Damian Thompson of The Telegraph, writing about Pope Benedict XVI and the Anglican Communion, makes this remark:
The liberation of the Latin liturgy, the rapprochement with Eastern Orthodoxy, the absorption of former Anglicans - all these ambitions reflect Benedict's conviction that the Catholic Church must rediscover the liturgical treasure of Christian history to perform its most important task: worshipping God.
This conviction is shared by growing numbers of young Catholics, but not by the church politicians who have dominated the hierarchies of Europe for too long.
That seems like a fairly accurate account of things, especially in the span of two sentences. And it captures well the basic lines of contention: those who think the liturgy is a gift from God that should be treated as sacred, and those who think the liturgy is our gift to God that should reflect our cultural norms and interests.
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