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>>>Actually Brendan is fairly far off the mark. All one hasto do is pick up one of the "advanced" liturgical studies from the
1950's or even earlier, and you see the basic outline of the Latin liturgical reform already in place. Either these scholars
and pastors were evil men practicing the occult with an ability to predict the future, or the liturgical reform was something
that developed and not crafted on the back of a napkin by some committee while having lunch at the Casa de Gustibus.<<<

Sorry, Kurt, but this is not correct. The fundamental principles of liturgical reform were developed by the liturgical movement in the 1940s and 50s, and these formed the foundation for Sacrosanctum Concilium. And the mandate given to the Vatican II Liturgical Commission was identical to that of the Tridentine Liturgical Commission: to restore the Roman rite to its "pristine" patristic state. Like the Tridentine commission, the Vatican II commission failed to meet this objective. But while the Tridentine Commission failed because it lacked the texts and the analytical tools needed to do the job, the Vatican II commission failed because it wandered away from its mandate. That this is true is manifested by the repudiation of the liturgical reform's results by many of the leaders of the liturgical movement--Gregory Botte, Louis Bouyer, and others.

As to the Vatican II Commission operating in great secrecy, or at least, insularity, with little input from the hierarchy or the laity, that is documented by historian Aidan Nichols in his "Looking at the Liturgy".

Regarding the implementation of the reform, it is clear that the laity were not prepared well, nor for that matter were the clergy. Either through ignorance or willfulness, the reforms in many places were implemented in a manner that undermined their purpose. Just how far short the implementation came is documented by Serge Kelleher, in his article "What Ever Happened to the Liturgical Movement?" Many of the criticisms of the implementation are reiterated by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in his new book on the liturgy.

It is also clear, from the size of the Catholic Traditionalist movement and the continued advocacy of the Tridentine Mass, to say nothing of the liturgical chaos within the Latin Church, that it has NOT been received by the Latin Church, but is still very much "up in the air" with many competing visions of what Liturgy is and should be.

So, while I do appreciate your recognition of my profound theological insights, please do not take my name in vain, invoking me to support your own unique positions.

Well, Stuart, all I can say that by my own eyes, I've read these books published in the 1950's by the Liturgical Movement that with almost perfect accuracy call for what was later done. I wish I had this skill at the race track.

New York City, Washington, DC and a host of other cities have regular Sunday Tridentine Masses easily accessable to all, and which have plenty of empty pews. While hundreds of nearby parishes celebrate the new Roman Mass. People can vote with their feet and don't.

Fr. Serge's critics are interesting, but not the last word. He does have a tremendous insight when he decries the �passion for uniformity and a terror of pluralism.� in the implemenation of the new Roman Mass. Here again, it is the lazy conservatives who are the villian. They seem to be on auto-pilot when saying Mass. Show me a parsih that employs the full range of AUTHORIZED and LEGITIMATE variations in the mass, and I wil show you a parish that is considered progressive by common understanding.


K.

[This message has been edited by Kurt K (edited 08-15-2001).]

Dear Kurt,

I agree with you, but perhaps for different reasons.

We have a strong Tridentine movement up here with several parishes now offering the Tridentine Liturgy.

We also have a number of parishes and one Cathedral which is with the breakaway Tridentine groups.

From a sociological point of view, I hardly think these parishes would constitute a serious challenge to the majority of the Latin Church who follow the Novus Ordo Mass.

However, there are many who attend the Novus Ordo Mass but who might wish for a return to the Tridentine Liturgy.

Others may just not want to be bothered by it all and might even be happy that the Mass is "shorter" etc. Serious sociological work in this area has yet to be done.

But liturgy is not about how many are "fer it and how many are agin it."

The principles elucidated by the liturgical reform commission are excellent and we should all follow them.

The issue raised by Stuart is perfectly valid and he offers more than sufficient evidence to defend his position, shared by others in this respect.

But this is a matter for theologians and bishops.

At the parish level of the Latin Church, I participate in the Novus Ordo Masses whenever I can't get to a Greek Catholic Church, an OCA parish, Oriental Orthodox Church etc.

What I find are people gathered around the Table of the Lord, eating His Body, drinking His Blood, and then singing a song of love!

If the Church decides to alter the Novus Ordo, go back, run from or do whatever, the point is that the People of God at the parish level will continue to offer their sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as the Spirit inspires and moves them.

And that is what is really all that is important.

I have also come across independent Western-Rite Orthodox communities (uncanonical, of course . . .) who make use of the Novus Ordo Rite.

As for our theologians, let's remember what Blessed Pope John XXIII said to a visitor at the Vatican. He asked him, "Are you a theologian?" The fellow replied, "No, Holy Father, I am not."

To this the Pope said, "Deo Gratis! Neither am I!"

Alex (also not a theologian)

For what it is worth:

(note the fruits of the Council now taken for granted in the Latin Church: liturgical year rather than clutered calendar, new Lectionary with 450 rather than 100 Scripture readings, dialogue Mass, frequent communion, community Mass rather than para-liturgical devotions even during Mass, etc.)


A PROUD TRADITION:
Young Rector Brought Liturgical Movement to Mundelein
by Rev. Robert L Tuzik


During the 1930s, many liturgists provided leadership to the social action movement and many social activists were concerned about liturgy. They believed that a fundamental renewal of the whole Christian life in all its aspects was the scope and task of the liturgical apostolate.

The much needed reconstruction of society would occur as a result of the renewal of the Christian spirit, whose source and center was the liturgy. If the ultimate purpose of Catholic action is to christianize society, then the renewal of the liturgy must undoubtedly play a decisive role in achieving this goal.

Among the leaders of the liturgical and social action movements in this country was a young priest by the name of Reynold Hillenbrand. In April 1936, Cardinal George Mundelein appointed Hillenbrand rector of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. Hillenbrand, only 31, was probably the youngest rector of a pontifical faculty in the world.

Hillenbrand inherited a seminary that had been strictly formed on the Roman model which accepted passivity in liturgical celebration. Hillenbrand began to make changes in the life of the seminary almost immediately. He took over the course in liturgy taught by the former rector, J. Gerald Kealy. In this course, he taught the seminarians the connection between liturgy and social justice.

Hillenbrand described his liturgy course in these words: "The course must have in mind that the people need what Pius X advocated, an active participation in the Mass. Only the doctrines of supernatural life and the Mystical Body will give both priests and laity the proper background for active participation. "

In addition to his liturgy course, Hillenbrand conducted classes for the seminarians and interested faculty in the social encyclicals. These classes made a permanent impression on the seminarians and led to a whole generation of social Catholic priests.

Hillenbrand introduced the dialogue Mass and preferred to have the entire community attend a single, common Mass in the Main Chapel. He encouraged priests to celebrate the Mass of the day, rather than the frequent black Masses, or requiem Masses, that required little or no preparation. Finally, he expected presiders to preach a daily homily based on the Scriptures, the particular feast or the liturgical season, a practice considered quite novel at the time.

Hillenbrand was influenced by Virgil Michel who encouraged the practice of lay people praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Hillenbrand was convinced that seminarians needed to understand the words they were praying. He encouraged them to write into their breviaries the English translation of the Latin words they did not understand, and he published a booklet of breviary hymns, with English translations next to the Latin text. In addition, he opposed the practice of simply reciting rather than singing the psalms at matins and vespers.

Many famous liturgists and social activists visited the seminary during Hillenbrand's tenure as rector (1936-44). The list included Donald Attwater, William Boyd, Paul Bussard, William Busch, Dorothy Day, Godfrey Diekmann, Catherine DeHuech Doherty, Gerald Ellard, John Gilliard, Francis Haas, Martin Hellriegel, Maurice Lavanoux, John LaFarge, Bernard Laukemper, Robert Lucey, Raymond McGowan, Paul McGuire and H.A. Reinhold.

Moreover, this combination of liturgical and social reformers revealed the close connection between liturgy and social justice. One did not study liturgy in isolation from one's concerns about society. In addition, these two movements shared a common theological base: a dynamic understanding of grace (divine life), the Mystical Body and papal teachings.

During the summers of 1939 and 1940, Hillenbrand organized Summer Schools of Social Action at the seminary. Of course, the liturgy was an important component. Gerald Ellard lectured at the 1939 summer school, giving his now famous definition of liturgy as "the corporate worship of the Mystical Body" and advocating a return to the doctrine of the common priesthood as the basis for active lay participation in the liturgy.

Ellard called for an official English translation of the Mass, an increase in congregational chant, greater use of the dialogue Mass, reception of Communion during Mass, and fewer black Masses The seminary had begun to spread its influence to the ordained clergy who found these ideas to be challenging and encouraging.

In 1940 Hillenbrand organized missions in the Archdiocese of Chicago on the theme: "The Living Parish - One in Worship, Charity and Action." The objective was to develop "the laity's appreciation of their parish as a living organism, the local concrete expression of the Mystical Body of Christ." A further consequence of participation in these missions was the development of a deeper sense of unity as members of a parish family and unity with their pastor in the worship of God and in Catholic Action.

The first National Liturgical Week also was held in Chicago in 1940 under the sponsorship of Archbishop Samuel Stritch and the leadership of Monsignor Joseph Morrison, rector of Holy Name Cathedral, and Hillenbrand The week's theme was "The Living Parish -- Active and Intelligent Participation of the Laity in the Liturgy of the Catholic Church." Hillenbrand, the keynote speaker, spoke on the history and ideals of the liturgical movement.

Hillenbrand organized the first Summer School of Liturgy at the seminary in 1941. The 60 classes covered key doctrines, sacraments, the Mass, the liturgical movement the liturgical year, parish participation, the dialogue Mass and high Mass, the office, Catholic Action, and the liturgy and peace. The summer school had a far reaching impact on the clergy who attended and carried ideas of the liturgical movement back to their parishes.

Unfortunately, Hillenbrand's ideas seemed too radical for the faculty and many of the archdiocese's pastors. On July 15, 1944, Stritch, while sympathetic and aware of the popular renewal that was taking place, appointed Hillenbrand pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Hubbard Woods to avoid criticism from conservatives.

Leadership in the liturgical movement resurfaced at the seminary when Father Gerard Broccolo returned to the seminary in September 1968 with his doctorate in liturgy. Broccolo had the wonderful opportunity of studying in Rome during Vatican Council II and of serving on several of the conciliums that assited with the new rites. Broccolo was another strong leader whose charisma revived interest in the liturgical apostolate among many of the seminarians. In fact, the author of this article owes his interest in the ideals of the liturgical movement to Father Broccolo's interesting and informative courses.

Broccolo re-ignited the flames of a movement that needed an official sponsor in the archdiocese. Along with Father Dan Coughlin, director of the Office for Divine Worship, and Mrs. Mae Dore, head of the Liturgy Training Program, Chicago launched a program of training and renewal that set the standard for the nation.

Today the seminary continues the work of these pioneers. In addition to academic work, a complete program of liturgical prayer is an integral part of the seminary formation. A strong attempt continues to be made to link liturgy and life, liturgy and social justice, liturgy and the apostolate.

Thus, the goals of the liturgical movement are still alive and well here at Mundelein Seminary.

Fr. Tuzik teaches sacramental theology, and is pastor of St. Emily Parish in Mt. Prospect, IL

And one more thing.

The most incredable abuse I every heard from, and this from a Latin friend who could not understand why I found this so unbelievable, for what to him was just a now-dated custom of his youth.

He told me in his conservative Long Island parish, while at Sunday Mass, priests would be celebrating different Masses at side altars (not seperate chapels, but in the main body of the church). And the priest at the main altar would stop at whatever point he was at the Mass so the congregation could turn its attention to the consecration at the Mass at the side altar!!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if any of traditionalists here find this defensable, just keep quite. I simply will never understand some of the pre-conciliar Latin practices. This one I simply cannot deal with.

K.

How the Mass
became community property

The liturgical movement helped connect liturgy to people's lives. Does it need to be restarted?

Bob Zyzkowski

I's the 9:30 Mass on All Saints Day at Resurrection Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Father Paul DeMuth invites the assembly to help him with the gospel.

With piano keys tinkling softly in the background, the pastor begins the reading from Matthew in which Jesus teaches the Beatitudes�the Sermon on the Mount.

Cantor and choir, using bars from David Haas' "Blessed Are You," sing phrases that repeat what the priest proclaims from the pulpit. The assembly echoes these leaders of song, joining in with the chorus of a hymn with which the people at this liturgy are obviously familiar: "Rejoice and be glad, blessed are you, holy are you...."

The gospel takes on the impact of a dramatic reading as the pattern continues, presider reading scripture, choral repetition, and the assembly chiming in with the refrain. All around the semicircular church building the assembly responds to the invitation of the presider to take ownership of this Sunday morning liturgy.

They sing. They react to the homily, laughing aloud at times, nodding heads in understanding often as DeMuth examines the irony of being poor, of being meek, tired, hungry, and lonely�and yet being blessed.

These are not unusual Catholics. These are not dissidents. These are not members of a small group of radicals. Resurrection Parish is in the affluent Allouez section of Green Bay.

This being a Packer Sunday, green and gold colors dot the congregation that spans the age brackets from crying babies to well-coiffed, upscale grandmothers. On this Feast of All Saints their pastor reminds Resurrection parishioners that they aren't all saints yet; he mentions several times the "journey to holiness" they and he are on together.

This Sunday their spiritual leader tells the People of God in the northeast corner of Wisconsin that the Sermon on the Mount challenges Christians to transform their world to gospel values wherever they are�and whether they are alone or working as a community. He tells anecdotes from a visit to Resurrection's twinning-parish partner in Okolona, Mississippi during the prior week. Transforming the world for some Wisconsinites the past few days meant putting up drywall and helping disadvantaged third graders with their reading.

The events in our lives can be reminders of the call to spread the gospel, DeMuth says on another Sunday. "Ours is a journey of faith. We are transformed by the Eucharist," he says, his left hand reaching out in the direction of the altar, "to transform the world," both hands spreading as wide as they can.
See, judge, act

"The idea," says Ed Marciniak, "is that what we do in church on Sunday should have an effect on what we do outside of church the other six days of the week."

Marciniak, president of the Chicago-based Institute of Urban Life, was in on the ground floor when "the idea"�the Catholic liturgical movement�blossomed in the United States in the early 1940s.

"The purpose of the liturgical movement was to enhance the weekend liturgy, the Sunday liturgy, to get the Sunday Christian' to think about being Christian Monday through Saturday so the liturgy would tie in to the rest of the week and vice versa," Marciniak says. That parts of the Mass should be prayed in the language of the people assembled in the church (instead of in Latin); that parts of the Mass should be sung by the people in the pews; that some roles in the liturgy should be played by the laypeople of the congregation (as opposed to people watching as the priest did all the work)�those were the "church" portions, if you will, of the foundations of the early liturgical movement.

Transplanted from France and Germany earlier in the 20th century, the ideas began to grow more rapidly in the United States in the 1940s, and the movement began to realize at least a portion of its potential as it influenced more than just the way Catholics attend Mass.

"A whole configuration of ideas came out of a new understanding of the role of the laity," Marciniak says. "The Christian Family Movement, the Cana Conference [in which married couples prepared engaged couples for marriage], the Catholic labor movement, Catholic Action�all of these organizations flourished as a result of the liturgical movement. Take Catholic Action. We had 500 or 700 students gathering every Saturday morning during the school year."

At Catholic Action meetings, young people learned about social issues, discussed them, and strategized what they could do about them. The now well-known steps�see, judge, act�were formulated by Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, the Belgian founder of the most influential international Catholic Action movement, the Young Christian Workers.

"That's where the leaders came from... when those people became young adults in the later 1940s through the '50s and early '60s," Marciniak says.

The roots of the liturgical movement have been traced as far back as 1833, when monastic life and liturgy were restored at the French abbey of Solesmes under the leadership of Dom Prosper Guranger. Early in the 20th century, interest in the connection between liturgy and life picked up again in Europe through the writing of Father Lambert Beauduin of the Benedictine community at Mont Csar in Belgium. Mont Csar held its first "Liturgical Week" in 1910�a forerunner to similar weeks held in Chicago and other cities beginning some 30 years later.

In 1921, Beauduin was teaching in Rome, where another Benedictine, Father Virgil Michel from St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, was one of his students. Five years later, Michel began publishing a magazine on liturgy, Orate Fratres.

In the 1920s, interest in relating what happens during liturgy to what happens in life began to catch on in Germany and Austria. As energy spread outward from monasteries, laypeople caught the fever of the movement. Liturgical, social, and artistic developments, for example, sprang from the German Catholic Youth Movement centered in Burg Rothenfels.

A revival in sacred music and sacred art sprouted, fertilized by the fact that so many more laypeople�not just choir members�were singing during the liturgy.

While Michel and his successor at Orate Fratres, Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B., led the Benedictines in spreading the concepts of the movement in Minnesota and elsewhere, Msgr. Reynold Hillenbrand brought together liturgy and social-justice issues for the priests of Chicago as rector of the arch-diocese's major seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.

As the burgeoning world economies of the 1920s burst, leading to the Great Depression of the 1930s, scholars such as Michel, Hillenbrand, and Hans Ansgar Reinhold sought answers to social questions in the liturgy.

"The liturgy does not offer a detailed scheme of economic reconstruction," Michel wrote. "But it does give us a proper concept and understanding of what society is like, through its model, the Mystical Body of Christ. And it puts the concept of community rather than individualism into action in its worship and wants us to live it out in everyday life."

Throughout the 1940s and '50s, scholars, societies, and study groups tested use of the vernacular in liturgy, wrote about the relationship between liturgy and the arts, and put into practice the teaching that what people do at Sunday Mass should affect the other days of the week.

In Minnesota, where the social conscience of the Collegeville Benedictines spread to the major seminary of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Msgr. William Busch referred to the liturgy as "a school of Catholic action," one that called people to work together rather than individually. Fellow St. Paul Seminary professor Msgr. Francis J. Gilligan opened labor schools to teach workers how to gain their rights.

Later, picking up on another passion of Virgil Michel, Gilligan became involved in race relations, in 1948 chairing the Governor's Interracial Commission that filed a 200-page report calling for constructive change in the treatment of blacks, Mexicans, and American Indians.


Bringing liturgy home

One of the people involved early on in the transplanting of the nascent liturgical movement from Germany to the United States was a woman who helped bring the movement's concepts from the textbooks into people's home.

Therese Mueller may not have given birth to the liturgical movement in the United States, but she may well have been its midwife on this side of the Atlantic�or at the very least its nanny. From her book-filled home in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mueller recalls those early days when�speaking in her native German, her words translated into English by a bilingual priest�she told Catholic women who filled their parish halls how they could celebrate the church year in their homes with their families.

"People were amazed," says Mueller, now 93 but still a fiery advocate of the movement she first took part in more than 50 years ago. "Advent had to do with the family, I would tell them. Fasting had to do with the family. We do these things at home�not in church."

The family, for Mueller, was the key to opening people's eyes to the power the liturgy could have if people went beyond being observers in church life to being active participants who knew what was going on and took part in the ritual action, in the prayers, in the song.

"When we talked about how much more people would benefit if the Mass was in English, some would say, Oh, but Latin sounds so good.' But I would say, But what did you understand?'"

To help people understand, she would relate what was going on at Mass to the family. The family was at gut-level understanding, she says, one in which a concept as deep as "the Mystical Body of Christ" could be explained.

"We used to love going swimming�all of us, Franz and the kids and myself," she recalls. "Well, one summer one of the boys hurt a leg and couldn't walk, couldn't swim. The whole family was impacted. One member of the family suffered, so the whole body of the family suffered.

"It is the same with the church. We are all washed with one sin, all affected, all loaded down. And as Christ the head suffered on the cross, so we make him suffer when we sin. When we receive the Eucharist at Mass, we implant Jesus in our hearts, yes, but Jesus implants us into him, too. He makes us a part of him."

Mueller gave so many talks on living out the church year in the home during the '40s and '50s that the pastor at a neighboring parish took to calling her "Mrs. Advent." "People wanted to...be able to take the lessons from church into their homes where they could get roots," Mueller says.

Mueller taught their own children how to understand what was going on at Mass. "We sat the kids on the sofa Saturday nights and explained the Mass they were going to be part of the next day. We play-acted the gospels dramatically, and we made them real for the kids.

"I remember one Sunday the gospel was going to be about Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and the kids could really relate to it because we had trouble on a boat once during a family outing.

"We were play-acting the scene of the stormy sea, and, when Jesus calmed the waves, one of the boys shouted, Hooray for Jesus!' It was a natural shout of joy from a child who was really in the picture.

"Well, I told this story to a group once, and a nun remarked, How irreverent!'"


Liturgical backlash

Challenges such as that religious sister's critical remark still exist for those who would promote continued work on making the liturgy more meaningful for people.

Father Charles Lachowitzer, pastor of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Maplewood, Minnesota, recalls the day he was accosted in the sacristy by a visitor to the parish. "How dare you change the language in the liturgy," the visitor said. "You have no right."

The priest went over to the sacramentary he had used and pointed to the word "approved" in the text. He had been using the Vatican-approved Liturgy of the Eucharist for a Mass with Children. It was, after all, First Communion Sunday for the parish's children.

The visitor left without apologizing.

The most extreme criticism of the liturgical-reform movement often comes from the traditionalist Catholic camp that has broken ranks with the church largely over liturgical reforms. They see what they call "the liturgical revolution" as the root of all the evil they associate with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

"Its roots run deep in heresy," maintains Father Francesco Ricona, for example, on the Web site of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Spring Hill, Florida. "Heretics corrupted the liturgy in order to attack the faith itself," and the end result, he says, was "the wholesale destruction of the Mass."

Music is one of the battlefronts in the ideological division in the church, perhaps because music is like surf pounding away at the subconscious of U.S. Catholics as they attend Mass. The Church Music Association of America, for example, has sprung up as the conservative opposition to the progressive National Pastoral Music Association.

Liturgical music as the NPMA sees it aims to inspire assemblies to works of justice, to live out the gospel the other six days of the week. NPMA members' tunes may be rendered on organ, piano, guitar, or other instruments, and the lyrics often carry messages the founders of the liturgical movement would appreciate: "One bread, one body"; "I am the Bread of life"; "Gather us in"; "Eye has not seen"; "Let us build the city of God"; "We are called, we are chosen, we are Christ for one another."


In so many words

"It all came to a point in Vatican II," says Mueller, "but we did the yeoman's work to prepare for it."

Most observers see Dec. 4, 1963 as a high point in the influence of the liturgical movement. On that date the bishops participating in the Second Vatican Council approved the council's first document, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. This new teaching of the church "seeks to form and reform the very life of the church," wrote Yale University professor Jaroslav Pelikan in his analysis of the document right after the council ended.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy calls all the faithful to participate in the liturgy through song and action. It also allows the use of one's own language for the prayers at Mass. More specifically:

It teaches that people should be inspired "to become of one heart when they have tasted their fill of the Paschal Mysteries."

It prays that they "may grasp by deed what they hold by creed."

It says that during Mass grace is channeled to the assembly that "sets them afire."


Liturgical Movement Basics

Live the liturgy: Liturgy makes Christ present to us here and now, is at the heart of the church, and overflows into daily life�the streets, marketplace, work, home�so that all of life becomes a continual act of worship. Ultimately, how we live our lives is the test of authentic worship.

The Mystical Body of Christ: By uniting ourselves with Christ through the sacraments�especially the Eucharist�we unite with all others who are members of his Body�the church and ultimately the whole world. The early leaders saw the church more as the Mystical Body than as the People of God.

Sacrifice: The liturgical pioneers never degraded the sacrifice of the Eucharist. They were able to hold together sacrifice with social action because they saw sacrifice as not just giving up but giving: We offer ourselves to God and the service of others just as Christ did; as he laid down his life for justice and charity, so must we lay down ours for others. In this way sanctification is both individual and social.

Reverence: The early liturgical leaders put a great deal of importance on reverence, seeing liturgy as from God and for us. They always held a place for praise and adoration and for the hierarchical ordering of the church. They also held in deep regard Popes Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII for their crucial contributions to the liturgical and spiritual renewal of the church.

Participation: Active participation not just in the liturgy but in the whole life of the church and the building up of the kingdom is necessary. Participation leads to social reconstruction and the creation�not the accommodation�of culture.

How we worship: The movement advocated imaginative observance of the liturgical year; recovery of the simplicity of the rites; care for the environment of liturgy�the quality of buildings, materials, and music; congregational singing; vernacular dialogue Masses: people responding to the presider in their everyday language; putting the ritual texts in the hands of the people and helping them to understand what is going on; seeing liturgy as the church's great teacher, the school of doctrine and prayer; and reverence for the inspired word proclaimed and preached.

Related movements: Catholic Action, the Christian Family Movement, Young Christian Workers, Catholic Worker, and the Grail grew up with�and in some cases out of�the liturgical movement.�Joel Schorn


Lay pioneer Marciniak says the continued use of the vernacular is the primary and most obvious legacy of the liturgical movement. "The vernacular hasn't died, and it isn't going to go away."

He takes exception to those who would reverse the course of liturgical reforms because experimental liturgies at times go beyond the boundaries of the latitude allowed in Vatican II.

"If the Sunday liturgy is constantly jazzed up without any dignity, do you blame that on the liturgical movement?" Marciniak asks. "I wouldn't. But congregational participation was part of the liturgical movement, song became a part of the liturgical movement, and its importance in humanizing the liturgy can't be overestimated."

But is the liturgical movement over?

Chicagoan Marciniak says flatly that it is. "If you want to keep stretching it out, I'm not sure that's reasonable."

Others ask if the liturgical movement ended too soon. Did it leave unfinished business that liturgical experts today can complete? Is the liturgical movement undergoing a renewal or a revival? Does it need to?

Father Keith Pecklers, S.J. calls the liturgical movement "the unread vision" in his book of the same title (The Liturgical Press, 1998).

A professor of liturgical history at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant' Anselmo in Rome, Pecklers believes the principles defined by the pioneers of the liturgical movement remain as valid and relevant today: "to find in our liturgical prayer the impetus for social action [and] to see the Eucharist as modeling a pattern of more just, more dignified human relationships."

Pecklers, who measures the liturgical movement's progress in overcoming poverty, acceptance of immigrants and ethnic minorities, and educational efforts to explain the Mass itself, concludes that despite some progress, the liturgical movement has not been successful in its main purpose.

"Thirty years after the [Second Vatican] council," Pecklers writes, "many American Catholics have yet to understand what they are doing when they gather for Sunday worship or why liturgical participation demands social responsibility."

But evidence of an effort to keep alive liturgical renewal�if not the liturgical movement�can be seen in recent pastoral letters on the Eucharist by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, Archbishop Rembert Weak-land of Milwaukee, and other U.S. bishops.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 1998 renewed the call to make what happens on Sunday in church affect what people do the rest of the week. The bishops approved a 3,000-word statement titled "Everyday Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice," which challenges U.S. Catholics to meet "the demands of discipleship in the pursuit of justice and peace in everyday activity." It says, "Catholics are called by God to protect human life, to promote human dignity, to defend the poor, and to seek the common good. This social mission of the church belongs to all of us. It is an essential part of what it is to be a believer.''

Despite these signs, Mueller is convinced that most Catholics remain ignorant about the Mass.

"People are amazed that for every Sunday there is a lesson, a message that is wrapped up in the readings and in the sacrifice," Mueller says. "And people still say it is boring �We don't get anything out of it.'"

She thinks she can pinpoint where things went wrong.

"The changes in the Mass that were made after Vatican II were not explained enough to people�they were put upon' them, and anything put upon you you resist," she says. "If the clergy would have let the laypeople help them explain the changes to the Mass, they would have gone over so much better," Mueller says.


Field trials

Are most Catholics ignorant about the Mass? Has the vision of the liturgical movement been unseen? To answer these questions, a farm couple in North Dakota and a corporate executive and his wife from Minnesota's Twin Cities agreed to take a test of sorts.

An hour north and an hour west of Fargo, North Dakota, the kitchen table at Randy and Evy Ressler's farmhouse always has something delicious to fill up five children, three in college this year and two in high school.

Their farm, 1,600 acres of flat North Dakota land the Resslers and their children work together, sits just five minutes at most by car from their parish, St. Lawrence in Jessie. St. Lawrence doesn't have a resident priest. The Jessie parish and the one in neighboring Aneta are both served by a priest and the staff from St. George in Cooperstown, about 12 miles away.

Asked if they have ever heard of the liturgical movement, the Resslers look at one another over their coffee and admit that, while the phrase sounds familiar, they wouldn't be able to explain it.

Evy and Randy, however, are both very active at St. Lawrence. They have taught in the religious-education program and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and served as eucharistic ministers and lectors for Mass. When it's their turn to proclaim scripture, they prepare to be able to do it well.

"It's hard for me to get up there," Randy says, "but I force myself to do it."

Are the Resslers changed by attending Mass? "I'd like to think so," says Evy, 41. "I get out of it what I put into it."


Randy, 48, adds, "I think going to church gives a guy something to work on�a reminder about why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing. Yeah, I think it changes me. If you throw enough mud against a wall, some of it sticks over the course of a lifetime."

Evy acknowledges she probably wouldn't do a very good job of explaining the Mass if someone of another tradition asked her to. "In a way, it's sad," she says, and Randy nods. "You just go, and you don't give it a second thought," he adds.

Evy talks about her mind wandering, especially when she finds herself paying more attention to the couple's children than to what's going on at Mass. Randy admits, "At times, it's hard to focus, too.

"Life is so hectic. On the farm, depending on the time of year, you've got hay to cut, hay to bale, stuff to be combined, cows running over here." While thinking about all he has to do, all of a sudden it's Communion, and, Randy says, "At times you go up there thinking you're not worthy to receive." But when pressed about what they expect to get for themselves from receiving the Eucharist, the Resslers responded with an answer that would make Virgil Michel proud.

"It gives you the strength from God to become a better person by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ," Randy replies. Evy adds, "It gives you the strength to help you become a better person the rest of the week."

For Evy, that means helping out a young family with childcare, a sacrifice at times given the long hours farm families put in. Along with his list of chores on the farm, Randy serves on the board of the Sheyenne Valley Electric Authority, a commitment to his neighbors and the rest of the community dependent upon power.

At Sunday Mass the Resslers and the rest of the parish get a reminder from Father James Cheney, the presider, about the broader aspect of community. He adds some extemporaneous prayers to the prepared Prayers of the Faithful, asking the Lord to keep farmers safe in what is one of their most dangerous occupations�harvesting�and beseeching God's aid to give farmers a fair price for their crops.

During the announcements at the end of Mass, Cheney invites parishioners to the North Dakota Catholic Conference legislative workshop on rural-life issues to be held Wednesday in Fargo. The conference agenda includes a discussion of how Catholic social teaching meshes with the development of public policy on rural-life issues.

"I plan to go," says Cheney, who comes from a farming family himself, "and if just a couple of parishioners want to go along, I'd welcome the company."

Parishioners of St. Lawrence in Jessie have a pretty good handle on what it means to be a community. After the parish's one-and-only Sunday Mass, most of the assembly doesn't head for the grassy lawn that serves as a parking lot. Instead they cut down a hallway to their new parish hall to prepare things for the annual parish dinner that afternoon. The whole Ressler family is among those scurrying to get everything done in time.

"It is such a close-knit community," Randy says. "We all know each other. We all have got the same causes. They mention at Mass to pray for somebody who is sick, and five families are related to that person somehow and know them."

Evy says being involved in all the things they are and have been over the years has knitted people's lives together in the parish.

"Lay ministry draws people together," she says. "You're more involved so you're pulled into your faith more."


All for one . . .

Jim and Shelley Westerhaus live at the end of a cul-de-sac in a comfortable subdivision in Maplewood, a suburb of St. Paul. He's an attorney who heads up the rules and regulations division for Ecolab, a booming St. Paul company that makes ecologically sound cleaning products.

Active in prolife work, the Westerhauses send their children to their parish grade school and nearby Catholic high school. Shelley, who no longer works outside the home, has taken part in Bible-study groups. Jim can't remember all the committees he's served on at Transfiguration Parish, but he says he did enjoy his time on the parish liturgy committee.

When this active, involved Catholic couple is asked if they'd ever heard of the liturgical movement, they too say no.

But as the conversation continues, the Westerhauses�just as the Resslers in North Dakota�provide plenty of evidence that the principles of the liturgical movement have indeed caught on. For many Catholics the core of the liturgical movement has become part of Catholic culture.

Jim Westerhaus, for example, says he prepares mentally for the family's regular 9 a.m. Mass at Transfiguration.

"I go to Mass to get recharged, to get a sense of reflection about my faith, to get an insight as to how I can manage my life�the problems in my home life, my work life," he says.

Shelley goes to Mass because of "the sense of community it gives me. I enjoy the support of the community. I like the idea that we're all there praying and we have the same values. Praying in a vacuum is not enough for me," she says.

Jim picks up on his wife's thought: "I think I need the Eucharist to remind me of the community of Christ that I am a part of, that bigger picture....I feel it the moment I say Amen' to the priest's or the eucharistic minister's the Body of Christ.'"

"I think I've experienced being changed by the liturgy," Shelley adds. "I've had many experiences when I've been moved at Mass to say, Why didn't I think of that before�I can do that.' Those moments happen for me all the time. Our commitment to prolife comes from the liturgy and is reinforced by the liturgy."

Both the Westerhauses point to the impact of the music at Mass. "I'm very moved by the music," Shelley says. "It's definitely a part of the whole experience, feeling-wise�yes, you are the center of my life,' as the song says."



[This message has been edited by Kurt K (edited 08-15-2001).]

Kurt,

If I remember my old rubrics correctly, even in the "old" days it would have been considered a liturgical no-no. Nothing is "supposed" to interrupt a Mass, and according to the rubrics, priests offering Mass at a side altar are especially not to disturb the Mass offered at the high altar! But abuses happen, even the most liturigically savy priest commits them at one time or another. Oh well...I just hope God has a better sense of humor than we do!

Don

>>>Well, Stuart, all I can say that by my own eyes, I've read these books published in the 1950's by the Liturgical Movement
that with almost perfect accuracy call for what was later done. I wish I had this skill at the race track.<<<

In a rather superficial manner, the revised Missal, and more importantly, it implementation, follow the prescriptions of the Liturgical Movement. At a more profound level, however, the fundamental renewal of liturgical thought did not take place, and the actual implementation of the reforms did not correspond to what the Movement had in mind. And that is why they repudiated what was done in their name.

>>>New York City, Washington, DC and a host of other cities have regular Sunday Tridentine Masses easily accessable to all,
and which have plenty of empty pews. While hundreds of nearby parishes celebrate the new Roman Mass. People can vote
with their feet and don't.<<<

I am no great fan of the Tridentine rite, though I think it had the potential to be reformed in a manner more consistent with the principles of the Liturgical Movement. I will note that here in the Diocese of Arlington, the Indult was not issued by Bishop Keating or his successor Bishop Loverde, and that as a result there has been no ghettoization of more conservative Roman Catholics; they have been forced to stay where they are and act as leaven for their parishes. So, overall, the liturgical situation in Arlington is not bad. One can even find the new Mass celebrated in Latin, with the celebrant versus apsidem (something not only allowd, but presumed by the official Latin rubrics of the Ordo Paulus VI).

In neighboring dioceses, where the indult was granted, the Tridentine Mass tends to be celebrated at odd times and in out of the way places. The obvious message sent here is that if you want it enough you'll go find it. This does ghettoize and marginalize (liturgically) conservative Roman Catholics, with the result that much liturgical abuse is allowed elsewhere.

>>>Here again, it is the lazy
conservatives who are the villian.<<<

Too easy, Kurt. In fact, it is the militant "reformers" who are the most authoritarian,and the most clericalist, who run roughshod over the needs and desires of the people in their never ending indulgence of liturgical narcissism. So, when Kelleher speaks of the drive for uniformity, he is not speaking of the uniformity of the right (which would have been a rigid adherence to the rubrics), but the terror of the left (which insists on a uniform lack of uniformity). That is, anything which at all smacks of the ancient Latin Tradition must be suppressed at all costs--any use of Latin, any use of versus apsidem, any attempt to maintain a dynamic tension between horizontal and vertical dimensions in liturgy. In point of fact, they are in their own way just as reactionary as the most militant members of the SSPX; they are the flip side of the same coin.

10:00 am, St, Mary's church, $1.30 subway fare from Arlington on the Yellow & Green lines.

I will admit, much to my shock, a traditonalist once told me he didn't go because.. . well, let me clean up what he said, but basically he wasn't going to take his wife into the city out of fear she would have to interact with a Black man.

My hope is this isn't the general reason for low attendence.

K.

Stuart --

"I will note that here in the Diocese of Arlington, the Indult was not issued by Bishop Keating or his successor Bishop Loverde, and that as a result there has been no ghettoization of more conservative Roman Catholics; they have been forced to stay where they are and act as leaven for their parishes."

Hmmm. Don't really agree there. What has happened is that people have segregated themselves into parishes that reflect their own liturgical preferences, so that there are some parishes that are remarkably conservative and others that are remarkably liberal. St. Katherine's in Great Falls, for example, attracts liturgical conservatives from throughout the diocese, while the parish closest to our house attracts people from St. Katherine's and other more conservative parishes who are looking for a more "progressive" parish (we only know that because people specifically told us so), complete with issues of the NCR greeting one as one walks into the parish office. In my experience, the average parish in Arlington is fairly mainstream, slightly conservative, whereas the more conservative folks opt for places like St. Katherine's, and the more progressive/liberal folks opt for places like St. John Neumann. I also think that Eastern Catholic parishes like Holy Transfiguration and Epiphany (never mind the local Orthodox parishes) have more ex-Latins than might be the case if there were an indult mass in Arlington.

And, of course, the SSPX church on Route 7 is completely oversubscribed, jammed to more than capacity with two liturgies on Sunday mornings, and a lot of young families. Don't know whether that would be the case if there were an indult.

I understand the policy -- keep the conservatives in the parishes so that they don't all go to the indult, thereby leaving imbalanced parishes. In my own experience, however, there is a nevertheless a gathering of conservatives in more conservative parishes, and the SSPX, even with that policy in place.

Brendan



[This message has been edited by Brendan (edited 08-15-2001).]

>>>What has happened is that people have segregated themselves into parishes that reflect their own liturgical
preferences, so that there are some parishes that are remarkably conservative and others that are remarkably liberal. <<<

I would say that it is more true that the policy of the Diocese of Arlington has resulted in a ghettoization of liturgical radicals (e.g., Our Lady Queen of Peace), and the emergence of a broad center-traditional coalition in most parishes, and a couple of exceptionally traditional parishes (Catherine of Siena is one of my favorites), but for the most part there hasn't been a polarization of the diocese into liberal and traditionalist factions. Most parishes are stolidly middle of the road.

>>>And, of course, the SSPX church on Route 7 is completely oversubscribed, jammed to more than capacity with two liturgies on Sunday
mornings, and a lot of young families. Don't know whether that would be the case if there were an indult.<<<

I wondered about that place as I was taking my kids at to Colvin Run Mill. Cute little chapel, but I tend to wonder about churches with "Inc." at the end of their name.

Sorry, kids, but I think that you're barking up the wrong ecclesiastical tree.

One can decide to consider the liturgical movement as a 'theoretical approach' to the celebration of the liturgy. One can talk about 'orientation' of the liturgical texts (i.e. Theocentric vs. community-meeting), the 'traditional' meaning of the prayers at the foot of the Roman altar, the nature of 'epiclesis' (i.e., whole anaphora vs. words of institution vs. 'calling down of the Spirit') and a whole host of other issues.

The basic fact remains: there are some priests who can read the Yellow Pages and mae it a spiritual experience. There are others who use the 'official' texts and turn it into a very bad public ceremony.

To paraphrase a political dictum, "it's the economy, stupid", we can say: "It's the celebration, stupid."

Is there anyone who posts here who cannot say that he/she at one time said: "that liturgy was awful" even though the texts were done verbatim? (Ukrainian recited liturgy comes to my mind.)

It's not the texts. It's not the musical rendition. It's not the environment of the celebration.

IT'S THE PRIEST'S ABILITY TO CONDUCT THE WORSHIP OF THE COMMUNITY!

Whether it is the 'community-centered' approach of the current Roman liturgy, or the 'transcendent prayer' of the Byzantine (or Armenian, or Syrian, or Coptic, etc.) liturgy, the key element is the priest and the style that he uses to celebrate the liturgy.

One can argue from now 'till Kingdom Come about the texts -- yes, they are important. But the real truth is in: "leitourgia" (laos=the people ergeizei=act) If the people are not intimately and emotionally involved, then you can do whatever you want, but it's not liturgy, it's a recitation of sacred texts.

A good Roman liturgy (contemporary text) is a good liturgy. A good Byzantine liturgy is a good liturgy. A good Maronite liturgy is a good liturgy. Etc.

Crappy liturgy is just that: crappy. No matter the text. It depends on the priest and his ability to lead the people. Don't give me the theology; any idiot can theologize about liturgy. But it takes a well-trained priest (or bishop) to make the liturgy a prayerful experience that leads the congregation to God. And the people KNOW what works or what doesn't.

As an aside, a woman in my department at work was distraught about a 25 year old friend of hers, a mother of two, who was just diagnosed with uterine cancer. A few of us in the 'health and safety department' stood with her and were talking. As she started to cry, we all clasped hands and prayed for the young mother. We just stood there and prayed: a Catholic, a Lutheran, an Evangelical, a Baptist and a Non-Denominational Christian. I prayed my heart out for the young mother. This was 'leitourgia', the 'people acting'. No official texts, just God's people praying for God's mercy for this young mother.

THIS type of prayer should be the starting point of community prayer of the baptized. The other stuff can be just 'ritual' prayer. But for me, the real tear-filled prayer to God was very intense and made me realize that the prayer of the baptized was the most incredible reality. (And yes, I lighted candles at liturgy the next Sunday, and asked several friends to pray for this woman. I did the "orthodox" thing.) But this does not discount the heartfelt prayer in the aisle among the cubicles. And I am convinced that the Lord, the Physician of Souls, heard the prayer of the rag-tag group of folks outside the cubicles who were praying their souls out, for this woman.

Was it liturgy? In my opinion, it was. Was it in the books? No. Was it pleasing to God? I have no doubt.

Ceteris paribus, the same thing. The Romans pray like Romans. The Byzantines pray like Byzantines (in whatever form!). The Ethiopians pray like Ethiopians. And the Americans pray in pluralistic forms that are characteristic of American pluralism. Is there a problem? I don't think so. People are people. They pray either the way they are taught in their communities or some times they pray from their hearts because they absolutely have to respond to their needs.

Can anyone say that God has to listen only to some specific prayers, sanctioned by some group or another? Don't think so.

Blessings! (And I offer prayers for ALL of good will!) Lord, have mercy.

Dear Dr. John,

Excellent points, as usual!

This one of the reasons why I went after Robert Sweiss on your behalf on another thread .

You may have been a Jesuit Scholastic (how did you arrive at that choice for a religious Order?), but your intuitive and practical strong grasp of the social realities of life bring a needed balance to the discussions.

Alex

Dear Fellow Posters,


This thread contains much about the Latin Liturgy and its genesis. Most of it is respectful, even when the poster expressed disagreement or disapproval. I speak for myself when I thank you for your insights.


Dr. John,

Amen! May the words we write about all of those prayers bespeak the respect that we have for the prayer, for the ones who use it, as well as for the One to Whom they are addressed!


Kurt,

I find that your postings most accurately correspond to my lived experience and to what I have learned. The Liturgical Renewal was the outgrowth of the Liturgical Movement that existed long before the Council began. Its implementation was done very publicly with discussion over a long period of time in stages. Reactions to changes at each stage led to adjustments and corrections. It's fruits are visible in the life of the Latin Church today. The sources you present are a wonderful aid to memory!

Thank you also for your, "You go!" I try very hard not to inject myself into the discussion here since it is conducted on topics concerning Eastern and Oriental Christianity. I am, after all, a guest who comes here to learn of the East and the God Who is imaged there.

I do speak when I feel that the perspective of a Latin Catholic would be of value. This is especially true when it appears that this perspective may make clearer or more accurate some discussion of a topic involving the Latin Church. It was reassuring to hear your comment after I did speak.

Alex,

Your response was most generous. But then you are always generous and caring in what you post here, in my experience. Thank you. By the way, I hope that you were not upset about the fact that I used your name in the post about Byzantine Monasticism. It's just that you are well known and provided the information to us here. You are most eloquent when you write about St.Benedict and his rule.


Brendan,

We agree to disagree with respect and care. I am grateful for your concern for the Patrimony of the Latin Chruch. I recognize that you find that Patrimony as a result of some of its most recent forms and terms not completely orthodox. It is Catholic.

Rusnak,

It is good to be involved again in a discussion to which you are a party! Respectfully, I must disagree with almost all that you have said. Through quotes from individuals in which they express their perceptions you project mindsets and perceptions onto the Liturgical Renewal. In my experience and knowledge and memory, neither covertly nor overtly was an intention to mistreat or offend Eastern Christians or denigrate their Liturgical life or practices part of the agenda of the Liturgical renewal of the Latin Church.

I do thank you for your continued interest and expression of opinions about the doctrine, theology, and practices of the Latin Church. On the whole I find a respectful disagreement with some aspects of Catholic practice coupled with the respectful statement of agreement with those aspects with which you agree.

I was disheartened, then, to read what I have experienced and learned to be a careful, respectful process of examination of the Latin Patrimony and the renewal of our Liturgical Life in the light of that Patrimony described in the way that you described it. "Token Byzantizations like an epiklesis can't mask the fact that the mauling of the Roman Rite was Protestantization and secularization." That statement is a statement of opion, not fact. IMO, the choice of words in the statement is not conducive to respectful discourse that should be the rule among those who share life in the Lord.

Sadly those kinds of words are not to be unexpected since the comments of some of my more traditional Latin Catholic brothers and sisters do not appear to treat the Latin Liturgy with much more respect. I look forward to and pray for a time when those who overflow the SSPX Church other chapels like it will again participate more fully in the Life of the Latin Church.

Stuart K,

Thank you for your sharing of insight and information as well as sources in the thread.
You help to clarify and illustrate components of the discussion to make analysis of them easier and more accurate.

Thank you all again.

Please do not permit the written expression impede the meaning or the love!

JOY!


[This message has been edited by inawe (edited 08-17-2001).]

[This message has been edited by inawe (edited 08-17-2001).]

Dear inawe,

You are too kind and your Christian love that wells up in your heart simply overflows onto all who have the blessing to come into contact with you. You are God's true saint, my friend!

I too was surprised at some of the comments that some of our Orthodox friends made about the Novus Ordo liturgy.

I am sorry about that and don't share those views.

It is my privilege, as a Catholic, to share in the Novus Ordo Mass when I can't get to an Eastern Church.

I find Christ there and feel the warmth of the community's love during the Celebration.

It is not enough, in the final analysis, to have the "true faith." One must also have true love, sharing and community.

Then, and only then, is Jesus truly present among us.

Alex