Despite the recent decision of Pope Francis to curtail the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, we are not going to see it disappear anytime soon for a simple reason: Local bishops can and will still permit it. Francis’ new rules on the old liturgy were laid out in “Traditionis Custodes” on Friday (July 16). Read more
Reactions to Pope Francis’s decree Spiritus Domini have not been explosive. Indeed, the reverse is the case: bishops and presbyters around the world have said that it is merely a matter of words. After all, women have been reading for years at the liturgy – so calling them ‘lectors’ is just a needless formality! Women have Read more
The Tablet reported last week that the New Zealand bishops are now – like so many other English-language episcopal conferences – thinking about a new translation of the scriptures for use in the liturgy. This is a process that is commonly, but inaccurately, referred to as having ‘a new lectionary.’ In this debate, there will Read more
Contemporary worship music is often banal. No matter the content, the form by itself trivializes what takes place in the liturgy. We keep trying to put asunder what God has joined together—medium and message, form and content—but invariably the divorce does not end well. I’ll never forget when our kids came home with a new Read more
Fr Thomas J Reese’s article ‘Vatican II made changes to the liturgy. It’s time to think about making more’ (America, April 16, 2021) generously invites others into a conversation on a ‘second phase’ of liturgical reform, where consensus is transparent, collegial and synodal. This conversation in the English-speaking churches needs to be globally diverse, not Read more
Better music at Mass and carefully chosen songs would make attending Mass a more uplifting experience for churchgoers, reports a survey of nearly 2,000 Catholics. The May 4 survey reflected the views of those aged 21-39 and one of the questions the Truth Data Survey asked was: “What would you like to change at Mass?” Read more
One of the buzz-phrases of Catholic theology – cited in virtually every document from the Vatican – is that the liturgy, and especially the Eucharist, is ‘the source and summit’ of the Christian life. The origins of the phrase are complex, but it enters mainstream Catholic discourse with the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy in Read more
Cîteaux with its nine-hundred-year history, its image of those most un-modern of being, monks, working with the hands, and the expectation of a unique, rather than mass-produced, flavour make it a winner. The success of the monks selling cheese on-line should not surprise us. We want our food to have a story! The mass-production of Read more
Other than sex, nothing is more heatedly debated by Catholics than the liturgy. Everyone has strong opinions based on years of personal experience. In the 1960s and ’70s, Pope Paul VI implemented revolutionary liturgical reforms laid out by the Second Vatican Council, but after his death in 1978, the Vatican put a stop to the Read more
Masses cancelled, funerals with just ten people, marriages postponed, sacramental programmes delayed, no shared chalice, and a new way to exchange the sign of peace, touchless ashes on Ash Wednesday, no ashes on Ash Wednesday are a few of the now-familiar marks of what has been termed a Liturgical Disruption. Add to them, the lengths Read more