Tempest in a Teapot

UPDATE So I was wrong. He did change the prayer. I have miscalculated. Mea culpa.

If you have read the rather small collection of posts I've amassed here, you know that I have two habits that will continue in this post. First off, I am late to the sky on writing about this--every other blog I read has already covered it, and here I am, days later, finally speaking on the issue. Part of this is laziness, part is lacking time when I'm not being lazy. A big part of it is that I want to analyze the issue and form my opinion before I go off half-cocked (a phrase that originated with flintlock rifles in the 18th century; while loading and preparing to fire a rifle, it was set at "half-cock," which means that the part of the lock that held the flint was pulled back halfway, rather than "full-cock," which would enable the gun to fire. To go off half-cocked is to fire before the gun is ready in spite of the safety device of sorts that lay in the half-cock stop mechanism. This going off half-cocked usually resulted in exceptional surprise, partial deafness, and occasionally burns and death. But I digress. A whole lot).

The other habit you will notice is that when I am trying to generate content for this blog, I occasionally draw from other things I've written--sometimes my better posts on the Catholic Answers Forum. I promise you that this post is a continuation of both habits, which I don't expect to try and break anytime soon. It seems to be working--not all habits are bad, after all (tell that to the Sisters of Mercy down the street, though. God how I love double meanings).

Lately, the Catholic blogosphere has been buzzing with the rumor that the Pope is going to edit the Good Friday prayers for the conversion of the Jews in the 1962 Missal. This has caused an uproar among more traditionally-minded readers of a number of blogs, but honestly I think it's a lot of fuss over nothing. From my post at the Catholic Answers Forum:

I'm with all those who say we should just watch and wait. I think this is a lot of pink smoke over an unsubstantiated rumor, and if you ask me it's a media effort to make the Pope look bad after the La Sapienza incident turned around to be positive for the Holy Father (students showed up at his Angelus to show support in spite of their fellow students protesting just days before). If you are familiar at all with the thought of Pope Benedict as evidenced by his copious scholarly writings, such a change would be the exact opposite of what he believes in. This would completely go against the thinking behind Summorum Pontificum, not to mention most of His Holiness' work on liturgical theology.

I think this is a tempest in a teapot, and all in all, it doesn't add up. Like any tempest, I expect this to blow over pretty soon.




Here is a link to the relevant discussion on Catholic Answers Forum.
For well thought out, excellently clear commentary on the issue, check out Fr. Z's blog here.