Our Churches Will Be Empty — Part II
In our New Oxford Note “Our Churches Will Be Empty” (Nov. 2006), we quoted Archbishop Albert Ranjith, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship for the Holy See, as saying, “In the end, the people will assist at [attend] the Tridentine Mass and our churches [the New Mass] will empty.” The I Media news agency interviewed Archbishop Ranjith, as was reported in The Remnant (July 31, 2006): “After revealing that the Congregation daily receives letters from the people lamenting liturgical abuses in the New Mass, he [Archbishop Ranjith] said: ‘It is our duty to be vigilant…. Because, in the end, the people will assist at the Tridentine Mass and our churches will empty.'” However, when reporting on the same I Media interview with Archbishop Ranjith, The Catholic World Report (Aug./Sept.) did not include that quote. As we said, “This was the bombshell!”
The October Catholic World Report (CWR) did include that quote (our November issue went to the printer before we received the October CWR). Perhaps someone alerted CWR that this could not be brushed off. We’re glad CWR made the correction.
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Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J., of Georgetown University says, "Where there are groups that want [the Tridentine Mass], it's going to be a real pain in the neck."
"It is our duty to be vigilant... Because, in the end, the people will assist at the Tridentine Mass and our churches will empty."
The extraordinary form has a depth of imagery that the post-Vatican II revisers of the Mass simply eschewed, especially as regards the eucharistic sacrifice.