Shawn Tribe

In his Apostolic Letter Summorum pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI, eloquently reminded us of the heritage of the Roman Rite for Latin Catholics. He praised Pope Pius V who, “sustained by great pastoral zeal and following the exhortations of the Council of Trent, renewed the entire liturgy of the Church.”



The Holy Father reminds us that throughout her history, the Church’s liturgy has undergone change and clarification. There are still Catholics alive today, for example, who can remember a time before 1952 when the Easter Vigil was celebrated at noon on Holy Saturday! Every Catholic can agree on the real pastoral need to present the Church’s faith with clarity, dignity and beauty, in harmony with the faith of our ancestors.



Both usages of the Roman Rite, when celebrated with attention, devotion, and full and conscious participation, are beautiful, dignified, and moving expressions of our Catholic Christian faith. The Holy Father expressed the hope that each form might have a positive influence on the other. There is a lot of speculation about what that might mean. What it does not mean is that we blend the forms together. We must celebrate each form according to its proper Rite. Instead, perhaps, we might see each one’s strengths enhancing the other.



From the Ordinary Form, for example, we might hope to see a more robust presentation of the texts of Sacred Scripture. We can include new saints whom the Church has declared since 1962, who themselves celebrated or attended the Mass of what we know today as the Extraordinary Form. St. Padre Pio, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and St. André Bessette—whose faith led to the building of St. Joseph’s Oratory in my home town of Montreal—immediately come to mind.



From the Extraordinary Form, we might hope to see the influence of a careful attention to the words and gestures. We also hope to see the sober, careful dignity so characteristic of the Roman Rite.



We are blessed in our Catholic faith to have two usages of the Roman Rite to nourish and sustain us in our Christian faith. As we lift our hearts and minds in worship, adoration, and praise of the Lord our God, we are conscious of our rich liturgical heritage. We take humble pride in expressing, with the same intent, the faith of those who have gone before us.



In the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Eucharist, we are united in the Mystical Body of Christ under Jesus, our One High Priest. And, in keeping with the theme of this 50th International Eucharistic Congress, we are called in all our celebrations of the Eucharist to discover Communion with Christ and with One Another.

Some of our readers have inquired about photos of the Solemn Pontifical Mass which was offered as part of the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, celebrated by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa in St. Kevin's church, Dublin. We are only too happy to oblige.But before we do, I wanted to make mention that the Archbishop has himself spoken of this event on his own blog recently.In the archbishop's homily, which is presented in full on his website, he spoke at length on the matter of continuity and rupture, the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman liturgy.Within the first section of his homily, the archbishop spoke of the matter of development in continuity and the reciprocal importance of not allowing one's own attachment to one or the other form to obscure the "truth, goodness and beauty of the other", nor to obscure the fact that both are the holy sacrifice of the Mass.Continuing:You can read his entire homily on his own website. Now, the requested photos: