Recently, within days, actually, we have heard that Pope Leo XIV is calling for an extraordinary gathering of the cardinals at the Vatican in January. No one knows yet, what the topic or topics of this meeting will be. Might it be the liturgy? Time and liturgy will tell.
But this is the last paragraph of Pope Leo’s homily for the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran is clearly Pope Leo’s vision for the liturgy of the Church. You can read the entire homily HERE.
My comments in red:
“Finally, I would like to mention an essential aspect of the Cathedral’s mission: liturgy. The liturgy is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed... the source from which all its power flows” Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10). In it, we find the same themes we have already mentioned: we are built up as God’s temple, as his dwelling place in the Spirit and we receive strength to preach Christ in the world (cf. ibid., 2). (The one thing that I have recognized throughout my 46 years of priesthood is that the greatest number of Catholics (and non Catholics) are encountered at the Liturgies of the Church, especially the Sunday Mass, but also weddings, funerals, baptisms and other liturgical events. Thus, what Pope Leo says is true. The liturgy is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed….” Thus, the care for the liturgy and its proper celebration, no matter the rite, is essential and must be according the the norms of the Church!)
Therefore, care for the liturgy, especially here at the See of Peter, must be such that it can serve as an example for the whole people of God. It must comply with the established norms, be attentive to the different sensibilities of those participating and keep with the principle of wise inculturation (cf. ibid., 37-38). (My question and I think the question of many traditional minded Catholics, even for the Modern Mass, is what is the principle of wise inculturation? I have no idea what that means. Can anyone point to that inculturation which is wise and unwise???? Certainly the vernacular is a powerful form of inculturation, but does Latin and Greek have to be completely absent? Musical idiom are also areas for wise inculturation. But what if that inculturation is Protestant in sound and theology? What if it reminds people of a piano bar or music sung in current day Broadway ditties? Inculturation is fraught with problems from my perspective because what does it mean? Then there is the issue of dance as prayer, but dance added to the liturgy rather than seeing the Mass and its choreography as the dance, made clearer in the older rites of the Mass.)
At the same time, it must remain faithful to the solemn sobriety typical of the Roman tradition, which can do so much good for the souls of those who actively participate in it (cf. ibid., 14). Every care should be taken to ensure that the simple beauty of the rites expresses the value of worship for the harmonious growth of the whole Body of the Lord. As Saint Augustine said, “beauty is nothing but love, and love is life” (Discourse 365, 1). This truth is realized in an eminent way within the liturgy, and I hope that those who approach the altar of Rome’s Cathedral go away filled with the grace that the Lord wishes to flood the world (cf. Ezek47:1-2, 8-9, 12).” (“It must remain faithful to the solemn sobriety typical of the Roman tradition…” Yes, indeed it should. But it is here that inculturation on many different levels leads to INSOBRIETY!. Think of the Los Angeles Religious Education Conference and its liturgies, especially the Mass there—those are not characterized by sobriety. Or think of various Masses at parishes in the Chicago Archdiocese. These are drunken spectacles. To be sure, the Masses that Pope Leo has celebrated as pope, to include the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist, is sober and beautiful. But the pope may be spitting in the wind to think his words will have any effect beyond his liturgical celebrations unless he issues a Traditionis Custodis authoritarian type document to make it happen and makes sure the Prefect for the Dycastery of Divine Worship enforces it as he has enforced TC!)
8 comments:
Inculturation is a load of cr-p, and has done NOTHING to advance the Faith. The TLM worked amazingly well to make converts in Africa and Asian Countries and throughout the World. Pope Leo needs to follow Pope Benedict and restore liturgical peace. More and more young people are attracted to the TLM, not the hodge-podge Novus Ordo controlled by the celebrant's whims. If there is not a course correction soon, the Church will continue on its managed decline.
You ask, "...what is the principle of wise inculturation..."?
Holy Mother Church answers: "11. The process of inculturation may be defined as the Church's efforts to make the message of Christ penetrate a given sociocultural milieu, calling on the latter to grow according to all its particular values, as long as these are compatible with the Gospel. The term inculturation includes the notion of growth, of the mutual enrichment of persons and groups, rendered possible by the encounter of the Gospel with a social milieu. "Inculturation [is] the incarnation of the Gospel in native cultures and also the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church."15
INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION
"FAITH AND INCULTURATION" (1988)
Footnote 15 references: 15 John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli, 21.
That text: "21. The Brothers from Salonika were not only heirs of the faith but also heirs of the culture of Ancient Greece, continued by Byzantium. Everyone knows how important this heritage is for the whole of European culture and, directly or indirectly, for the culture of the entire world. The work of evangelization which they carried out as pioneers in territory inhabited by Slav peoples-contains both a model of what today is called " inculturation the incarnation of the Gospel in native cultures and also the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church.
By incarnating the Gospel in the native culture of the peoples which they were evangelizing, Saints Cyril and Methodius were especially meritorious for the formation and development of that same culture, or rather of many cultures. Indeed all the cultures of the Slav nations owe their "beginning" or development to the work of the Brothers from Salonika. For by their original and ingenious creation of an alphabet for the Slavonic language the Brothers made a fundamental contribution to the culture and literature of all the Slav nations.
Furthermore, the translation of the sacred books, carried out by Cyril and Methodius together with their pupils, conferred a capacity and cultural dignity upon the Old Slavonic liturgical language, which became for many hundreds of years not only the ecclesiastical but also the official and literary language, and even the common language of the more educated classes of the greater part of the Slav nations, and in particular of all the Slavs of the Eastern Rite. It was also used in the Church of the Holy Cross in Cracow, where the Slav Benedictines had established themselves. Here were published the first liturgical books printed in this language. Up to the present day this is the language used in the Byzantine liturgy of the Slavonic Eastern Churches of the Rite of Constantinople, both Catholic and Orthodox, in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, as well as in various countries of Western Europe. It is also used in the Roman liturgy of the Catholics of Croatia."
Father McDonald:
I am no liturgical expert, but I wonder whether you have already answered your own questions. Pope Leo doesn’t just encourage inculturation, but WISE inculturation. Wisdom implies good judgment as opposed to bad judgment. There are no hard and fast rules for exercising good judgment, but experience is key. Moreover, although there are no hard and fast rules for the exercise of good judgment, that doesn’t mean there are no rules at all, breach of which makes judgment per se bad. And so, Pope Leo immediately supplies a bedrock principle, i.e., that the liturgy, including its inculturation, “must remain faithful to the solemn sobriety typical of the Roman tradition.”
At Holy Spirit Church in Macon, they have no organ. The same is true of the church I will probably attend in Mobile, to which my wife and I are in the process of moving, as well as the church I attend when visiting England. Instead, the vocalists are accompanied by a variety of contemporary musical instruments, including the guitar and piano (both of which, and their precursors, are in fact quite old in origin). I have yet to experience use of this arrangement that would violate the bedrock principle articulated by Pope Leo. By contrast, many, perhaps all, of the examples you give would violate that principle and thus would be examples of UNWISE inculturation.
This said, I do not deny at all the majestic atmosphere that an organ and trumpets can help create (although it is worth noting that both these instruments can also feature in some dreadful contemporary secular music) or the beautiful other-worldliness of Gregorian chant, which I also love. especially when performed in a monastic setting.
Mark J.
Wow! That’s a big move for you and your wife. Mobile is very Catholic and a very nice place. God bless you in this big move! As it regards “wise inculturation” my interpretation of Pope Leo’s descriptive here is that a lot of inculturation isn’t wise and needs some reform. I wonder if he has the Amazon Rite in mind, which I think is seeking approval. There is also an African Rite, already approved by Pope Francis and in fact celebrated at St. Peter’s with Pope Francis presiding. I find it a bit over the top and the focus shifts from Christ to inculturated customs, usually associated with movement and lengthy rites that distract from the purpose of the Mass. These Masses in Africa can last up to three and four hours. I don’t know if you remember our Ghanaian priest at St. Joseph. He has been in our country for a long time, but he goes back to Ghana for certain celebrations. He lamented to me that he can’t take their long liturgies any more—they’re over the top. As far as chants in the Mass, I would hope that proper chants chanted in traditional cultural modes would be applied to the official chants of the Church. Anglican Chant is beautiful but quite different from Gregorian Chant not only in language, English verses Latin but also style, but very compatible with Gregorian Chant. I have heard African Chants in Latin that are clearly of their mode of chanting. The chants of the Eastern Church are quite different from our Latin Gregorian Chant style. I prefer organ or no instrumentation. I think piano and guitar are associated more with secular music in our culture than religious. The Ancient Latin Mass once at the cathedral and now at Sacred Heart in Savannah has a splendid schola which chants without accompaniment—it is marvelous!
The Church flourished with the TLM and NO INCULTURATION. The Church is no longer flourishing with the Novus Bogus and all of its variants.
Father McDonald,
Thank you for your reply and your kind blessing for the move. Yes, it is indeed a big move, although we will only make what I call the Big Move (furniture and other effects) in the New Year. We already have a new home in Mobile (a much smaller one in the MidTown historic district), so in the meantime we travel to Mobile once a month for a week or so (in fact, we are there as I write this). After the Big Move, we will do it all in reverse and travel to Macon every month for a week or so to prepare that house for sale. My wife was born and raised in Mobile and our younger daughter (technically, my stepdaughter) lives here, with the older one in New Orleans, while our considerably younger son lives in Rochester in upstate New York.
Like so many others who enter old age, we wanted to be closer to family. I will certainly miss Macon, which has been my home for forty-five years, but I am looking forward to new challenges and the next phase of life in Mobile, with some concerns mixed with some excitement (all quite normal I am sure). And the church I have decided to attend (Little Flower Church) seems quite lovely—about the size of St. Joseph’s in Macon, although not as magnificent and lacking an organ (but with a huge statue of St. Therese of Lisieux at the back of the church); perhaps you know it.
https://www.littleflowermobile.com/
https://www.facebook.com/littleflowermobile/photos/a.1901065453488762/2288309838097653/?type=3
https://www.al.com/living-press-register/2010/07/little_flowers_works_of_art.html
Mark J.
P. S. It seems I was incorrect about the organ. I just read that there does seem to be one, procured about five years ago from a Presbyterian Church. I am unsure whether it is in working order. I expect I will find out in due course!
PP.S. Well, that’s AI for you! AI said Little Flower in Mobile had an organ obtained from a Presbyterian church. I now have reason to believe AI was referring to another parish in Memphis by the same name. Perhaps the I in AI does double duty—Intelligence sometimes, Ignorance other times. -:)
The Congolese usage (not rite ) was first celebrated at St Peter’s by JP2. I don’t think Benedict attended!
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