THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUMMORUM PONTICUM AND RESPOSNES TO SOME QUESTIONS REGARDING CERTAIN ASPECTS OF DOCTRINE ON THE CHURCH

If all that was being said was a widening of spiritual opportunities by Rome in the reinstitution of the Tridentine Mass as promulgated in Summorum Pontificum (Of the Supreme Pontiffs) in the Apostolic Letter of Pope Bendict XVI issued motu proprio (by his own hand), I would agree with its reinstitution100%. However, that is not the case. Pope John Paul II set up the commission to "study" the matter and I cannot believe doing so was not part of a much broader agenda to move the Roman Catholic Church away from Vatican Council II and back toward the teaching of Vatican Council I the Council of Trent.

This is self-evident when the theological reason for the priest to face the altar with his back to the congregation in the Tridentine Mass is that he is leading the people in prayer and through the sacrament. In fact, in the Tridentine Mass all of the “action” is the priest "doing" or "saying" Mass and the congregation simply says "Amen" in the appropriate places. The congregation is not an active participant in the "action" of the Mass and at its conclusion the laity comes forward to receive what the priest's "magic fingers" and incantations have produced. This creates what Martin Buber called the "I-Thou" relationship which is a relationship of separation between superiors and subordinates.

The intent of the reforms of Vatican Council II in general and in particularly in liturgy was a dramatic change in this relationship. Vatican Council II redefined the "I-Thou" relationship to one of equals predicated on Paul's teaching that all are equal in Christ. Thus, in Vatican Council II we move from the Vatican Council I understanding of priest and congregation, separate and unequal, to a worshiping community where all share equally in celebration of the liturgy.

This is a momentous change for three reasons. The first change is that the priest is no longer simply "doing" or "saying" Mass. The second change is that the Mass is now a celebration and not a sacrifice. The third change is the most radical in that now the entire community, both the lay people of God and the priest, celebrate the liturgy together as equal partners with each partner having a specified role to play. In the Vatican Council II liturgy we have moved from a hierarchical to a participatory model of liturgy.

These changes, especially the change from a hierarchal model to a participatory one, is something that greatly upset conservatives both within the ranks of the clergy and hierarchy as well as within the laity and they never accepted it.

If you do not think this is the case; that is, the intent of John Paul II and now Benedict XVI is to move the Church backward toward Vatican Council I and the Council of Trent, do you believe it is just a coincidence that the Mass statement and the letter, “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church” published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that "clarifies" Subsists were published within a week of each other? Do you think it is by accident that the letter on Subsists found in #8 Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) confirms #3 in Unitatis Redintegrtion (Decree on Ecumenism) that states: "For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained." Do you think that it is by accident that the letter on Subsists states that only the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches are truly Churches, although they do not have the fullness of the heredity of the Chair of Peter, and that no post-Reformation worshiping community can be rightly called a "Church" because they do not have valid apostolic succession and therefore their sacraments cannot be considered valid or "catholic?"

Although not stated in the letter on Subsits, the reason that justifies the statement "This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church" appears just above this statement.

The reason is: "The one mediator, Christ, established and ever sustains here on earth his holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as a visible organization through which he communicates truth and grace to all men. But, the society structured with hierarchal organs and the mystical body of Christ, the visible society and the spiritual community, the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches, are not to be thought of as two realities. On the contrary, they form one complete reality which comes together from a human and a divine element. For this reason the Church is compared, not without significance, to the mystery of the incarnate Word.

Read that statement again and you will understand what it is saying. It is saying that within the Roman Catholic Church – and only within the Roman Catholic Church - are to be found both the visible and invisible manifestation of Christ. It this basic element that constitutes and defines "Church" that per the Roman Catholic Church is lacking either in part or completely in all post-Reformation worshiping communities outside of the Roman Catholic Church due to their lack of apostolic succession and/or their separation from the Chair of Peter.

There is a distinction between honest critique and bashing and to some degree we all draw our own line between them. While it is worthy to always try to see the positive in the other, it is also necessary to clearly see and understand the negative as well.

For those of us who are Catholic in our personal beliefs and theology and who were once a part of it, we know the Roman Catholic Church does not make any decision or pronouncement in isolation. There is no such thing as mutual exclusiveness in the Roman Catholic Church. Every decision and pronouncement is part of a larger agenda designed to fulfill both a political and theological goal. Regardless of the spin given to the public, it is beyond question that since the Pontificate of John Paul II that larger agenda has been to roll back and denuded both the spirit of Vatican II and the praxis that flowed from it. Rather than embrace the fullness of Vatican II, conservatives led by John Paul II and now Benedict XVI cherry pick specific statements within a larger pericope and convolutedly invest them with ultimate and divine authority.

The letters regarding Subsitsts and return to the Tridentine Mass are just the latest manifestations of this agenda and follow a long line of rebuking, condemning, and silencing Catholic theologians deemed by the hierarchy to be too liberal or who espoused Liberation Theology. That this position by the hierarchy is an oxymoron given the fact that Jesus’ gospel message is one of liberation is ignored in the name of institutional conservatism and control e.g., putting the liberal horse back into the conservative barn.

Do not be deceived. There are two Roman Catholic Churches and the hierarchy on each side has been fighting for control of the Church since Vatican Council II. The first side is comprised of those who embrace the liberating nature of Vatican council II that is faithful to the Gospel of Jesus and demands systemic reform of the Church in all areas. The second side is comprised of those who wish to return to a Vatican Council I and the Council of Trent Tredentine Church. Since the Pontificate of John Paul II it is this side that has been winning and their agenda is to obliterate any manifestation of Vatican Council II that contradicts their vision of Church.

As the old radio shows used to say, "Stay tuned, there is more yet to come."