Is Latin making

a comeback in

Scottish Catholicism?

Bill Heaney

 

Archbishop Mario Conti celebrates mass at Cardross

While the Church of Scotland has been in the eye of a media storm over its 'gay ministers in the pulpit' issue, the Catholic Church has not been without its internal tensions over a campaign to bring back the old Latin mass and introduce a new missal from November this year.
     Mass in the vernacular – in English and Gaelic – was introduced in Scotland 40 years ago when many conservative practices were abandoned at the behest of John XXIII, the smiling pope, who urged that the windows be flung open to allow the wind of change to blow through the Vatican.
     Some Rome watchers believe Latin, which was generally dispensed with at that time, is being brought back by stealth by zealots who have found encouragement in the words of the present pope, Benedict XVI, who says it should be more widely available and has urged bishops to promote it in their diocesan churches.
     Many Scots Catholics are however wary of priests promoting the Latin mass and consider the call by some priests in England to ban women from acting even as altar servers at their services as misogynistic and redolent of traditional taboos of the ritual impurity of women and girls. Most Scots want mass in their own language to be retained as the norm.
     Some Scots in the pews are also baulking at a new edition of the Roman missal which contains a number of controversial changes in the words said by priests and lay people during mass. Objectors claim that some of the language in the missal is both sexist and archaic and that it will alienate many in the congregation and bore the young people present.
     They also maintain that the Vatican systematically undermined the version produced by the original drafting committee for the English language edition, which was chaired by a Scot, Bishop Maurice Taylor, the retired bishop of Galloway. One conservative cardinal scathingly dismissed the work of that committee as 'the language of a barbecue' and it was scrapped.
     Opinion on these issues has been divided for months, but it is doubtful if the fall out will escalate to the level of the bitterness and in-fighting of 40 years ago when the decisions of the Second Vatican Council came to be implemented here.
     Scotland had a strong tradition of clericalism at that time. The priests were in charge and the bishops very much in charge. The clergy were an elite who, generally speaking, saw themselves as very much superior to the laity who were there simply to 'pay up and pray up'.
     However, clericalism was dealt a heavy blow by Pope John XXIII who emphasised a priesthood of all believers, stating clearly that the church was everyone in it, the people of God. Large numbers of bishops and parish priests were dismayed by this – and some of the current crop of clergy still are.
Glasgow's Archbishop Mario Conti appears not to be one of them, however. He wrote recently to his priests suggesting they ignore the pressures to make the Latin mass more generally available. The response from one dissenting priest was that he did not think the archbishop's letter was 'following the example' of the Pope's wishes on this subject.
     In his letter, Archbishop Conti also warned against any return to the pre-Vatican II clericalism which involves 'extravagant gestures' during church services and a trend to wear expensive and ornate vestments, some made of lace. He also poured cold water on the business of priests courting popularity by telling jokes from the altar and urged them 'to avoid trivialising what is sacred and to wear only vestments of noble simplicity'.
     Additionally, the archbishop made his position on the new Roman missal very clear. He said: 'I am on record as saying we are not required to like the new translations, but we are required to implement them'.
     Many of Scotland's 250,000 practising Catholics will conclude that what Archbishop Conti is saying is that although they may not like it they are going to have to accept and get used to the new translation of the Roman missal. That this is a fait accomplis.
     However, even if Pope Benedict XVI wants to see the Latin mass more widely promoted, the archbishop personally thinks that unnecessary and that in his diocese there is no call for it. He feels that his people are content with what they have at present and that they appreciate the pastoral advantages of having mass in their own language.
     Archbishop Conti is due to retire soon, having reached the age of 75 when he is required by canon law to offer his resignation to the pope. He will be hoping that his message, which has been deftly drafted to step on as few toes as possible, will see him off quietly and without fuss ahead of any adverse reaction to these contentious issues.

 

Bill Heaney is an award-winning newspaper editor and columnist who was formerly managing editor of both the Scottish Catholic Observer and Flourish, the official journal of the Archdiocese of Glasgow