Returning to the Latin Mass
An article in this week’s U.S. News & World Report reports that Pope Benedict XVI is about to ‘relax restrictions on celebrating the 16th century Tridentin Mass, citing “a new and renewed” interest in the ancient Latin liturgy, especially among younger Catholics.’ Read the full article here.
Who besides Mel Gibson is interested in the Catholic Church making such changes? Apparently there are individuals in a movement springing from seminaries who say that such changes will help membership attendance (now at forty percent, down from seventy-four percent in 1958) if practiced traditions are richer and doctrines stricter.
Not only are these restorers of tradition calling for the reinstatement of the Latin mass but also for ‘greater devotion to the Virgin Mary, more frequent praying of the rosary and priests turning away from the congregation as they once did. Perhaps most controversially, they also advocate a diminished role for women, who since Vatican II have been allowed to participate in the mass as lay altar servers and readers.’
Sisters, here we go again.
