Mix and Match

I am much looking forward to the rolling out of the Ordinariate Ordo Missae tomorrow, Saturday evening at 6, in the Church of the Holy Rood, on the left as you go just a liiiitle way down the Abingdon Road after crossing Folly Bridge, which is the bridge you get to in Oxford as you go from Carfax South past Christ Church (well, Cardinal College, really; they quite often have Wolsey's flag flying) and then the Police Station (which featured so interminably in the Inspector Morse series).

(By the way, earlier on Saturday afternoon at 4.00, the Ordinariate will offer (same place) an Advent Carol service, followed by refreshments; giving you time to rest and fast before the Mass at 6. But you aren't 'expected' to go to both if you just want to go to one.)

An important thing about the Ordinariate Mass is this. It contains much loved elements of the Vetus Ordo Mass associated with the name of that great Saint, S Pius V. Praeparatio at the foot of the Altar; Last Gospel; and, most theologically significant, the proper, pre-Conciliar, Sacrificial, Offertory Prayers. And it combines these with elements, such as use of the vernacular, from the Novus Ordo.

This makes it a pointer towards the reconnection of the Novus Mass with the tradition that went before it. And it points also towards what Benedict XVI hoped for: an eventual convergence of the two Ordines.

Thus it is undoubtedly, together with Summorum Pontificum, one of the two most significant liturgical advances since 1969. Not just for former Anglicans, but for all Catholics with Tradition at heart.