Adoremus Bulletin For the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy
JULY 2021
U.S. Bishops to Draft Teaching Document on Eucharist By Christine Rousselle and Matt Hadro WASHINGTON, D.C (CNA)—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to move forward on several action items, including a draft of a teaching document on the Eucharist. Meeting virtually for their annual spring general assembly, June 16-18, the U.S. bishops voted on the second day of the meeting to begin drafting “a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.” The vote took place after extensive and, at times, spirited debate on Wednesday and Thursday, with some bishops opposing the move to begin drafting the document. Bishops supporting the vote to draft a document on the Eucharist cited the need for providing clarity and catechesis on the matter, citing polls showing a lack of belief in the Real Presence among Catholics. They argued that all Catholics—including Catholic politicians—must be aware of the Church’s teaching on worthiness to receive Communion. Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chair of the doctrine committee which proposed drafting the document, explained the committee’s reasoning behind the proposal June 17. Saying the document was the “subject of misunderstanding and even mischaracterization,” he said that bishops had been concerned about a “downward trend” in Mass attendance and a decline in faith among Catholics, coupled with a widespread move to “spiritual communion” and virtual Masses during the recent pandemic.
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The Rite Way to Understand a Church Building:
Theology of the Order of the Dedication of a Church and an Altar By Denis McNamara
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or nearly a century, Catholic churches and the faithful who use them have frequently been the collateral damage in architectural and theological debates. Even as early as the 1920s, the Modernist polemic argued that all buildings in a modern age should use the factory as their prototype, and therefore churches should use glass, steel, and concrete to conform to a perceived industrial spirit of the age. By the 1950s and 60s, ideas about participation drawn from the Liturgical Movement had become widespread, focusing at times on practical considerations of the altar, ambo, baptistery, and seating arrangements to the detriment of the larger sacramental meaning of the church building itself.1 By the 1970s, a body of bishops could publish the claim that a church building was a “cover enclosing architectural space” which “need not ‘look like’ anything else, past or present.”2 From the 1980s through early 2000s, the church building was frequently redefined as a large domestic interior, with furnishings and finishes meant to evoke a secular home, called an “environment,” that privileged a climate of hospitality.3 In recent years, the revival of traditional architecture has brought more traditional looking churches, often rightly supported by an appeal to the example of antiquity, the splendor due to God, or the dignity of worship. But arguments for the use of traditional architecture have frequently overlooked the biblical and sacramental nature of church buildings. Interestingly, the Church herself provides texts related to church architecture which qualify as theologia prima, that is, a first-order or primary source from which other theological conclusions are drawn. Theologian David Fagerberg has written extensively on how the law of prayer is itself theologia prima, a fount and source of theology.4 While norms and laws given in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Code of Canon Law have been occasional touchstones in recent church design, the Church’s liturgical books provide the most important repository of her liturgical theology, and, consequently, the Order of the Dedication of a Church and an Altar (ODCA)
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Adoremus Bulletin JULY 2021
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News & Views
XXVII, No.1
Reading the Order of the Dedication of a Church and an Altar makes clear that the church building is more than a factory, a meeting house, an environment, a space, or a living room of God. Rather, it is a sacrament of the glorified Mystical Body of Christ.
“ Arguments for the use of traditional architecture have frequently overlooked the biblical and sacramental nature of church buildings.” reveals the Church’s own mind on the nature of her architecture. In other words, theologia prima leads to understanding the nature of things, and reading the ODCA makes clear that the church building is more than a factory, a meeting house, an environment, a space, or a living room of God. Rather,
it is a sacrament of the glorified Mystical Body of Christ. “Special Image of the Church” The opening decree promulgating the OCDA calls the church building “a special image of the Church, which is God’s temple built from living stones.” Accordingly, the very first words introducing the ritual for laying the foundation stone urge that the faithful “be reminded that the structure to be built of stone will be a visible sign of the living Church, God’s building, which they themselves constitute”(1).5 It then footnotes two sources. The first, 1 Corinthians 3:9, calls the Church in Corinth “God’s building.” The second note refers to paragraph 6 of the Please see CHURCH & ALTAR on page 4
Building Rite Up Churches aren’t simply built from the ground up, but, as Denis McNamara notes in his theological look at the dedication rites for church buildings, they are models of heaven above..................................................1
Quiet, Please: God at Work Silence can often speak louder than words, and that’s exactly why, according to Benedictine Father Boniface Hicks, the Church includes some quiet time in her liturgy...................................................................7
One, Two, Three…Liturgy! All the best things in Catholicism come in threes—starting with the Trinity, of course, but also, as Chris Carstens explains, including the main ingredients for doing liturgy right..3
Laity: Call Your Office In an exciting sequel to last issue’s take on idle time, Anthony Alt makes the case for the Divine Office as the perfect way to keep a pray light on during your off-hours.........................8
Interior Altar-ations Father Dylan Schrader says that when it comes to the altar, we can do Mass backwards, or we can get squarely behind the benefits of celebrating sacred liturgy ad orientem............6
Mass Culture Joseph O’Brien reviews a new book on Dom Gueranger and how he made rescuing culture look easy: renew liturgy—restore plainchant—rejuvenate monasticism............12