[Oops! I meant to post this in the "Crisis in the Church" subforum. Maybe Matthew can move it there.]

http://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/revealing-statements-from-pope-paul-vi-on-the-tlm/#comments

Revealing statements from Pope Paul VI on the TLM February 19, 2013

I’ll have to admit, I was pretty stunned when I read this quote below, extracted from Michael Davies Pope Paul’s New Mass.  What is quoted below is from a General Audience Pope Paul VI gave on March 17, 1965 – before the fourth and final session of Vatican II, but after the approval of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the docuмent that authorized the “reform” of of the Liturgy.  At the beginning of the audience, Pope Paul VI relates two general reactions to the changes already occurring to the Mass.  His comments are first directed towards those who reacted to the changes with some trepidation or concern.  I’ll pick up there, just after he’s described those concerns in general terms. He then switches track to his analysis of those holding concerns, and what I think are some pretty amazing statements from a Pope – any Pope – regarding the concerns of the faithful and the still extant form of the Mass (my comments and emphasis):

We won’t offer a criticism of these observations [the concerns raised by people with regard to the changes already occurring to the Mass of the 1962 Missal, years before the Novus Ordo], because We would have to point [after saying he won't offer a criticism, Pope Paul VI then turns around and does just that. And boy howdy does he] out how they reveal very little penetration into the meaning of the religious rites and give evidence not of true devotion and a true sense of the meaning and value of Holy Mass, but rather a certain spiritual laziness that isn’t personal effort on understanding and participating in order to better comprehend and carry out the most sacred of religious acts, in which we are invited, and indeed obliged, to join. [Wow. The antipathy Paul VI had for the Mass as it then existed is palpable, no?]

We will just repeat what is being said over and over again these days by all priests who are pastors of souls and by all the good teachers of religion [are the bad teachers the ones who might have concerns over the changes?].  First, it is inevitable that there be a certain amount of confusion and annoyance in the beginning. It is in the very nature of a reform of age-old religious customs that have been piously observed, a reform that is practical -not to mention spiritual – that it should produce a little agitation that will not always be pleasant. But, secondly, a little bit of explanation, a little bit of preparation, a little bit of careful help, will quickly remove the uncertainties and soon produce a feeling and a taste for the new order. For, thirdly, you mustn’t believe that after a while people are going to go back to being quiet and devout, or lazy, as they were before.

No, the new order will have ot be something different; and it will have to rpevent and strike at the passivity of the faithful present at Holy Mass. Before, it was enough to attend; now, it is necessary to participate. Before, presence was enough; now, attention and action are demanded. BEfore, a person could doze and perhaps even chat, but no longer; now, he has to listen and pray. [I find this last sentence to be totally opposite the reality of my experience, and since experience is everything, that should be a trump card, right?]

…..The assembly is becoming alive and active. Being present means allowing the soul to enter into activity in the form of attention, response, singing, action……..[That has played out in all manner of abuses as the laity play at being priest, and the bored, rote responses of those participating.]

—————————-End Quote——————————-

I could go on.  But as the audience continued, and were joined by many other such pronouncements by Pope Paul VI, it is clear that the more radical ideas for re-shaping the Mass – and intentionally denigrating the previous 1962 Missal Mass in order to “sell” the reform – came from the very highest levels of the Church.  There was a conscious, deliberate, determined effort to convince the faithful that what had been before was not only deficient, but even damnable, and that it must be replaced at virtually any cost.  Later in the audience, Paul VI espouses the idea of Mass facing the people, even though that “reform” was nowhere to be found in the Council.  There were many others, as well, that he advocated, that were nowhere to be found in the Council.  It is rather depressing to read Paul VI’s hopes for his new Mass, when compared with the reality which has come to be. He saw the Mass as the engine of his
“new springtime.”  It’s been a long, cold, dead spring.

One final note.  When he was still serving  as Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Pius XII, then Cardinal Archbishop Montini described the Mass – the then current Latin Mass – as moribund, and the Church as asleep, or possibly even dead.  That is from Vatican Council II: A History Never Written by Roberto de Mattei p. 20.

I found Pope Paul’s rather callous dismissal of the concerns raised about the ongoing changes to the Mass by very faithful, serious people, to be most amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever read such dismissive statements from a modern Pope.

 :cry:

Marsha