traditional

There seems to be a growing polarity within the Church these days—two very different perspectives of the Mass and of the Church as a whole…. traditional or contemporary? Old fashioned or modern? This isn’t really a new debate, however with some of the more recent decisions made by the Vatican, it has become more of a topic of discussion.

Let me say up front—I’m not a “hardcore” traditionalist—I’m not one of those who believe that everything that has happened in the Church since Vatican II is horrible, or that the popes since 1962 were heretics. I don’t believe every nun should look like “The Flying Nun” (very few women can actually pull off that look, anyway)—I don’t believe the Catholic Church is the only way to Heaven—I don’t believe that Mass should only be said in Latin. I do however, tend to adhere more to the traditional side of things… not only in my life in general, but in my faith and style of worship as well. I’m a big believer in tradition and history, and tend to agree with the saying—“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”. I believe tradition adds a sense of meaning, importance, and even beauty to things, and just because something is old, doesn’t mean it’s obsolete.

So, all that being said—let me present two pictures—one where kneeling people silently look on as the priest, facing the altar, prays the Mass in Latin. Traditional Catholic hymns play in the background as candles flicker throughout the sanctuary, light streaming through the stained glass windows, and traces of incense rise toward the roof. Bells ring to symbolize the most important point in the Mass—the consecration of the most Holy Eucharist. Two nuns walking outside are clothed in habits, rosaries hanging from their belts. There is an atmosphere of extreme reverence for what is going on—people dressed modestly as they kneel to receive the body and blood of Christ on their tongue, their hands clasped in prayer. There is the recognition that they are in the presence of almighty God- and understand their place in comparison.

The other picture has the priest facing the congregation, saying the Mass in English, with the congregation giving the responses. It gives the impression of a family gathered around a table, about to have dinner. Instead of traditional hymns, the music is much more contemporary, sometimes with guitars, drums, and tambourines replacing the organ. The communion rail has been removed, and people receive the Eucharist standing, and in their hands. Many people in the pews hold hands, or raise them in the air in response to the liturgy. The flickering candles have been removed, or replaced with electric candles that flicker using LED bulbs. In many cases, the stained glass windows have been replaced by clear glass and the church architecture takes on a cold, post-modernist look.

Where the importance of the sacrifice of Christ’s death was once emphasized, a new emphasis is made. The congregation is now led to believe that the resurrection alone, not the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, is key to our salvation. This is apparent in many churches now, where there isn’t even a crucifix above the altar anymore. Or if there is, it has been changed from an actual crucifix, to the “risen Christ” (Christ separated from the cross, his arms outstretched).

The tabernacle containing the sacred Host has been moved from the altar, and placed “off to the side”. The bells are gone—in many churches the kneelers are gone (apparently it is no longer the “norm” to kneel in the presence of God)—and there is very much of a “relaxed” atmosphere. People arrive late and leave early, many wearing shorts, sport tee shirts, and flip-flops. The sense of being “lesser than” our Savior has also changed—we now look at the Son of God as “my buddy Jesus”.

When the Second Vatican Council proposed the Church make changes and “update” the liturgy, many felt they went too far. It’s almost as if the Church was “deregulated”, like the telephone company. Many of the religious orders and clergy of the Church took on a new level of autonomy and individuality, and as a result lost a certain level of conformity and sometimes even an understanding of what we actually believe as Catholics.

Today’s Mass tends to be more “person” centered—emphasizing the connection with our neighbor in the pew next to us, rather than on the sacrifice of the Eucharist. Homilies are much more “PC”, because we have been taught we “can’t judge” others behavior, or talk about sin. The Vatican took a back seat, especially to the American Church, where the bishops have become very powerful, greedy and politically motivated. The rules have been blurred. It’s gotten to the point where you will get different answers about Catholic doctrine depending on who you talk to—that includes the clergy.

Prior to the council, the traditions and beliefs of the Catholic Church were held firm and taught universally. There was a belief that the Holy Mass could never and should never be changed. It had been said the same way for hundreds of years. You could go anywhere in the world, attend Mass, and fully understand what was going on, even with it being said in Latin. It was believed that the traditional format truly encompassed our faith, and that the sacrifice of the Eucharist, being made with everyone facing the altar, was sacred, central, and should be treated with complete reverence, respect, and awe. While some saw this as antiquated, in reality, it was the traditions and language of the “old Mass” which gave us a commonality, and truly made us a “catholic” (universal) people.

In their modernization of the Church, the council presented a “new” Mass—the Novus Ordo, which put the Mass in the local language. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only change that was made. The traditional and universal format of the Mass was tossed aside in favor of an “updated” liturgy. And while there is still supposed to be some level of uniformity, and most of the Mass is celebrated generally the same from church to church, there have been many “liberties” taken, where the celebrants feel entitled to make their own…. changes.

I found a website which documented many inappropriate alterations of the Mass. While not necessarily the norm, the following examples are of “extreme” Masses, or what the website called, “messes”. These are happening all over the world, some being celebrated by bishops—even our own Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony—and even popes!

Title & Description	Performer	Location	Date
“Barefoot” Mess in which teenagers sit around the Novus Ordo “table” in T-shirts, shorts, and bare feet	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Novus Ordo Parish	June 9, 2003
“Beach” Mess in which Mess is performed on the sand of a beach with the congregation dressed (actually partially undressed) in beach and swimwear	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Novus Ordo Parishes, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts	October 11, 2003
“Bikers” Mess in which motorcyclists recline on their “hogs” dressed in T-shirts and jeans, bandana head coverings, boots, and black leather	Archbishop Timothy Dolan	Holy Hill, Milwaukee, Wisconsin	August 30, 2003
“Camp” Mess in which Mass is performed on an overturned canoe	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Poland	2004
“Campfire” Mess in which Mass is performed on a toolbox by a presbyter “vested” in hiking clothes in front of a campfire	Novus Ordo Presbyter	St. Andrew Boboli Academy, Poland	2004
“Cheesehead” Mess in which the performer of the Mass wears a miter of cheddar cheese	Archbishop Timothy Dolan	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	September 26, 2002
“Chinese Tea” Mess in which Chinese tea is offered at the Offertory, and ancestors are worshipped at a pagan-style side altar	Novus Ordo Bishop Allen Vigneron	Our Lady of the Rosary, Union City, California	February 7, 2004
“Circus” Mess in which the Mass is performed by presbyter and deacon vested in circus colors and sporting red clown’s noses	Novus Ordo Presbyter and Deacon	St. Michael, Wuerzburg, Germany	August 7, 2005
“Clown” Mess in which the performer is “vested” as a clown and engages in “sacred laughter”	Novus Ordo Presbyter Brian Joyce	Christ the King Church, California	September 1, 2002
“Coffee” Mess in which coffee is used for “communion”	Novus Ordo Presbyter	St. William’s Church, Louisville, Kentucky	October 4, 2002
“Come as You Are” Mess in which the recipients of the “cookie” come up dressed as clowns	Novus Ordo Presbyter John Johnson	St. James the Greater Church, Dogtown, St. Louis, Missouri	March 17, 2004
“Cowboy” Mess in which the presbyter and his ministers were all “vested” as cowboys and live poultry were placed about the altar	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Canada	2005
“Dance” Mess in which participants dance around the Novus Ordo “table”	Archbishop Anthony Pilla	Kent State University Newman Center, Kent, Ohio	June 16, 2003
“Dorito” Mess in which a “Dorito” corn chip is used as matter	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Religious Education Congress, Cathedral, Los Angeles, California	October 21, 2003
“French Bread” Mess in which French bread is “elevated” while people squat around a circular coffee table	Novus Ordo Presbyter Steve Kelly	A Living Room in Los Angeles, California	1996
“Gymnastic” Mess in which gymnasts dressed in flimsy costumes perform during the performance of the Novus Ordo Mass	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Menzingen, Switzerland	May 2, 2004
“Hindu” Mess in which pagan Hindu girls dance around the altar chanting the Hindu "om"	Novus Ordo Presbyter Thomas d’Sa	Toronto, Canada	July 2, 2006
“Ignatian Retreat” Mess in which a semi-nude Novus Ordo Jesuit presbyter “dances” the Mass	Novus Ordo Presbyter Robert Ver Eecke, S.J.	Boston, Massachusetts	September 9, 2003
“Indian Feather” Mess in which the Novus Ordo Archbishop of Denver sports Indian feathers and tom-toms	Archbishop Charles Chaput	Denver, Colorado	August 4, 2003
“Juggler” Mess in which a clown-juggler juggles the “cookies” while the presbyter “performs” Mass in a circus	Novus Ordo Presbyter Heller	Circus Knie, Switzerland	July 21, 2002
"Kool-aid" Mess in which a cardinal "consecrates" grape, cherry, and orange Kool-aid	Cardinal Roger Mahony	Archdiocesan Pastoral Council Meeting Los Angeles	February 13, 2007
“Nightclub” Mess in which the performer dresses in a tuxedo and tells jokes	Monsignor Reynolds	Pompano Beach, Florida	April 7, 2003
“Pancake” Mess in which a vested priestess cuts the pancake “species,” assisted by a presbyter and a bishop, while a T-shirted acolyte uses an ice-cream scoop in the clay “chalice,” all this taking place on a table covered with a multicolored party tablecloth	Novus Ordo Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga (in background)	Goiania, Brazil, Jesuit Youth House	2005
Papal “Buddha” Mess in which Mass is celebrated with a Buddha atop the Novus Ordo “table”	Pope John Paul II	Assisi, Italy	October 26, 1986
Papal “Clown” Mess in which clowns entertain in front of the pope on his throne	Pope John Paul II	St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City	November 17, 2002
Papal “Nudie” Mess in which a bare-breasted lectoress reads the Epistle in front of the pope and his clergy	Pope John Paul II	Papua New Guinea	1984
“Polka” Mess in which sacred music is replaced by polkas, and the polka is danced around the Novus Ordo “table”	Novus Ordo Presbyter Perkovich	St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City	1983
“Potato Chip” Mess in which the matter is potato chips and grape juice, held not in sacred vessels, but in glass containers	Novus Ordo Presbyter	St. Rita’s Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	November 20, 2003
“Pub” Mess in which a presbyter performs Mass in a pub, accompanied by guitars and saxophones	Novus Ordo Presbyter Sean Horrigan	Mucky Duck Pub, Houston, Texas	December 26, 2003
“Puppet” Mess in which a presbyter “performs” Mass using ventriloquism through “Charlie,” a dummy	Novus Ordo Presbyter Douglas Sweet	St. Joseph Church, Shreveport, Louisiana	2003
“Sandwich” Mess in which the presbyter “consecrates” a bologna sandwich	Presbyter Burnier	Jesuit Youth House (Casa da Juventude), Goiania, Brazil	2005
“Skull” Mess in which a grotesque skull image was projected on a screen above the altar, and a man and woman, back to back and totally naked, were projected on the same screen	Novus Ordo Presbyter	St. Andrä, Graz, Austria	March 25, 2005
“Sponge Bob” Mess in which a girl, wearing Sponge Bob flip-flops, assisted the presbyter, who delivers a homily with a Winnie The Pooh puppet	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Various	August 2, 2003
“Voodoo” Mess at which witch doctors of voodoo participate, and animist (pagan) practices are included	Auspices of the Archbishop of Sao Paulo	Our Lady of Achiropita Parish, Sao Paulo, Brazil	May 31, 2003
“Basketball” Mess in which the presbyter walks around the Novus Ordo “table” and the “sanctuary” bouncing a basketball while performing Mass play by play into a wireless microphone	Novus Ordo Presbyter	Long Island, New York	May 2003
“Cat in the Hat” Mess in which at Christmas Midnight Mass, the presbyter during the homily put on a Cat-in-the-Hat hat	Presbyter Wayne Morris	St. Joseph Church, Ironton, Ohio	December 25, 2003

The Church today goes out of it’s way to allow many different types of Novus Ordo liturgies—with no music; with traditional music; with contemporary music (and a band!); with certain passages in Latin (rare); said completely in Latin (very rare); said completely in the vernacular; not to mention the extreme variations as noted above. I find it interesting that with so much effort going into accommodating the Mass to so many different views of what it should be, that it has worked so hard over the years to discourage the use of the more traditional Latin Mass as one of those views.

It is true that some people didn’t like the Tridentine Mass because the congregation didn’t participate in the liturgy as they do in the Novus Ordo Mass. I do understand that—I enjoy participating as well. But I, as well as so many others, also like the traditional aspects of the Tridentine Mass. I believe it is truer to the real essence of what the Mass should be. And, there is a version of the Tridentine Mass called a “Dialogue Mass”, which has the traditional liturgy, as well as the participation of the laity saying the responses—can you say “happy medium”? Again, I don’t believe that Mass should only be said in Latin. But I do believe, however, that the Tridentine Mass, and the traditional format should be a more accessible option.

Until recently, you needed an “indult”, or special permission, from the bishops to say the Tridentine Mass. I believe it should be able to be said without having to get “permission” from bishops, who ultimately do what is in their best interests or beliefs, rather than what’s best for the congregation and the Church itself. Pope Benedict is working to make that happen. The pope’s recent declaration removes that requirement, and promotes the free use of the Tridentine Mass, according to the needs and requests of the parish. I hope our bishops here in the United States will comply accordingly.

Another tradition in the Church that for the most part had gone away since Vatican II was the wearing of the habit by religious. The habit is distinctive clothing worn by male and female religious.

For nuns, the habit dates back to the middle ages, where the style originally mimicked a married woman’s dress. This was appropriate because of the image of the nun as the “bride of Christ”. The habit expressed this image as an outward sign of the sister’s vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. It functioned as a concrete and tangible sign of a lifelong commitment to live in the service of God and His people.

The revised Code of Canon Law states: “Religious are to wear the habit of the institute determined according to the norm of proper law as a sign of their consecration and as a testimony of poverty” (Canon 669, 1).

The Holy Father urges religious to continue to be visible witnesses for Christ and His Church: “Rejoice to be witnesses to Christ in the modern world. Do not hesitate to be recognizable, identifiable, in the streets – as men and women who have consecrated their lives to God and who have given up everything worldly to follow Christ” (Given to Religious in Ireland).

Some feel that the habit is antiquated or self-serving-- that nuns who wear them want favors granted to them because they are easily distinguished from the average person in the crowd, and feel they are better than everyone else. But the habit, like so many of the rituals and sacramentals of the Church, has a profound meaning and symbolism behind it. I found a website which explained the symbolism behind the basic habit:

Habit: The habit is like the wedding garment the Sister wears to remind her that she is the bride of Christ, and that she must therefore live a life of simplicity, poverty and humility. The color of the habit is distinctive to the particular order. Many orders may wear the familiar, and most common, black and/or white-- the black symbolizing Christ’s humility; the white signifies Christ’s innocence. Some may wear blue, symbolizing a dedication to the Blessed Mother; others may wear gray, or brown, and so on….

Veil: The Scriptures tell us that a woman’s hair is her glory. By her veil, the Sister makes a sacrifice of this aspect of her womanly beauty — and perhaps her vanity as well. Her veil, then, is a symbol of humility and modesty. Like the habit, it is a constant reminder to herself and others that she now belongs to Christ; that she has pledged herself to live in Him and for Him alone; that like Him, she must live a life of poverty, simplicity and obedience, seeking only His Will, and not her own personal gain.

Ring: At the ceremony of her perpetual profession, which takes place after many years of study and temporary vows, the Sister is arrayed as a bride on her wedding day in a beautiful white dress. During the ceremony, the bishop gives her a ring to symbolize her union with Christ. The ring, a simple band, is also a symbol of eternity, and it is made of gold, which symbolizes love.

Rosary: The rosary was given to St. Dominic in 1214 by the Blessed Virgin, who told him that it was the “weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world.” And at Fatima in 1917, Our Lady repeatedly asked for the daily Rosary to obtain world peace and the conversion of sinners.

Crucifix: The crucifix reminds us that Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us: “Greater love than this no man hath, to lay his life down for a friend.” By her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Sister too has placed herself on the cross. As a bride of Christ, she must live a life of self-denial, so that she, like St. Paul can say: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.”

Scapular: The monastic scapular is an outer garment about the width of the chest, from shoulder to shoulder. It hangs down in the front and back almost to the feet, but is open on the sides. It is worn in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This sacramental, too, came to us from the Blessed Virgin, who appeared in 1246 to St. Simon Stock, General of the Carmelite Order, and gave him the Scapular as a pledge of her protection. The Brown Scapular is a sign of consecration to Our Lady.

So as you can see, it’s not just because of misguided feelings of entitlement or personal gain, nostalgia, or even bad fashion sense…. there is meaning behind this, appropriate to the position of the vocation. I’m not saying we have to go back to the garb of the 1950’s (although give me a good wimple any day…), but I believe the dress of the religious should truly reflect the importance of their calling. The religious vocations—priesthood, sisterhood or brotherhood—have an elevated place in the world. Being a religious is not just “another type of job”. These vocations are literally the consecration of one’s life to God, through the complete dedication and sacrifice of “worldly” choices. At least that is what it is supposed to be….

It is true that in the last few generations, those with very worldly desires, and no respect for the vows taken have infiltrated the religious vocation. I’ll go a step further—people who are selfish, greedy, politically ambitious, and downright disturbed have entered the religious life and used it for their own perverse purposes (see my other essay, Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing).

However, simply because some human beings are flawed and have, in a sense, hijacked the vocation, it doesn’t mean the vocation itself is invalid or any less sacred. It’s the same as saying the Catholic faith is completely invalid because a group of its priests were involved in the sexual abuse scandal. It is true the human church on Earth has many flaws, and in its history at times, has done harm to not only the laity, but to itself as well. But the human faults that seem to be ever present in this world do not tarnish or invalidate the underlying faith. Hopefully, they will actually become a catalyst to seeing what went wrong, and corrections will be made. And while there has always been human corruption in the Church, I believe that in this “modern” age, our push for the “live and let live” attitude, being “PC”, and the “I’m okay, your okay, as long as it feels good” ideology, has opened the doors even further to the decline of morals and respect for God, His Church, and the religious life.

As I stated earlier, while I don't feel Vatican II was the work of Satan, I do believe that it went too far in some areas to “de-mystify” the Church. In their attempt to make it more “people friendly”, I feel they compromised aspects of the Church that made it “Catholic”. The Mass, the teachings, and the traditions, which once were distinctive to our faith, now look and feel more “protestant” in nature, or have been completely abandoned. I believe it is this reality that has contributed to the decline in religious vocations, and ultimately a decline in attendance of the laity at Mass. People do honor and feel close to our traditional past. Many young women who are entering the convent now, seem to be seeking out religious orders which are more traditional in nature, and who wear the habit.

I am hoping that the recent changes Pope Benedict has made in favor of our traditional history will bring back the many people who left Church, due to being disillusioned and confused by the “updating” that took place over the last forty years. And in time, I hope that the Church hierarchy will embrace our traditions, rather than looking at them as “bad habits” needing to be broken.