An Unsettling Put-Down of the Novus Ordo
Latin Mass Network received the following letter regarding my recent article on girl altar servers. My reply follows the letter.
I am a young Catholic man and I find it very unsettling the way this blog pokes fun at the Novus Ordo Mass. I do understand that some very disobedient hierarchy members of the Church have caused serious harm, but what about those that follow the teachings of Mother Church? I recently read your blog on Altar Servers and I disagree; it isn't the fact that girls have been admitted to the sanctuary, it's that the priests have not trained their servers proper etiquette. I have written several unpublished works on the OF and the EF and the only difference I have seen is the forms. I believe if we become more focused on the forms than we do on the Most Holy Eucharist, I think we have lost the true meaning of the Catholic Mass. I have also been to several EF Masses so I am writing in an unbiased form. Please be more respectful to the OF of the Roman Rite.
Thank you for writing Latin Mass Network and expressing your concerns. We think your letter deserves publication, and so we took the liberty of posting it. We hope it fosters a charitable discussion of the issues.
I appreciate that you didn't appreciate my attempt at humor in the article on girl altar servers. This issue has been the subject of a longstanding debate, especially among those who defend the Novus Ordo. For example, The Wanderer newspaper vigorously opposed this abuse for decades up until Pope John Paul II permitted girl servers. Their arguments were not merely based on the illicit nature of the practice, but more so from its overturning of Tradition and its effect of discouraging boys who might have a vocation. Many good Catholics have decried the feminization of the liturgy. But, as you correctly point out, this is not inherent in the Novus Ordo.
You're also correct in saying that the Holy Sacrifice is greater than the form employed. All of the Apostolic rites are magnificent and draw down from Heaven all the graces that the good God wishes to give us. But it is also Catholic teaching that "though indeed Mass is of infinite value, you must know, nevertheless, that Almighty God accepts it in a manner limited and finite, and in degrees conformable to the greater or less perfection in the dispositions of him who celebrates or who assists at the sacrifice." (see The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass) Hence, when we can choose between an Apostolic rite offered reverently and a Novus Ordo offered with the all-too-common irreverence, we must choose the former to gain the most graces.
The question, though, is whether there is anything lacking in a reverently offered Novus Ordo Mass. There is reason to suspect so, based on the letter of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci to Pope Paul VI (click here): "[The New Order of the Mass] represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session 22 of the Council of Trent." This "striking departure" is a red flag that keeps me and my family far from the Novus Ordo.
May God bless you, and thanks again for writing.
