Expert: Fr. Michael - 6/16/2007

Question
I have learned that to "concelebrate" a Mass is something the Tridentine Mass does not allow for (though I seem to recall that some ancient alternate liturgies (Eastern, etc.) may have had this a long time ago, but it is long since fallen into total disuse), and is today exclusively a Novus Ordo practice.
But in a solemn high Mass (Tridentine) with "roles" of "priest," "deacon," and "subdeacon," it may often occur that priests or even bishops might each take these various roles.
(My understanding is that each of these roles requires a man ordained to at least the degree called for, e. g. the "deacon" in the Mass must be at least ordained to the Deaconate, so the man serving that role could also be a priest or a bishop, where he could not be a Subdeacon, so one could conceivably have a Mass celebrated by three bishops, one serving as "priest" another as "deacon," and the third as "subdeacon," though all three men are in fact bishops)
But what I want to know is, if the Novus Ordo word "concelebrate" does not apply to this scenario, what IS the correct word for it?


Answer
The situation described is *not* concelebration, since only one priest is celebrating Mass; the others are assisting, whatever their clerical rank may be.  At a traditional pontifical (bishop's) Mass, there may be any number of priests assisting, but they are *not* concelebrating.

The Novus Ordo service is entirely different.  It is not a Catholic Mass, but a Protestantized worship service, a "New Order," as the devotees themselves say.