Re: Re: reordering and destruction of irish cathedrals and churches

Luzarches has nicely brought the argument back to the central point – the deep void that represents the actual liturgical state of Catholicism.

We must remember that the “liturgical renewal” that followed the Council (but was strictly speaking only tangentially related to it) had been in preparation for many decades before: from elements of the youth movements of 1930s Germany to the rarefied and cliquish “scholarly” meetings in France and Italy in the 1950s. The destruction was planned, but its violence and extent surprised even the planners, I think.

Now that most of the worst vandalism has been done, we are left with a bleak landscape, and I lament the fact that, alas, I see little sign of liturgical revival among the younger clergy. In fact there is almost a complete ignorance of the Catholic conception of the liturgy. It has been exchanged for a Las Vegas conception of the liturgy. But even Las Vegas has much more pizzazz!

Just as the “liturgical movement” worked its revolution slowly over several decades, infecting certain scholarly circles [true scholars like Gamber resisted manfully] and especially seminary professors, and most disastrously, infiltrating the liturgical arm of the Roman Curia (let’s not start the whole Bugnini invective), in the same way, the movement of reforming the reform – to quote Benedict XVI – must begin slowly. The recent appointment to the chair of Liturgy in a certain national seminary in Ireland shows, alas, that it will be another generation before a Catholic liturgical scholar is again let loose on the seminarians there, but the slow process of reforming the reform must begin.

Benedict XVI can give important momentum to this movement, he can’t – and is too wise to try – overturn the past 80 years in a jiffy.

This is why we must be content with saving even some elements of old churches – if it only means leaving the high altar and reredos as a floating compromise. At least such elements will be ready for the restoration! :rolleyes: