Following the example of a group of British cultural identities, a group of American Catholic and non-Catholic personalities have asked Pope Francis not to further restrict the traditional Latin Mass. Source: NCR Online.
“We come to you with the humility and obedience but also the confidence of children, telling a loving father of our spiritual needs,” wrote signatories in a letter titled “An Open Letter from the Americas to Pope Francis,” inspired by Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
“To deprive the next generation of artists of this source of mystery, beauty, and contemplation of the sacred seems shortsighted,” wrote the signatories, including composer Morten Lauridsen, international religious freedom advocate Nina Shea and Blanton Alspaugh, Grammy award-winning classical music record producer.
“All of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, recognise that this ancient liturgy, which inspired the work of Palestrina, Bach, and Beethoven and generations of great artists, is a magnificent achievement of civilization and part of the common cultural heritage of humanity,” they said, adding that “It is medicine for the soul, one antidote to the gross materialism of the postmodern age.”
Earlier in the month, 48 respected and widely known British signatories asked Francis the same in a July 2 letter published in The Times, praising the Latin Mass and warning against moves to unravel its “spiritual and cultural heritage.”
Joseph Shaw, chairman of the London-based Latin Mass Society, said he hoped the British prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Arthur Roche, would recognise the signatories and resist pressure to “crack down on the Mass” by “those opposed to it on principle.”
FULL STORY
Like British peers, prominent US figures ask pope not to further restrict traditional Mass (By Jonathan Luxmoore, OSV News via NCR Online)
