I see now that, in the recent post here in which I suggested that I'd go to great lengths to avoid an Extraordinary Form Mass, I didn't enumerate the reasons clearly enough. Because there is also this.
To quote Mark Shea on the same topic:
It brings the faith into disrepute, it causes honest and good people to stumble when they might enter in, it harms innocents . . . and, worst of all, it even tempts new Catholics who think they are embracing “hard truths” but are, in fact, embracing ancient evil to become twice the sons of hell that the Trad anti-semite is. It is pure filth and every Catholic, but most especially every lover of the EF, should smash it flat. People have died by the millions because of this crap.
The rite may be beautiful. But its contemporary association with abject hatred, and with those who attempt to justify it -- and even seem to delight in it -- is enough to make every person of good will shudder.
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I'm getting tired of reading the same angry rants over and over again at those blogs. I think everything intelligent, thoughtful and charitable and everything irrational, unjust, and hateful has been said by both sides, so I don't expect to add anything terribly original. But I like Pentimento's blog and she tries to be fair, so I would like to attempt to explain why the people who both love the Traditional Mass and are not anti-semitic think the discussion is unfair. I want to say right off the bat that I am not denying that there is definite truth to the charge that in "traditional" circles there is often a huge lack of charity and sometimes what people classify as anti-semitism and sometimes what no one can deny is anti-semitism. I think there is a spectrum of anti-semitism or Holocaust denial which is ignorant or misguided and some, which like any other sin, comes from a lack of charity, hatred, pride, evil--everything that causes us to separate ourselves from God and serve ourselves instead of Him and others. Only God really knows the nuances of our hearts. That being said, what seems unfair to people who consider themselves "traditional" is that these blogs are not discussing or attacking anti-semitism per se, they are attacking all "traditionalists" by virtue of association. By the same rational, you would have to stop attending N.O. Masses where there are many pro-abortion advocates in the pews. (Although I grant you, they are still probably way nicer than your average trad!) Of course, many defend abortion simply out of ignorance or nobly motivated by compassion for poor or otherwise-burdened women. There will be others of harder hearts who may know better, but may be too rebellious or selfish to admit the truth. Only God knows the circumstances of their hearts, but to quote Mark Shea, "People have died by the millions because of this crap." Anyway, the bottom line is that hating people, any people, for any reason, is a sin. Mark Shea and others behave as if there is an exception for several brands of trads. A day or two before the whole anti-semitic blow-out, Mark Shea put up on his blog an exchange he had in a combox with a traditionalist. He called it "A Fairly Typical Encounter with a Member of the Urine and Vinegar Wing." It was childish and unclassy and there was really no discernible difference in rhetorical hatred between the two. I asked him where his Christian love and empathy for the "socially unskilled dogmatists writing from their mom’s basements" was. And I asked why, if he thought these people were such damaged misfits, anything they said bothered him. He deleted my comment 3 or 4 times. (For the sake of full disclosure, that wasn't the entire comment. I'm guessing he didn't like the childish and unclassy accusation.) Anyway, as my husband always says, we go to the Latin Mass for the Mass, not for the fellowship. You are there to worship God.
Thanks for your comment, J.C. The difference, for me at least, between avoiding an EF Mass because of the tendencies among some parishioners towards anti-Semitic hatred and paranoia, and avoiding an OF Mass because of the tendencies among some parishioners not to be pro-life, is the pride that these Trads (some known to me personally) take in their hatred. The pro-choice Catholics are stupid and illogical when it comes to that position, and they can be shrill, but they are not in it for the hatred.
As far as going to the Latin Mass to worship God, yes. And you or I or anyone can worship Him just as well at an OF Mass. To me, the Mass is the Mass; ex opere operato. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, too, the time is coming when we will worship God "neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem . . . and salvation is from the Jews."
Pentimento,
I can't deny that I have seen what you are talking about in traditional circles--delight or pride in hatred. But I still contend that the same ugliness can be found in a minority of N.O. Catholics who support abortion or contraception or same-sex marriage. Not the majority, of course, the majority, even those who should know better, are often still much less vicious. But I think the same applies to traditionalists: those who delight in hatred are still a minority. I think the difference, the disturbing delight or pride you identify, comes from the misguided traditionalist's belief that what he espouses he espouses for the good, on behalf of the Faith, for God, to rebuke the sinner, out of concern for another's soul, etc., and this twisted belief is what makes the misguided traditionalist's sin of hatred all the more ironic and hard to stomach. But the reaction of a Catholic with a rightly-disposed heart should be not be to hurl back the same vile, self-righteous hatred. It gets to be this endless cycle of "your sin is worse than my sin," "you are more self-righteous than I am," ad nauseum... The folks out a Patheos seem to have it out for traditionalists in a way that defeats the purported tenet of their argument.
You make good points, J.C. I know we've had our differences but I always appreciate your comments and your excellent writing.
Thank you, Pentimento, that's awfully kind of you. I appreciate your allowing me to participate in this discussion here on your blog in a way I could not(would not) elsewhere.
The traditional Latin Mass will come back into widespread use because it is beautiful and connected in prayer and mystery to the Church's history. Its pace in coming back will be closely tied to the holiness and humility of its living saints.
I attended a liturgy workshop last summer that was led by a wonderful priest in the priestly fraternity of Saint Peter. If the Church produces a few hundred more with his talent and humility, then you will see many traditional Latin Masses within a generation.
I didn't become a Catholic, however, to fight liturgical wars. I sought the sacraments because they are the Real Presence of Jesus, even when consecrated by the weakest priest in unpoetic translation. The Mass is the Mass.
As for anti-Semitism, God says in Deuteronomy: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse." We Catholics need to leave the Jews alone and let God reveal Himself to His chosen as He always has. Our track record is too poor to let us presume the Jews will want to follow us. St. Benedicta (Edith Stein), ora pro nobis. TQ
Well said, TQ. And God forbid that we should forget that we are the adopted ones, grafted on. A lot of traditionalists adhere to "replacement theology," which shows a real misunderstanding of God, who, unlike us, never breaks His promises.
Wow, that link was a real eye-opener. Seriously, if that's the kind of the thing people have to put up with in American trad communities, it's no wonder you steer clear. (And why would anyone waste time attacking Dawn Eden, for crying out loud?) I'd hate to be tainted with guilt by association, though. It all sounds very foreign to me...I'm trying to think of a way to ask if it could have something to do with American trads in particular, rather than trads in general, without sounding nasty about America, but it's difficult in a combox... just imagine me asking the question with a cautious and ready-to-listen voice, rather than an aggressive one!
I'm not sure, Roadkill. It seems to me that American traditionalism is strongly driven by nostalgia for a past -- not just a liturgical past, but also a social and cultural past -- that did not really exist in the ways that they seem to think it did. It is backward-looking, not forward-looking. I don't know how that compares with Traditionalism in England or the Antipodes or non-English-speaking lands.
That makes sense. We've had visiting priests express surprise at our lack of birettas and abundance of Solemn High Masses, and we get the impression that they want to recreate the liturgical decades that we find embarrassing. We have to explain that we're trying to create something timeless, rather than trying to recreate a tiny slice of history in which Roman vestments and birettas were the done thing. The same probably holds true of social and cultural agenda. Not that we don't have our share of issues, though! It's such a pity! As if crazy-talk or spitefulness weren't bad enough in themselves, they also takes away other people's freedom to worship where they'd like to. If people don't like the Old Mass, that's fine. If they like it, but they're driven away from it by other people, then an injustice has been done to them. It's like a toddler pinching other children who try to share the gifts that were meant to be for all of them.
Perhaps US Trads have something in common with role-playing groups who try to recreate the past. You do tend to find more people than usual with a questionable grasp on reality in both populations.
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