Adoremus Bulletin For the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy
MAY 2022
Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire Offers SubscriptionBased Liturgy of the Hours
Adoremus PO Box 385 La Crosse, WI 54602-0385
Non- Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Madelia, MN Permit No. 4
Word on Fire, the multimedia evangelization effort started by Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, wants to make the Liturgy of the Hours a Catholic household name. In mid-March of this year, Word on Fire began offering a monthly subscription-based version of the Liturgy of the Hours. In much the way that Magnificat provides monthly access to the Mass through its publications, Word of Fire is offering Catholics an opportunity to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, month by month, with the rest of the Church. Readers who subscribe—Word on Fire is offering the service at $7 per month at this time, billing it as a “Special Founder’s Discount”—will receive the first booklet before the new month begins and receive each additional booklet in time to begin the next month’s prayers. According to the Word on Fire website, the new service seeks to ensure a user-friendly experience for those who subscribe, noting that subscribers will receive booklets that present the prayers in a linear format (“Just read and pray. No complicated ribbon system.”), include clear instructions on which day of the liturgical calendar is which (“We take all the guesswork out of the liturgical calendar, so you’re praying the correct prayers on the right feast days and celebrations.”), and employ the tried-and-true technology of book and page (“Avoid the distractions that come with praying on screens by having a tangible, single-function, print booklet devoted solely to prayer.”). Each prayer in the booklet, the Please see BARRON on next page
Benedict XVI and the Reforms of the Second Vatican Council: Re-Catholicizing the Liturgy—Part II The Restorative Vision of A Liturgical Pope
By Kevin D. Magas
I
n part I of this article (March 2022), we explored Pope Benedict’s analysis of the state of the liturgy leading up to the Second Vatican Council, his views of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reform, and his critique of certain trends and developments in the postconciliar era. In this article, we will study Ratzinger’s solutions to these challenges, known as the “reform of the reform,” and conclude by surveying the liturgical renewal he ushered in during his papacy. Ratzinger’s “Reform of the Reform” Ratzinger’s solution to the post-conciliar liturgical crisis is often called a “reform of the reform,” a term whose origin is difficult to trace but has been used by Ratzinger himself to describe his project. At the heart of Ratzinger’s solution to these issues is a proper hermeneutic or lens of interpretation for the Second Vatican Council since the interpretation of Vatican II determines to a great extent the practice of the liturgy. If the Council is imagined as a break in the Church’s history, then the reformed liturgy is seen as a break with the preconciliar liturgy. However, if the Council is seen in substantial continuity with tradition, then the reformed rites which it promulgated will be seen in continuity with the older form of the liturgy. Ratzinger believes, therefore, that traditionalists and progressives make the same error: both view the Council as a break in tradition. Ratzinger highlighted both as a cardinal and as pope that the Council did not represent a rupture, but expressed continuity with the Church’s history: “There is no ‘pre-’ or ‘post-’ Conciliar Church,” he writes “There is but one, unique Church that walks the path toward the Lord….”1 The incorrect way of interpreting the Council, a hermeneutic of rupture, looks at the Council as ground zero for a new beginning, a revolutionary mentality leading to a view of the liturgy as a new product, a fabricated liturgy that can continually be adapted. A hermeneutic of reform in continuity recognizes the given-not-made quality of the liturgy as part of tradition and our inability to manipulate it according to our arbitrary desires or subjective needs. Note that this is not just a hermeneutic
AB
Adoremus Bulletin MAY 2022
AB/CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY
News & Views
XXVII, No.6
For Pope Benedict, the postconciliar reform project is not centered on revising the liturgical books themselves or modifying more superficial changes such as certain prayers, ceremonies, gestures, or customs. Instead, his reform centers on changing our approach to the liturgical books, changing our minds and hearts towards them and the atmosphere and mentality surrounding their celebration. For this reason, Ratzinger calls for a new liturgical movement, a “movement toward the liturgy and toward the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly.”
“ Traditionalists and progressives make the same error: both view the Council as a break in tradition.” of continuity but “reform” in the spirit of continuity. There can be reform, development, and new clarifications, but these must be in harmony with previous Councils, the magisterium of the Church, and the deposit of faith—it must represent, in other words, an organic development. Nor is it merely going back to before the Council, as if we’re now going to try to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Ratzinger writes: “If by ‘restoration’ is meant a turning back, no restoration of such kind is possible. The church moves forward toward the consummation of history, she looks ahead to the Lord who is coming. No, there is no going back, nor is it possible to go back. Hence there is no ‘restoration’ whatsoever in this sense. But if by restoration we understand the search for a new balance after all the exaggeration of an indiscriminate opening to the world, after the overly positive interpretations of an agnostic and atheistic world, well, then a restoration in this Ratzinger Part II—This Time It’s Personal In our March issue, Kevin Magas showed us Joseph Ratzinger’s contributions to liturgical scholarship; this time around, he presents Ratzinger’s vision for the liturgy’s future....................................................1 Children Pray the Darndest Things… Give children a chalice, water, and time to think and—voila!—before you know it, they’re connecting liturgy with scripture. So says AB Australian contributor Gerard O’Shea....................................................6 What Color’s the Liturgy in Your World? Emily Valentine Sottile argues for color’s primary role as the wheel that makes the
sense (a newly found balance of orientations and values within the catholic totality) is altogether desirable.”2 With this guiding hermeneutic of reform-in-continuity in the background, Ratzinger’s project of reforming the reform has both internal and external dimensions; that is, he imagines it both as a renewal of an internal dimension consisting of reeducation and renewed catechesis on the nature and spirit of the liturgy, as well as certain external, visible changes in the way the liturgy is celebrated.3 However, contrary to some who misinterpret Ratzinger’s priorities, I would like to reaffirm at the outset that for Ratzinger this project is not centered on revising the liturgical books themselves or modifying more superficial changes such as certain prayers, ceremonies, gestures, or customs. Instead, Ratzinger’s reform centers on changing our approach to the liturgical books, changing our minds and hearts towards them and the atmosphere and mentality surrounding their celebration—words that we might associate with the notion of liturgical “renewal” rather than the more external dimensions we might associate with the word “reform.” This renewal does not consist in abandoning Please see BENEDICT on page 4 liturgy go ‘round in all its shades, hues, and contrasts. You’ll never see the liturgy the same way again!...........................................................8 Mass: 24-7 Did you ever wonder how Mass happens outside of Sunday? We did—and so we asked Msgr. Marc Caron to explain the Church’s mind on Masses for Various Needs and Votive Masses.................................................. 10 Speak to Me In a review of Father Daniel Cardό’s new book The Art of Preaching, Father Andrew Hofer finds the perfect user’s guide for priests and other pulpiteers looking to up their homiletics game.............................................. 12