The 'Missa Normative'

Question — What exactly is the meaning of the phrases which are continuously being handfed about in the Cat hone Press just now, "Normative Mass" and "Missa Norma( iva"?
A.H., Edinburgh
Answer—To be honest, I think that both the English phrase "Normative Mass" and the Latin or Italian phrase "Missa Normativa" are unfortunate and misleading. Of course, the question of what name we give to the new form of Mass is not of world-shaking importance and is of far less consequence than the matter of conscience on which I was discoursing last week but perhaps this little tale will be of some interest. The origin of these two odd phrases is quite simple. As we know, the new Order of Mass is to be generally introduced in Britain on February 15 and it has already been used in a number of parishes up and down the country. The truth of the matter is that it is very far from being a radical departure from the traditional liturgical forms hut, when it was first planned by the liturgical back-room experts in Rome, this was far from clear and so, in the course of the Bishops' Synod during the autumn of 1967, an opportunity was taken to demonstrate the new Order before this representative gathering from all over the Catholic world, It was on this occasion two years ago that the rather odd term "Normative Mass" originated. The point of the phrase was that the form of Mass used in front of the bishops was intended as a norm or standard for the average parish celebration. In other words, in the mind of those in charge of the liturgical reform, the average Sunday Mass should involve, not only a priest and congregation, but a reader, servers, and a small group to lead the singing. The standard at which we are to aim is not the usual flat form, still found all too often in our own country, where everything is simply said and there is no singing; again, the standard or norm is not to be the Mass where the priest says everything himself; the standard is to he a Mass with some singing, with readers to read the lessons, with someone to announce the invocations of the Prayer of the Faithful, and so on. On the other hand, it is equally clear that the standard for a parish celebration is not an elaborate ceremony with a bishop and a deacon and a horde of priests in the sanctuary. Thus it came about that the new Order was christened "Missa Normativa" or "Normative Mass" and it looks as if these names are going to stick. My own feeling is that it is a pity we cannot adopt the habit of calling the new arrangements the "new Order of Mass" and then, when in a short time the Tridentine Mass is a thing of the past, the ceremonial and the way in which we all fulfil our different roles at Mass would simply be called the "Order of Mass."