The Importance of the Mass

(Please note: CatholicSchool.org.uk is not responsible for the content of sites linked to from this or any other of its pages.)

Last updated: 2/3/08

The importance of Catholic charity for the re-civilisation of our country lies not in its efficacy as a principle of mere human action, but rather in our complete dependence on the power of Divine grace. As a result, it is vital that we manifest our devotion to God in the ways He requires – especially by regularly attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The year 1969 saw the introduction of a new order of Mass (Novus Ordo) in the Western Church, and it is this order with which most young British Catholics will be familiar (if they still go to church).

Many dedicated and devout Catholics are sincere apologists for the Novus Ordo. CatholicSchool.org.uk, however, understands that the Catholicism of the protean New Order is often very much in the eye of the well-educated beholder, on a parish-by-parish basis¹. Recognising that young Catholics will of necessity lack the sophisticated judgment required to distinguish the orthodox from the unorthodox, we strongly recommend that, where possible, readers attend Mass celebrated according to the standardised traditional order. Known popularly as the “Tridentine Mass”, it offers the firm reassurance of a 1,500-year history².

A listing of Tridentine Masses available in England and Wales is provided by the Latin Mass Society. For Scotland, see the Una Voce Scotland Web site. (It should be noted that by “Latin Mass” is meant the traditional, Tridentine order, and not a New Order Mass said or sung in Latin.)

Full participation at the Tridentine Mass will be greatly facilitated by obtaining a copy of a pre-1960s Daily Missal. This should contain a complete and orthodox page-by-page translation in English of the Latin texts of the Mass.

If attendance at a Tridentine Mass is not possible, readers are advised in any case to procure a copy of a Daily Missal as described, as it should contain almost all the information on the orthodox Catholic Liturgy that the layman is likely to need. A pdf booklet of that part of the Mass known as the “Ordinary” of Mass is also available for download here. Printing should be double-sided. (This page appears to have gone, but another online resource is available here.)

Click here for a three-minute low-speed access clip from a traditional (sung) Mass in France (requires Windows Media Player). The clip shows the part of the Mass known as the “Kyrie”, and is taken from a video made in the Church of St-Martin de Bréthencourt on Laetare Sunday, 2004. The congregation would be to the right of the cameraman, so that the people are behind the priest, and all face east towards the altar.

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1This article from Catholic Family News provides an extreme example of what may happen when the powerful emotions inspired in us by the love of God and the Church become detached from a self-conscious examination of what the Church teaches us concerning the true nature of God. If attendance at Mass becomes a mere unquestioning habit, and the rite of the Mass is not constant, it becomes a relatively simple thing for these powerful emotions to be directed, intentionally or otherwise, to a Godless or even anti-theistic purpose.

2“Thus, the liturgical rites in use in 1962 . . . are, in respect of objective liturgical – and theological tradition, integral. They afford the faithful unedited access to this tradition and their use safeguards against the liturgical and theological subjectivity and ideologies which can be identified in the new rites” (Dr. Alcuin Reid, “Looking Again at the Liturgical Reform: Some General and Monastic Considerations”, p.11, English Benedictine Congregation Liturgy Commission, Symposium on “Liturgical Renewal: A Reform of the Reform?”, Downside Abbey, Bath, 19/4/06; emphasis added).

Sadly, however, there are not a few among the baptised and consecrated who are palpably hostile to the continued existence of the centuries-old Catholic liturgy. That such hostility can come from lawfully appointed prelates of the Church itself would not be a first in British history. Thomas Cranmer was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Clement VII in 1533, but sought – with general success – the obliteration of the Catholic Mass from the consciousness of what became the deliberately Protestantised, but once Catholic, English people.

Home	The Importance of the Mass
	(Please note: CatholicSchool.org.uk is not responsible for the content of sites linked to from this or any other of its pages.)
	Last updated: 2/3/08
	The importance of Catholic charity for the re-civilisation of our country lies not in its efficacy as a principle of mere human action, but rather in our complete dependence on the power of Divine grace. As a result, it is vital that we manifest our devotion to God in the ways He requires – especially by regularly attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
	The year 1969 saw the introduction of a new order of Mass (Novus Ordo) in the Western Church, and it is this order with which most young British Catholics will be familiar (if they still go to church).
	Many dedicated and devout Catholics are sincere apologists for the Novus Ordo. CatholicSchool.org.uk, however, understands that the Catholicism of the protean New Order is often very much in the eye of the well-educated beholder, on a parish-by-parish basis¹. Recognising that young Catholics will of necessity lack the sophisticated judgment required to distinguish the orthodox from the unorthodox, we strongly recommend that, where possible, readers attend Mass celebrated according to the standardised traditional order. Known popularly as the “Tridentine Mass”, it offers the firm reassurance of a 1,500-year history².
	A listing of Tridentine Masses available in England and Wales is provided by the Latin Mass Society. For Scotland, see the Una Voce Scotland Web site. (It should be noted that by “Latin Mass” is meant the traditional, Tridentine order, and not a New Order Mass said or sung in Latin.)
	Full participation at the Tridentine Mass will be greatly facilitated by obtaining a copy of a pre-1960s Daily Missal. This should contain a complete and orthodox page-by-page translation in English of the Latin texts of the Mass.
	If attendance at a Tridentine Mass is not possible, readers are advised in any case to procure a copy of a Daily Missal as described, as it should contain almost all the information on the orthodox Catholic Liturgy that the layman is likely to need. A pdf booklet of that part of the Mass known as the “Ordinary” of Mass is also available for download here. Printing should be double-sided. (This page appears to have gone, but another online resource is available here.)
	Click here for a three-minute low-speed access clip from a traditional (sung) Mass in France (requires Windows Media Player). The clip shows the part of the Mass known as the “Kyrie”, and is taken from a video made in the Church of St-Martin de Bréthencourt on Laetare Sunday, 2004. The congregation would be to the right of the cameraman, so that the people are behind the priest, and all face east towards the altar.

	(Back to top)