Letters Extra

In addition to the letters published in this week’s issue of the The Tablet you can find more correspondence here, available free.

Whose Mass is it anyway?

Joseph Shaw, Chairman Latin Mass Society, (Letters, 10 July) says with reference to the celebration of Mass post-Vatican II that "arbitrary deformations of the Liturgy" have driven most of his contemporaries away from the practice of the faith; he was born in 1971.

When we unite ourselves with the priest in the sacrifice of the Mass, we re-present Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to God the Father, in the sure hope that God will be so moved by what Jesus has done for us that he will forgive us our sins, and furthermore we know from John's gospel that we have Jesus' promise that "when we eat his flesh and drink his blood we will have eternal life".

I much prefer the Ordinary form of the Mass for a number of reasons; principally the vernacular, and the logical way in which the Scripture readings during Mass relate to each other. However, if I were only able to attend the usus antiquior I would do so. The sacrifice of the Mass and the partaking of Jesus' body and blood are the same, irrespective of the Liturgy with which it is celebrated.

If people cease to practise the faith because of their liturgical preferences, then the situation is truly alarming! It indicates an urgent need for effective catechesis in regard to the Mass. To cease to practise the faith on account of liturgical preference is to give the form of the liturgy a higher priority than actually participating in the Eucharist.

I have to confess that, to date, my feelings on the Tridentine Mass have extended no further than a vague irritation that, yet again, a miniscule constituency within the Church is intent on imposing its worldview on the rest of us. Now that I have actually attended a Tridentine Mass (Sunday evening Mass at St. Anthony of Padua, Forest Gate, London), I have to say that my feelings now take the form of extreme puzzlement as to exactly what the proponents of the rite see in it.

I had heard descriptions of the alienating effect of the priest muttering in Latin ad orientem, but hadn't realised the half of it: big swathes of the Mass were entirely silent (including, incredibly to my mind, the consecration), and when the priest was audible, he gabbled the Latin words as if he couldn't get out of there fast enough, and with an accent and pronunciation that would have earned him the strap from the Christian Brothers who taught Latin to me (and before anyone assumes illiteracy in Latin on my part, it is one of the languages I translate from for a living). The much-vaunted "beauty" of the rite was certainly nowhere in evidence.

The experience bore criticisms I have heard of the Tridentine Mass out in full: it seemed purposefully designed to remind the congregation that, while they are always expected to physically be at Mass, the content of it is too mysterious for their little heads and so they should leave everything to the experts. Quite frankly, I left the church feeling that I hadn't actually been to Mass. And yes – sorry, Joseph Shaw, but it’s the truth – the very large church was virtually empty.

Church shouldn't push people away

The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton is right on the button when he says that the Catholic Church has become irrelevant to many people because it is “intolerant, demanding and exclusive” and they can get on with their lives quite well without it, because it does not have anything convincing to offer (The Tablet, 10 July). If you combine that insight with your Leader the week before, suggesting that educated young people (and I would add that it is not only young people) are able to dismantle their faith and find it wanting, these give a very good indication of the root-and-branch overhaul of our Christian practice that is urgently needed. It is no good bewailing the reports of reducing Mass attendance when the presentation of the message that should form the basic reasons for joining or remaining in a Christian community is so unfavourable. Mass attendance should not be viewed as the basic goal, as it is only an indicator of the success and solidarity of the parish community – and it is that which is failing.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols has said that like Pope Benedict he would prefer the Church to shrink than any compromises to be made on fidelity to teaching (The Tablet, 10 July). However, such an approach can often justify complacency, as the Church seeks to blame secular society for its refusal to accept church teaching. I think the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton’s approach as reported in your same edition of The Tablet is more in tune with the truth, when he said the Church has a problem in its own proclamation of the Gospel and that it needs to do better to proclaim the gospel in order to show its relevance to people’s lives. The compassionate face of God is not being experienced by people either within or outside the Church, and this failure should not be justified by appealing to the remnant-of-Israel theological complacency.

Power still too centralised

I was struck by the remarkable similarity between Cardinal Frings' description of the Holy Office (now the CDF) in 1962 at Vatican II as, "a source of scandal" (The Tablet, 17 July), then two pages later Bishop Kevin Dowling's description in 2010 of the current centralised manner of wielding authority in the Church that demands unquestioning obedience from everyone else. It seems that little has changed, which is a particular sadness since Frings' theological adviser was the young Joseph Ratzinger. The consolation is that at least prophetic voices can still be heard in parts of the hierarchy in spite of Rome's best efforts.

Hiding Newman in the past

Newman’s own motto makes a most apt title for a booklet on the Pope's beatification visit. But the title, "Cor ad cor loquitur" means “The heart speaks to the heart” – the direct communication and intimacy of love between persons that transcends words. The conscious archaism, “Heart speaks unto heart” dulls that sense and breathes remoteness. The sixteenth-century typeface of the booklet cover steals yet further away. Not surprising that our [Church’s] one present growth industry serves a minority cult: passionate archaism, nostalgia for past power, the magic aura of Latin and an innocent fondness for dressing-up. But Newman also told us, again and again, that the Church, never changing in essentials, must always be changing these inessentials. “To live,” he wrote, “is to change”. This booklet’s cover reeks of the death-wish.

Losing sleep over animal cruelty

I was shaken by Melanie McDonagh's review of Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals (The Tablet, 3 July). Surely, when we Christians are called to Judgement, one of the greatest sins will be to have condoned any sort of factory farming of God’s creatures. The mass suffering described gave me sleepless nights. The only pigs I wish to eat will have been "running, playing, sunning, grazing and caking themselves in the mud". Of course, eating these is just as saddening.

More hurdles before women bishops

You report that the Church of England’s measure to allow women bishops will need a two-thirds majority from the synod for final approval before being submitted to Parliament to become law. It will not. It will need two-thirds majorities in all three of the synod’s houses of bishops, clergy, and laity; and given the opposition on both the Evangelical and Catholic wings of the Church this is something it may fail to achieve.

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