Previous parts in this series:
Part 1: A brief history
Part 2: First half of the Novus Ordo Mass
Part 3: The rest of the Novus Ordo Mass
Part 4: The key differences
Part 5: Liturgical abuse
Part 6: The new Divine Office and sacraments
The Novus Ordo Mass, Divine Office, and sacraments are therefore inferior in form to the traditional liturgies. Sacred tradition is one of the fundamental pillars on which the Church is built. The traditional Latin Mass was constructed over more than a thousand years of sacred tradition, the devotion of the faithful, and the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Novus Ordo completely disregards all of this. It represents a striking break with tradition. The fact that Church leaders have the authority to make these changes does not mean that the changes are prudent, pleasing to God, or beneficial for the faithful. I argue that they are none of these things. In addition to the break with tradition, there are several other key traits of the Novus Ordo that make it inferior to the traditional Latin Mass, Divine Office, and sacraments:
Part 1: A brief history
Part 2: First half of the Novus Ordo Mass
Part 3: The rest of the Novus Ordo Mass
Part 4: The key differences
Part 5: Liturgical abuse
Part 6: The new Divine Office and sacraments
The Novus Ordo Mass, Divine Office, and sacraments are therefore inferior in form to the traditional liturgies. Sacred tradition is one of the fundamental pillars on which the Church is built. The traditional Latin Mass was constructed over more than a thousand years of sacred tradition, the devotion of the faithful, and the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Novus Ordo completely disregards all of this. It represents a striking break with tradition. The fact that Church leaders have the authority to make these changes does not mean that the changes are prudent, pleasing to God, or beneficial for the faithful. I argue that they are none of these things. In addition to the break with tradition, there are several other key traits of the Novus Ordo that make it inferior to the traditional Latin Mass, Divine Office, and sacraments:
-
The Novus Ordo has a horizontal focus instead of a vertical focus. The people have a more prominent and central role than God. The priest even turns his back to the crucifix and tabernacle to face the people during the Mass.
-
The infallible truth of the Catholic faith has been marginalized. The Novus Ordo no longer reflects certain key parts of the faith, for example:
-
The Novus Ordo Mass does not feel like a sacrifice. Nearly all mention of a sacrifice has been removed. There is no longer an Offertory, but rather a Preparation of the Gifts.
-
The Blessed Sacrament is no longer treated as divine. Much of the reverence given to the Blessed Sacrament, such as the priest keeping his forefingers and thumbs joined, has been abolished.
-
A lot of veneration of saints is abolished. Most of the saints were removed from the Confiteor and the new Eucharistic Prayers. In addition, we did not mention this previously, but many feasts of saints were either removed from the calendar or made optional.
-
-
Many of these compromises on matters of faith represent Protestant sentiments creeping into the liturgy.
-
The dignity of the priesthood is diminished by delegating the priestly roles to the laity. In particular, lay people are now allowed to distribute Communion, a role traditionally reserved to the ordained.
-
Instead of the Church's sacred and universal language of Latin, the liturgies are now usually conducted in the vernacular, which makes the liturgy more casual and introduces the problem of translation.
-
The Divine Office is much shorter and does away with ancient traditions, such as the hours of Matins and Prime and singing all 150 psalms in a week.
-
The Novus Ordo censors the Word of God in the Divine Office and the nuptial Mass by removing whatever does not appeal to Modernist sentiments.
-
The rubrics of the Novus Ordo are extremely vague and poorly written. This has led to the false idea that the rubrics are optional, and it has opened the door to all sorts of liturgical abuse. It has also made it very difficult and frustrating to describe the Novus Ordo liturgy accurately in this series of articles.
Of
course, this is not an exhaustive list. However, given these facts,
one cannot reasonably deny that the Novus Ordo is inferior and
damaging to the faithful.
One
of the core principles of Catholic liturgy is lex orandi, lex
credendi—the
law of prayer is the law of belief. This means that the liturgy must
reflect the Catholic faith. This is perhaps the most basic standard
of quality for a liturgy—whether
or not it actually represents the religion it purports to profess.
The traditional Latin Mass, Divine Office, and sacraments all
beautifully represent the Catholic faith in a way that could only be
constructed by divine guidance. This is part of why the Mass is so
essential to the Catholic religion. When Catholicism was persecuted
in England
under Queen Elizabeth I, the authorities targeted the Mass. Many holy
martyrs willingly died to defend the traditional Latin Mass.
The
Novus Ordo, on the other hand, does a very poor job of reflecting the
Catholic faith. It fails the principle of lex
orandi, lex credendi.
As we have seen,
the Novus Ordo Mass better reflects Protestant and Modernist
sentiments than the Catholic faith. In fact, the Novus Ordo Mass is
almost indistinguishable from Anglican and Lutheran liturgies. If one
of the English martyrs who died to defend the traditional Latin Mass
saw the Novus Ordo Mass, he would not recognize it as the Mass that
he died to defend. He might recognize it as the Anglican worship that
he died to defend against.
A
Mass that does not reflect the true Catholic faith cannot possibly be
the best choice to foster the true Catholic faith in
the hearts of people. In
the years since the Novus Ordo was introduced, there has been a
gradually worsening crisis in the human element of the Church. The
Catholic population has been steeply declining throughout North
America and Europe.
According to a study by Georgetown University, in 1965, 65% of
Catholics attended Mass most Sundays. In 2013, only 24% of Catholics
attended Mass most Sundays. In
addition, many Catholics are either uneducated in the faith or
willfully reject the faith. Nearly half of Catholics do not believe
in transubstantiation.
Vocations
to the priesthood and religious life have also been seriously hurt.
In 1965, there were 58,000 priests in the United States. In 2013,
there were 38,800. In 1965, there were 994 ordinations to the
priesthood in the U.S. In 2013, there were only 511. In the
Archdiocese of Seattle, there are currently 115 priests and 144
parishes. Many priests have to serve multiple parishes, because there
are simply not enough priests.
Meanwhile,
the Priestly
Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP),
a society of priests who exclusively offer the traditional Latin
Mass, has been flourishing. The FSSP around the world is about
the size of a large diocese. In 2017, it had 287 priests and 150
seminarians. This past
May, twenty-one new priests were ordained for the FSSP. This fall,
twenty-eight men are beginning their studies at the FSSP's two
seminaries. While the average age of priests in the United States is
63, the average age of FSSP priests is 38. The
typical FSSP parish on a Sunday morning is packed
with lots of families, children, and adults of all ages. Other
traditionalist societies have similar results.
All
this is to say that God is taking care of his Church. The Novus Ordo
Mass is declining, and the traditional Latin Mass is thriving. Jesus
said, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). The
fruits of the Novus Ordo Mass are lower Mass attendance, weakened
faith, and far fewer priests. The fruits of the traditional Latin
Mass are thriving parishes with strong faith and many vocations to
the priesthood. It is clear, then, which form of the Mass is more
pleasing to God and more beneficial for the faithful.
Fortunately,
since the Novus Ordo was introduced, there have been large groups of
people who realize its critical faults and adhere to the traditional
Latin Mass. They form the traditionalist movement, which keeps the
traditional Latin Mass alive. Unfortunately,
the great variety of such groups can make it difficult to discern
which
parishes
that offer the traditional Latin Mass licitly.
The entire history of the traditionalist movement is a story for
another time, but there are three main categories into which
traditionalist groups fall.
The
first category
comprises those groups
who
are
obedient to canon law
and
in good standing with the Pope. Most prominent among these groups is
the FSSP. I personally attend an FSSP parish. Another
such group is
the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (variously
abbreviated ICRSS, ICRSP, or ICKSP). In
addition, some ordinary diocesan priests offer the traditional Latin
Mass. Diocesan
Latin Masses can sometimes have problems stemming from the priest's
or the faithful's unfamiliarity with the traditional form of the
Mass, but in general, they are fine to attend. If
you live in the United States, you can find a directory of Latin
Masses in good standing with the Pope here.
The
Society
of Saint Pius X (SSPX) comprises
the second category.
They are similar to the FSSP, and they accept the authority of the
Pope. However, they have always had a rocky relationship with Church
authorities. Most notoriously, in 1988, their founder, Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four bishops against the Pope's orders.
Since then, the SSPX has existed in a sort of legal gray area. Their
Masses are perfectly fine Catholic Masses that will fulfill one's
Sunday obligation (a
fact that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia
Dei,
the Vatican's commission for matters related to the traditional Mass,
has explicitly affirmed),
and since 2015, it is even okay to go to an SSPX priest for
confession, but I would caution against making an SSPX parish your
regular parish.
Comprising
the third category are
those groups
who have taken it upon themselves to declare all of the Popes since
Vatican II to be formal heretics and thus not true Popes. This
position is known as sedevacantism.
There are several problems with it, but the biggest is that the
average Catholic does not have the authority to declare the Pope a
heretic. In fact, declaring the Pope a heretic and starting a new
sect that purports to be the true Church is not a new concept in
history. It
is Protestantism. One
may disagree
with the
Pope's
decisions, but
fidelity and obedience to the Pope are
not
optional.
For these reasons, I must advise against attending Masses offered by
sedevacantist communities. Notable sedevacantist communities include
the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI), the Society of
Saint Pius V (SSPV), and many
small, independent communities. Like Protestantism, sedevacantism is
very divided and sectarian.
To
summarize the various traditionalist groups (and note that this is
not an exhaustive list):
Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) |
Good
|
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICRSS/ICRSP/ICKSP) | |
Traditional Latin Mass at a diocesan parish |
Probably
good
|
Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) |
Proceed
with caution
|
Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI) |
Bad
|
Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV) | |
Independent sedevacantist communities |
As
I mentioned in the first part of this series, the Novus Ordo is still
a valid Mass. It
is still a participation in Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross, and
the bread and wine are still transformed into the Body and Blood of
Christ.
The Novus Ordo Mass may even inspire faith and devotion in the
faithful. Furthermore,
the Popes and other Church officials who have promoted the Novus Ordo
Mass always
had and continue to have legitimate authority in the Church. Popes
St. John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI,
and Francis are all valid Popes, with the full authority of the
Successor of Saint Peter and the Vicar of Jesus Christ. I am not a
sedevacantist in any way, shape, or form. The Novus Ordo happens to
be an inferior form of the Mass, but
it is still a valid Mass.
In
2 Thessalonians 2:14, St. Paul exhorts the Christian faithful to
“hold the traditions you have learned.” The traditional Latin
Mass is exemplary of the Church's sacred tradition. It is a beautiful
display of the Catholic faith that has kindled the devotion of
thousands of saints. I strongly urge all of my readers to find a
parish that offers the traditional form of the Mass, because it is
much more effective at uniting one's soul to God than the Novus Ordo.
Our ultimate goal is to become saints, and the traditional Latin Mass
is an indisputably better means toward sainthood than the Novus Ordo
Mass.
New
terms
-
lex orandi, lex credendi – “The law of prayer is the law of belief,” meaning Catholic liturgy should reflect the Catholic faith.
-
Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) – A prominent society of priests who offer the traditional Latin Mass, Divine Office, and sacraments while maintaining a positive relationship with the Holy See.
-
Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) – A society of priests similar to the FSSP, except that they have a very difficult relationship with the Holy See.
-
sedevacantism – The false position that all Popes since Vatican II are heretics and not true Popes.