A comment in the box

The New Liturgical Movement, a weblog that I read regularly, has made a recent entry that I find fascinating, Saving the 1962 Missal from 1962. I recommend that you read it.

I am afraid, though, that I was impelled to add something to its comment box. I provide the whole entry below:

I am almost humbled enough at the prospect of following up after the excellent writings of Father Peter Stravinskas and Father Deacon David Kennedy that I would be prevented from adding anything.

Almost.

I have but four things to add to the discussion at hand:

1. It is important to note that since at least 1987, canon law has mandated that we as Catholics have the right to have the liturgical services served as directed by and in the liturgical law. This weblog (among many others) has noted that by and large, that has not been done, for the last 40 years. Whether consciously or not, many of the faithful have responded to this denial of their rights with the feeling that they have been betrayed, and have responded in rage. I would suggest that, until and unless this denial of rights under canon law is addressed and corrected, those expressions of rage will continue.

2. For those who are living in rage, I would remind you that you are holding fast to Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It will kill you if you let it, in this life and the next. I would suggest prayer and fasting to begin with, forgiveness of those who have betrayed you as the next step, and finding and praying in a Catholic church which serves the Divine Liturgy as faithfully as possible, in order to heal the wounds which have been inflicted on you.

3. For those who have been saying in effect that "Well, pre-Vatican II church life was no picnic, either", I would have to answer (in the words of Douglas Adams) that this is true, but unhelpful. As this weblog and its editors have noted, Vatican II mandated that in any gathering of the liturgy, Gregorian Chant was to be given pride of place, that the treasury of sacred polyphony was to be preserved, and that the modern hymns of the people were to be encouraged. This has not been done, and it has been one of the many failures of those whose duty it was to implement the reforms of Vatican II. Do stop trying to shift blame.

4. As noted above, we were supposed to have chant, polyphony, and modern hymns in the Divine Liturgy in order to fulfill the mandate of Vatican II. Those who prefer Gregorian chant alone, or Sacred Polyphony alone, attempt to mandate their preferences, and prevent other music from being served and sung, would be as unfaithful to the dictates of Vatican II as those who have inflicted on us a diet of Haagan-Haas corporate rock for the last 40 years.

And now I shall duck for cover.