Since the appearance of Benedict XVI’s 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, most Internet sites dedicated to comparing the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass with the Mass of Paul VI (1969) have concentrated almost exclusively on such issues as beauty, reverence and continuity with tradition.
Differences like these, however, are merely symptoms of a deeper divide between the two rites, one that exists on the level of Catholic doctrine and Eucharistic piety, and one that was treated at some length in Father Anthony Cekada’s book Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI.
The purpose of this blog is to continue that discussion, and in so doing, to draw Catholics beyond questions of ritual and aesthetics to an understanding of how the new rite of Mass destroys Catholic faith and Catholic piety.