Image: Alfons Ma. Cardinal Stickler SDB (1910 - 2007) #ThrowbackThursday Cardinal Stickler was the former Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church and was made a Cardinal in 1985. Older Tradition-minded Catholics will remember that in the 1990s, no other Cardinal spoke as forcefully, as bluntly and frequently on behalf of the Traditional Latin Mass and those attached to it, as this little Salesian cardinal and scholar from Austria. The following is a quote from his 1992 speech to the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. We have to consider still another idea. Modern Catholics say Now we have to cut away all the old things. We must be modern. But this modernity is not the modernity of the Church because we have to preserve the whole substance which is our heritage from past generations. So if many of the Bishops ask us Why do you follow the Old Rite? We can answer very easily: The new rite was introduced after the Council as a matter of pastoral care. This means that the Faithful should be animated more and more by the new form of rites to be better in Catholic truth and life. But many good people in the world who still believe in the truths of the Catholic Church are not satisfied about the innovations introduced into the Mass. Can you say then that the pastoral purpose has been fulfilled? I think, through my experience, that there is more and more dissatisfaction becoming stronger always in all the categories of age, social positions, even in many young people. Further we are told that the truth about the Mass, about the centre of the liturgy has not really changed. But we can ask; have we the same sense, the same reverence we had before - and perhaps still have - when we assist at the Old Roman Rite? Or have we a loss of reverence, of awe of our biggest mystery, our faith in the Holy Mass? In the sacrifice? It was admitted officially when, two years ago, on the Silver Jubilee of the changing of the Rite, authorities in Rome admitted that there was a great loss of awe in the Mass - the most important rite of our worship. This is the experience of all who travel around everywhere. We have lost what really is at the heart of our worshipping in the Holy Sacrifice. Many times we get the impression that it is man being worshipped but not God. We have a Communion meal, but not a Sacrifice. I think that this has proved one of the most important changes in the general attitude to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass... Full version at: https://web.archive.org/web/20070128072434/latin-mass-society.org/sticklms.htm
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:32:04 +0000
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