Ideology and Liturgy: Worship as the Cult of Community

Rev. Robert A. Skeris

During the week preceding the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Christendom College, in 
collaboration with the Church Music Association of America, sponsors a Liturgical 
Music Colloquium which brings together conductors, composers, pastors and organists 
from all over the country. The following is from last year's Colloquium (June 1993).

	Homer called him Thersites. Every good schoolboy knows him as the eponym of 
all loudmouthed, cowardly, cruel critics. Thersites is the professional reviler, the very 
type and model of scurrilous scoffers. He sneers at Agamemnon and is roundly 
cudgeled by Odysseus.

	But Thersites is also the prototype of a familiar social phaenomenon: the fearless, 
blistering critic of a given situation, too honest and clearsighted to be deceived by 
humbug and romantic notions. Today, of course, in an "oecumenic age" of dialogue and 
pluralism, no one would lift a finger to silence an even apparently carping critic _ or at 
least, so we hope.

	And it is in this hope of escaping the fate of Thersites, that the thoughtful 
theologian ventures to present this evening, for your consideration, some reflections 
upon liturgical problems in the <ecclesia in mundo hujus temporis> and their 
relationship to our task of evangelisation within the Church and in the world.

I.

	In reply to the countless chronic vexations, indeed scandals caused by the "new 
conception of liturgy and of the Church" which is being imprinted upon the Church's 
celebrations of the Eucharist, we always hear the self-same conciliatory, beguiling 
remonstrances: the real purpose of it all was an accommodation to so-called "modern 
man," an adaptation which would leave the essentials untouched and (it goes without 
saying) would remain in continuity with the pre-conciliar Church.

	Assurances such as these have long since lost whatever meagre credibility they 
may perhaps have had. The innovators had already revealed themselves and their real 
intentions by de-valuating the so-called "pre-conciliar" Church, in fact often treating it 
with ridicule and contempt. This applied in particular to the Liturgy, which because it 
was "old," was <de facto> banished and practically outlawed. All this of course has 
very little to do with the last Council and its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. On the 
contrary, in Par. 23 of that document the Council Fathers established this admirable 
general principle: there must be no innovation unless the good of the Church genuinely 
and certainly requires it, and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in 
some way grow organically from forms already existing.

	Viewed in this way, it is clear that the situation which is so widespread today 
has arisen in various ways out of disobedience to this basic principle, this expressed 
will of the Council. And it is equally clear that the situation is not only being 
maintained but carried even farther in its anticonciliar dynamism.

	A few years ago, Bishop Rudolf Graber asked, "Where do the conciliar texts 
speak of communion in the hand, for example, or where do they enjoin the so-called 
altar facing the people (which is scant testimony to that `giving perfect glory to God' 
which the Liturgy Constitution says [in Par. 5] is the goal and purpose of worship)? The 
answer is: Nowhere."1 This good bishop went on to mention a number of other things 
which fall into the same category: elimination of the subdiaconate and the four minor 
orders; the monotonous enumeration of "Sundays in ordinary time" _ while the 
Protestants of course have retained the pre-Lenten season and the Sundays "after 
Trinity"; <de facto> abandonment of Latin as liturgical language of the Western 
Church; elimination of the second imposition of hands during priestly ordination, and 
many others.

	No, it was not the desire for continuity which prevailed here. Instead, there 
began here _ at first stealthily and with cunning "anticipatory obedience" <via facti,> 
and then quite openly _ a consciously revolutionary process: another Church using a 
new liturgy as means, vehicle and instrument of social pressure (meaning that whoever 
refuses to cooperate, is isolated).

	A teacher of liturgy recently spoke to this point with gratifying clarity: "The 
Council was a Copernican revolution." There is taking place today a "revolution in our 
understanding of the Church" towards a "new Church." Now, the congregation is the 
subject of the worship service. And he added the deceptive and untrue statement that 
"The Council has not left to us the path of Tradition." One is tempted to ask, with the 
Sanhedrin of old, "what need we any further witnesses? We ourselves have heard of his 
own mouth" (Lk 22:54). Indeed, the culture wars are raging unabated in the Holy 
Church of God, and the Divine Liturgy often resembles in fact the battlefield that it has 
become in the ongoing war of ideas. The legitimate liturgist may be permitted to 
suggest that we can preserve and maintain our personal orientation in this 
<Kulturkampf>, if we but remember that the crisis of the liturgy is but a reflection of 
the crisis of faith, that liturgical problems are by no means unrelated to the re-
interpretation of our beliefs in those numberless new theological constructs to which 
our seminarians are so often exposed; constructs in which the doctrinal tradition of the 
Church (whose continuity is to be experienced only through long and patient study) is 
frivolously replaced with new and allegedly more currently topical visions and 
versions . . .

	This crisis of faith or, if you will, this postconciliar wave of demythologisation, 
has two main centres of gravity or (perhaps more accurately) two chief spearheads of 
attack: 	a) creeping Arianism, which degrades the mystery of the Hypostatic 
Union to nothing more than the "unsurpassable self-communication of God" in the man 
Jesus; and b) the denial, disparagement or (as the current vogue expresses it) the 
"marginalising" of Christ's Real Presence under the Eucharistic forms _ which of course 
goes hand in hand with the re-interpretation of Transsubstantiation.

	If belief in the Real Presence were still intact among all baptised Catholics, we 
could end this article right here. If belief in the Real Presence were still intact 
throughout the Catholic Church, then even the most progressivist supporters of a new 
human and "happy" liturgy would scarcely run the risk of donning clown costumes, for 
instance, or Indian war bonnets to greet the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice of 
the Cross _ in other words the presence of the Crucified One Who is really and truly 
there as a victim upon the altar. . . . If belief in the Real Presence were still intact in each 
and every member of the ubiquitous parish "liturgy teams," then for obvious reasons 
they would fear that the very Blood of Christ present upon the altar would cry to 
Heaven in the all too frequent blasphemous "Masses" which _ alas! _ are part of the 
normal scenery in the post-conciliar Church!

	One need not be a learned scholar to ask oneself in pained puzzlement, why it is 
that today, in our crypto-materialistic and totally temporal, earthbound age, belief in 
the mystery of the Real Presence has been made so very difficult for men who so easily 
succumb to the temptation of saying: All that exists, is what we can imagine. According 
to the magnificent hymn of St. Thomas Aquinas, the mystery of the Real Presence is the 
greatest imaginable challenge to man's power of believing. And it is a very curious fact 
that at the precise moment when great waves of saecularism and demythologisation 
threaten to engulf the Church, the Sacred Event of impenetrable mystery which should 
take place at a certain appropriate distance (which itself suitably expresses the 
incomprehensible immensity of that miracle) is instead drawn into harsh proximity. It 
is not seldom accomplished in a disagreeably conversational tone, a chatty style which 
as harshly contradicts the fundamental law that form and content should always 
correspond to each other in proper proportion. Even non-believing sociologists2 have 
noted that in explicit antithesis to the <discretio> of the ancient Roman rite and of the 
Eastern Rite, which even today masks and conceals the Sacred Event, the new liturgy 
surpasses even the restrained sobriety of the early Protestant divines by reducing the 
Sacramental to the level of the banal, the everyday _ which is by definition the opposite 
of the <Sacrum>. But of course we have the assurance of confident Jesuits3 that if by 
"sacred" we mean the effect of what Otto described as the <mysterium tremendum et 
fascinosum>, then we are formulating expectations which have nothing at all to do 
with Christian worship. . . .

II.

	Let us be more specific, by attempting to analyse with all necessary brevity the 
process of demythologisation and the transformation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 
Our analysis is presented in the true spirit of post-conciliar theology, whose two key 
concepts are "dialogue" and "discussion." Many persons construe these words as 
meaning that all earlier theology _ to which in 1993 Vatican II itself already belongs _ is 
only a transitional point which has no place in a canon of faith which transcends the 
mere requirements of historical relevance. Hence the call to trace out all ecclesiastical 
and theological problems in a <colloquium, quod sola caritate erga veritate ducatur> 
(GS 92), for which the participants are to prepare themselves that they <partes suas 
agere possint> (GS 43). It is in such a love for the truth that the thoughtful theologian is 
trained, and this obliges him not only to regard his participation in this <colloquium> 
as one of his most important tasks in the <Ecclesia hujus temporis>, but also to conduct 
his side of the discussion <rerum natura duce, ratione comite>.

	The first step in our analysis of the relationship between demythologisation and 
re-defining the Sacrifice of the Mass, is to note that here too, there is a logical 
consistency which leads from a theocentric to the anthropocentric viewpoint. The 
spokesmen for permanent liturgical revolution never tire of inculcating their new 
gospel: that we should eschew the narrow and restrictive views of an earlier age and 
conceive the Mass not so much in terms of worship or sacrifice, as of God's action upon 
men, as though _ in opposition to all the great theologians and all the councils _ it were 
less a matter of adoring and glorifying the Most High God by means of an appropriate 
propitiatory sacrifice, and more a matter of human wellbeing and happiness. (For the 
terminology, see e.g. K. Schlemmer, <Bausteine fuer den Gottesdienst> (Wuerzburg, 
1980), 97.

	Secondly, we must recall that today, when the infinitely holy and adorable 
majesty of God has receded so far into the background, and gradually faded away in 
favour of a "nice," friendly God, it has little by little become fashionable to deny that 
the essence of the Sacrifice of the Cross is <satisfactio vicaria,> vicarious satisfaction. 
What sort of a God would that be, they ask, who demands such a bloody sacrifice?4 
And in this context the propitiatory character of the Sacrifice of the Mass naturally 
fades away, too. . . .

	Thirdly, we should note the transformation of what was formerly called the 
"consecration" of the Mass5 into the "words of institution" or the "institution narrative," 
of which one now simply says, "It . . . proclaims in the form of a prayer the institution 
of the Eucharist by Jesus."6 How often has each one of us observed the "institution 
narrative" mechanically rattled off without a pause or a break, while the celebrant (the 
"presider"?) candidly gazed at the assembly!

	Fourthly, it has become generally accepted _ at least by the members of the 
Liturgy Club _ "that it is no longer the priest alone, but rather the assembled 
congregation as a whole which is subject and executant of the liturgical action."7 And 
as a matter of fact this statement actually represents a "Copernican revolution." For in 
spite of the assurances that "all the faithful participate in Christ's priesthood,"8 it is 
simply no longer true that the ordained priest, as such, clearly and unmistakeably acts 
<in persona Christi> Who functions as the real High Priest. Hence it is no accident that 
in such a context one finds curious statements such as this: "All things considered, one 
must indeed say that the concept of `priest' is not particularly suitable . . . for describing 
the specific function of office-holders in the Church."9

	And with that we arrive at our fifth point: the transformation of the priest into a 
"presider," a term which is used with an almost exclusive pointedness in the new 
liturgical books. It is not only the new word which is significant. Here we find a 
palpable instance of demythologisation in the manner in which the doctrine of the 
indelible character which the candidate receives in the sacrament of Holy Orders, is re-
interpreted in a new way. One thinks here of the former professor of dogmatics at 
Tuebingen, Walter Kasper, and the truly surprising interpretation which he gave to the 
"indelible mark" some twenty years ago. Kasper, who not too long ago was consecrated 
a successor of the Apostles and today serves as Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, said 
that the <character indelibilis> was a new sense of dedication, or engagement or total 
commitment which the candidate receives in Holy Orders, similar to the new sense of 
dedication which a fire department lieutenant experiences when he opens the letter of 
appointment promoting him to captain!10

	Sixth and lastly, it is not difficult to discern the demythologisation lying in the 
confusion which mistakes that noble simplicity the last Council desired for the liturgy, 
for the straightforward transparency to which I have already referred. This pellucidity 
has become one of the standard demands of the liturgical tinkers: as if it were quite 
appropriate, instead of completely grotesque, to call for the same insipid clearness 
which we rightly expect in everyday events _ but at the sublime event of Holy Mass, in 
which the <mysterium tremendum> of the Incarnation repeats itself, in the correctly 
understood sense of that expression. If there is anything which has driven people out of 
the churches in such large numbers in the wake of the last Council, then it is this 
presumptuous insistence upon banal intelligibility, this cheapening of the Sacred which 
reduces it to the level of the normal and the everyday, thus effectively profaning it.

	And with that we have sketched out the theological horizon or backdrop which 
enables us to identify more clearly the ideological roots of the new and in fact almost 
cultic reference to the assembly, the community, which for its part documents itself in a 
new understanding of the Mass as creative play, as vivacious, high-spirited celebration 
with dance, pop and op after the Consecration, and rhythmic applause in between 
times. . . .

	One of these ideological roots is the misunderstood demand for active 
participation, <participatio actuosa> which results in pressure for emancipation and 
self-actualisation during the actual re-presentation of the event of Calvary. The 
<piccoluomini> who make up the Liturgical Establishment desire to produce 
"community" synthetically, but they overlook the fact that it is already present! Who 
can deny that participants in the Holy Sacrifice are related to each other in the most 
profound sense of that word _ through sanctifying grace which makes them "blood 
brothers," so to speak, in a spiritual and very real sense? Who can deny that such close 
"relatives" constitute a part of the Mystical Body of Christ and hence possess a kingly 
dignity which unites them with each other in a much deeper way than even the term 
"community" would lead us to suspect? This dignity makes it possible for them to 
receive Christ the Son of the Living God in Holy Communion, whereby this royal 
dignity is heightened and emphasised even more, so that here it cannot be a case of 
beginning, within the framework of a "meal" or "celebration of the Lord's Supper," to 
bring about "community". . . .

	It is of course true that at Holy Mass, "community" "happens" in a very special 
way _ but it is bestowed: it comes about from the altar which is its source, and for that 
reason it does not need to be "organised." This "community" occurs by virtue of the fact 
that those present take part adoringly, marvelling and deeply stirred by the Holy Event 
_ and thus in an ineffably intimate way unite themselves with the sacred Action and 
with the eucharistic Christ. It is not by accident that our civilised languages speak of the 
highest level of participation or sharing _ the spiritual and intellectual level _ as 
"knowledge." How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? says the Mother of God to 
the archangel Gabriel (Lk 1:34). Considering such full and complete reverential-
meditative absorption in the Holy Sacrifice, one can only say that the attempts of many 
modern <liturgisti> to achieve "participation" through all sorts of aids, handouts and 
bust activity are in fact _ a grotesque misunderstanding of the essence of such 
participation!

	From this compulsion to organise "community" there results, almost 
automatically, the shape and form of the new Liturgy and above all the tendency 
according to which it develops so rapidly. Faith is admittedly very different from 
perceptible experience, and to the degree in which faith and the objective event recede 
and diminish, to that degree "community" as such must needs be generated and the 
congregation thereby consolidated _ and all within the space of an hour at most. So 
now, the law which the innovators have transgressed so flagrantly with their de-
sacralisation _ namely the law that form and content always correspond to each other _ 
ironically turns round against itself, and constrains even them to obey. For that "we-
feeling" of "together with all of you and Jesus" or, to place the emphasis quite correctly, 
"all together with Jesus," can only be generated through the singular blending of 
wheedling and clerical tutelary guardianship, indeed violence, which we experience 
today in countless sanctuaries. It is the "ego renewal" of Father Histrionicus and his 
minions so accurately described by Professor Thomas Day under the rubric, "You're 
lookin' great, Narcissus."11

	Reflect for a moment, if you will, upon the style of so many celebrants today 
who so often, at the very beginning of the Divine Liturgy, wish the assembled 
parishioners a "nice day." It is really more than embarrassing, for it recalls all too 
distinctly the diligent and obliging busyness with which the receptionist of a third-rate 
boarding house might greet potential guests: in more elegant establishments the 
concierge maintains a good deal more reserve and a certain distance. Here, in these 
animated greetings or farewells (which often enough culminate in the banal hope for 
pleasant weather and a "happy Sunday") we see the influence of that new theology 
which has given us the "nice" God Who no longer punishes sinners and Who sees to it 
that Hell remains empty. But these pleasant human qualities of the "president of the 
assembly" are necessary in order to relax or "loosen up" the atmosphere, to remove its 
pre-conciliar "churchiness," and to prepare the participants at the very beginning of the 
service for that free and easy unceremoniousness in which "togetherness" can arise 
unencumbered. Thomas Day deftly but accurately describes this phaenomenon as the 
"Solemn High Explanation Mass" presided over by "Mr. Nice Guy," the priest as 
"triumphant monarch" whose voice "has been magnified to superhuman proportions" 
so that it now is "louder than the choir, organ and singing congregation combined."12 
The resulting torrent of verbiage vividly illustrates "the deceptive dialectics of liturgical 
progressivism, which desired to elevate the congregation to mature subject of the 
liturgy, but in fact has made it the object of a new `presidential' clericalism, a collection 
of merely-listening consumers. . . ."13

	Surely such a "consumer" attitude, which has transformed "hearers of the Word" 
into hearers of countless words, contradicts not only the declared intention of the 
liturgical reformers, which was to free the faithful from the domination of the priestly 
caste by making them mature participants. It also points up the inopportune nature of 
this aspect of the reform, which here at least intensifies the fatefully unfortunate 
tendencies of the present age instead of countering them energetically, as the Church 
always did in earlier times. Karl Jaspers once said that educational formation in the full 
and deep sense of that term, means simply the readiness to be spiritually and 
intellectually moved, touched and stirred. This is scarcely possible any more, even in 
saecular life, because such a readiness presupposes the ability to recollect oneself, to 
pause in silence, stopping patiently in order to listen carefully with all our senses and 
with all our inner powers in that undivided attentiveness which the great Jesuit 
Scholastic theologian Francisco Suarez called <attentio substantialis.>14 Through such 
"substantial attention" we are enabled to ponder in heart and mind all aspects of the 
spoken and the written word, weighing it, judging and considering it carefully. Plainly, 
such reflection applies even more to the religious life and above all to the sphere of the 
Sacred. After all, according to the principle that grace presupposes nature and builds 
upon it, spiritual life can flower and develop only in the presence of that inwardness 
which alone enables us to perceive the gentle breath and the tender attraction of grace, 
and to assimilate or appropriate it in the very depths of our spirit, so that it does not 
wither and die like the seed which falls upon rocky ground.

	These, then, are some of the reasons why the passionate liturgical progressivists 
seem to be victims of what Max Horkheimer once called "instrumental rationality," 
which confounds meaningful existence with productively useful being, confuses 
<agere> with <facere>, and thus views liturgy as valid only when it produces some 
palpable practical benefit: namely the creation of community through the production of 
a new community consciousness.

III.

	We shall now conclude our reflections with a response, a lesson, and a practical 
suggestion.

	1. Can a latter-day Thersites expect a hail of blows from the ecclesiastical 
epigones of Odysseus and Agamemnon? does he deserve reproof? Or is he, in many 
ways, right after all? That is the question. What would the deputy chief commander of 
the Church Militant say by way of response?

	At a weekly general audience in the spring of 1993, Pope John Paul II publicly 
stated that, "The data on participation of the faithful at Mass are not satisfactory." 
Despite local efforts to bring people back to church with vibrant liturgies, attendance 
percentages remain low, he said, at Catholic churches in the U.S. and abroad. While 
statistics never tell the full story, he continued, it cannot be ignored that "external 
worship" generally reflects the level of internal worship among Catholics.

	Those who see the Mass as just a "ritual gesture" miss the point, the Pope said. 
"The Eucharistic celebration is not simply a ritual gesture, in fact: It is a sacrament, an 
intervention by Christ Himself Who communicates to us the dynamism of His love." He 
further stated: "It would be a destructive illusion to pretend to have behaviour in line 
with the Gospel without receiving the strength of Christ Himself in the Eucharist, a 
sacrament He instituted for this purpose. Such a claim would be an attitude of self-
sufficiency and radically opposed to the Gospel."

	The Pope called on priests to promote Mass attendance through catechesis, 
exhortation and excellence in liturgical celebration. He said this forms a central part of 
the priest's "care of souls."

	Any further commentary would really be superfluous. <Non jam frustra doces, 
Thersites!>

	2. Is there any lesson to be learned from all of this? An error to be recognised, 
diagnosed and avoided, perhaps? The legitimate liturgist may be permitted to suggest 
that there is indeed, and that it was pointed out for us by L. Brent Bozell a quarter 
century ago, as he spoke in a context that included liturgical "problems" which then 
were but aborning. According to this insight, the import of the phaenomena we have 
analysed is that because new "ritual gestures" exist, the official Church must come to 
terms with them and with the skewed beliefs they embody.

It is the same message, in microcosm, that urges Christianity to accommodate itself to 
the twentieth century because this is the twentieth century. It is (a message) dispatched 
and received as easily as the air itself in a country that has learned to be intimidated by 
"facts," to shrink from any response to them that might involve thought or judgment or 
will. The argument moves from the existence of the thing to the correctness of the thing: 
what is, ought to be. Or, a popular variant: if a thing is, it doesn't make any difference 
whether it ought to be _ the correct response is to adjust, to learn to live with the thing. 
It is not a new theory. It is called positivism. Its inevitable corollaries are relativism and 
subjectivism. And its ravages in politics and law are nothing compared with the havoc 
it visits on religion.15

	3. If we wish to avoid such havoc in our own lives, what steps must we take? 
Chiefly two, it may be suggested. First, we must hold fast to the <doctrina catholica> as 
it is now presented to us in the authoritative and universal Catechism of the Catholic 
Church.16 Briefly stated, in an original translation, that doctrine is as follows.

	At that first Whitsun Tide, when the Holy Ghost was poured out and the Church 
manifested to the world, there commenced a new period in the "dispensation of the 
mystery": the age of the Church, during which Christ shews forth, renders present and 
communicates His work of salvation through the Liturgy of His Church. Christ now 
lives and acts in and with His Church in a new way which is proper to this new age. 
He acts by means of the sacraments, in what the ancient Tradition of East and West 
calls the "sacramental economy," which consists in the communication or "dispensation" 
of the fruits of the Paschal mystery of Christ in the celebration of the "sacramental" 
Liturgy of the Church.

	The Liturgy is the work of the whole Christ, Head and members. It is celebrated 
without interruption by our one High Priest in the heavenly Liturgy, with the holy 
Mother of God, the Apostles, all the saints and the multitude of men who have already 
entered the Kingdom. In the liturgical celebration, the entire assembly is the "liturgist," 
each one according to his proper function. The baptismal priesthood is that of the 
whole Body of Christ. However, some of the faithful are ordained in the sacrament of 
Holy Orders to represent Christ as Head of the Body. . . .

	And now to the second suggestion: that all of the baptised, layfolk and clerks 
together, unite in a conscious effort to renew and deepen their individual interior 
participation in the Divine Liturgy, and thus to effect a gradual transformation of the 
<mundus hujus temporis>. It is the task of the ordained to offer ritual sacrifice in the 
name of the Church and in the person of Christ; it is the task but also the privilege of 
the non-ordained to share in this sacrifice by offering their own spiritual sacrifices, as 
the last Council reminds us (LG 34). But what, exactly, are these spiritual sacrifices? In 
a very special way, for the non-ordained laity, all their works, prayers and apostolic 
undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they 
are accomplished in the Spirit _ indeed, even the hardships of life if patiently borne _ 
all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, and in the 
celebration of Holy Mass, these may _ nay, must! _ be offered to the Father along with 
the Body of the Lord. And this is how, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, 
the laity consecrate the world itself to God. <Eja, fratres, pergamus!>

Rev. Robert A. Skeris is a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee who presently serves as 
Chairman of the Theology Department at Christendom College. Fr. Skeris has written three books 
on the theology of worship and its music.

ENDNOTES

1 <Theologisches> (Juli 1985), col. 6476.

2 E.g. Alfred Lorenzer, <Das Konzil der Buchhalter> (Frankfurt, 1981), 192.

3 Such as e.g. Lud. Bertsch, S.J., <Die Gruendung der Priesterbruderschaft St. Petrus. 
Ausweg oder neue Sackgasse?: Anzeiger fuer die Seelsorge> (Freiburg, 1991), no. 5, p. 
204.

4 So, for example, H. Kessler, <Erloesung als Befreiung> (Duesseldorf, 1972) or H. 
Vorgrimler, S.J., <Jesus _ Gottes ud des Menschen Sohn. Herder-buecherei> 1107 
(Freiburg, 1984), 69.

5 At which, according to Klemens Richter, the limits of "magical understanding" were 
easily reached in former times. See A. A. Haeussling, O.S.B. (ed.), <Vom Sinn der 
Liturgie. Schriften der Katholischen Akademie in Bayern> (Duesseldorf, 1991), 144. 

6 Kl. Richter: cf. Kl. Richter-A. Schilson (eds.), <Dan Glauben feiern. Wege liturgischer 
Erneuerung> (Mainz, 1969), 111.

7 Richter-Schilson (note 6), 149.

8 Ibid.

9 Thus Th. Schneider, professor of dogmatic theology at Mainz, cited in Richter-
Schilson, ibid.

10 See the series of articles in the Deutsche Tagespost, nos. 57 and 67 (1973) as well as in 
the Una Voce Korrespondenz 13 (1983), 353ff.

11 T. Day, <Why Catholics Can't Sing> (New York, 1990), 50/5.

12 Day (note 11), 134/5.

13 W. Hoeres, <Gottesdienst als Gemeinschaftskult. Ideologie und Liturgie. Distinguo 
1> (Bad Honnef, 1992), 18. I am indebted to the analysis of Prof. Hoeres for the main 
points of the preceding discussion.

14 On this see W. Hoeres, <Bewusstsein und Erkenntnisbild bei Suarez: Scholastik> 36 
(1961), 192ff.

15 L. Brent Bozell, <The Coming American Schism: Triumph 2> (1967), 10/7, here 12.

16 Cf. e.g. paragraphs 1097/8, 1136, 1140/2 and 1076 with 1187/8 as cited here.

This article was taken from the Spring 1994 issue of "Faith & Reason". Subscriptions 
available from Christendom Press, 2101 Shenandoah Shores Road, Ft. Royal, VA 22630, 
703-636-2900, Fax 703-636-1655. Published quarterly at $20.00 per year.

Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN

-------------------------------------------------------------------

   Provided courtesy of:

        Eternal Word Television Network
        PO Box 3610
        Manassas, VA 22110
        Voice: 703-791-2576
        Fax: 703-791-4250
        Data: 703-791-4336
        FTP: EWTN.COM
        Telnet: EWTN.COM
        Email address: SYSOP@ EWTN.COM

   EWTN provides a Catholic online 
   information and service system.

-------------------------------------------------------------------