WAS DEEPLY MOVED to see this! A very clever person located video footage of my mother receiving her First Holy Communion. This was at Saint Ethelreda Catholic Church on Chicago’s Southwest Side. I’m not sure if the Parish still exists or not.
How things have changed since then! The current archbishop of Chicago recently banned the Hail Mary prayer. And apropos of the 1950s Mass, many of us were disheartened when Pope Francis issued Traditionis Custodes and the Holy Father—as far as I’m aware—couldn’t find a single nice thing to say about the Traditional Latin Mass. This was the Mass which nourished so many saints: Father Isaac Jogues, Don Bosco, Padre Pio, Father Noël Chabanel, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint John Vianney, and thousands more. And the Holy Father could not find one nice thing to say about this venerable liturgy…truly frightening. And yet, Pope Francis has no problem praising the Eastern Rites:
They have conserved that pristine liturgy, no? So beautiful. We [i.e. those who celebrate the Novus Ordo] have lost a bit the sense of adoration, they conserve it, they praise God, they adore God, they sing, time does not count. The center is God and that is a richness that I would like to emphasize on this occasion as you ask me this question.
[Original Italian: Hanno conservato quella pristina liturgia, no?, tanto bella. Noi abbiamo perso un po’ il senso dell’adorazione, loro lo conservano, loro lodano Dio, loro adorano Dio, cantano, il tempo non conta. Il centro è Dio e quella è una ricchezza che vorrei dire in questa occasione in cui Lei mi fa questa domanda.]
