{"id":1919,"date":"2010-05-12T16:20:09","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T21:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=1919"},"modified":"2010-12-18T19:45:50","modified_gmt":"2010-12-19T01:45:50","slug":"reform-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform Coming?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to liturgy, the newly ordained associate pastor is a by-the-book kind of guy. \u201cBe a real Catholic,\u201d he keeps saying. \u201cFollow the Pope, not your misguided local customs.\u201d The pastor, an older priest, likes those local customs. \u201cWe need more flexibility,\u201d he says, \u201cnot more uniformity.\u201d The young guys coming out of seminary are a different breed than their elders. People talk of a generation gap between priests. The year is 1585.<\/p>\n

Is it always this confusing after an ecumenical council?<\/p>\n

After the Council of Trent, innovations like the printing press made it possible for the first time to have uniform liturgical books all across Europe. Other innovations followed, such as \u2013 can you imagine? \u2013 a new Vatican office to supervise the liturgy in every diocese. One of the biggest innovations of all was the seminary. Wild-eyed reformers pushed through the new-fangled idea that young men training to be priests would live in community and receive a theological education. And learn the rubrics of the newly-standardized liturgical books.<\/p>\n

One can imagine young priests in 1585 over beer:
\n\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe my old pastor. Every Sunday of the year he intones a sequence before the Gospel as if it\u2019s still 1540 and then he gets everyone to join in a vernacular hymn. Has he ever studied the new 1570 missal? Doesn’t he know there are only four sequences now?\u201d
\n\u201cYou wonder whether those old guys ever look at the rubrics.\u201d
\n\u201cOr whether they even know how to read Latin.\u201d
\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s hard to find time for Latin rubrics when you\u2019re busy with your wife and kids.\u201d
\n\u201cYou know, that still bothers me. So many of the old guys married their mistresses when Lutheranism was spreading, so the archbishop grandfathered them in, so to speak,\u00a0and said that celibacy would start with us.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, don\u2019t worry, we\u2019re the future. Our generation will restore holiness and good order to the priesthood and to the liturgy. Just like they taught us in seminary.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 1540, back in the days before seminaries. Two priests are talking about corruption and reform in the Church. The younger priest, 17, is in the reformist party. (His uncle is an abbot.) The older priest, 21, defends the status quo. (His father is a bishop.)<\/p>\n

The first priest says the time will come when the entire Roman curia is reformed and new departments are established, but the other insists this will never happen.\u00a0 The first predicts they will do away with the office of indulgence seller, but the other doubts it will ever come to that. The first is animated about talk of a vernacular liturgy, but the other is sure the Roman church will never countenance that. The first priest is excited. The second is defensive.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I suppose we forget how relatively calm things are in the Roman Catholic Church in 2010 compared to the 16th century. Still, some of the cries for reform are getting louder. Cardinal Sch\u00f6nborn of Vienna recently said<\/a> that the Church needs to reconsider its position on re-married divorcees, lasting gay relationships deserve respect, Cardinal Sodano wrongly covered up sex abuse, and the Roman curia is urgently in need of reform. Joseph Bottum, Fr. Neuhaus’s successor at First Things<\/em>, bluntly called<\/a> for Cardinal Sodano’s removal. Today Bishop Iby in Burgenland, Austria expressed support<\/a> for the elimination of mandatory celibacy and said that the ordination of women will need to be considered further in the future. On May 2nd the Austrian Pastors’ Initiative, which has 327 priests and deacons as members and supporters, called on Pope Benedict<\/a> either to let an independent entity investigate his handling of sex abuse or to resign from office. Their strongly worded resolution<\/a> calls for an ecumenical council and a reform of the \u201cpresent absolutist structure of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pray Tell declines to take a position on most of these reform proposals and doesn\u2019t necessarily support any of them. But we think it\u2019s important to keep you informed. It seems to us that we\u2019re in an interesting time of turmoil and ferment, and the more voices which are heard, the better. Go talk it over with your fellow Christians. But keep it friendly \u2013 maybe do it over a beer.<\/p>\n

awr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cries for reform are getting louder. We\u2019re in an interesting time of turmoil and ferment. The more voices which are heard, the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[762],"class_list":["post-1919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reform-of-the-reform","tag-council-of-trent"],"yoast_head":"\nReform Coming? - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reform Coming? - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cries for reform are getting louder. We\u2019re in an interesting time of turmoil and ferment. The more voices which are heard, the better.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-12T21:20:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-19T01:45:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a\"},\"headline\":\"Reform Coming?\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-12T21:20:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-19T01:45:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":709,\"commentCount\":41,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Council of Trent\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reform of the Reform\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reform Coming? - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-12T21:20:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-19T01:45:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/12\\\/reform-coming\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reform Coming?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit & Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a\",\"name\":\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\"},\"description\":\"Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, is a monk of St. John's Abbey. He teaches liturgy, liturgical music, and Gregorian chant at St. John's University School of Theology-Seminary. He is widely published and frequently presents across the country on liturgy and music. He is the author of Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations, and of Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter. He does priestly ministry at the neighboring community of Benedictine sisters in St. Joseph.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/aruff\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reform Coming? - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reform Coming? - Home","og_description":"Cries for reform are getting louder. We\u2019re in an interesting time of turmoil and ferment. The more voices which are heard, the better.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2010-05-12T21:20:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-19T01:45:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":411,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/"},"author":{"name":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a"},"headline":"Reform Coming?","datePublished":"2010-05-12T21:20:09+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-19T01:45:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/"},"wordCount":709,"commentCount":41,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Council of Trent"],"articleSection":["Reform of the Reform"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/","name":"Reform Coming? - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-05-12T21:20:09+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-19T01:45:50+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/12\/reform-coming\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reform Coming?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit & Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a","name":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg","caption":"Anthony Ruff, OSB"},"description":"Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, is a monk of St. John's Abbey. He teaches liturgy, liturgical music, and Gregorian chant at St. John's University School of Theology-Seminary. He is widely published and frequently presents across the country on liturgy and music. He is the author of Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations, and of Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter. He does priestly ministry at the neighboring community of Benedictine sisters in St. Joseph.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/aruff\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6289,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions\/6289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}