5 minute read
Ask a Franciscan
Pat McCloskey, OFM
Father Pat welcomes your questions!
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Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, prayer, saints, sacraments, and Scripture.
Celebrating the Mass in Latin
The other day at Mass, someone told me that the pope has said that priests can no longer celebrate Mass in Latin. Is that true?
No. The Novus Ordo Missae, authorized by St. Paul VI in 1969 and implemented in 1970, can still be celebrated in Latin. Since 1970, all the popes in public Masses in St. Peter’s have used this form of the Mass.
At issue here are the conditions under which the Tridentine Mass (authorized in 1570 by St. Pius V) can be celebrated and who supervises it.
Through “Traditionis Custodes” (“Guardians of Tradition”), a motu proprio dated July 16, Pope Francis annulled similar documents issued by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI that loosened restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass in Latin. Local bishops now have full authority to oversee its use. An item in Church in the News on page 6 of this issue gives more details about this motu proprio and the papal letter explaining it (both published at vatican.va).
After consulting the world’s bishops about the long-term effects of these two papal decisions, Pope Francis wrote, “An opportunity offered by St. John Paul II and, with even greater magnanimity, by Benedict XVI, intended to recover the unity of an ecclesial body with diverse liturgical sensibilities was exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division.”
St. Paul rebuked Christians in Corinth who divided that Church by claiming to belong to Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ (1 Cor 1:12–13). Pope Francis wants to prevent something similar from happening to the Mass.
Jews and the Death Penalty
The Jewish leaders brought Jesus before Pilate because they said their law would not allow them to put anyone to death. However, earlier in the same Gospel, they were planning to stone a woman caught in adultery. Wasn’t this a death sentence?
The earlier incident occurs in John 8:1–10. The second one appears in John 18:28–32. Regarding the woman caught in the act of adultery, the procurator was perhaps not in Jerusalem then. That may also have been the case when a group of Jews stoned St. Stephen to death outside Jerusalem (Acts 7:54–60).
Regarding the death of Jesus, the Roman procurator (Pontius Pilate) was already in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, the most likely time for any insurrection. Jewish authorities did not dare to execute Jesus while Pilate was in Jerusalem.
The Romans reserved capital punishment to themselves in order to demonstrate their control of a conquered people. Even so, that law could not be enforced in all places at all times.
Salvation for Extraterrestrials?
Programs on TV and newspaper or magazine articles about UFOs and life on other planets have caused me to ask: Did Jesus visit them also and die again on the cross to free them from sin? I don’t know what we should believe about UFOs and life on other planets.
God is in charge of the entire cosmos (everything created). Th e Bible describes salvation only for humans on planet Earth. We are free to speculate on various possibilities—as long as that speculation does not cause us to neglect our present responsibilities.
Were All the Evangelists Literate?
A woman friend of mine believes that Matthew and Luke were literate but that Mark and John were not. Is that true?
No, it is not. We are not positive that the people we identify as the writers of the Bible’s four Gospels, in fact, were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Th ese links come only in the second century AD. Whoever wrote each of these Gospels, however, was certainly literate.
Th e Church’s acceptance of these four Gospels into the New Testament canon (list of books) depended only on their content, not on their presumed authors. Otherwise, the Gospel of Th omas and Mary Magdalene—and others with similarly impressive titles—would be part of the New Testament.
Wearing a Tau Cross
As a layperson not belonging to the Secular Franciscan Order, am I allowed to wear a Tau cross? Can I wear it with knots? Because I have not taken the same vows, I’m not sure if it’s proper for me to wear the knots.
Yes, you can wear that cross—with or without knots on the cord to which it is attached.
A few years ago, I was in Franciscan Media’s booth at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California. Th at year we were giving away Tau crosses on cords. On the second day, someone complained bitterly that we should not be doing that because this person received the Tau cross only aft er completing the Secular Franciscan novitiate.
Although the Tau cross existed before St. Francis of Assisi, he popularized its use toward the end of his life. He also warned his friars as a general rule not to “appropriate” things. No one has exclusive rights over a certain type of cross. If you wear any type of cross, let it remind you of Jesus’ great love and also inspire loving words and actions on your part.
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