"They don't build them like this anymore": Inspiring renovation to Traditonal Latin Mass Parish Church in Norwalk CT

 

Even when the Traditional Latin Mass was confined to the "crypt," hundreds of worshippers searching for its reverence and beauty overflowed the pews in St. Patrick Chapel in the basement of St. Mary Church. That was Advent of 2007, and the parish, under the pastorship of Fr. Greg Markey, has been evolving toward the perfect form of Catholic worship ever since. "Creating a beautiful home for our Lord gives glory to His greatness and helps form strong Catholics,' says Fr. Markey. A traditional Gothic architectural structure, St. Mary in Norwalk, is forming many strong Catholics through prayer, liturgy, sacred music, worship, art and architecture.



After that trial period in the basement of the church, then Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Rev. William Lori, allowed the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass to be moved upstairs to the church proper. Unfortunately, St. Mary was not immune from the disastrous effects of church whitewashing that occurred in the 60's and 70's. A beautiful testament to the glory of God at the turn of the 20th century, St. Mary's became a banal "worship space", devoid of the rich history of 2,000 years of Catholic worship.

St. Mary Church 1930

St. Mary Church 1989

Renovations began soon after bringing the Traditional Latin Mass upstairs, and will be culminating this Christmas season of 2013, when the commissioned painting of renowned neo-Classical artist Leonard Porter, The Assumption, will be installed in the central reredos, directly behind the high altar.

The video is a special report covered by Channel 12 News in Connecticut about the renovation at St. Mary.

If you are interested in supporting the renovation project at St. Mary, please visit this link. 
To donate by PayPal click this link.

Read article by Joseph McAleer, former Diocesan spokesperson at this link.

View more photos at this link.

St. John Marie Vianney, pray for us! Pray for our priests!

August 8 is the traditional feast day of St. John Vianney, patron saint of all priests. John Vianney's body remains incorrupt, entombed in Ars, where he served faithfully. In this time when the Traditional Latin Mass might lose some footing, we pray for John Vianney's intercession, especially for priests who are resistant to bringing the Traditional Latin Mass to the faithful. May John Vianney's intercession ignite new fervor in the Traditional Latin Mass.

John Mary Vianney was born in the Village of Dardilly in the diocese of Lyons, and gave many indications of his future sanctity.

As an eight year old boy, keeping sheep, he would lead the other children to kneel before the image of the Mother of God, teaching them the rosary by word and example: and he loved the work in the fields and meditate on divine things. He was a great lover of the poor and took delight in helping them in every way. He was slow to learn, but after imploring God's help, and working hard to complete his course in theology, he was judged fit to be ordained.

Receiving an appointment as pastor he made spiritual flowers bloom again in a parish that had been nothing but a dried up wasteland. Busy every day hearing confessions and giving spiritual counsel, he bore patiently the most horrible attacks of Satan. He established a practice of making missions in more than hundred parishes.

The faithful came flocking to his parish, even from distant places in a holy desire to see him; but he did not share their high opinion of him, and more than once he tried to slip away. Worn out by his labors rather than his old age, he rested in the Lord at the age of seventy-three, on the day he had foretold, August 4, 1859. Famous for many miracles, he was enrolled among the Blessed by Pius X, and among the Saints by Pius XI, who on the fiftieth anniversary of his own priesthood, appointed him the heavenly patron of parish priests, and all priests.

COLLECT

Prayer {from the Proper of Saints}
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray
Almighty and merciful God, who didst make St. John Mary to be wonderful in pastoral zeal and unchanging love for prayer and penance, grant we beseech thee, that by his example and intercession we may be able to gain the souls of our brethren in Christ, and with them to arrive at the glory of eternity.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

From Divinumofficium.com 

Prayer for the Priest

O Mary, Mother of the High Priest, 

You love your priestly Son with the love of your maternal heart.

Hear my heartfelt prayer today for all priests.

I pray 

For faithful and fervent priests,

For unfaithful and tepid priests,

For priests who minister at home,

For priests in the missions,

For young and old priests,

For the sick and dying priests,

For the souls of forgotten priests,

For priests who have touched my life,

Especially for Fathers______________.

Maternal heart of Mary,

Remind us that your priestly sons

Are weak and frail human beings.

Give them a deep faith, a firm hope,

And a burning love, to faithfully live

And preach the Gospel.

I ask that

In their loneliness, you strengthen them;

In their sorrow, you comfort them;

In their frustration, you support them.

Mary, keep them close to your Son, the Priest.

Bless them abundantly

Now and in eternity. Amen.

This is a nice short prayer to say for priests. Thursday is the day that we traditionally remember priests, just as Friday we commemorate the Lord's Passion, and Saturday is dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary. Remember the priests every Thursday, and offer your Holy Communion for them.

sthughofcluny.org

On Holy Thursday 2013, Fr. Richard Cipolla of St. Mary Church in Norwalk Connecticut, gave a stirring homily on the priesthood through the ages, and the challenges of the priesthood today. Father Cipolla says that the true priest is a hero for his people, one who stands before God on our behalf, and who stands before the forces of evil as protector of his people. Even the most lukewarm priest in the world still received Holy Orders for this holy purpose.

"But when a priest dares to take on something so counter-cultural, so in your face damning the culture, as celibacy and does it in freedom, not because this is part of the package, but because this is in imitation of his Lord and Savior, and in so doing, turns his back on the false and hideous understanding of freedom that the world preaches and lives by: then the priest incurs the hatred of the world, and, if the truth be told, the annoyance of many of his own flock. When the priest accepts his personal suffering as a genuine and necessary part of his life as a priest as a joining of his suffering to the suffering of his flock all grounded in the suffering of Christ on the Cross, when he accepts that as priest he will always have in his heart la tristezza così perenne, that sadness that is always there, and when he stands at the altar and loses himself and allows the reality of his suffering and the suffering of his people to be offered up by his hands and to be placed in the crucible of the fiery love of God and there to be transformed by that love that is present at that moment in our time and space, that love whose locus is the Cross, that love that cannot be contained by time and space and yet is contained in that bread and in that wine, that love that makes itself completely disponibile, to be touched, lifted up, adored, and ultimately eaten and drunk. How can the priest’s heart not break with love and therefore with joy at the celebration of every Mass, knowing who he is and what he is doing?"

Please pray for our priests! St. John Vianney, patron of priests, pray for us!

Is this your typical Catholic Parish?

By Michael Voris

What is the Church of Nice? It is a worship community that sort of looks Catholic and OFFICIALLY  is Catholic – but at the end of the day, authentic Catholicism has been sucked out of it in almost every possible way.
There are all kinds of signs you can look for to determine if your parish is a Church of Nice.
The priest will never preach on anything controversial related to your eternal life, like homosexuality, abortion, reception of Holy Communion as a divorced and remarried parishioner.
He will never utter a word about the immortal danger your soul is in if you are co-habiting and or having sex outside of marriage or using contraception INSIDE marriage.
Times for Confession will be sparse and practically none of the parishioners ever go –including you.
If you have been going to your Church of Nice parish for some years, you will occasionally have the thought come to your mind that it seems like less and less people attend.
You will also notice that there are nowhere near as many young adults or families as you remember from years ago. But the music director will bust out in a loud song rich with lyrics about the community, instead of God, and you will forget your thoughts about less people in the pews.
You will also hear a strange thing from time to time about something the RCIA instructor or Religious Ed director said in class and you will think to yourself for a moment – “hmmm .. that’s odd”, but then you will go on with your business and forget about it.
Then the occasional discussion will come up with friends and family who are former Catholics who bad mouth this or that about the Church – and while you might feel quietly uncomfortable about their outbursts, you won’t say anything because, frankly, you don’t have the knowledge to respond to them because it was never told to you.
And eventually, you will allow yourself to be lulled into a false set of comfort regarding their eternal lives by buying into the ridiculous diabolical canard that – it’s not REALLY important if they are Catholic or not – after all, they’re basically good people and God understands and we are all going to Heaven anyway so not that big a deal.

If you go to a parish replete with altar girls, protestant hymns, an army of so-called “Eucharistic ministers” (which they are NOT by the way), a joke-cracking priest, a con- gregation receiving Holy Communion in their hands, warped catechesis coming from the adult and/or kids religious ed department, no substantive preaching, a congregation with more older people than younger families and no one really in between, where people around you, including you dress in clothes more suited for going to the movies than wor- shipping God, if almost the entire congregation goes to Holy Communion, and a good number of them never return to their seats afterwards, if it is customary to applaud the band or singers – then you can be pretty certain, your parish is a Church of Nice.

If you have no idea why this list of issues are problematic, then you are almost guaran- teed to belong to the Church of Nice.
If you don’t know the answers to the following basic questions, you should be concerned: What are is meant by the Four Last Things and what are they?
What is wrong about using the term Eucharistic Ministers?
What is an indulgence and why is it important to know?
Can you explain why Protestantism is a heresy? (Did you even know it IS a heresy?) What are the various mysteries of the Holy Rosary?
What does the Church mean by the term “The Real Presence”?
What is the Mass?
Can you be a “good” Catholic and still disagree with the Magisterium? Do you even know what the word Magisterium means?
Is it EVER possible to refuse to believe an infallible teaching AND still be a good Catholic?
If you can’t answer ALL of these questions – at least on some fundamental level – then you need to be very concerned about your faith life. And this is just a beginning list – it could easily have hundreds of questions on it.
What the Church of Nice gang has been so fantastic at over the past 40 or 50 years .. and this means bishops and priests .. is substituting knowledge with feelings.
In this manner , they have introduced into the faith a humanist dimension that has no place in the Church.
The same madness that goes on in the culture about not being judgmental and always making sure no one is offended has become paramount in the Church as well, thanks to the Church of Nice crowd – hence the name, Church of NICE, where everyone is always  Nice.

If you attend a parish that subscribes to the Church of Nice agenda – watch out. Your soul is in jeopardy, serious jeopardy.
It is very likely that your religious instruction is deficient, you haven’t been to confession in God knows how long, and if you have children – they are bored out of their minds and more than likely will stop attending Mass after they leave home.
These are all symptoms of a dying faith – and it can all be placed at the doorstep of the Church of Nice.
The Church of Nice is failing in spectacular fashion! It’s beginning to resemble the Rus- sian Front from the German’s perspective in World War II. It won’t be much longer be- fore the whole edifice is flat our overrun.
As the Russian forces – the Red Army – was overrunning town after town and province after province – reclaiming all that had been taken by the Nazis in the previous two years, many of the German High Command and the civilian population back in Berlin carried on as though the eastern front was a sad fact, but not one they REALLY had to worry about.
In April 1945, the first Russian tanks crashed into the heart of Berlin. It took a while, but when it happened, it was decisive and final.
This is what is happening in the Church today – the portion of the Church, which is the majority part of it, that worships at the Altar of Nice. It is being overrun and the defeat is monumental.
2000 US parishes closed in the last 20 years, 1300 of them in the past 10 years and no end of closings in sight. And why has the Church of Nice risen to such heights of power and control.
Because fallen human nature is weak. Because most people don’t like confrontation and will only occasionally do the right thing and challenge evil and wrong. Because being vi- gilant – always vigilant - exacts a cost. And because sin is attractive. And because we are lazy and slothful.
If it were not for the Catholic Church, the whole world would end up in Hell because the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation. This is its charter – to be the instrument of salvation – not merely a sign of salvation, but the actual instrument through which God works His salvific action.
When much of that Church casts aside that charter and adopts an inauthentic attitude of being the Church of Nice, then the world will go out of balance – as it has – and the eternal lives of those Church of Nice members hangs in the balance.
If you attend a Church of Nice parish – get out of it and get to a parish where you will get AUTHENTIC Catholicism – the real McCoy. If you have friends or family who need to hear this, pass it along.

Papa Semper

Very few saw it coming. As we all experience the shock, sadness, and mourning of losing our beloved Pope Benedict XVI- not through death but resignation- we continue to struggle for answers and pray and reach for the trust and faith we know should be ours.

But we're filled with many questions. What do we call him after he resigns? Where will he go? How can he leave us?

Boomers like me immediately compare Benedict with the the Pope who filled most of our life- Blessed John Paul. How could Benedict step down when John Paul showed the world what suffering and the dignity of old age really was?

But it isn't fair to compare the two Pontiffs. While great friends with great respect toward one another, they are very different. And so were their Papacies. Benedict called himself a "little pope" and JPII a "great pope." While taking nothing away from beloved Pope John Paul, who changed our lives, what Pope Benedict accomplished in seven years would make even a super hero tired.

Pope Benedict's legacy will most certainly include the restoration of orthodoxy in the liturgy, especially in reviving the Extraordinary Form, orthodox appointments to the College of Cardinals, and in relations with Anglicans, The Society of Pius X, and the orthodox churches. And numerous books, and trips. Remember, Joseph Ratzinger was never one to see himself in the spotlight- unlike Karol Wojtyla, who was born to be on the world's stage. While we would like to see him stay to fulfill this mission, Papa knows best. And who has the most direct link to Heaven, if not the Vicar of Christ?

Cardinal Arinze explains:

"I haven't any doubt about his wisdom," the cardinal said. "He doesn't rush. He is not rash. He is gentle. But he's also clear-headed and firm."

Benedict, on the other hand, is teaching another lesson. He recognizes that he can no longer give his best to the Church, he loves. He is willingly stepping down so that another pope may more effectively lead the Church. Benedict’s greatest gift to the Church and the world is his humility. His resignation will set a precedent for future popes. And, his humility will be spoken of until the end of time.- Fr. Michael Orsi

Pope Benedict shows us there is dignity in relinquishing his position, in the humility it takes to know one's limitations, and to allow for the Holy Spirit to breathe life once again into Holy Mother Church. He is doing what is best for us, whether we understand or not. Courage and virtue come in many forms.

We love you Papa Benedict! Pray for us, as we pray for you!


Let us pray. O God, our refuge and our strength, look down with mercy upon the people who cry to Thee; and by the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Saint Joseph her spouse, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in Thy mercy and goodness hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of the Holy Mother the Church. Through the same Christ Our Lord.

Read more: http://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/papa-emeritus/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

How ordinary....yawn...

Blessed Trinity Sunday, Dominica Sanctissimae Trinitatis! A feast day (solemnity) that is shared between the Novus Ordo and the Extraordinary Form, so if you attended the Novus Ordo today (like my family did), you didn't miss anything.

We didn't see green vestments today, but they will be coming! What's wrong with green? Well, nothing, really. They symbolize a time for new growth in the Ordinary Time. That's nice.

Maybe green itself isn't what's uninspiring. Although Pope Paul VI wasn't too crazy about it. From Fr. Z:

The Novus Ordo – with so many changes to the liturgical calendar – went into effect with Advent in 1969. When Pentecost of 1970 rolled around, Paul VI was surprised to find greenvestments laid out for his morning Mass instead of the traditional red for the Octave of Pentecost. When he asked about the unthinkable green vestments, he was told that it was now Ordinary Time. The Pope responded “This is the Octave of Pentecost.” The reply came back that the Octave of Pentecost was abolished in the new calendar. “Who did that?”, asked the Pope. “You did, Your Holiness. And Paul VI wept.

A lot of us grew up with this "ordinary" time, so we don't bat an eyelash. As young whippersnapper I know said, the Church isn't like football, they don't have off-seasons! Then why does it feel like it?

What was old is new again

From chants, prayers, and its accompanying silence, the "dead language" of Latin reverberated in the newly renovated sanctuary of St. Mary's Church in Norwalk, CT. What else reverberated? The sound of children. And not just because it was Palm Sunday. Because St. Mary's Parish, with its weekly Traditional Latin Mass, is packed with burgeoning families. Our family of five is miniscule in comparison, and in the minority.

Here the symbolism and tradition of the Extraordinary Form, the rituals of Palm Sunday, with its three-fold liturgy was celebrated with all its flourish, reverence and sonority.

Visit the link to read more, and watch the video to get a taste.

If you're in the area- join the parish community for Tenebrae on Wednesday evening at 7-10 p.m., and the rest of the traditional Holy Week services. You will not be disappointed.

A evening of chant and polyphony at St. Mary's in Norwalk

What do preteens and teenagers do on a hot Friday summer night? Go to the movies? Hit the pool? Well these kids went to church to sing in a concert of Gregorian chant and polyphony, as a fundraiser for their trip to Spain for World Youth Day!

What made it especially amazing, was for artistic reasons, the air conditioner was turned off, to allow the purity of sound to make its way through the church. These kids barely flinched, and the Sisters in full habit never wiped a bead of sweat!

All this was miraculous in itself,  but wait until you hear the music-absolutely heavenly. All the favorites: Ave Verum Corpus of Byrd, Jesu dulcis memoria by Palestrina, all the favorite Marian chants, and a special treat, Ave Maris Stella with alternating versets by Grigny played by David J. Hughes, organist and conductor. The organ at St. Mary's sounds great opened all the way, and, dare I say- it rocked!

Have you ever heard applause or seen a standing ovation in a church? Well, the answer should be "no", but I doubt it. Pastor, Father Greg Markey, told the audience that he and Hughes have an agreement that there will never be applause during Mass (Deo gratias). And Hughes, for all his toil and labors (which he loves), never receives applause. The audience, made up of many parishioners, saved it all for this performance!

Check out the article, and videos that are included. Sit back and enjoy!
http://exm.nr/nliaDo

Listen to this group of young singers on their way to World Youth Day

Ever heard anything like it? 

Read more about this talented and dedicated group- http://bit.ly/nj9L9r

Purchase CD, reserve tickets for the concert- www.chantwith.us

Sisters of Life and Connecticut student singing group bound for Madrid

 Norwalk student singing group bound for Madrid

The Sisters of Life Schola have teamed up with St. Mary's Student Schola of Norwalk, Connecticut to sing at the English-speaking Masses of World Youth Day this August in Madrid. What is so special about this group? For starters, they sing only Gregorian chant and polyphony. The WYD English-speaking Masses will include all the Propers, chanted by the Student Schola, and the Ordinary and other motets in polyphony with the Sisters of Life. A benefit concert will be performed at St. Mary Church in Norwalk, CT with the proceeds going to fund the trip for the students and their chaperones. The Schola has also recorded as CD, which will be available for purchase at the concert, or online by visiting their website: www.chantwith.us .

As if singing at World Youth Day wasn't enough, the Schola will also travel to Toledo, where they will sing for the Primate of all Spain, Archbishop Braulio Rodriguez Plaza, at one of the greatest Gothic structures in Europe, the Toledo Cathedral. The roster of activities will not conclude until the Schola has sung a Traditional Latin Mass at the Monasterio de la Encarnacion in Avila, where St. Teresa was received into the Carmelite order, and Juventutem, the Traditional Latin Mass counterpart to World Youth Day.

Help this extraordinary group get to Spain, to bring the beauty of Gregorian chant and polyphony, the true music of the Church, to the participants at World Youth Day. The youth there may never pray the Holy Mass the same way again! Donate here: http://chantwith.us/donate/
Read more here:  Norwalk student singing group bound for Madrid.

Rogation Days would have been a good idea!

I'm sure you have prayed for the victims of the recent horrible natural disasters that have plagued Haiti, Japan, Joplin, MO, and other parts of the U.S., and around the world. A tornado watch was in effect for the NY tristate area, including Fairfield County until 8 p.m. Wednesday. A tornado did hit Springfield Massachusetts, about 60 miles from here. That's a little too close to home! Thankfully, there are no fatalities reported, but there are casualties and some significant tree and property damage.

In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the days leading up to Ascension Thursday are designated to pray for the blessing of crops and also for safety from natural disasters. Fr. Z writes about it here. 

The name "Rogation" comes from the Latin "rogare", to ask. Rogation Days originated in the  the fifth century, when a Diocese in France was experiencing earthquakes and "other calamities", and was then later introduced into the Church's general observance by Pope Leo III.

The Litany of the Saints, psalms, and Mass is celebrated, along with a procession. A fast and/or penances may also be observed by the faithful.

I'll be saying the Litany tonight when I pray for those people in Springfield; and a prayer of thanksgiving that Fairfield County was spared.

Can you tell the difference?

Yes, this is a controversial subject--liturgical music. Everyone has an opinion. But there are actual Church documents that direct us in the choice of music for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Do you feel the music at your church directs your thoughts Heavenward? Does it take you out of this world, or drag God down into yours? More than that, does it fully glorify God?



Can you tell the difference?? from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Critical Mass

This may sound a tad drastic, but aren't your kids souls worth considering this?

A call to celebrate and reverence God’s vision of human sexuality

Natural Family Planning Awareness Week highlights the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood along with the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Mother.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's landmark encyclical.

For those in the NY tri-state area,visit St. Mary Church in Norwalk, CT on Friday July 25 at 6:30 PM for a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite followed by a visit by Msgr. William Smith, Moral Theology Professor, St. Joseph Seminary Dunwoodie, who will speak on "Humanae Vitae: 40 years later."

Mass is offered in reparation for sins committed against the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Indult granted!

What is the purpose of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Letter, Summorum Pontificum?

By this Apostolic Letter, promulgated motu proprio, the Holy Father seeks an “interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church” with those who have demonstrated an attachment to preconciliar liturgical forms, making “it possible for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to attain it anew.” Thus does he exhort the whole Church to “generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows.”

The Holy Father begins by defining two forms of the rule of prayer (Lex orandi) of the Latin church of Roman Rite: an ordinary form, as contained in the Missale Romanum of Pope Paul VI, and an extraordinary form, as contained in the Missale Romanum of Pope Saint Pius V. He notes that the extraordinary form was never abrograted and the two forms make up the Liturgy of the one Roman Rite.

In parishes where a group of the faithful are attached to the extraordinary form of the Mass, they may approach the pastor, who is to support their petition willingly. No permissions are required.

Read an explanatory letter on Summorum Pontificum here.

Cardinal Arinze: The Mass is not Entertainment

Our Holy of Holies- the Presence of God Himself among us at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This is the true gift- Christ revealing Himself, and Christ revealing man to himself.

The Mass is a moment of reflection and encounter with God, rather than a form of entertainment, says Cardinal Francis Arinze.

Here are some fav quotes:

Regarding "music in the liturgy, we should start by saying that Gregorian music is the Church's precious heritage," he said. "It should stay. It should not be banished. If therefore in a particular diocese or country, no one hears Gregorian music anymore, then somebody has made a mistake somewhere."

"The local church should be conscious that church worship is not really the same as what we sing in a bar, or what we sing in a convention for youth. Therefore it should influence the type of instrument used, the type of music used."

"I will not now pronounce and say never guitar; that would be rather severe," Cardinal Arinze added. "But much of guitar music may not be suitable at all for the Mass. Yet, it is possible to think of some guitar music that would be suitable, not as the ordinary one we get every time, [but with] the visit of a special group, etc."

"People don't come to Mass in order to be entertained. They come to Mass to adore God, to thank him, to ask pardon for sins, and to ask for other things that they need."

Referring to a negative tendency in the Western world, the cardinal revealed that an increasing number of Catholics have "a more Protestant concept of the Eucharist, seeing it mainly as a symbol."

"It was recognized so much that many of the synod fathers suggested that there be themes suggested for homilies on Sundays. Seeing that for many Catholics the Sunday homily is about the only religious instruction they get in a week, the synod fathers suggested that the four major areas of Catholic faith should be covered by the homily in a three-year cycle."

The four areas correspond to the parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "First part, what we believe," Cardinal Arinze said. "Second part, how we worship, i.e., sacraments. Third part, what we live, life in Christ, so the moral law, the Ten Commandments, the Christian life lived; and the fourth part, prayer."

"There has been a bit of neglect of the holy Eucharist outside Mass," he said. "A lot of ignorance. A lot of temptations to showmanship for the priest who celebrates facing the people.

"If he is not very disciplined he will soon become a performer. He may not realize it, but he will be projecting himself rather than projecting Christ. Indeed it is very demanding, the altar facing the people. Then even those who read the First and Second Reading can engage in little tactics that make them draw attention to themselves and distract the people.

Contrary to what many think, he said, "even when there was the Tridentine Mass there were abuses. Many Catholics did not know, because they did not know Latin! So when the priest garbled the words, they were not aware of this.

Cardinal Arinze concluded that the liturgy "is not the property of one individual, therefore an individual does not tinker with it, but makes the effort to celebrate it as Holy Mother Church wants. When that happens, the people are happy, they feel nourished. Their faith grows, their faith is strengthened. They go home happy and willing to come back next Sunday."