Yes, that's the essence of an essay on liturgy from Professor K, who is rapidly emerging as a serious force in the ongoing discussion.
In liturgical discussions, a major premise of the progressivist side is,
ironically, what might be called neoscholastic reductionism, which
defines the “essence” of the Mass as having a valid consecration....
(Which 'reductionism' is analogically identical to celebrating "The 4th of July" instead of "Independence Day," by the way...)
...No one would dream of defining the Byzantine rite as “essentially” a
valid consecration, with which a lot of florid prayers and hymns are
accidentally associated. Nor should anyone with a modicum of sense try
to define the Roman rite of Mass apart from the Roman Canon, which is
its defining feature, or attempt to import an epiclesis into the Roman
Canon, when, properly speaking, it has none and needs none....
Perfesser K is a lot more direct and brutal than was Pp. B-16 in describing the "reforms."
...What is it that makes a liturgy a Christian liturgy? Even more importantly, what makes this liturgical rite to be itself (Roman, Ambrosian, Byzantine, Syro-Malabar, etc.) and no other? When these are
the questions we pursue, we find rich answers that show us the
fittingness, the beautiful complexity and sufficiency, of each rite in
itself, and therefore, shows us the dramatically anti-liturgical,
anti-ritual, anti-historical, and ultimately anti-Catholic nature of the
reforms....
Other than that, hey! They were just fine.
Should I bring up HYMN-SINGING here? Especially when the hymns supplant the Propers and/or are noise for noise's sake? Nope: the Professor mentions it next, in his bullet- list of reductionisms, awkward-isms, and manglement-isms.
But here's another interesting little item:
...The damage wrought by neoscholastic reductionism is all too real and very
extensive. It is the only atmosphere in which the outrageous enterprise
of creating a Modern Rite in the late 1960s could have sprung up. The
same mentality has, over time, propagated itself to other aspects of
Catholic life as well. For example, that there are people today who are
seriously asking the question of whether public sinners may receive Holy
Communion shows that the Eucharist has been reduced, in the minds of
many, to a mere sign of belonging or of table fellowship — not a
supernatural mystery that requires the full commitment of one’s mind,
heart, soul, and strength to Jesus Christ really present, against whom
one mortally sins by unworthily receiving Him....
Yah. What's that old meme....lex orandi, lex credendi....yah, that's it.
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