From “The Catholic World Report,” by James Graves<\/p>\n
After Pope Paul VI introduced the Novus Ordo Mass in 1969, the older form of the Roman rite\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsometimes known as the Tridentine Mass, the Old Mass, the Traditional Latin Mass, and, more recently, the Extraordinary Form\u00e2\u20ac\u201dvirtually disappeared from many dioceses.\u00c2\u00a0 Its celebration was severely restricted, if not banned outright, and became a source of controversy.<\/p>\n
A yearning among some for the older form of the Mass, coupled with decisions by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, led to its wider use and to a de-stigmatizing of its celebration over the years.\u00c2\u00a0The most significant of these decisions was Pope Benedict\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum<\/em>, which declared that any priest may celebrate the older form of the Mass on his own without special permission from a bishop. Today, attendees of Extraordinary Form Masses are often younger Catholics, as the number of older Catholics who remained devoted to the pre-1969 Mass dwindles.<\/p>\n Catholic World Report<\/em> spoke to four priests who regularly celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, each of whom has spent most of his life attending, and most of his priesthood celebrating, the Novus Ordo.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Both forms can coexist\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong><\/p>\n Father Mark Mazza served for many years as pastor of Star of the Sea Church, near the Golden Gate Bridge in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and as chaplain for the Traditional Latin Mass Society of San Francisco. He recently began a six-month medical leave.<\/p>\n Ordained a priest in 1980, Father Mazza had celebrated the Novus Ordo for more than 30 years when San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone asked him to begin a regular Extraordinary Form Mass at the parish in 2012.\u00c2\u00a0He agreed, and spent several months learning its precise rubrics.<\/p>\n From an early age, Father Mazza lamented the end of the celebration of the older form of the Mass in many dioceses after the Second Vatican Council. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I always thought it was a great loss, even when I was a child,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had celebrated it for so many centuries, and it went into eclipse.\u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a beautiful part of our faith life that we never should have lost.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quickly become comfortable celebrating the Extraordinary Form, and plans to continue celebrating it privately while on medical leave.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really like it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It has a mystical, contemplative, and mysterious quality, with its use of Latin, the gestures, the position of the altar, and the prayers, which are more ornate than we have today.\u00c2\u00a0 I find myself saying the traditional Mass more often than the Ordinary Form.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Father Mazza noted that according to Pope Benedict, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Old Mass\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is not a separate rite, but part of a single rite with two forms, the Ordinary and the Extraordinary.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I believe it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be either-or, but that both forms can coexist together,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n The Extraordinary Form Mass at Star of the Sea draws as many as 200 attendees on weekends, of all ethnic groups.\u00c2\u00a0The high cost of living in San Francisco has been a drawback, Father Mazza noted, as few young families can afford city life.\u00c2\u00a0 He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a lot of churches in the city but we need people to fill them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n The reaction of Father Mazza\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fellow clergy in the city to his promotion of the Extraordinary Form has been mixed.\u00c2\u00a0Many are supportive, he says, but others oppose it as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153contrary to the Second Vatican Council.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to see it banned,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0he says. Archbishop Cordileone has been a big supporter, he noted, and will come to the parish on September 14 to celebrate a Pontifical High Mass.<\/p>\n Two priests of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri now staff the parish and have pledged to continue offering Mass in the Extraordinary Form.<\/p>\n Father Mazza is grateful for the opportunity to learn and regularly celebrate the older form of the Mass, which he finds \u00e2\u20ac\u0153refreshing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I never get tired of it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I look forward to going to the altar and celebrating it every day. In fact, saying Mass is the highlight of my day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n More baptisms than funerals <\/strong><\/p>\n Father Paul Beach is pastor of St. Martin of Tours Church in Louisville, Kentucky.\u00c2\u00a0 The parish was founded in 1853, and served a German immigrant community.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a beautiful, historic church in a tough downtown neighborhood that has experienced a bit of a revival in recent years.\u00c2\u00a0 The parish was first permitted to revive the celebration of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Old Mass\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in 1988.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, it is one of three parishes in the archdiocese that regularly offers the Extraordinary Form Mass.<\/p>\n Father Beach, age 38, is quick to point out that he celebrates the older form of the Mass by choice, not out of a sense of nostalgia.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was born 10 years after the end of the Second Vatican Council, and several years after the liturgical changes were implemented,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My only memory is of the Ordinary Form, beginning in the late 1970s into the 80s.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n He was born in Louisville, and attended a Xaverian Brothers high school.\u00c2\u00a0The all-boys school required students to take a foreign language; choices typically were Spanish, German, and French.\u00c2\u00a0Latin was offered, but out of a class of 350 students, only Father Beach and six other boys chose Latin.\u00c2\u00a0No one on the staff taught Latin, so 83-year-old Brother John Joseph, who was living in a Xaverian Brothers retirement community, agreed to teach the class.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was an influential experience for all of us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Father Beach recalls.<\/p>\n Brother John Joseph used texts from the Old Mass in his instruction.\u00c2\u00a0Father Beach unwittingly learned the prayers of the Old Mass before even realizing where the prayers were from.<\/p>\n In 1988, the pastor at St. Martin of Tours, Father Vernon Robertson, joined with parishioners to ask Louisville Archbishop Thomas Kelly to allow the return of the Tridentine Mass to the parish.\u00c2\u00a0The archbishop agreed. Brother John Joseph took the future Father Beach and his teenage classmates to the St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tridentine Mass.\u00c2\u00a0Father Beach recalled, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was a lifelong Catholic, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never experienced the Mass in that way.\u00c2\u00a0I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine such a Mass existed.\u00c2\u00a0I was enthralled by it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n He founded himself attracted by the peaceful, meditative atmosphere of the older form of the Mass.\u00c2\u00a0He liked its \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God-centeredness,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that it was ad orientem<\/em> (with the priest facing East, in the same direction as the people).\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The prayers are oriented to God, with the priest speaking on behalf of the people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explained.<\/p>\n For Father Beach, celebrating Mass ad orientem<\/em> was the single biggest difference between the two forms. He says celebrating ad orientem<\/em> resulted in a diminished focus on the priest.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I celebrate the Mass, it has less to do with me, the priest, and is more about God,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The cross is the image we see, which gives it a sacrificial feel as we approach the hill of Calvary.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Father Beach asked his parents to take him to St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s regularly, and he began serving at the Tridentine Mass.\u00c2\u00a0At age 17, he entered the seminary, and he was ordained at age 25 in 2001.\u00c2\u00a0During his time in seminary, he noted, he had to deemphasize his interest in the Latin Mass, as demonstrating too strong of an attachment to it could have become an impediment to ordination.<\/p>\n A rotation of older priests celebrated the St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tridentine Mass, but over time only one such priest remained.\u00c2\u00a0Father Beach asked Archbishop Kelly in 2005 if he could celebrate the St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mass.\u00c2\u00a0The archbishop agreed, eventually Father Beach was made pastor at St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n He had to learn to celebrate the older form of the Mass on his own, he noted, as before Summorum Pontificum<\/em> there were no training workshops, such as can be found today.\u00c2\u00a0Having served at the Old Mass as a teenager and being familiar with Latin helped him, he noted.<\/p>\n Today, the majority of the Masses Father Beach celebrates are in the Ordinary Form, and he celebrates the Extraordinary Form on weekends.\u00c2\u00a0About 250 attend the St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Extraordinary Form Mass regularly, and most of these are his age or younger.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People are surprised that we attract so many young people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They mistakenly think people are coming to the Extraordinary Form for nostalgic reasons.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n He does far more baptisms and weddings than funerals at the parish, he noted, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153with lots of screaming babies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n St. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s is one of the archdiocese\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most beautiful parishes.\u00c2\u00a0 Interior features include a magnificent marble center altar, colorful stained glass windows, traditional statuary, and relics of St. Magnus and St. Bonosa.\u00c2\u00a0The church is open 24 hours a day, with security guards on duty.\u00c2\u00a0 There are seven hospitals located within the parish boundaries, Father Beach said, so someone can be found praying in the church at all hours of the day.<\/p>\n Archbishop Joseph Kurtz has led the Louisville archdiocese since 2007.\u00c2\u00a0One of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s higher-profile bishops, he is also president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Although Archbishop Kurtz does not celebrate the Extraordinary Form Mass himself, he has been a good friend to the parish, Father Beach said.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s visited multiple times, and has been supportive of his priests who wish to learn the Extraordinary Form.<\/p>\n Father Beach believes some of the tension that once surrounded the celebration of the Old Mass has eased.\u00c2\u00a0 Among his brother priests in the archdiocese, in fact, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s observed an interest by priests his age and younger in celebrating it.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Catholics who wanted Mass in the Extraordinary Form were once looked at askance; they were viewed as being schismatic or not accepting the Vatican II teachings,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But there has been a normalization of the Extraordinary Form, a recognition that is a part of the richness of our Church tradition.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n A sacrifice, not just a memorial<\/strong><\/p>\n Father Peter Carota is associate pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Phoenix, Arizona.\u00c2\u00a0He celebrates both forms of the Mass at the poor, mostly Hispanic parish.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tridentine Mass has changed me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I like its reverence, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s helped me see the Mass as a sacrifice, not just a memorial.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Father Carota grew up near Santa Cruz, in northern California.\u00c2\u00a0 He is one of 19 children, 13 of whom were adopted.\u00c2\u00a0 The family attended the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremely progressive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Resurrection Parish in Aptos, California, and much of his Catholicism had a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153social justice focus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have wild liturgies,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he remembers.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see women up at the altar, breaking the consecrated Host.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Father Carota says he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very liberal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in his youth, including being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pro-choice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on the issue of abortion.\u00c2\u00a0He wanted to be a priest when he was a boy, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but the world sucked me away.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He became a successful real estate broker, but maintained an active interest in the Catholic Church.\u00c2\u00a0For nine years he operated the St. Francis Catholic Kitchen, which fed the homeless.<\/p>\n He read extensively, and eventually \u00e2\u20ac\u0153converted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to traditional Catholicism.\u00c2\u00a0Ultimately, he decided to sell the properties he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d acquired and enter seminary for the Diocese of Stockton, California.<\/p>\n When he became pastor of St. Patrick Church in Ripon, a small rural parish in the Stockton diocese, Father Carota would spend his day off studying books on liturgy, Vatican II, and related topics he says he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had never known anything about.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He began celebrating the Tridentine Mass at St. Patrick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n With the support of his bishop, Father Carota came to Phoenix in 2013 to assist a priest-friend, Father Alonso Saenz, pastor of St. Catherine Parish.\u00c2\u00a0 Father Saenz wanted a priest willing to celebrate Mass ad orientam<\/em>, and Father Carota wanted to regularly celebrate the Extraordinary Form Mass and offer the sacraments in the older liturgical form.<\/p>\n Father Carota hopes to found a new community named for Pope Pius V, which would foster \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the beauty of the Latin Mass, the beauty of the sacraments the way they were previously celebrated, and the beautiful art that is part of our Catholic tradition.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ninety percent of Catholics today have had no experience of the Church before Vatican II,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explained.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about its traditional art, architecture, or liturgy.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to start an order to spread our wonderful tradition throughout the world.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n