It would be lazy...
...just post that blank denial of the current fuss about a new ICEL translation.
To me, yes, it did seem a bit similar to all the hopes (on the other "side") that JPII's successor would be a "great liberal" and announce female priests, universal contraception and good times for all. I laughed and cried at the TV last year, with irony and the rather great hope of B-XVI's election!
So I suppose I should also put something positive:
I dodn't have anything at all against florid and self-deprecating liturgy.
I also don't have much against minimal liturgy.
I'm more or less a run-of-the-mill modern nihilist in practical terms, and I'm ****ed grateful for any hint of liturgy in my life!
I happen to love Latin and have an ambition to learn all kinds of prayers in that solid and refreshing speach (see the sidebar for a Latin-English prayer primer!).
But as far as I can see the main need is for catechesis, not more "reforms". If the Council is anything, I think it's more a project than a "blueprint", telling us strict lines to arrange the furniture by.
It's a work that we are called to, namely re-focussing on the fundamental aspects of Christianity, making them present in every modern context, re-infusing modern culture with Christian conscience and hope, and building cooperation with all men of good will.
Trent, like all the Councils of the Church, was a new Pentecost. It's just that until Vat II we didn't realise it could be expressed that way (hmmm... development).
The "traditionalists" deny that any Council was a new Pentecost, the "progressives" almost deny the original Pentecost, but they both seem to be denials. Academically fascinating, but unsatisfying.
Whereas Christianity is a fact, an event in one's life. Like in "The End of the Affair" (by Graeme Greene) which I finished reading today; you can love this fact, you can hate it, but in the end you can't deny it.
Amidst the horrific and omnipresent "cataract of culture" in which we all flounder these days, from the best to the worst, the clever and the clueless, only the liturgy says clearly and simply to each one: "Christ is risen, present among us {i.e. the Catholic Church} here and now" -JPII... yes, that's "The Heart of the Matter"!
To me, yes, it did seem a bit similar to all the hopes (on the other "side") that JPII's successor would be a "great liberal" and announce female priests, universal contraception and good times for all. I laughed and cried at the TV last year, with irony and the rather great hope of B-XVI's election!
So I suppose I should also put something positive:
I dodn't have anything at all against florid and self-deprecating liturgy.
I also don't have much against minimal liturgy.
I'm more or less a run-of-the-mill modern nihilist in practical terms, and I'm ****ed grateful for any hint of liturgy in my life!
I happen to love Latin and have an ambition to learn all kinds of prayers in that solid and refreshing speach (see the sidebar for a Latin-English prayer primer!).
But as far as I can see the main need is for catechesis, not more "reforms". If the Council is anything, I think it's more a project than a "blueprint", telling us strict lines to arrange the furniture by.
It's a work that we are called to, namely re-focussing on the fundamental aspects of Christianity, making them present in every modern context, re-infusing modern culture with Christian conscience and hope, and building cooperation with all men of good will.
Trent, like all the Councils of the Church, was a new Pentecost. It's just that until Vat II we didn't realise it could be expressed that way (hmmm... development).
The "traditionalists" deny that any Council was a new Pentecost, the "progressives" almost deny the original Pentecost, but they both seem to be denials. Academically fascinating, but unsatisfying.
Whereas Christianity is a fact, an event in one's life. Like in "The End of the Affair" (by Graeme Greene) which I finished reading today; you can love this fact, you can hate it, but in the end you can't deny it.
Amidst the horrific and omnipresent "cataract of culture" in which we all flounder these days, from the best to the worst, the clever and the clueless, only the liturgy says clearly and simply to each one: "Christ is risen, present among us {i.e. the Catholic Church} here and now" -JPII... yes, that's "The Heart of the Matter"!
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