Most of you would be aware that something is happening in the Liturgy of the Mass and that a new translation is to be introduced next year. There has also been a restoration of the Mass in Latin. There is much more to it than that. The following is a small part of a lecture given by a leading linguist and liturgist.

“Springtime fittingly describes the liturgical renewal before, during and the twenty or so years after Vatican II. Firmly grounded in historical research, theological investigation, and pastoral consciousness, the framers of the post conciliar liturgy set out to implement the decisions of the Council. Across the globe local churches experienced the flowering of liturgical worship. The noble simplicity of the revised rites and the use of the vernacular helped immensely to promote full, intelligent and active participation which the Council had declared as the primary aim of the liturgical reform.

Even before we could with satisfaction gather the flowers and harvest the fruits of summer, a cold wind has begun to blow on the face of post conciliar reform. The autumn leaves are starting to fall. There is a strong advocacy for a new reform of the liturgy, a reform of the reform. What are the possible implications? What remedy does it offer for a reform that according to some Catholics has gone bad? What agenda does it put forward so that liturgical worship could be more reverent and prayerful?

The agenda is, to all appearances, an attempt to put the clock back half a century. It seems to conveniently forget that since Vatican II the Church has been marching with the times, acknowledging the changes in social and religious culture, and adopting new pastoral strategies. Will Latinised English make the liturgy more awesome? Will the silent recitation of the Eucharistic Prayer, preferably in Latin, evoke more vividly the Last Supper of Jesus? Is receiving Holy Communion on one’s knees and on the tongue more reverent that receiving it standing and in the hand? Will the priestly role of mediation be reinforced by praying at the altar with the back to the assembly?

Have autumn and winter prematurely settled in the liturgical landscape of Vatican II? After four decades of conciliar reform the Church is now experiencing the cold chill of winter brought about by contrasting ideas of what the liturgy is and how it should be celebrated

Obviously this kind of tension could be a healthy sign that interest in the liturgy has not abated. However after the Council we are not free to propound our views on what the liturgy is about outside the principles it has established in the Constitution on the Liturgy.

History is a teacher that points out models to be imitated and warns about mistakes to be avoided. Might not the absence of a historical mind frame be one reason why we still witness the tenacity to hold fast to liturgical forms discarded by the conciliar reform, especially on the part of conservative movements, that challenge the post conciliar liturgy, if not the conciliar decisions. History is liberating but those who do not learn from it are bound to repeat its mistakes.”

My own thought is that the people who are promoting this conservative agenda are driving a division in the Church. The disturbing thing is the manner in which they are attempting to reinterpret the Second Vatican Council as though it never happened. Surely the Holy Spirit was with those three thousand Bishops who gathered to prepare the Church for the 21st century.

Fr L.F. Donnelly PP
Port Macquarie