Why, oh why, give time and attention to the loons of the Huffington Post? One piece, sent by a reader who slogs through this rubbish so I don’t have to, merits a few minutes because it is emblematic of the dominant liberal navel-gazing when they write about matters concerning the Catholic Church in the MSM.
I present for your consideration Michelle Somerville, who twitted out some 2000 words. I won’t inflict them all on you.
“The Truth Behind the Godawful New (Old) Roman Catholic Missal”. [Okay… she’s gonna give us the straight poop now.]
On the first Sunday in Advent, a new English translation of the Roman Catholic was implemented (by mandate) [how else?] in Catholic churches throughout United States. These changes of the are small, dramatic [small… yet dramatic… like Danny Devito, perhaps?] and disruptive — especially for the priests celebrating the masses.
Why have these changes been written into the mass?
The Vatican claims that a translation more faithful to the original Latin is needed. Is this the real reason for this disruption? I don’t think so. [Ahhh! Tell us, Michelle! What’s the real reason?]
The nostalgia for the more Latin-faithful mass is an outgrowth of a desire for the church that used the Latin mass. This is nostalgia for the church in which less preaching took place, the priest presided with his back toward the congregation, only the hands of the priest touched the Eucharist, and wherein women — who were prohibited from setting foot on the altar — were required to cover their heads. [So! That’s the reason!]
The Second Vatican Council did not merely change the mass from Latin to vernacular in 1963; it rendered the Latin mass (depending upon whom one asks) improper or forbidden entirely. Between 1962 and 1988 Latin masses were often celebrated under the radar — somewhat in the “upper room” manner and spirit, ironically enough, of Dignity’s masses and those said by woman priests.
I happen to find the the Latin mass beautiful, and at first I seemed to object less to the new changes than most Catholics I know. I attend Spanish language mass in from time to time. In that liturgy, we already use phrasing similar to that the New Old Missal introduces. The Vatican is not nearly so interested, however, in the accuracy of the translation of the mass as it is in dragging today’s vernacular mass back in time. They want the 1962 mass with all the trimmings. This new translation business is a tasty treat for the lockstep sheep and papist throwbacks.
[…]
She burbles on for a long time, but that just about sums up her penetrating analysis of the real reason for the new translation.
Thanks, HuffPo! We’ve got it now!
UPDATE:
Check the combox, below, for news about a new “Lockstep Sheep and Papist Throwbacks” coffee mug
