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Vol: 32, No.2
February, 2010
PAPAL LITURGIST ENDORSES ‘REFORM OF THE REFORM’ OF THE LITURGY
VATICAN CITY [CNS]
The Pope’s chief liturgist, Msgr Guido Marini, endorsed calls in the Church for a “reform of the reform” of Catholic liturgy.
“For some years now, several voices have been heard within Church circles talking about the necessity of a new liturgical renewal,” Msgr Marini said. A fresh renewal movement would be “capable of operating a reform of the reform, or rather, move one more step ahead in understanding the authentic spirit of the liturgy and its celebration,” he said.
Msgr Marini, who has served as master of papal liturgical ceremonies since late 2007, spoke Jan. 6 to a conference of priests from English-speaking countries gathered in Rome to mark the Year of the Priest. The conference was sponsored by the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and the U S-based Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. The papal liturgist said the goal of the new reform movement “would be to carry on that providential reform of the liturgy that the Conciliar Fathers had launched” but which has “not always, in its practical implementation, found a timely and happy fulfilment.”
Msgr Marini stressed that the liturgy celebrated by the Church should be marked by historical continuity. Msgr Marini said that an appreciation of continuity would help bring together divergent schools of thought regarding the liturgy.
“The liturgy cannot and must not be an opportunity for conflict between those who find good only in that which came before us, and those who, on the contrary, almost always find wrong in what came before,” Marini said. He offered suggestions for showing continuity in the liturgy and gave examples from current papal liturgical celebrations.
The tradition of praying while facing East, and so symbolically facing the Lord, is now seen in the placement of a crucifix on the altar of St Peter’s Basilica, he said. “Hence the reason for the proposal made by then-Cardinal Ratzinger and presently reaffirmed during the course of his pontificate, to place the crucifix on the centre of the altar, in order that all, during the celebration of the liturgy, may concretely face and look upon the Lord, in such a way as to orient also their prayer and hearts,” he said.
A renewed emphasis on “adoration”, explained by Msgr Marini as “union with God”, also will foster continuity with the past and should be a criterion for future liturgical practices, he said. Everything in the liturgy must be conducive to adoration, Msgr Marini said, including the music, the singing, the periods of silence, the way of proclaiming the Scriptures as well as the liturgical vestments and the sacred vessels.
