The latest serving of EH concerns liturgical literacy, which we know in our local Archdiocese is non-existent. However, she increases the illiteracy by showing up her own illiteracy. Most of the article is correct but get this. My comments are included.
One newspaper had a story about a group of young people who like to celebrate Mass in Latin “which was banned by the Second Vatican Council held in the early 1960s”. (Ah that must be the Juventutem Group)
Vatican II did not ‘ban’ Latin at all (correct) but did encourage the use of vernacular languages rather than Latin so that, as Pope John Paul II put it, “every individual can understand and proclaim in his or her mother tongue the wonders of God”. Well it didnt actually. It said that a suitable place may be allotted to the use of vernacular and then said that "care must be taken to ensure that the faithful may also be able to say or sing together in Latin the parts of the Ordinary of the Mass that pertains to them (SC n54). Next comes the real lie.
What Vatican II did ‘abolish’ was the Tridentine Mass, the Order of Mass from the Council of Trent in the mid-1570s, which was celebrated in Latin. What??! Vatican II abolished nothing - and Benedict XVI clearly said so It was replaced by the new Order of Mass with the publication of the Missal of Paul VI in 1970. Again Benedict has clearly stated that with the promulgation of the Missal of Paul VI the older form was not "juridicially abrogated and consequently, in principle, was always permitted." Where and when appropriate, this order of Mass may be celebrated in Latin, or in any of more than 300 languages spoken by Catholics around the world - a wonderful sign of unity in diversity. Note how the emphasis is on the vernacular.
She goes on to say :
Finally, and this will give the conservative bloggers something to get upset about, Cardinal Pell is not the ‘Head of the Australian Catholic Church’ as the media constantly claims. Well we already know that, not that I consider myself a conservative blogger. But why is she taking a swipe at conservative bloggers?? (Well he is a Cardinal, honorary primate and metropolitan of Australia's most important see.... All he needs is to be president of the episcopal conference and he's the main man. He's also big.... an Ex footballer.....Roman433)
Certinaly the aim is to provide disinformation out to the Catholic community in :
- misreading and misinterpreting Council documents
- suppressing information and providing lies to the Catholic Community
1 comment:
Thanks guys for courageously taking on this task. Good job!
A couple of points.
1. On Cardinal Pell's leadership - I too am a little puzzled about the swipe at 'conservative blogs'. But I would note that leadership doesn't necessarily require a formal position.
One can be nominal head of something but find you have no followers, hence aren't leading anywhere, as the current Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury is finding. One can never speak up at all despite a nominal position as head of something.
Or one can speak up and influence, even if you don't have the formal title to go with it, as Cardinal Pell does.
2. I do wonder whether it is quite wise to describe Mrs Harrington's misrepresentations as lies. To lie requires actual knowledge that something is not true, and in my experience almost all 'liturgists' and those who talk about 'Vatican II' a lot have not actually read its documents. Or they are relying on a mystical parallel set of documents wherein lies 'the spirit of...'
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