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The “new mass”
I missed Latin mass yesterday—it’s been my craze ever since I decided I couldn’t stand the Episcopal Church—so I went to the local English one this morning. From the perspective of the old mass it’s an interesting combination of modernity and archaeology (that is, what worship is assumed to have been in the first half of the second century). It’s all put together under the banners of “updating,” “return to sources” and “noble simplicity.”
Now that I’ve somewhat gotten over the resemblance to the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer I don’t mind it. I do think “noble simplicity” and theological understatement appeal more to theoreticians than to the people though. As a practical matter they just don’t communicate.
Comments
You lost me on one point. What’s the difference between theological understatement in Latin vs. in English? Posted by: John Carver on May 7, 2002 3:51 AMIt’s not the language. The text of the old pre-Vatican II mass is quite different from the text of the new mass Paul VI promulgated around 1970. Since the former is always in Latin and the latter is almost always in the vernacular people refer to the former as the Latin mass. Posted by: Jim Kalb on May 7, 2002 5:12 AM |