tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598228705498900088.post6601143527214456003..comments2024-03-12T07:54:08.013+00:00Comments on Offerimus Tibi Domine: Martin Mosebach on Vatican IIFr Simon Henryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05375804232895565241noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598228705498900088.post-515410704474385312011-01-16T12:51:49.267+00:002011-01-16T12:51:49.267+00:00This is a long (but excellent) text to comment on,...This is a long (but excellent) text to comment on, so I will simply offer a couple of reflections.<br /><br />The ‘manufacture’ (as Ratzinger described it) of the OF by a committee has introduced the concept that the liturgy can engage with the spirit of the times. This brings the probability or at least the possibility of an ever-changing liturgy, rather than a liturgy which organically develops in line with eternal realities. With a principle of ever-changing liturgy comes an ever-changing Catholic identity; one marked by the spirit of the times as embodied in the changing liturgy, with the perhaps troubling development that one can excise without any trepidation prayers and ceremonies introduced over the centuries to clarify and uphold Doctrine, thereby diminishing the ‘lex orandi, lex credendi’ principle. It is worth noting that on the publication of the CofE’s response to ‘Apostolicae curiae’ the Catholic Bishops of England & Wales noted that it was not in the Catholic tradition to excise prayers from the liturgy; Archbishop Fulton Sheen made the same point in his commentary on a Mass celebrated in Chicago in 1941. Yet the framers of the OF did exactly that, thereby allowing a Protestant principle to enter the OF from day one. While it is true that the OF is valid, licit and has Catholic status given by affirmation from the Holy See, this Protestant principle of excision cannot be denied. To bring the OF into line with Catholic Liturgical tradition I think the Offertory Prayers from the EF need re-introducing; the ad orientem position mandated; Latin chant for the Ordinary (Gloria, Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus, Pater Noster, Agnus Aei) re-instated and the Indult for reception of Holy Communion in the hand rescinded (wWhile reception in the hand was originally a Catholic practice, it was lost in the early days of the Church and reintroduced by Protestants as a rejection of belief in the Real Presence. It too therefore, now embodies a Protestant principle).<br /><br />In line with an ever-changing Catholic identity we could well develop a kind of ‘Lord of the Flies’ phenomena, the push for lay leadership (the sheep leading the sheep) paralleling the children in Lord of the Flies who began in united fashion but quickly fell into division and anarchy. In the push for lay leadership we should not forget the strong possibility that at some time or another Mrs Smith will no longer be happy with Mrs Brown telling her what to do or burying Mr Brown when just the day before the ladies were shopping in the same supermarket and waiting for the same bus home.<br /><br />I thank God that under John Paul II our doctrine was re-affirmed by the Catechism, and hope that Pope Benedict will re-affirm our Catholic Liturgy, but I wonder how this can come about since it seems to me that the Catechism is yet to be fully implemented, given that the Catholic press is full of letters disavowing aspects of Catholic doctrine without any correction from senior clergy. God alone can give growth to correct doctrine and liturgical practice, meanwhile we simply have to do whatever planting and watering we can.Fr Dicksonnoreply@blogger.com