Mass Hysteria - Pope to reintroduce Old Mass

[richlevy]

From here.
(BTW, is it just me or is this a bad picture of the pope? Does he look a little creepy in it, like the vampire king from some B-movie?)

Apparently, the Pope has decided to reintroduce the 'old mass', which is pre-Vatican II (1960's), on a voluntary basis for those Catholics who want to do it 'old school'. This has upset some people who find some concepts of the original mass disturbing.

It's not just members of the Roman Catholic community who are criticizing the move. The Anti-Defamation League called the move a "body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations." The League is concerned about a prayer from the Good Friday Tridentine (Latin) Mass for the conversion of Jews.
The old prayer goes like this:

For the conversion of Jews. Let us pray also for the Jews that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you do not refuse your mercy even to the Jews; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness.

The New Mass for Good Friday has the following prayer:

Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption.

So this should make these people happy.

Conclusion

At the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the two men posing as Catholic popes, John XXIII and Paul VI, lead the whole body of Cardinals and Bishops out of the Catholic Church and into their new Protestant Vatican II sect. The priests and faithful, for the most part, followed them into that great apostasy to their extreme danger of eternal damnation. May all true Catholics ever remain separated from this new monster, and may they ever remain united with Christ in His one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

It seems that Pope Benedict is taking a page from GWB's play book and appealing to the base.

Personally, I believe many religions, when they stay or move back towards fundamentalism, will acquire or reacquire doctrines or even just elements of doctrine that the larger public will find objectionable. Judaism is not exempt from this, and in orthodox congregations you can find recitation of the original morning prayers thanking G-d for not making the individual a

The first of these blessings thanks God for giving the rooster the ability to distinguish between day and night, and thereby being able to wake us up in the morning. The next three blessings in Ashkenazic liturgy are somewhat different from the rest of them: they thank God for not making one a gentile, a slave or a woman. A woman who is praying replaces the third blessing with one that thanks God "for having made me according to his will." One explanation of the meaning of these blessings is that a gentile is exempt from all of God's commandments except the seven Noahide laws, a slave is also exempt from a significant number of commandments, and a woman does not have to keep all positive, time-bound commandments. Therefore, one is thanking God for the obligation to keep the greatest number of commandments. The blessing that the woman says was created after the Geonic period. Some explain that this alludes to women's gifts of the God-like qualities of mercy and compassion. These blessings are put later in the series in Sephardic liturgy.

Later, part of the blessing was updated to be positive instead of negative.

The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Menahot 43b, mentions that Rabbi Meir commented on three blessings that should be said daily, one of them being "sheasani Israel" (who has made me an Israelite). The introduction to Birkhot Hashahar (morning blessings) in the Siddur (prayerbook), Ani Tefilati, published by the Masorti Movement and the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, explains that even though in many siddurim negative language was used ("shelo asani goy", who has not made me a Gentile), the positive language suggested by Rabbi Meir is still used today in the Italian communities and was used in some medieval Ashkenazi prayerbooks (siddurim). The Gaon of Vilna also decided in favor of the positive language in this blessing.
So you could actually say that the "positive assertion" verse is the original blessing, which from the beginning emphasized the positive nature of the Jewish people as bearers of our very rich heritage, while avoiding the negative connotations implied by not being a goy.
The Conservative movement maintains a pluralistic approach to halakhah (Jewish Law). Therefore, it is legitimate to have congregants blessing "shelo asani goy" as well. This recitation is often this is due to the fact that fellow congregants have grown accustomed to this phrase from other siddurim (most siddurim have the negative form), but have no bad intentions when they recite those words. You could suggest a discussion on this issue in your congregation, so that other congregants are made aware of the more "positive" option.

All religions have these issues. One of the blessings G-d gave us is the ability to change, on both an individual and group level. I do find it ironic that the Pope wants to take a step backward, but it might be that he has given up on the benefits of reform and wants to step back into the security of a more fundamentalist approach.

So you have Orthodox Jews thanking G-d for not making them Gentiles and Orthodox Catholics praying to G-d to lead Jews to Christ. Interesting times ahead.

Of course, there are prophecies that state that Pope Benedict may be the last or next to last pope.

[Griff]

Well thought out Rich.

The Pope seems to be following the church on this one. In the US and Europe nobody is going into the preisthood. Some folks attribute it to Vatican II taking the magic and respect for priests out of the Mass. The only growth in the Church is among hard-liners mostly in Africa but some in the States as well. I wonder about the impact in South America where the Church is pretty liberal.

As of next week, my parish priest will be assigned two more churches. That gives him a total of 5 churches and church rules limit him to 3 weekend Masses. He was already a busy man as far as sick calls and funerals go. As individual Catholics, we have to decide what our commitment is. If I increase my profile in the Church as presently constructed, I'll find myself spending much more time with the conservatives than I want. We have been shedding moderate folks for years. I don't know how the dynamic can be changed.

[Rexmons]

man, the German-Jewish Public Relations comitee sure has their work cut out for them

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Griff

I don't know how the dynamic can be changed.

Sure you do. You just can't make it happen by yourself. If priests were allowed to marry, the priest shortage would immediately disappear, and the congregation would revive its moderate population at the same time. This was being seriously discussed in the Catholic community around the time of the molestation scandals, but it seems to have dropped off the radar again.

[Shawnee123]

Domma dis. Domma dat.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Griff

Well thought out Rich.
If I increase my profile in the Church as presently constructed, I'll find myself spending much more time with the conservatives than I want. We have been shedding moderate folks for years. I don't know how the dynamic can be changed.

Seems like a good time for me to mention once again that Catholicism is *great* training to become a Pagan Goddess worshipper...

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Sure you do. You just can't make it happen by yourself. If priests were allowed to marry, the priest shortage would immediately disappear, and the congregation would revive its moderate population at the same time. This was being seriously discussed in the Catholic community around the time of the molestation scandals, but it seems to have dropped off the radar again.

You're prolly right.

Originally Posted by Elspode

Seems like a good time for me to mention once again that Catholicism is *great* training to become a Pagan Goddess worshipper...

That's not my bag baby.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Apparently, the Pope has decided to reintroduce the 'old mass', which is pre-Vatican II (1960's), on a voluntary basis for those Catholics who want to do it 'old school'. This has upset some people who find some concepts of the original mass disturbing. ~big snip

So the moderates are pissed he gave into the conservatives and they are pissed he didn't force it on the moderates. No win for the Pope.

[Cloud]

who knows why the Pope does things? I certainly agree that abolishing the celibate clergy would bring whole new life into Catholicism. While this Pope is turning back the clock, he should turn it a bit farther before priests were forbidden to marry.

I think the latin mass is really a nostalgia thing, and I like that he gave the parish priests leave to perform the latin mess, if a majority of his parish requests.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Sure it's a "nostalgia thing", but it is also likely to make young people roll their eyes and walk away. That's the last thing the Catholic Church needs now.

[Perry Winkle]

I'm confused. I always thought Catholics (and Christians in general) were just a messianic Jewish cult.

[SteveDallas]

Well to throw in my non-Catholic opinion...

To a certain extent it's about tradition. It's about doing things the Old Way(tm). After all, things were better in the old days, right? Right. So if we change back it will be better.

To a certain extent it's about exclusivity. It's about having a "club" that understands what's going on, and can feel superior to those who don't. (I personally don't see any value whatsoever in a religious service that people don't understand.. though I actually do know the ordinary parts of the mass in Latin, from my music history courses.) (You get the same arguments in opera, from a certain type who thinks it's somehow demeaning to sing a work in a different language than the original.)

To a certain extent it's about eternity. It's about proving that you're not changing, not even over the course of thousands of years.

To a certain extent it's about universality. People all over the world would use the same words. (And, these days, have perhaps the same understanding of them.)

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

It's about doing things the Old Way(tm).

Old School, man, Olde School.