REIMAGINING THE EUCHARISTAs well as [being] a time of loss, this might be a moment to broaden our understanding of the Eucharist and to deepen our spirituality beyond the walls of our usual place of worship.
I WANT TO PRAY WITH YOU, NOT WATCH YOU PRAYOur parishes must consider how to create virtual and in-person worship experiences that are communal and meaningful. Those at home want to feel like their presence in their community of faith still matters and that their presence in the pew is missed.
RETURNING TO THE SACRAMENT OF DIVINE LOVEA primarily canonical response is not the most prudent way to address the present situation, where, in most places -- according to both surveys and online priest discussion groups - only a minority of those who were regular Sunday Mass goers in February have returned to regular worship.
NO MORE "SPECTATORS": ALWAYS ACTIVE AT MASSMass is always celebrated, and not only by the priest who presides over it, but by all Christians who live it. The center is Christ! and not only by the priest who presides over it, but by all the Christians who live it.
EXPLAINER: WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE LATIN MASS?The post-Vatican II liturgy is centered on the premise that the people of God celebrate the liturgy together in virtue of their shared baptism. Instead, the church has experienced two different forms coexisting uneasily...
FRANCIS & THE TRADITIONALISTSPope Francis knows that traditionalism is not going away any time soon, writes Massimo Faggioli. Willing to accommodate it where he can, he will not give an inch on Vatican II.
MAKING SENSE OF POPE FRANCIS’ NEW RESTRICTIONS ON THE LATIN MASS The Second Vatican Council’s clear intent was that the Mass be celebrated in the vernacular and that this be the primary way that people experience the Mass. This was one of the main ways that the Council hoped to promote what it called the “full, active” participation in the sacrament.
DIOCESES RESPOND TO POPE’S DOCUMENT RESTORING LIMITS ON PRE-VATICAN II MASS'Summorum Pontificium’ (issued by Pope Benedict) sought to foster the healing of the schism of Archbishop (Marcel) Lefebvre and others who rejected not only the liturgical reforms of Vatican II but indeed often the council itself. As it turned out, not only did it not achieve that purpose, the unintended result was to create further division within parishes and among priests.
TRADITIONIS CUSTODESApostolic Letter issued “Motu Proprio” by the Pope Francis on the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the reform of 1970. The document places new restrictions on the use of the traditional Latin Mass.
THE OLD RITE RESTRICTED Liturgical reform is fraught with difficulties and takes time. It sometimes requires restraint, and sometimes firmness. Bishops will need to be “understanding, patient, and prudent” when applying Francis’ latest ruling; and to ensure that all the faithful return to the reformed liturgy of 1970 will “require great sensitivity and patience”.
LATIN MASS HYSTERIAThe outcry from Catholic conservatives and self-styled “Traditionalists” over Pope Francis’s decision to restore restrictions on the unreformed, pre-1970 Latin version of the Mass has been so angry and anguished that it has obscured several important realities about this controversy.
IT'S NOT ABOUT LATINCatholics seem confused over why Pope Francis wants to phase out the pre-Vatican II form of the Mass. Francis published the "motu proprio" to curtail the celebration of Mass in its pre-Vatican II form not the Mass in Latin
A LIVING CATHOLIC TRADITIONInstead of promoting greater harmony with and closeness to the universal Church, broad availability of the older rites has been used as an opportunity to create a “Church within a Church,” a community apart from the mainstream.
HOW THE NOVUS ORDO MASS WAS MADEThe incremental Vatican II reforms brought about by the September 1964 and May 1967 Instructions opened the way to a general reform of the Mass. They lay the groundwork for it in two transitional phases...
A STRATEGY FOR LAUNCHING A EUCHARISTIC REVIVALThe essential starting point must be the needs of our people. Context is key. Every effort should be made to avoid an ahistorical presentation of the Eucharist that is abstracted from daily life.
GUARDIAN OF TRADITIONFrancis maintains the full tradition as it has developed according to the Council and the Magisterium. In affirming the one Roman rite, he is affirming the full tradition against those who deny the tradition as defined by Vatican II.
LITURGICAL RENEWAL AND TRADITIONALIST TROLLS What did the fathers of Vatican II have to say about the simplification of liturgical rites and the inculturation of the liturgy? How were these reforms carried out? Where did they succeed and where did they fail?
THE RITE STUFFPope Francis largely rescinded permission for priests to celebrate the so-called “Extraordinary Form” of the Roman Rite, also known as the Tridentine Mass: the logic and the wisdom of Francis’s decision.
LISTENING TO THE SPIRITIs it enough simply to say that resistance to liturgical reform is a key element in a fundamental rejection of the Second Vatican Council, rather than just an aesthetic preference for the Missal of 1962?
MORE THAN A SYMBOLAgain and again throughout the Mass, word and gesture proclaim the Real Presence, even more so in the renewed liturgy than in the mumbled Latin ones...
HOW FRANCIS TALKS ABOUT THE LITURGY Francis is a Vatican II centrist, who places liturgical reform at that center when he talks about the council .His fear is that the undermining of the Council may irreparably damage the unity of the Church.
LITURGY ISN’T ABOUT YOU (OR ME)Liturgy transforms us, if we allow it. It forces us to look beyond ourselves so to live not as isolated individuals but instead as treasured parts of a beloved community.
LET’S RESTORE UNITY TO THE LITURGYInstead of fighting over our liturgical preferences, we should seek healing and reconciliation. What many in the church need to realize is that everyone loses in a liturgical battle.
STOP SAYING THE LATIN MASS IS ‘MORE REVERENT’Reverence is not measured by volume or tempo or style. Is your favorite liturgy style within church norms and done intentionally and with respect for the Eucharist, for God and for others? Then it is reverent.
ECCLESIA DEI, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, AND THE SSPX Were the decisions John Paul and Benedict to loosen restrictions on the Latin Mass motivated by a desire to reconcile the Society of St Pius X with the Church? Pope Francis says yes. Many of his critics disagree.
AN ELUSIVE GOALParticipation simply is bringing and involving your whole self -- heart, mind, soul -- to the liturgy, principally to Mass but to all other sacramental and liturgical celebrations.
PREACHING IS MORE THAN THE HOMILY Preachers and those in ministry confront a common dilemma: “We never live up to what we want to be,” says Patricia Bruno, O.P. “However, I think the preaching helps direct our own lives,” she adds. “It’s hard to say something in public that you don’t really believe.”