Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I'm With Fr. John Trigilio, Jr.! Well said! #Catholic

In light of the comments from my last post, I found this online regarding Fr. Trigilio's response to a book written that criticized EWTN. (The original article, written by Matt C. Abbott for the site Renew America, was removed from Matt's archive.)

While I love and appreciate the Tridentine Mass and hope it is celebrated more often and in more places, I also fully accept the validity and liceity of the Novus Ordo Mass of Paul VI. I think it can be improved, but I also have been celebrating it throughout the 18 years of my priesthood. When done well, reverently and with full solemnity, it can be very beautiful and edifying.

I find the Masses televised on EWTN to be what the Novus Ordo should be, and the Masses celebrated at the Eucharistic Shrine in Hanceville even more so. Whether 'ad orientem' or 'versus populum,' Latin or English or both, solemn high with sung choir or simple quiet Mass with no music or chant, in all instances, when the proper rubrics are obeyed and the priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with reverence, love and conviction of his beliefs, the Novus Ordo is as grand as the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

While the Tridentine Mass is gorgeous when done properly, there have been those who celebrated it mechanically, hurriedly, sloppily and without much devotion. Yet, no one cites the very few exceptions as reasons to abandon the Tridentine Mass, nor should they. Likewise, bad celebrations of the Novus Ordo do not negate the proper, reverent celebrations done elsewhere by other priests.

Amen, Fr. Trigilio. You said it much better than me.

2 comments:

X said...

EVERY time I see another person extol the virtues of the TLM and put down the "ugly stepsister NO" I am going to post this quote! Thank you, Mary Rose!

Tom Ryan said...

here's a better rebuttal that doesn't gloss over some troubling facts:

http://www.catholicintl.com/catholicissues/ewtn.pdf