Reform of the Reform? The continuing debate

 

The recent upsurge in discussion as to Reform of the Reform or rejection of the Reform in the liturgy continues on the Internet. I cannot claim to keep pace with all of the posts but here are some I have seen which strike me as interesting.

On the New Liturgical Movement Peter Kwasniewski has an interesting post at Clarifications on the Reform of the Reform Controversy, which seeks to take the debate forwards and contains links to online articles he cites and commends by my friends Fr John Hunwicke and Dr Joseph Shaw, the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society.

In addition to these posts on his own blog Dr Shaw has an additional post on Rorate Caeli about one of the points raised in this discussion which can be read at The Mass of 1965: back to the future?Why it is not an option

Also on Rorate Caeli is a post by their blogger New Catholic which does touch on the debate in the context of the change of Supreme Pontiff last year and can be read at Abp. Gänswein: "Yes, Francis and Benedict's liturgical sensibilities are different, it's not an offense to say so."

 

 

The debate on the Reform of the Reform

I recently posted Reform of the Reform or Reversal of the Reform? about part of the current discussion about the way the Roman liturgy might or should develop.

This is, inevitably, very much a continuing debate and here are three recent contributions to it from the New Liturgical Movement site, which give a variety of viewpoints and possible lines of approach.

The Growing Realization of the Irreparable Failure of the Liturgical Reform
by Peter Kwasniewski

Reform of the Reform - Not Impossible
by Ben Yanke and quoting an article by Bishop Peter J. Elliott 

Is the Reform of the Reform Dead? Fr. Christopher Smith's Essay at the Chant Cafe
by Jennifer Donelson

On a related matter, that of the nature of the Offertory, there is an interesting post from the same site which can be read at   

The Theology of the Offertory: A Response to a Recent Article Quoted on PrayTell (Part 1)
by Gregory DiPippo who cites an article by Fr. Anthony Ruff OSB, the editor and principal writer of PrayTell

Septuagesima

Tomorrow is in the Usus Antiquior Septuagesima Sunday, and the beginning of the Pre-Lent season - and in some circumstances of the Lenten fast. There is an online introduction to the history and practice of Septuagesima here. I wrote last year about this season and the debate about its position in the liturgical year in The Season of Septuagesima.

My copy of the excellent St Andrew Missal (reprinted by the St Bonaventure Press) gives a good introduction to the development of this season, and explains it as originating in the liturgical themes of the three Sundays - the Fall, Noah and Abraham - and a consequential extension backwards of Lenten themes. One summary I have seen is that in Septuagesima we recognise that we are a fallen humanity, and in Lent by penitence we try to do something about it.

Image:wlms.blogspot.com

Earlier this evening I was at the Ordinariate Mass here in Oxford. In their calendar this weekend is called Septuagesiama, the next two Sundays have their traditional names. These terms were retained in the Book of Common Prayer, and have returned to the Catholic Church with the Ordinariate Use. 

However more than the name there is no change to Novus Ordo useage with this newly approved Use. The vestments are green not purple, the Gloria and Alleluia are not suppressed, and the readings are those of, this year, Sunday of Week 6 of Ordinary Time. Returning to the issue I linked to in my post Reform of the Reform or Reversal of the Reform? last week this is perhaps an indication of how far the Reform of the Reform could go at the moment. It is perhaps a pity that room for more provision of ancient uses has not been found with this liturgy. Maybe time will bring organic development.

Update Monday February 17th

The blog Rorate Caeli has this post about Septuagesima and its significance: Septuagesima: Christianity is as old as the world

Reform of the Reform or Reversal of the Reform?

The blog Rorate Caeli is always a source of thought provoking reading matter, and there is a very interesting article on it about the future direction of the movement for a "Reform of the Reform" of the liturgy. It is well worth reading and reflecting upon, and can be read at The End of the “Reform of the Reform”:Father Kocik’s "Tract 90".

It will be interesting if this fuels debate, and if so hopefully in a positive way, and not in the rather depressing or angry way in which the perfectly good case for restoration is sometimes made. Has the process of reform reached its natural limit? Does its message still need to reach many parishes? Hoew practicable or possible is a reversal of the reform? can the Church accomodate such movements in tranquility? These and other questions immediately arise, and are important ones.

Liturgical reform or liturgical restoration is a vital topic for many and, as we know, often divisive. Let us hope that discussion will be positive and informed as this issue continues its course in the life of the Church.

Celebrating Pentecost

Were I to invited to suggest liturgical, or at very least calendric changes, in the cause of the "Reform of the Reform" I would give priority to amending the celebration of Pentecost.

In the current Missal we go from Pentecost straight into Ordinary Time, there no longer being an Octave. This is, in my opinion, to be regretted. Not only was the Octave an ancient feature of the liturgy but it provided a week to reflect on the gifts of the Holy Spirit day by day, and to assign time to reflect on the scale of the gift poured out upon the Church. So there are good practical and teaching arguments for extending the observance of the feast.

There is in the present arrangement, despite the renewed emphasis in recent years upon the role of the Holy Spirit, a constraint on observing the gifts and rejoicing in them which seems to be a result of stressing the unique, but enclosed period of fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. This is now all designated as Eastertide, with only the Easter Octave surviving as a sub-division. So the hinge of the Ascension, stressed by commentators such as Dom Gueranger, loses something of its significance - all the more so with its transference as a solemnity to the Sunday following. Pentecost can appear to be no more than the rounding off of Easter rather than the beginning of the next phase in Salvation-history.
My pre-1955 St Andrew's Missal begins its description of the rites of Whitsun with a clear reference to the discrete fifty days, but goes on to stress the significance of the established, interlocking liturgical components to it - Ascension and its Octave, the original novena of Penetcost and so on.


Restoring its Octave would redress that balance, as indeed would the restoration of the pre 1955 Whitsun Vigil. This would emphasise the solemnity of the feast and give it a symmetrical relationship with Easter, whose night time Vigil has become very popular since the liturgical changes under Pope Pius XII. Here a restored Pentecost Vigil would allow reflection on the nature of Christian initiation and participation in the sacramental life of the Church, and emphasise the importance of the feast.

I have drawn attention recently to the restored Vigil celebrated at Blackfriars in Oxford, and many priests will no doubt be celebrating votive Masses of the Holy Spirit this week - and may even keep red hangings in place for part of the former Octave. I heard of one church which began its celebration of Pentecost with Solemn Terce - that being the Hour at which the Spirit descended. There is an appetite for such renewal.


The emphasis by many in recent decades on the action of the Holy Spirit has at times disturbed and confused others within the Church. A revival of ancient practice and custom could serve as a reminder, along the lines of long established understanding, that the bestowal of the Holy Spirit is not, as it not infrequently appears to be seen, an ecstatic personal religious experience but rather that it is the baptism of the Body of Christ which is the Church and its sanctification. It is through the medium of the Church that we as individuals receive Grace, and through our membership our incorporation into it as a living Body and, hopefully our ultimate divinisation.