Pastor's Corner: Cardinal Koch on the Traditional Mass(Title edited)

[Dawn Marie]

	Cardinal Koch: successor of controversial Cardinal Kasper, in the “advanced” Commission for the Unity of Christians, objects to obliteration of the traditional Mass First Sunday of October 2011: Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Cardinal Koch indeed claimed that the disappearance of the traditional Roman Mass could be equated to an attempt to obliterate the scandal provoked, as said the Apostle, by the Cross of Christ. For the sake of ecumenism, as it was often said?
Except that, paradoxically, this disappearance was also a catastrophe on the point of view of the image offered by the Catholic Church in relation to the Orthodox, Anglicans and numerous Lutherans. The more one wishes to please man, this is well known, the less we deserve their interest if not their esteem? The participants in the Angelicum Colloquy on the theme of the extraordinary form of the Roman liturgy  heard him explain that if the defenders of the liturgical reform had justified the Novus Ordo by its ecumenical spirit, this could not be expect by the Usus antiquior simply because this latter is the guarantee of theological continuity. Yet, the cardinal went further: Formerly one spoke naturally of the Eucharist as of the “sacrifice of the Mass”. Today, this vision is less frequent, or simply forgotten if not utterly put aside. No dimension of the Eucharistic mystery has been more contested after Vatican II than the definition of the Eucharist as a sacrifice—both the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and sacrifice of the Church—, to the point that we may fear that this fundamental data of Catholic faith in the Eucharistic be totally forgotten. He concludes that we should return to the liturgy of the Fathers “turned towards the Lord.” It is interesting to notice that, as Angelicum Colloquy was abundantly commented on by the L’Osservatore Romano, the latter had obliterated the comments of the disturbing prelate contesting the obliteration of the Mass of All Time.

http://www.sspx.org/pastors_corner/pastors_corner_october_2011.htm#...

[Dawn Marie]

Cardinal Koch on Ecumenism, Assisi III etc.

http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/cardinal-koch-on-ec...

Posted on September 30, 2011 by teresa

Recently gloria.tv did a very interesting interview with Cardinal Koch. Here is my summary of this interview.

1. Ecumenism with Orthodox and Protestant Christians
Cardinal Koch tells the interviewer that the Church conducts interfaith dialogue with 16 different churches. He says that the big difference between the Orthodox Church and the churches which are developed out of and after the Reformation lies in the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has a common basis in Faith with the Orthodox Church, but a very different culture, whilst our Church shares a common culture with the Protestant denominations, but differs with them in the basis of Faith. Among the Protestant denominations there is now a strong tendency of returning to the roots of the Faith, and this tendency can be a starting point of ecumenism with the Protestant denominations.

2. The relationship of the Uniated Churches with the Orthodox Church
Cardinal Koch says, the problem is mainly that Orthodox Christians don’t see the Uniatism as a solution to Christian Unity. There is a kind of difficult psychological situation between the Uniated Eastern Churches and the Orthodox Church. But Cardinal Koch makes clear that for him, the Uniated Churches can take over the function of building bridges between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church, because the Uniated Eastern Churches have their roots, especially in regard of Liturgy, in the Eastern Tradition, but, on the other hand, they are in communion with Rome. In old days, they were not taken seriously by either side, as they were too “Eastern” for the Roman Catholics, but again too “Romish” for the Orthodox Christians. But today, we must learn to appreciate their positive side. In the Canonical Law Codes for Eastern Churches it is stressed, that the Uniated Eastern Churches have a most important position in regaining the Unity between Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

3. the SSPX and the CDF
To the question of the interviewer, why the CDF but not the PCPCU (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) is responsible for the negotiation with the SSPX, Cardinal Koch answers that the SSPX only went their own way and moved from the Church after the Vat.II, whilst the Western and Eastern Churches have been separated for 1000 years. The Holy Father opened a gate for the SSPX to bring them back to communion, after he lifted the excommunication of the four SSPX bishops.

4. Assisi and Syncretism
Cardinal Koch makes it clear that the public misunderstood Assisi greatly. There was no joint action of praying between different religions, so there was not a slightest suspicion of Syncretism. Different religions prayed separately in Assisi. He said, under Pope Benedict XVI, people don’t have to worry at all. The main message of Assisi is Peace and Justice, which all religions hold to be desirable and good. Beside people of other faiths, Pope Benedict finds it very important to reach out to the Agnostics, because they are people who are in search of Truth. They are invited to have a intensified dialogue with the Church, to talk about the relationship between Faith and Reason. The meeting at Assisi with people from other religions and agnostics can be compared to the biblical picture of the county yard of the temple. We believe our Faith to be true, so it can also be brought to all members of mankind. That is why the dialogue with people from other backgrounds is needed. The main questions of the next Assisi meeting should be the reflection upon the obligations of the Church in the world, in face of Peace and Justice, and then the dialogue with other religions about how people of different faiths can help each other in this aspect. Though people will pray in Assisi, but not together, so there is not the slightest danger of syncretism.

5. Ecumenism in the Catholic Church
The interviewer mentions two problems: the documents from the Holy See and Vatican are not always taken seriously enough; the liturgical abuses. Cardinal Koch says it is really a problem of communication between the Holy See and the Dioceses and Parishes. The Communication in the Church should be improved. In regard of the liturgical abuses he tells us that liturgy is just the top of an iceberg. But in the liturgy one can see very clearly what the situation of our Faith today is like. And there are really a lot of differences today in the Catholic Church herself, so he thinks it is really very important to establish a unity in the Church herself. We can only have a trustworthy dialogue with other confessions, when we are not quarrelling among ourselves.

6. Old Mass
The Cardinals says, the Tridentine Mass had been celebrated for centuries. Today we have a baleful situation that people often try to contrast the two forms of Rites: one pre-Vatican-II rite and the new rite after Vat. II, one has to choose either this or that. This kind of view reflects the mentality of a rupture from the Tradition. We must apply the Hermeneutic of Continuity of the Holy Father, and see the two forms of Rite as complementary and enriching to each other. If we contrast these two forms of Rite and think we must chose either one of them, we will be in a very difficult situation. The Council didn’t make a new Church, it intended only a renewed Church, the same Church as the Church before Vat.II. Thus, it is very important for today, that these two forms of ONE RITE are not seen as oppositions, but instead as an mutual enrichment to each other, like the Holy Father wrote in his “Summorum Pontificum. Cardinal Koch is asked whether he will celebrate in the Tridentine Rite, he says that he has never celebrated in this rite as he was ordained in 1980.