Old is the new new

The old Latin rite of Mass is officially reinstated today. It’s not easy to explain the significance of this to non-Catholics (or even to Catholics under the age of 50), but it’s as though Rome had closed all the great cathedrals of Europe and stripped them bare and had now decided to re-open them and reinstall the art treasures. The junking of the old Mass almost 40 years ago was quite simply an act of vandalism.

That is not to say (as my extreme extremist friends do) that the new Mass is invalid. Many of the abuses of the 1970s have been abandoned, and gimmicky celebrations are now largely confined to churches presided over by ageing trendies in unfashionable suburbs. The new Mass remains the “ordinary” rite of the Church and will continue to be used by most Catholics. All the same Benedict XVI’s liturgical counterrevolution, launched in the form of a “motu proprio” in July, is of enormous cultural and spiritual significance. For the back story, see Damian Thompson’s superb piece in the Spectator of 8 September. 

Meantime, to mark the liberation of the old liturgy, High Mass in the traditional rite is being celebrated at the Brompton Oratory at 7 tonight; music by Victoria and Monteverdi; nearest Tube, South Ken.. If you have a taste for beauty and tradition (and nice vestments), check it out. You can go to the 3:10 to Yuma tomorrow. And there will be free booze afterwards. Plus (and this is perhaps the best bit) there is absolutely no chance of bumping into Sir Christopher Hitchens.