Universal approach

Re: A discouraging message on Latin Mass (Charles Lewis, Aug. 1):

Reading Charles Lewis’ vitriolic article excoriating Pope Francis for his support of the regular rather than the extraordinary liturgical form of Mass was shocking because it displays a total disregard for the universality of the Church and our participation in the mystical Body of Christ.

The Catholic Register is not going to tell you who you should cast a vote for in this federal election. As a registered charity, we must remain non-partisan.

Even for pro-lifer Catholics labouring in the political trenches, it must seem a blessing in disguise that abortion has so far failed to get off the ground as a federal election issue.

I have been listening to people within my (Catholic) faith community wrestle in a deeper way with Truth and Reconciliation this summer. The reckoning has been too long coming. Saskatchewan columnist Doug Cuthandrecently wrote that Canadians may be waking up to face our collective residential school history.  I hope he’s right. And I hope that the same will be said of the Catholic Church in this season.

In the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar summons the magicians, enchanters and sorcerers of his kingdom to explain a troubling dream he has had. In a test of their ability, he declines to tell them what he dreamt, but instead insists that they reveal it to him and put it into context. The Chaldeans respond that no one could do such a thing “except the gods,” prompting the king to issue a decree that all wise men be executed.

Candidates for beatification don’t get to choose where they are beatified.

Warm weather can bring out the best and the worst in the parishioners of the church on the street. It can lull them into a state of lassitude that can only be equalled by a homily that has lost sight of its destination, or else stir them into frenetic anger fuelled by an assortment of illicit stimulants.

“We didn’t have any houses destroyed.”

Pope Francis’ decision to tighten restrictions on the use of the Tridentine liturgy has been the most significant global Catholic news story of the summer.

Ageless Mass

Thanks so much to Charles Lewis for his wonderful column “A discouraging message on Latin Mass” (Aug. 1-8). My sentiment was “he took the words right out of my mouth.” And I know many folks that agree 100 per cent, including young people who have discovered the beauty and truth of the Mass of the ages. And yes, unfortunately Pope Francis is causing far more division than the Latin Mass ever could.