celebrant fully extends his hands. The altar servers wear albs instead of cassocks and surplices. A special Dominican Missal and book of chants are used.

Likewise, there is a Dominican version of the Rosary. It is traditionally believed that Our Lady revealed the prayer to St. Dominic. To this day, the Dominican Rosary is promoted in Dominican-run parishes. The differences are at the beginning and the end: The Rosary begins with the Sign of the Cross and the following: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O Lord, open my lips. And my tongue will proclaim Your praise. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia. [During Lent, ‘Praise be to you, O Lord, King of eternal glory.’]” The Apostles’ Creed and the initial Our Father, three Hail Marys, and Glory Be are omitted. The decades then begin as usual.

At the end, “Pray for us, O holy Mother of God” is replaced by “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.” At the very end is added: “May the divine assistance remain always with us. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.”

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 02/13 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria)
• Tue. 02/14 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Valentine, Priest & Martyr)
• Sat. 02/18 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Simeon, Bishop & Martyr)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for February 12, 2017. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Fr. Z on Pope and altar girls in Germany

It goes without saying that the phenomenon of Altar-Frauen is not an isolated one, but iconic of 101 other liturgical novelties that were not only never mandated by Vatican II but never envisioned (except perhaps by revisionists who even then were entertaining hopes of women's ordination and other "We-Are-Church"-variety novelties). The fact that that such practices have been legitimated and mainstreamed over the past few decades does not change this.

Fr. Zuhlsdorf offers notable commentary on some incisive observations made by Fr. Franz Schmidberger (SSPX Superior for Germany) on the style of Papal Masses during the Holy Father's recent visit to Germany.

Here is a piece of the interview with Fr. Schmidberger:

Q: What do you as the District Superior think of a celebration of the Eucharist in a football stadium with a colorful opening act and with both boys and girls serving as altar servers?

Fr. Schmidberger: All those mass meeting have in them the danger of an “event”, that is they lack the sacral character, dignity and sanctity. And also, in the whole history of the Church, there have never been any female altar servers, simply because this service at the altar is connected in a remote way to that of the Priest, and according to the will of our Lord this is reserved for men. Female altar servers is an invention made by liberal churchmen, for whom the spirit of the times is more important than the faith and the consciousness of the Church, the “sentire cum Ecclesia”. (emphasis by Fr. Z.)

Fr. Zuhlsdorf then comments:

This is a rather clever answer, given the Communiquè of the Holy See: Meeting between CDF and the SSPX during which the “Doctrinal Preamble” was consigned. In that we read this:

This preamble enunciates some of the doctrinal principles and criteria of interpretation of Catholic doctrine necessary for guarantying fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and to the sentire cum Ecclesia, while leaving open to legitimate discussion the study and theological explanation of expressions and particular formulations present in the texts of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium which followed.

Fr. Zuhlsdorf's final comment: "I think Fr. Schmidberger has a good point." So do I.

Giving the Devil his due

I've talked with Catholic students and parents who were surprised to learn that the Catholic baptismal rite contains a minor exorcism -- one, in some cases, which they witnessed unwittingly (apparently) in the baptism of their own infant siblings or children. About the only time most Catholics are reminded in a formal liturgical way of the Devil's existence is in the "Renewal of Baptismal Promises" made at the baptism of those being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. That rite includes the following questions asked of all present in the congregation:

• Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God's children?
• Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?
• Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?

Then the rite continues with the Apostles' Creed.

C.S. Lewis once said that there were two dangers to be avoided with respect to the Devil -- first, an excessive curiosity that might lead to dabbling in the occult; second, an excessive indifference that might lead to forgetting that he exists and prowls about the earth seeking to devour souls. It takes little intelligence to guess which side the danger lies on in the Church today. The last time I heard anything serious or intelligent said by a Catholic priest about the Devil and hell was at an Opus Dei evening of recollection -- and what rank-and-file Catholics are going to be caught dead at one of those? Liberal priests, like Fr. O'Leary, may even deny the existence of the Devil. Many others seem too embarrassed to talk seriously about the Devil. Most liturgical references to the Devil in the modern rites are so sanitized that people hardly realize they even refer to the Devil.

Compare the minor exorcism in the baptismal rite found in the Roman Catholic Missal of 1962 -- the English translation of which reads as follows:

I exorcise you, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father + and of the Son + and of the Holy + Ghost. Come forth, depart from this servant (hand-maid) of God, N., for He commands you, accursed and damned spirit, He Who walked upon the sea and extended His right hand to Peter as he was sinking.

Therefore, accursed devil, acknowledge your condemnation and pay homage to the true and living God; pay homage to Jesus Christ, His Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and depart from this servant (handmaid) of God, N., for Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, has calle him (her) to His holy grace and blessing, and to the font of Baptism.

Accursed devil, never dare to desecrate this sign of the holy + cross which we are tracing upon his (her) forehead. Through the same Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.

If Catholics were in the habit of hearing such simple, clear, and powerful language as this on a regular basis, they might not find themselves in such a befuddled funk or so confoundedly indifferent about the sin, death, hell, and the Devil. That would not be a repressive thing. It would be a liberating thing. For it would clarify and bring into focus all that is beautiful, good, and true and worth living for in these few years we've been given on the face of the earth, as well as the supernatural end for which our lives were intended. By contrast to the red meat of the 1962 Missal, it's hard to avoid listening to the liturgical seasons come and go under the new rites and their cotton candy presentations without asking: where is the beef?