When work has me out of town, I like to drop in on a daily Mass. There are, of course, the spiritual benefits of assisting at the Holy Sacrifice, but I enjoy it as a kind of anthropological exercise as well, enabling me to see how the practice of the Universal Church takes on the character of different cities and cultures, and – I will admit – to judge how the liturgical life of each place measures up against the standards I carry in my head.
When, not long ago, I found myself rather suddenly on a business trip in Beijing, I was glad to learn that there was a Mass at the cathedral which I might attend at 6am before my meetings on Monday. And I was all the more pleased to learn that this first Mass of the day was a Latin Mass. It seemed an opportunity not to be missed, and so I resolved to rise early (not difficult, given the jet lag) and see for myself what form traditional liturgy might take in the People’s Republic.
