Posts Tagged liturgy
Look up at the altar, where are the women? / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on April 22, 2019
My parish is different, you say? Good. Let its light shine downtown. Let it leap over the torchbearers and across the clerical divide to the bishop. Tell him what it all looks like. Tell him how the picture does not match the story. (National Catholic Reporter)
If you had the chance to attend Holy Week services in person or via television — and I hope you did — you probably noticed the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s a men’s church.
“The clerics — all vested — are in the sanctuary or at least up front. The rest of us are far away.
“Keeping the faithful at a distance was a hallmark of medieval Catholicism, so much so that St. Francis of Assisi tried to do something about it. Unable to bring the people closer to the celebration, he gave them the Gospel. His attitude, still flowering in the world, helps faithful folks assimilate the uncomfortable truth: they cannot be near the sacred. Especially women.
“Liturgy demonstrates the collision between the real and the unreal, between the truth and way the church treats women.”
By Phyllis Zagano, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
‘Magnum Principium’ is the latest event in the ‘liturgy wars’ / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful on September 14, 2017
“It was probably not until the very late 1980s and early 1990s, however, the bubbling controversy in liturgical matters came to a boiling point.” (National Catholic Reporter)
Pope Francis’ Sept. 9 announcement that he was decentralizing the Vatican’s authority over translations of liturgical texts, turning that duty back over to local bishops, created quite a buzz in Catholic circles because, for some, it capped a story that spans more than 50 years. It is the story of the ‘liturgy wars.’
“Consternation over the liturgy has roiled through the Catholic community since sweeping reforms were introduced by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) — although truth be told, many of the changes that came in the 1960s rose out of liturgical reform movements in the 1940s and ’50s.
“It was probably not until the very late 1980s and early 1990s, however, the bubbling controversy in liturgical matters came to a boiling point.
“If one wants to point to a time and event when controversy turned to conflict and the tagline ‘liturgy wars’ could be applied to what was happening, a secret meeting in the Vatican in 1997 might be that point and time.”
By James Dearie and Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter (story contains links to others in NCR series on the Magnum Principium) — Read more …
Francis decentralizes most authority for liturgical translations to local bishops / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on September 11, 2017
“A comparison of the Italian text of the prior and new versions of the canon makes the change clear. Where the Italian says the Vatican was tasked before with ‘authorizing’ all liturgical translations, it is now asked simply to ‘review”‘ translations made by the bishops’ conferences. (National Catholic Reporter)
Pope Francis has decentralized authority over how the texts used in the Catholic Church’s liturgies are translated from Latin into local languages, moving most responsibility for the matter from the Vatican to national bishops’ conferences.
“In a motu proprio issued Sept. 9, the pontiff says he is making a change to the church’s Code of Canon Law so that the Second Vatican Council’s call to make the liturgy more understandable to people is “more clearly reaffirmed and put into practice.”
“The motu proprio, given the title Magnum Principium, modifies two clauses of Canon 838. The rewritten clauses say simply that the Vatican is to ‘recognize’ adaptations of Latin liturgical texts approved by national bishops’ conferences.
“A comparison of the Italian text of the prior and new versions of the canon makes the change clear. Where the Italian says the Vatican was tasked before with ‘authorizing’ all liturgical translations, it is now asked simply to ‘review’ translations made by the bishops’ conferences.”
By Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
Pope invokes ‘magisterial authority’ to declare liturgy change ‘irreversible’ / Cruxnow.com
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful on August 29, 2017
“Battles over liturgical practice have been a chronic feature of Catholic life since Vatican II.” (Cruxnow.com)
Addressing a group of liturgical experts on Thursday (Aug. 24), Pope Francis said that after the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and a long path of experience, ‘We can affirm with certainty and magisterial authority that the liturgical reform is irreversible.’
“The declaration came in a speech on Thursday (Aug. 24) to Italy’s ‘Center of Liturgical Action,’ which sponsors an annual National Liturgical Week.
“By ‘liturgical reform,’ Pope Francis meant the changes in Catholic rituals and modes of worship which followed from Vatican II, the most immediately visible elements of which included Mass facing the congregation, the use of vernacular languages, and a stronger emphasis on the ‘full, conscious and active’ participation of the people.
“Although Pope Francis is often seen as having less interest in liturgical questions than some of his predecessors, this was a lengthy and carefully footnoted reflection, roughly 2,500 words in all.”
By Ines San Martin, Cruxnow.com — Read more …
What is the future of the liturgy? | USCatholic.org
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on November 8, 2012
What is the future of the liturgy? | USCatholic.org.
“Now is not an easy time to move forward with the liturgical renewal inspired by the Second Vatican Council. It may not seem like it at the parish level—unless, perhaps, your priest is recently ordained and pushing for Mass in Latin—but at official levels, mostly behind the scenes, the direction of Catholic liturgy since Vatican II is being called into question. Pope Benedict XVI and his coworkers in the Roman curia are steadily chipping away at guiding assumptions and familiar habits in postconciliar Catholic liturgy.
“It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. Nearly 50 years ago the liturgy constitution of the Second Vatican Council called for a revision and simplification of the liturgy to enable active participation of the people. A massive liturgical reform, unprecedented in all of church history, was carried out under Italian Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, with input from numerous liturgical experts and approval of the world’s bishops. The “new liturgy” was accepted and welcomed by the vast majority of the clergy and faithful.” Fr. Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., in U.S. Catholic
Fr. Ruff teaches liturgy and liturgical music at St. John’s University School of Theology-Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota. He blogs at PrayTellBlog.com and served on the International Commission on English. In February 2011, he withdrew from speaking engagements on the new Roman Missal because, he said in an open letter to U.S. Catholic bishops, “I have concluded that I cannot promote the new missal translation with integrity.”
The Vatican Giveth & the Vatican Taketh Away
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on September 28, 2012
Vatican Lifts Suspension of Priest Who Altered Prayers at Mass
“An Illinois priest who was forced out of his parish by his bishop for improvising prayers during Mass has had his suspension reversed by the Vatican. The Vatican’s reversal means he can celebrate Mass in another diocese, Rowe said, as long as he has the local bishop’s approval. Others, however, disputed that interpretation of the decree.” By Tim Townsend, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in National Catholic Reporter
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A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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