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by Monsinor Klaus Gamber
The book Cardinal Ratzinger made famous
Here's a flashback from the early 1990s, our ad for Msgr. Klaus Gamber's then-controversial book on the "new"
and "old" rites of Mass. Now, Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict—and the Catholic world awaits his next moves
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Reform of the Roman Liturgy
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Quantity in Basket:
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Code: 1-92929-88-4
Price: $19.96
Shipping Weight: 1.00 pounds
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A startling headline in the National Catholic Reporter introduced a Religious News Service story that capped months of
simmering controversy. It read:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, powerful overseer of church
doctrine as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, says he would like to see altars in Catholic churches
turned around again.
After years in which priests celebrated Mass with their backs
turned to worshipers, altars were repositioned after the
Second Vatican Council (1963-65) so that the priest could
face the people....
‘I would say that, in a certain way, the priest has become too
important,’ [Ratzinger] said. ‘Those attending Mass must always
be looking at him. In reality, he is not nearly that important.’
Ratzinger said this exaggerated importance given the role of
the priest has played a part in the feminist conviction of the
need for women to become priests....
The 66-year-old cardinal was interviewed by the Italian
weekly Il Sabato, which published his comments on April 24,
and by Religious News Service, after publication of a 27-line
preface he wrote in a book by the late German priest and
liturgist Klaus Gamber.
The book argues that changing the altar’s position so the
priest could face the people was far from being a return to
early church practice as many contend. In reality, Gamber
says, it was a reversal of ancient tradition of the priest and
congregation facing east while worshiping.
Ratzinger said Gamber’s arguments make historical sense and
are persuasive.
Msgr. Gamber’s book is now available in English, exclusively
from Roman Catholic Books.
In his preface to the French edition, Cardinal Ratzinger calls
Gamber a ‘model’ liturgist, and notes that the late Monsignor
was ‘an outcast’ for his views. Sample Msgr. Gamber:
The modification, ordered by Paul VI, of the words of
Consecration and of the phrase that follows, utilized in the
Roman Liturgy for more than 1500 years, had not been
foreseen by the Council and was not at all useful for pastoral
needs. The translation of ‘pro multis’ [‘for many’] to ‘for all,’
which refers to modern theological conceptions and is not to
be found in any ancient liturgical text, is dubious and has
scandalized some.
This is why the artisans of the New Rite of the Mass cannot
speak for the Council, even though they continue to do so. The
instructions of the Council are written in a general manner and
remain open to diverse solutions. In any case one thing is
certain, which is that the Novus Ordo Missae would not have
received the approval of the majority of the Council Fathers.
If one leaves unchanged the ancient rite as it is and continues
to use it side by side with the new—but as something living
and not a museum piece!—one will have preserved, for the
entire Church, such as She displays herself to all nations, an
important element for the future: the unity of worship.
Roman Catholic Books
Plenty of problems could be resolved
in the Church by the strict separation
between the [traditional] Roman Rite
and the New Liturgy... and through
the possibility of offering to the
faithful the use of the two forms of
Mass. Above all, this would diminish
the risk of a major schism: the
legitimate demands of innumerable
Catholics in favor of the traditional
celebration of the liturgy would be
satisfied, without having neglected
the desire of the others to have a ‘contemporary’ Mass.
You could object that the solution proposed here of using
two parallel rites could disturb the ecclesial unity of the
parishes. We would respond that, in the organization of the
Church, and above all in the East, there have been at all
times many rites recognized by Rome. No one should be
surprised therefore if, equally in the Roman Church, two
forms of Mass coexisted side-by-side—at least for a certain
time. But only if we actually had two! At the moment there
are, as we know, innumerable rites, numbers of priests
‘arranging’ the Mass entirely according to their own way.
The new arrangement of the liturgy, and above all the
profound modifications in the rite of Mass which have
occurred during the pontificate of Paul VI, and have now
become obligatory, have been more radical than the reform of
Luther—at least in that which concerns the exterior rite.
Is this the most important Catholic book
in a decade or more? Judge for yourself.
“Needs to be widely circulated and should be studied in
every seminary….The false assertion that in the early
Church the priest faced the people must be corrected.
Parish priests should know that they were victims of
propaganda…bishops who ordered altars to be
removed, rebuilt and even destroyed were
misinformed….It is to be hoped that Msgr. Gamber’s
work and Cardinal Ratzinger’s interest in it may cause
interest and discussion in this country as it has in
France.”—Msgr. Richard J. Schuler, Sacred Music
“Anyone interested in the liturgy of the Church will
find much to reflect on in this scholarly book. At the
end the author argues that the Roman Rite, with some
adaptations, should be restored to equal dignity along
with the Novus Ordo, which should be retained for
now ad experimentum.”—Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ,
Homiletic and Pastoral Review
Illustrated softcover
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