Do You Agree With Dom Alcuin Reid's Assessment?

[Nihil Obstat]

(Full pdf file) http://media.newliturgicalmovement.org/media/Elements_of_the_New_Liturgical_Movement.pdf
 
(Selected highlights, not pdf) http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2014/11/dom-alcuin-reid-on-elements-of-new.html#.VGeT8PnF_DZ

 

"There are plenty of people around who would say that such concern about the liturgy is too introspective, if not introverted, in an age where the Church has so much to do and so many problems to face. “What need have we of ‘sacristy-rats’ or of ‘candle-counting thurible-swingers?’ ” they might retort.

"But let us be clear: Christianity is not humanitarian activism, it is a faith —faith in the person of God the Son incarnate, who suffered and died for our salvation and who established a Church to continue His saving ministry to the end of time. This the Church does through the Sacred Liturgy. If we think about it: original and actual sin are remitted and we are joined to the Body of Christ through the sacrament of Baptism, we are given the Gift of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in the rite of Confirmation, our Christian initiation is completed and we are continually nourished for Christian life through the Holy Eucharist, we are healed when we fall into sin through the Sacrament of Penance, and are healed when we are sick through the Sacrament of Anointing. We are given specific graces for our particular vocations in the sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders. We celebrate salvation history and the triumphs of the saints in the liturgical year, in times of grief we take our beloved dead to the altar, and we continually beg God’s blessing on ourselves, our homes and other created things that we use through liturgical rites.
All of this is liturgical. And it is right that we give it priority. For it is here that we encounter Christ living and acting in His Church today. For without the Sacred Liturgy we have no ecclesial connection with Christ. And without this Christianity is at risk of becoming an ideology rather than a faith—hopefully benevolent ideology, but an ideology nevertheless—and the works of its followers, mere activism. ...

[...]

"The idea of a “reform of the reform” arose in a period when the older rites were more or less proscribed and out of a desire to implement Sacrosanctum Concilium more faithfully. In a post-Summorum Pontificum and post-the pontificate of Benedict XVI world, some have decreed or celebrated the death of the “reform of the reform”. History will tell us whether this is in fact the case; nevertheless, at this point, I would offer two considerations.

"The reformed liturgical rites—the usus recentior—are here to stay. That is a reality and an important pastoral one which the new liturgical movement cannot ignore. If we can assert—as I think serious scholarship allows us to—that the rites promulgated following the Council are not what the Council intended and that there are substantial innovations in more than questionable continuity with the Church’s received liturgical tradition, then these reformed rites are lacking in some important areas, even if we can assert that there are at the same time some good developments (perhaps the richness of some of the new prefaces, for example). That is all to say that as the usus recentior is not going away any time soon, we should, for the sake of the large numbers who have recourse to it, work for it to be enriched and corrected where indeed it is lacking.

"How this will happen is at this time difficult to see. But then, only a few years before Summorum Pontificum few if any could predict that it would appear or what it would bring about. Patience, prayer and work are our task at this time. We shall see what Almighty God’s Providence brings.

"The second consideration I would offer in respect of the reform of the reform is that it is nothing less than a matter of justice to the Council and to liturgical Tradition itself. This is not a question of mere academic speculation, but a cry for the correction of an ecclesial, liturgical and pastoral “divergence” that is simply too great.

"Where to start with a reform of the reform? Do we take the modern books and correct them, or do we re- start, as it were, and get the Council’s reform right starting over from scratch? I recommend Father Thomas Kocik’s article on this question which was posted on the New Liturgical Movement site in February 2014. His observation that the modern liturgical books contain too much intrinsic discontinuity with received tradition to be corrected is a powerful one indeed."
 

[Oremus Pro Invicem]

Where to start is the big question and not an easy one.  We are going to have to remember, and keep fresh in our minds, that the Liturgy as it is now is deeply rooted in the experiences and lives of many Catholics.   Quick changes will cause a riff similar to the wound which was created after the Council when the "reforms" were instituted.  We should look at how the EF was treated and use that as an example of "what not to do" when dealing with Liturgical reform.  We are going to have to accept that the reform of the reform is going to take a long time and will probably still be happening long after we've passed.  With that said I think the Liturgical life of the Church is in need of missionaries.   Much like the Missionaries of Charity, we likewise need the Missionaries of Liturgy.   Orders need to be made to support this effort and the communities which already support it like the Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius need to be expanded.   Furthermore the view of the EF needs to be changed as well.   Lots of Catholics view the EF as a Mass that exists in opposition to the Council and the attitude of many who frequent the EF has not helped this view.   Those who go to the EF should, in all patience and charity, explain that they go to the EF because it is still currently the only Mass which closely resembles the actual wishes of the Council and her reforms. 

 

[Nihil Obstat]

I always recommend that people read Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite by Dr. Laszlo Dobszay, because it details a way in which a proper liturgical reform of the traditional use could have been - and still could, someday in the future - be conducted. Such a reform would be fully in line with the legitimate aspirations of S.C., and without sacrificing its authenticity as the fullest expression of Roman patrimony.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Nihil Obstat

[Oremus Pro Invicem]

I just looked it up on amazon and liked what I saw.  Good thing payday was yesterday.   :hehe2:

[CatherineM]

I don't believe that we have to choose between the social ministry of the Church and the worship. I also don't believe that a solemn worship requires gold and finery to be valid. My Dad said he felt God's presence most strongly in a mass said on the back of a jeep during the war. Mine would be in a seaside chapel palapa in Spanish.

[Nihil Obstat]

I don't believe that we have to choose between the social ministry of the Church and the worship. I also don't believe that a solemn worship requires gold and finery to be valid. My Dad said he felt God's presence most strongly in a mass said on the back of a jeep during the war. Mine would be in a seaside chapel palapa in Spanish.

I do not recall where Dr. Reid said any of that.

[Nihil Obstat]

I just looked it up on amazon and liked what I saw. Good thing payday was yesterday. :hehe2:

Seriously,that book is one of the most important I have ever read on the Liturgy. If I had unlimited funds I would buy hundreds of copies to give to people.

[Oremus Pro Invicem]

I also don't believe that a solemn worship requires gold and finery to be valid. My Dad said he felt God's presence most strongly in a mass said on the back of a jeep during the war. Mine would be in a seaside chapel palapa in Spanish.

 

In all charity, I do not believe feelings determine validity either. 

[CatherineM]

Why do I even try? Everyone else lets you traddies yack at yourselves until you run your course. Every time I try to inject some real world, average person in the pew views, and you act like I'm either a complete moron or a heretic. I give up. Continue on as if I didn't stick my nose in and I won't bother you again.

[Nihil Obstat]

Why do I even try? Everyone else lets you traddies yack at yourselves until you run your course. Every time I try to inject some real world, average person in the pew views, and you act like I'm either a complete moron or a heretic. I give up. Continue on as if I didn't stick my nose in and I won't bother you again.

All right, well let us be real here then. Your post had precisely nothing to do with the article I quoted from. So why say it? Why go out of your way to argue about negative stereotypes of traditionalists that were irrelevant to the topic we had been trying to discuss?

[CatherineM]

All right, well let us be real here then. Your post had precisely nothing to do with the article I quoted from. So why say it? Why go out of your way to argue about negative stereotypes of traditionalists that were irrelevant to the topic we had been trying to discuss?

I'm deeply sorry. You are right. My post was nonsense. I go out of my way to cause trouble because I feel so very inadequate. I don't want people to know what a bad catholic I actually am.

[Nihil Obstat]

I'm deeply sorry. You are right. My post was nonsense. I go out of my way to cause trouble because I feel so very inadequate. I don't want people to know what a bad catholic I actually am.

I have nothing whatsoever against you. In fact I like you rather a lot and have said as much several times in the past. But I see no reason for your post here other than baiting a new 'mean old trads' argument.

[An Historian]

I don't believe that we have to choose between the social ministry of the Church and the worship. I also don't believe that a solemn worship requires gold and finery to be valid. My Dad said he felt God's presence most strongly in a mass said on the back of a jeep during the war. Mine would be in a seaside chapel palapa in Spanish.

Which war did he serve in?

[CatherineM]

Which war did he serve in?

WWII

[An Historian]

WWII

And what liturgy was used in the 1940s? ;)