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Views from the Choir Loft

Those Selfless Ordinary Form Priests

Jeff Ostrowski · November 6, 2014

705 Bishop Germany RDINARY FORM priests often work tirelessly and receive very little support. Consider, first of all, the excessive size of today’s Novus Ordo parishes. A single priest often serves 2,000, 4,000, or even 11,000 families. Other OF priests offer Mass in several locations each weekend. This is quite a contrast to the “good old days” of Roman Catholicism, where Pastor and Curates could live peacefully, seldom leaving the Church, Rectory, School, and Garden. In our times, the priest is besieged by emails, phone calls, meetings, sick calls, and even text messages, asking him difficult moral questions that require an immediate (and correct) answer.

Moreover, many Ordinary Form priests possess little experience with authentic liturgy. When I say “authentic,” I mean stable. After all, the whole point of liturgy is stability and constancy. Pope Benedict XVI reminded us:

The greatness of the liturgy depends—we shall have to repeat this frequently—on its unspontaneity [Unbeliebigkeit].

The postconciliar reforms allow for an unbelievable amount of OPTIONS, referred to as “the tyranny of options” by critics. Many Ordinary Form priests were formed in liturgies changing radically from one day to the next. On top of that, some Traditionalists berate them constantly, convincing them they don’t know anything about liturgy. With so many duties, some Ordinary Form priests are tempted to say, “Forget about liturgy. It’s so confusing, and it changes so much. When I retire, I’ll have time to become an expert, but not now. Besides, very few of my parishioners seem to care about liturgy.” My brother (a seminarian) and his friends have assured me this is rather common.

AT THE SAME TIME, many Ordinary Form priests sense something horrifically wrong with their liturgies—especially the secular, emotional, uninspired, goofy, and sometimes heretical music that accompanies Mass. What can be done? Some might say “education,” but liturgy is an extremely complex subject (that’s why “Gradual” can mean four different things!) and for most is a less-than-stimulating thing to study.

701 Readings But there’s a fantastic solution! No words. Don’t explain anything. Just get them a copy of the St. Isaac Jogues Illuminated Missal, Lectionary, & Gradual. Opening up the book, they’ll see the readings, formatted in a gorgeous way. They’ll see the Propers, whose typesetting is unmatched. They’ll see the Ordinary of the Mass, containing luscious color images. They’ll see incredible woodcuts, explaining the meaning of our Faith.

This pew book presents a road map to authentic liturgical reform, which could be summarized thusly:

Sing the music of the Church—don’t replace it—and always allow your congregation to follow the Mass.

Finally, a reminder: the Jogues Missal is for the Ordinary Form, and was approved in 2014 for the United States of America by the USCCB.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: ICEL New Translation of the Roman Missal, Roman Missal Third Edition 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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
    “Jeff, I wanted to personally thank you for your spiritual witness at the Symposium & often blogs that you write too. Praying that prayer in the mornings My God, my Father and my all (by Cardinal Merry Del Val), mentioning saints’ stories of Brébeuf, Jogues, John Vianney, monks who fought in WWII, their hard work in spite of terrible conditions, their relentless zeal for the faith, their genuine love for the laypeople they served, etc. Overall though—more than anything concrete I can point to that you did or said—it was your demeanor at the Symposium. I could tell you really absolutely love and believe the Catholic Faith. You don’t get that everywhere, even in Church circles. And your humility is what then makes that shine even brighter. It is super inspiring! God is working through you probably way more than you know.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
    Those who head over to the Symposium Website will notice the tentative schedule for 2023 has been released. This is all very exciting! Very soon, we will begin accepting applications, so please make sure you have subscribed to our mailing list. If you are subscribed, that means you'll hear announcements before anyone else. (It’s incredibly easy to subscribe to our mailing list; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.)
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
    The editor of the Sacred Music Magazine recently made available to the public this splendid article by our own Charles Weaver. It includes an edition of polyphony for the GOOD FRIDAY “Reproaches.” Renaissance composers often set the various offices of Holy Week; e.g. readers will probably be familiar with the beautiful TENEBRAE setting by Father Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611). From what I can tell, Ludwig Senfl (d. 1543) was originally a Catholic priest, but eventually was seduced by Luther and ended up abandoning the sacred priesthood.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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