Dom Alcuin Reid has a thoughtful piece at the UK’s Catholic Herald which ever so cordially employs paywalls.
Here’s the last part of Reid’s offering with some emphases and comments.
He starts out stating that Leo XIV seems liturgically level-headed and dignified. It would be helpful were he to stress what Benedict XVI called ars celebrandi in his Sacramentum caritatis.
[…]
The second area in which the Holy Father will have to exercise leadership is in facilitating a return to the liturgical peace that was violently ended by the abrupt and, as we have recently learnt from new evidence, the carefully manipulated, [cf. lying about the “survey results” to justify Taurina cacata] persecution of those, particularly young people, who have discovered the older liturgical rites and who have “felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them” (Benedict XVI, Letter to the Bishops, 7 July 2007).
The Pope has spoken often of his desire for unity, peace and reconciliation. There is no more important area for this than in the worship of the Church. [Liturgy is doctrine. We are our rites.] But we must be clear: unity does not mean uniformity. The liturgy has always rejoiced in a rich, legitimate diversity, even in the Western rite – as the rites of different religious orders and historic dioceses attest. It is only since the most recent Council that attempts have been made, and recently renewed, to impose a rigid uniformity, falsely appealing to the need for “unity” and “communion”.
Those involved [I think McTeigue would call them the “members of the people who should know better club”] should have learnt in “Theology 101” that these are fundamentally sacramental and theological realities which do not require uniform ritual expression. Proponents of moving on “to the second phase” of liturgical reform know this at least implicitly, but conveniently ignore it in respect of the older rites.
As Supreme Pastor, the Holy Father needs to correct this error and end the Stalinist persecution of the older rites being waged by the Archbishop Secretary of the Dicastery and by certain bishops. This campaign, gleefully presided over by the Cardinal Prefect, has fractured unity and scandalised many good faithful, particularly families, driving them away and forcing them to find solutions at times “outside the system”.
It is hard to see how this is anything other than an ideological campaign by partisans of a particular political liturgical viewpoint, the legitimacy of which is highly questionable. It is certainly not pastoral in the true sense of that word – it does not serve the salvation of souls – and it has given rise to ungodly bitterness on all sides.
The Pope has already given one encouraging sign: his permission for the celebration of Mass in the usus antiquior (the older form) in St Peter’s Basilica by Cardinal Burke for the annual pilgrimage of those who worship according to the older rites. The extraordinarily large numbers at this Mass – around 5,000 when only 1,000 were expected – speak loudly. It is hard to imagine Pope Leo seeking to continue to ban such genuine fervour and devotion.
I doubt the Holy Father will wish to address the issue of the “reform of the liturgical reform” spoken of over a decade ago. [If I read Reid right, I think he is talking about what figures such as Fr. Fessio suggested. I, respectfully, think that that was a dead end. On a positive note, it got people better informed about what Sacrosanctum Concilium really said, as well as thinking and talking it.] Those officially “in charge” abhor the mere thought of “correcting” the modern rites in the light of critiques made of their fidelity to the Council itself. And those who celebrate the usus antiquior see little point in any such effort. This minefield may have to wait a little longer before being cleared.
After the Holy Father’s election, our community revived the traditional prayers for the Pope sung during adoration on Sunday after Vespers. [This was also done at The Parish™] Leo XIV is not Benedict XVI, nor is he Francis. But he is the Pope, and as such he needs our fervent prayers that he will teach and govern wisely and prudently, most especially in respect of the Sacred Liturgy, “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed …[and] the font from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10). [fons et culmen]
The rising sun illuminated the Borough of Brooklyn today at 6:35, which was 14 minutes earlier than how it had shed its light upon the Rione Regola in Rome.
Over in Rome the sunrise was at 6:48 and the sunset was at 16:59.
