SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM IS HERE

It's here, the long awaited Motu Proprio that has been the buzz since Benedict XVI was elected. I have said several times that I view this as placing the Tridentine Rite in the place of honor next to the Novus Ordo, where it belongs. I guess I will never understand the fear with which it is treated by the extreme... progressives, I guess they like to be called... within the Church; but then I don't get liturgical dancing, crappy kumbaya music(or, more recently, the near-pop concerts), or the desecrations of altars and Liturgy that I've witnessed since I was a child.

Last week, a friend of my boss called, someone who I've talked Church shop with often. He was jubilant because he considers the then-impending release of Summorum Pontificum the beginning of the end of the Novus Ordo--"they're scared because they know it's over!" he exclaimed. I blinked in disbelief.

I told him that he was being naive; the Novus Ordo is now part of the fabric of the Church and it's never leaving. And, personally, since I am a child of the Novus Ordo era, it doesn't bother me in the least. It is all I have ever known, and have been fortunate to have found parishes that say the Mass in a respectful, excellent manner. However, I do believe that he's naive, and those who think like him, very much so; and that these 'progressives' who are freaked out about the return of the Latin Mass are acting much like Chicken Little. I wonder what they really fear.

And slowly but surely the directives to clean up the mess in the Novus Ordo is coming from the top. I understand there have been movements to clean up the translation, bring dignity back to the Liturgy, and quiet instructions to get the awful caterwalling that passes for music at Mass in many parishes back to respectful and appropriate music.

Can we have a directive squashing parishes that are afraid to proclaim they are Roman Catholic Churches? When I see "St Hopeless Catholic Faith Community" I get worried. Any church I hav been in that uses that moniker doesn't look a thing like a Catholic Church inside. One in particular took me 4 visits to find the tabernacle (hidden in a corner, encased in ugly wrought iron and topped with a single dark red lantern). Yes, scary. Be proud! This is a Roman Catholic Church!!

It should be interesting to see how this plays out. Stay tuned.

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Good breakdown and commentary here. Akin gives warning that he's using the unofficial translation, but I think that the general idea stands.

Rumor has it that the translation at the USCCB site is different than that of the Vatican's... one commenter on Jimmy's blog alluded to shenanigans. Let's take it easy, folks. One thing at a time.