Uniformity in the Mass

In 1965 the modernist clergy insisted that uniformity was not necessary for unity in the Church. They made this argument in order to get approval for the new form of the Mass (otherwise known as the "Novus Ordo"). In essence (whether you like how things came out in the end or not) this is true. It always was true. Back then there was only the "Latin Mass" in the western part of the Catholic Church, but the Eastern Catholics already had other forms of the Mass, so no one seems to have ever thought uniformity necessary.

To make it perfectly clear, uniformity in the Church would mean that everyone does Mass the same way; everyone does liturgy of the hours the same way; everyone does vestments the same way; you get the idea. That uniformity has never been existed in the Church (except maybe for the first decade after the resurrection of Christ when everything came from the Apostles themselves), so what was the reason for the argument back in the mid-1960's? It was because there had been uniformity (by default) in the western Church (alone) for the previous 500 years.

Why only 500 you may ask? Because before the protestant rebellion of the 16th century, the Sarum Mass (and a couple others) were used in the Church in addition to the "Latin Mass". At Trent, when the Sarum had gone into disuse because England was a liturgical disaster, Rome decided to limit the Mass to the Tridentine alone. Thus everyone got used to there being only one form in the west.

Then when there was a desire among the modernists to have "another" form of the Mass in the vernacular (and, essentially, break with every form of the Mass since the Apostles) they had to argue against the practice of uniformity, because history had made a unique experience for them at the time. It is quite an interesting historical twist.

Today, we have an interesting and contradictory twist. The very same "faction" who likes the Novus Ordo is now arguing for the necessity of uniformity (!) as a defense of their attack on the Latin Mass so that they can shut it down. Can you say "situational ethics"? Can you say "moral relativism"? I knew you could. I wonder if they realize that the only way to accomplish the uniformity that they promote is to eliminate all the Eastern forms of the Mass and the Divine Worship form used in the Ordinariates. It is probably too much hassle to think about details like that.