News Briefs

U.S. Catholic Liturgists Angry At Approval Of Old Mass Rite

Washington (RNS)—Papal approval for use, under limited circumstances, of a previously outlawed pre-Vatican II Mass ritual drew angry reactions from top U.S. Catholic liturgists.

The Rev. Gerard Austin, liturgist and chairman of the theology department at Catholic University of America, said the effect of the concession "will be to undermine the changes in the liturgy. They (the Vatican) may say this is not true. But many people will say this shows that the changes were not good.

"It's not a question of Latin. It's a question of using the revised liturgy of the Church which was done after years of study and consideration. And now they've gone back to point zero on this.

"I see it as a terrible move," said Father Austin. "This will bring more confusion than enrichment. It will confuse people by giving the impression that liturgical reforms can be discarded. The reform rite of 1969 is better, liturgically, than the Latin rite."

Father Austin said he believes the new ruling is a direct concession to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who has rejected the thrust of Vatican II reforms in all phases. Vatican experts, however, have rejected that line of thinking. They have said that Archbishop Lefebvre's case is very complex and involves far more than the pre-Vatican II Tridentine Mass.

His other assumption was that "there must be pockets of pressure for this in Europe. This is certainly not something that is being pushed by reasonable people in the United States."

One leading Catholic liturgist, who insisted on anonymity, said, "I nearly threw up" when he read about the changes. It is his understanding "that there has been a great deal of pressure put on the Pope by Cardinal Oddi, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Archbishop Gagnon, a Canadian who is president of the Pontifical Council of the Family, and other very right-wing cardinals who have been pressuring the Pope to allow the Tridentine Mass.

"In fact," said the source, "the Congregation for Divine Worship has been opposed to it, even though it issued the announcement. There has been a lot of pressure on the Pope to do it, and they've done it. I'm not sure if they're aware of the ripple effect this is going to have."

The Reverend Frederick McManus, who was a consultant to three Vatican commissions which developed the new liturgy around the time of Vatican II, was less pessimistic than other liturgical experts. "However, I do fear," he said, "that this may be a signal for change in other reforms—such as in ecumenism, church structures, theological developments involving Bible study, religious freedom, the role of national bishops' conferences, lay participation. There are people who are steadfastly against all this." But he doesn't think this announcement will satisfy the Lefebvre crowd!

Four Declared Blessed in Rome Ceremony

VATICAN CITY (RNS)—A shoemaker's son, a convent cook, the chaplain of the house of Savoy, and the mother of seven children were declared blessed in a beatification ceremony at the Vatican.

The first was Federuci Albert, a priest from Northern Italy who left a promising military career to dedicate his life to the Church. He was nominated chaplain of the house of Savoy by King Carl Albert in the mid-nineteenth century.

The second declared blessed by the Pope was another priest from the Piedmont region (most of the thousands of visitors in St. Peter's Square were from Piedmont). The son of a shoemaker, Clemente Marchisio was a priest who suffer persecution for his work. After 43 years of pastoral activities greatly hampered by threats and intolerance, Father Marchisio's institute, the Daughters of St. Joseph, thrived. There were 600 members at the time of his death in 1903.

Rafaela Ybarra de Vilallonga, born in 1843, mother of seven and wife of a wealthy industrialist, led a vigorous career in charity work in the area surrounding Bilbao, Northern Spain. Dedicating her life almost entirely to helping women in need in hospitals and prisons, she was most well known for founding the Institute of the Custodian Angels, a home for needy children.

The final declaration was read in Flemish. Isidore de Loo was a gentle peasant admired for his humility. He worked as a cook for the Passionists from 1908 until his premature death at age 35. The Belgian suffered from cancer and had one eye removed. When he died in 1916, he said he was offering his death to God for peace.

Continence Releases Tension, Pope Says

VATICAN CITY (RNS)—Contrary to popular belief, sexual continence is a means of freeing oneself from tension, Pope John Paul II said in the latest of weekly reflections on birth control, October 31st.

"It has been said that continence provokes unnecessary tension within a person, from which one would wish to be free," the Pope said. "But, in reality continence is the only way of freeing oneself from such inner tensions. For it is that spiritual effort which aims at expressing the language of the body in all its truth and with a warm manifestation of affection."

John Paul declared that "not only is continence possible and morally correct, it also corresponds to the personal dignity of the couple as parents and to the truth of the conjugal act. The practice of virtue requires, at times, the self-discipline of abstinence. It also involves the capacity of directing sexual emotions toward the manifestation of affection without the full expression of conjugal union."

In this way, the Pope said, "couples are able to follow the teaching of Humanae Vitae in full conformity to their dignity as persons, and as a true expression of their love as husband and wife."

French Catholics Will Resume "Meatless Fridays"

NEW YORK (RNS)—French Roman Catholics will resume observance of a form of abstinence on Fridays by giving up alcohol, tobacco or meat as a sign of penitence, it was reported from Paris.

Church officials in the French capital said an assembly of bishops in the shrine city of Lourdes had decided to reinstate "meatless Fridays," a practice that was largely discontinued after the Second Vatican Council.

The French bishops, who concluded their yearly assembly on October 29th, said practicing Catholics should attempt to observe a total fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Catholic Bishops Begin To Shift Tactics On Abortion Issue

WASHINGTON (RNS)—In a potentially significant shift in tactics, key leaders of the American Catholic hierarchy have begun to publicly modify their appeals on abortion, calling for legal "restrictions" or "modifications" rather than an absolute ban on the practice.

In recent weeks, important distinctions between the Church's "moral principles" on abortion, and the way those principles should be applied to law, have become increasingly part of the pronouncements of individual bishops.

Ironically, it was Archbishop John J. O'Connor, a hard-line opponent of abortion, who set the process in motion by creating a storm over his criticism of public officials who oppose laws against abortion. Even more surprising to many in the Church, the New York Archbishop is now among the prelates signaling a willingness to work, at this point, for something less than an absolute ban on abortion.

The new tactics are evident, too, in the thinking of the bishops' pro-life office. "We're willing to take our chances on compromise legislation," said Richard Doerflinger, of the Office of Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. "We can't wait around for the perfect consensus on the perfect law while abortion continues at a rate of 1.5 million a year." However, Mr. Doerflinger said the Church hierarchy remains solidly opposed to the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, of Chicago, who is considered one of the most influential leaders of the nation's 51 million Catholics, said he endorses the recent "suggestions" of both Archbishop O'Connor and the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame University, that "we initiate a national dialogue on steps to restrict the present policy of abortion on demand."

Anticipating resistance from Catholic right-to-life activists, Cardinal Bernardin insisted that this modified approach would not "change Catholic teaching on the morality of abortion." Rather, he said, it would "recognize the different roles played by moral law and civil law in a pluralistic society."