Fr. Christopher Jamison, OSB, is talking about religious orders – the older (progressive) ones and the newer (conservative) ones, in the April 28th Tablet, “The future depends on the possibility of dialogue between the old and new orders” (subscription required). I’ve already over-simplified his nuanced presentation by adding the labels “progressive” and “conservative,” but we all know that’s pretty much the reality. By his own admission, Jamison is offering a “broad-brush analysis.”
Jamison’s topic is religious orders, but I think his analysis applies rather well to liturgical factions also. First, let’s hear Jamison in his own words. Then we’ll do the transfer to the liturgy wars.
Jamison writes of the old religious orders:
The old orders have great liberty of spirit; their members are rooted in the essence of the Gospel, in traditions of deep prayer and in the service of the Church. The problem is that this liberty of spirit can easily become libertarianism, with the Gospel redesigned and the Church marginalized. Religious in older orders often suffer from the vice of pride. They believe that their longevity means they know what the spirit of the religious life is and entitles them to sit lightly to the letter of their order’s tradition – and, in some cases, sit lightly to the Catholic tradition. We know best.
And of the newer religious orders:
Their distinguishing virtue is their dynamic fervor and their complete trust. They are living examples of Our Lord’s insight that “unless you become like little children you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” However, being childlike can easily tip into being childish, with an excessive reliance on rules and externals. In this way, gifted founders can keep people in subservience and damage well intentioned new members. New orders can fall into vanity and self-satisfaction. To an outsider, it looks as if they believe that the influx of new members indicates God’s blessing. We may not be old, they seem to say, but we are good.
Jamison also makes this comment about the new orders:
While the Holy See regularly sends apostolic visitations to religious orders to sort out a problem, the number of visitations to new congregations is surprising; while there are no published figures, my hunch is that the ratio is higher among new congregations.
While you’re still pondering Jamison’s analysis of religious life, I’ll go right on to the application of his analysis to the liturgy. By switching out just a few words, Jamison’s comments can be made to apply to liturgical factions in the Catholic Church. Mutatis mutandis, here would be Jamison on liturgical controversies:
The [older liturgical progressives] have great liberty of spirit; [they] are rooted in the essence of the Gospel, in traditions of deep prayer and in the service of the Church. The problem is that this liberty of spirit can easily become libertarianism, with the Gospel redesigned and the Church marginalized. [Progressive scholars, clergy, and lay ministers] often suffer from the vice of pride. They believe that their longevity means they know what the spirit of the [liturgy] is and entitles them to sit lightly to the letter of [the Church’s] tradition – and, in some cases, sit lightly to the Catholic tradition. We know best.
…
Turning to the [“Reform of the Reform” movement], their distinguishing virtue is their dynamic fervor and their complete trust. They are living examples of Our Lord’s insight that “unless you become like little children you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” However, being childlike can easily tip into being childish, with an excessive reliance on rules and externals. In this way, [their worldview] can keep people in subservience and damage well intentioned new [recruits]. [Liturgical traditionalists] can fall into vanity and self-satisfaction. To an outsider, it looks as if they believe that the influx of [young followers] indicates God’s blessing. We may not be old, they seem to say, but we are good.
The re-purposing of his words is forced, but only a bit. Do you think it works?
Are liturgical progressives (I know, I know, they’re not all old people) too libertarian (still) in their redesigning of rituals? Prideful? Overly confident that they know the spirit and essence of the liturgy? Too light-handed with liturgical traditions?
Are liturgical traditionalists (again, they’re not all young) childishly attached to external rituals? Vain and self-satisfied? Overly confident that numerical growth means God is on their side?
awr
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