It must be tough in the modern Church

A friend told me recently that she had become a parish "greeter" and, as well as making me feel distinctly nauseous, this news also made me think that the poor old modernists have much to suffer these days.

It was so much less demanding pre Vatican II, you just went to Mass and got on with your prayers, you didn't have to worry about the many duties and demands that have accumulated post 1970.

For a start, as a lay person you did not have to think twice about arriving at church and entering your pew; the holy water fonts would be full and ready for hands to be dipped in prior to a blessing and the tabernacle would be positioned centre back of the Sanctuary and all you had to do was genuflect, not bob or curtsey or bow.

We did not have "greeters" then. 

Before 1970 all Catholics had a mature disposition that enabled them to arrive at the church and make the hazardous journey to the pew without some leering loon stuffing a parish newsletter in their hands.

And the choirs today have a heavy burden to carry. 

How they cope with all those descants and neumes when singing 'Shine, Jesus shine' is beyond me.

These days altar servers also have to focus very hard to learn English and then walk in a semi straight line to the sanctuary before repeating the process in reverse when Mass is finished; so demanding, such a challenge.

As for Extraordinary Ministers it seems to me that the only occasion that they are not required is at an Extraordinary Mass - curiouser and curiouser.

Spare a thought. also, for the poor parish priest. 

Pre Vatican II they just concentrated on giving a sermon based on the teachings of Christ whereas, today, they have to have completed a module on the art of being a stand up comedian before they finish Year One of their Seminary Studies.

For my part I shall remain firmly planted in the traditional Church, free from greeters, liturgists, extraordinary ministers and wise cracking priests.

It's so much easier in Latin!

Oh no! More pre Vat II flashbacks!

An incentive to be on time?

The great Fr Z has answered a query from one of his readers regarding what can be done about those people who are late for Mass?

'Course, that never happens at Latin Masses.......um.....or, does it?

The reader asks if it was an issue before the Second Vatican Car Crash Council and here, dear reader, I am able step in with a reality check.

Yes, indeed it did happen; we were not saints in those days and, in addition to a lack of punctuality there was also the awful custom of leaving Mass at the last Gospel.

We are not talking big percentages here, in either instance.
 Something like 5% of the congregation would be either latecomers or early leavers, but I do recall the means by which the parish priests of Hounslow and Heston respectively tackled the matter.

Heston Parish was under the steady hand of  Father Walsh (later a fine bishop). His method of coping with latecomers was to lock the door as Mass began.

Then, maybe some time after the Kyrie, when the hammering on the door indicated that the 5% had gathered outside the church, then, and only then would Fr Walsh leave the sanctuary and open the door for them in person.

They would then slink in to the nearest seat, totally embarrassed and ashamed.

That strategy merits a place in the 'crude but effective' file.

It was quite wrong, of course, the Mass was in process and the celebrant had no right to leave the proceedings.

And now for Ss Michael's and  Martin's, Hounslow where the great Canon Musgrave held sway.

He had a legitimate way of coping with the early leavers when his curate, Fr Steer was the celebrant.

The Canon would hide himself away in the church porch and as the ELs made a dash for the exit after (logically enough) the 'Ite Missa est', he would pounce on them and drive them back in telling them in no uncertain words that "Mass has not ended, you know?"

Priests were not afraid to speak out then and behave as a true shepherd should behave.

And more.

In those days, those of us in the Catholic school system would be bombarded with information regarding becoming a priest.

The talks, by the PP or one of the nuns, would always end with the exhortation, "Pray to God boys, and ask Him to call you and tell you that He wants you for one of His priests".
Well, pray to God I did and it was a regular and fervent prayer but, I'm afraid that I asked God not to call me as the last thing I wanted to be was a priest.

Thankfully, the Almighty heard my prayer and I never received His call.

And finally, one small memory that illustrates perhaps the depth of reverence that was held then for the Eucharist.
When we returned home after Mass the first thing we did, following my father's lead, was to make the sign of the cross and drink a glass of water, to positively remove any fragments that may have been retained in the mouth.

Trivial? Overly pious? Maybe. But that is how we behaved then.

My, how we have drifted.

Hold that Tigar!

Fr Clement Tigar SJ was a great and holy man belonging to an order that, pre you-know-what, still had depth and integrity.

In the 1960s I lived just around the corner from Campion House in Osterley, a seminary for late vocations, where Fr Tigar ruled the roost.

He was an austere man (as, I believe, so many saints were) and, despite the fact that I doffed my school cap to him as we passed, he barely acknowledged me; maybe his mind was on higher things (undoubtedly).

He wrote many books, including my favourite, 'Papist Pie', a series of brief questions (supposedly framed by a non Catholic) matched with concise answers framed by the great man himself.

If you read the contents, one thing above all others stands out - the fact that Church teaching is black and white.
 Theology, within the framework of HMC is ultra precise, there's no room for ifs and buts.

And that is how it should be. Christ did not come to found imprecision and committee type debate, He came to found His own Church, infallible in every way in her teachings.

Here are a couple of extracts from 'Papist Pie' -

WORSHIP WITH NON-CATHOLICS

"Why are Catholics so intolerant? Why can't they join with their fellow Christians in acts of worship?"

Fr Tigar's response:

"Because it's against orders. Catholics belong to a Church which believes in discipline, and one of her rules is "no worship with Non-Catholics."
But, why does she give this order?
Because she is firmly convinced that she has a sacred trust from God to hand on to her children the truth revealed by Christ, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

A service necessarily involves some expression of belief in the truths about God and about Jesus Christ.
She would be false to her trust if she allowed her children to join in services not authorized by herself, because she could not be sure that in such services the whole truth and nothing but the truth was being imparted.

She casts no aspersions on Non-Catholics who worship God in their own way; on the contrary she has the deepest regard for their evident sincerity and goodness, but since she knows that she alone possesses the full truth of God's revelation, she cannot allow her children to worship at Non-Catholic services".

AN OPEN MIND

"Is it not best to keep an open mind on religious questions, instead of subscribing to this or that sect?"

Fr Tigar's response:

"No. An open mind is often a vacant mind. A mathematician who had an open mind on the possibility that twice two might or might not make four would have a vacant mind.

Religious questions are questions of truth and error, and there is an obligation on every man to find the truth".

What abuses existed before Vatican II?

I promised a friend that I would write on my experiences (as a callow youth) in the years preceding the Second Vatican Council.

One question that she posed was: "There must have been abuses because the changes were accepted so quickly and readily" (my paraphrasing of her comments).

Well, I am sure there were abuses but whatever they were they were not recognised as such.

By and large, the Church in Westminster Diocese (which was the only region within my knowledge at that age) was boringly the same as it had been for many years. For centuries, in fact.

Mass was in Latin, not a Novus Ordo in sight.

We had processions back then. Many processions especially in May and June

Parishioners knew little of divorce and even less about cohabiting before marriage.

Admittedly, there were a few illegitimate children (morality tends not to fluctuate too much over the centuries).

Homosexuality was barely visible, not just in Catholic circles but in society generally.

Priests were not known as anything other than models of spiritual probity (although one or two rather nasty occurrences took place in the late 60s, especially in Chertsey, Surrey, a diversion beyond the boundaries of Westminster).

And every parish had nuns
(who looked and acted like nuns)

There was a sort of rather fierce disciplinarianism about many of the older priests and that was not altogether welcome or a good thing.

Discipline is one thing, control is another.

But, above all else, we had obedience within the ranks of the laity.

A level of compliance that would not be recognisable today.

We lived and breathed fealty to our Parish Priest, our Bishop and the Holy Father and the rupture of that loyalty may, I believe, may be the key to why the Catholic Faith changed more or less overnight from being an assured place of redemption to an uncertain retreat of those who believed in the concept of revolution.

The loyalty ruptured because of the changes that were taking place in society.

"Change is good" became a sort of silent mantra.

I recall the laity being called to a conference in Liverpool, possibly in 1962 or 1963.

There they were invited to "speak out" and give form to the concerns that they had regarding the Catholic Church.

This was heady stuff. No one had ever asked the opinion of the laity before.

In fact, the laity had never had a voice as such before. Now, suddenly, the chance arose to "out" your Parish Priest for being stern and strict.

But remember, we were still in the post war era. All of society was on the move challenging the code of conduct that existed.

The sixties was a period when the boundaries of decency were being dismantled daily.

'Lady Chatterley's Lover' was featured in the high courts and won the case against charges of obscenity in favour of freedom of speech.

Homosexuality, a criminal offence in 1960, was declared legitimate in the Sexual Offences Act of 1967.

London Theatres began to feature plays and musicals where nudity and promiscuity took centre stage, literally. A move that would have subjected them to prosecution only a few years earlier.

And the Beatles, Rolling Stones and other rock groups suddenly made anti establishment views fashionable.

Change was in the air and it infected most people.

The Catholic laity was not immune, they found their collective voice and began to think liberally (aided, by some of the clergy).

Requiem Masses began to be "joyful" occasions where the life of the deceased was celebrated and all thought of praying for the immortal soul forgotten.

My own parents, staunch Anglo Irish Catholics fell hook, line and sinker for all that was taking place.

Why?  I cannot fathom a certain answer to that one.

They certainly did not subscribe to the popular calls for change and I can only put their ready acceptance of all that the Church threw at them down to blind obedience.

In the Reformation era, Catholics in England and Wales switched their allegiance from Christ and Rome to heresy and Canterbury within a remarkably short period of time.

And, in a similar time frame in the 1960s and 70s, Catholics moved from the doctrinal certainty of the Faith to a mishmash of liturgy and an uncertain concept of Christ's truth.

I recall attending Mass while on honeymoon in Dulverton in 1972 only to hear the 'Latin' Mass sung in English in a direct translation from the pre 1962 missal.

The singing was most definitely not plainchant but Gelineau psalm style.

Back home a few weeks later and the congregation at Mass began to vote with their feet and walk out after Holy Communion. Priests would stand in the porch in an attempt to stem the exodus.

Despite the fever of change, Mass in the vernacular did not appear to be meeting with approval.

I remember one Canon exhorting his flock by saying: "It's still the same Mass, you know".

But, of course, it wasn't the same Mass and many left the Faith. Laity, priests and nuns just got up and walked away, released by a breaking of the covenant of perceived and actual truth.

Were people unhappy with Latin? I don't think so. And, certainly the modern myth that Latin was unpopular because it was "gabbled" is just that, a myth.
Priests then spoke Latin fluently; it was their second tongue and, of course, it flowed and was more voluble as a result.

I believe that the only two factors influencing the faithful were the element of obedience and that of being caught up with the desire to 'change and modernise'.

Remember, this was the era of house renovation and DIY when people of impeccable taste would panel over Georgian doors with sheets of hardboard and hack off any architectural decorations of beauty that even hinted at being old or traditional.

Brass was replaced by plastic and good taste was cast to the wind.

All had to be hidden behind a façade of wood and plaster; all had to conform to modern tastes; all character and continuity with the past had to be eradicated.

And that really is a metaphor for the changes that swept through the Church.

Four candles?.................

....just one will do.

A priest friend related that, when taking the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, he is rarely, if ever, is met at the front door of the house by someone bearing a lit candle.

A sad insight into one of the more simple but vital elements that have been lost in the Church.

This seemed like a prompt from Heaven to make sure that a supply of blessed candles is always at hand.

One for receiving the Lord into your home and two for...well, you know....um, should the Last Rites be required.

And three just in case the three days of tribulation should occur when we least expect it (which is precisely when it will happen).

The fourth?

Well, one for luck providence.

While on the subject of candles I have to relate a story regarding one of my granddaughters, just two years old and going by the name Eva Florence (EF, of course).

At Mass recently, as the four acolytes processed down the aisle, little EF who is blessed with cast iron lungs, triumphantly bellowed: "I like this bit, swords of fire, I love swords of fire"

You know what EF?

So do I.

A snapshot in time - Catholic England in the 1950s

Those were the days.

 We were happy in the knowledge that we belonged to a Faith that claimed to be the one true Faith where there was no such thing as liturgical change.

Three siblings in this photograph and, left of the celebrant,
Francis Scholes, future Editor of the Toronto Star

"I can categorically state" said Fr Barry, dipping his hand into a bowl of olives. "That there will never be laymen or women on the sanctuary" (apart from male altar servers, that is).

And we believed him, certain that rubrics and doctrinal truths were just that.

Parish life in Hounslow and nearby Heston seemed pretty idyllic.

In our parish, out of a combined total of circa 1,000 souls, only one couple were divorced; our lives centred around the church.

 Saturdays were church cleaning days for the girls whilst the boys served at either the 8am or 10am Masses and then ran chores for the housekeeper, a dear soul by the name of Miss McInernie.

Sundays offered a choice of Masses 8am, 10.30am and 12 noon (where the Irish navvies would gather at the back of the church in their navy blue Sunday suits, leaving before the Last Gospel because the pub opposite was open).

And, in the afternoon, Sunday School followed by Rosary and Benediction.

Parish notices were read out before the homily and special attention was paid to donations in the collection plate.

Weekly totals of the offerings were announced and special votes of thanks given to the three donors of the ten shilling note (50 pence) and the two donors of the one pound note and the donor of the five pound note (gasps of breath at this stage).
The average weekly wage was less than five pounds so a donation of that size would be today's equivalent of more than five hundred pounds!
There were no ten pound notes then.

The total number of altar servers was in the region of 30 plus and, at Christmas and Easter, the full number would turn out so that, at the sermon, the smaller boys had to sit in serried ranks on the altar steps; what a picture that must have painted.

And, as today, the MC post and that of thurifer, went to the aged ones until a new curate arrived and began training up the eleven year olds.
After a few weeks noses were well and truly put out of joint by a precocious eleven year old MC-ing at the Sunday High Mass.

A great sight was to watch these young boy MCs directing large groups of servers at the inclination of the head or a discreet movement of the hand, far better than their older counterparts who appeared to be as subtle as  Rome policemen directing traffic.

Socially, we had all the usual groups Children of Mary, Legion of Mary, SVP, Knights of St Columba (and Squires), Cubs, Scouts and Guides and St Stephen's Guild.

Every couple of months there would be a parish dance where Catholic girls would meet Catholic boys, inevitably resulting in a Catholic wedding a year or two later.

Young boys began serving on the altar at the age of five and were expected, at the age of seven, to be able to give the Latin responses of the whole Mass without the aid of a missal or a prompt of any kind.

You stood beside Fr Steer in the Presbytery and solemnly worked your way through the Mass.
If successful you were allowed to serve in what we called the "Right" position at Mass. This was the senior position for Low Masses.

The server taking the "Left" position would have done so following a quick consultation process in the sacristy; all others knelt at the side altar steps.

Weddings were always popular amongst the altar boys as you stood a good chance of a small consideration in the form of half a crown (12.5 pennies) for your services.

Requiem Masses were less popular due to the fact that mortuary refrigeration must have been pretty basic then and the custom was to receive the coffin sometimes two days in advance of the Mass.
This meant that the church stank to high heaven by the time the Requiem was held.

It is quite hard to conjure up a list of what was bad about those times.
Liberals would have you believe that we were swamped in a wave of lacy cottas and clerical repression but I would just call it a disciplined way of practising one's Faith.

I can only think of one 'bad' practice and that was the overnight fast before receiving Holy Communion at Mass the next day.

Masses were always punctuated by one or two people fainting as a result and creating noise and disturbance in so doing.

When the three hour fast was brought in, all breathed a sigh of relief and the crashing of bodies in the pews came to a halt.

Change could happen and for the better.

Now can we lay a few ghosts from the past?

There are a couple of myths floating around out there that have no substance in truth and I would like to do my bit to put them to rest, permanently!

The first is one from my own side of the tennis court, that of believing that everything in the Faith was rosy up until Vatican II. Not so. It was, in my view, quite a bit better than the state of play today but there were abuses of several kinds in existence. Priestly authority could, at times be overpowering to the point of being obnoxious and domineering. There were, so we believe, sexual scandals, but these were largely hushed up (and that was not necessarily a bad thing; we need to keep a perspective on each case and, if a priest runs off with a female parishioner, it is not always appropriate to make public comment).
There was also a rather subservient attitude on behalf of the laity. One did not question a decision made by a priest, less still a Bishop. If you wanted to make public your faith and stand on a box at Speaker's Corner on a Sunday, you had to first complete a course in catechetics run by the CTS (or was it the CEG?). Without that imprimatur no one would even think of doing such a thing. But, by and large, there was nothing there that could not be fixed by a few ecclesiastical tweaks.

My second 'ghost' is from the left hand side of the court. The constant accusation that priests 'gabbled' the latin. My parish was in Hounslow, basically at one end of the main Heathrow Airport runway; as a result, we had a constant stream of itinerant priests staying for a few days before moving on. I lived less than 150 yeard from the church and so, as an altar server, I was on call for one or two masses each day, funerals, weddings, receiving coffins into the church the night before, bar mitzvhas well, no, not those actually but you get the picture. Never once did I experience a priest gabbling  latin at Mass. I must have served hundreds of Masses. My explanation for the belief ? The fact that non latin speakers get confused when they hear the language spoken fluently.
I have the same problem on holiday in France or Japan or wherever. They all speak so damn fast, they sound as if they are gabbling their language! After a week I begin to develop an 'ear' for what is being said and the process of being able to begin to separate the individual words starts to take place.
It is true that some priests celebrated Mass rather rapidly but I do recall a discussion with Fr Richard Sutherland (RIP) in the course of which he told me that there was a set time period for a Low Mass. I cannot now remember what that time period was but I believe it was between 20 and 30 minutes. That's OK for a Low Mass mid week with only a handful of communicants, it can be done reverently and without rushing the latin. It might run to 40 minutes if it was a Sunday. And it must be remembered that those were the days when priests had, seemingly, huge calls on their time. They made house visits, very often, not just once a year. Many priests did not drive and so travelled around their patch on a bicycle. They also made their presence felt in the parish school, often on a daily basis and, of course, there was Mass every day and rosary most evenings. They worked very hard at pastoral and spiritual matters in those days and I am sure many do the same today.

And, finally, this last thought which few seem to consider. Up until 1970 or so, we were all Traditional Catholics.
That's right, you heard me correctly, we were

                                        ALL TRADITIONAL CATHOLICS!

You know what? It wasn't all that bad, in fact, it was quite enjoyable!