The Sure Signs of a Real Spring
We often get discouraged given the state of the Church today, especially with respect to the liturgical life of the Church. We also tend to pay attention only to developments that cause us great concern about where the hierarchy is leading the Church. But we must also take note of positive movements within the Church that are a signal of a True Springtime in the Church despite the dreariness of the current Roman Winter.
Last evening I was Deacon at a Solemn Mass in the Cathedral of my Diocese. This Mass and other such Masses in the Traditional Roman Rite in the Cathedral Parish, which includes St Patrick’s parish church as well as the Cathedral of St. Augustine, is part of a genuine and real movement among the young priests of the Diocese to celebrate the Traditional Roman Rite, especially in its solemn form, whenever and wherever possible.
The young pastor of the Cathedral shows such a love for the Traditional Mass that he has been able to bring that Mass to the center of the Diocese, something that I could never have imagined even a year ago. And he is bringing more priests of the Diocese to come to know and love the Traditional Roman Mass. I was ordained in that Cathedral many years ago. It had been gutted and turned into a splendid example of post-Vatican II brutalism. It was “restored” some years ago by an Opus Dei architect in a more traditional style, respecting the Victorian gothic architecture of the church building. I have associated the Cathedral in my priesthood with Novus Ordo Masses that I had to attend through the years that saddened me deeply by the casual ars celebrandi and the sacro-pop music. To be part of a Solemn Mass in that Cathedral last evening fills my heart with joy and hope.
To make things even better, the pastor decided to celebrate a Rogation Day Mass last evening. The Rogation Days are mentioned in the General Instructions of the Roman Missal of the Novus Ordo, but there is no provision for their celebration. The Mass was preceded by the Rogation Procession with the Litany and Prayers. We did not “beat the bounds of the parish”, nor did we bless fields. But we processed around the parish grounds, including on a main street in Bridgeport. Cars honked their horns, people stopped to watch. Wonderful Christian witness and distinctively Catholic. And an antidote to the vapidity of the liturgical life of the Church today. And a harbinger of things to come, that not even the hierarchy can stop, for even they cannot stop us from believing that Beauty will save the world.
May God bless the young priests who are discovering the beauty and depth of the Traditional Roman Mass and who have the courage and joy to celebrate that Mass with all of its power and glory.
Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla
