I was so surprised by an interaction between two priests during announcement at the end of Sunday Mass at the Novus Ordo parish that I recently began attending, that I have to share it because it's so interesting.
1- So on my never-ending quest to find a reverent NO
2- (the parishioners at the FSSP parish I'd been attending are not at all friendly, and they are clickish)
3- The NO parish I'd attended sings the horrid Gather Us In, written by a Lutheran. I don't get why Protestant songs are sung when there are so many beautiful Catholic songs.
4- In which the young priest responded....."Well, if they can sit through a 2 1/2 hour movie, then they can handle it." The priests were arguing about the Latin Mass in front of everyone!
5- I'd wondered if maybe there was a behind-the-scenes battle going on at this parish between those who are attached to the NO and Vll, and those who prefer tradition.
1- I doubt that you'll ever find one. Priests who say the NO Mass with any level of reverence and ceremony are usually railroaded out by their bishops. I do not encourage you to keep looking, either. Archbishop Lefebvre said that, even though the Sacrifice may be validly re-presented and the Sacrament may be validly confected, the NO is a danger to the Faith.
2- TradCats can be like that. At a "parish" where I once assisted at Mass there was a particular lady who watched out for new faces and whenever she saw one, cornered the person(s) and warned them to not associate with "those people over there." You have to work around that. Go up to someone who looks most like wanting to avoid newcomers and, with a smile on your face, introduce yourself and ask for an introduction to what is going on there. Believe me, the TradCats who especially don't trust strangers will open right up.
4- The last NO Mass I attended was my Godfather's funeral. If you think Gather Us In is horrible, try On Eagles' Wings. It'll curdle milk.
5- There might be. The old priests, who can be counted on to have made a lifetime investment in the Nervous disOrder, are finding that the young priests have seen the success of the Tridentine Mass in keeping people Catholic.
¡Viva Cristo Rey!
A little further elaboration:
1- While it's true that most Novus Ordo's are irreverent, even the 'reverent' ones are only reverent inasmuch as one is forced, at least as a bystander, to be under the impression that the ritual is 'serious.' No supersoakers, no sermons aimed at riling the crowd, no (or very little) immodest dress... but you can find these things at a mosque or a Buddhist temple, too. Time and time again, the reliable and invariable failure of the NO is in the Catholicity department. There is nothing uniquely Catholic about the NO. It is ecuмenical. Even if you find the NO that's performed by someone in a fiddleback with in Latin with incense facing east, all you've done is found a high bastard mass, in contrast with the usual low bastard mass. I've been to quite a few of those Novus Ordo's, actually. It's still Cain's offering. It's one of the many flavors at the Baskin-Robins megachurch.
2- The real thing here is, who cares? Not that a miserable social life at a parish can't pose problems, but forsaking the true mass for the NO because you don't like the people in the pews is heightened lunacy! But, let's go ahead and accept for argument's sake that Tradition has this 'problem' of 'sentinels' and whoever else... would you rather your friends use contraception? Curse and use profanity? Think protestants are saved? C'mon...
3- They sing non-Catholic songs because the Church that sponsors them is non-Catholic. It's the same reason that they perform a non-Catholic liturgy and offer non-Catholic sacraments, and believe in things the Catholic Church has condemned. The horrid music is only incidental to the horrid faith.
4- Has the young priest ever celebrated the TLM? How on earth could it take two and a half hours? :p
5- The young priest will not last. In all likelihood, he is preferential to the TLM (i.e., believes it to be the same thing as the NO, simply a prettier form) in which case he cannot justify trying to get people to attend it in place of the NO. Most diocesan clerics who celebrate the true mass and the NO hold this position-- after all, they
have to, per
Summorum Pontificuм. In the off chance that he actually sees an innate difference between the two, he will not last. He will either be beaten into submission to the conciliar Church (most likely) or he will leave it, seek a conditional ordination and join a trad group (unlikely, but it's happened before). And if you want to ask why, points one and three should get you pretty close to the answer... the Conciliar Church is not Catholic, it does not have a Catholic liturgy, it does not believe in Catholic doctrine, it does not have Catholic music-- why on earth would it want one of it's shepherds to?
Meg, don't settle for traditional table scraps. Get ye the real mass, the real sacraments. Godspeed!