{"id":59235,"date":"2022-02-08T10:22:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T16:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=59235"},"modified":"2022-02-13T16:00:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T22:00:18","slug":"a-timely-tractthe-sanctimony-of-the-legion-of-decency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/08\/a-timely-tractthe-sanctimony-of-the-legion-of-decency\/","title":{"rendered":"A Timely Tract\u2026The Sanctimony of the Legion of Decency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time I teach introduction to liturgy to undergrads, grad students, or even ministers I always seek to accentuate the relationship between right prayer and right living \u2013 between liturgy and social justice. What a hollow trope it seems though. \u201cHow,\u201d I am always asked, \u201cdoes the liturgy in the church actually<\/em> connect to the way we live? And isn\u2019t it just enough to go to liturgy and do what the liturgical books prescribe? After all, liturgy is about \u2018getting grace.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While I have gotten better at answering those questions, increasingly it feels like no one even wants to ask them, let alone hear my answer. For so many, \u201cgetting the grace\u201d is all that matters. To \u201cget the grace,\u201d I am told, all we need to know is how to say the black and do the red.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lest we think this is a new problem, over 80 years ago Hans Anscar Reinhold in a Timely Tract critiqued what he called the \u201cLegion of Decency,\u201d a riff on the National Legion of Decency. This group was established in the 1930’s to protest against films that offended Christian decency and morals.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Reinhold recounts a story about a seminary professor who taught his students 4 central things about the liturgy. The first was (the myth!) that the current \u201cliturgy is good, because it is old, as old as the Church.\u201d The second was that obedience is the most important thing in the Church, \u201cespecially for seminarians.\u201d As a result, \u201clet us be obedient and carry out all the rubrics, and that is, of course, liturgy.\u201d Third, he taught the seminarians that \u201cthe liturgy is beautiful,\u201d but this can carry with it the danger of the senses. Nevertheless, he consoled them, telling them: \u201cdon\u2019t worry, boys, you can\u2019t go wrong, even when your senses come in, provided you obey\u2026Just close your eyes\u2026where you are alone with God.\u201d Finally, he leveled with them that the faithful \u201cneed holy shows and sacred actions,\u201d so \u201clet us also stoop and descend to their level.\u201d In the end, the liturgy, according to this seminary professor, is nothing more than a tool by which the faithful are led \u201cto things that really count.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sigh.<\/p>\n

This is the vision of liturgy laid out by the \u201cLegion of Decency\u201d and the \u201cpious people.\u201d What a depressingly sanitized vision of liturgy. It takes no risks. It strips of the liturgy of its challenging and prophetic dimensions \u2013 it waters down the radical call to discipleship and transformation that eating and becoming the Body of Christ demands.<\/p>\n

It strikes me as exactly the kind of liturgical mentality that Nathan Mitchell has warned us about: \u201cIt is assumed that liturgy\u2019s purpose is to convert parable to myth, so that people can leave church feeling \u2018reconciled\u2019 and \u2018good about themselves.\u2019\u201d[2]<\/a> It makes the parable of the widow\u2019s mite, for instance, a tale of a pious old lady, rather than someone who gives her whole self and all that she has to God.<\/p>\n

What the vision of liturgy as articulated by Reinhold\u2019s professor really does is prevent the Church from actualizing the reality of the liturgy in our parishes and in our lives. This vision of liturgy strips the liturgy of its prophetic end: \u201cRitual\u2019s strategy\u2026is to urge us beyond our comfort zone, to let ourselves be \u2018parabled\u2019 or \u2018koan<\/em>-ed\u2019 in the direction of a wisdom that exceeds human reason and challenges us\u2026to change our lives.\u201d[3]<\/a> But, as Reinhold notes, it is much easier if the liturgy is \u201call neatly tucked away in little file boxes with labels, numbers and according to a system,\u201d even if it means that our religious life ends up \u201cquite dead too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cLegion of Decency\u201d has a very\"\" strong attraction, even today. It sure is comfortable to feel comforted. The \u201cLegion of Decency\u201d of the \u201cpious people\u201d today even repeats many of the same points as Reinhold\u2019s professor:<\/p>\n