SPIRIT DAILY
CHICAGO
CARDINAL ENDORSES WIDER USE OF TRADITIONAL MASS
Versailles,
oct. 14 (CWNEWS.COM) Cardinal of Chicago
has given his clear support for the use of the Tridentine-rite
liturgy. In a preface written for a collection produced by the international
Committee for Liturgical Studies (CIEL), Cardinal George has referred to the
Missal of St Pie V as “a precious source of liturgical understanding for all
other rites,” and said that the pre-concilliar
liturgy should be “better accepted”. The work by CIEL, a Versailles-based
organisation faithful to the traditional liturgy, was published in France.
Several months after Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos celebrated a Tridentine
Mass at the Roman basilica of St Mary Major, cardinal George said that the church
has reached “a moment of considerable importance” for the future of the
traditional liturgy and thus for CIEL. He pointed out that Pope John Paul II
has repeatedly mentioned the beauty and depth of the traditional Mass.
A broader use of the old liturgy, the Chicago
archbishop continued, should be more than a “nostalgic revival”. The authorized
use of the Tridentine rite, he explained, should be
encouraged because the old liturgy “belonged to the entire church” as part of
the patrimony of the faith.
The American prelate made reference in his preface to a forthcoming Vatican document on liturgical
norms, which is expected to appear sometime late this year or early in 2004. (A
draft version of the document, which sets out clear norms for the proper celebration
of the Eucharistic liturgy, was rejected by the Roma Curia, apparently because
it was judged too strict; a corrected draft is expected soon.) Cardinal George
said that the new norms should help to foster greater devotion to the
Eucharist. He expressed the hope that “we are at the dawn of a truly fruitful
renewal for the liturgy of the Catholic Church.”
In his preface, Cardinal George indicates his support for those
Catholics who are attached to the traditional liturgy. He also appeals to the
Catholics who have become separated from the Holy See since the Lefebvriste schism of 1988. Relations between the different
branches of the traditionalist movement are generally more cordial in the U S
than in Europe, where tensions are more pronounced. Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, the
former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship liturgy. On November 22,
the Chilean prelate will celebrate Mass using the Missal of St Pie V in St Cecilla’s parish in Rome, as part of a
commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the motu propriu Tra le Sollecitudini, a work by St Pie X devoted to sacred
music.