The Irish Times has today published an article entitled Mass in the vernacular 50 years old this year by historian and journalist Brian Maye.

The article was clearly heavily influenced by this blog, which is not linked to or credited. For example the article states that Archbishop John Charles McQuaid “found it very difficult to adapt to the rapidly changing Catholic Church of the 1960s.” I wrote on 7 June 2011 that Archbishop McQuaid “found it very hard to adapt to the rapidly changing Church of the 1960s”. My post also stated that Archbishop McQuaid was “a lover of Latin language and culture”; the article in the Irish Times states that Archbishop McQuaid “loved the Latin language and culture”. I also quoted Xavier Rynn in that post in support of my characterisation of his attitude to liturgical reform; the substance of that very same quote is subsequently paraphrased by the author for the same purpose.

The Irish Times article states that:

The Columban missionary Fr Seán Coyle has remarked about the Irish Catholic hierarchy and Vatican II: “The Irish bishops seemed to convey a sense of obedience: ‘This is what we’ve been asked to do and we’ll do it.’ As I recall, they didn’t keep the people particularly well informed about the council. Those who did were journalists.”

This ‘remark’ was actually part of an interview that I did with Fr Seán Coyle and posted on this site on 28 July 2011.

The article extensively quotes an Irish episcopal statement on the liturgy from November 8th, 1964 and Archbishop McQuaid’s 1965 sermon on Vatican II – all of which I have posted in full on this blog. (The article also uses language characteristic of me: the article refers to “the Irish hierarchy’s” statement “on the introduction of the vernacular in the liturgy”; I titled the post “Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Introduction of the Vernacular in the Liturgy“.)

Incidentally, the author’s claim that “the first vernacular Masses were read in Irish Catholic churches on March 7th, 1965” is misleading; the Roman Canon remained only in Latin until December 1st 1968.

At least he was correct about the exact date of the introduction of the vernacular to the liturgy. I wonder where he might have got that information from.