LONDON - 17 December 2007 - 800 words
Archbishop Marini on Vatican II's renewal of Catholic worship
Archbishop Piero Marini gave the following address on Friday, at Archbishop's House, Westminster, for the launch of his book: 'A Challenging Reform: Realising the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal'. The event was hosted by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and attended by Bishop Alan Hopes, Bishop Bernard Longley, Bishop Arthur Roche, a representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury and many leading liturgists.
A CHALLENGING REFORM
The heritage of the past
Several years ago, the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium led to the renewal of interest throughout the Church in the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Revisiting Sacrosanctum Concilium does not mean going back to the conciliar document alone, but also to the challenging journey which led the Catholic Church, through the liturgical movement, back to the source of her liturgy in order "to undertake with great care a general reform of the liturgy". (SC21). It means going back to the path taken by the Church after the Council in implementing that reform. The Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium was in effect both the culmination of the liturgical movement and the starting point of the great post-conciliar reform.
The volume: A Challenging Reform is an historical study of the first period of the implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy. This was the most sensitive phase of the realisation of the reform, since it marked the passage from the general provisions of the Council to their concrete enactment.
A number of factors facilitated that passage:
- In the first place, the presence of the Council Fathers in Rome during the first two years of the implementation of the reform. The Bishops were the first guarantors of the reform which they themselves desired.
- The Servant of God Paul VI, the Pope of the Council, was, from the very beginning of his pontificate, committed to carrying out the reform; he was the one who chose its leading figures and established the new structures which enacted the conciliar liturgical reform.
- The presence and cohesiveness of a group of competent scholars guided by Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro and Father Annibale Bugnini
- The establishment of a new office, international in character and operating outside the norms of the Roman Curia, suited to the work of carrying out the reform: the Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia (1964-1975). These two offices are historically linked to the liturgical reform of Vatican II, just as the Sacra Rituum Congregatio, the Sacred Congregation of Rites, was linked to the implementation of the liturgy of Trent.
The movement of the Spirit of the Church
A quick look at the theological and pastoral principles on which the reform was based, as well as the events and individuals, the excitement and difficulties of the initial period of the reform, helps us to better understand the present and the future of the liturgy of the Roman Rite.
The truth is that almost all the issues of the past remain issues today: the language of the liturgy, the question of adaptation, the tension between preservation and progress, between the centre and the periphery of the Church. Today, however, as the witnesses of the reform - the Bishops of the Council and the experts who assisted them - are passing from the scene, it is important of the Church to to maintain and renew the spirit which gave rise to the liturgical movement and inspired the Council fathers to approve the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy as the first fruits of that "great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century" which was the Second Vatican Council (Apostolic Letter Spiritus et Sponsa,1).
The real challenges for the liturgy today and in the future no longer chiefly concern the drawing up of texts and rites (SC 21). We need to keep in mind that the Council had set itself four precise goals giving renewed vigour the Christian living; adapting ecclesial structures to matter meet the needs of our time; promoting the unity of all those who believe in Christ (ecumenism) and strengthening the Church's mission of gather all peoples within her embrace (cfSC1) To achieve these four goals, the Council "saw particularly cogent reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy" (ibid). Consequently, the liturgical reform was not intended or executed as merely a reform of certain rites, but as the basis and inspiration for achieving the aims which the Council had set for itself. For this reason, in my judgement, the goal of the liturgy is none other than the goal of the Church, and the future of the liturgy is the future of Christianity and of the Christian life. And, this is so, precisely because, as the Council Fathers remind us. "the liturgy is the summit towards which the Church's activity is directed, and the source from which all her power flows." (SC 10)
Looking ahead
The present volume - A Challenging Reform - by recounting the story of the launching of the reform and its leading figures, and by helping us to relive some of its excitement, reminds us that celebrating the liturgy as willed by the Council, is no easy thing. It is a challenging task which calls for sensitivity careful preparation and study, patience, perseverance, deep personal commitment, and great pastoral charity. But the present volume is also in invitation to look to the future and to take up with enthusiasm the path traced by the Council. We can be certain not only that the theological and pastoral principles on which the reform was based remain perennially valid, but also that the Holy Spirit, who guided the liturgical movement and inspired the Council Fathers. continues to encircles us like a cloud and guide us like a column of fire. May the liturgy truly be for us the column of fire of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit who continually renews the heart of the Church as she makes her pilgrim way towards the Kingdom, filling her with beauty ever new, with joy and hope.
'A Challenging Reform: Realising the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal' is published by Liturgical Press and is available in the UK from Columba Books at £9.99
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