Archbishop Chaput: Renewal of the Liturgy

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Here is a speech given recently by Archbishop Chaput of Denver. He is one of the new wave of bishops without the “spirit of V2” mentality. He shares the vision our Holy Father has for the future direction of the liturgical renewal initiated by V2.

archden.org/index.cfm/ID/4113

Excerpts (emphasis mine):

The liturgical act requires a new kind of consciousness, a “readiness toward God,” an inward awareness of the unity of the whole person, body and soul, with the spiritual body of the Church, present in heaven and on earth.* It also requires an appreciation that the sacred signs and actions of the Mass – standing, kneeling, singing and so forth – are themselves “prayer.”**"*

…]

*"Barron puts the issue this way: “The project is not shaping the liturgy according to the suppositions of the age, but allowing the liturgy to question and shape the suppositions of any age. Is the modern man incapable of the liturgical act? Probably. But this is no ground for despair. Our goal is not to accommodate the liturgy to the world, but to let the liturgy be itself – a transformative icon of the ordo of God.”

Barron suggests that in the post-conciliar era, the professional Catholic liturgical establishment opted for the former path, trying to adapt the liturgy to the demands of modern culture. I would agree. And I would add that time has shown this to be a dead end.** Trying to engineer the liturgy to be more “relevant” and “intelligible” through a kind of relentless cult of novelty, has only resulted in confusion and a deepening of the divide between believers and the true spirit of the liturgy**.iii"*
 
Make that man a Cardinal and give him a crozier with a tazer in it! A Tozier ™, in fact!

“Your Excellency, our diocesan liturgist has designed a concelebrated ordination Mass for the …” [ZAP!]
 
Layman said:
Make that man a Cardinal and give him a crozier with a tazer in it! A Tozier ™, in fact!

“Your Excellency, our diocesan liturgist has designed a concelebrated ordination Mass for the …” [ZAP!]
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:amen:

I met him down at a FOCUS conference this past New Year’s. His speech was great and he’s just a great man. He is very pastoral. A perfect example of a pastoral Bishop that is still willing to lay down the law!
 
Layman said:
Make that man a Cardinal and give him a crozier with a tazer in it! A Tozier ™, in fact!

“Your Excellency, our diocesan liturgist has designed a concelebrated ordination Mass for the …” [ZAP!]
Click to expand...
😃
 
Layman said:
Make that man a Cardinal and give him a crozier with a tazer in it! A Tozier ™, in fact!

“Your Excellency, our diocesan liturgist has designed a concelebrated ordination Mass for the …” [ZAP!]
Click to expand...
He is a Cardinal.
 
Layman said:
“Your Excellency, our diocesan liturgist has designed a concelebrated ordination Mass for the …” [ZAP!]
Click to expand...
That’s pretty ironic – in the EF ordination Masses have always been concelebrated. D’oh!
 
Wonderful article, Ockham. Thanks for posting it. 🙂

He summed up most of my feelings about liturgy in stating this:

In this regard, the Novus Ordo, the new order of the Mass promulgated after the council, has been a great blessing to the Church. Our liturgy gives us the zeal for the evangelization and sanctification of our world. The vernacular has opened up the liturgy’s content in new ways. It has encouraged active, creative participation by all the faithful – not only in the liturgy but in every aspect of the Church’s mission.

By the way, for the record, I’m also very grateful that the Holy Father has allowed wider use of the older Tridentine form – not because I personally prefer it, in fact I find the Novus Ordo, properly celebrated, a much richer expression of worship; but because we need access to all of the Church’s heritage of prayer and faith.

I’m truly not saying that to poke anyone in the eye or to start any kind of battle but only because I think one can subjectively prefer either liturgy and still be on the same page with those of other preferences who do love the liturgy and wish to see Man once again come back to the realization that “…we are creatures dependent upon our Creator.”

We often see opinions here that the Pauline Mass is inadequate in many ways. I think though that Archbishop Chaput explains the reason why liturgy can seem lacking very well.

If our liturgies strike us as pedestrian, narrowly parochial, too focused on our own communities and needs; if they lack a powerful sense of the sacred and the transcendent, it’s because we have lost the sense of how our worship participates in the heavenly liturgy.

It’s not that the liturgy itself is bad per se, though there are admittedly some awful ones out there just as there were some awful TLM’s out there pre-Vatican II, but that we have lost our sense of worship. It is easy to have our lenses clouded to a point where we want to find blame but are just looking at the wrong root cause.

I found his closing especially relevant when reflecting on those I have met here.

The mystery we celebrate with the angels and the saints must take root deep in our lives and personalities. It must bear fruit. Each of us must make our own unique contribution to God’s loving plan – that all creation become adoration and sacrifice in praise of him.

We may have different preferences as to liturgical form but I have the greatest respect for the way each one here lets the mystery take root in our lives so we can make our contribution to God’s plan. I wish we could do so with a little less sniping at each other but it doesn’t take away one bit my admiration for those whose mere presence here shows their devotion to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Peace,
 
MarkThompson said:
Indeed. And he’d make a great fit the next time a big see opens up, like, say … Chicago.
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I think he’s doing splendidly where he is currently. Besides, Cardinal George can cut the mustard, too. 😉

I have a lot of respect for Archbishop Chaput. He, along with a growing number of American Bishops, have no qualms in telling the secular world what for.
 
JMJ_coder said:
How many Auxiliary Bishops does Chicago have? Do you have a Coadjutor Bishop?
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No coadjutor (you would have heard about that, I’m sure). Five auxiliaries, plus another four retired. If a man’s going to come from inside, I’d hope for Bishop Joseph Perry:

 
MarkThompson said:
Indeed. And he’d make a great fit the next time a big see opens up, like, say … Chicago.
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Don’t get greedy - you already have the Stanley Cup Champions.

Hopefully your current bishops can correct the wayward path of priests like Rev. Pflegar.
 
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