Spaces of power

We should not align ourselves with a process just because it appears to be vigorous and likely to prevail, says Joseph Shaw

Elsewhere in this edition of Mass of Ages I discuss the language of ‘rigidity’, as used by Pope Francis and also by others. I attempt to show that it has a meaningful pedigree: it refers to a personality type developed by identifiable psychiatrists working between the 1930s and the 1950s. This kind of knowledge should enable us to face the accusation, when it is made, with greater confidence: knowing what it actually means will help us to address the real concerns of our critics.

I am equally intrigued by another aspect of Pope Francis’ idiolect: ‘time is greater than space’. At first glance it seems incomprehensible, but in Evangelii Gaudium (2013) §223 Pope Francis actually explains it quite clearly:

One of the faults which we occasionally observe in sociopolitical activity is that spaces and power are preferred to time and processes. Giving priority to space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the present, trying to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion; it is to crystallize processes and presume to hold them back.

Fans of The Doors might prefer Jim Morrison’s expression of a closely related idea, about the inevitability of generational change: ‘They’ve got the guns, but we’ve got the numbers.’

Spaces of power in the Church are not what they were. Every year our bishops preside over fewer churchgoers, fewer priests, and less revenue, than the year before. There was a moment under Pope Benedict that some of these numbers began to improve, but the long-term trend has since reasserted itself. Numbers of ordinations may be above their nadir, but numbers of priests continue to fall, as do baptisms and marriages.

Being the king of an ever-diminishing castle is clearly less important than being able to influence or take part in a living, dynamic process. Ultimately, it is not important who has power, if this power doesn’t have the ability to ‘hold back’ or ‘crystallise’ processes, processes which don’t necessarily align with the preferences of the powerful. Over time, the process will triumph; a power-structure which tries to ignore or stifle it will be left as an empty shell.

One can see that Pope Francis has a point here, without it always being easy to identify what is the ultimately empty power structure, and what the dynamic process. Sixty-five years ago, it appeared to many that classical Catholic theology and liturgy was becoming an empty shell, which was doomed by ineluctable historical trends despite being defended by those in positions of power. The situation wasn’t quite so simple, however. Pope Paul VI presents, you might think, a paradigm example of someone in a position of power trying, hopelessly, to hold back the tide, when he appealed to religious superiors to keep the sung Latin office. However, he expressed himself in 1966 rather differently ( SacrificiumLaudis):

One can also wonder whether men would come in such numbers to your churches in quest of the sacred prayer, if its ancient and native tongue, joined to a chant full of grave beauty, resounded no more within your walls. We therefore ask all those to whom it pertains, to ponder what they wish to give up, and not to let that spring run dry from which, until the present, they have themselves drunk deep.

Not for the last time in his troubled pontificate, Pope Paul was prophetic. Certainly, there was a powerful historical trend in 1966 against Gregorian chant, but it was a trend towards cutting off access to a true source of spiritual sustenance and growth.

We should not align ourselves with a process just because it appears to be vigorous and likely to prevail. Processes, like spirits, have to be discerned. We are fortunate in enjoying today a process of growth and development along lines which are not novel, but put into practice in our own circumstances principles which have been tried and tested over many centuries and in many contrasting cultural conditions, principles which are, indeed, the Church’s own. These are the principles of the Church’s liturgical patrimony, and the music and spirituality which accompany it. This is not a process which will cut us off from the authentic sources of spiritual growth, but reconnects us to them.

"No charges so far, Brother is just helping with enquiries."

From Cracks in the Curia, 1972

The possessors of ‘spaces and power’ can oppose this process, ignore it, or work with it, but as Pope Francis suggests, the process has time on its side. Let us, the foot soldiers of the liturgical restoration, play our part with patience, charity, and perseverance.