God Save Us From Liturgists

“The fundamental gain of this constitution is that it broke the clergy monopoly of the liturgy. Whereas it was formerly the priest’s affair, with the faithful no more than his clientele, the council regards not only the priest but the entire Christian community, God’s people, as the subject of the liturgical celebration, in which each in his proper place is given his own particular hierarchically ordered function – a theological view with all kinds of practical repercussions.”

Right, which is why *Saint* Pius X encouraged people to pray the Mass, rather than balance their checkbooks during it. Evidently, this wasn’t good enough for liberal Jesuits like this character, who insist that priests are no different from laity and that Mass without hands around the altar isn’t really Mass.

“The aim of his (Rahner’s) critics seems to be to shift his insights about the Liturgy of the World, of the anonymous Christian, of the inherent goodness of the human person, toward the liberal, relativistic, post-modern views that are presently (and in many ways deservedly) under scrutiny. Better to follow von Balthasar with his emphasis on membership of the Church as saving institution. . .”

If, by follow Hans Urs von Balthasar, he means follow Catholic orthodoxy, then. . . hummmm. . .

“. . .For these people, the world is inherently sinful and godless.”

Hmm, maybe that’s because of the Fall? Oh wait, I forgot that, because Genesis clearly isn’t literal, we can’t take any lesson from it at all. We should just cut that crap out of the Bible.

It’s funny how this man’s article doesn’t talk about the Eucharist in any depth. Gee, I guess that’s too passe` and not inclusive enough. The mere fact that he mentions only how people feel about the Liturgy and not how God feels indicates the man-centeredness and even humanism that’s crept in after Vatican II.