Liturgical StAR

The May/June 2007 issue of Saint Austin Review (StAR) focuses on "The Spirit of the Liturgy," and features articles by several Ignatius Press authors, including Fr. Thomas M. Kocik, author of The Reform of the Reform?, Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, author of Turning Towards the Lord, Alcuin Reid, author of The Organic Development of the Liturgy, and, of course, Joseph Pearce, who is co-editor of StAR with Robert Asch.

Two of the article can be downloaded for free, in PDF format, including "A Juggler on a Tightrope: Benedict XVI and the 'Tridentine' Question," by Fr. Kocik. He writes:

For more than a year now, it has been rumored that Pope Benedict XVI intends to give carte blanche permission for the celebration of the pre-Vatican II form of Mass (referred to by many as the “Tridentine” or “classical” Roman liturgy), alongside the present-day rite. Such an initiative, whatever form it may take, would have immediate and long-term benefits to the Church, though it would also have its difficulties. My purpose in this essay is to consider those potential benefits while taking into account the relevant theoretical and pastoral issues that are undoubtedly on the pontiff’s mind.

To begin with, a papal decree granting wider use of the Tridentine Mass would be aimed at reconciling the Society of St. Pius X and other schismatic traditionalist groups who have long opposed the reforms enacted in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Not that reconciliation would occur overnight, as Pope Benedict well knows. Before that can happen, deep disagreements over the meaning and authority of Vatican II must first be resolved. Traditionalists can take comfort from Benedict’s repeated assertion that the Council needs to be understood in continuity with the Church’s entire Tradition, but they must also accept the Magisterium up to and including the pontificate of Benedict XVI as the authoritative guardian of Tradition. A wholesale restoration of the old rite would surely be an incentive, but much more than the liturgy is at issue.

That being duly noted, I believe a papal initiative broadening the availability of the pre-conciliar liturgy would have at least one immediate benefit, namely, the resurgence of the Roman Rite itself. As provocative as that may seem, I become more convinced of it the more I analyze the current rite as a whole, not with an eye to its alleged deficiencies compared to its predecessor, but precisely as a liturgy, that is, as an organically developed and continually developing pattern of worship.

Anyone who has read Fr. Kocik's book knows that being provocative isn't new for him. Here is a description of the 2003 work, which is subtitled "A Liturgical Debate: Reform or Return":

Disturbed by the direction in which the post Vatican II liturgical reforms have moved, two fictitious representatives of mutually antagonistic movements debate the remedy for “correct” liturgical reform.

This unique work presents a debate between a “traditionalist” who argues for a return to the pre-Vatican II liturgy, and a “reformist” (no liberal himself) who advocates a new liturgical reform more in keeping with what the Council fathers had in mind. They bring to the debate the insights of renowned authorities on the liturgy, including Cardinal Ratzinger, Msgr. Klaus Gamber, Michael Davies, Fr. Brian Harrison and Fr. Aidan Nichols.

This book is written for anyone interested in the Church’s liturgy, and the controversies surrounding the liturgical renewal. It is both a primer for those who lack the theological and liturgical expertise to articulate their dissatisfaction with the state of the liturgy, and an excellent resource for those specialists who would appreciate having a single volume for consulting salient points from numerous authorities.

Related IgnatiusInsight.com articles, excerpts, and reviews:

• How Should We Worship? | Preface to The Organic Development of the Liturgy by Alcuin Reid, O.S.B. | by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Foreword to U.M. Lang's Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Music and Liturgy | From The Spirit of the Liturgy | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Altar and the Direction of Liturgical Prayer | From The Spirit of the Liturgy | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• For "Many" or For "All"? | From God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Spirit of the Liturgy site
• Benedict and the Eucharist: On the Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis | Carl E. Olson
• Walking To Heaven Backward | Interview with Father Jonathan Robinson of the Oratory
• Rite and Liturgy | Denis Crouan, STD
• The Liturgy Lived: The Divinization of Man | Jean Corbon, OP
• The Mass of Vatican II | Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.
• The Latin Mass: Old Rites and New Rites in Today's World | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• Worshipping at the Feet of the Lord: Pope Benedict XVI and the Liturgy | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D.
• Does Christianity Need A Liturgy? | Martin Mosebach | From The Heresy of Formlessness: The Roman Liturgy and Its Enemy
• Reflections On Saying Mass (And Saying It Correctly) | Fr. James V. Schall, S. J.

Comments

[Robert Miller]

It seems obvious that restoration of the privilege of celebrating and assisting at the Mass according to the 1962 Missale Romanum will go far to restore unity among "traditionalists" (schismatics and uniates). Lex orandi, lex credendi: You really can't do the "old liturgy" in schism from Rome (that realization is what has kept me "on board" for almost 50 years). Now, it may be, the Pope will be saying the same thing through the long-awaited motu proprio. Long live the Pope!

But Benedict/Ratzinger also provides, I think, the answer to the "deeper(?)" questions of the place of Vatican II in the Tradition of the Church -- the questions that bedevil the relationship between "traditionalists" (schismatic and uniate) and Rome. Ratzinger has noted on numerous occasions that two strands of reform were working their way through the decades before Vatican II: the liturgical/Scriptural/ecumenical strand, and the Marian strand. Because Marian piety (as distinguished from, but not at all opposed to, reform) was at its post-medieval zenith in the 1950s, the liturgical/Scriptural/ecumenical reform impetus of the Council was presented as being in opposition to Marian reform.

At 40+ years' remove, we can appreciate that the Council's proclamation of Mary as Mother of the Church was the Council's most important, perhaps its only, doctrinal pronouncement. It is Mary who brings together all of the strands of reform: Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ, Mother of the Holy Eucharist, Daughter Zion.

Co-Redemptrix indeed. But much more than that formula of human words can express: Our Mother, as members of the Body of Christ.

JPII understood this with profound simplicity of devotion and love. I suspect that B16 will turn the insight to reconciliation and renewal of the the Mystical Body's many troubled members.

After all, Mary's last words recorded in Scripture sum up the whole Law and Prophets: Pointing to her Son, she says, "Do whatever He tells you".