So will the Pope cancel Miss Marple?

 In the Catholic blogosphere, there is a minor civil war going on about the Pope trying to cancel the Latin mass for good.

The reason, according to Cardinal Cupich, is that this is standing in the way of securing the legacy of Vatican II.

Why yes: but like the "racism"claim about anything that the wokes want to eliminate, this claim is only superficially true.

The Latin Mass community is the tip of the iceberg by lay folks who are tired of the PC hymns, bad sermons, abuse coverups, the pushing of the trendy green agenda while overlooking the concerns of ordinary people, and the elimination of the idea of transcendence, truth, and beauty by the PC reformers who run the church in many areas of the USA and west.

And a lot of laypeople (not just white folks: my AmerIndian patients said the same thing) objected when the reformers destroyed the beauty of churches by whitewashing the walls and removing the statues, and replaced the boring but pious worship of God with a service that too often is about me me ME, and that guy next to me who wants a quick feel under the guise of the sign of peace.

The Latin mass was often jabbered quickly to a congregation that didn't understand and didn't care, goes the argument. 

True. I remember those days. But not always. Because maybe we didn't say the same prayers, but the reverence of the mass allowed us to lift up our minds and hearts to God, helped by the atmosphere of holiness, and the idea that God was coming to us in the sacrament.

And that is the point: The old pre Vatican II mass emphasized God and the transcendence.

And the Latin mass has a depth to it that too often is missing in the modern masses: it has roots in history:

In the UK region, where Catholicism was persecuted for centuries, it was said on the Mass rocks of Ireland and in secret in English houses which often contained priest holes to hide the priest from the inquisitors.

Which brings us to the Agatha Christie.

From Wikipedia:

Following the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI to replace the Tridentine Mass in 1969–1970, a petition was sent to the Pope asking that the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite be permitted to continue for those who wished in England and Wales.

...the petition noted the exceptional artistic and cultural heritage of the Tridentine liturgy, and was signed by many prominent non-Catholic figures in British society, including Agatha Christie, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kenneth Clark, Robert Graves, F. R. Leavis, Cecil Day-Lewis, Nancy Mitford, Iris Murdoch, Yehudi Menuhin, Joan Sutherland and two Anglican bishops, those of Exeter and of Ripon.

Cardinal John Heenan approached Pope Paul VI with the petition and asked that use of the Tridentine Mass be permitted. On 5 November 1971, the Pope granted the request. Supposedly Paul had read the letter and exclaimed "Ah Agatha Christie!" and so decided to grant the request; giving the indult its nickname.

Because beauty matters: until modern times, the artist felt they had a mission to proclaim truth and beauty: not just in art and music, but in architecture, in ceremony, and in the beauty of the language used to express ourself.

headsup Fr Hunwike via Fr Z.

I was going to report the wonderful BBC Documentary with Roger Scuton: Why beauty matters, but it's been canceled by youtube or the BBC or someone else.

but it is still available at Internet archives: LINK or 

LINK

as for the mass: Thanks to Covid a lot of us were forbidden to attend. But that's another rant for another time.

M. Poirot call your office. We've lost the mass and can't find it.