OCR Text |
Show : QUBT10IIS AMD AKSWERS ! Salt Lake City. Utah, Oct. 17. 1S39. To the Editor Intermountain Catholic. Dear Sir: Seeing in your last issue an answer to a query propounded by a correspondent, I would like to ask: First Why are your services all in Latin? Second Is the Latin language a part of Catholic belief? Third Would the services in the vernacular ver-nacular be contrary to the Church s teaching, or, what you term "infallible dogma" of faith? Having been present at your services on different occasions. I was at a osa to know what was really going on; hence these questions are asked by ANXIOUS INQUIRER. The questions asked by our corres- I pondent have been often asked and of- ten explained from the pulpit. ; Firs-t All Church services are not in the Latin language: for example, the ; marriage and burial services. Refer- j ence here is doubtless to 'the Mass , Some very gocd reasons exist for . usins ; the Latin Iansruaee. It was used from ; the beginning, and being unchangeable in doctrine, the Church did not wish to change her language. If her language changed with all the changes which are taking place around her, confusion would inevitably follow. Uniformity, is the first law of ;the Church. Hence the endeavors to have her greatest mystery the Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated everywhere with the same ceremonies and in the same language. Unity in celebrating the Divine Mysteries helps to preserve unity in faith, so much s-a that a learned writer declares that "if this unity had been always preserved in the east many of the schisms' which took place there would have been avoided." National, languages pave the way to national churches. The Church by preserving the Latin in-her liturgy, and requiring a knowledge knowl-edge of that language from all her ministers, min-isters, has secured for herself the literary liter-ary treasures of eighteen centuries. The j writings of most learned Doctors of the j Church the decrees of councils, canon and civil law are within her reach, j Hallam, writing of the middle ages, ad- j mits "that the sole hope of literature in those times depended on the Catholic Church; because wherever site existed the Latin language was preserved. Second No. Third We will promise by stating that "infallible dogma" is not precisely precise-ly correct. These two words embrace each other, like a "'true straight line." If true it is straight, and vice versa, if straight it Is true. So with "infallible "infalli-ble dogmas." In answer to the question we will say no. " Mass Is celebrated in Greek by the Melchite Catholics of the east, which comprise Syria, Jerusalem, Russia and the Kingdom of Greece. It is celebrated in Syria by the Catholic priests of Mt. Lebanon, the Maronites; the Babylonian Babylon-ian Catholics use the Chaldiac. language. lan-guage. The Slavonians got permission from Pope Adrian II in the ninth century cen-tury to use the Slavonic language. It is- still in use. Since the seventeenth century the Wallaehians, who were received re-ceived into the Church, have been using us-ing their own language. The Armenians, Armeni-ans, who inhabit Asia Minor. Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Africa. Italy and Russia, say Mass in their own language. lan-guage. The Copts, who live on the borders bor-ders of the Nile and number 100,000 persons, per-sons, say Mass in the Coptic tongue. The Abyssinians, two millions in population, popu-lation, say Mass in the Ethiopian language. lan-guage. Latin has been used in the entire west, and in parts of the east. Other langueges being used, it could not be a dogmatic teaching of the Church. It forms a part of her discipline, which may be changed. Dogmas- cannot be changed. |