Critical Mass: Awaiting the Inevitable

I've spent this week going over my notes for the role of a Master of Ceremonies. That's the lead acolyte for a High Mass who directs the other functionaries, whether for a "missa cantata" (sung high mass with the priest-celebrant) or a "missa solemnis" (sung high mass with deacon and subdeacon assisting the priest-celebrant). It would appear that my services might be called upon in the next year. It would help if I had them to offer, eh?

There's been a lot of nonsense in the Catholic blogosphere in the last 24 hours. For those with better things to do with their time -- I was off today, and alas, succumbed to temptation -- one internet-based reporter released part of the text of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, along with a detailed analysis of the whole text. All this in advance of the release time given under the terms of an embargo by the Vatican Press Office. Most of the people who claimed the moral high ground, began by referring to the embargo notice, without bothering to publish it in the same sitting. After a lot of chatter the previous evening, someone finally coughed it up this morning. It's real simple, kids. When you accuse someone of something in the public arena, and you've got the proof right in front of you, you either show that proof right then and there, or shut the hell up.

But, hey, where's the sport in that? "Ooh, I've got the decree right here, and you don't, but I'm being an obedient little son-of-a-gun, and I'm going to sit on it until the very moment it's okay to release to all you little people." Hell, that's nothing. I've got the Third Secret of Fatima tucked under my mattress, and I'm not releasing it until the voices in my head tell me to do so. Put THAT in your biretta and spin it around!

There's a saying in Rome: those who tell, don't know, and those who know, don't tell. I've got a few things tucked under this Black Hat myself, that will never see the light of day. I'm just not in a position to make a living parceling them out for everybody. Those who tell me these stories know this. They also know they won't be reading them here.

That's probably why I'm not impressed by some of the activity at "St Blog's" in the last 24 hours. But what does impress me, is what's going to happen tomorrow. That's when the Holy Father will take his boldest step to date, to fundamentally change the way the Mass is celebrated in the average parish over the next decade. One of the prelates who saw the early release this past week was Sean Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston. While holding nothing against the Latin tradition himself, he has mused that there will be little demand for this, and that only a very small percentage of the Catholic world will be affected by the decree. That's easy for him to say. He's the big dog when he's in the house, who never has to worry about unwanted novelties at any Mass he celebrates.

And with all due respect to His Eminence, he misses the damn point.

You see, this isn't just about which set of books is used to celebrate Mass. That's only one part of it. Our Capuchin cardinal could have picked that up by listening to or reading anything on this subject, by the very man who invited him to Rome. My colleague in Canada, a gentleman named Shawn Tribe, manages a group weblog known as The New Liturgical Movement. This is the best resource for restoring the sacred in Catholic worship. In a recent post, Tribe has described the impending decree as "an opportunity to deepen the spiritual life of the Church at the ground level, rather than as a panacea delivered from Rome. Papal documents create possibilities, they do not, in themselves, make things happen. Only those at the ground level can make things happen."

He's on to something. As this is written, the cock will crow shortly in the countryside outside of Rome. Stay tuned...

[THIS JUST IN: Tonight, on EWTN's The World Over, anchorman Raymond Arroyo showed a portion of the embargoed decree, and discussed it with Father Robert Sirrico of the Acton Institute. Arroyo reportedly said that he was not breaking the embargo, as it had already been broken on the internet. Finally, a loophole we can all get behind!]
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