8 february 2006: Arinze dixit!

[Gilbert]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican’s top liturgy official said he expects Pope Benedict XVI to move against liturgical abuse with firm teaching and a gentle manner, recognizing that such mistakes often reflect ignorance, not ill will.

At the same time, the pope wants to offer reconciliation to followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre – but not at the cost of “disowning” the Second Vatican Council, said Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Nigerian who heads the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments…

catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0600806.htm

 

[pm1853]

You have a frowny face in your title for this article. Whats wrong with it?

 

[awalt]

There was a really good discussion of this topic in general a recent This Rock. In short, once you understand the true relationship of the Pope and the bishops (ie it’s not “CEO” style, or “manager” style, since each bishop is truly in charge of their own diocese), it became easier for me to understand that the Pope can guide, counsel, discuss, publish documents to help clarify, but it is really truly up to each bishop what goes on in their own diocese. Short of retirements, not much can be done. And a Pope that got too aggressive in transfers and “forced retirements” behind the scenes would greatly encourage schisms.

It was explained that this was probably the big reason why abuses of the liturgy in the 70s and 80s in US seemed to be “ignored” by JP II. They thought it was his opinion that a “crack down”, hoped for by transitional Catholics, carried serious risk the USCCB may have schismed at that time. Really scary if you think about it.

 

[Lapsed]

The cardinal said he thought that for most people the question is not the Tridentine rite versus the new Mass, but the much more basic issues of faith, love of Christ and the appreciation of the importance of Sunday Mass.

Emphasis mine.

I think this really is the issue for me. I want a Mass that is taken seriously by the celebrant and the parishoners, one that is the centre of congregational worship and of Catholic life.

 

[palmas85]

pm1853:

You have a frowny face in your title for this article. Whats wrong with it?

After reading the article I would think the frown face is because the poster doesn’t like the more conservative position that Cardinal Arinze seems to promote. But then again, maybe he sees the cardinals position as being too diplomatic and too soft on certain issues.

Of course should the church return to a more conservative position many will be sorely distressed. Imagine having to give up all the freedoms we’ve had to experiment, corrupt and invalidate the faith. Just think about it. Catholicism as God meant to be, not the way some people wanted it to be

Of course he could have just hit the wrong button too.

 

[palmas85]

Lapsed:

Emphasis mine.

I think this really is the issue for me. I want a Mass that is taken seriously by the celebrant and the parishoners, one that is the centre of congregational worship and of Catholic life.

Bravo, well said. :clapping:

 

[Gilbert]

pm1853:

You have a frowny face in your title for this article. Whats wrong with it?

I don’t like

*Cardinal Arinze shares that hope, but said people should realize that the pope “cannot change the faith of the church.”

“He cannot disown Vatican II in order to make the Lefebvrites happy. The pope cannot reinvent everything, or act as if Vatican II did not take place,” he said*.

Insinuation? Threatening words? Warning?

 

[muledog]

Gilbert:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican’s top liturgy official said he expects Pope Benedict XVI to move against liturgical abuse with firm teaching and a gentle manner, recognizing that such mistakes often reflect ignorance, not ill will.

What?!? After Redemptionis Sacramentum, Liturgiam Authenticam, the new General Instruction to the Roman Missal, et. al., if there are still bishops out there who are “ignorant” of what correct and authentic liturgy means, then no amount of teaching will change their minds.

They have what is called “wilfull ignorance.”

 

[ComradeAndrei]

Cardinal Arinze shares that hope, but said people should realize that the pope “cannot change the faith of the church.”

Well, he can’t. He can say all he wants, he can bind in conscience but he cannot “make” people do what is right. People must assent on their own free will and carry through with what he teaches.

“He cannot disown Vatican II in order to make the Lefebvrites happy. The pope cannot reinvent everything, or act as if Vatican II did not take place,” he said.

That is true as well, a pope can’t just drop an Ecumenical Council to appease some schismatics.

 

[Gilbert]

ComradeAndrei:

Well, he can’t. He can say all he wants, he can bind in conscience but he cannot “make” people do what is right. People must assent on their own free will and carry through with what he teaches.
That is true as well, a pope can’t just drop an Ecumenical Council to appease some schismatics.

This is the point. Benedict knows the matter better than anyone!

 

[Gilbert]

This is the point. Benedict knows the matter better than anyone (ande better than Arinze…)!

 

[Katie1723]

You know something, I love the fact that as a Catholic in the USA, I can go to Mass almost anytime. I can do it publicly in a large group or a small chapel (at work). Imagine what it would be like to have to “sneak” saying and attending the Mass.
Although I know there may be “liturgical abuses” going on ( and I by no means agree with them), know how lucky we are in the long run.
~ Kathy ~

 

[mosher]

Gilbert:

This is the point. Benedict knows the matter better than anyone (ande better than Arinze…)!

I doubt that very strongly. Cardinal Arinze, Cardinal Hoyos, and the then Cardinal Ratzinger all worked on or with the Ecclesia Dei
Commission. The now, Benedict XVI perhaps may be more sympathetic to the SSPX but his opinion of a solution was rejected by the SSPX over the opinion of Cardinal Arinze.

While on the Ecclesia Die Commission our current Holy Father proposed a reform of the reform so that there would no longer be a need for the two masses existing side by side as opposed to Arinze who opted to support the movement of establishing separate jurisdictions (Personal Prelature of the Holy Father) which was established with the Campos group.

I don’t see his statements as being hard or a threat in any way rather his statement is one of honest which is nice to hear as opposed to the usual wishy washy talk that we hear on a regular basis from public figures both in and outside the Church.

 

[Ghosty]

I don’t think it was a threat or insinuation, I think it was a clarification for the news report.

Peace and God bless!