Thursday 23 August 2007

Tripe about "stable groups": what the Motu Proprio really says...


It's started!

Some obstinate clerics are already trying to minimise the Holy Father's clear wishes to make the traditional Roman rite widely available to the Faithful.

One attempt centres around the weak unofficial translation of the United States Catholic Bishops' Conference upon which translation they then go on to give some very mediocre advice.

The translation makes reference to "stable groups" and some clerics have been desperately trying to make much of the word "stable" to imply that it rules out those who do not attend the Novus Ordo regularly, do not regularly attend only one parish, occasionally attend SSPX chapels, do not form a big enough group to be called "stable", or even that the priest judges them to be "emotionally unstable".

Tripe.

Yes, tripe.

Total and utter tripe.

The word "stable" does not even appear in the Motu Proprio!

Here's what the Motu Proprio says in the Holy Father's original Latin:

"Art. 5, § 1. In paroeciis, ubi coetus fidelium traditioni liturgicae antecedenti adhaerentium continenter exsistit, parochus eorum petitiones ad celebrandam sanctam Missam iuxta ritum Missalis Romani anno 1962 editi, libenter suscipiat. Ipse videat ut harmonice concordetur bonum horum fidelium cum ordinaria paroeciae pastorali cura, sub Episcopi regimine ad normam canonis 392, discordiam vitando et totius Ecclesiae unitatem fovendo."

Which can be pretty accurately translated as:

"Art. 5, § 1. In parishes, where there is continuously present a group of the faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition, let the pastor willingly receive their petitions that Mass be celebrated according to the Rite of the Missale Romanum issued in 1962. Let him see to it that the good of these faithful be harmoniously incorporated with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the governance of the Bishop according to canon 392, by avoiding discord and by fostering the unity of the whole Church."

The word simply does not appear!

So, for those clerics who still want to go on pretending that the traditional rites should not be freely offered, and who refuse to recognise the generosity of the Holy Father, here is some more tripe:


Yech!

Can't stand the stuff!


.....

6 comments:

Ttony said...

You are harsh about tripe.

Tripe is what is given to poor people to ensure that they have the minimum amount of nutrition to get them through the day while their betters feast off the choicer parts of the animal.

Tripe is nobody's choice but is (or at least was, when I was growing up) a regular necessity.

Tripe can be dressed (as it is in Spain: callos a la sevillana) in such a way as almost to disguise that it is tripe.

Tripe is still a gift from God to Man, as it come from his creatures, and provides them with the sustenance they need to eat.

Tripe reminds us in the midst of poverty that there is still beauty and excellence.

Tripe can become sufficiently sustaining that people who are exposed to nothing better will choose to extol it: there were UTP Tripe shops in the centre of Manchester when I was growing up.

Tripe snobs will discuss the different forms of tripe and rate them according to the manner in which they can be presented.

Tripe is still tripe even when it becomes the filling for sausages and beefburgers and pretends to replace real meat.

Tripe can be a useful halfway house in introducing Vegans and such to real food.

Tripe eaters are loved by Our Lord who wishes them to partake in his heavenly banquet.

Tripe is a much more useful and widely applicable metaphor than you thought when you wrote this post. Think it through ...

Tribunus said...

An impressive homage to tripe.

I stand corrected!

Ttony said...

Errrr, just in case nobody else gets it, there is an analogy between tripe vs wholesome, tasty, norishing food, and the Ordinary vs the Extraordinary Rite.

The New Mass is as valid as the Old.

Perhaps you had better not publish this!

Tribunus said...

I don't think anyone doubts the validity of the new Mass just whether it is better than the old.

And anyone who knows both rites well can be in no doubt that the old is vastly better.

Just as the poor are rich and the rich, often poor, spiritually, we know that the Catholic tripe-eaters of Manchester went exclusively to the old rite and were spiritually enriched!

Conversely, nowadays, when they are no longer forced to eat tripe, they want the spiritually impoverished new rite.

Or are you, perhaps, saying that the new rite is tripe?

Ttony said...

You got there finally! Not, however, that the New Mass is tripe in the popular sense of the word: but that, as in my first comment, tripe, while a staple which nourishes, is an alternative to the sort of food in which the senses can delight.

Tripe is the sort of food which commissars delight in issuing to the proleteriat, thinking that they enjoy it and that it therefore must become standard for all true proleterians. The poor old plebs would delight in red meat but aren't given the chance to try it and enjoy it.

Now, there's a thought: the Commissars of Vatican II ...

Keep posting, Tribune of the People!

Tribunus said...

Got there at last!

Thanks Ttony and thanks for the comments on your blog.

Tribunus populi.