April 4, 2008

Extraordinary Form

Ever since the appearance of Summorum Pontificum I've wondered if I ought to learn what's now called the "extraordinary form" of the Roman Rite Mass. My Latin is probably good enough, and I'm sure I could manage the singing with some practice.

I haven't bothered with it yet. It seems like the spirit of the letter would be not to worry about it until some "stable community" of the faithful requested it in some place where I was serving. I guess I kind of imagined that if this ever happened, I would have those who wanted it donate the few hundred dollars I guess I would need for a 1962 altar missal and a maniple. I bet I could find everything else I would need in a half decent novus ordo sacristy.

But maybe this is something I should learn on my own, just to keep up, so to speak, with the times.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While my regular parish uses the Ordinary Form exclusively, I do attend an Extraordinary Form of the Mass about once a month.

I would encourage you to increase your exposure to this liturgical form. It seems clear that the Holy Father desires that the faithful more deeply engage the rich tradition of the Roman Rite so that we come to see and know in our hearts that the changes associated with Vatican II are not novelties, but are an organic development of Tradition. Clearly the Holy Father wants us to appreciate that both forms express an identical faith, and the best way to come to know this is to have famliarity with and active participation in both forms.