Latin Mass No Threat To Judaism

As someone who grew up with the Latin Mass, I found the news that Pope Benedict XVI was bringing it back less than compelling. I'm told that the Tridentine or the Latin Rite will not supplant the regular Sunday Mass service and for that I'm grateful. Having the mass said in English made it easier for my husband, once a Southern Baptist, to convert to Catholicism.

I was still in high school studying Latin grammar and literature when the Ecumenical movement began. Our Latin related church jokes were so lame, e.g. "What's the telephone number at the Vatican? It's Et cum spiritu tuo." (Groan.)

For the young, a mass in the vernacular was a welcome change from the mysterious ritual that needed to be followed with a missal translating the Latin into English. My parish was the beautiful St. Cecilia's on 106th Street between Lexington and Park. The priest had his back to the congregation and the altar boy had more to do with responses than the general congregation. All I really paid attention to at mass was the Consecration because that was when the priest changed the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Yes, folks, Catholics believe in the Real Presence. The Eucharist is not symbolic but real because that's what Christ said it was. To the uninitiated, that must sound somewhat akin to the Scientologist's alien creed, but it works for me.

The Latin ceremony with the chanting processions and smell of incense can transport one's imagination to the supernatural but I think as a weekly rite it distracts from the full attention of the congregation in the sacrifice of the Mass.

The pope's announcement has drawn inquiries from Jewish groups concerned that a prayer for conversion of the Jews will also be reinstated. They have asked for a clarification on exactly what restoring the Latin Mass will entail. My first reaction to that news was, "What prayer of conversion?" I certainly don't recall it being any part of the Latin Masses I attended so I dug out my old English/Latin "Sunday Missal" which we used to follow the services. If there had ever been such a prayer it certainly wasn't anything heard at a regular Mass. There had been something similar during Good Friday services, I've been told, but that also was not listed in the prayer book.

But I think it is important to remember the main difference between Catholics and the Jewish people and how we are forever connected. The Jews were promised a messiah and Catholics believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled that promise. We believe that the Scriptures prophesied his coming in two ways, a suffering messiah and a triumphant one that we believe heralds the Second Coming of Christ. David's 22nd psalm is an example of the first type of prophecy.

That being said, the Christian Bible is also called the Good News and it is one the Church would want to share with everyone, especially our Jewish brethren. If there was such a prayer it was certainly not a command and not anything that should be regarded as threatening. Every Sunday I get to read passages from Isaiah, Ezekiel, Exodus and other books of the Jewish Bible; the beautiful Psalms of David are also a regular part of the Mass. Catholics who separate themselves from our Jewish heritage are ignorant of their own faith. Our strong pro-life position was affirmed in the Jewish Bible: "Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;" (Jeremiah 1:5).

Pope Benedict XVI has been critical of radical Islam as a liberation theology against Israel and had a significant role in establishing relations between the Vatican and Israel. He is far more aware of the threat Jews face from the terrorists — a threat far more grave than the return of the Latin Mass — than many others, who epitomize the axiom, "there are none so blind as those who will not see."