Three barriers to the Latin Mass.....

....and thirty three barriers to the Ordinary Form!

Fr Abberton at Stella Maris blog has an interesting post on why people are put off by the Extraordinary Form of Mass, the Latin Mass.

Fr A links to the video clip below featuring Dr Tracey Rowland, an eminent Australian Catholic theologian.

It leaves me a little cold and, also, a little apprehensive that I am, perhaps, missing something.

I don't recognise the three points made by Dr Rowland.

I (in all my years) have never encountered point one, namely, that those who attend the Latin Mass, come out afterwards and dissect it in great detail.

And if they do (as I suppose could happen outside the London Oratory), then so what?

I have attended Latin Masses in London, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Oxford, Cambridge, and many other towns and cities, but never have I heard the Mass being "dissected."


The good Doctor goes on to compare the Latin Mass 'critics' with those who attend performances at the opera, sniping at the fact that the soprano did not hit the top note.
Well, I do not go to the opera very often but when I do, if someone fails to hit the right note, it is a topic of the interval conversation over a glass of lemonade.

Similarly, should a priest hit what Peter Sellers might have called a 'bum note', that, too, might be mentioned in passing.

But dissecting? No.

Her next point is that young people are put off coming to the EF Mass because people "wear funny clothes".

Oh dear, is this a mantilla rant again?

Or, is it that many women, young and old, dress modestly at the Latin Mass?

I suppose that, if you wear a skirt with a hem around your armpits and a mini halter top, you would think that Catholic women  do dress oddly if you were plonked into their midst at Mass.

But, surely Dr Rowland does not mean that?

Or, does she?

And finally, Tracey Rowland makes the point that the 'politicisation' of Vatican II and the blame that orthodox Catholics attach to it, also puts people off.

To a degree she has a point on this one; Vatican II is a constant source of angst to many but I think that most, if not all, believe that there was not a lot inherently wrong with the Council.
What went wrong was the way in which the periti  took advantage of the Council to foist the Catholic world off with a vast number of horrific changes.

But, I would bet anyone reading this, a pint of Rev James bitter, if, on standing outside my parish church on a Sunday, they would receive an answer to the following question:

"What have been the benefits of Vatican II?"

You see, most modern 30 year old Catholics have little knowledge (if any) of Vatican II and would give you a blank look if you popped that question to them.

But please, judge for yourself, here is the clip:

Fr Abberton (who celebrates the Latin Mass) is concerned at the way some priests dress and hold hard to the rubrics.

Now, I would not wish to upset Fr Abberton but, again, I think a priest in a biretta looks much better than one in a shell suit.

And rubrics are great. Much better than the free for all that goes on at the Novus Ordo.

So, sorry Father.....I beg to disagree..how about you (dear reader)?

* And should there be anyone out there who would like to know the 33 barriers to the OF Mass, I shall attempt a post on the subject sometime over the weekend.
I may not make 33, but then, who knows?