Reaction To Traditionis Custodes

One thing I've come to like about Pope Francis is how easy it is to find photos of him with a wide range of facial expressions. Whatever else someone may say, he doesn't lack affect. I have a sense, in the absence of equivalent photos, that Leo XIII or Pius XI might have been like this, too. Francis is a good Italian.

There was a general anticipation that something like Traditionis Custodes was in the works, and I've already said that I don't have a dog in the fight over the Latin mass. But scanning reactions yesterday, I was struck by their intellectual weakness -- even beyond that, their un-Catholic nature. The most bizarre was from Fr Hunwicke, who cited an Anglican authority against the pope:

From a private letter to me from Prebendary Michael Moreton (7 November 2001);

"I regard the Roman canon as part of the complex of traditions which characterised the life of the Church as it emerged from the centuries of persecution: a shared rule of faith in the creeds, a shared rule of what constituted Scripture, a shared rule of holy order, and a shared rule of prayer. I do not believe that any part of the Church in later centuries has any authority to alter these canons."

Prebendary Moreton (1917-2014) was an Anglican, never a Roman Catholic. To cite him in an argument from authority is delusional. This is yet another illustration of Hunwicke's apparent view that he didn't need to convert to Catholicism; as an Anglican, he was plenty Catholic enough, and the rest of us should be, too. And I've got to say that, although Anglicanorum coetibus so far doesn't seem to have been affected by Traditionis Custodes, maybe it should be. I don't think it's a stretch to ask if Fr Hunwicke is actually Catholic. Again, if Msgr Newton wants to keep the ordinariates out of the crosshairs, he needs to shut Hunwicke down.

Here's another strange take, in the Register:

Raised with the ordinary form of the Mass, [Sarah] Copeland [a mother of seven from Phoenix,] went to her first Mass in the extraordinary form as a college student and said, “I was blown away by the beauty of the prayers. I just felt like this was the Mass that really exemplified and gave glory to God in the most beautiful sense.”

. . . By contrast, she said she experiences the ordinary form as more rigid because she feels forced to pray at specified times, leaving her less free to contemplate the mystery of the death of Christ.

I interpret this, as far as anyone can, to say she doesn't understand the Latin, so she just hears some droning, which with the candles and altar and stuff lets her mind wander, and she contemplates mysteries at whim. If the mass were in English, she'd be forced to pay attention. This is, unfortunately, the intent of the Vatican II constitutions, that the laity should actively participate in the liturgy. If she wantts to contemplate mysteries, she should find out if the parish has an adoration chapel. Although unintentional, it's hard to imagine a better argument for Traditionis Custodes.

Fr Z is over the top, which is hardly unexpected:

That leads me to my first reaction to the Motu Proprio, Traditionis custodes, which effectively insults the entire pontificate of Benedict XVI and the pastoral provisions of John Paul II and all the people they have affected.

Speaking of nukes, while this is quite awful, it is also good in that the line has been drawn. For all the cant about “unity” – which apparently is something to be forced not fostered – the divisions are now clearer.

I think it's fortuitous that, at Bp Barron's recommendation, I recently read Lumen Gentium. Fr Z makes remarks that I think are questionable in its light:

Holy Mass, particularly according to the pre-Conciliar form, has been called “the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven”. That cannot be contradicted.

However, let us remember that we are on this side of Heaven, and not the other.

Confer Lumen Gentium:

8. Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element.

In the Church, we are not "this side" of heaven, it's more complex than that. I think it's significant that in his letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes, Francis refers repeatedly to Lumen Gentium, and again, as someone who's read it within the past few weeks, I think he's reading it correctly. One big problem with pre-Conciliarism, which is the school Francis is correcting here, is that it rejects documents like Lumen Gentium.

This means there's really no basis for dialogue, and given reactions like the ones I've linked here, I don't think Francis had much choice than to act as he did.