An Important Question: Is the New Mass a New Religion?

Fr. Albert Kallio is a Dominican, ordained in 1994 by Bishop Bernard Fellay. In this video he addresses a number of questions about the Mass before and after the changes by Annibale Bugnini. He explains in an easily understood way the impact of all the changes to the Mass put in place in the name of Vatican II. Many of those changes flew in the face of the wishes of the Council Fathers. Sadly, few of the Fathers objected when the destruction of the Mass went into effect. Here's how Fr. Kallio summarizes the disastrous impact:

The final result of all these changes is that people don't even know [the Mass] is a sacrifice....That already in itself shows that the new Mass does not express the essence of Catholic Mass which is to be a sacrifice.

He specifically mentions a number of things including the reduction of genuflections and signs of the cross throughout the liturgy. Everything worked toward the de-sacralization of the  liturgy.

As a companion to this video I highly recommend Peter Kwasniewski's review of historian Yves Chiron's biography of Bugnini, What Bugnini Was Thinking When He Destroyed the Catholic Mass. It ties in well to the video by explaining the nature of the man behind the curtain. Was he an evil Machiavellian manipulator or a pathetic little clerical bureaucrat illustrating the banality of evil? I'm thinking of getting the book, but then I look around at the stacks of books ordered and not yet read and laugh. Maybe not.

Thinking about all this, I can't help lamenting all the idealistic young priests formed in the Novus Ordo who have no idea of the history and riches of the traditional Latin Mass. How could something so effective at making saints be discarded as too complicated for modern man. What an insult to both God and modern man! 

Is the new Mass a new religion? Or is it Catholicism lite? Or does it incline participants to Protestantism? 

The NO nurtured my faith for decades so I'm loathe to be too hard on anyone who loves it. Nevertheless, returning to the Mass of my youth was an extraordinary blessing, one that seems to make my life an active living of the beautiful Song of Songs in the Bible:

9My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.

10Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.

11For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.

12The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:

13The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:

Come and experience the beauty, reverence, and glory of the Traditional Latin Mass. Bask in the Son-shine. Have you ever attended one? If you come to our chapel, you may find it strange at first, but the air itself is filled with the wonder of God and His love for us. The entire Mass focuses on offering ourselves with Christ as a sacrifice of love for our own salvation and the salvation of others. It is obviously worship of God rather than a celebration of the community. 

Celebrating community also has value, but it is not the primary focus of the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Yes, we pray for one another, but we face God with our worship prayers and sacrifices of atonement, not each other! And we bow before Him recognizing that it is His action that saves us, not our own or the community's.  

Come visit and worship God, then celebrate with us at coffee and doughnuts. We love visitors and welcome them with joy. And if you ever get to Woodstock, my husband and I like to think of Camp Kreitzer as a little lay monastery in the country with the welcome mat always out. Hospitality is our default position. Come break bread with us. We'll eat scones made with eggs from our chicks and spread them with honey from our bees. And we'll try not to bore you with all our beekeeping stories about visiting bears and challenging seasons.

May God bless and keep us all and lead us to the heavenly Jerusalem! Pray for priests. This is the time most ordinations take place. We need holy priests, many holy priests. Let us help them with our prayers and sacrifices, especially offering for them the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

May Jesus Christ be praised!