A Case for the Latin Mass

You may have heard of the Holy Father’s efforts to limit the celebration of the Latin Mass, more properly referred to as the Extraordinary Form, the style of Holy Mass that was common and universal from the 1500’s to 1962. With the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, we saw the advent of what has since been called the Novus Ordo, the style of Liturgy that has been most commonly celebrated since then, the one with which we are most familiar.

“Style” is not really the best word to use. A better word would be “form.” The Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo are two forms of the same official celebration of the Church’s public celebration of the Eucharist. That’s why the Latin (or the “Traditional”) Mass is more officially referred to as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the ordinary now being the Novus Ordo (the New Order).

So why does the Latin Mass still exist? Shouldn’t it have disappeared altogether with the universal adoption of the Novus Ordo? Some wish that it had. Some believe the Extraordinary Form neither serves the unification of the Faithful nor makes a useful contribution to the evangelization of the world. Many of these people (though not all) have little affection for the language of Latin, object to the all-male sanctuary, and are generally put off by Gregorian Chant. Still others are opposed to the perpetuation of the traditional Liturgy because of their own painful memories associated with the “old days.” They all have their reasons.

Others, however, continue to find the old form very edifying. There are many Catholics who prefer it to the more modern form. These days, in fact, a good number of young adults, looking for something more than the empty promises of “wokeism,” find a life giving community of like-minded Catholics who appreciate the tradition of the Church and take comfort in cultural continuity.

While I myself prefer a reverently celebrated Novus Ordo to the Traditional Latin Mass (because the Novus Ordo is the Mass that I came of age seeing priests celebrate), here’s why I think the suppression of the Latin Mass is not a good thing. I think the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council make most sense when applied to the Tridentine Rite (the Latin Mass). If the reforms (which I believe are necessary) are to be interpreted and implemented according to the Fathers of the Council (as presented to us in the Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium), they should be seen in light of their own point of reference.

In other words, if we apply the liturgical reforms to the Novus Ordo, I think we will see more and more Protestant style celebrations, for example. Without a sense of our traditional continuity, we tend to move too far, too fast, from the center of the Faith, which is the celebration of the Eucharist. The two rites, therefore, in my opinion, need to continue to inform one another. Suppression of the one may turn the other into an aberration. The denial of the Novus Ordo by traditionalists, for example, would abandon the Latin Mass community to the past. But the suppression of the Latin Mass altogether, before the liturgical reforms of the Council mature, would leave us without the form of the Mass to which the Council Fathers intended the reforms to apply. +