If a Law Isn't Accepted, It Is Essentially No Law at All. Traditionis? Time Will Tell. Novus Ordo? Time Has Told.

Fr Zed argues, and quite persuasively, that the Pauline Rite has never actually been accepted and is therefore null and void and no law at all.

From Fr Z's Blog

In another post I mention reception theory regarding law, specifically Traditionis custodes.

If a law isn’t accepted by the group for whom it is intended, it is essentially no law at all.

One could, by this, contend that laws that were properly written and properly promulgated and were taken to be laws are, de facto if not de iure, zero.  How would one tell if they were zero?   People don’t obey them.

Remember, this applies to the Church’s disciplinary laws, not the Church’s moral teachings.

Let’s see if this applies to Traditionis custodes.  Time will tell.  And I remind the readership about 3.5% and the difference they can make.

I think we can argue that the Novus Ordo is, now, “no law at all” de facto and that there is evidence to support that view.  That doesn’t mean it wasn’t duly promulgated, etc.  It just hasn’t been accepted.

Consider the following.  The Novus Ordo was not universally accepted.  Why can we say that?

Almost 5 years after the imposition of the Novus Ordo Missae by Paul VI, on 28 October 1974, the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued the Notification Conferentiarium Episcopalium which insisted that bishops “should …endeavor to secure the acceptance of the Order of the Mass of the New Roman Missal by priests and laity.”

“…endeavor to secure the acceptance…”?!?

It was not being received.

In 1980, another document was issued, Inaestimabile donum, which outlined the many abuses which had arisen over the decade.   Where there are abuses there is non-reception, ironically by those who say they accept it – and only it.  They say they accept it and the they twist it into something that it is not.  When you receive, you “Say The Black – Do The Red”.

In 1984, John Paul II issued Quattuor abhinc annos which gave an (as we now know unnecessary) “indult” for the use of the 1962 Missale Romanum.   Apparently the Novus Ordo Missae wasn’t universally received, if enough people wanted the old ways that even John Paul II, who was wholly uninterested in this matter, acquiesced.

In 1988, John Paul II issued the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta opening up greater use of the traditional Missal and even commanding “generosity” on the part of bishops.  How you command generosity from bishops is a good question.   But the SSPX forced the question and that question could not have been asked if there had been universal reception.

In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued the Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, which, as various document before, had to deal with manifestations of non-reception of the Novus Ordo, that is, abuses.  Remember: liturgical abuses are manifestations of non-reception.

In 2007, Benedict XVI issued the Traditional Roman Rite’s “Emancipation Proclamation” with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

That’s some background and data about “reception theory” applied to the liturgical disciplinary issues we see today.

In 2021, Francis issued his landmark decision about the growing desire for the Traditional Roman Rite in his “Plessy V. Ferguson” called Traditionis custodes.   The fact that he is trying to suppress the TLM is more proof that, far from being universally received, the Novus Ordo Missae is being rejected.

Some reject it because of what they see as doctrinal deficiencies.  The majority of those who want Tradition reject it, not out of disdain but simply because they prefer the older form.   Others flee to the Vetus Ordo because the Novus Ordo is so appallingly abused at their parishes that they can’t stand it any more.

Now consider the risible claim – nay rather, demand – that we all lobotomize ourselves and openly admit that the Novus Ordo is the only expression of the Roman Rite.   Firstly, that is incoherent, since TC allows the use of the Vetus Ordo.  Sort of contradictory.  Second, it is apparent to any one with half a brain that the Novus Ordo isn’t the only expression. It can’t be.

The use of the Novus Ordo is often so unlike and inconsistent from place to place that you can’t possibly claim that the Novus Ordo has been accepted as such.  The Novus Ordo can be celebrated very much in keeping with Tradition (chant, ad orientem, Latin, vestments, etc.).  Or else, whatever the hell this is ….

Or this…

 

Or… in Chicago… where the Institute priests are being blackmailed into signing something that denies their very apostolate for the right to say Mass openly and hear confessions…

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And this, in Chicago, last Sunday, 31 July 2022. The only expression of the Roman Rite, but the Institute is being choked by Cupich. BTW… just click pretty much anywhere on the video’s time line. Really.