Motu Proprio Watch

The Catholic News Service has an article about the expected Motu Proprio. Some Excerpts:

From the outside, allowing the old Mass has been seen primarily as a concession to the followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated in 1988 for his intransigence on liturgical and other reforms of Vatican II.

But some Vatican officials believe that aspect has been overblown. More than making peace with Archbishop Lefebvre’s followers, they said, the pope is trying to make peace with the church’s own tradition.
UH HUH

In effect, he said, “the old building was demolished” and a new one put in its place. Thus the liturgy ceased to be a living development and was treated as something manufactured by experts, which has caused the church “enormous harm,” he said.
NO DOUBT

Over the years, he has sharply criticized what he sees as a tendency for the worshiping community to celebrate only itself.
AMEN

In one revealing speech to Catholic traditionalists in 1998, he said bluntly that the old “low Mass,” with its whispered prayers at the altar and its silent congregation, “was not what liturgy should be, which is why it was not painful for many people” when it disappeared.
ABSOLUTELY (But you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater)

The French bishops also said traditionalist groups that use the Tridentine rite should be expected to give “an unequivocal gesture of assent to the teachings of the church’s authentic magisterium,” its teaching authority.

For these reasons, many will be looking at Pope Benedict’s document not only for a liturgical verdict, but also for a sign of his reconciling skills.

YUP

This was a very well balanced article that fairly presents legitimate aspirations and concerns on both sides, if only the “ordinary ministers of the media” would follow suit.