====================================
REPRODUCTION OF THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT
WRITTEN PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED .
===================================== 


What Catholics Once Were, We Are; If We Are Wrong,

Then Catholics Through The Ages Have Been Wrong





(Ever have someone ask you why you prefer the Tridentine Mass, why you 
want to attend a Traditional Chapel? The following essay, adapted from 
a brochure found in a small Traditional chapel, provides an excellent 
answer to those who question our traditional beliefs.)

What do you notice when you first enter a chapel where Traditional
Catholics attend Mass? Do you remark that there is an altar, and not 
a table? Do you notice the various statues of the Saints? What do you 
think of the little burning votive candles? Does it occur to you that 
the tabernacle is in the center of the Altar - in the most prominent 
place? Perhaps it is the silence and the sacredness of the place that 
impresses you?
 
Silence?


Many visitors on entering a typical traditional chapel almost immediately 
notice the silence What a striking contrast from their modern parish 
churches! In the modern churches people freely talk out loud, they do 
not genuflect, they do not make the sign of the cross, they lean over 
pews to shake hands, exchange waves, laugh aloud, applaud and even dance 
around the "table of celebration". Yet the people who attend traditional
chapels will scarcely utter a word in church - speaking in hushed tones 
and only when necessary, otherwise greeting each other with no more than a
silent smile and a nod of the head .

 Silence Shows Respect 


Silence Shows Respect. Why the difference? Why the formality? 
Are traditional Catholics just unfriendly? 

No, not unfriendly, they appear to be showing respect and reverence - 
as though they were in the presence of someone very important. In fact, 
our people believe they are in the presence of a King. They believe that 
in the tabernacle on the altar resides the Lord Jesus Christ, King of 
Heaven and Earth! Their attention is devoted to Him. Herein lies the 
reason why they keep silence in church.

They come to church to Pray, that is, to raise their hearts and minds to
God. And their silence is the great token of respect to Jesus Christ
present in the Holy Eucharist. That is how all Catholic Churches used to
be.

New Concept Of Eucharist 

Now, the modern churches tend to be noise and full of socializing. Yet 
they,too, have what they call "Eucharist "as the center of their worship 
Why the difference then - in the layout of the church, in their liturgy 
at a table, even in the behavior of the people? 

The moderm church speaks of Eucharist, true, but it does not mean the 
same thing.To the modern church, Eucharist is not the REAL PRESENCE 
of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, but rather a celebration of Jesus' 
spiritual presence in THE COMMUNITY or the gathering of the people. 
That is why they clap and sing and shake hands and dance and make good 
"FELLOWSHIP". That, to them, is the Eucharist. They are celebrating Christ 
IN EACH OTHER.

New Meaning of "Eucharist" One can find the answer in the General
Instruction published with the New Mass by the Sacred Congregation 
of Rites on April 6, 1969. It is the official commentary on the new 
liturgy, as the Congregation of Rites stated: 

"It is further decreed that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 
also approved by Pope Paul, should come into effect on November 30, with 
the Order of the Mass". And what does this original General Instruction 
say about the new Mass?

Commemoration or Sacrifice?

It says: "The Lord's Supper" is the assembly or gathering 
together of the PEOPLE OF GOD, with the priest PRESIDING, 
to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. For this reason the 
promise of Christ is particularly true of a local congregation 
of the Church: 'Where two or three are gathered in my name,
there am I in their midst.' (1969 Gen. Inst. No 7) in this 
statement, there is no mention of the Real Presence of Christ 
in the Blessed Sacrament, only His spiritual presence in the 
people. The corruption of the idea of Eucharist is no accident 
or abuse - it is the whole point of the new liturgy: 

Eucharist is no longer to mean the real presence of Christ in 
the Blessed Sacrament offered at Mass as at Calvary, but rather 
the spiritual presence of Christ in the "gathering together of 
the people to Celebrate."

Where Are They Taking us? Did the people originally demand this 
change? 

NOT AT ALL!


At Vatican II, the German-born Bishop William Duschak called 
for what he termed an "Ecumenical Mass" emphasizing the Supper. 
When he was asked whether his people had requested such a new 
liturgy, Bishop Duschak candidly replied: "No, I think they would 
oppose it, just as niany bishops oppose it. But if it could be put 
into practice, I think they would accept." How right he was! About 
the time the new liturgy was published, (1969), men who had been 
influential experts at Vatican 11 were busy publishing a series of 
books on the changes that were to take place in the Church. The 
series was appropriately entitled "Concilium" (The Council). Its 
volume on the liturgical reform featured an article by a Benedictine
Father Kilian McDonnell O. S.B, entitled "Calvin's Conception of the
Liturgy and the future of the Roman Catholic Liturgy". 

After criticizing the ancient Latin Liturgy of the Church and 
praising the liturgical inventions of the heretic John Calvin, 
the Benedictine priest makes his bold prediction about the 
Catholic Liturgy of the future: 

	The norm for the future within Catholicism will be 
	the norm Calvin enunciated: 'Freedom Within Form.' "

New Protestant Theology


In other words, the future Catholic liturgy is being patterned 
after John Calvin's ideas; the same Calvin who taught that the 
Holy Eucharist is just a symbol of Christ's spiritual presence 
in the congregation! A denial of TRANSUBSTANTIATION—is that what 
they are aiming for? There is no question but that the Real Presence 
of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is secondly, at best in the 
new liturgy. A recent parish conference in Cincinnati was conducted 
by Franciscan Father Thomas Richstatter, who is a seminary
professor at the Benedictine Abbey of St Meinrad, in Indiana Father
Richstatter told the people (as he no doubt teaches his seminarians): 

"Mass begins when two or three are gathered in my name. Unless WE 
 transubstantiate this bread into the Body of Christ, there is no 
 chance of doing anything to the bread."

A Communal Meal or Sacrifice?

The Catholic Telegraph of March 11, 1988, summarized 
Father Richstatter's message: The Good Friday metaphor 
emphasizes sacrifice, the altar and the role of the priest, 
while the Holy Thursday metaphor stresses meal, table,
food and abundance The new metaphor shifts the emphasis 
from the PRIEST'S role in the reenactment of the Sacrifice 
at Calvary to :

	the COMMUNITY'S PARTICIPATION in a shared meal.
 

So that is the point of the new Liturgy: 

PARTICIPATION in a SHARED MEAL.


In changing what Father Richstatter calls emphasis and metaphors, 
they have changed the meaning of Eucharist, the VERY HEART AND SOUL 
OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION!

 On With The Show 

Not A Mass, But Rather 'On With The Show!'That is why modern 
churches are often filled with the sounds of greetings and 
clapping and laughing -because that all fits in with their idea 
of Eucharist as a celebration of the spiritual presence of Christ 
in the congregation; principally through the social interaction 
and fellowship of the assembled people. No wonder the modern churches 
are often places of amusement and interesting entertainment. The 
entertainment is THEIR NEW FORM OF WORSHIP! 

Even the relatively conservative priests and bishops now feel free 
to joke  and clown around and dance in church - drawing outbursts 
of laughter and applause from the audience even on the MOST SOLEMN 
OCCASIONS! 

And that is also why, in the modern churches, the tabernacle is 
customarily shunted off to the side - to a relatively obscure comer 
or back room or closet where it will not be in the way. This is not 
done so much as an act of reverence to the Blessed Sacrament, as it 
is done to leave the church free for the social interaction - in 
other  words: "for eucharistic celebration." Even the way the hosts 
are distributed in the new liturgy is indicative of the modern idea 
of Social Eucharist rather than Holy Eucharist. Their communion is now
distributed as an instrument of social and personal interaction, often
layman greeting layman, hand to hand, with little or no concern for
particles of the host being lost and trampled underfoot. There is 
little or no regard left for the sacredness of the Most Blessed 
Eucharist!

Two Different Religions?


It's Really Two Different Religions Given the divergent concepts of
Eucharist, it is not surprising to find such striking differences in the
way the churches are set up, the manners in which the liturgies are
conducted, and the ways people behave inside those churches. So radically
different are they, in fact, that they quite obviously constitute TWO
DIFFERENT RELIGIONS! 

Were St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of many Monastery Chapels, 
to enter a Vatican II church of today, would he find the Roman 
Catholic Religion he knew? 

Would he find there the HOLY EUCHARIST he loved so intensely? 
Would he be proud of what he would see in today's mainstream 
Catholic Churches ? 

Not A Matter Of Preference!


The argument over which is better or more meaningful, the old 
or the new mass, is a senseless and a useless argument.The pressing 
question is not which is better, but WHICH IS CATHOLIC ! 
	And about that, there can be no serious argument.

What Catholics Once Were...


A Point we Should All Keep In Mind: 


We are what Catholics once were, 
We believe what Catholics once believed, 
We worship as Catholics once worshipped ,
If Catholics were right then, we are right now; 
If we are wrong now, Catholics were wrong then. 


And with those thoughts in mind, ask yourself, who's wrong? 
who's right? 

Those Catholics who seek to retain the traditional values, or those 
people who would use a new kind of Eucharistic celebration that is 
man-centered, rather than God-Centered?

Innovators Won, Mass As A Sacrifice Destroyed In Novus Ordo Church
. . .


Thomas Aquinas, St. Pius V or any other profit saint in the history 
of the Church find in the modern liturgy that which they offered on 
the Altar each day? I think not. If alive today and led into a modern 
Catholic Church, they would surely ask to be led out quickly since they 
were in a church that does not worship as Catholics.

Need of Sacred Actions


The use of sacred actions at Mass is not superfluous. They have meaning, 
if only to be an expression of our faith in the Holy Sacrifice of the 
Mass. To rob the faithful of such example by the ministers of the Church 
is to cheapen the liturgy and to depart from the manner of worship that 
God expects. As in the Old Testament, so too in our time, that manner of 
worship which God wishes His creatures to offer up to Him is sacrifice, 
-- not a meal--- .

While the elimination of the symbols and imagery of faith from the modern
mass is of great concem, it is but one piece in a very puzzling series of
events that has left our Church in shambles. If this short study leads you
or others to question further the propemess, if not the very validity of
the modem mass, don't hesitate to search further. Contact a priest who
offers the traditional Latin Mass. He will be glad to answer your
questions. He will encourage you to pray and study. By doing this God will
show you wherein the truth lies.

====================================
REPRODUCTION OF THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT
WRITTEN PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED .
=====================================