Category: Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium

Articles 5 – 13 provide a general theological consideration of the nature of the liturgy and its efficacy (5-7 [10]) and its importance in the life of the Church (8-13). Article 5 announces the centrality of Christ in salvation history, foreshadowed in the history and prophetic ministry of the Jewish people and extended by the…

Following on article 3, this article declares that all presently recognized Catholic Rites share a fundamental equality of honor, that they are also to be cherished/promoted/fostered as the Roman Rite, and that, if these Rites are to be renovated, such renovation should be done in the light of (their own) authentic tradition in order to…

Article three is a transition from the doctrinal preamble appearing in articles 1-2 to the treatment of individual topics concerning the reform/restoration/renewal and cherishing/promoting of the Liturgy that will appear in the following chapters.

I do not think that the importance of this article for interpreting the subsequent conciliar discussions as well as for the implementation of the liturgical reforms can be overestimated. The document declares the intimate connection between liturgy and ecclesiology.

The Council declares that it judges that there is a particular rationale to undertake restoring/renewing (instaurandam) and cherishing/fostering (fovendam) the Liturgy.

As the readers of Pray Tell are well aware, we are approaching the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, on 4 December 1963. I would like to propose that we commit ourselves to a “re-reading” of that document, taking one article a week.