Archbishop Arthur Roche, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said in an interview with a Spanish Catholic magazine Omnes that his Dicastery is preparing a document on the liturgical formation of all the baptized.
Newsroom (16/05/2021 12:00 PM, Gaudium Press) Almost a year ago, “Traditionis Custodes” limited the possibilities of using the pre-reform Liturgy of the Council. The document explained that its aim was to “seek ecclesial communion.” Has progress been made towards that goal?
– We must begin by saying that the reason behind this decision is the unity of the Church, which has moved the Pope. The previous Popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, never thought that the existing possibilities were intended to promote the Tridentine rite, but only to assist people who have a difficulty with the new form of the Church’s prayer.
But, in the end, we are formed by the Liturgy, because the Liturgy carries within it the faith and the doctrine of the Church. “Lex orandi, lex credendi”. In reality, I think this is not only a difficulty for the Liturgy but a difficulty for ecclesiology, for doctrine. For the first time in history, since the Second Vatican Council, we have in the magisterium an insertion of the nature of the Church, because it is the first time in two thousand years that we have a dogmatic constitution such as “Lumen Gentium”. “Lumen Gentium” implies that it is not only the priest who celebrates mass, but all the baptised. Obviously, it is not possible for everyone to do the consecration of the Eucharistic species without the priest; but all the baptised, like the priest, have a position to celebrate. All share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ and therefore, as “Sacrosanctum concilium” reminds us, have the right and the duty to participate in the Liturgy. This is in contrast to the rite in the 1962 missal, where the priest was seen as the representative of all others present at the celebration of the mass. This is the great difference between the two forms: the Church as it is understood in today’s ecclesiology, and the nature of the Church as it was conceived by earlier ecclesiology.
At the same time, Traditionis Custodes stresses the continuity between the present rite and the ancient rite: it states that the new Roman Missal “contains all the elements of the Roman rite, especially the Roman canon, which is one of the most characteristic elements”.
– Of course, continuity must also be underlined. The Liturgy is a living gift that the Church has received. But we must not canonise the old for old’s sake, otherwise we would find people who want to go back to things simply because they are older, and that could mean going back to liturgical expressions that predate even the Tridentine ones, for example. Actually, the point where we are now, with the new missal of Paul VI, means that we have had the possibility to study all the most fundamental elements, to take advantage of the sources of the Liturgy, which were not known during the Tridentine Council in the years 1545-1563.
Pope Francis has said that he is “pained by the abuses” of some of today’s celebrations. What do you think?
– I think there is a lack of liturgical formation at the moment. It is very interesting to remember that in the years before the Council there was the liturgical movement, with a patristic, biblical, ecumenical foundation; and the Council offered the possibility of a renewal of the Church, also in terms of Liturgy.
I think that at the moment we are only trying to comply with the rubrics of the Liturgy, and that seems to me to be a bit poor. Theologically, the reason was the celebration of the Mystery.
That is why two years ago the Holy Father asked this Congregation to have a plenary meeting of all its members to discuss liturgical formation in the whole Church: from the bishops to the priests to the laity. And, indeed, a document on this matter is in preparation at the moment. What do we do when we gather every Sunday for this celebration? What is the point of such an assembly? Not just an obligation to do something every week, but what do we do? What do we celebrate at that time?
Will it be easy to get the content of this letter across to the laity, to the people in the broad sense?
– As you know, on the occasion of the publication of the motu proprio “Traditionis Custodes” Pope Francis wrote a letter only to the bishops explaining what they should do. I think that, at this point in time, we in the Congregation have a responsibility to think about how to reach out to a wider audience.
The “mystagogical” catechesis, which introduces the celebrated mysteries, is one of the instruments of liturgical formation. A special occasion are sacraments such as baptism, communion or marriage. Do they fulfil this role?
– The mystagogical catechesis is very important. There is a paragraph in “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” number 16, which says that liturgical formation is among the most important subjects in the formation of seminarians and that teachers of other subjects have to take it into account when they teach biblical, patristic, dogmatic, etc. subjects.
There is an abbey in America, Mount Angel, near Portland, where all the subjects of theological formation in the seminary period always have the focus on the Liturgy of the day. Everything is oriented according to the great seasons of the Liturgy, the liturgical calendar. We have to consider this also in relation to formation: that it is about celebration. It is not just a matter of doing things or participating in some parts of the celebration, but of celebrating worthily with a deep, active participation, as the Council recalled. Through words and gestures we come to the Mystery. Rather than engaging in activities such as reading the readings or other things, we must strive for a deep, quasi-mystical participation in the contemplation of the Liturgy. It is about identifying with Christ through the words and gestures of the celebration.
The sacrament of Penance is a reference point of this pontificate. Francis has spoken of mercy and forgiveness from the beginning; he has invited to celebrations of confession, and has shown similar gestures. How can this sacrament be revalued?
– I think that obviously the sacrament of Penance is, in a certain sense, in a period of crisis at the moment, because there is a loss of a sense of sin. Sins are no less today than they were before, but there is a lack of knowledge of individual sin; I think that is a challenge for so many people. The Pope as a great shepherd, before his election as Pope, has shown this in his diocese, in the parishes and in his pastoral work.
I will tell you an interesting experience: some years ago I received an invitation from the Sacred Penitentiary to give a lecture for deacons preparing for ordination to the priesthood. When I arrived and saw that there were 500 people, I asked Cardinal Piacenza: are there so many to be ordained this year? This was not the case, but almost two thirds of those attending were already ordained priests and had come to this course, in some cases after many years of ordination, to re-learn how to celebrate the sacrament of penance. This speaks of a lack of formation of priests. Particularly for the sacrament of confession, the availability of the priest is important, but not only in terms of time commitment, but also as the availability of a person who welcomes penitents, who speaks of mercy, who speaks as a father to a person who is in need of reconciliation with God. All these elements are very important, but they are also integral elements of formation.
How is the ministry of catechists, which was established on 10 May last year, evolving in its first steps?
– At the moment the most important thing is for the Bishops’ Conference to define who the catechists are. It is a ministry, and not only a participation in ministry as we have in every parish in the world, where some people prepare children for first communion, confession and so on. This is a more important ministry, but one that needs to be defined. The person who receives this ministry is a point of reference in the diocese for the organization of programmes, levels, etc., but it depends on how the bishop defines it: this is now the responsibility of the bishops’ conferences.
There are for example some nuns who develop their apostolate as catechists… but this ministry is not foreseen for them. Even more important: neither is it foreseen for seminarians, who are in preparation for the priesthood. They receive the acolyte, the lectorate, and then the diaconate, but this ministry of catechist is not foreseen for them: it is only for the baptised in general. For the Church it is a sign of the importance of the laity announcing the Gospel and forming young people.
Let us talk about other aspects of the work of the Congregation for the Liturgy. The Constitution “Praedicate Evangelium” underlines that it promotes the liturgy “according to the renewal undertaken by the Second Vatican Council.”
– Certainly, one of its tasks is to promote the Liturgy. At the same time, it is also to become a point of reference for all the bishops of the world in their relationship to the Petrine ministry. The Congregation (in the future, the Dicastery) is to serve not only the Supreme Pontiff, but also all the bishops of the world, in the liturgical field. And this is a dimension that we must consider carefully. It is an opening of the Roman Curia, which should not be understood as a bureaucratic structure, but as a service to the universal Church.
How does it collaborate with other Dicasteries?
– As far as its competencies are concerned, it collaborates with all the bodies of the Curia, from the Doctrine of the Faith to the Clergy and almost all the others. The new evangelization, the missions, the practice of charity, and all other activities also have a liturgical aspect. For the Liturgy is the life of the whole Church; it is the soul of the Church.
It will soon be 60 years since “Sacrosanctum Concilium.” This Council document on Liturgy wanted the Paschal Mystery to become the centre of the Christian life. How does this approach look today?
– Sixty years is a short time in the history of the Church. After Trent, there was a great period in which there were difficult circumstances for the whole Church to receive the reform – a reform is a serious thing – but also now we have many difficulties.
A major difficulty in the Church is the rise of individualism. People make their desires as individuals, but not as a community. Now, the Church is precisely a community, and it celebrates all the sacraments in a communal sense, including the Mass, because it is not meant to be celebrated without the presence of another person, and normally the faithful congregate in large numbers.
At the moment the liberalism, the individualism that exists in this society is a challenge for the Church. It is easy to think of my personal preference, of a specific type of Liturgy, of a particular expression of the celebration, of this priest rather than that priest; but this individualism is not in the character of the Church. And we must consider the effects of these influences on the spiritual life of the Church, as is clearly underlined in “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, but also in “Lumen Gentium”.
Has the pandemic reinforced the tendency towards individualism?
– I think this tendency will not last forever, because we know that the need to relate to God and to others is within us, and it is not something that we have the possibility of pushing away indefinitely, by means of television or the internet. We need to be present at the celebration, since the sacraments are about a personal relationship with Christ, and are not a programme or a film. Online or on television we follow something for a moment, but we are not there; we can see everything, but we are not present, and this is the most important thing: the presence of the people.
Let me mention two particular aspects of “Sacrosancutm Concilium”. The first is liturgical inculturation.
– This is that there are some cultures, in certain societies outside Europe, especially in mission countries, where the Roman rite can be enriched by the genius of each place, which is not always easy.
On this subject, I have often said to the bishops that we have spent the last fifty years preparing the translation of the liturgical texts; and now we must move on to the second phase, which is already foreseen by “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, and that is the inculturation or adaptation of the Liturgy to the other different cultures, while maintaining unity. I think that we should start this work now. But I would like to point out that today there is only one liturgical “use”, not a “rite”, and that is in Zaire, in Africa.
It is important to understand what it means that Jesus has shared our nature, and in a historical moment. We have to consider the importance of the Incarnation and, if we can say so, of the action of grace being incarnated in other cultures, with various expressions that are completely different from what we have seen and appreciated in Europe for so many years.
The second aspect is beauty, particularly in sacred architecture. The Pope says “the Church evangelises and evangelises herself through the beauty of the liturgy” (“Evangelii Gaudium”, 24).
– Beauty is a part of God’s nature, and a part of human existence. It is very important for man, because it attracts him: we are attracted by beauty. And it speaks to us not only in a unique way, but also individually.
This aspect of the Liturgy, also with regard to churches, was foreseen by the documents issued immediately after the approval of “Sacrosanctum Concilium” and also supported by the bishops participating in the Council. These texts indicated what was to be taken into account in the configuration of the Church in a way that would help the celebration, and the significance and importance of the various elements. I am thinking, for example, of the altar, which signifies the Body of Christ; for the Orthodox it is the tomb, whence the resurrection belongs to the celebration of the Eucharist. Or in the importance of the ambo, by itself and in relation to the altar. In our celebrations we have two “tables”: Holy Scripture and the Holy Eucharist; but without Holy Scripture we do not do the Eucharist. The two are in balance, and both are the same thing. The Word leads to the Eucharist and the Eucharist is deepened and understood by the Word.
Would you like to add anything else?
– Yes, I think it is very important that at this moment we think once again about the voice of the Council to the whole world, a prophetic voice for the future of the Church. That we deepen what is contained in “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” and also in the other documents, but above all in “Lumen Gentium”, about the holiness of the Church and our vocation, because without holiness we will lack an authentic voice to preach the Gospel.
(Via Omnes)
Compiled by Raju Hasmukh
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