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Views from the Choir Loft

Benedict Brought Peace To The Church With “Summorum Pontificum”

Jeff Ostrowski · January 28, 2014

834 Latin Mass OPE BENEDICT XVI brought peace to the Church by his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. In the letter accompanying it, he said:

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.”

The fact is, for a long time, Catholics have had to accept a great injustice. On the one hand, certain bishops were admitting all kinds of inappropriate things (especially secular music) into the liturgy, owing to catchwords like “inclusivity, pastoral considerations, cultural sensitivity, ministerial creativity, and avoidance of rubrical rigidity.” On the other hand, Catholics who ardently desired sacred and traditional liturgy were often not allowed to have it. As László Dobszay put it, describing a similar situation:

“If the right is given to African tribes to include their pagan traditions in the liturgy, I think the same should also be given to the rite of a thousand year-old Christian Church, based on a much older Roman tradition.”

Seeing this gross injustice, Pope Benedict XVI set things right. There’s not really much I can add to Professor Dobszay’s quote, except to point out that people who distorted the Council’s true teachings could only do so because the internet didn’t exist yet. With the advent of the internet, granting full access to the actual documents, distortion has become much more difficult. To give just one example, are you aware that some bishops banned Latin in their dioceses after the Council, in spite of §36 of Sacrosanctum Concilium? Somebody published a list of dioceses which did that, but I can’t seem to find it at the moment. Regardless, priests who lived during that period have assured me this actually did happen.

YESTERDAY, OUR HOT WATER HEATER BROKE. And our car wouldn’t start, so here I am riding my bike on the absolute coldest day of the year. As I’m riding, stray dogs leap out at me and sometimes cause me to tumble. My temptation is to turn around and get even with those dogs. But what good would that do?

That’s like the Church. I see petty snipers everywhere. They get their digs in against the Church whenever they can. Like my mother used to say, “Any old stick will do to beat the Church.” But, Pope Benedict XVI didn’t focus on the “stray dogs.” He focused on something positive: bringing peace to the Church.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Latin Mass, Pope Benedict XVI, Summorum Pontificum Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The replies to this committee (of which Mgr Bugnini was the secretary) reveal a desire to reform the liturgy. In what sense? Out of 2,109 responses from bishops, just three expressed the desire to restore Communion under both kinds. There was a sizable demand for limited use of the vernacular, but only one French bishop wanted the entire Mass in French.”

— Fr. Dominic Allain (2019)

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