Never Let the Liturgical Orcs Win
- 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.
I’m sure there is some Popesplainer out there who would take this story and use it to “prove” that Tolkien was rigid and “disobedient” to the Church.
The only thing I’m not clear is whether this was post-1969 or in that nebulous 4-5 year free for all period after the close of the council but before the promulgation of the novus Ordo Missae.
and now the people talk in church and act like cattle. The parishioners do not remain silent even when specifically asked by their pastor.
So, according to Gregory DiPippo @ New Liturgical Review (“ An Admission
Against Interest: “We Still Do Not Know How to Celebrate the Liturgy.” 8/29/26), in addition to promoting his September Song, “Season for the Care of Creation” (Sep. 1-Oct. 4), Pope Bob from Chicago a few days ago completed his 8th discourse on Vatican II’s “Sacrosanctum Concilium.” (If you didn’t notice the prior 7 talks either since last January, right.)
Pope Bob tried in these talks to buttress the official stance of a “linear” liturgical development of the P. Paul VI New Order of the Mass. Dom Alcuin Reid, OSB, one of the few sane voices, notes this lecture was likely a reading of the typical theological sausage churned out by the Divine Worship dicastery.
Gregory DiPippo puts it best (Pope Bob’s text followed by DiPippo’s parenthetical ellipses):
“I make bold to note this statement from the pope’s discourse which follows the one cited above: “A correct understanding of (the reform) also enables us to reject the abuses that occurred in certain sectors of the Church (a polite circumlocution for ‘everywhere’) during the post-Conciliar period, and which, unfortunately, still occur from time to time (a polite circumlocution for ‘constantly’) today, where some of the principles underlying the reform itself have been taken to extremes or misunderstood.” (end quote)
The situation of the post-V2 New Mass and its adverse effects on Catholic attendance and spiritual life is catastrophically serious. “Home aloners,” have proliferated: Catholics who can’t stomach the highly verbose, musically assaulting, often politically aggressive “modern” liturgy. Gallup in 2024 reports that now only 1 in 4 Catholics attend Sunday Mass. Detroit archdiocese has witnessed a 40% drop since 2011 and plans to close up to 40 or more parishes.
But Pope Bob and his liturgical penguins are going out to tell us the wonders of the New Mass yet again.