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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Keep Calm and Carry On

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · February 21, 2013

N FR. ZUHLSDORF’S memorable phrase, the liturgy is the “tip of the spear” in the battle against modernism and secularism. It is where our Catholic identity is forged and deepened. If we want to become all that we are called to be as Catholics, the first thing to pursue is the worship of God “in spirit and in truth”―and that means not only with personal humility and doctrinal truth, but also with the institutional humility to maintain continuity with the heritage handed down to us, and to recover it whenever and wherever is has been lost.

One vexing problem, however, is this.  Patiently, over the years of his glorious pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has asked us, in his words and in his example, to recover continuity with the Tradition.  But the hermeneutic of discontinuity is present at the very heart of the Ordinary Form―a form inherently discontinuous with the unbroken, organic tradition, as many liturgical theologians have argued, including then-Cardinal Ratzinger. It is a rupture of unprecedented magnitude in the history of the Church.  Nothing like it has ever happened or will ever happen again.  It marks the point at which the Church, for some mysterious reason known only to Divine Providence, suffered amnesia of her own past and parted with much of her sacred patrimony.  This is the massive obstacle to restoration: when the Church herself appears to enshrine, canonize, inculcate rupture, how is the recovery supposed to take place sanely and peacefully?

If, seeking solace and sacredness, we go back to the Extraordinary Form, that afford us an extremely good temporary solution―but it, too, is artifically isolated in 1962―a year already squarely within the period that had seen the first disastrous experiments of Bugnini and his minions (e.g., the 1955 Holy Week reforms, which show a deformative tendency).  The Missal of 1962 is a rock of stability, no doubt about it; but it is also an island on which one cannot expect to camp out permanently.  How is this Missal to become a living Missal again, not one frozen in 1962?  And the moment we ask that question, the floodgates of discontinuity are once more flung open, as this expert and that expert step forward with their proposals about how to modify the ‘62 missal in accordance with Sacrosanctum Concilium or many another Vatican instruction.  Some will clamor for vernacularization, others for more readings and prefaces, still others for rubrical simplifications, and soon a cacophony of changes will threaten to drown out the sweet and sober music that the old Missal has only just begun to restore to us.

In short: as Martin Mosebach once observed, the curse of the era of liturgical reform is that we are all self-conscious reformers with as many strategies and programs as there are heads on shoulders.  Few, it seems, are content with Tradition as it stands, and no one who understands liturgical theology and history can be content with the experiment of the Novus Ordo.  No one knows exactly when a chaste love of reform became an unbridled passion for rupture.  Some think Pius X is to blame with his major modifications of the Roman Breviary.  Others would blame Pius XII for entrusting key liturgical reforms to soft modernists, or John XXIII for his temerarious, although in retrospect miniscule, change to the Roman Canon.  Most would squarely blame Paul VI.  Do we not see all along a papal predilection to overreach, to indulge a monarchical Petrine power of modifying the liturgy when they should be its foremost preservers?  Should not the popes, above all, see themselves as servants of what has been handed down, rather than judges of its supposed defects?

Paul VI thought he could abolish the traditional Mass with a stroke of the papal pen. Time has proved the vanity of his intention. All over the world, in every corner, the Mass of the Ages is rising again. And the irony is that the internet has become a major tool for the success of this movement of restoration―the restoration of a liturgical tradition that long predates the technology of the printing press, let alone any electric or electronic machinery. In this convergence of the very old and the very new there is both pathos and humor. The divine, the sacred, the holy, cannot be buried, cannot be banished, cannot be bartered away. The voice of the Church at prayer cannot be silenced. It will, in due time, re-emerge, erupt anew, wherever it may have been suppressed. We are just beginning to see the Catholic renaissance, even while the rest of the modern Western world rushes at a mad pace to populate the circles of hell.

Whatever mistakes have been made, whatever colossal errors and breathtaking blunders, we ourselves who love the Church and her Tradition must “keep calm and carry on,” cherishing, defending, and promoting the precious inheritance we, all unworthy, have received.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Why A “Fugue” Here?
    I believe I know why this plainsong harmonizer created a tiny fugue as the INTRODUCTION to his accompaniment. Take a look (PDF) and tell me your thoughts about what he did on the feast of the Flight of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Egypt (17 February). And now I must go because “tempus fugit” as they say!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of October (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

At the Council of Trent, the subject was raised whether it was correct to refer to the unconsecrated elements of bread and wine as “immaculata hostia” (spotless victim) and “calix salutaris” (chalice of salvation) in the offertory prayers. Likewise the legitimacy of the making the sign of the cross over the elements after the Eucharistic consecration was discussed.

— ‘Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, Cong. Orat.’

Recent Posts

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  • New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
  • “Reminder” — Month of October (2025)

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