c. 1996 Religion News Service
New York’s Catholics jam St. Patrick’s for Latin Mass
(RNS)-On what Roman Catholic Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York called”this historic occasion,”some 4,500 worshipers jammed New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday (May 12) for a rare celebration of the Tridentine Mass.
The Tridentine Mass, which is celebrated in Latin and with the priest facing the altar rather than the congregation, takes its name from the 16th-century Council of Trent, which sought to reform the Catholic church in the face of the Protestant Reformation.
In 1969, after the Second Vatican Council, it was replaced by the new Roman Missal, a revised order of the Mass. Both the Tridentine Mass and the 1969 revised order of the Mass are called the Latin Mass or the Latin-rite Mass.
Among the reforms adopted by Vatican II was the use of local languages, such as English, although the new Mass can also be said in Latin. Other reforms sought to encourage more congregational participation in the liturgy.
In 1984, however, Pope John Paul II granted permission for the Tridentine Mass to be used in certain circumstances.
The abandonment of the Tridentine Mass has been a sore point with traditionalists in the church, and they have lobbied hard for its restoration.
More than 100 of the 181 Catholic dioceses in the United States now allow some parishes to hold Tridentine Masses, the AP reported.
The Mass at St. Patrick’s was celebrated by Cardinal Alfons Stickler, prefect emeritus of the Vatican Library.
In remarks to the congregation before the Mass, O’Connor welcomed the worshipers and said he felt”privileged that you have requested this Mass be celebrated in what is your cathedral.” But Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for O’Connor, said the cardinal’s allowing the Mass to be celebrated in St. Patrick’s”does not signify that he is advocating its return in any way.”
Russian Orthodox leader urges Russians to make `right choice’ in election
(RNS)-Alexy II, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, has appealed to church members to make”the right choice”in next month’s presidential election pitting incumbent President Boris Yeltsin against Communist Gennady Zyuganov.
Alexy, making a rare foray into politics, did not endorse any candidate in his remarks, reported Sunday by the independent NTV television network in Moscow, according to the AP.
But his appeal for stability and his pointed reminder of persecution under Communist rule echoed statements made by Yeltsin in recent weeks.”It is not possible to forget the past,”Alexy said.”All that we lived through (under Communism) should not happen again. The people must not let it happen.” Under Communist rule, Russian Orthodox priests and church members were persecuted. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been a renewed interest in religion in general and the Orthodox Church in particular.
During the election campaign, a number of politicians, including Yeltsin and Zyuganov, have made highly visible visits to churches.
Update: Alabama candidate quits race after slavery comments
(RNS)-Alabama state Sen. Charles Davidson, a Republican, has dropped out of the race for the U.S. House of Representatives after coming under criticism for his defense of slavery in the Old South.”Although it was not my intent, statements I made in a written speech were taken by some to be racially motivated,”Davidson said in a statement Saturday (May 11) announcing his withdrawal from the House race, the AP reported.”For that, I do sincerely apologize.” In a speech he had planned to deliver in the state Senate last Tuesday (May 7) that was circulated to reporters, Davidson said that people”who are bitter and hateful about slavery are obviously bitter and hateful against God and his word because they reject what God says and embrace what mere humans say concerning slavery.” He cited biblical passages, including Leviticus 25:44, which says,”You may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you,”and 1 Timothy 6:1, which says slaves should”regard their own masters as worthy of all honor.” Davidson also said that blacks are doing less well now in terms of abuse, rape and broken homes than they did under slavery.”The truth is that nowhere on the face of the earth, in all of time, were servants better treated or better loved than they were in the Old South by white, black, Hispanic and Indian slave owners.”
Lieber takes over as Conservative Jewish rabbinic leader
(RNS)-Rabbi David Lieber, the former head of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, is the new president of the Rabbinical Assembly and the first West Coast resident to lead the association of 1,400 Conservative rabbis.
Lieber, 71, who retired from the university post in 1993 after 29 years at the helm, was installed as president during the Rabbinical Assembly’s annual convention held recently in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y. For the past two years, he had served as the group’s vice president.
A split surfaced last year between the 1.5 million-member Conservative movement’s historic leadership base in New York and the University of Judaism’s new administration, which sought more autonomy.
However, Gunther Lawrence, a Rabbinical Assembly spokesman-noting that Lieber’s installation was a routine ascendancy from the number two spot-said there was no connection between Lieber becoming president and that dispute, which has largely been settled.
Hare Krishnas win battle to keep house given by Harrison
(RNS)-The Hare Krishna sect-formally known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness-has won its battle to remain in a house given to it in 1973 by ex-Beatle George Harrison.
Harrison had a strong interest in Indian religion and culture and introduced the English rock-and-roll group to Indian musical traditions and instruments, some of which were incorporated into the group’s songs.
The house, known as Bhaktivedanta Manor, is in the village of Letchmore Heath, just 16 miles outside of London. It draws thousands of worshipers-and the ire of its neighbors-during the two days of Janashtami, the celebration of Krishna’s birthday at the end of August each year.
Under terms of an agreement worked out with government officials, however, the sect will have to build an access road from the main highway so that visitors to the manor and its shrine will not clog the village.
John Selwyn Gummer, secretary of state for the environment, has granted permission for religious festivals at the manor-a former nurses’ training college-and for its use as a place of public worship and a residential theological college. “I concluded that the spiritual and religious needs of this section of the Hindu community outweighed the harm the development would do … and that the new access (road) would greatly reduce the impact on the quality of life of local residents,”said Gummer.
Quote of the day: Brad Dacus, western regional cooperating attorney of the Rutherford Institute
(RNS)-The possibility that a secretly made tape recording of a prisoner’s confession to a Roman Catholic priest might be used as evidence against the suspect has set off a church-state argument in Oregon. Brad Dacus, western regional cooperating attorney for the Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va.-based legal organization specializing in religion cases, commented on the implications of the state’s action in secretly making the tape:”It’s a sad day when the state takes action to discourage the nourishing of religious faith in jail. When they hinder (religious) confession, they make it harder for prisoners to climb onto the first rung of the ladder towards rehabilitation-to repent. They deny freedom of religion to those who, arguably, need religion the most.”
LJB END RNS
