To the editor:
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s recent columns on the Pontifical Mass create a very nervous Catholic here. It feels as though these columns are opening shots on banning the Novus Ordo Mass celebrations here in the Diocese of Madison. Or imposing the use of Latin.
I much prefer the Roman Rite Novus Ordo to the other. I do not hope in the least for any return to the other form. I recall the Mass before Vatican II and not with any joy. Mass then was cold and isolated people.
If people prefer to sing/pray in Latin, let them continue to attend the Extraordinary Mass, but please do leave the Novus Ordo for those of us who find great joy, beauty, and worship celebrating in that form and in English and other local languages.
Options are healthy.
Fr. Z. quotes St. Teresa of Avila saying she would rather die than “break the least rubric of the Church’s ceremonies” (Life 33.6), but St. Teresa lived in dangerous times and was constantly under examination for heresy.
Since the Novus Ordo is a legitimate rite, the use of that form does not “break” any of the Church’s rubrics. And I believe the great majority of Catholics prefer Novus Ordo.
Hopefully,
M.A. Rakow, Madison