Why Don't Priests Follow Rubrics? Take 2

[tinytherese]

Let's try this again, only this time we stick to only discussing the article itself please and not the author. I recommend skipping over the "on my planet" list since those are Fr. Z's personal preferences.

 

What do you think of the reasons suggested for why priests don't follow liturgical rubrics? I'm uncomfortable with stating an official opinion because I haven't properly studied the historical development of the liturgy, but intend to do so in the future.

 

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/02/why-dont-priests-follow-rubrics-fr-z-cheerfully-rants/

[Apotheoun]

I think that there has been a loss of the sense of the sacred and of tradition in many cases since the issuance of the revised Roman liturgy, and so priests feel free to do whatever they like with the prayers of the Church.

 

I have to admit that I am constantly being embarrassed in front of my Eastern Orthodox friends when they show me some of the strange things going on liturgically in the Roman Church.  In the final analysis the liturgical disobedience and anarchy in the Latin Church is a great disincentive to ecumenism with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, because the faithful (and priests) in those Churches have a hard time believing that Roman Catholics take the liturgy seriously.

[Nihil Obstat]

I think that there has been a loss of the sense of the sacred and of tradition in many cases since the issuance of the revised Roman liturgy, and so priests feel free to do whatever they like with the prayers of the Church.

I feel that experimentation was, to varying degrees, encouraged at the time directly before and after (not to mention during) the liturgical renovation. When the foundations of the Liturgy itself were shaken right to the core, and in many cases completely uprooted, there was no reason to expect any rubrics to maintain force, no matter how important the particular rubrics were for reverence, continuity, or common sense. 

I think that respect for the legitimate nature of liturgical development was lacking. In its place was desire for experimentation and change for its own sake, or even worse, for the goals of Modernism in some cases.

With that culture being encouraged to the degree it was, there is no surprise that things quickly went off the rails.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

I think that there has been a loss of the sense of the sacred and of tradition in many cases since the issuance of the revised Roman liturgy, and so priests feel free to do whatever they like with the prayers of the Church.

 

I have to admit that I am constantly being embarrassed in front of my Eastern Orthodox friends when they show me some of the strange things going on liturgically in the Roman Church.  In the final analysis the liturgical disobedience and anarchy in the Latin Church is a great disincentive to ecumenism with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, because the faithful (and priests) in those Churches have a hard time believing that Roman Catholics take the liturgy seriously.

 

In my dioceas there seems to be to many different ways to sing the holy of holies,the alleluia etc etc, it can be kind of off puting when these prayers are a major part of praying the holy mass and not just praying at the holy mass, and each different group of musical ministry plays them a different way in my parish, and i wen't to visit another parish and they where doing it to another tune.

[Apotheoun]

I feel that experimentation was, to varying degrees, encouraged at the time directly before and after (not to mention during) the liturgical renovation. When the foundations of the Liturgy itself were shaken right to the core, and in many cases completely uprooted, there was no reason to expect any rubrics to maintain force, no matter how important the particular rubrics were for reverence, continuity, or common sense.

The way in which the reform of the Roman Rite took place was not ideal.

 

An Eastern Orthodox friend of mine sent me links some time ago to videos of "solemn masses" at Our Lady of Aparecida Church in Brazil, the second largest Catholic basilica in the world, and I was shocked by what I saw. My friend later told me that more than simply theological differences would prevent the restoration of communion between Eastern Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics, because - from his perspective - the way of living the faith liturgically was now so different that the two Churches were practically speaking two separate religions.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Apotheoun

[Nihil Obstat]

The way in which the reform of the Roman Rite took place was not ideal.

You are not typically one for that kind of understatement. :smile3:

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

But aside from there being so many different tunes to each prayer of the holy mass our holy mass in australia is still how it is meant to be and not to much trouble in the change over, though i think some of the layity don't get the importance of bowing in the apostles creed when we say became incarnant of the virgin mary or striking ones chest in the confietor. But i believe we will get there slowly over time, Jesus in the most holy sacraments will teach them.

but than again i don't look around much and get right into the chest beating and bowing with my eyes out of focus or front on or closed. But anyhow what is a rubrics and why is it so important, i honestly don't know what it is, i just assumed it had something to do with the holy mass.

[Nihil Obstat]

But anyhow what is a rubrics and why is it so important, i honestly don't know what it is, i just assumed it had something to do with the holy mass.

Rubrics are basically the instructions for the celebration of the Mass, by which the priest is expected to abide. Think of it as the 'rule book', where the Ordinary and Propers make up the 'game'.