I
t is always edifying to experience a Novus Ordo liturgy that manages to be what the Second Vatican Council actually had in mind. I recently had the pleasure of concelebrating such a Mass — a pontifical Mass, to boot — at Holy Ghost Church in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the occasion of that parish’s 100th anniversary. Under the leadership of its pastor, Father Jay Finelli, Holy Ghost has come to exemplify the reform of the postconciliar reform encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI (see, for example, here and here and here). Its Ordinary Form Masses retain Latin prayers and chant, are prayed ad orientem, and are blessedly devoid of the (no longer) extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion used all too illicitly in many parishes. (Mass in the Extraordinary Form is offered on the first Sunday of every month and on certain other occasions.) For photos of the centennial Mass, click here.
