HE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL mandated but did not oversee a reform of the liturgy. Many of the reformers were initially excited about changes, but once they saw the results they changed their minds. A good example would be Father Louis Bouyer, who was chosen to write EUCHARISTIC PRAYER NUMBER 2. Father Bouyer was certainly not a traditionalist, yet saw the deficiencies of the post-conciliar reforms, which he referred to as “the pathetic creature we produced.” Later in life, Father Bouyer admitted his team had no chance of succeeding, since their goal was “recasting from top to bottom—and in a few months!—an entire liturgy which required twenty centuries to develop.”
The following comments by Archbishop Roche are worth noting:
[TRANSCRIPT] Archbishop Roche • “The Church has given us the celebration of the Mass in two forms. The Ordinary Form is the Mass that was developed under blessed Pope Paul VI in the 1960s; that is the Ordinary Form. That is the form that every Catholic Christian should hold as being part of their Catholic life. The Extraordinary Form is another expression, which is older than the ’69 Missal, and is a valid expression of the Church’s liturgy. I think what both have to learn from each other is, on the one hand, the wide application of the Scriptures (which is available in the Novus Ordo Missae), and on the other hand a real sense of reverence and worship…”
* Vimeo Link • Archbishop Roche Speaks
—What the Ordinary Form “has to learn” from the Extraordinary Form.
* GloriaTV Link • Archbishop Roche Speaks
—Archbishop Roche: “Extraordinary Form is a valid expression.”
Arthur Roche has been Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) since May 2021. He was Secretary of that congregation from 2012 to 2021.
