www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Novus Ordo vs Tridentine Masses

I think what Taft would prefer is the Novus Ordo celebrated as it was intended to be celebrated (as opposed to what it degenerated into). I happen to have been to several Novus Ordo Masses, some in English, one in Latin, which were celebrated precisely according to the rubrics, with the priest versus apsidem, the responses sung in Gregorian chant by a well-trained schola. With regard to the one in Latin, at Brompton Oratory in London, I was amused when an American couple came in and listened for a while. The wife turned to her husband and whispered, "It's so nice to hear the old Mass being celebrated again". Which confirmed most of what I already suspected about adherents of the Tridentine Rite.

As for the Tridentine, Taft is absolutely correct in his critique--by the standards established by Sacrosanctum concilium, it's bad liturgy, and there is nothing that could be done to it, short of transforming it into something else, that would make it into good liturgy.

One forgets today that sixty or seventy years ago, the Orthodox were complaining about the Tridentine rite because of its departures from the authentic liturgical tradition. So I guess there is no pleasing some people--or put another way, some people will latch onto any cause for complaint if it suits their long-term objectives.