"The Novus Ordo Question"  by Robert T. Hart  (52 pgs.)

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About This Title

This booklet was initially written by the author as a letter to himself.  He wrote it as an aid to help him reason out his gut-level feeling that perhaps he (and Catholics in general) should not be attending Novus Ordo Masses, but instead, seek out only the trustworthy Traditional (Tridentine) Latin Mass.  Certainly the sacrileges one almost always has to endure while attending the New Mass are difficult to endure.  Yet, in researching the subject, he found there was something deeper and more objective to The Novus Ordo Question than just having to personally endure sacrileges or to participate in practices that, in his own opinion, did not build up the Faith.

For instance, the former head of the Holy Office, Cardinal Ottaviani, stated in his famous letter of alarm to Pope Paul VI concerning the New Mass: "...the Novus Ordo Missæ...represents, as a whole and in detail, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Holy Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent, which, by fixing definitively the 'canons' of the rite, erected an insurmountable barrier against any heresy which might attack the integrity of the Mystery."

He also found that Pope Benedict XVI has shown clear displeasure with the Novus Ordo.  In his book The Spirit of the Liturgy (written when he was the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith), he called the New Mass a "fabricated liturgy...a banal on-the-spot product," which has divorced itself from the proper "organic, living process of growth and development" that takes place "over centuries."  (Ratzinger, J., The Spirit of the Liturgy, pp. 165-6.  San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000.)

The author found many other surprises which have serious and far reaching effects contributing to the current crisis in the Church.  For those who have not already looked below the surface to discover the grave problems with the Novus Ordo (even in its original Latin form), we believe this booklet will be a real eye-opener!  Once read, we believe you will want to copy this booklet and distribute it to fellow Catholics.

How many Catholics do we see today who attend the New Mass weekly (or even daily) and yet — because the "insurmountable barrier" has been removed allowing for the present "attack on the integrity of the Mystery" — are losing their Faith!  For instance, many such souls have lost their Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  It would also seem that the majority have lost their understanding of the Divine Sacrifice that takes place at Mass!  To avoid the guilt of silently participating in sacrilege and to safeguard our Catholic Faith, should faithful Catholics avoid this New Mass and rather attend only the Traditional Latin (Tridentine) Mass or the un-tampered-with Liturgies of the Catholic Eastern Rites?

This then, is "The Novus Ordo Question"!  As long as the present crisis in the Church continues, each one must decide before God how he will answer that question...