Forfatternavn:Oddvar

Oppsummering av foredragene ved den siste Fota-konferansen

Her er første del av en rapport fra the Fifth Fota International Liturgy Conference, Clarion Hotel, Cork City, Ireland, 7-9 July 2012. Det gis en kort oppsummering av 8 foredrag, og om Mariusz Biliniewiczs foredrag sies det:

Reasonable Worship (Rm 12:1): Joseph Ratzinger’s Theology of Sacrifice, presented the main highlights of Joseph Ratzinger’s theology of sacrifice and placed them in the context of his thought and in the context of contemporary theological discussion. The paper began with a short introduction showing the importance of the topic of sacrifice in the writings of Joseph Ratzinger and outlined the reasons for his interest in this subject. Biliniewicz continued by presenting Ratzinger’s understanding of sacrifice in pre-Christian religions and in the Old Testament. Turning to the New Testament, he showed Ratzinger’s understanding of the Christ event as the fulfilment of the promises and expectations of Israel and of the whole of humanity; and Ratzinger’s view of the Eucharist as the actualization of Christ’s unique and ultimate sacrifice for the people of all times and places. Biliniewicz concluded by assessing the importance of Ratzinger’s theology of sacrifice for the contemporary Church in the light of his election to the Chair of Peter.

Liberal presteforening i USA

Jeg leste i dag om en ny forening av katolske prester i USA. De vedtok på sitt årsmøte i juni bl.a. en resolusjon mot den nye engelske oversettelsen av messen.

Bildet under viser styret for foreningen, og videoen nederst viser en messe (ja, faktisk en messe) de feiret under årsmøtet. Her ser nok bildet og videoen mer enn ord.

Kan liberale kirker overleve?

Kan liberale kirker overleve (det er vel nokså tvilsomt)? Spørsmålet stilles i New York Times, og der leser vi bl.a.:

… today the Episcopal Church looks roughly how Roman Catholicism would look if Pope Benedict XVI suddenly adopted every reform ever urged on the Vatican by liberal pundits and theologians. It still has priests and bishops, altars and stained-glass windows. But it is flexible to the point of indifference on dogma, friendly to sexual liberation in almost every form, willing to blend Christianity with other faiths, and eager to downplay theology entirely in favor of secular political causes.

Yet instead of attracting a younger, more open-minded demographic with these changes, the Episcopal Church’s dying has proceeded apace. Last week, while the church’s House of Bishops was approving a rite to bless same-sex unions, Episcopalian church attendance figures for 2000-10 circulated in the religion blogosphere. They showed something between a decline and a collapse: In the last decade, average Sunday attendance dropped 23 percent, and not a single Episcopal diocese in the country saw churchgoing increase. …

Msgr. Bux: «Benedict XVI’s Reform» – Forordet

Forordet til msgr Bux’ bok er skrevet av Vittorio Messori, kjent for å ha skrevet det boklange intervjuet med kardinal Ratzinger i 1985: The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church.

Han skriver i forordet at han vokste opp i en agnostisk familie, men fant troen da han var litt over 20 år, i 1964 (les om det her). Men så ble han ganske så forbløffet over hva som skjedde med liturgien rett etter at han selv fant Kirken:

… I caught the tail-end of history. Only a few months later, I would find the altars reversed and some new kitschy piece of junk made of aluminum or plastic brought in to replace the “triumphalism” of the old altars, often signed by masters, adorned with gold and precious marble. But already for some time I had seen—with surprise, in my neophyte innocence—guitars in the place of organs, the jeans of the assistant pastor showing underneath robes that were intended to give the appearance of “poverty”, “social” preaching, perhaps with some discussion, the abolition of what they called “devotional accretions”, such as making the Sign of the Cross with holy water, kneelers, candles, incense. I even witnessed the occasional disappearance of statues of popular saints; the confessionals, too, were removed, and some, as became the fashion, were transformed into liquor cabinets in designer houses.

Everything was done by clerics, who were incessantly talking about “democracy in the Church”, affirming that this was reclaimed by a “People of God”, whom no one, however, had bothered to consult. ….

Before judging its merits, let me repeat, it must be said that this reform came down from the clergy; the decision was handed down to the “People of God” from above, being thought out, realized, and imposed on those who had not asked for it or who had accepted it only reluctantly. There were some among the disoriented faithful who “voted with their feet”, that is to say, they decided to do other things on Sunday rather than attend a liturgy they felt was no longer theirs.

But, as a novice in Catholic matters, there was another reason for my stupor. Not having had particular religious interests “previously”, and being a stranger to the life of the Church, I knew that the Second Vatican Council was in progress from some newspaper headlines but did not bother to read the articles. So I knew nothing about the work and the long debates, with clashes between opposing schools, that led to Sacrosanctum concilium, the Constitution on the Liturgy, which was, among other things, the first document produced by those deliberations. Along with the other conciliar acts, I read the text “afterward”, when faith had suddenly irrupted into my life. I read it, and, as I said, I was left surprised: the revolution I saw in ecclesial practice did not seem to have much to do with the prudent reformism recommended by the Council fathers. ….

In short, I could not put the contrasts together: the fanatics of the ecclesial democracy were undemocratic: imposing their own ideas on the “People of God” without concern for what the “People” thought, isolating and ridiculing the dissidents. And the fanatics of “fidelity to the Council”—and they were almost always the same people—did not do what the Council said to do or even did what it recommended not to do.

Decades have passed since then, and what has taken place in the meantime is well known by those who follow the life of the Church. Well, what troubled many often saddened me, too, but it did not, as I said at the beginning, touch my confidence in the Church. It has not touched that confidence because the abuses, the misunderstandings, the exaggerations, the pastoral mistakes were those, as is always the case, of the sons of the Church, not of the Church herself. …. The conciliar document on the liturgy — the real one, not the mythical one — is an exhortation to reform (Ecclesia semper reformanda), but there is no revolutionary tone in it, insofar as it finds its inspiration in the considered and, at the same time, open teaching of that great pope who was Pius XII. After Scripture, Pius XII is the most cited source (more than two hundred references) of Vatican II, which, according to the black legend, intended to oppose the very Church he represented. ….

It was, in other words, a confidence that times would come like those described—with obligatory realism but also with great hope—by Father Nicola Bux in this book. The recent past has been what it has been; the damage has been massive; some of the rearguard of the old ideologies of “progressivism” still boldly proclaim their slogans; but nothing is lost, because the principles are very clear; they have not been scratched. The problem is certainly not the Council but, if anything, its deformation: the way out of the crisis is in returning to the letter, and to the spirit, of its documents. The author of the pages that follow reminds us that there is work to be done to help many minds that—perhaps without even knowing it—have been led astray. We must help them recover what the Germans call die katholische Weltanschauung, the Catholic world view. It is not by chance that I use the German, as everyone knows where that Shepherd comes from who did not expect that ascension to the papacy to be woven into his story as a patient and “humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord”. If I put the reference to patience in italics, it is because it is one of the interpretive keys to the magisterium of Benedict XVI, as this book will also underscore. …

Msgr. Bux: «Benedict XVI’s Reform» – Innholdsfortegnelsen

Jeg skrev for noen dager siden om msgr. Nicola Bux’ bok om liturgien: Benedict XVI’s Reform. The Liturgy between Innovation and Tradition. Nå har jeg lest halvveis gjennom den, og kommer de neste dagene til å presentere noe av innholdet. Første selve innholdsfortegnelsen:

I. THE SACRED AND DIVINE LITURGY
The Liturgy: The Place Where God Meets Man
The Liturgy: “Heaven on Earth”
Rediscovering the Courage for the Sacred
Signs Evoke and Point to the Mystery
The Importance of Tradition
The Liturgy as Rule of Faith

II. THE ONE TO WHOM WE DRAW NEAR IN DIVINE WORSHIP
Looking upon the Crucified Lord Orients Worship and the Heart
The Eucharist as Essence of Christian Worship
In Him We Have Been Made One
Christ Is the True Celebrant

III. THE BATTLE OVER LITURGICAL REFORM
The Liturgy Must Be Understood Again in Every Generation
The Reform Proposed by the Council and Its Implementation
Paul VI’s Corrections

IV. THE POPE CALLS A CEASE-FIRE
The Motu Proprio’s Key Doctrinal and Disciplinary Points
A Little History
Misinterpretations of the Papal Action

V. THE ECCLESIAL CRISIS AND THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE LITURGY
Ecclesial and Liturgical Continuity
The Missal of Pius V Was Not Abrogated
Two Theories Originating from Biblicism

VI. HOW TO ENCOUNTER THE MYSTERY
The Priestly Service
The Participation of the Faithful
Looking upon the Cross
The Sacrality of the Church Building

VII. A NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT
Liturgical Formation
Translations and the Case of the Pro Multis
The Council, Latin, and Gregorian Chant
With the Patience of Love

Minneord for p Arnfinn Haram


I dag er det fem uker siden p Arnfinn Haram brått døde, søndag ettermiddag, 11. juni. Jeg fikk nettopp en lenke til fine minneord som ble sagt av Eskil Skjeldal under minnesamværet på Katarinahjemmet etter begravelsen 19. juni. Minneordene ble nylig lagt ut på den nye bloggen Sta. Sunniva av Selja. Her er noen korte utdrag:

Arnfinn var temperert i en utfordrende teologisk grunnstemning. Dermed er det å bare holde et minneord om ham, en vanskelig øvelse. Arnfinn levde hver dag som om han skulle stå foran Dommeren neste natt. Det er klart at en slik person, en slik asket, er utfordrende. Jeg ønsker jo på ingen måte å ramme ham inn; ingen tale kan noensinne omfatte et annet menneske fullt og helt. Og vanligvis kan man skille personen og yrket, og snakke om selve personen i et minneord. Det går ikke denne gangen. Dominikanerpresten og Arnfinn gikk i ett. Mange ganger har jeg forsøkt å si til ham hvor mye han betydde for oss alle, og meg personlig. Men hver gang sa han bare at jeg skulle spare det til minnetalen. Så her kommer den. …

Arnfinn transcenderte de fleste dennesidige kategorier, han var alltid mer enn min venn, mer enn skribenten, den intellektuelle, mer enn poeten. Flere ganger tenkte jeg at han var Guds egen eiendom, ingen andres, og mange ganger har jeg følt at hans forpliktelser lå langt utenfor tid og rom. Han var først og fremst prest, med hele det åket dette medfører. Dette var svært vanskelig for ham, men aldri umulig. Arnfinn virket for Kristi gjerning på jorda. Han hadde evighetens perspektiv på alt, han søkte Guds mening i alt. Mange ganger følte jeg at jeg bare hadde han til låns. …

De siste fire dagene av hans liv så jeg en veldig fred. Men samtidig hadde han en klar bevissthet om at han var sliten. Han ønsket å bare være Arnfinn. I disse dagene snakket vi mye om hans liv, hans kall, og om den sterke ambivalensen hans. Han var på den ene siden fornøyd med hvor mye han hadde fått til, men samtidig var han aldri fornøyd. Jeg skjønner nå i ettertid at han kanskje forstod at han var ved veis ende. Det han egentlig gjorde i de siste fire dagene var å gjøre opp status. Han gikk gjennom forholdet sitt til Gud, til brødrene, til alle vennene og til familien. Dette gjorde han ganske systematisk. Han følte en fred. Men samtidig var det en uro i ham, noe ubestemmelig som han ikke forstod, når det gjaldt fremtiden. Han sa gjentatte ganger de siste månedene, og senest den siste kvelden han levde, at han ikke så veien videre. …

Den hellige Bonaventura – 1221-1274

I dag, 14. juli, feires den hellige Bonaventura i den tradisjonelle kalenderen, men i 1970 ble han flyttet én dag, til 15. juni – og feires ikke i år siden det er søndag. I de tradisjonelle tidebønnene leste jeg i dag følgende om Bonaventura til Matutin:

Born at Bagnorea in Tuscany, Bonaventure entered the Order of St. Francis of Assisi as a young man. Here he gave himself to study, and made such progress under his teacher. Alexander of Hales, that after seven years he publicly interpreted the book of Sentences at Paris, and gained the highest praise. He was a man of the greatest sweetness and humility, with a most ardent devotion to the Passion of Christ the Lord. When he was only thirty-five he was made Minister General of the whole Order. He carried out this office so prudently that he gained fame not only for his learning and holiness, but also for his diplomacy and skill. Because of this fame, Pope Gregory X made him Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He wrote many very learned works, not the least of which were his commentaries on the four books of the Sentences. He died at Lyons while the Council was in progress, at the age of forty-three. He was enrolled among the Saints by Sixtus IV, and Sixtus V gave him the title of Seraphic Doctor.

Katolsk.no skriver også grundig om den hellige Bonaventura, bl.a. dette:

Den intellektuelle Bonaventura understreket at en tåpes kjærlighet og kunnskap om Gud kunne være langt større enn menneskelig visdom. Som teolog var han mer augustinsk enn aristotelisk som Thomas, han understreket viktigheten av en følelsesmessig mer enn en rent rasjonell tilnærming til de guddommelige mysterier. Hovedtrekkene ved Bonaventuras teologiske tenkning finnes i hans kommentar til Peter Lombards «Sentenser» (Sententiae in IV Libris Distinctae) (Commentaria in Quatuor libros sententiarum Magistri Petri Lombardi) (1250-54), som dekker hele feltet av skolastisk teologi.

Mens han ofte var enig med Thomas i mange konklusjoner, var det også områder der de var uenige, blant annet Bonaventuras påstand om at verdens skapelse med tiden kunne bevises av menneskelig fornuft. Da Thomas en gang besøkte Bonaventura og ba om å få se det biblioteket som hadde sine store kunnskaper fra, trakk han et forheng til side og pekte på krusifikset: «Jeg studerer bare den korsfestede, Jesus Kristus». …

Mer om Seljumannamessa 8. juli – og en ny katolsk blogg

Sist søndag var flere katolikker på pilegrimsferd langt vest i Norge, og på Ragnhild Helena Aadland Høens nye katolske blogg leser vi denne skildringa:

I dag, søndag 8. juli, er den store valfartsdagen endelig kommet. Om en liten time står små og store pilegrimer og tripper spent på Klosterbåt-kaien i Selje. Vi skal til Selja, Norges eldste pilegrimsmål, for å feire Seljumannamesse i klosterruinene der.

Selja er et helt spesielt sted der den åndelige gravitasjonskraften er til å ta og føle på. Dette er stedet der Kirken i Norge ble født. Selv ikke-troende som besøker Selja fornemmer stedets hellighet.

Sogneprest Dom Alois Brodersen i St. Paul menighet skal feire den katolske høymessen klokken 8.30, og vi gleder oss. Det blir katolsk pilegrimsvandring over øya på vei til messen. Prosesjonen går på sti i fint og flatt terreng, og tar om lag en halv time.

Den lutherske Seljumannamesse-komiteen har uttrykt ønske om et sterkt katolsk nærvær i den lutherske gudstjenesten klokken 11.00. Der skal St. Hallvardsguttene synge og den lutherske Nidaros-biskopen Tor Singsaas vil tale. Blir fint!

I starten av den lutherske gudstjenesten blir det åpning av klosterets nyrestaurerte klokketårn, samt markering av Riksantikvarens 100-årsjubileum, der riksantikvar Jørn Holme og miljøvernminister Bård Vegar Solhjell deltar. …

Besøk gjerne den ganske nye bloggen: Sta. Sunniva av Selja – jeg legger den også inn i venstre spalte i min egen blogg.

Preken til Seljumannamesse 2012


Mange av oss (langt borte fra Selja og Bergen) merket lite til den hellige Sunniva i år, siden 8. juli falt på en søndag og hun ikke ble feiret de fleste steder. Men vår sogneprest i Bergen, dom Alois Arnstein Brodersen, feiret en fin messe i klosterruinen på Selja, og holdt der denne preskenen – som begynner slik:

Kjære troende
Vi er samlet her i klosterruinene på Selje for å feire Seljumannamesse. Den hellige Sunniva og Seljemennene er de første helgener vi kjenner til i Norge. Kanskje var det noen før dem, vi kan forestille oss irske eller andre kristne som ble slept hit som treller og som utholdt sitt liv i troen inntil enden, eller de prestene som Håkon den Gode tok med seg fra England – vi vet ikke hvordan det gikk med dem. Kirkene ble brent – og prestene? Men det fortaper seg i det forhistoriske mørke. Men om Sunniva og Seljemennene vet vi noe, for der har noe, om enn sørgelig lite, av overleveringer og legender overlevd. Altså vet vi mer enn ingen ting, og mer enn om så mange andre helgener fra de tidlige århundreder.

Vi er ikke kommet hit til Selja for å studere gamle ruiner, eller for å se høye fjell eller høre storhavet bruse – alt det har vi hjemme også. Vi er kommet hit for å søke Gud på dette hellige sted, der den hellige Sunniva og hennes ledsagere fant martyrdøden for over tusen år siden. Det er ikke naturens storslåtthet eller historiens sus, og heller ikke mystiske, umålbare stråler eller esoteriske krefter (som noen vil ha det til) eller spor av radioaktivitet i kildevannet (som man i hvert fall hevdet for femti-seksti år siden) som gjør dette stedet til et hellig sted, men det er tilknytningen til helgenenes liv, deres tro og deres død, som gjør at vi på dette sted kan føle nærværet av Det hellige. ….

En kongregasjon av unge nonner i USA

I Ann Arbor, Michigan, har kongregasjonen Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist vokst fra 4 søstre i 1997 til over 100 i dag. De fleste av søstrene tar visstnok lærerutdanning, så fokuset for kongregasjonen er tydeligvis på katolske skoler og katolsk katekese. I Norge (og mange andre land) fantes det veldig mange søstre av denne typen tidligere, men nå er de (nesten) helt borte. Hva er det som gjør at denne nye gruppen i USA klarer seg så godt?

Sheiscatholic har lagt ut tre videoer på youtube som handler om dette. Hennes 17 år gamle søster har fått et kall til ordensliv, velger disse dominikanerinnene, blir akseptert og trer inn – på prøve i første omgang.

Om katolske biskoper i England – motarbeider de paven?

I det engelske, katolske tidsskriftet Catholic Herald skrev William Oddie nylig en artikkel der han gleder seg over utnevnelsen av en ny biskop (msgr Egan til Portsmouth), men der han også skriver om tidligere nuntiers – og engelske biskopers – aktive motstand mot pave Johannes Pauls og pave Bendikts ønsker for Kirken. Les selv – her er starten av artikkelen:

When Archbishop Antonio Mennini was first appointed as papal nuncio, we all had a good look at his record, for clues as to what his policy would be in one of the the most important areas of a nuncio’s work: making recommendations to the Congregation for Bishops and the Holy Father as to who to appoint to dioceses which become vacant. We were all well aware what the explanation was of the great conundrum, for the English Church, about the reign of John Paul II: why was it, when he had appointed most of our bishops, did nearly all of them go out of their way to undermine his vision for the Church? The answer was that a succession of nuncios had “gone native”, and had advised the Holy Father to appoint the men suggested to him by our own existing bishops, and especially by Cardinal Hume and then Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor: in other words, nuncios had been agents for the continuing project of the English bishops endlessly to perpetuate themselves and their de-Romanising, even secularising, vision for the English Church.

On Archbishop Mennini’s appointment, I hopefully speculated that an interview he had given in Russia (where he had previously been nuncio) might indicate that he was firmly behind the Pope’s agenda on the fight against secularisation, and might, therefore, be on-side when it came to the appointment of bishops here who would similarly be of the papal mind, on this and other key elements in the Ratzingerian analysis of where the Church needs to go. It was, I said, “good and hopeful stuff, which encourages one to hope that he will be using his obvious capacity to work out what’s going on in a particular secularised culture to help the Church here to begin the fightback, in the most effective way open to him – that is, by helping the Pope to appoint bishops who will do everything they can to implement rather than to undermine the Holy Father’s agenda.”

Well, the appointment of Mgr Philip Egan could hardly be a more striking demonstration that that is precisely what Archbishop Mennini does intend. To Portsmouth, the diocese in England where more than in any other the subversion of everything Pope John Paul stood for has proceeded unchecked ever since the appointment of its present bishop in 1989, the Holy Father has appointed the right-hand man of Bishop Mark Davies, probably the most passionately orthodox bishop in England today. …..

Gratulerer Fr. John Berg!

Jeg møtte Fr. Berg (som har norske aner) i Fribourg Sveits i mars i år. Han var meget vennlig og sympatisk, så jeg er glad for å lese i dag at han er gjenvalgt som superior for FSSP for 6 nye år. Fra FSSPs nettsider leser vi nå følgende kunngjøring:

Communiqué of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter: Wednesday, July 11, 2012, Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, Denton, Nebraska, USA

The General Chapter of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), gathered from July 3 to July 18, 2012 at the International Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Denton, Nebraska, in plenary session elected Fr. John Berg as Superior General for 6 years. This election, at which the 33 capitulants were present, took place on July 9. The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei was immediately informed and sent a congratulatory message.

The election of the Assistants and Counselors will follow in the next days.

An American priest born in 1970, Fr. John Berg studied philosophy at St. Thomas Aquinas College (California, USA) and theology at the International Seminary of St. Peter in Wigratzbad (Bavaria, Germany). Fr. Berg holds a licentiate from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. Ordained a priest in 1997, Fr. Berg taught as a professor at the International Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nebraska, USA) from 1999 to 2000. Afterwards he exercised his ministry from 2000 to 2005 at the FSSP parish in Sacramento (California, USA), before being appointed again as professor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary. In 2006, the FSSP General Chapter elected him Superior General for a first term of office. The Chapter reelected him on 9 July 2012 for a second term of six years.

Den hellige Benedikt av Nursia (480-547)


I dag feires den hellige Benedikt (i den nye kalenderen); og i Europa feires han som fest, siden han i 1964 ble utropt til vernehelgen for hele Europa. I dagens messe hørte vi om to passende temaer for Benedikt; om visdom og om fattigdom.

Første lesning Ordsp 2, 1-9
Min sønn, ta imot mine ord, og ta vare på mine bud, så du lytter til visdommen og prøver å forstå med hele ditt sinn. Ja, bare kall på forstanden, og rop med høy røst etter innsikt. Let etter den som om det var sølv, grundig som når en graver etter skatter. Da skal du skjønne hva gudsfrykt er, og vinne kjennskap til Gud. For det er Herren som gir visdom, kunnskap og innsikt går ut fra hans munn. Han lar de rettsindige ha fremgang og er et skjold for dem som er hel i sin ferd. Han verner de stier hvor retten rår, og vokter veien for sine fromme. Da skal du skjønne deg på rettferd og rett, på rettsinn og all god fremferd.

Ecangelium Matt 19, 27-29
På den tid tok Peter til orde og sa til Jesus: «Men vi, vi har forlatt alt og fulgt deg. Hva får vi så igjen for det?» Jesus svarte: «Dette skal dere vite: Når tiden for verdens gjenfødelse kommer, når Menneskesønnen troner i sin herlighet – da skal også dere som har fulgt meg, sitte på tolv troner, som dommere over Israels tolv stammer. Og hver og en som har forlatt sitt hjem, sine søsken, sin mor og far, sine barn eller sine marker for mitt navns skyld, – han skal få det mangedobbelt igjen, og det evige liv i eie.»

Under sin første onsdagsaudiens som pave – 27. april 2005 – forklarte pave Benedikt hvorfor han valgte navnet Benedikt. Se og hør videoen under.

Katolsk.no skriver grundig om den hellige Benedikt, bl.a. forklarer de hvorfor han nå feires 11. juli, og ikke 21. mars, som tidligere:

I den gamle kalenderen var Benedikts minnedag dødsdagen 21. mars, mens 11. juli er dagen for overføringen av helgenens relikvier til Frankrike, Benedicti translatio. Ved kalenderrevisjonen i 1969 ble hans minnedag i Universalkirken også flyttet til 11. juli for at den ikke skal falle i fastetiden. Dagen er fest i Europa, som Benedikt er skytshelgen for. I Frankrike feires han også 4. desember, og i Østkirken feires han den 14. mars. Hans minnedag 21. mars er avmerket på den norske primstaven.

Pave Benedikt minnes 1965 – da han var en «ung og ikke særlig betydningsfull teolog»

Landsbyen Nemi ligger ca 30 km sørøst for Roma, og pave Benedikt var der nylig – og også våren 1965, da siste sesjon av Vatikankonsilet ble forberedt. Fra Zenit.org:

I am really pleased to have the possibility to see this House in Nemi again after 47 years. I have a beautiful memory of it, perhaps the most beautiful memory of the whole Council. I was living in the center of Rome, in the Santa Maria dell Anima College, with all the noise: all this is also beautiful. But to be here surrounded by green, to have this breath of nature and also this freshness of the air, was already in itself a lovely thing. And then there was the company of so many great theologians, with the important and beautiful task to prepare a decree on the mission.

I remember first of all the General of that time, Father Schutte, who had suffered in China, he was condemned and then expelled. He was full of missionary dynamism, of the need to give a new thrust to the missionary spirit. And I was there, a theologian of no great importance, very young, invited I know not why. But it was a great gift for me.

Then there was Fulton Sheen, who fascinated us in the evening with his talks; Father Congar and great of Leuven. For me it was a spiritual enrichment, a great gift. It was a decree without great controversies. There was this controversy, which I never really understood, between the school of Leuven and that of Munster: is the principal aim of the mission the implantation Ecclesiae or the Evangelii proclamation? However, everything converged in the unique dynamism of the need to take the light of the Word of God, the light of the love of God to the world and to give new joy to this proclamation.

And thus a new and beautiful decree was born in those days, accepted almost unanimously by all the Conciliar Fathers, and, for me, it is also a very good complement to Lumen Gentium, because you find in it a Trinitarian ecclesiology, which stems above all from the classic idea of the bonum diffusivum sui, the good that has need to communicate itself, to give itself: it cannot remain in itself, the good thing, goodness itself is essentially communicatio. And this appears already in the Trinitarian mystery, in the interior of God, and it is diffused in the history of salvation and in our need to give to others the good we have received.

Thus, with these memories I have often thought of these days at Nemi which are in me, as I said, an essential part of the experience of the Council. …

Under kan man se et lite innslag fra besøket.

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth om liturgien – del 4

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth avslutter sitt foredrag med å sitere pave Benedikt som sier at «mye mer må gjøres for å fornye liturgien», og Wadsworth kommer så med en del konkrete forslag:

– A sense of reverence for the text: the unity of the Roman Rite is now essentially a textual unity. The Church permits a certain latitude in the interpretation of the norms that govern the celebration of the liturgy and hence our unity is essentially textual: we use the same prayers and meditate on the same Scriptures. This is more clearly evident now with a single English text for universal use.

– A greater willingness to heed Sacrosanctum concilium rather than continual recourse to the rather nebulous concept of the ‘spirit of the Council’ which generally attempts to legitimize liturgical abuses rather than correct them. Currently, these teachings are more likely to be evidenced in a well prepared presentation of the Extraordinary Form than in most Ordinary Form celebrations.

It need not be so.
– In relation to both forms of the Roman Rite, a careful attention to the demands of the calendar and the norms which govern the celebration of the liturgy, not assuming that it is possible or acceptable to depart from these norms.
– A re-reading of the encyclical Mediator Dei of Pope Pius XII in conjunction with more recent Magisterial documents. In this way, the light of tradition might be perceived to shine on all our liturgical celebrations.
– The widespread cultivation of a dignified and reverent liturgy that evidences careful preparation and respect for its constituent elements in accordance with the liturgical norms.
– A recovery of the Latin tradition of the Roman Rite that enables us to continue to present elements of our liturgical patrimony from the earliest centuries with understanding. This necessarily requires a far more enthusiastic and widespread commitment to the teaching and learning of Latin in order that the linguistic culture required for interpreting our texts and chants may be more widely experienced and our patrimony enjoy a wider constituency.
– We should seek to see the exclusion of all music from the Liturgy which does not a ‘liturgical voice’, regardless of style.
– The exclusion from the liturgy of music which only expresses secular culture and which is ill-suited to the demands of the liturgy. A renaissance of interest in and use of chant in both Latin and English as a recognition that this form of music should enjoy ‘first place’ in our liturgy and all other musical forms are suitable for liturgical use to the extent that they share in the characteristics of chant.
– An avoidance of the idea that music is the sole consideration in the liturgy, the music is a vehicle for the liturgy not the other way around!
– A commitment to the celebration and teaching of the ars celebrandi of both forms of the Roman Rite, so that all priests can perceive more readily how the light of tradition shines on our liturgical life and how this might be communicated more effectively to our people.
– A clearer distinction between devotions, non-liturgical forms of prayer and the Sacred Liturgy. A lack of any proper liturgical sense has led to a proliferation of devotions as an alternative vehicle for popular fervour. This was a widespread criticism of the liturgy before the Council and we now have to ask ourselves why the same lacuna has been identified in the newer liturgical forms.
– A far greater commitment to silence before, during and after the Liturgy is needed.

Om «Benedikt XVIs reform»

Denne boken av p Nicola Bux ble utgitt på italiensk i 2008, og nå nylig (21. juni) kom den på engelsk, på Ignatius Press i USA, og i dag kjøpte jeg den som Kindle bok fra Amazon. jeg har lest det interessante forordet av Vittorio Messori, og så vidt fått tid til å begynne på innholdet. … Fortsettelse følger …

Amazon beskriver boken på følgende måte:

When Benedict XVI reestablished the celebration of the older Latin Mass, voices of protest rose up from many sides. The widespread fear was-and is-that the Pope had revealed himself as the reactionary defender of tradition that many have accused him of being since he was the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former Holy Office.

Defenders of Benedict XVI have responded to these objections by explaining that the use of the Tridentine Rite is not a «step backward» to pre-Vatican II times, but rather a step forward. Now the Church can see what the older rite offered in terms of beauty, reverence, and meaning and perhaps desire more of those elements in the ordinary form of the Mass.

A professor of theology and liturgy, the author of this book explains the motives behind the Pope’s decision to allow two forms of the Mass. He does this by turning to the Pope’s own theological and liturgical writings, but he also draws from his experiences on various Church commissions and in offices of the Roman Curia.

The author also brings to his subject an astute understanding of current social and spiritual trends both inside and outside the Church. Sensitive to modern man’s hunger for the sacred, he desires with Pope Benedict XVI that the Mass be first and foremost a place of encounter with the living God.

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth om liturgien – del 3

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth sier videre i sitt foredrag om liturgien at den viktige «deltakelsen» i liturgien ikke er det samme som ytre aktiviteter – og han nevner som et eksempel til skrekk og advarsel hovedmessen ved den Eukaristiske kongressen i Dublin nylig:

The Holy Father then went on to say that: 4. “not infrequently, the revision of liturgical forms has remained at an external level, and «active participation» has been confused with external activity”

In my view, this is the very crux of the matter and I would like to illustrate it with reference to the Mass at which Pope Benedict’s remarks were heard – the closing Mass of the recent Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. The improvements in liturgical culture and particularly the improvements in liturgical music, that have become increasingly evident throughout this papacy, particularly in large-scale celebrations were sadly almost entirely absent from this occasion, giving the event a sort of ‘eighties’ feel to it. More specifically:

– the entire liturgy had a ‘performance’ quality to it, with the assembly as the principal focus. This was borne out by the fact that musicial items were frequently greeted with applause.

– There was a frequent disregard for the provisions of the GIRM. This was particularly evident with reference to music:

+ None of the antiphons of the proper were sung for the entrance, offertory and communion processions (cf GIRM #40)

+ Gregorian Chant was conspicuous by its absence (cf GIRM #41). None of the Missal chants was used for the people’s parts of the Order of Mass (with the single exceptions of the gospel and preface dialogues), even though the liturgy was predominantly in English and these chants would have been known by most people present.

+ In the Profession of Faith, after the Cardinal celebrant had intoned Credo III, lectors read the Apostles’ Creed (which has a different intonation to the Nicene Creed) in a variety of languages, spoken paragraphs were punctuated by the sung response ‘Credo, Amen!” This is not recognizably one of the modes for the Creed described in the GIRM (cf GIRM #48).

+ Much music did not ‘correspond to the spirit of the liturgical action’ [GIRM #41] such as the celebrity spot during the distribution of Holy Communion of 3 clerical tenors, ‘The Priests’, singing the impossibly sentimental song “May the road rise up to meet you”. I feel like asking, just what is wrong with the Communion antiphon and psalm?

+ Despite the international character of the occasion, the use of Latin in the people’s sung parts was almost non-existant (cf GIRM #41).

The depressing cumulative effect of the disregard for all these principles in a major liturgy, celebrated by a papal legate, and broadcast throughout the world, is hard to underestimate. If I were given to conspiracy theories, I would almost feel persuaded that this was a deliberately calculated attempt to broadcast a different message and to oppose the better liturgical spirit of recent times. But surely it cannot be so?

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth om liturgien – del 2

Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth referer videre til pave Bendikts hilsen til den Eukaristiske konferansen i Dublin. Paven vurderer liturgiforandringene fra 1970, og monsignoren legger til hva han selv syns har vært mislykket:

2. «a great deal has been achieved» and
3. «it is equally clear that there have been many misunderstandings and irregularities»

– A sense of the communion of the Church has become limited to local communities that are in many ways self-selecting – many Catholics have a poor understanding of what it means to belong to the Universal Church but a highly developed understanding of what it means to belong to a self-selecting parish community of people like themselves.

– Any notion of the shape of the Liturgical year has been greatly lessened by an ironing-out of those features which characterized the distinctive seasons of the year.

– The universal tendency to ignore sung propers and to substitute non-liturgical alternatives. …

– The frequent tendency to gloss or paraphrase the liturgical texts, supplying continuous commentary, has contributed to an improvised or spontaneous character in much liturgical celebration. …

– The liturgy often seems to have the quality of a performance with the priest and liturgical ministers cast in the roles of performers and behaving accordingly. Consequently, congregations are often expecting to be ‘entertained’ rather as spectators might be at a theatre.

– The manner of the distribution and reception of Holy Communion (including the appropriateness of one’s reception of Communion at a particular Mass) has led to a casual disregard for this great Sacrament. …

– The appalling banality of much liturgical music and the lack of any true liturgical spirit in the use of music in the liturgy has been a primary generating force in anti-liturgical culture.

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