A local tradition.

I find the four views on the Tridentine Mass very helpful. They are all learned, well argued, and judicious. One thing I sorely miss is consideration of the possible impact of the restoration of the so-called Tridentine Mass on the churches of the global South, where the majority of Catholics now live. The orbit in which Summorum pontificum dwells is so European and North American. Ask an Asian or African Catholic what the Tridentine Mass, with its quaint rituals and the Latin language, means for them, whether it reveals "a secret place where Almighty God dwells hidden in our world, a foretaste of heaven amid the trials and disappointments of earthly mortality." It might, but at what cost to their native languages, cultures, and religious traditions? It might also appear as another attempt at colonizing, at exercising what has been called "white privilege." When will the Catholic Church begin to be truly catholic? When it does, the Tridentine Mass will appear to be what it really is, a local and even parochial liturgical tradition, not to be exalted above the other liturgical traditions that help us encounter the Absolute Mystery in fear and trembling and to build up a community in joy and solidarity.

PETER C. PHAN

Washington, D.C.