viva Papa Benedetto & Msgr. Guido Marini
I was very impressed with the well orchestrated logistics employed by the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. The Papal Mass was well planned at all levels. All I had to bring was an alb and red stole. I sat with my friend, Fr. Dennis Dalessandro, pastor of St. Andrew, Waynesboro. We were just a few rows from other priests of the Diocese of Harrisburg and surrounded by clergy from Washington, Arlington, Baltimore, Allentown, et al.
The altar was prepared according to the liturgical prescriptions of His Holiness with a conspicuous crucifix and seven candles on it. Everything was done REVERENTLY and PROPERLY according to the rubrics. The Ordinary Form of the Roman Missal was celebrated with full solemnity. Hopefully, bishops and priests across the USA will duplicate Pope Benedict's attention to lex orandi, lex credendi. No liturgical abuses, no aberrations and no nonsense. Imagine, if this took place in EVERY cathedral and every parish in the world? We would have to build new seminaries and noviates. And this is precisely B16's plan. The more people SEE and EXPERIENCE the proper reverence demanded by the Ordinary and the Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite, the more they will mutually reinforce in each expression the organic and intrinsic need to identify the SACRED. The HOLY and Sacred mysteries of our faith deserve nothing less than our full, complete, active and conscious participation. This can only be done REVERENTLY and of course PROPERLY (in accord with the rubrics). Off-the-cuff, spontantaneous and innovative machinations have no place in divine worship.
Now, if we could just coordinate more consistent use of appropriate liturgical music and chant in every sacred celebration,
