Which makes the war against the traditional Mass even more absurd.
Need to Know
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Remember once having an argument with a young priest. Good priest as he was and I hope is, he kept insisting that the Catholic Church is Roman Catholic. I argued “no, the Universal Church has many Rites… the Church is Catholic – Universal.” One of the many times I found myself as a layman correcting something that should be basic knowledge. It’s I think a kind of ecclesiastical tribalism (my tribe!) and while I do blame the seminary for this lack of teaching, I was more than a bit flabbergasted that he himself hadn’t realized/studied this on his own.
If it is detrimental, the TLM should be banned.
But it is the Mass prayed by so many officially canonized saints, how can it be detrimental? 🤔
The Eastern Catholic Churches are not “Latin.”
But they are all Roman, because they are in union with the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Saint Peter.
From a rather dark point of view, the war on the traditional Mass makes perfect sense. The Latin rite has long had the most adherents by far. If you make it “more casual” by and large, you inherently reduce the “aggravating ceremony” in the overall Church.
I tire of the term Roman. Roman Catholic is not used outside of the Anglosphere. The Eastern Churches are most definitely not Roman. Call them that and prepare for a fight.
The efforts to ban the TLM are orchestrated by petty selfish churchmen who hate the people who attend the TLM
The appellation of “Roman” is used in Dei Filius (Chapter 1) from Vatican I seemingly as a note of the universal Church: “The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church” (Sancta Catholica Apostolica Romana Ecclesia). There would thus, it would seem, be a distinction here between “Roman” as a “rite” and “Roman” as a note of the universal Church. I believe some bishops from England at Vatican I. wanted to omit “Roman” due to potential misunderstandings with the Anglican Branch theory, but they were apparently overwhelmingly shot down.
I think lepanto makes a good distinction; the Eastern churches are not “Latin,” but they are “Roman” since they are in union with St. Peter.
[…] Carmelites – 1 Peter 5The Scandal of Wealthy Christians – Kaleb Hammond at Missio DeiThe 21 Rites of the Catholic Church – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American CatholicThe Real Reason Why Judas’ Treachery […]
While the document referred to by Jason says “Roman”, the term “Roman Catholic” is not used outside of the English speaking countries.
Knowing several Eastern Catholics myself and living in an area with a relative abundance of Eastern Catholics, they do not refer to themselves as Roman in any sense. They are part of the Universal Church.