Thoughts on the Novus Ordo Missae

Lately, I have been reading a lot of posts by respected brother bloggers about the deficiencies of the New Rite of Mass, or Novus Ordo Missae, as compared to the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Tridentine Rite. One commenter went as far to say that "the Novus Ordo is never an option."

However, for me and the three million other Catholics living in South Korea, there is no other option. The only Tridentine mass in the country is at the headquaters of the schismatic SSPX Korea on the fourth floor of a bank in Seoul seven hours away, hardly a viable option. There's an Eastern Orthodox parish two hours away in Busan, but I have no desire to leave the Roman Catholic Church.

And really the Novus Ordo Missae as celebrated at my parish is pretty devout. It's in Korean, of course. The Rosary is usually prayed before the Mass and the Angelus after. There are no liturgical abuses. There are no altar girls, but even they wouldn't be reason to leave. There are no extraordinary eucharistic ministers; we have two priests to offer the Eucharist. We occasionally sing the much maligned "I am the Bread of Life" by Susan Toolan, which is not so bad in Korean (the tune is actually nice), but we are more likely to sing one of my favorite hymns, "Holy God We Praise Thy Name."

I've also witnesses the Novus Ordo Missae celebrated in a devout way in many other parishes throughout the world, especially when copious amounts of Latin is incorporated. EWTN's Daily Mass comes to mind.

I have read nothing better on the Novus Ordo Missae than what Father Hugh Thwaites, S.J. wrote in Thoughts on the New Rite of Mass*, the conclusion of which follows:

There is nothing wrong with the new rite. Rome cannot feed her children with poison. But the new rite of Mass does not give us what we need. Michael Davies' analogy is helpful here. If a doctor tells a couple that their child need milk every day, and they give the child only water, the child may not live. There is nothing wrong with water. But if the child needs milk, water may not be enough.

There is no heresy in the new rite. Rome cannot authorise heresy. But the new rite, it would seem, does not give us enough Catholic doctrine to prevent Catholics from unwittingly becoming Protestant in their thinking. As Fulton Sheen put it, "If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave." The new rite of Mass is capable of being carried out in a Protestant manner. Given the chronic tendency of our fallen human nature to go for what is easier, our liturgy, in the hands of the ill-instructed, will always tend to a Protestant interpretation. And Catholic liturgy carried out in a Protestant manner will lead the worshippers to Protestantism.

"Where will it all end?" So far as I am concerned, it has ended by my being resolved to offer Mass, as much as possible, in the traditional rite of the Church. This rite exactly expresses my eucharistic faith. The new rite does not. Neither does it nourish my faith. The traditional rite of Mass has nourished the faith of countless Catholics in the years past. Please God it will do the same for me, and for many others, in the years to come.

In the meantime, I'll join Father Thwaites in his prayer, happily receive the Real Presence of Our Lord at the Novus Ordo Missae in my parish, and at home do my best to prevent myself from "unwittingly becoming Protestant" by reading and self-catechesis, listening to Palestrina, Monteverdi, and other great Catholic composers, and incorporating as much traditional Catholic prayer, devotion, and piety in my daily life as possible.

Finally, you won't see me disparaging the Novus Ordo Missae for the simple reason that the non-Catholic readers of this blog get enough bad press about the Catholic Church as it is from the secular media. They don't need any more from a Catholic blogger.

* Link via El Camino Real