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Every week or so IgnatiusInsight.com will ask a question
or two of Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., founder of Ignatius Press and Chancellor
of Ave Maria
University in Naples, Florida since 2002. If you have a question about
the Catholic Church, Ignatius Press, or current events you would like
to ask Fr. Fessio, please send it to IgnatiusInsight.com
editor Carl Olson and he will consider asking Fr. Fessio to respond
to it.
The question for the week of August 1, 2004, is:
Can you tell me why the Latin Tridentine Mass
is not celebrated at Ave Maria College. I attended the Novus Order Latin
Mass at Ave
Maria University at Naples Florida this past February and was extremely
disappointed in the Novus Order Mass. It is a pale comparison to the beauty
and meaning of the historical Tridentine Mass. I am surprised that Father
Fessio does not seek permission for a weekly Tridentine Mass.
Fr. Fessio: Thank you for your question regarding the celebration
of the Indult Mass at Ave Maria University.
Right now we have a student body of 300 - although we believe it is going to be growing rapidly.
There are two Masses per day and I celebrate the Mass in Latin twice during weekdays and a
sung High Mass on Sunday mornings. It is not the Indult Mass for which we need special permission
from the Bishop; this is the Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in Latin, with Gregorian Chant,
facing East, and using the Roman Canon. In fact, I have called this the "Mass of Vatican II" because
I believe it corresponds very closely to what the Council anticipated in liturgical reform.
The Lord has been blessing us immensely in the number of students who have already responded to
the vision of Ave Maria University. Therefore we believe we will be expanding rapidly in years
to come. Perhaps when we have more students and priests, at our new permanent campus - and provided
of course that the Bishop will give permission--we may add the Indult Mass, the so called "Tridentine"
Latin Mass.
In the meantime, I would like the students to experience the new Mass with the Ordinary (unchanging parts)
in Latin and celebrated with as few as possible changes from the previous pre-Conciliar Mass. It is
very, very close to the Tridentine Mass, especially when the Roman Canon is used. I even think that
had this Mass been available - as it was intended to be available Đ many of those who have sought the
restoration of the Tridentine Mass would have not been so dissatisfied with the liturgical reform which
the Council had intended.
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G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was one of the finest Christian authors and apologists
of the past two hundred years. Raised as an agnostic, he embraced Christianity as a young man, ultimately entering the Catholic Church
in 1922. He wrote hundreds of essays, as well as novels, short stories, poetry, apologetics, literary
criticism, and nearly everything else imaginable. Dale Ahlquist, president and co-founder of the American
Chesterton Society and author of
G.K Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, writes, "Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism,
history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked
by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless
today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper." Read more
about the life and work of this remarkable thinker, author, and apologist.
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Nothing To Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church
by Russell Shaw
Shaw, the former communications director for the U.S. Bishops, discusses the abuse of secrecy in the Church, the scandals it has caused and the serious
problem of mistrust that exists in the credibility of the Church. He is not concerned with the legitimate secrecy that is necessary to protect confidentiality and people's reputations, but
with the stifling, deadening misuse of secrecy that has done immense harm to communion and community in the Church in America. Shaw raises such questions as: What kind of Church do we want our Church to be, open or closed? What kind of Church should it be? And how much secrecy is compatible with having
such a Church? As Pope Benedict XVI has stated, "The consequence is clear: we cannot communicate with the Lord if we do not communicate with one another." The Church is a communion, not a political
democracy, and thus openness and accountability are even more crucial for the life of the Church than they are in a democracy. In a talk he gave many years before he became the current Pope,
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had this to say about the reality of ecclesial communion: "Fellowship in the Body of Christ and receiving the Body of Christ means fellowship with one another. This
of its very nature includes mutual acceptance, giving and receiving on both sides, and readiness to share one's goods ... In this sense, the social question is given quite a central place
in the theological heart of the concept of communion." This is a beautiful vision of the Church. Shaw's aim in his book is to make a contribution to realizing this vision in the concrete circumstances
of the present day, by helping to end the culture of secrecy, especially within American Catholicism, and replacing the destructive culture with an open, accountable community of faith.
Read more about Nothing to Hide.
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