Anita over at V for Victory! gave me this excellent post idea. What are the seven things that we as Catholics want or would like to see happen? Below is my list:
I. I'd like to see the return of the Traditional Papal High Mass, along with the Papal Tiara, the Sedia Gestatoria, the Noble and Palatine Guards, the Papal States etc. (I know, I know!) Naturally, since Rome is the sun of Christendom, the liturgical example would emanate to every corner of the Latin Rite (or one would hope that it would). Along with this I would like to see the return of the traditional liturgical books (proper to each Minister of the Mass), the restoration of the Minor Orders, Canon Law to be made the ''sacred Canons'' again (rather than its present ''codification''), the return of the traditional Curia (Inquisitions etc!), and Low Mass to be declared irregular except in cases of grave necessity (I don't much like Low Mass you see).
II. The return of the Traditional Latin Liturgy (not just the Mass) to every parish church in the West.
III. The end of the Culture of Death, as seen in the obscene promotion and procurement of Abortion, Contraception, Euthanasia, Fornication etc. Laws to safeguard the sanctity of the traditional Catholic family would be nice too.
IV. The vast improvement of education; well-grounded in the Classical languages and literature (special attention ought to be lavished upon these), actual English literature (I did virtually none when I was at school, being stuck with this hideous green anthology filled with mediocre ''poetry'' and appalling prose), the Roman Catechism and a proper introduction to the Catholic Church and its vast and regal history, the Sciences (taught separately), Art and Art History (again, like English Literature, actual Art - with emphasis on the High Renaissance and the Baroque periods), Calligraphy (an extension of Art), Music, History (nothing 20th century), Geography, the Modern languages (the teaching of which would start in Primary School) and many other things beside. The return of corporal punishment would be good too...
V. My very own Hobbit-hole (with adjacent Mathom-house and a private chapel - it would have to look like the Sainte-Chapelle!), complete with a round green door with a brass knob, a nice garden and plenty of pantries - in short, Bag End with a vast library!
VI. Church of England churches (at least our ancestral churches) to be returned to the Catholic Church and restored to what they were of old, Rood-Screens the lot! Also, conversion of the English Royal Family and Nobility to Catholicism, and a return to a pre-Magna Carta style of government (oh to have been alive in the 12th century!) Kingship is, afterall, ''the best form of government,'' (St Thomas Aquinas, De Regimine Principum, chapter VI). The restoration of Christendom and the old Pentarchy would be nice too., with the conversion of the Orthodox...
VII. J.R.R Tolkien to be declared Servant of God...
I know I may have ''cheated'' by including lots of things under one heading, but I think this sort of thing is fun. I tag Fr Finigan, Mac, Fr John Boyle and Leutgeb to do the same...
Thursday 27 August 2009
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OK, you need to link to the people you tag, so that your readers know who you're tagging...
ReplyDelete(Oh, and you have two number sixes... )
Thanks Mac, slight oversights on my part, all fixed now!
ReplyDeleteHeheheheheheh...
ReplyDelete...and why were you not at Benediction this evening? Your presence was missed...
Ahhh, I forgot! I hope it wasn't like last week though...
ReplyDeleteOk, it took a while, but I've done it.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget full cannonical regularization of the SSPX
ReplyDeleteI would only object to your untraditional objection to Low Mass - if it was good enough for ever so many saints, it ought be good enough for you. Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good!
ReplyDelete(I certainly would like a Missa cantata at least, every day; but I recognize that Low Mass is Catholic, holy, and rightful in many circumstances when it would be difficult to have the full sung celebration offered.)
Yes indeed Just another mad Catholic, that would be something - it would certainly add greater numbers to the Traditionalist cause within the Church.
ReplyDeleteJoshua, my aversion to Low Mass comes from my thoughts on the ''usefulness'' of daily Mass, the, I think, unnecessary curtailment of ceremonies for ''practical'' reasons, and a general preferrence for the Eastern practice - Mass, except in Cathedral churches or Monasteries, is the focus of the week - and every luxury is lavished upon it. I just see the evolution of Low Mass as an unfortunate consequence of the Scholastic methods and I can't say I wholeheartedly agree with it. It became, in my opinion, the pedestal for soap-box liturgists advocating reform. No wonder reform was desired! Parishioners at a Low Mass, no matter what you think about a more perfect ''interior'' participation (which is, I concede, more perfect and suitable than ''doing'' things literally) are in fact mute spectators...
That is not to say that Low Mass is ''bad'' or falls short of anything. It is Mass. I also think that Low Masses are particularly suited to early mornings on weekdays - something that pious worker in the city, or a schoolboy (like Tolkien) would serve before the day starts. But I do object to Low Masses becoming commonplace, and erroding at High Mass. High Mass should ALWAYS be the norm, especially on Sundays.
As regards what some Monasteries get up to, all the monks at side Altars with a single server, I think that practice is very very odd indeed, and detracts from the ''communal'' nature of a Monastery, as well as, more broadly, from the character of the Communion of Saints and of the Universal Church.