A Divisive Approach to Liturgical “Unity”, by Stephen P. White

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing, Dec. 30, 2021

Stephen P. White is executive director of The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America and a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

This past summer, as you no doubt are aware, Pope Francis curtailed the use of the old Roman Rite (the rite formerly known as the Extraordinary Form) with the stated goal of fostering greater unity within the Church. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has since clarified the Holy Father’s motu proprio in a manner that has dismayed devotees of the older rite.

I can count on one hand the times in my life I have attended Mass in the old rite. Which is to say, I have no particular attachment to that rite. But that is a bit like saying that I have no particular attachment to my great-grandfather, who died before I was born. It is true in one sense, but impiety in another sense. …

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