Friday, February 23, 2007

Hooray, hooray, again I say hooray.

Vatican official acknowledges liturgical crisis
In an unusually candid conversation with the monthly Inside the Vatican, the secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship concedes that liturgical reform after Vatican II “has not been able to achieve the expected goals,” and indicates that Pope Benedict XVI is determined to address the crisis in Catholic liturgy.
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The fundamental challenge, the archbishop said, is stop what he called “freewheeling” liturgical innovation, and to recover the sense of the sacred. Steps in that direction, he said, would bring Catholics back into more active practice of the faith.[emphasis added]

Archbishop Ranjith was unsparing in his analysis of the crisis facing Catholicism today. Noting the decline in active Mass attendance, he said: “We have to ask ourselves what happened in these churches and then take corrective steps as may be necessary.”

The archbishop refused to accept some common explanations for the decline in Catholic practice. “I do not think that this situation is attributable to secularization only,” he said. “A deep crisis of faith coupled with a drive for meaningless liturgical experimentation and novelty have had their own impact in this matter.”
See, they do know of the frustration of the pew sitting Catholic. And they are prepared to deal with it.

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