From the NPM Convention in Washington, DC
In the circles I typically frequent, NPM is seen as something of a lost cause. I’ll admit that as recently as a few years ago, I thought so, too.
“Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the extraordinary form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?” —The Vatican’s chief liturgist from 2014-2021; interview with Edw. Pentin (23-Sep-2019)
In the circles I typically frequent, NPM is seen as something of a lost cause. I’ll admit that as recently as a few years ago, I thought so, too.
“Where it can be done away with without too much difficulty on the part of the faithful, it should be abrogated.” — Pope Pius XI on “orchestral Masses” (private letter)
I will be releasing hundreds of these B/W religious line art drawings for free and instant download. These beautiful Catholic “woodcuts” were done with magnificent skill. “Download Free Traditional Catholic Clipart”
The second half of an article about the most important book you’ve never seen.
(Winooski, Vermont) — “An 87-year-old choirmaster who has not missed a Sunday Mass for more than 64 years will receive an honor from His Holiness Pope Pius XII.”
Who should start the “Glory to God” at Mass? Who should intone the Gloria? Ordinary Form.
Photograph of “Father Schmitt” of Boys Town taken during the 1950s.
One of the most powerful spiritual experiences I ever had was the Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the 2012 Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City. Many of the liturgies at the Colloquia have shaken me to the core; I have been overwhelmed with an unspeakable sense of awe, mystery, and joy.
Gone forever? “A portable Latin missal which contains everything said or read at Mass.”
“In the reforms as they were introduced after the Council, a fundamental misunderstanding took place. Namely, this was that the reforms were undertaken with the idea there had been a rupture …” —Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke
The fundamental precondition for active participation is interior silence. Praying in silence is a particularly noble form of human activity—more active than merely speaking or singing.
“The altar versus populum is not a new idea brought in by the reforms of Paul VI. The Mass could always be celebrated with the priest facing the people, as indeed it was in Rome and in many other places for centuries. True, it was not the usual way, but it did exist.” — Monsignor Richard J. Schuler
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