Fr. Gerald E. Murray: Is This What the Church Needs Just Now?

By Fr. Gerald E. Murray, The Catholic Thing, July 20, 2021

The Rev. Gerald E. Murray, J.C.D. is a canon lawyer and the pastor of Holy Family Church in New York City.

Note: We continue today with additional, much-needed commentary on ‘Traditionis Custodes,’ the pope’s recent motu proprio limiting the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Traditional Latin Mass. (Available on the Vatican website by clicking here.) If you have not already done so, we urge you to read – or re-read – Cardinal Mueller’s brilliant column from yesterday, written specifically for The Catholic Thing. The Cardinal, Fr. Murray, and I will appear with host Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s “The World Over” at 8 PM on Thursday to continue the discussion of this and other topics. – Robert Royal

Pope Francis’ decision in his motu proprio Traditionis Custodes [TC] to revoke the permissions granted by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI is shocking for those of us who have appreciated and benefitted from the freedom to experience the spiritual richness of the Extraordinary Form [EF] of the Mass. The Novus Ordo Mass of Pope Paul VI is, in name and by design, precisely a new order of the Roman Mass which eliminated various elements of the previous missal and added new elements. Judgments can and should be made as to the objective value of what was left out, and what was added. That debate has gone on since the Novus Ordo was promulgated.

It’s not surprising that those who disagree with various decisions made in reforming the Mass after the Second Vatican Council sought from the Holy See the retention of the previous liturgical forms, at least as an alternative to the reformed rites. That request sprang from a desire not to lose what has been handed down to the faithful from time immemorial. The post-conciliar reformers of the Mass and of the other liturgical books intentionally did away with a great number of prayers and rituals. Those who love those now discarded elements protested, and their pleas were mercifully heard by John Paul and Benedict. …

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