{"id":36760,"date":"2017-07-08T10:24:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-08T15:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=36760"},"modified":"2017-07-08T10:24:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-08T15:24:55","slug":"cardinal-sarah-again-advocates-reform-of-the-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/08\/cardinal-sarah-again-advocates-reform-of-the-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Sarah Again Advocates \u201cReform of the Reform\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

by Matias Aug\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the publication of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum<\/em>, La Nef (juillet-ao\u00fbt 2017 – n. 294) offers a long position paper by Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. In it, the cardinal proposes and makes concrete his well-known position on the \u201cReform of the Reform\u201d of the Mass liturgy of Paul VI. The text\u2019s first part is historical and doctrinal, which leads to a second part with specific proposals.<\/p>\n

Sarah says that \u201cthe liturgy has become a battlefield, the place where the champions of the pre-conciliar Missal and those of the reformed Missal of 1969 face off.\u201d In this situation, the aim of his paper is \u201cliturgical reconciliation.\u201d While I appreciate the cardinals\u2019 love for the liturgy and his good intentions, I think that his reasoning is not without some ambiguities.<\/p>\n

Following Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Sarah claims that the extraordinary form of the Roman liturgy is entirely consistent with the requirements of Vatican II. He asks: \u201cHow can we think that the Council wished to contradict what was in use before?\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Your Eminence: \u201ccontradiction,\u201d no; but \u201creform,\u201d yes. Sacrosanctum Concilium<\/em> \u201cdesired to undertake a general restoration of the liturgy\u201d (no. 21). And of course it was a matter of reforming the liturgy which was celebrated in the Church at that point in time.<\/p>\n

Later, in support of his thesis, Sarah argues that it is \u201cincorrect to hold that the two forms of liturgy express opposing theologies. The Church has a single truth which she teaches and celebrates.\u201d Again, I must say: two \u201copposing\u201d theologies, no; but \u201cdifferent,\u201d certainly. As the cardinal himself says, quoting Benedict XVI, \u201cthe history of the liturgy consists of growth and progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

If this principle is then applied to the reform of Paul VI, we can say that there is growth and progress in the Missal of 1969. However, note that the Cardinal equates \u201ctheology\u201d with \u201ctruth\u201d and states that there is a \u201csingle truth.\u201d But one cannot say the same of theology: the post-Tridentine theology of the sacraments is one thing, and the sacramental theology inspired by Vatican II is another. This is not a \u201chermeneutic of rupture,\u201d but of growth and progress.<\/p>\n

Some may think that my critical reflections on the first part of Cardinal Sarah\u2019s paper are irrelevant. But I think that this kind of \u201cminimalist\u201d reading \u00a0by the cardinal, common in traditionalist circles, is ambiguous and exploitable, and it serves to justify and extol what Summorum Pontificum<\/em> decided.<\/p>\n

As has been said by others, the fathers of Vatican II who approved Sacrosanctum Concilium<\/em> did not intend to create two forms of the Roman liturgy. I know how some will respond to my observation: Vatican II did not intend to bring about a reform such as that of the 1970 Missal. But if it be that the Mass of Paul VI went beyond the letter of the liturgy constitution, then the solution offered by Summorum Pontificum<\/em> not only did not solve the problem, but deepend it. In my opinion, after some years of experience with the reformed Mass, one could intervene and correct, enrich or change certain elements of the Mass of Paul VI and focused on it\u2019s dignified celebration. But now everything has become more complex, as shown by the proposals made by Sarah in the next part of his paper.<\/p>\n

In fact, it is to the cardinal\u2019s credit that he puts forth his concrete proposals in order to reach \u201ca common reformed ritual in order to facilitate reconciliation within the Church.\u201d First, the cardinal hopes that we can achieve a common liturgical calendar for the two forms of the Roman rite, and also a \u201cconvergence\u201d of the lectionaries. His Eminence knows better than I that an ad hoc<\/em> committee labored during the pontificate of Pope Benedict without succeeding in producing a concrete proposal, given the difficulty of the task.<\/p>\n

But the most significant thing is the list of changes or \u201cenrichments\u201d of the Ordinary Form which the cardinal then proposes: orientation toward the Lord; genuflection before the elevation and after the Per ipsum<\/em> (\u201cThrough him, with him, in him\u2026\u201d), communion kneeling and on the tongue; the use of Latin for some parts of the Mass \u201cto rediscover the profound essence of the liturgy\u201d; \u201cpraying the Canon in silence\u201d in order to enhance its experience; the inclusion in the next edition of the reformed Missal of the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar of the Extraordinary Form in a simplified, adapted form, and the Offertory prayers of the Extraordinary Form… Oh, I almost forgot: it is also proposed that, after the consecration, the fingers which touched the sacred Host remain united. This last proposal reflects a Eucharistic theology which is no longer viable.<\/p>\n

These proposals are justified by Cardinal Sarah because, according to him, the Ordinary Form needs to be \u201cenriched with holy attitudes that characterize the Extraordinary Form.\u201d At this blog I have repeatedly spoken of the sense of \u201cmystery\u201d and the \u201csacred\u201d in the liturgy. It is enough to review what I posted a few days ago by Loris delle Pietra: \u201cFaced with polemical assertions of those who lament the disappearance of a supposed \u2018sense of mystery,\u2019 it must be reaffirmed that this cannot be confined to one particular evolutionary phase of the Roman rite, certainly not in those aspects that tend to conceal rather than to reveal, but it is bestowed and mediated through participation in the \u2018linguistic\u2019 modality proper to the rite.\u201d<\/p>\n

In conclusion, let me quote a statement of Cardinal Sarah from the end of his paper: \u201cFor some, the expression \u201cReform of the Reform\u201d has become synonymous with a tribe from another realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps this feeling is possible because the term concerns the reform of the Ordinary Form, forgetting that Vatican II decreed the reform of what today is called the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite. Thus the expression \u201cReform of the Reform\u201d becomes \u201claughable.\u201d I repeat that I understand the good intentions of Cardinal Sarah. But I believe that his proposals are guided by a minimalist vision of Sacrosanctum Concilium<\/em> and would hardly find a broad consensus in the Church. Indeed, they may even cause new divisions, and then we would end up with three forms of the Roman rite: Ordinary, Extraordinary, and \u201chybrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matias Aug\u00e9 is former consulter to the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, longtime professor of liturgy at Sant\u2019 Anselmo in Rome, and a highly regarded liturgical theologian. He blogs at Munus: Liturgia e Dintorni<\/a>, from which this post comes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reprinted with the author\u2019s permission. Translated by Anthony Ruff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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