As I mentioned last week, I want to spend some time reflecting upon, discussing, and explaining some very important documents which have recently been issued by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

The first of these that I want to discuss is the Motu Proprio, “Summorum Pontificum,” which was issued just two weeks ago, on Saturday, July 7^th.

Before getting into the specifics of the document, however, I think that it would be useful to review a few basic concepts about the way in which the Church operates.

First, as we all know, the Church is not a democracy.  Supreme and universal authority resides ultimately in God Himself, but that authority is exercised in the world through the office of the papacy, the Vicar of Christ, the bishop of Rome, as successor to St. Peter.  The only true restrictions under which he operates are that he cannot violate Divine law and he cannot violate solemnly defined doctrine.  On the local level, authority resides in the office of bishop, who, also a successor to the apostles, leads the local church (which we call a diocese) in union with the other bishops and with the Pope.  To be sure, the pope and the bishops have advisors, both amongst the clergy and the laity, who provide information and advice in the decision-making process.  Ultimately, however, the decision resides with the pope.

Why does the Church have this organizational structure and not some other?  The short answer to that question, and by no means a flippant answer, is that this is the way that Jesus set things up.

In the Church, there is no separation of powers, such as we understand it in the United States, where we have the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.  In the Church, the Pope is all of those things.  In other words, he makes the law, carries out the law, and decides what it means and how it is to be applied in specific circumstances.

Obviously, in an organization as large as the Church (remember that there are more than 1 billion Roman Catholics in the world), the Pope cannot possibly do all of the “detail work” himself.  He has an organization in Rome, in which clergy and laity work, that handles most things.  There is the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, for example, that handles matters related to dogma and belief.  There is a Congregation for Clergy, for Catholic education, for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, to name just a few.  There is a law court, called the Rota, which functions as a sort of appeals court for the Church.  And there is the Council for Legislative Texts, which does most of the issuing and interpreting of laws in the Church.

But the pope can, and often does, write and issue a legislative text (a law) himself, without reference to his advisory bodies.  We call such a document a motu proprio, which is a Latin phrase meaning “of his own accord,” or “of his own initiative.

They are not uncommon things, but most of the time most people don’t hear anything about them, because, most of the time, they concern things that have no effect on most people. 

Summorum Pontificum has been long anticipated and has received a good bit of press coverage.  The secular media is a dangerous place to obtain information about religious and theological matters, since, quite simply, they don’t know what they’re talking about.  For example, Summorum Pontificum does not grant a permission that never existed before.  Pope John Paul II first granted an indult to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal in 1984.  In 1988, he followed that up with an exhortation to bishops to make use of the indult.  In our own diocese, there are Masses celebrated according to the 1962 Missal at Prince of Peace in Taylors, at Good Shepherd in Columbia, and at Stella Maris on Sullivan’s Island. 

What does the new motu proprio say?

I.               “The Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the ‘Lex orandi’ (Law of prayer) of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite.  Nonetheless, the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Blessed John XXIII is to be considered as an extraordinary expression of that same ‘Lex orandi,’ and must be given due honor for its venerable and ancient usages.  These two expressions of the Church’s ‘Lex orandi’ will in no way lead to a division in the Church’s ‘Lex credendi’ (Law of belief).  They are, in fact, two usages of the one Roman rite.

II.             “It is therefore permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church.”

III.           “In Masses celebrated without the people, each Catholic priest of the Latin rite, whether secular or regular, may use the Roman Missal published by Blessed John XXIII in 1962, or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, and may do so on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum.”  What is different is that the priest no longer has to have a special permission from his bishop.

IV.           These privately celebrated Masses may be attended by the faithful who, of their own free will, ask to be admitted.  A stable group of the faithful may also request the priest to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Missal.

V.             Priests must be qualified to use the Missal of Blessed John XXIII.

VI.           Readings may be in the vernacular.

VII.         Marriages and funerals may also be celebrated according to the 1962 Missal, if the faithful request it.

VIII.       The earlier ritual is also permitted for the celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Penance, and the Anointing of the Sick.

IX.          Clergy may satisfy their obligation to the Liturgy of the Hours using the 1962 Breviary.

X.            All this goes into effect on September 14^th, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

What is Pope Benedict trying to do?

The answer to that question involves two things that dovetail nicely.  The first of these is liturgical renewal.  In the current era, we tend to think of liturgical renewal as something that began only with the Second Vatican Council.  That is not the case.  Liturgical renewal is something that reaches back into the mists of time.  For example, Pope St. Gregory the Great, in the 6^th century, took care to ensure that the newly evangelized peoples of Europe received the rites of the Church as they were celebrated in Rome.  Pope St. Pius V, in the 16^th century, took care to ensure that the liturgical renewal called for by the Council of Trent found expression in a newly-issued Missal.  How’s that for irony?  The “Tridentine” Missal, as it sometimes called (we’ve been speaking of that same Missal, revised and updated in 1962), is itself an earlier expression of liturgical renewal and reform.  Jumping ahead again to the 19^th century, there was a worldwide movement that promoted full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy.  This movement, continuing into the 20^th century, was highly successful in many places, with two important consequences.  The first was the call for further renewal in the liturgy that was a hallmark of the Second Vatican Council.  The second was a large number of Catholics who had received the liturgical formation which this movement encouraged, and who were, consequently, very attached to the earlier form.

That brings up the second part of the answer to the question of what the pope is trying to accomplish.  The motu proprio is a pastoral document that seeks to meet the spiritual needs of these people.  Because they do, in fact, have a legitimate need.  Any one of us may or may not understand that need, but guess what?  That doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t effect the reality or the legitimacy of the need.  Some have even left the Church, gone into schism, over this issue.  We want them back.  The Pope wants them back.  I want them back.  And you should want them back, too, because the whole Body of Christ is lacking without them. 

What does it mean for our parish? 

First, it does NOT mean that you are going to come here some Saturday at 5 p.m. or some Sunday at 10 a.m. or at noon and suddenly find the Mass being celebrated according to the older form.  If the older form of Mass is not your “cup of tea,” don’t worry about it.  It is not going to affect you.

Second, for those of you who are attached to the older form of Mass, I will do my level best to make it available to you.  That is going to take some work and preparation, however.  The motu proprio makes clear that a priest must be “qualified” to offer the older form of Mass.  I would not have it any other way, for I will not celebrate Mass poorly.  I am not trained to offer Mass according to the 1962 Missal.  I do not know the rubrics, and my Latin is shaky.  But I will take the time to get the training, and I will “brush up” my Latin.  There is also the issue of altar boys who would have to be willing to serve and whom I would have to train.  And there is the issue that there are some things required that the parish does not currently possess and would have to purchase.  I will get a list of those things together, and I would ask those of you who are interested in attending Mass according to the 1962 Missal to assist in purchasing those items.

All of that will take some time, obviously, and probably several months.  I ask for, and expect, charity and patience from everyone.  You may continue to trust that I will do all that I can do to meet the spiritual needs of all my parishioners.