Hva skjer når den gamle og den nye messen feires sammen?
Da jeg var på ferie i Østerrike for ei ukes tid og snakka med flere av mine venner blant korherrene i Klosterneuburg – tre som jeg kjente fra Bergen, og noen flere som jeg ble kjent med – var de ganske begeistra over pavens motu proprio om den tradisjonelle latinske messen. Flere av dem sa at det viktigste ved pave Benedikts bestemmelse er at nå kan de to måtene å feire messen må gjensidig berike hverandre, slik at vi på sikt får ei mer verdig messefeiring. (I den tysktalende verden feires messen ofte mye mindre høytidelig/ tradisjonelt/ verdig enn vi er vant til fra Norge.)
Jeg leste så nylig en artikkel om en menighet i Indiana i USA der både den nye og den gamle messen feires hver eneste søndag, og om hvikle positive frukter det har ført med seg:
Msgr. Schaedel has been pastor of Holy Rosary for the entire time that it has offered both forms of the Mass.
He said it took about three years for a good level of trust to be developed between those attached to the Mass in English and those who prefer the Latin Mass.
Msgr. Schaedel noted, however, that tensions weren’t related solely to liturgical questions. He said that longtime members of Holy Rosary were concerned that the parish, as they had known it, would be “phased out” when the traditional Latin Mass was introduced there.
Msgr. Schaedel now sees the dual liturgical life as a force of vitality for the parish. “It’s certainly enhanced the attendance, the activity around the parish, the number of young people, young families,” he said. “It’s probably more than tripled the income of the parish.”
According to Msgr. Schaedel, the attendance at the three Sunday Masses celebrated each weekend (two in English, one in Latin) is about equal.
Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter Father Michael Magiera celebrates the Tridentine Mass at Holy Rosary Church. Yet he emphasized that he is the associate pastor for the entire parish. “I take that very seriously,” he said. “I always make it a point of going out to greet those parishioners after the 4:30 p.m. [Saturday] English Mass and the noon Sunday English Mass.”
He said both he and Msgr. Schaedel help each other by distributing Communion at both the English and Latin Masses. Both will occasionally preach at all the weekend Masses, and Father Magiera occasionally plays the organ at English Masses.
“When you have such a good cooperation on the part of the clergy, the [parishioners] generally go along with that very well, and they don’t find it funny or anything,” Father Magiera said. “I think that they like it.”