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Views from the Choir Loft

The Secret Way The Latin Mass Has Won

Jeff Ostrowski · October 27, 2014

752 Latin Mass OBODY WOULD DISPUTE that Collegeville’s Liturgical Press has been the preëminent propagandist for radical liturgical changes. They have produced three blogs:

PrayTell: geared toward “progressive” liturgists

Rock and Theology: supporting secular music in Catholic liturgies

Raids Across the Color Line: dealing with what they deem “the abhorrent amount of racism” in the USA

I haven’t spent much time reading ROCK AND THEOLOGY. Nor have I found much time for RAIDS ACROSS THE COLOR LINE (which contains posts like Growing Up Racist and Misogynist and Catholic). However, during the months I was bedridden due to illness, I spent some time going through PrayTell, with a mixture of curiosity and horror. Much could be said about PrayTell, but today I will mention one aspect only. 1

THE PRIMARY EDITOR of PrayTell is obsessed with the Extraordinary Form. He abhors it, yet can’t stop talking about it, and broaches the topic constantly—not only in his posts, but also in his comment fields. Following the announcement of Most Rev. Blase Cupich being sent to Chicago, the editor’s VERY FIRST COMMENT was to note that Cupich allegedly persecuted EF Catholics in Rapid City. 2 How embarrassing! It’s as if he’s wearing blinders, and all he cares about is whether someone dares to support in any way the Rite loved for so many centuries by so many saints.

In another post, having spoken about how wonderful it was to attend Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica, the PrayTell editor couldn’t be content. Instead, he had to exclaim, with a double question mark for emphasis, “After such a beautiful and dignified reformed liturgy, why would anyone hanker after the unreformed preconciliar one??” Many more examples could be provided.

Perhaps you think I am frustrated by such things. After all, PrayTell is hardly alone in their “EF derangement syndrome”—many in the progressive camp do likewise on a daily basis. Some might be tempted to say:

“Why must you denigrate those who prefer the Extraordinary Form? Only a tiny minority of Catholics currently have the EF: why don’t you mind your own business? Why aren’t you bothered by other Catholics using an ancient rite, like the Byzantine Catholics? Why is it an unforgivable sin in your eyes that a small minority of Catholics worship in the EF?”

However, I never will say anything like that, because I’m glad they’re obsessed with the Extraordinary Form. Every time they denigrate it, more Catholics become curious and end up falling in love with it. Those of us who attended daily Mass in the Extraordinary Form during the 1990s remember how small the movement was, yet we knew we had a treasure that speaks directly to the hearts of men. (Even EF opponents secretly realize its power and magnificence.) We have been delighted to see how this movement has flourished.

Yesterday, I attended Mass in a city I’d never heard of. The EF Mass was packed—even though it was scheduled at a bad time—and the choir was wonderful. After Mass, I met a lady who has sixty-four (64) grandchildren and eighty-seven (87) great-grandchildren. All of her kids are practicing Catholics, and most attend the Extraordinary Form. No, friends, this movement will not die. And it certainly will not die at the hands of the PrayTell Blog, no matter how snarky their posts become.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   For example, one could examine PrayTell’s ruthless and discriminatory suppression of most comments by “conservative Catholics” or their pseudo–intellectual attempts a few weeks ago to put a new spin on clown Masses.

2   I’ve taken a screen shot of this, in case the PrayTell Editor decides to remove his comment. PrayTell often removes posts, usually when their contributors are caught making a technical error describing the liturgy. For myself, I think such things ought to remain, as a matter of honesty, but nobody is asking my opinion!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Extraordinary Form 1962 Missal, PrayTell Blog, Traditional Latin Mass Tridentine Rite Last Updated: April 28, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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20 January 2021 • REMINDER

We have no savings, no endowment, and no major donors. You can help us (please) by subscribing to our mailing list. It’s incredibly easy; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address. Thank you!

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

—Jeff Ostrowski
6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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— Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 43)

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