Reason 22

22. Because by grave omissions, the New Mass leads us to believe that it is only a meal (Protestant doctrine) and not a sacrifice for the remission of sins (Catholic doctrine).


I am hard pressed to understand how via omissions one could present this opinion. To present an understanding one must insert things, not remove them.

Further, there is no clarification as to what kind of omissions these are. What exactly is lacking? It would seem that to anyone attending a Mass the revised liturgy would offer a clearer picture of the sacrificial nature of the Mass because the words offer, sacrifice, oblation, etc. are spoken in the vernacular and audibly such that those present would be exposed to the concept.

This is not to say that the traditional Mass does not strongly present the sacrificial character to anyone who either knows Latin or has access to a translation of the texts. It is also true that the New Mass makes less regular reference to the sacrifice of the Mass, just as it makes less reference to every aspect of the Mass, being a more limited text.

Many liturgical abuses, however, encourage the idea of the Mass as a meal over and against the Mass as a sacrifice, chief among these being poor music (I do not simply mean base melodies, which are bad enough, but more problematic are the heretical or questionable lyrics. St. Francis de Sales said “It would be much better to keep to the Latin than to blaspheme in French”). Also among these problems are more table-like altars, the gathering of extraordinary-ministers of Holy Communion about the altar, and the overuse of both Sacred Species. These problems are not, however, endemic to the revised liturgy.

Many people do now believe in the Mass as a meal over and against it being a sacrifice (despite it having, to some degree, characteristics of both) but this is no fault of the liturgy. I have never held such a position despite having had more formation with the New Mass. The key here is that I have had a proper formation and have been, from the very beginning, taught the sacrificial nature of the Mass. It comes down to, essentially, catechesis. The people have clamored for change in the liturgy to match there misshapen instructions and poorly instructed priests have complied.

This then, is the greatest failure of the years surrounding Vatican II, both before and after. A vast system of catechesis was put into place which, in the end, failed to instruct many and gave out falsehoods to many more. To defeat heresies being inserted in the Mass we must re-instruct the Catholic population, that they may know Truth and that it may set them free.