It's not inconceivable that both languages might be used (in addition to the Greek and Hebrew). Arguably, that would be in accord with the vision of the Council Fathers.

Pray, Sniff's Hon. Prop. has since clarified his point, which is since that the Mass of Paul VI was promulgated, masses that have been part of Papal visits have been celebrated in the vernaculars of the countries visited.

Pray provided the news, and it is normal to hat tip the source.

So sorry about comment delays! I love the new engine but sick of its moderating fussiness!

Oh, Adam, it's a rough Internet out there.

But I think it's overreaching to suggest that it's impious to make fun of a priest's blog; or that it's vulgar and tasteless to portray its attitudes as haughty. (I assume that's what "sniff" conveys -- I don't happen to read that blog myself.)

But your kind thoughts for Fr. Ruff, who does so much good and is a friend to so many here, are admirable.

I, too, think that smart aleck remarks should at least be clever.

I have a very high regard for Fr. Ruff, but am continually shocked at his blog. It's the oddest thing, how the same individual can, as a practitioner, strive to recover the deep strong heritage of beauty, and meanwhile, as a theoretician, champion the flimsiest liturgical thought du jour.

Kathy

I suspect that what seems to be flimsy to you is a thought process that you are coming at from a different angle than Fr Ruff. Fr Ruff is coming at things from within a lived experience of a Benedictine communion that inherited a great tradition, but a tradition that was also evolving in the generations before (even before Vatican II) and of his entrance into the order. He has concepts, but they are not necessarily organized in the same order in which you might organize them or perceive them to be organized in the liturgical documents. I would be more careful of thinking his thinking is flimsy. What it is not is brittle. There are many people who come at these questions with a strong but fairly brittle ideological bent, and Fr Ruff is not one of them.

About what in particular? Because he defies the usual segregation of positions one finds elsewhere.

"Pray, Sniff" is a reference to Fr. Ruff's attitude to many Catholics who think differently to him, at least as evidenced by his Blog (I'm sure that outside of it he's the nicest chap). It sums up his style as pithily as I can manage. If you'd like an example, just look at his response some time ago to Jeffrey Tucker's honest and exploratory musings on active participation and singing at Mass. Patronising and intellectually lazy doesn't do it justice.

Oh dear - I should have stuck to pithy.

Kathy

The process of late has not been pretty. The radio silence in some quarters about the current post-recognitio fiddling doesn't make it any prettier. Fr Ruff's concerns are both principled and practical, and more focused on the more recent aspects of the process than the 1990s wars (by contrast, there are others whose aggrievement is more obviously traced to the 1990s; eg, Paul Inwood, who manages to play progressive when it suits him but becomes terribly establishmentarian when his guild and network appear threatened - Mr Inwood and Fr Ruff should not be conflated or confused).

Oh, let's get back on topic. I promise not to mention that sad place again on this thread.

It will be good to hear both the vernacular and the Church's own languages in the Papal liturgies, if that's what's planned. What a marvellous example it would be of the Council's vision.