The recent decision by Pope Benedict XVI to broaden permission for the old Latin mass in Catholic parishes may seem at first glance to be a harmless gesture of goodwill.After all, many Catholics have never felt comfortable with the new mass adopted in the 1960s; they prefer a more quiet, passive worship style.
But you don't have to be paranoid to see the return of the Latin mass as a powerful sign of what is to come: a full-bodied campaign by the Vatican to bolster the monarchical, authoritarian claims of the church.
If this seems far-fetched, one has only to review the document released in Rome on Tuesday, which stressed the absolute superiority of Roman Catholicism.
While Orthodox churches may be considered churches in some sense, despite their defects, the document said, "it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of church could be attributed to Protestant churches" because their "wounds" are "more profound."
This is a surge in the so-called "Restoration" that has been rumbling on for 20 years -- an effort to return the church to what it once was. And if this means less dialogue among Christians and more dropouts from the Catholic Church, so be it.
This push for Restoration, its connection with the Latin mass and its implication for the church's future are matters of concern for many Catholics, including some in high places.
"The [Latin] rite is only the locomotive," Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels said recently.
"The issue is the carriages behind it. Behind this locomotive are carriages I don't want."
The mass is the most visible symbolic representation of Catholicism.
For many -- if not most -- Catholics, it is their only regular, public contact with the institution and with their fellow believers.
The old Latin mass, born nearly 450 years ago at the ecumenical Council of Trent, suited the besieged, circle-the-wagons mentality of the 16th Century church.
It clearly differentiated between superiors and inferiors, the teachers and the taught, the shepherd and the sheep. The language, gestures and positioning of participants during mass spoke volumes.
Between the priest, representing Christ, and the congregation was a great divide, effectively signified by the altar rail.
The mass was essentially the work of the priest, who stood facing the wall, above and apart from the people. He recited the special prayers using the official language unknown to most worshipers. He made the holy gestures, he alone spoke the awesome words that transformed the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
At communion time the faithful came forth from the pews, knelt at the rail and allowed the priest to place the sacred host on their tongues. This constituted their high moment of participation. The duty of Catholics was simply to be there, and it was a duty not to be taken lightly. Missing mass even once without a serious reason constituted a mortal sin.
The new mass, developed from the Second Vatican Council convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962, reflects a very different theology, one that stresses the fundamental equality of all believers.
Said the council, "The full conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations ... is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit."
Clearly, there are still various defined roles for the clergy in the church, but the emphasis is now on the activity of the full assembly. In most churches the altar rail is gone, the altar itself has been brought forward -- even set in the middle of the church in some places -- and the language is the language of the people. They are urged to pray, sing, interact with their fellow worshipers, and receive communion in their hands like responsible believers.
From this important shift in theology, the church has seen a broadening sense of the laity's rights and responsibilities, an enthusiasm for ecumenical and interfaith discussion and activity, a respect for the insights of non-Christian religions, and an openness to the secular world's positive values.
Long before he became pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed a preference for the old Latin liturgy -- and for the top-down theology that undergirded it. It was what he had come to love during his happy childhood in Bavaria.
Now he is in a position to implement his ideas.
It is therefore no coincidence that only a few days after he urged wider use of the Latin mass (the locomotive in Cardinal Danneels' analogy), Pope Benedict opened one of the boxcars with the statement emphasizing the superiority of Roman Catholicism, thereby undercutting much of the ecumenical and interfaith progress made since Vatican II.
If it is the pope's intention to create a small and obedient church of the elect, that is what he may get before this train is fully unloaded.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce