Head Trid on Mass Hysteria: Enough!

As B16 made his first public utterances on it in France, Summorum Pontificum -- the motu proprio on the 1962 Missal -- marked its first anniversary in force over the weekend.

Already, the new stance "freeing" the Roman liturgy used over the four centuries preceding the conciliar renewal has changed the landscape in not a few places, from the popularity of training courses in seminaries and parishes and the uptick of parishes devoted exclusively to the former use, to a fresh look at ad orientem worship, even in the "New" rite.

Yet while most of the earthquakes various parties either hoped or feared would accompany the long-planned July '07 document have largely not come to pass, that doesn't mean the prior missal's expanded rollout has been completely serene, either; at a Rome conference on the "old use" earlier today, the Holy See's lead point-man on things Tridentine saw fit to chide the excesses of the rite's supporters:

Rather than being grateful, some people have reacted to Pope Benedict XVI's wider permission for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass with further demands, said Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos....

Castrillon, whose commission works with communities using the old rite, said his office continues to receive letters requesting the Tridentine rite be used not just at one Mass a week but at every Mass, and that such Masses be available not just at one church in a town but at every church.

He said he even got a letter demanding that Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major be dedicated exclusively to the celebration of the Tridentine-rite Mass.

Such people, he said, are "insatiable, incredible."

"They do not know the harm they are doing," Cardinal Castrillon said, adding that when the Vatican does not accept their demands immediately "they go directly to the Internet" and post their complaints....

The Eucharist should never become a point of contrast and a point of separation," Cardinal Castrillon said at the Sept. 16 conference. "What is more important: the mystery of God who becomes bread or the language by which we celebrate the mystery?"

The cardinal said the Mass -- in whatever language it is celebrated -- must be a service motivated by love and "never a sword" used against other Christians....

"When we are before the greatest expression of love for humanity -- the Eucharist -- how can we fight?" Cardinal Castrillon asked.

Head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei -- which handles the Holy See's relations with traditionalist groups both in and outside the fold -- Castrillon (shown above on his June visit to London) told the wire that Pope Benedict would "make the final decision" on releasing the long-awaited clarification letter on Summorum's finer points. As of last word, however, the requisite request for such a text from the Secretariat of State reportedly had yet to arrive.

Already retired from heading up the Congregation for the Clergy, the Colombian cardinal marks his 80th birthday next summer. With the Ecclesia Dei post normally a side-gig for a senior dicastery head, the buzzmill's already tipped the freshly-installed prefect of the Signatura, Archbishop Raymond Burke, as Castrillon's likely successor in it.

SVILUPPO: In an interview today with an Italian web outlet, Castrillon -- who appeared unannounced at the Summorum seminar -- repeated his statements, but only after taking aim at a French cleric who, during the Pope's weekend visit to Lourdes, sought to change the words to the Ave Maria, then restating his opposition to the reception of Communion in the hand whilst standing as if the Eucharist were, he said, a "plaything."

Here, an English translation of the relevant portion of the exchange:

Q. Today there are often quarrels over the liturgy....

Castrillon: This is an evil. The liturgy must never become an object of fighting. It's like taking up swords over the highest act of love. Everyone must be respectful of the ideas of others. For example, if the Pope gives communion to the kneeling, the party of those who want it to be given that way sing victory; if the contrary happens, others exult. We can't keep going forward this way.

Q. What's desired, then?

Castrillon: Respect, charity, and abandonment of pride. With moderation, I say to the traditionalists. They are insatiable. I repeat, insatiable. And so they cause harm to us and to themselves. They inundate you with letters, they write on the internet. They even want the Basilica of St Mary Major to be dedicated exclusively to the Old Mass -- I repeat, moderation and measure. Pride and haughtiness are the opposite of the act of love contained in the Eucharist.

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